Another closing of another show ...

... and I'm down in the usual post-show dumps.

The word often used is bittersweet, but that always makes me think of food. It's not strong enough for the emotions one goes through at the closing of a performance run, especially one as amazing as the run "Pride and Prejudice" just had. Two weekends sold out, and at least one sold-out show each of the other two weekends. There were a bunch of people saying they came back a second time (and they weren't spouses or family.)

I think I'd lean more towards manic-depressive as a description? I have to put more thought into that.

I'm grateful to have my "life" back. There are many things that have been taking back seats as we got closer to opening the show and during the actual performances. I haven't been practicing my new exercise routines as much as I usually do. At the very least I was pretty distracted while practicing backstage in the green room almost every performance night. (And several of the other actors and crew would join me every once in a while. I had my own chorus line going!) I need to get the garage clean and organized for the dojo. I need to bug spray the house. The list goes on.

But I got rather attached to the group of people I spent so much time with the last couple of months. Many of them were strangers to me when we started. It took weeks to learn everyone's real name instead of their character name. And then last night most of us went out karaoke-ing and have a blast. We want to make it a regular thing (much like us "Spitties" did after "The Spitfire Grill" closed.)

I got to work with people I already knew, and with people I wanted to know better or hadn't had a chance to work with yet.

I got to prance around the stage in fancy dresses with my nose in the air and speaking in a British accent. (I even got a compliment from someone with a real British accent!)

So my mind and emotions are at war for dominance: relief at life returning or depression at the ending of something special. Eventually the depression will pass and I'll be content with the memories: my nickname for my onstage brother when he accidentally called me his daughter during a show ("Dad!"), our own secretly added lines whispered behind the curtains ("Consider it dropped"), songs sung on our karaoke night ("I Got You, Babe"), and so much more.

I better be happy with my life being returned to me. The auditions for "Nunsense II" are coming up real soon ... ;>

NaNoWriMo website relaunch!

The NaNoWriMo website has indeed relaunched, so I've been procrastinating from cleaning the house to update my info and add the counters and banners to my blog. You can see the new ones in the sidebar. >dancing in giddy circles<

If you've never done NaNoWriMo, but you've always wanted to write a book, jump right in! You've got a month to plan still. Just remember you can't write a word of the novel itself until November 1, 2010. Until then, you can plan, outline, fiddle, brainstorm, and draw idea bubble maps to your heart's content!

The Wonderful Weather of Wasilla

Apparently the Alaska Branch of Mother Nature Dot Org decided that "fall" had lasted long enough, and it was now time for "blow." Just when we were getting the intense gold color of the leaves along the road to our house, the wind rushed in to shake them all loose, knock down trees, and remove power from several homes for days.

I suppose I should be grateful that we were spared the looooooong power outage that affected many of my friends, and of course I am. I am also grateful that the theatre was spared having to reschedule a show when power was flickering Friday evening. (It never did go out, though it did flip off for a moment when I was curling my hair. I screamed, "Wait, just one more curl and I'm done!" Then the power came back on.)

However, I'm really peeved that I didn't get to take a picture of that fabulous gold tunnel along our road. The trees hug a place on the road that dips down, and when the sun shines just right, it gleams with an intensity that takes the breath away. I wanted to get a picture of it this year, but the wind robbed me of that by stripping the leaves before they reached that point. Grrrr.

A few days of wind, and then the real fun began: early winter. Yesterday snow appeared on the mountains, as well as making small flurried appearances in the valley. If a rainstorm had moved through, it would have been a snowstorm. At the end of September, for crying out loud. Thank the gods we've already bought that huge two-handed snow shovel for the driveway. We're not even allowed to put on snow tires yet, technically! (I guess that would change if it actually snowed that much, though.)

We escaped most of the problems that others have had: Our only casualty of the wind was our trash can (which wedged itself in such a way that nothing was coming out of it, so we left it where it was until the wind died down), and the fence along the back of the garage. We were going to take it down anyway, perhaps use it to line the outdoor dog kennel, so no real problem there. I think it was only there as a kind of view blocker for the lots behind us, but it was pretty pointless anyway.

So here's the million dollar question: if winter is already threatening to loose itself on us, does that mean it's going to be a long, mild winter, or a long, harsh one? Since it's winter either way, I suppose it doesn't really matter. >Sigh<

Alaskan Health Issues

I lived in one state for the first 30 years of my life. I've lived in Alaska for three years next month.

I believe I have been sick more times here in Alaska than I have the rest of my life. And those sicknesses have been longer, more miserable, and nearly piggyback to each other, especially this year.

