a kleenex tale

(cross-posted from my LJ)
I’m going to tell you the tale of a vacuum cleaner.

A very important vacuum cleaner.

Back in 2000, I was living in Chicago (for the first time) and living with one of my closest friends, Jenn. We had known each other and had been close since pretty much the first day we met, which was back in January of 1994.
Well, in trying to be more “adult” and purchase practical things for the apartment, I bought this Bissell vacuum cleaner. Not the best vacuum cleaner, but it was over 100$, so that was a lot for me back then….
About a year later, I picked up and moved back to Massachusetts, and when I did, I inadvertently left behind a couple of things. The dish set that was a going away gift for me & Jenn, a mixer I liked and simply forgot…. and the vacuum cleaner.

We have since joked over the years about how “it’s right in our closet, if you ever want it back” and I would always protest and say no worries.

Jenn had started a theatre company just before I moved back to Massachusetts in 2001, and when Sara and I moved BACK to Chicago, it was natural to ease into becoming a company member of that theatre company. I’ve been a company member for over a year and a half now, and I’ve grown to view my fellow company members as family. That being said, due to the emotional and raw nature of the art we do sometimes, much like family - we don’t always like each other, and sometimes conflicts arise.

We (the company) decided over this past weekend that in order to have any hope of moving forward as a theatre company, we needed to let Jenn go from the company. The reasons are there, and it’s not my place to discuss them in a public forum. That being said, though, all of our company’s props, costumes, lights, etc, have always been stored in Jenn’s basement. She requested we remove all of it within 48 hours, which we agreed would be the right thing.

I’m the only one with a large enough “common” space in my basement, so all the stuff is now slated to reside at my place. The rest of the company emptied out Jenn’s basement last night, and then they met me at my place, where we started to unload the truck as fast as we could.

and then I saw it.

tucked in the back of the truck, unnoticed by the rest of the company….

the vacuum cleaner.

my heart fell.

and I knew.

we’re done.

I knew that we didn’t have a good chance to recover our friendship from the mess of the theatre company stuff, but I did have a grain of hope.

not anymore.

I don’t even need the vacuum, but I also can’t bring myself to throw it away.

*YAWN*

9:37 am
i'm awake. i guess i can't complain considering Mace being woken by the construction noise at 6:30....
I'm hungry. i should make some brekkie. I hacve the tools to make a variety of things, but I'm not sure what I actually WANT.... so here I sit --- contemplating breakfast.

Only 5 more performances of the show. Thus begins the most frustrating week and a half....
I guarantee you, we'll have plenty of empty seats this weekend, and then NEXT weekend, for closing, ALL the people who haven't seen it yet SUDDENLY remember "shit! I have to go see the show!" and we end up selling out, and having a waiting list, and turning pople away.....
folks - come during the middle - come the weekend BEFORE closing. If you come closing weekend, you may not get in. This happens with EVERY SHOW IN THE CITY.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind selling out - we could certainly USE IT, it's the people who don't end up making it in.... it's sad.

oh well - I can't change the way people think....

*******************************************

there's a possibility I may need to go to Providence, RI to attend a training session for the hotel. As Providence is only an hour or so from Boston, the ability to actually see people and hang out while I'm there is very high.
Plus, who can complain about maybe being able to see he very last of the fall foliage on the hotel's dime? :)

i love embarrassing videos of me....

in the interest of ALWAYS being able to poke a little fun at myself....

My old pal Paul Bisson recently converted a bunch of his old camcorder movies he took of some wonderfully embarressing college cast parties of ours onto DVD, and he sent me a link to one....

he posted it publicly on his LiveJournal, so who am I to not share that with the rest of the world?


Bear in mind, folks, that this video is 7 1/2 years ago, and I'm a terribly immature 23 (and obviously can't hold my wine)

Enjoy - Happy Halloween


http://www.livejournal.com/users/alex7000/21142.html

great e-mail

Myf friend Molly headed down to New Orleans a few weeks ago, and she just got back and sent this e-mail.
thought I'd share.....

******************************************************************************

Hey Folks,

Just thought I would let everyone know that I am back from Louisiana safe and sound. I think I am experiencing a little culture shock right now, but am doing fine and am readjusting to normal life after one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I spent 2 1/2 weeks working at the River Center which was the largest shelter in Baton Rouge, housing 7,000 people at it's peak, the large majority of whom were from the superdome (Some had been sent to texas and then evacuated back to Baton Rouge when Rita was about to hit). The other large portion of our population was from St. Charles which is west of New Orleans and was Flooded during Rita.

