The Good, The Bad and The Tuna

This was another hectic week to add the annals of my so-called life. Let's just dive right in:

It's fine. No really, I don't care. Buuuut, I kind of got fired from writing the Cue Sheet. The higher ups declared it to be a "threat to the organization." So I only got to write about 6 of them. It's been hard fielding e-mails from people asking me why I'm not doing it any more. I'm supposed to answer: "The Cue Sheet is a big commitment and now that I'm in the middle of my internship I need to turn my focus on to other important projects." This is complete crap. I'd rather say it like it is and tell people, "There are people out there that don't know how to take a joke. So instead of having an interesting Cue Sheet that people actually want to read, we're just going to copy and paste department's information into a Word Document and call it a day because we're lame. And we hate fun." I feel like Eminem. It's just him and me against the FCC. Getting censored and cleaning out our closets. 

I worked a lot of extra hours this week so that I could get trained on how to run the Leo K Theatre as a Lobby Manager. I still like working as Concessions Manager more, but it's nice to know that I could do a different position if I wanted to. (That's what she said). One night we had a karaoke machine set up because an actress from last season called and said she wanted to have some fun before she saw the show. Since she can really belt people lined up to sing a song with her and have it not sound like auditions for American Idol. People were really getting into it. I opted out of singing Ms. New Booty because I'm not musically challenged, but the CAs that did it were kind of hilarious. As a fun little joke we played It's the End of World As We Know It once boom was over. We love making apocalypse jokes. PS I've been stalking the playwright of boom ever since he got in town. I'm a creeper, but I can't help it. His play is awesome and I'm obsessed.  Read it. Worth it. 

Wednesday was opening night for boom. We had the grossest food spread ever. Since we have basically no budget we made the theme "food you'd find in a bunker after the end of the world." We had the obligatory twinkies but then we also had canned sardines, peaches, mini gerkins, and oysters. Gross. I didn't eat. Not that I would have had time to. At 1pm that day Joanna from Communications asked Drew and I to make a video of audience's reactions to the show. We had 4 hours to figure out how we wanted to do it. I was channeling my desire to be on the Real World and came up with the idea of making a Confessional Booth. People would go in while the camera was taping and could say whatever they wanted about the show. Basic reactions included: "Is there a priest in there?" "What do I talk about?" "Is this thing rolling?" I mean people were just not gets its that night. Once that video is done I'll be sure to post it. We screened it the next day and here's a laundry list of what we saw:

1. Jessica crying because "Kiki is so mean to me."

2. Someone confessing about cheating on their girlfriend.

3. A woman said that she loved the movie. Yeah.

4. And Rob started smoking a cigarette. Pretty sure that's like way against the law, but it's fine. 

Someone from Seattle Weekly was there and loved that we were doing it. They want a copy of the video to blog about it. Hopefully this is the beginning of my film career. Done and done. Although I don't think AbbaDahl Films is quite a compelling name. We'll have to come up with something more Spielberg. 

The rest of the week was just a lot of working and hanging low. It's getting pitch black outside around 5 so it always feels a lot later than it actually is. Being north is weird. 

I did see Twilight and it pretty much sucked. I finally watched Rushmore and can continue my love affair with Wes Anderson. I also cooked dinner last night and tonight. I mean, that's unheard of around here. I never have the time. 

Speaking of food: we had the intern food drive on Friday in the shop. Every intern got two huge boxes full of food. I now have more peanut butter and tuna than God. There was a lot of trading going on and I didn't get rid of everything that I wanted to. But it's okay. I scored a lot of pasta so A+ on that front. And we all got a $35 gift card to Safeway. I'm using it to buy ice cream because I never have it and I want it oh so bad. Yum. 

30 Rock season one is amazing. As is Six Feet Under. Why people don't take more advantage of the library system is beyond me. Oh and Frasier season two is my new life. 

I get to go home this week! The time change is going to suck. But seeing my family and sleeping in my bed at least one night will make it worth it. I wish I could see some of my friends but I'll be in Indiana pretty much the whole time. Sadness. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday Morning, Rain is Falling

Actually it isn't raining. Apparently it only does that when my parents are visiting. Le sigh. 