In summer 2010, I've been significantly sick three times. The second time included strep throat and ear infections that caused some deafness. The first two each lasted a month long, give or take a few days. That means since May (the first illness of the summer), I've been sick every other month. The third one, I've been adding things back into my diet that may have curtailed it a bit, though it is still not gone.

So what's up? My doc mentioned a couple of things when I went in for the strep and ear infections:

One: We have a lot of tourists, people moving here from other countries, etc. They bring with them all manner of diseases that our bodies have never defended against previously. Even the most diligent of hand washers and antibacterial wipe users can still get sick if they haven't encountered certain bugs before.

Two: This summer was spectacularly awful. I still say the summer of 2008 (our first) was worse because we only saw the sun a handful of times; this summer started off with almost three weeks of gorgeous weather in May. I blamed my first illness this summer on the dust from the duplex building going on right next to our house. I've been more sensitive to dust since my first illness in Alaska (November 2007) was made quite severe by the extreme amounts of dust in the store I worked at.

But then it started raining. And raining. July was (I believe) the wettest July Wasilla has ever seen. And it kept on raining. The last couple of weeks here in September have been sunny, but fall is on the way and it's already getting cooler. First frost just a few mornings ago. Leaves are golden and starting to drop. Darkness is encroaching more and more.

My doc pointed out that Vitamin D is already hard to get the natural way here in Alaska, but a summer like we just had probably led to a seriously depressed immune system for me, judging by how many times I've been sick, and in such close succession. He told me to add a supplement to my diet, which I have.

I'm considering other options, too. One is a sun lamp, another is an air purifier. I wear a mask whenever I clean the house because my dog is a digger and brings tons of dirt into the house with her. I don't burn incense as much as I used to (though I do miss those sweet scents.) Since we've reached all our main purchase goals (house, vehicles, etc) we're considering what we want to add to our place to make winters more tolerable. I decided a sauna would be great, and fewer issues than a hot tub. Maybe we could put a sun lamp in the sauna for a little more "sun."

I'm trying to improve my diet, as well. Taking a multivitamin as well as extra D and calcium, but also trying to find good tasting fruits and veggies (that's kind of difficult in this state. Some of the fruit tastes like paper towels.) Adding lemon to my water helps me drink more water.

I admit that my fitness class schedule was probably a little much this summer, too: so many instructors going on vacations, and me not minding the extra money subbing for their classes, it was probably walking the line of too much. One eight-day period I taught 14 hours worth of exercise classes! I'm trying to curtail things a bit by learning to say "no" every once in a while.

I think the vitamin D has helped with this current cold: hardly any soreness, only one day of extreme mucus movement, and the last few days has just been an annoying cough that won't go away. It's still taking its own sweet time to stop, but the healing process is a little faster this round. It is my dearest hope that I reach a point that I experienced in California, only getting very minor colds that last no more than three days and happen once every couple of years. At the very least, I want to stop losing my voice every time I get sick.

No wonder most people who move here don't stay here. It's a very difficult place to live, for sure. Even my doc mentioned that everyone in Alaska should leave at least twice a year and stay somewhere warmer and sunnier, just for their health. I heartily agree. If only it weren't so expensive to do so!

Be Excellent To Each Other and Party On Dudes!

When comparing this year's Sportsman's Warehouse picnic with last year's, some similarities and some differences stand out.

The main difference that stands out is the weather. It was raining almost the whole time at last year's gig. But like true Alaskans, they didn't let that dampen their spirits. We just spent a little more time hanging around the fire, that's all.

Yesterday morning started out rainy, which is no surprise, since July may go down as the wettest one on record. I shouted my curses to the skies and demanded that the clouds take a hike by the afternoon or there would be heckity darn to pay.

To my surprise, they listened. The afternoon proved to be very nice. (Well, very nice by Alaska's standards, which means mostly cloudy and in the 60s.) A bit of a muggy feeling to the air, but at least I didn't once need the rain jacket I'd brought along just in case. I also wore my new Tilly hat to ward off the occasional sprinkles which didn't happen.

The other main difference was one of my own making: Since we lived about a 15 minute walk from the hay field where the party was held this year and last, I decided to walk my two monstrous mutts with me. I thought they'd love the chance to run around the huge field, maybe some kids would play with them, maybe some other dogs would be brought along as well. I wanted to keep their good socializing with others, though they spend a lot of time at home with just us. I worried that the owners of the place would not approve, or that they would be a huge annoyance to others.