The last week and a half I drove a truck delivering water MRE's and other food stuffs to shelters allover Louisiana and a few just over the border on the coast of Mississippi. I have rolls of film of the area but this crappy dial up connection won't let me attach any of them so maybe later

The people I met are some of the strongest and most inspiring folks in the world from the New Orleans evacuees, the families of Waveland MS, who are now living in tents where their homes used to be with a dignity that is undescribable, the local volunteers who not only took evacuees ionto their homes in Baton Rouge but spent several days a week volunteering to work at shelters and drive trucks, and my fellow Red Cross volunteers who have the most amazing capacity for companssion and self sacrifice.

If you have any questions about my experience or want to know how to help, donate money or time or especially just write or call to say hi please get in touch. Missed y'all!

XOX

Molly

congrats

(cross - posted from LJ, etc)

Dear Chicago,

From "my" Sox, to "your" Sox.

Congrats.

Nothing quite like taking 2 curses and getting them GONE 2 years in a row.

(Cubbies? are you listening? you're next...)


Sorry, Houston, your winless streak just wasn't long enough to contend with the hunger of these players.


Congratulations, South-Siders....

You deserve it!

Love,

Dianna

google ads

so I've decided to try out the Google ads. I figure a couple of bucks wouldn't hurt (if any one CLICKS on them that is!)

holy CRAPPPPPPPPP

(cross-posted from LJ)
::dianna's jaw DROPS to the floor::

The pre-sale starts tomorrow for the FIONA APPLE show 12/4 at the Riv.

oh.
my.
god.


::picks jaw up off of floor::

ok, who's coming with.... Jo, I assume your ass is there... :)

a new page

dealing with living alone was weird....

dealing with being single will be weirder...

baffled.....

how do you nominate someone for the "highest court in the land" who has NEVER BEEN A JUDGE BEFORE??????

Red Sox just clinched the A.L. wild card.....

amen, sistah....

::sigh::

I need a vacation

FINALLY

after what was probably the LONGEST turnover process KNOWN TO MANKIND......

i FINALLY turnedover my keys to my landlord last night (the new folks should be moving in as we speak..... talk about waiting till the last minute)
I frankly allowed him to walk over me a bit in some sposts mostly because I JUST WANTED IT TO BE OVER.......

i mean, the apartment looks better than it ever did while we were living there (except for the boring kitchen, which had to be re-painted - NO MORE RED KITCHEN! boo hoo!) - so, I don't know what his big deal was.
he's such a schmuck.

This whole episode just verifies the fact that my number one goal in my life is to save money aside this year so that I can MOVE THE HELL OUT.


There's a pal of mine here at work who is transferring to Houston in a couple of weeks, and he was telling me about the apartment he's rented. (and BTW, I'll miss him terribly)
it's in an apartment "community" kind of like a subdivision - he's a 10 minute walk to the hotel he'll be working at, and the place is a duplex, 2 bedroom, yadda yadda....
$800 a month, dammit.

makes me REALLY want to move out from the clutches of my landlord....

(not that HOUSTON sounds attractive, just the apartment price....)

...because Thales said so....

ok, ok....

i posted something......... happy?



So I just watched a movie I'd never seen before (god bless HBO), and I feel a little nerdy because I actually got a little caught up in it.

It was "The Day After Tomorrow".

I know, I know......

I was actually yelling at the TV when they had left the library to get supplies, and the eye of the storm passed over..... I'm like, "get back inside! get back inside!"

and I ACTUALLY got misty at the end when the helicopters flew over Manhattan and it showed all the other people who had survived appearing on the roofs of the tall buildings.

::sniffle::

shut up man, nothing wrong with enjoying a summer blockbuster 2 years late!

I also have Ladder 49 from NetFlix - I'll take care of that either today or tomorrow so I can send both back to Netflix (the other being West WIng season 4 - disc 2)
That on was in the mailbox when I got home last night at 10, and I didn't go to bed until after i watched all the episodes (i think there was 4?)


Oh, and "big ups" to Jen for having the gang over last night. Jen, love the new place, and loved the sangria! All the snackies were delish!
We'll have to all get together again soon.

Until then...

Hey Jo.... 185 cellular phones walked into a bar and..........

godDAMMIT

It's just WONDERFUL to know [sarcasm intended], that no matter how much my self and those I am closest with can celebrate their pride (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8367448/) there's always something out there to bring me back to harsh reality. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8349415/)

son of a bitch.
happy fucking pride

...scraping by......

So, the big move out happened just one week ago. Sara packed up the essentials, and headed out to the suburbs to live with her mom, probably for a year - we'll see.

