RA RA RA RA RAAAAAA

WOW! It's late.

Well, tonight was the night - Drewby Doo's Mainstage Debut. (I realize that was annoying, but I couldn't not say it when it just crossed my mind.) I headed down to the theatre with plenty of time given all of Atlanta's festivities. I left 1 hour and 45 minutes before I needed to arrive to allot time to go to the grocery store and fight Friday traffic on top of Braves traffic, Freaknik traffic, festival traffic, etc. Congratulations to me for going to the grocery store AND getting to Midtown with 1 hour and 15 minutes until call time. That's record time for any day. Period.

So, I ended up going to Starbucks instead. Ironically, before all was said and done, half of tonight's cast members and the house manager were sitting at a table chatting. I'm not exactly sure if people were also surprised by how little traffic there was, if this is routine for some folks, etc., but it sure was an unexpected and almost surreal way to start the night. It was nice to sit around and talk instead of re-reading everything I've ever written in my notebook.

Tonight I played: Stereotypes, Repeat Scene Direction (paranoid, claustrophobic, pregnant), Senior Class President Buzzer Debate (a younger Barbara - Barb), and ABC (starting in the middle). All in all, I had a lot of fun. I was headier than I'd liked to have been, but it was hard not to treat it as something special because... IT WAS! I am feeling an entire series of post-show emotions, but my main feeling is 'thankful.' I am really happy that I got the experience. Oh, and a special shout-out to all of my wonderful friends who were there (in many senses of the word) for me tonight. After 'thankful,' I feel very motivated. I want to absorb everything I possibly can. I mean, I'm even excited about having to work my shift tomorrow, despite it being my sixth day there this week. I'm excited to watch and learn more.

I forgot to drop some big news yesterday (Thursday) - We booked flights to the Dominican Republic! I can't believe I'm going on a real, all-out vacation. I have never done this for myself... this splurging-type thing for a vacation. It is now official, and I'm excited to pamper myself!

Speaking of pampering, tomorrow I am getting my hair done - highlights and a cut. It will be a nice start to the day. After my new hair and before my double at the theatre, I bet I'll end up napping! I'm excited to get all freshened up and rejuvenated hair-wise.

I know there's a lot more to say... I have the post-show chatties. However, I realize it's after 2:00 a.m., and I need to rest my little head on a pillow.

Do you hear what I heaaaaar?

A child, a child. That title was inspired by a blog I just read. (Yes, you.) I misread the title and started singing that song.

It seems like it's been forever, but I know it hasn't. I'm just being overly dramatic.

Well, Thursday was a pretty good day! However, it started off a bit dicey (that's a pun, but you don't know it yet). I stopped by my sister's place on the way to work to pick up a shirt she was handing down to me. On the way out of her door, the storm door (the technical term - one of those glass doors outside of the front door) attacked my ankle. I wish I could convey the extent of the pain in words, but I don't know that I can. I was afraid to look at it because it was hurting so bad, but surprisingly the actual wound doesn't do it justice. Neither does this picture because it's one of those awkward injuries where it breaks the skin in a way that stings and what not. It kind of skipped a chunk and then actually bled on the back of my heel. It's so sore! Hey - Look at my lil vest machine down there! Aren't my sheets cute with the asterisks? That's a hard word to say.


It's about three inches of ouch. The jaggedness should illustrate PAIN.

Also on Thursday, my mom and I went out to lunch at my favorite Mexican place of all time (I think) - Monterrey on LaVista. Man, it was incredible! I had two grilled steak quesadillas. That's the first time I've ever broken my improv show tradition of having Willy's for lunch. It was so good and I didn't notice it affecting my performance.

That's the perfect segue to mention Thursday's show! I played Sounds Like a Song, ABC Buzzer, Narration Switch (started off-stage), and Confessions (as Barbara Buchanan). The show was a lot of fun and the audience was very participatory, which is awesome! I had fun with all of the games, especially ABC Buzzer. That's always been a favorite of mine! It's fun having to blurt out a new word in a split-second, and we got to do it many times! I could have been much better at Confessions, but I thought it went well for a game I'd never played. I had a good ol' time, and had some friends and family come check it out!

Today was pretty low-key. I worked from home, and then grabbed dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with my neighbor before heading to my crew shift. I was doing suggestions tonight. Although I've enjoyed my weekends off from volunteering, it was fun to be back and see a show! And guess what .... DRUMROLL ............

I saw my first proposal tonight! A guy had coordinated with the emcee to incorporate their proposal into the show. Man, I felt so special all night for knowing the secret, even though all of us did. On the last scene of the night, the emcee got volunteers and they came up on stage. The guy was so nervous and his voice was shaking and he asked his girlfriend to marry him. It was really sweet! I'd slap anyone in the face who did that to me, but hopefully he knows her well enough to know that she'd like that... Well, she said yes!

That's about all. I just read an AJC article about Roethlisberger being innocent in an assault accusation and it referred to him as a 'pro-bowler.' I was like, 'No he's not; he's a pro football player.' Then I realized there's something called the pro bowl...

I'm WAY excited about tomorrow. I have no plans in any form or fashion! And I am NOT setting an alarm!!!!

Drew's Crew is at $8,532 online!

This post is me psyching myself up

Woooooooooo! Wooooooohooooooooooooo! I am so energized!