They surprised me with remarkably good behavior! Bruno has a bad habit of jumping on people (Logan's fault), but he managed to keep his paws on the ground. They didn't put paws on tables or anything else. The only thing that was mentioned as being unfavorable was Uffda's drooling problem, but most people didn't seem to care (and by the end of the evening, drool was the least dirty issue.) So they got lots of attention and even started laying down near the fire after a couple of hours of excitement. Uffda didn't want to lay down, but you could see how tired she was by the dragging of her massive feet.

There was a little fight with a bulldog named Bubba that was brought to the party, but Bubba's owner nipped that little spat in the bud lightening quick. The three dogs were the best of friends after that. (I imagine a big unfixed male like Bruno, even being friendly, was a little intimidating at first for Bubba.)

When more people arrived and started breaking out the hot dogs and hamburgers for grilling, I decided I didn't want to see how far Bruno and Uffda's good behavior would stretch; they don't get people food at home, and they spend most of their time outdoors or in their kennels, so they don't get a lot of temptation to deal with. Logan had also arrived by then, so we tied their leashes to a tree in front of the Landcruiser. They laid right down and took a nap.

The party continued as parties do, eating, drinking, kids playing in the sandbox and with the various balls rolling around. The owner even gave a couple of hayrides with his tractor and a big flatbed filled with hay. There was one spot with a steep downhill where he gunned the engine and raced down. I felt like I was on a roller coaster!

There were raffles and games for all ages. A bunch of the games were taken from the "Minute to Win It" game show, like Junk in the Trunk, where you try to shake the ping pong balls out of a tissue box strapped to your rear end in under a minute. Fun to watch, I'll tell you!

Of course, the pinnacle of the evening came when employees could put up the "dollars" they earned for the privilege to pie a manager of their choice in the face. One of the girls had mentioned wanting to pie Logan, and people had been giving her money to do it. (Guess they didn't have the guts to do it themselves, eh?) When the time came, she had racked up over 70k, and each pie was worth 2k.

Logan came prepared, as he always does. he put on his Frog Togs and wouldn't even stand behind the board with the hole for the face in it. The girl wanted to line up a bunch of people all at once with pies. The Store Manager got behind the board, Logan stood out in front. The Fishing Manager cut a hole in a garbage bag to cover as much of him as possible.

For all the good it did them. Logan ended up only getting two pies to the face. (The pies were made of vanilla and chocolate pudding.) All it took was one employee to sneak behind the board. The Store Manager started running, and the great Pudding War began. Both the Store Manager and the Fishing Manager ended up covered in goo. Then the eggs that were being used for other games started flying. The Office Manager smashed two eggs on Logan's head. The kids couldn't resist the fun the adults were having getting messy, so they joined in.

I was one of the few people who managed to remain pudding and egg free. I was almost hit by a random egg long before the pudding war. A boy was goofing around with his dad behind me, and the egg whizzed right by my face to smash on the bench i was sitting on. Scared me out of a year's growth.

The exhaustion of the pudding stores led to the flinging of water balloons, so everyone got washed off after that fight. And there were spigots all over the property for people to rinse the pudding and egg slime off. And then the fire to dry off next to.

It was after 10 PM by that time, so the clean up began. Everyone pitched in to leave the place neater than we'd found it (well, as much as we could with pudding and egg shells everywhere.) The board was broken up and the pieces tossed into the fire. Logan and I were the last to leave, so we watched the fire while it burned down to embers.

Logan had obtained permission from the owner to check out the three old cabins along the edge of the property. One was built in 1931, the others in 1915, I believe. The 1931 cabin had been added on to at some point, and there were old fashioned cooking stoves in them. Logan and I got a lot of ideas as to how we can add on to our own cabin, and put in a cook stove of our own. Logan is even more excited about his new job because he will have the time to do such projects.

By the time we were done, the fire had died down enough, so we packed up and left. We were exhausted, but it had been a lot of fun. The Fishing Manager posted on Facebook that he would never eat pudding again. Can't say I blame him.

Everybody Remember Where We Parked the Ark!

I can't believe how much it has been raining this month. Every single day, with the odd, random, half-days of sun mixed with clouds, maybe once a week at the most. The last one was Tuesday, so I dragged my lawn chair out to the middle of the driveway and plopped down to read and soak the rays for a bit.

Much as I don't want to admit it, I think we may have had our summer early this year, back in May when we had several weeks of almost no rain. It was gorgeous. The only problem was that the dryness led to many respiratory problems for me. The next door neighbors were ripping up the land to build a duplex, we had ATV riders running amok up and down our dirt road, the dust the dogs brought into the house was thick enough to choke a dust bunny, and I finally had to give up my beloved incense so I could breathe. While I am better now, that took almost two months to get rid of.

