Salt

Ever since Professor Gates was arrested (and then released) the other day, I have tried to apply a huge grain of salt to the whole affair. Yes, this is easy to do for me becauseI am white and have never experienced racism - HOWEVER, grain of salt nonetheless.

While it is certainly likely that the officer was simply doing his job and arresting an unhelpful combatitive man, it is also just as likely that the cop was racist and just profiled the whole situation.

And while it is likely that the officer was asking unneccesary questions and not answering Gates' simple questions, it is also equally as likely that a man who has probably experienced racism before approached the entire situation with his OWN prejudices against the cops and wasn't gonna be helpful no matter what.

I was not there, so I'll never reallyknow what happened, so again - grain of salt for everyone involved.

Now, every piece of reporting out there I've seen have all said things like travesty, racism, profiling...no grains of salt from anyone.



Except now.....

Read the following article from Dr. Boyce Watkins (originally appearing on the website thegrio.com). Watkins says: "What is abundantly clear is that this is NOT the case of a poor Black male being exploited by the racist, classist power structure. "

And then there's the picture....

















I see a policeman with his hand out trying to calm Prof Gates down....I see Prof Gates look like he's yelling "Help".....I see a black officer in the foreground....I see him cuffed in front (which is actually a sign from the cops that they didn't really feel threatened by him)

what do you see?


ETA - I was just reading over this entry and realized I didn't link to the article.... idiot..."DD"

A loophole just big enough

Some friends of mine (like Don) have blogged recently about the big "affordable healthcare" issue swirling around politics right now. Sometimes within the debate, the amount of numbers and statistics thrown out there make my brain fry...just a little...
However, I was thinking earlier about my own personal healthcare, which is not bad as far as I'm concerned. I get paid every 2 weeks, and from each paycheck I pay 3.11 in dental, 15.29 in medical & 4.04 in vision.
Sara is on my insurance as well - we are VERY lucky that my job offers partner benefits - and thats for everything. So, there's an additional line item where an added amount for dental, medical & vision is added on just for Sara to pay for HER coverage.

Here's where it gets nutty - follow me....
(in the following paragraphs I am simply being critical of the PROCESS, this is by no means a judgement of my employer - I respect the fact they are doing best they can)

Ok, so since Sara is not a taxable dependant, my job does not cover the TAX incurred with her coverage, so that charge is passed on to me.

Let me 'splain. After my gross earnings are calculated, there is a charge for my employers cost added to my "earnings". And then, my taxes are figured off of THAT total. Then under the deductions area, that charge that is ADDED up above, is subtracted down below.

So, I am TAXED at a higher rate just so that I can have Sara covered. If I were married to a man, I would just qualify for a family plan, and not only would I not be taxed at a higher rate, our coverage could be deducted pre-tax. (right now, my coverage is deducted pre-tax, but Sara's isn't...).
This isn't my job's fault, there is no law in place that guarantees coverage for my spouse. Beause let's be honost - Sara isn't my girlfriend or my "life-partner", she's my WIFE, legally she is my COMMON LAW WIFE. In about 3 weeks, we are celebrating 8 freaking years together. That's longer than either one of my mom's first 2 marriages. We're working on the baby thing (once she's done with school), and thankfully she has decent medical coverage so that we can get good pre natal care, and once the kid(s) are born, they'll qualify for coverage as well.

But I'll be taxed higher....

July 21, 1984

Happy Birthday, baby brother. I miss you....

Favorite images from NYC trip

Unfortunately, when you're on weight watchers, this is as close as you can get to "the best bagels in the world" ::sigh::









Imagine what the musical world would be like now if this memorial mural had never had to be done.







yeah.... first time face to face with Frida.... kept myself together long enough to take a good picture. Then I sat on a bench across the room and looked at her for about 10 minutes. amazing.










Top of the Empire State Building at sunset.
Nice.