I am now living alone, and in a single paycheck situation, which is fine, but the first time of paying rent (next week) all by my lonesome will be a stretch.
I've done some overtime here at work, and the hourly pay for my time and 1/2 is PRETTY nice. I will defintely have enough to pay the rent, and have a scrape of money left over - the challenge becomes this - the next paycheck isn't for another 2 weeks. Next month is when I' ll have to start putting aside a couple hundred dollars from the "mid month" paycheck, so that I don't have to use EVERY LAST PENNY of the "end of month" paycheck just for rent. I mean, I do need to EAT and all.
::grin::

The bills are paid up (and in some cases, slightly OVERpaid - Sara and I got into this habit with some of the smaller bills, like Electric and Gas, if the bill was for 36.42, we'd send 40$), and I've gotten a 30 day CTA pass, so I'm good until Mid July for transit.

My friend Jo has a line on a part time job for me over at Comedy Sports, where she is an intern.
It's not a lot of money per hour, but if hired, I could make my own schedule (basically, only get scheduled for nights I CAN be there) - which will work great for me.
Now, I just need to go ahead and fill that application out so I can get started.

All I need between now and that glorious "mid month" paycheck arriving on 7/14, is maybe 20$ worth of groceries (money goes FAR at Aldi's), and maybe 2 rolls of quarters for laundry.





Any donations will be kindly accepted.

Content, content, content

I just realized i haven't updated my blog in justover 2 months...

what the fuck?

well, I was PM for a show, then my best friend's wedding, then i was cast in a show and was rehearsing, then I had a tragic death in the family, and then the show i was in opened.
This past weekend is actually the first one I have had almost entirely to myself since about Easter (i know, i know - whine, whine, whine....)

I' m now in day 3 of "living alone".

Things are ok (so far). Honstly, the weirdest part is not having Sara next to me in bed at night. We talk on the phone (every day so far) and we'll see each other when we can, but not being next to her in bed each night will be the hardest thing to get used to. I hope I never "get used" to it. I honostly don't think I will. I'm sure I'll discover some more "weird" things as time moves on....


***********
On a completely different note, I'm contributing to a reading tomorrow night of a play written by my friend Michael. It's weird, because I know he reads my blog from time to time, so I dont' want to gush too much (his head would get WAY to big...)
Suffice to say, the play is just beautiful, and I love it.
The theatre company is contemplating producing it as a show, and I certainly hope that we do. There's a lot of "Michael" in the play, and since I know him, it made some parts difficult to read, but I'm glad I did.
It's just wonderful, and I hope the reading tomorrow night goes well (::crossing fingers::).


that's all for now.

May 11

(cross posted from my livejournal)
May 11, 1988


Today marks 17 years.

I miss you Dad. I can without hesitation that I think of you EVERY day.

I move through my life day by day wondering "what would Dad have thought of this? Would he approve?
would he disapprove? would he think I'm funny? would he think I'm a GOOD PERSON?"

I have lived more than 1/2 my life without my dad. That 13 years of having him around seems so small in
comparison to my 30 years on this earth. It's bizarre to think that someone who had SUCH an impact on me
becoming the person I am today hasn't even been around for almost 20 years.


Dan Driscoll was a quiet guy, except around those he knew and loved.

My dad was a silly guy, given to bursts of goofiness, usually involving the hose, or the sprayer by the sink.He loved sports. He loved his Red Sox. He loved his wife. He loved his 4 kids. He was a GENEROUS dad.
Generous with his time, generous of himself, generous of his 24 pack of miller lite :)

In 11 days, he would have been 53. It always makes the pain just a little more poignant, knowing he died so close
to his birthday. And since he shared a birthday with my mom (his 1st of 2 wives), it has made all my mom's birthday
celebrations feel hollow. Even though they were no longer married when he passed away, my parents had always
been GREAT friends. Almost like the twins that their astrological sign embodies. My mom has even admitted to me
that she always has a pang of sadness as each birthday passes, and she no longer can share it with her "twin".


I've spent the last 17 years marking each May 11th that goes by in completely different ways. Some years I still cry,
and some I just wonder. Wonder how life would be if he were still around.

I've only been to his gravesite twice in the 17 years. Each time was painful. He is buried in what is possibly
the most GORGEOUS cemetary in New England. It makes no difference. His little plot is tucked away off to the side,
away from the famous monuments, away from the flowering dogwood trees.


I'm not truly sure what I'm writing here - just really a stream of consiousness about something I've always struggled with.

So today is just a Wednesday, tucked in the middle of May, and altough it doesn't look it on the outside,
my head will be FILLED today with thoughts of Daniel R. Driscoll Sr.
Born May 22, 1952 - Died May 11, 1988 ..... 11 days short of his 36th birthday.

