Want some wood?

Speaking Ring Theatre company is getting rid of some lumber...FOR FREE!!!

We're giving some quality wood away. It is currently assembled as a large shelving unit in our former storage unit. The shelves are like platforms - plywood and 2x4s.

You would just need to pick it up by next Saturday (5/31) at our storage unit at Fullerton and Western. All you'll need is a screw gun or two (battery operated) and a wrench to break it down (plus, some transportation to bring your lumber to it's new home!)

Platforms
* (2) 7ft.longx2ft. wide
* (1) 7ft.x3ft.
* (1) 5ft.x3ft
* (1)10ft.x2 1/2ft. on casters
Some 2x4s (approx 8 qty, 10ft long)

If you're interested, just leave a comment here, or drop me a line
dianna(underscore)driscoll(at)hotmail(dot)com.

I'm an eternal pessimist

Well, not in my regular life....just in my sports life.

You see, dear readers, I'm from Boston. Being a sports fan has always been....an experience.
Other than the great run the Celtics had while Larry Bird was in residence, things have been pretty dismal. Not ALWAYS dismal, but the status quo was always "do good for awhile and then dissapoint them in the end". In my lifetime alone I've watched the Patriots get stuffed by the Bears at the Super Bowl in '85, the ball go through Buckner's legs in '86.... you see where I'm going....

So, since I'm so used to it SUCKING, it is a strange feeling when things have been going so.... WELL... as of late.

The typical Boston sports thing is to have something as BEAUTIFUL as the Patriots going undefeated last season, and then losing in one of the biggest Super Bowl upsets in years.

So basically I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop right now.
I'll let you know if it does. :)

::sniffle::

So, Funeral home, Church Service, Chapel at the Cemetary, plus a big Polish buffet meal.

My eyes are sore from crying and my tummy is sore from polish sausage and sauerkraut.

Rest in peace Elizabeth "Betty" Kunath - you were a wonderful Aunt to my Sara, and you were a pretty freaking awesome wife, mother, grandmother and above all, a great lady.

"Dude..."

I wanted to share, for those "Lost-ies" out there (read: Joe & Sara), Jorge Garcia who plays Hugo "Hurley" Reyes on the show maintains a Blog called "Dispatches from the Island".
Now, he OF COURSE can't talk about major plot points, but he's a funny writer, and the glimpse into things like craft services, etc are pretty funny.
There was a long stretch during the Writer's Strike where he went on vacation to Milwaukee, and experienced his first snow, and also the WONDER that is the Mars Cheese Castle. (I have held the exact same cheese in my hand for Sara, saying "Look, Wisconsin cheese!!!!")
It's good times. Check it out.

And now, onto better things....

"Lost" is just KILLING me these days - the show just rocks my world and I'm going to be very sad when it is no longer on.
Last night's episode was fantastic, and I cannot WAIT for the 2 hour finale on the 29th!!!

Thank goodness...

I would like to wholeheartedly thank John Edwards.

And I'm sure the rest of the Democratic Party would like to as well.
(Well, the Obama supporters, that is...)

"Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone..."

As I stated in my last post, Sara's Aunt was really ill. In the "not sure how much longer" kind of way.
Well, she passed away quietly yesterday morning. I'm so sad for Sara's family. Her Aunt Betty was one of the swetest people - always taking care of others and such stuff. Christmas always happened at her place, and it was always a fun time.

Keep Sara's family in your thoughts...

"some...may say...I'm wishing my days away.."

what a whirlwind weekend!
And by whirlwind, I mean a whirlwind of emotions. Lots of ups and downs....




The ups?

*Sara and I went to see "The Police" at Allstate Arena Saturday night. Believe me when I say EFFING AWESOME. Elvis Costello opened and he just rocked. Sara and I looked at each other and kept saying "why do we not own more of his stuff?"


*Yesterday was Mother's Day - I called my mom and chatted for about a 1/2 hour - it was great to talk to her. We also did a get together at Sara's mom's - barbecue and bonfire. The weather was sucking, so we grilled on the front porch and then chilled inside all night (no bonfire). We had a great time - lots of laughs.


The downs?

*Sara's aunt is really sick. "They" aren't sure how much longer. It's really sad, her aunt is one of the sweetest ladies. I just makes my heart ache.


*and if my heart already wasn't aching enough.... There's a tattoo I have, which some have seen, some haven't. Here it is:

It's a beautiful memorial tattoo for my dad. I love it. It was designed by a great friend of mine, and I treasure it. If you check out one of the details, though, you'll see the second date is "5.11.88". Yeah, that was 20 years ago yesterday.

I had my little cry first thing in the morning, with a resolve to not let it get me down this year -- but you gotta admit - that "20 year anniversary" thing is pretty heavy to handle. There are so many things in my life that my dad had to miss, it's too painful to think of them. So, what makes me feel better every year is I think of the things he DIDN'T miss. He was present for the birth of all 4 of his children. He was lucky enough to find love twice. He got to be the PROUD father of a great local baseball player (my bro). He got to do lots of things.

Those that know me know that I'm a rabid baseball fan, with a devotion to the Red Sox above all other things. I was brought up in a baseball household, what with Danny playing for as long as I can remember. One of the coolest things my dad was able to do, was bring me to my very first Red Sox game - and I TOTALLY remember it. It was cold fall night - late in the season, and we were playing the Detroit Tigers (it was a makeup game for an earlier rainout). It was a Friday night, and my boys won their game, 6-1. I remember cheering with my dad, huddling under the blanket, and cracking open peanuts together. We had a great time.