There's a placque in front that reads:
"For three decades this sculpture stood in the plaza of the World Trade Center. Entitled "The Sphere" , it was conceived by artist Fritz Koenig as a symbol fo world peace. It was damaged during the tragic events of September 11, 2001, but endures as an icon of hope and the indestructable spirit of this country. The Sphere was placed here on March 11, 2002 as a temporary memorial to all who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.
The eternal flame was ignited on September 11, 2002 in honor of all those who were lost. Their spirit and sacrifice will never be forgotten.



"Statue of Liberty! I crush your head! I crush your head!










Right near the "registry room" at Ellis Island, they were restoring some support columns when they uncovered a bunch of handwritten notes and pictures scribbled on thecolumns by the immigrants while they waited to be processed. Most things were in a completly different language -but the emotion certainly showed through.

Stealing from Bob

So, Bob (or, Devil Vet as some know him) does a regular thing on his blog entitled "Favorite Things this Week", and it's usually an image of some kind that he particularly likes.


I'm stealing the idea.

I'll call it something else of course (maybe I'll just call it "stealing from Bob"), and I won't post it every week, but nonetheless posting the images will become more common.


This week, Sara and I went to NYC, and we went to the big museums. There were some pieces of art that astounded me (that Matisse is BIG), and others that moved me (Frida, I love you...), but nothing made me THINK and feel as much as THIS piece did.
























The painting is simply called "Woman Ironing", and our pal Pablo painted it in 1904. It was clearly done during his "Blue Period", and it certainly does a good job of evoking THAT emotion for me. I stared at the damn thing for the longest time. I just couldn't get over her left shoulder. that pointy left shoulder. SHe's so thin, and obviously working hard on something. her hair is mussed so I assume she's hot and sweaty. Thin and tired. and yet..... look at her face.... just a hint of a grin.
Amazing.

"I eat too much....I drink too much... I want too much...too much!"

The 3 people who read my blog know me face to face, so it's pretty obvious when I say... I'm a heavy gal. I sort of always have been.

I've tried a couple of times to track the genesis of my weight gain, and while laziness and poor food choice is the biggest factor, some of my worst habits began when I was younger.

Between 2nd and 6th grade, my mom's second husband's alcoholism was truly spiraling downward. I hated being anywhere NEAR the guy. During that time, I didn't have a lot of friends, so rather than be out of the house all the time, I retreated to my room. This is when I started devouring huge books at a time, and always with a snack in my hand. Always.

I would go to the library and smuggle candy bars in. I would hide candy and junk food at home in my drawers and down it all while reading some 1,000 page book. I started to get a little chunky, and as I slowly put on weight, things got worse and worse at home. By the time my mom threw him out, I was in the 6th grade, and I'm pretty sure I was well over 150llbs. And I also starting developing the twins - my collosal pals up front that made be a TRUE roly-poly (round in the middle and huge on top).

During 7th grade I was having a very rough time adjusting to junior high. The kids were all new, and they were cruel. Time for another candy bar. Plus my dad was really sick that whole year. 7th grade sucked. And then in May, Dad passed away. It kicked me in the pants a little. I started taking better care of myself (um, meaning I showered every day now), and started wearing makeup to school, wearing nicer outfits - trying DESPERATELY to make friends and fit in. I became the funny heavy chick. Pass me another candy bar.

So, bad eating habits, laziness and all that have contributed to BIG Dianna. And then Sara and I got together, and we just always wanted to stay home and eat food (I believe they call that nesting....)

Anyway - Sara and I sort of hit the wall where our collective weights were concerned.

For me, I have always been a fast walker, and someone who could bound up the stairs no matter what my size. In the last year or so, my knees have started to hurt, my back hurts more often now...and I knew it was time to make the change.

Sara and I both joined Weight Watchers a month ago. And its been nothing but good things. Sara has lost close to 12 pounds, and I'm just a smidgen under 10 lbs lost with 9.6 total.

We kept it super quiet the first few weeks - because that is what has always doomed us before - as soon as we talk about it, we fall off the wagon. This time, we were focused, and we were determined. We didn't tell a soul for over 2 weeks. And now, we're telling a few people at a time, and have been enjoying the "high-5's".