 

Seattle is cool. I mean like wayyy cool. I've done some down right amazing things that, let's face it, would just never happen in the Midwest. 

1. Remember that Shitstorm I told you about? Well it happened about 3 weeks ago. We had 150 people, standing room only, in our PONCHO rehearsal hall and we talked (more like ranted) for three hours about theatre and drank dollar PBRs. We talked about this article in length. The article was read out loud and then two big wigs in Seattle Theatre started off the conversation by "contending the bone." One of them picked apart the Shakespeare point saying that we need to continue doing his work. By not doing so you're robbing artists all over the country from doing the classics and putting their interpretation into anything other than new work. He stressed that playwrights aren't the only ones that deserve to be creative. Point well taken. The other man agreed with this point and bounced off in numerous different directions basically culminating in calling the article's author an idiot. I felt bad for the journalist. He was pretty much slaughtered. But that room had an undeniable energy. People were shouting and cat calling and pretty much pouring their hearts out. I've never seen people talk about theatre in this way. The passion. The intensity. The sense of urgency. It was so contagious. It really reminded me that theatre is frickin amazing and I chose to be in this line of work. So economy be damned I'm going to do everything I can to stay in it. If not for anything else than for the dollar PBRs. Oh and did I mention that we ended the evening by singing Journey's Don't Stop Believing? Because we did. 

2. OBAMA. Obama. OOOOOOOOOBAMA! Now if that wasn't just about the most exciting night, then I don't know what was. I had some friends over to my apt and Mollie cooked dinner while we all sat two feet away from my tv and watched the results coming in. The noise level was deafening when Obama went over 270. We were all freaking out and calling/texting everyone we knew. I was shaking all over I was so excited. It's nice to feel like a vote matters. That when you vote Democratic they don't just automatically say, "tough luck." And it is SO NICE to know that America supported Obama. None of this too-close-to-count-so-let's-wait-three-days bull. He won. Change is in the air. Of course we then all started balling our eyes out when he gave his speech in Grant Park. When you see Oprah and Jessie Jackson crying and you don't shed a tear, then I'm pretty sure you're heartless. Of course the fun didn't stop there. We took to the streets of Seattle. We went down to 1st ave and marched with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of other people chanting "Yes we can!" Antoinette hugged just about every person she ran in to. Jessica and I were just screaming our heads off and dancing with strangers. It was just...amazing. Big city living perk: the liberals love to come out of their house and party it up. I don't think I've ever felt so proud to be American. Even saying that sounds corny and cliche and something that a Texan would say. But I really did feel it. It was a great night. Freedom. Democracy. America. 

3. And what about my parents coming in town? It was, to say the least, one of the best weekends I've had in Seattle. It was so much fun getting to have my dad in Seattle and not be stressing out about buying a bed or finding a discount furniture store. And it was wonderful to finally have my mom here and get to show her just a few of the things that I love about Seattle. We went to Pike Place Market, of course, and spent a lot of time there shopping for my grandpa's 70th birthday presents. We went into the Space Needle and had dinner which was soooo good. It was kind of an overcast night so next time we'll do brunch. But it was awesome and touristy. We went down to the Aquarium which was more fun than I thought it would be. I knew my dad would get a kick out of it so I offered it up on the itinerary, but I actually had a great time. Things that I love that I didn't know I loved: sea otters. They're the most adorable thing I've ever seen. Cats and dogs have never done it for me, but these little guys? I'd buy a tank if I didn't have to pay rent. It was just really nice to have my parents here and to not be worrying about, well, anything. It was so calm and relaxed. I loved it. 

4. I protested Prop 8 in the streets of Seattle yesterday. Once again I'm pretty much a Doobie Brother. There were 10,000 estimated people there wearing rainbow colors and holding Bert and Ernie balloons. There were signs about "Divorcees for Gay Marriage" and "Jesus had two dads." I won't stand on my soapbox and talk about it here, but seriously: don't hate. (Maybe this is just the thing we need for a bunch of recording artists to get together and re-record the Black Eyed Peas' Where is the love?)