My husband thinks this summer is worse than our first summer here. I tell him no, because that first summer we only had four days total that hit 70 degrees with the sun visible in the sky. This summer started out fantastic and is now making up for those three weeks of sun bliss.

I should have started building the ark as soon as my parents left. I can count on one hand how many non-rainy days we've had since they went home. There are lots of ark jokes running around now. "Why are these animals lining up two by two outside my door?" "I must remember to pack the paddles before I leave today." I've been doing the Bill Cosby "Noah and the Lord" routines. "It's the Lord, Noah." " ... Right."

As one of my friends pointed out, Noah was building before it started raining. So we're screwed!

In other news, most people have heard that my husband is in the process of getting a new job. It's a very long process for this one in particular, but he's handling it fine. We hope everything will be settled by the third week of August. And then things are gonna change big time around here. But they should be changes for the better, including more time off for Logan and being compensated for any extra working time.

We're moving right along in our rehearsals for "Pride and Prejudice." Nothing new really to report there. Been reading a lot for other people, since my part is small and someone is absent almost every rehearsal. Can't wait 'til we get the scripts out of our hands, though.

I've been teaching extra classes this summer since people are going on vacations and fishing trips and whatnot. What with practicing the new routines, teaching my own classes, and subbing for extras, I'm pretty used up and tired most of the time. I'm hungry all the time, too, but don't necessarily want to eat. So I've decided to put off the personal trainer cert for now. I may change my mind later, but if there is a possibility I'll be adding classes later (still hoping for Group Kick!), then I probably should save what's left of my energy for that!

Maybe I'll also find the time to blog more often. Once a month isn't very much!

Birthdays and Reminders

Received a reminder from a friend today that I hadn't blogged for a while. I find it most appropriate that the last time I blogged was on my birthday, and my reminder to blog came from my friend on HIS birthday! Thanks, Matthew! Hippo birdie two ewe, too!

I haven't blogged lately because there hasn't been much going on until last week. Well, I did get into the play "Pride and Prejudice." For those of you who know that book, I play the second snobbiest character, Caroline Bingley. Unfortunately, many of the lines I loved in the book (and my favorite BBC version) have been cut, as it is a condensed version and made to have no stage set changes. Still, it's gonna be great to be back on the stage again. I think this is going to be a fun cast.

Last week my parents arrived for their second visit to Alaska. They went to visit my aunt and uncle in Washington first, then took a cruise to Seward. We'd never been there before, so we got to drive down to pick them up. It was a gorgeous drive, definitely worth every ounce of fuel, but Seward is incredibly tiny for a port town! By the time we realized we'd missed the turn to the boat, we'd reached the end of the line! Cute place, but I don't think there's any chance Logan and I are going to want to move them.

We had fun trying to figure out how to pack the luggage and the people into the Yaris, but we managed it. Mom and Dad were like prisoners in their own cells, though; we had to set the guitar on top of a box between them. I could hear Dad all right, but I couldn't hear Mom most of the time. She sounded so far away!

I arranged for subs for most of my classes, except one. My mom wanted to see me teach anyway, so she joined in. She made it all the way through the end of the class! I was so proud of her. (My mom is not exactly an exercise freak like me.)

I think the best day was when we went to see the glacier. I hadn't been there before, either, so this was an adventure for me, too. When the lady selling the tickets looked at me and asked, "Are you over 18, dear?" I stuttered in confusion before answering, "Yes." Mom laughed at me because of my reaction. It's been so long since anyone asked me that question, I thought I was well past the danger. I stuttered because I nearly asked her, "Are you kidding?!"

Amazing how quickly it gets colder as you hike the trail to the glacier. Wear boots, not just for the cold, but for the water everywhere. I nearly soaked my sneakers. It's not the most level of trails, lots of opportunity to twist an ankle. But definitely worth the effort.

Like all of Alaska, it was a long, pretty drive, and Dad and I were both hungry soon after arriving. Mom's camera battery had died, so we headed for the nearest restaurant, the Long Rifle Lodge, or something like that. Cute log cabin with a bar when you first walk in. We weren't sure of it until we reached the dining room: big windows showing off the glacier in the distance (and the sun was shining at that moment!), rough-hewn furniture glossed smooth, and good food. Decently priced, though not an obscene amount of food. And to answer Logan's question, yes, the waitresses were cute. :p

The sun was playing hide and seek the whole time my parents were there. It was mostly cloudy, but every once in a while the sun would put in an appearance. It was still a little better than the last time they visited, when there was only one day it was really sunny. But they said they were satisfied with their trip. We spent a lot of time together, I cooked them a salmon dinner one night, and we played guitars.

The only down side: they took the sun with them when they left. It's been raining EVERY SINGLE DAY since!