We also made it past 2 big bumps in the road - 4th of July (pulled pork sandwiches!) and a trip to New York City (Hot dog vendors EVERYWHERE!). We feel really strong for being able to make it past those two events, and we feel like anything that comes our way we'll be able to make SMART food choices.

Here's a semi-recent pic of the 2 of us - it's from the rehearsal dinner from her Sister's wedding. (back in October, but whatever) We are both at our heaviest in this pic, but we are already changing from that. The chins are receding, and our waistlines are getting smaller already.

Now, in this coming October I'm going to have another wedding to go to, and I expect to be in a lot of pics since it's my BROTHER'S WEDDING!!!!!!! (Hooray! Better late than never Danny!)

I fully intend to post some pics of me and Sara and compare what our faces and bodies will look like - looking forward to the "no-double-chin" pics!!!!

Taboo

On monday, I was in a little pain, and it really made me think - what the hell made this topic so taboo? What part of history just made it the worst topic?

Ok, so I had my period - and still do (4 days a month guys, no getting around it), and I just don't get the fuss. I mean, it's a bodily function, right? Albeit, with a slightly grosser product than urine, I'll give you that. But the fuss? I don't get it.

I've had conversations upon conversations with guys (AND girls) talking about pee, poop, vomit, sperm, ..... as soon as the word "period" comes up, everyone makes a face, plus their ears "lalalala - I can't hear you". Really? blood is grosser than poop? grosser than VOMIT? Don't even get me started on the grossness of sperm - I've been in conversations that included such sparkling phrases like "drop my load" or "squeeze one off" and have even been a party to the "never use the towel next to a guys bed" topic. Gross in their own ways, but hilarious nonetheless.... Does anyone not understand the hilariousness of uncontrollably bleeding for 4 days every month? I mean COME ON!!!!!

(I think it's a hilarious coincidence that today of all days my favorite humourous blog is dedicated to the internal lady parts - please go check it out and laugh!)

Busy, Busy, Busy

I often disparage others for not updating their respective blogs, but then I don't update for days and it's ok?

Alright, alright....
I spent all of May working on Throwing Heat, which closed on 5/30. I then jumped right into production meetings and planning for Video Project #2. The pics are from Day One of filming - we do our second day of filming this Saturday! :) Once the whole project is done filming and editing, I'll post a link to the final piece!
I'm running lights & sound for WNEP's 10th Annual SKALD this coming weekend, and I just booked a stage management gig for Trap Door Theatre's fall production of "12 Ophelias". I'm excited about the show and the process, and I'm hoping to blog more about it when we start up.

In between all of this, Sara's Uncle Dick passed away last week, so we had some very sad family obligations. Dick had had a hard time since his wife passed away just last year ,(http://allthingsdianna.blogspot.com/2008/05/stop-all-clocks-cut-off-telephone.html) so while it was very sad to see him go, we all knew he was ready. Funeral Mass and burial was this past Saturday, followed by the ubiquitous Polish pig-out meal (dude, pierogi, smoked sausage...yummmm). Plenty of tears were shed for Sara's only Uncle from her mom's side....but an equal amount of laughter and memories were shared. Sara'snfamily are some great people, and I'm always humbled and thankful for how much everyone has embraced me as one of thier own.

Florida or Bust? Bust....

A lot of folks knew (and some didn't, sorry), that Sara and I were completely planning on moving to Florida next year. When people said "Why?", our answer was simple - we desperately want to start a family, and houses are completely cheap down there, Sara has some family down there already, and I have some friends down there too. It all seemed to make sense for us - we wanted a nice house, the standard of living is lower down there, so Sara would be able to complete school only working part time probably, and there's a hotel from my chain located right there (we were looking at Tampa/St Petersburg). So, we started making plans - a time line to let jobs, landlord, and others know. We slowly started telling family, some friends. Everyone knew where we were coming from - they all said they'd miss us, but that they were glad we were making the leap.
We had initially made the "Let's do it!" decision late in February.
Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago.
Sara had done some thinking - she just couldn't see herself living so far from her sister, brothers and her mom & dad, especially if we have a kid. She was also really worried about leaving well-paying jobs up here (and good bennies), and having bad luck down there. She didn't want to go.
I was pretty crushed for a little while. We had been planning it for a long enough period that my heart was really set on it. I had been looking at Craigslist almost daily - seeing what kind of apartment deals could be had, keeping an eye on the job market, etc etc. I had myself on mailing lists for local theatres to keep my ears open for any kind of job opportunity. ANd now we weren't going.
After a period of morose-ness, I started feeling a little better.
I only had ONE BIG caveat when it comes to staying in Illinois.