I miss you so much sometimes Dad that it aches.

I love you.

e-mail or die

there are some days that if it weren't for e-mailing back and forth with Michael, I'd probably DIE of boredom.

grumble, grumble

i hate when you post something that was personal, and those that comment identify themselves only as "anonymous".

::grumble, grumble::

life update

I know Sara mentioned it in her Live Journal, but I thought I’d take a stab at discussing it, too.

So, Sara and I have made a WISE and MATURE decision. We have decided to move into separate apartments. We had been planning, once our lease is up, to move into the smaller apartment downstairs. Well, when the lease is up, I’ll be moving down there (the price is actually DIFFERENT for 1 person, as opposed to 2), and Sara will be moving into a Studio.

There are a lot of reasons for this, some too personal to discuss.

Let it be known – we are NOT, I repeat NOT breaking up. We feel that if we lived separately for awhile, that we may appreciate the things the other does for us and not take the other for granted.

So this is an experiment --- and we both hope it works out well.

I’ll have Maxwell, the big fat cat, with me, and Sara is taking the kittens. The dog will most likely be going to her mom’s.

It’s a weird time, though, until this actually happens. We have 3 months to plan it, since our lease is not up til June 30, and it feels weird to be EXCITED about this --- even though we are! J

We are both looking forward to having some space, but being apart is the only thing that’s really bugging us. Sara is trying really hard to move forward with the Culinary School thing, and I have the Theatre Company. Needless to say – we should both be fairly busy. The concern is, of course, that without adequate time TOGETHER, things may crumble.

My theory is that is that if we REALLY love each other, and are REALLY meant to be together, than we will be able to overcome any obstacles we have in our path.

Wish us luck.

check it out...

Look at that COVER ART!!!!!






88 more days til July 16th...... not that I'm counting :)

just in case you were wondering.....

.... I adore Fiona Apple.



'nuff said.

first day

..... it's my first day in the Sales office.....



i'm scared out of my gourd...................

update.... because i was told to.

Ok, so .... no one EVER comments on my blog (probably because only 3 people read it (that i know of! ), and on my last post, which was admittedly awhile ago, there's a comment.
"update this blogger. right now"

who am i to shy away from a demand like that?

ok, so life....
Ok, so being Production Manager of the theatre company is a little weird. I thought I'd be DOING more? But I forgot it's more about making sure people are all doing THEIR jobs, and keeping the particular show on target for opening night. So while I think I'm doing a fair job of keeping OTHER people on task, I feel as though I'm not doing much else.
(ok, being the bookkeeper for the company helps fill in some time. in fact, THAT is pretty time consuming)
I guess I shouldn't complain. I'm also reading plays for our annual playwriting contest. That may sound easy, just sitting down and reading some plays --- but you try it. Sit down with a stack of one-acts and see how long YOU can go before your eyes start to cross :)
Yesterday I was at Kevin's house reding plays along with Mike & Chantelle. Great group of people. :) and, i LOVE to just gab about movies and TV with Kevin & Michael.... it makes me feel like LESS of a geek..... sometimes. We need to hang out more.

One thing we were chatting about was Six Feet Under. I'm bursting with anticipation for the series to start back up again. Not to mention, the season I missed, season 3, will be out on DVD sooon, so I'll FINALLY be all caught up. Heh. Just in time for the series to come to an end.
classic.

Go see some great theatre. Right now.

http://www.steeptheatre.com/current.html

My friends Kevin & Tony are in this production.....

and I just saw it last night.

un-fucking-believable.

go and see it. now.

wow....

holy cow......

talk about COURAGE.



you f***ing GO girl! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

(cross-posted from my LJ)


Just want to hijack this puplic forum to say Happy Valentine's day to my sweetie!


Sara, I love you with all my heart - each new day is an adventure! :)

Decisions, decisions............

I can't decide which picture I like better.....
Is it Tedy Bruschi?


or, is it Coach Belichik?