5. Work Updates: I've been trained in how to work both theatres in our building as a Lobby Manager so hopefully that will continue to bring in extra money and not be too stressful of a second job. The Rep as a whole isn't doing too hot. I won't write about it because this is a public blog and, hey I kinda want to keep my job. But the economy sucks and everyone is hurting. This makes it a really interesting year to be an intern. You're watching the steamroller go by knowing you won't be affected by the aftermath. It's odd and sad. Ask me about it and we'll talk. Three Musketeers closed and it was a really great last show. That audience was ready to laugh and have a good time. The actors were pretty much doing whatever the heck they wanted. Jeff Bender yelled "You're shooting blanks" when Ryan Sham's gun didn't go off and I then I died. This was a fun cast and I actually got to know a few of them. I'll miss their opening entrance and my obsession with Hans the most. He's just wonderful. 

Well, that's all I have for now. I'll post pictures of all of these things soon. Thanks for reading. Miss  you!

Yes, I Google Myself. Sue Me.

Look at how cute and dorky I am. I think I look kind of fake-y in that picture. If they were going to do touch ups they could have at least taken off one chin.

Jackpot

It is a beautiful day here in Seattle. I can see the mountains out my window. It hurts being this good.

I just got my Entertainment Weekly, there are two loads of laundry currently being tumbled and I have a lot of dishes to do but updating my blog seemed like the biggest priority. This past week was pretty great. I worked every night so that the dolla dolla billz can keep flowing in. On Thursday I got my usual stipend check of $200 and then my manager check. It read $420. And then I cried. It was such a beautiful thing. I haven't been able to watch my usual shows so I took this morning to catch up on The Office on hulu.com (why I just started using this website is beyond me). I would have watched it on NBC.com but they wanted me to update my flash player. Girl can't do that when her computer is already a sad muffin that freaks out when a dvd is playing. The least amount of crap on my laptop the better. 

Friday was by far the highlight of the week. Two board members came to the office and we were instructed to be at our desks because they had presents for us, aka yellow headbands with smilie face antennas. Pretty sure I haven't worn one of those since Bill Clinton was in office but what can you do? Then we all gathered in the scene shop for their weekly beer:30. We all got in a huge circle and sang Happy Birthday to Ben Moore (like the CEO of the theatre) and then the board members started raffling off envelopes. I told Jessica that I would probably win one, and then lo and behold they called my name. I put my arms in the air and sunk my head like a boxing champ as I made my way to claim my prize. When I opened the envelope it had a $50 bill in it. Then I started screaming as if I were 5 years old, "This is the best day of my life!" Not true, but maybe top 30. 

Later that night we had The Taste of the Rep. Patrons pay a bit extra to come early, eat Musketeer-themed food and listen to a short "warm up" about King Louis IV. It was a great turn out and I think people were having a good time. Pat on the back for knowing how to throw a party. (See Jackie, if we did open up a party planning business I'd have skills to offer. This could totally happen.)

Now don't judge me, it wasn't my idea I swear. After the Taste was over, I went to go see High School Musical 3. I need friends, and that's what my friends wanted to do. Whether or not this makes them good friends is still up for debate, but I went anyway. I cheered when Zac Efron took off his shirt and then slept for the rest of it. $10.25 well spent. 

Yesterday I hit the downtown area to do some much needed relaxing and shopping. Jessica and I went to The Navy, Gap, and H&M. It was so wonderful to be around mannequins that know how to layer. Then we went to Nordstrom Rack. That place had the fuggliest stuff I've ever seen. I don't know how people walk out of there with anything of substance. Then we got coconut ice cream and took the monorail back to Seattle Center. I love monorails. This one didn't have that familiar voice echoing to "stand clear of the doors," but it was still fun. 