I am NOT NOW, NOT EVER going to move to the suburbs. End of story.

One positive thing? I now don't need to "squeeze in" as many Chicago theatre jobs as posible before leaving (just for money's sake), and I can go back to being more selective. (Hence, my meeting tonight for possible Fall show - more to come), and also I can plan for other projects in the future (WNEP, I'm looking RIGHT AT YOU in regards to the Hopper piece...or, anything really)

That's it, I guess... no Florida.

Rob K brings the funny

It's been awhile, I know.

I've been enjoying some theatre-free time off, thankyouverymuch.

I had to break radio silence though to point out one of the funniest theatre related blog posts in awhile. Man, does Rob K hit the nail right on the fucking head. Read it, my theatre peeps and have a nice Friday laugh on me.


(fear not, 3 or 4 people who read my blog, I'm meeting with someone next week to iron out the fall show i'm working on. Until she and I "shake on it", I don't wanna jinx anything by talking about. It's looking to be a very interesting project, so looking forward to blogging on the topic - stay tuned)

Birthday, Birthday, who's gotta Birthday?

Well, 2 of my favorite peeps have a birthday today....



First off.... my MOMMA!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Ma! She doesn't read my blog, but I'm sending birthday wishes out across the interwebs in the hope that she will somehow know I'm doing it...







Second?
My good friend Mace!
In honor of the occasion, I have to re-post one of my favorite pics of us:
(yes, the labels are correct...we were totally drunk)

Growth and Moving on

Now, I'm not sure if one actually "moves on" from the death of a parent, but I guess finally this year, after 21 years of sadness, refelection, stories (and blog posts), May 11th kind of came and went.
Don't get me wrong - I thought of my dad. But the thoughts were quick and pointed. "Wow... 21 years" and "It's been so long - really miss you", and then my brain moved on. Not in a push the thoughts away kind of way, but in a Jed Bartlett-esque "What's next?" kind of way.

I think the point is that the DAY no longer holds the trauama it used to. When I was 23, for the 10th anniversary, I took the day off of work (I think for the 5 year we went to church and had a mass said?). I don't NEED those things anymore. My thoughts of my dad are now scattered throughout the year in a more reflective manner. I wish Sara could have known him, for one. I wish I could just hug him ONE MORE TIME.

My older brother Danny, is now older than my dad was when he passed. That always weirds me out a little. My dad was almost 36 when he passed away, and Danny is 37 now. I wonder at times how he feels and what he thinks about that.

Anyway... I guess the point is, my thoughts of Dad are a year long thing, and I'm thinking it's high time for me to stick a fork in May 11th. The date means very little now. It's those day to day thoughts that hold more meaning, not some silly date.

A while ago I set up my phone to post to my blog. This is a test, this is only a test.

Let's be clear...

.....I live at the tab labeled "A"......and "B" is the school with the first Chicago-land reported swine flu is located. I'm not afraid...not afraid at all....

::starts VIGOROUSLY scrubbing her hands::

How do we build a future from a present we didn't expect?