So, 5 years later, when my dad unexpectedly passed away, my stepmother was going through his things, and she was cleaning out his wallet and found this:

Yeah, thats a ticket from the game - and he had written on it "Dianna's first game". He had kept it in his wallet for *5 YEARS*. I cried like a baby when my stepmother gave me that ticket.

Over the years, I have kept it in a strongbox, and in a safe, but now I actually keep it in MY wallet. I know, i know.... my wallet could be lost or stolen, and it would be gone forever. That's true - but I would always have the memory of that ticket and I would always KNOW that it existed. And I truly feel that the ticket BELONGS in my wallet. And that's where it's going to stay.

I miss you so much at times dad that it aches. I look at that ticket and I look at pictures of you and I wish with all my heart that you were here. I just want to hug you and tell you that I love you.

I love you dad and I miss you very much.

Feeling hungry?

How do you make a "Tired Dianna" sandwich?

Well, first you need the base, your bread. My bread consists of a 40-hr a week day job. I'm on hour 39 of my 40 RIGHT NOW. My bread is imitation wonder bread - it looks tough but one swipe of the butter knife and it falls to bits.
Then you add your condiments, which is any EXTRA work you may do during the week. A light week will get you nice things like "Grey Poupon" or "pesto". Tonight is hours 12 through 19.5 of my almost 20 hour work week at my SECOND JOB. Not quite Miracle Whip yet, but it certainly wasn't Hellman's either.
Then there's your meat. The meat represents how much sleep you've had. The more fou-fou and expensive sounding the meat is, the more sleep you've had. This wasn't quite a SPAM week of sleep, more an "olive loaf" week.
ANd finally, there's your cheese. Cheese represents the amount of crap you've had to deal with. The better the cheese, the better your week went. I had a "fake american cheese in those cellophane wrappers" kind of weeks. No, not Kraft singles, the CHEAP version of that. Not an out and out crappy week (represented lovingly by welfare cheese), but just bad enough - you direct people into a theatre during a downpour and tell me what kind of week YOU had :)

Now, when I woke up this morning, I thought my sandwich was pretty bad. It could totally get worse, but I wasn't sure how that could be.
Then I got my side salad of cramps and my menstruation back of chips and knew my week was done.

over and out.

Really?

40 hours at day job

plus

19 hours at Blue Man

equals

SLEEPY DIANNA

And I'm not even working on a show right now.... Man, I am getting way to old for this.

want to...

I want to apologize to someone, but I know it's dumb to do it.

Maybe some day.

Not today.

"The Road"

I finished "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy a couple of days ago.

I've needed a couple of days to step away from it in order to write down my thoughts. And, in all honosty, I'm still sorting through some of them. It's a DARK and horribly depressing tale, so you need to wrap your head around some pretty horrific images.

Suffice to say, this is easily one of the best books I've read in a long time.

If you haven't read this very deserving Pulitzer-Prize winning book, hurry out and do it now.

Non-equity jeffs

Chris Jones has a pretty comprehensive list of the nominees, and for ONCE I actually know a bunch of people and wanted to say congrats!

First off, one of the best shows I saw all of last year was New Leaf's "The Dining Room". And lo and behold, nominations for both "Best Director / Play" and "Best Ensemble"!! Kudos New Leaf! I had actually initially gone to the show because one of the actors, Marsha Harmon, temped in my office for almost a month, and we (of course) talked about theatre every day - so when the show was up and running, some gals from the office and I went to see Marsha. What I saw was such a lovely, nuanced production - the ease with which the actors slid from role to role, and the way the theatre space was simply PERFECT for this show was unbelievable. (On a side note, I'm dissapointed that fellow theatre blogger Nick Keenan was not nominated for his sound design for this one... it was just wonderful, and so completely essential)

'Best Production / Play' kudos go out to my pals at Steep, for getting their show "The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui" nominated. I worked with these guys last fall, Assistant Directing their production of "Coronado", and I never have anything but praise for these guys (and gals now, too!). Congrats Steep!

Brian Parry was nominated for "Three Hotels" (I worked with Brian on the aforementioned "Coronado"), and Dana Tretta was nominated for "Cabaret" (we worked together on SRT's "Caucasian Chalk Circle"). Congrats you two!!!

Fellow Theatre blogger Rebecca Zellar's company GreyZelda recieved an actor nomination for their production of "A View from The Bridge". Congrats to your company, Rebecca, forthe recognition! (and, congrats to your actor, Nicolle!!!)

And finally, a dual nomination for Kimberly Morris, for her costume AND mask design for Lifeline's "Island of Dr. Moreau". Kim's sister Karyn is a friend of mine (and soon-to-be-sister-in-law to friend and fellow blogger Michael Brownlee), and I've never heard anything but MOUNTAINS of praise for Kim's work - I'll be sure to congratulate her in person at Karyn and Michael's wedding (which is in only 36 days - did you know that Mikey???)

Congrats all around!

for crying out LOUD

I cannot WAIT until people stop talking about Rev. Wright.
The distraction from the true issues is driving me NUTS.