Another friend from work, Whitney, is a huge Phillies fan and she really wanted us to come out and watch one of the series games with her. The bar was crowded, we weren't facing a tv, and I was really tired. I doubt that I impressed her friends. It's hard when someone says, "Oh, this is Kiki. You'll love her, she's so funny" and all you want to do is pass out on the couch. I tried to cheer but it was half hearted. Eventually we just left and then sat around watching youtube videos and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog for about the 50th time. It may not be an exciting life, but it's mine and I love it. 

It was Mollie's birthday last weekend so her mom came in town. Oh my gosh, she is adorable. They both have the best Chicago accents. We had a huge dinner of crab legs, scallops, ahi tuna, I mean her mom pulled out all of the stops. It makes me sad that my family doesn't do seafood because Nikki is the pickiest eater on the face of the planet. Then I found out that neither of them have seen Bridget Jones's Diary. I considered this an offense to women everywhere and immediately put the disc in. It was so much fun. Mollie's pretty much a great roommate. I lucked out big time. The rest of the weekend we all just hung out and ate really good food. I'll have to be sure to invite her along when my parents and I go out for dinner, which is in one week!!!! I'm so excited!

And speaking of Mollie, she is in LA visiting a friend this weekend so I have the apt to myself. I'm going to keep doing laundry and will eventually get to those nasty dishes. I'm going to have some friends over tonight for a potluck picnic. I call it that because a) i don't cook and b) because i don't have enough chairs for everyone. I'm excited to finally have some friends come over, but that means I need to do some serious cleaning. 

This week is already looking very busy. I'm booked until Saturday so who knows when I'll get to write again. But thanks for reading, and hey, keep it sassy. 

GOBAMA!

Oh Right, I Have a Blog

Hey. Hi. This is. Awkward.

Here I am creating a blog and I don't even have the decency to write in it for three weeks. I have obviously let you all down. For this I say: I hope you found something better to do with your time than obsess about what I'm doing. I know I did. I mean, if the worst part of my day is that I didn't get a chance to blog, then that's not too bad.

I'm not really sure how I want to do this. There is so much I want to say, but I don't want to ramble on novels at a time. Maybe a nice cliff-notes version will suffice? Let's see what happens if I just free style this. I apologize in advance if it's a bit all over the place.

Uhhhh I went to Portland! A couple Saturdays ago, Jessica, Drew and I piled into a rented car and drove about 3 hours away to see an Apple Festival outside of Portland. It was beautiful. Portland felt a lot like Seattle but with a better layout. Houses tucked into the hills and coffee houses everywhere. Home-y and new age all at the same time. I wish we could have spent more time there.

Isn't that beautiful? Check out that mountain in the background. I was so in love with it that I bought a souvenir shot glass with a picture of it, complete with forest fire. Awesome. We were just there for the day, picking apples out of barrels and mocking the lame corn maze. But they did have pumpkin people. Let me illustrate:

This guy is Tom Hanks from Cast Away. I'm in love with the detail that goes into these things. It was pretty amazing and one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I walked away with a ton of produce and some killer apple cider. Then we went back into the city and bought some coffee while we hung out in the biggest independent bookstore in the country. I saw a Virginia Woolfe book that she bound herself worth $17,000. I know, I'm a rock star. So yes, that is my Portland Adventure. Woot.

What else have I been doing? Oh yes, I'm working as a Lobby Manager in addition to my internship so that I can earn some extra dough. It is pretty entertaining. The people I work with are awesome and the work itself isn't that hard. It's a lot of opening safes and counting money. But I really like that I'm not freaking out about money as much and I feel like it makes spontaneous trips to Portland more of a possibility.