Last night, I attended an "open rehearsal" for New Leaf's new show, The Long Count. It was great - just a handful of us, plus the cast and a few of the New Leaf artists. First off, the Curator of the event, Marsha Harmon, spoke a little about the process so far, how the company had been writing and collaborating for awhile, then they cast the piece, etc etc. She also went through the structure for the night - they were going to warm up a little with a Viewpoints exercise, then work on one piece from the show, take a break, work on another piece, then questions (if you had them), and then close out the rehearsal.
First off, Jessica Hutchinson led the cast in a quick Viewpoints exercise. Now, lots of people have opinions on Viewpoints - whether it actually helps or not, etc... In this case, however, I think it was an invaluable exercise. Mostly, because of the style of the piece they were doing - the show is completely dependent about group dynamics, with movement, etc. And it was wonderful to watch a group of performers come together an work so cohesively - it set a great stage for the rest of the rehearsal.

Jessica then led the cast through a particular scene that they needed to work on - they ran the scene once with lights and sound - then they talked as a team and discussed new ideas, and new methods to achieve the look and feel they were hoping for. Then they ran it again, with the new ideas in place, and every one ended it with a nod of the head indicating "yeah, that feels so much better...".... I found I was nodding along with them, as both an observer and a participant.

We took a break (when the stage manager Rebecca said "Let's say 11 minutes then", all the folks watching said "thank you 11"...brilliant...)

Then after the break, Kyra led them through another scene to be worked. Again - ran the scene once with lights and sound, then talked about ideas to tighten up, etc etc, then a couple of trial runs to see if the ideas worked, then running the scene again.

When it was done, Marsha invited all of us to come together in the center, we made a circle with our arms aournd each other, Marsha took a moment gave some words of thanks, then we all took a deep breath in together, and then let it out together, cast & audience TOGETHER. Wonderful.


(And then we went to Stanley's and drank beers. )

Earth

In celebration of Earth Day yesterday, Sara and I went to see "Earth", the new Disney - Nature movie. It's sort of a kiddie version of the BBC "Planet Earth" series, if you will. The Planet Earth folks were involved (and if you're a fan of the series, there are a couple of filmed scenes that will look a little familiar). Most interesting to me were some of the time-lapse photography of how rain affects a dessert delta, or how the ice melts over a season. The animal stuff is great (particularly the footage of the humpback whales --- there was a preview on the film of the next Disney-Nature film for next year's earth day - a similar movie called "Oceans", and the whales figure greatly - very excited for that one), but some of the animal footage is similar to stuff I've seen before - the nature stuff was better, in my opinion.

Warning - even though there is a "G" rating attached, there are some definite "circle of life" moments, if you will.... so it might be scary to the youngest kids, so be aware.

Overall, I thought it was great. It merely scratches the surface in some areas, but it was still beautiful to watch. Plus, it's narrated by Darth Vader/Mufasa/God/Terrence Mann, so how can it be bad?

long in the tooth

Man - that last entry was long!

Well, Once I started, I wanted to be sure to say something complete about everyone - make sure it was all even and fair and such.

So, root canal happened - and overall it wasn't too bad. I was a little sore and throbby on Friday once all the drugs wore off overnight, but it passed by quickly - the only thing that was consistently sore was my jaw from the entry points of the anasthesia, not much else.

I'm glad I am a know-it-all who has to go online and see how something works before I try it. So, I already knew exactly what was going to happen to me. The process is still really WEIRD (the actual retrieval of your root - very sci-fi), but it didn't really freak me out. However, I can see how people who have no idea what is about to happen can freak out. Seriously, the process is totally sci-fi.

Anyway - my tooth feels great (for now) and I can chew on that side again, which rocks. I'm still taking it easy because I don't want to lose the temp filler thats in there, plus without the roots the tooth is technically dead, so its a little more fragile with chewing. When this is all over, I will most likely bite the bullet and get a crown - its a lot of money, but I'm more likely to keep the tooth if its protected correctly.

Now I need to move to the other side of my mouth and get another tooth removed.

(Can you tell I recently came to that "Why do I pay all this $$$ in dental insurance if I'm not using it?" epiphany?)

Then after that, I want to get on cavity and filling patrol.

I foresee a few more dental related entries in the future...

People.....people who need......people.....

As I was re-reading my post I just posted, I was looking over my blog layout, and I started thinking about all the people I link to..... ya know..... over THERE..-------->



might as well take them in order, eh?