OR....MAYBE it's this great picture of MR.TOM BRADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


well, I guess the picture doesn't REALLY matter ---- what matters is that they won
ON MY FREAKING BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

t-minus......

well.... as I write this it's 10:46 am, and I have about 13 hours and 14 minutes left to being 29....

am I really counting? I keep telling people that 30 isn't worrying me, but I wonder if deep down it really is? it's possible. i mean, I always have a tendency to gloss over something that's bothering me by making a joke about it.

i know it'll see morbid, but I seriously think it's the "closer to death" thing. one day soon, dear friends, i will write a tidy little entry about how much i fear death. i'm not talking a generalized fear, i'm talking "wake up in the middle of the night, panting, & in a cold sweat" kind of fear.

wow.
this has CERTAINLY turned into a very pleasant "day before before my birthday" post.
i'm glad i could bring everyone down
(dianna = LOSER)

anyway.................................
i'm VERY excited about my party tonight.
i mean, i had people fly long distances to celebrate MY birthday. this is totally weird to me. the low self-esteem Dianna can't believe that ANYONE would go to so much trouble to celebrate me.
well, i was wrong. Dom, Amy, Jen & Erik flew in from Boston, and Molly is driving down from Milwaukee.
Dude, this is crazy.


Well, I need to go and cook breakfast for my LOVAH.

I'll post more tomorrow regarding the party.

T-Minus 6 days......

I am officially 29 years and 359 days.

I'm hanging onto that "29" til the bitter end....

rambles...........

I envy those that are great writers.
Those that write great.

I always feel as though the things I write are akin to pure drivel. Nothing but a waste of bandwidth. Another useless post broadcast out into cyberspace. Maybe people will read it, maybe they won't.....

Life is pretty full right now....
Between Theatre, home, birthday party, baby showers, friends coming from out of town, excitement over the superbowl, a new addition to our menagerie of pets.......

I need a break.

This coming Sunday will officially be the first day in over 2 weeks with nothing on the schedule.

Don't call me.

I'll be sleeping.

Meet "Mo-Mo"

anyone wanna come over with a digital camera and take some shots of our new DOG??? :)

yes, I said Dog.

Here's the story:
Sara's best friend Jessica just broke up with her boyfriend. They had bought a puppy together (folks, don't ever do this unless you KNOW you'll be together a long time...). The Ex doesn't want the dog, and Jessica's parents won't let her keep the dog in the house.....


so.....

Sara and I are now proud (partial) owners of a 4 month old, pure-bred Golden Retriever puppy.
A cutie-pie little girl puppy named Mo-Mo.
(yeah, i know.... the name sucks, but we have no choice)


This dog is so freaking cute, I don't have words for it.

There are now offically MORE animals than people in our house.....

crazy......

Last night..........

...... after getting in from having dinner at Grand Lux Cafe, please observe the following conversation:

Dianna says to Sara, who is in the kitchen -
"Hey... what're you doing in there?"

Sara says back to Dianna, who is in the bathroom -
"...eatin' quesadilla.... you?"

Dianna says back -
"...water, tums & a shit"

::sigh::

so..... we opened.

::big exhalation of breath::

good crowd tonight, the actors were just ROLLING along -- TOTALLY "bringing the funny", and the big stanky puddle in the basement was taken care of.
It's ALLLLLL good!

Seriously, though. The show went really well. From what I understand, we had 3 reviewers there, and a whole lot of friends. LOTS of laughs. and I didn't screw up any cues. :)

My arm feels a little better, and the cold sore... well.... it's ok.... whatever....


After the show, we had to take the set apart and store it. That went SUPRISINGLY smooth -- it was great. lots of teamwork, and we were done in 20 minutes TOPS.

Then, after that, we all headed over to Mickey's Bar & Grill and had some celebratory drinks.

In a little while, I'm gonna havce some celebratory SLEEP.

so, right now... all is good. :)

Dianna needs a drink

let me give you a list. it's short but sweet.

* pulled a muscle in my arm. this makes life difficult, as I need to climb a ladder to get to the booth in the theatre. and by ladder, i mean a set of rungs screwed into the wall, so i need to pull myself up.

* flood in the basement of the theatre last night. all drains were backed up. including the toilets. our paying customers last night needed to use the bathroom at Twist, the restaurant next door. and with today's weather, I don't think the water is going to subside.

and last but CERTAINLY not least:
* 2 words: cold sore.

i'm a dork

i needed to be reminded by my friend Michael B. that I haven't updated my blog in awhile.

Not that anyone routinely reads my blog..... except for Michael... :)

So, instead of a real update or story (lazy), here's a funny picture posted today in my pal Mace's blog.


Notice how only the back of my head is labeled as a "drunk". There is no persuasive evidence that the FRONT of me was drunk as well.

(unless of course you find other pictures from that night....Isn't there one out there of me licking Mace's boob?)

Come see this show people.....

My theatre company's latest production opens next week.
We have 2 preview performances, Monday & Tuesday @ 8pm - $5 admission
The show will officially open on Wednesday the 12th - 8pm performance.

It runs for 4 weeks hence, every Mon, Tue & Wed @ 8pm.


Funny, funny, funny stuff.....