We've had two opening nights at the theatre. Both shows are pretty amazing in their own way. I've become a certifiable stalker of Charlayne Woodard because her one woman show is brilliant. I'm not kidding when I say that I'm giving everyone I know a copy of the script for Christmas. The story is about how she has been an auntie to dozens of kids in her life and has helped to "fill in the gaps." She is one heck of a story teller and is one of the most captivating actresses I've ever seen. Give that woman a Tony. Three Musketeers is doing really well! Families are loving it and that's exciting because kids are rarely seen inside the Rep. We had a family day where kids came in early for Musketeer Boot Camp. They made tunics, hats and swords and then we taught them how to lunge and poke (they had to learn at some point). We even knighted them with a real sword at the end. These kids were loving it. I even wrote the pledge that they chanted at the end promising not to kill each other with their swords. How adorable.

I've been hanging out a lot with Jessica and her roommate Michael. They're pretty much my besties at this point. We like to cook dinner and watch some TV or play Wii after a long day at work. It's nice to have people to just really kick back with. OH but don't get me wrong, I love my roommate. Mollie and I are totally getting along because we're basically the same person. We are both the middle of three daughters, Polish, from the Midwest and have curly brown hair. I'm sold. We don't get to see each other a lot because our schedules don't match up very well. But when we do, we have a ball. Last Saturday we went and had dinner downtown and then caught a movie. A simple and fun night. I'm a lucky chica.

What else? I saw Peter Brady and his wife Adrian at a bar one night. Believe it. Hmmm...I've been working with some high schoolers to help them hone their critical writing skills. They love me. And I love helping them with writing.

Speaking of writing, I've been doing a lot of it. I got put in charge of the Cue Sheet which is a departmental newsletter. I ask heads of departments to e-mail me what is happening, events, new people, anything really and then I have to put it all together and make it interesting to read. Of course it is dripping with sarcasm and wit, I did write it after all. The sad part is that after I send it out, I have to reserve the following hour for answering fan mail and a lot of complaints. I tend to ruffle feathers with what I write and people aren't quite ready for it. But I'm not going to change it. I like the fact that people are reading it. It used to be something that no one read, cared about, or wanted to contribute to. Now it's like a must-read thing. If you want to be cool and have something to talk about at the water cooler then you read what I wrote. Amazing and demanding all at the same time.

I've also been working a lot on the blog for the Rep. I've written a few articles (like me dancing with a Tony winner...I'm getting more and more awesome by the second) and am responsible for Ednotes. I interview Ed and then Drew edits the video. I'm really excited about it. A lot of people have taken notice of it in the Rep and I think it might grow to be a bigger marketing tool which would be awesome because it really is mine and Drew's. Interns making a difference and changing theatre. Loves it.

Let's see. I'm just sitting here racking my brain trying to see if something mildly interesting will spill out. Did I mention Peter Brady? I bet I did. I'll most likely be milking that for the rest of my life. What else? Ummmm there was a fun intern dinner that I went to. It was at this older woman's house and we had this giant mexican spread. We feasted on tacos and then I complimented them on their Thomas Kinkades. I then accidentally ate three cookies with chocolate covered espresso beans on top and have only recently started sleeping again.

I walked to work in the rain one day. It sucked. No one around here carries an umbrella so I feel like a freak holding one. But I'm straightening my hair everyday and there ain't no way I'm letting the rain mess it up. So there.

I'm working my way through Frasier Season One. Holy crap, why haven't I been watching this show my whole life?? It is smart, witty and pretty hilarious. I'm excited about all eleven seasons coming my way. PS mom I want How I Met Your Mother for Christmas. And The Office. I will now also be using this as a christmas list generator. Blogger, thank you for being so multi-facetted.

Speaking of my mom, both of my parents will be coming in two weeks. I'm so excited! We're going to go out and really explore Seattle. When dad was here before it was work work work. Now we're gonna have some fun. Hopefully mom won't go into cardiac arrest when we do the Space Needle. I just want a nice clear day so we can see the mountains. Then I'll be content. We'll probably also...take a ferry, go to the aquarium, do the music experience project, eat thai, meet people at work, you know the works. They should be excited because Seattle is way better than D.C. I'm fully convinced.

Wow. That took quite a while. Sorry 'bout how long this is. But well, you asked for it. I miss you all a lot. Call me, text me, hit me up on facebook and tell me about your life. Here's to love and Frasier Crane.