1. Chris Bohjalian - fantastic author, just discovered his blog and added it a week or 2 ago - I keep forgetting to pop him toward the bottom in the "famous people blog" zone. SO, love his books (yeah, yeah, Midwives was an "Oprah" book - don't let that dissuade you. ) His blog is more topical, though, which I enjoy.



2. Sara - my love & partner in crime. She hasn't updated her blog in FOREVER, but she has to be there or else I'll get in trouble. (in fact, she SHOULD be first, hence the need to pop Bohjalian down a few notches.) Personally, I wish she'd use it to write again. When we first got together, she wrote poems (good ones) and hasn't in a long time. Well, now I've thrown the gauntlet and mayvbe she'll respond. We'll see.



3. Toxic Blog's Bag - written by my pal Joe Griffin, this is his production company. Joe's one of those "all around great guys" everyone should have in their life. But go find your own - you can't have my Joe. His list of talents and accomplishments are many. While lots of folks identify him as "sound guy Joe", he is first and foremost a talented musician. And yeah, he'll design sound for your show or dance program. But he is also a good friend. When I was younger, I always felt smart around some of my social circles, mostly because I was one of the smarter people there. Now - my adult social circles have me with people who are FAR smarter than I, and through I at times feel dumb in their presence, I heartily enjoy the conversation. Joe is one of the smart kids.



4. Brownlee? really, I have to talk about Brownlee?

Brownlee and I used to joke that we had the same brain and it was cleaved in half and seperated into the 2 of us. We usually think the same, and quite often when we're hanging out we'll make the same sarcastic remarks at almost the same time. Creepy, I know. Anyway - he's a funny guy, a good friend, a good writer and a fantastic photographer.



5. Don is the strangest mixture of person out there. He is the most lewd and crude and yet smartest guy I know. My "Bostonian language skills" (read: cussing like a sailor), are supremely attracted to his unique brand of blue humour. On a serious side, he's one of the most passionate artists I know. When he's involved in a project, he attacks it balls out (LITERALLY). I am both grossed out and in love with the guy. I heart Don Hall.



6. Jen Ellison. Dude, the chick makes me laugh. And she's SMRT. And we both like funky socks. And have shameful choices on our respective iPods. What's not to love?



7. Joe Janes is a brilliant comedy writer. We worked together last summer on Metaluna, and will be working together in next month's Throwing Heat at the Atheneum (plug). Another one - funny, smart, talented. He recently changed his regular blog over to a personal challege of "365 sketches". He's going to write and post a comedy sketch/scene every day for a year. He's on day 86 so far, which adds up to being almost a 1/4 done. He's the man.



8. Paul Rekk (AKA Bries Vannon). Bries and I worked on The Crucible back in the fall of '05 I think? It was an artistically awesome production to work on, and Bries was a big part of that. He's a great guy with some very thoughtful theatre discussion on his blog - love him.



9. Rebar - WNEP company member, she was also in Metaluna last summer. Her posts are hilarious, and I love her political points of view. She's a funny gal and I hope she follows through on her latest promise and posts more :)



10. Bob Fisher is a director & writer, founder of The Mammals and company member of WNEP. I've only met Bob twice I think? He was the director of my favorite piece at last summer's Raw series (Boneweaver), and he's directing some friends of mine in next month's Devil's Don't Forget, which I will unfortunately be UNABLE to see (pout). Great blog, cool guy. One of these days we may actually have a conversation :)



11 Dan Granata - thinking about his performance in Touch at New Leaf a couple of months ago STILL makes me misty. (I wrote a little about it here) . He's most well known for 2 things (in my head, at least). He's the boyfriend of my favorite Texan, and he co-founded the Chicagio Theatre Database. He's super smart, and a great guy.



12 Nick Kennan. Funny story, when Nick and I finally met face to face this past winter, the first thing I said to him was "man, I totally thought you were shorter". Am I a dork, or what?

Nick is taking the theatre world by storm, with his amazing sound designs (still can't get over how good Dining Room was...), his great theatre ideas (hence name of blog) and his involvement with the Chicago Theatre Database is awesome. He's a good guy to know - and again, like all the poeple listed above... totally smarter than me.



13. Diffraction - Beth Cummings. Beth is married to Regan Davis, who was in (you guessed it) last summer's Metaluna. She is not only a funny gal, but a talented artist (see items on her website), and she's a GREAT COOK!!!!!!! If you ever get invited to Regan & Beth's for anything, GO for crying out loud.... and bring and empty belly.



14. Rob K - Rob writes about theatre AND old films on his blog, which is great. Rob is one of those great online folks whom I have actually NEVER met face to face. And he's the only guy (other than Tony) who talks football on his blog too, during the appropriate seasons.



15. Bilal... I love that I follow Bilal's website (on old-school LiveJournal, natch), and we follow each other on Twitter (and comment back and forth to each other), and yet, have NEVER met face to face. I feel like it would be a tremendous let down for each of us - I'm not nearly as funny in face-to-face settings - so I think we should keep this relationship online.....FOREVER!!!!!
MUA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!! ok, enough of that.

16. GreyZelda - Rebecca, whom I've never met either, this is her blog for her company GreyZelda Theatre. She actually linked to me FIRST, and I was all a-flutter about it. Rebecca seems VERY cool, and I'm looking forward to meeting her one of these days.

17. Tony Adams - Tony is AD for Halcyon Theatre, and we've worked together (WAY back in the day). He's married to my old college buddy, who is the one who moved to Chicago with me in the first place. We haven't spoken in a long time (my fault - see my post that sheds light HERE), but I REALLY enjoy his blog - he's a smart guy and we used to have some great conversations about THeatre. Plus, he's a fellow Beastie Boys man.... I'll never forget the 2 of us rocking out to the Beastie's at he & Jenn's wedding. Classic.

18 - Chris Jones - Tribune Theatre Critic

19 - Kris Vire - TimeOut Theatre critic - this blog isn't affiliated with TimeOut, and Kris has some great theatre insights and info on his site.

20. My friend Stacy started a blog when she headed to Mongolia for the Peace Corps. You feel lazy now just because of reading that. Yeah, me too.

21. My friend Valerie started a blog to post all her travel pictures (her goal is to be on all continents before 30 - she's almost done). But then she wasn't able to update for awhile. She recently changed it over to be a "one great picture a week" kind of site, and she's doing great so far. She's a great photographer and she has the cutest damn dog.

22. Yeah, so this is Rosie O'Donnell's blog - yeah, so she's a little crazy, big deal. She does great work for the LGBT community, and she's a pretty cool role model. I love her....

23 Wil Wheaton - supergeek. His blog awesome, his twitter updates are great, too. He's developed into a great writer (I own a few of his recent books) and it's great to see a child star doing positive things with their life and not blowing it on Porshes, Red Bulls & drugs.

24. Margaret Cho. No explanation necessary, the woman freaking rocks.

wavering

I can't decide if I really do have an upset stomach right now, or if I'm nervous about tomorrow's scheduled part 1 of my ROOT CANAL.

I just took a couple antacids, and they seem to be helping, so we're going with "upset stomach" right now. Don't get me wrong - I'm still nervous about the root canal, but that appears to be a seperate irritation. I keep trying to tell myself that AFTER the root canal my tooth will actually feel better (i.e. I can chew on that side of my mouth again...), but thats hard to remember when the image of what they are going to do keeps going through my head. Best part? (if there actually CAN be a best part) I took the Friday off a while back for a tentative road trip - the road was cancelled unfortunately, but I kept that day off in place when I made the appointment for the Root Canal - I figured an extra day of rest would be great.
And by "extra day of rest", Sara interpreted that as "make appointment for cable guy because Dianna will be home". No worries, I will answer the door and happily say hello with a mouth full of gauze - sometime between the hours of 1-4....

huh?

I will ring in my inaugual April post with the following absurdity.

The name applied to the scent of my dish soap is beyond ridiculous.

Seriously, ALPINE PURITY???

I don't even want to BEGIN to know how someone comes up with that name. For reals.