I have to be in Midtown in about an hour, and I'm extremely tired, but at the end of this post, I will be ENERGYFIED!

On the way, I plan to go to Starbucks and try the newest thing that caught my fancy - the Dark Cherry Mocha. I tried to get it a week or so ago, but they said they didn't have it yet. I am excited to try it because I think it's exactly the potion I need.

Tonight's gonna be a long one at the theatre... I start at 6:30 and will probably get to leave around 1:00 or 1:30 a.m., which will kinda be 2:00 or 2:30 a.m. given the time change. DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS! We're so inundated with technology that most clocks will just change for us, but in case you're confused...

I think that's about all I have to say. There's definitely more I could say, but the longer I type, the more hectic it will be trying to make it to the theatre on time, and we all know I can't sacrifice that Dark Cherry Mocha I just swooned over.

ENERGY! ENERGY! ENERGY!

Revolution's not easy

Man, I know I should be sleeping, but I am feeling so energized right now. I spent the last several hours dictating (ha!) changes to my fundraising video, and I am really excited to share it with everyone. There are still a few things to make it absolutely perfect, but I am rowdy! Gosh, it is awesome! I sure hope the anticipation is building...

So, I am really excited about reading Eat, Pray, Love, but I haven't gotten around to it today. I'll definitely spend some time reading this weekend. Last night I started reading it to help wind down for bed, but I ended up feeling rejuvenated instead. When I turned off the lights, I kept thinking about how I wanted to read some more. That being said, I can't wait to have some free time to read this weekend.

Well, I finally talked to the nurse today... at about 4:30 p.m., so I was getting pretty impatient. The doctor decided to put me on a 21-day course of Bactrim (oral antibiotic) two times a day. That's definitely better than being in the hospital, but I will stand by my case that we are overreacting. However, if this potentially gets me into the study sooner when I get my lung function numbers back up, then that's what I'll do. I popped my first pill this evening and nothing too weird happened, so hopefully I'll be side effect free! I think the recent onslaught of rain has also helped alleviate some of my sinus issues.

I did awesome at the dentist this morning, but I've always been pretty good at getting good reports at the dentist. The guy wasn't playing around with those pokey things, but I got nothing short of compliments on my grill. I'm going back September 16. I am writing it here for when I start wondering when my next appointment is...

What else? I emailed more than 52,000 people at work today, so I hope somebody found something useful. If not, oh well. I feel accomplished.

Tomorrow evening I am meeting my most recent boss to catch up before she moves to Philadelphia. Sad day, but I'm happy for her.

Saturday night I am pulling a DOUBLE at the theatre. As much as I've enjoyed having some time off this week, I'm definitely eager to get back there.

It's probably time for bed. I really want to read some, but I don't want to get even more hyper than I already am.

How low can you go?

First things first, let me say that my right Shift key is driving me crazy. It has been acting NUTTY for quite a while now. I mean, I have to backspace more than ever before. It's almost like the key's timing is off, so I will try to capitalize a letter and, even though I hit the key at the proper time, it's like it doesn't register until later. Then, randomly, I will capitalize a word and the next four letters will be capitalized. I honestly am not sure what to do about this silly laptop - it's like I'll be waiting for the words I typed to show up sometimes. I took the Shift key off and put it back on last night, which was quite the challenge. Anyway, if any computer gurus are reading this and have any advice, send it on over. I think it might be about time to get a new computer.

I really need to be asleep right now. Perhaps I shouldn't have had caffeine tonight when I was at the theatre. I hadn't thought a lot about that until now, but I bet that's the culprit for why I haven't conked out yet. This is WAY past my bedtime.

Well, I worked at the graduation show tonight, which was nice because I got one of my volunteer shifts for the month out of the way. Plus, the show was fun and I planned to go anyway, so I killed two birds with one stone. Thursday, I will do my second volunteer shift of the month, meaning I'll literally only have one shift left for the entire month! That's pretty exciting because it means there will be three weekends without any shifts this month. I'm most excited about that because it's really time to hunker down on my book. I know I've been blabbering about it for so long, but I'm feeling pretty ready to accomplish things.

Today I accomplished a lot and it felt good. Within an eight-minute period, I got a lot done. I made a dentist appointment that I've put off for more than eight months. I also ordered refills for two of my medications. I sent a few emails to follow-up on some things (prompted by a friend's checking in to get updates, so thank you!), which resulted in working to schedule my pre-screen appointment for the PTC124 drug study I excitedly mentioned at the end of January. I mean, let me just say that in that short amount of time, I moved mountains. It's so nice not to have some of those things looming overhead anymore.

There are tons of other things I want to say, probably because I am hopped up on caffeine. Anyway, it snowed again today (this is so atypical), so I was really hoping for some kind of cancellation tomorrow. It's not looking very probable since there wasn't much water on the roads tonight, but I can still hope. The schools in my county are delayed, so that should make for an easier start to my commute regardless.

Well, I'm gonna try to go to sleep because a little wave of tired-eye just came over me...

Dreeeeeeeeeeeams

I am really writing to say that I'm too tired to write anything, but felt like saying hi anyway. I just got home from my double-shift at the theatre and find myself soooo exhausted that it's unreal! The most exciting part is that I am about to conk out. Wooo!

Today was NOT a productive day. I slept until after 11:00 a.m. Then, I got up and sat around for quite a while. I ended up opening a Word document and writing whatever I felt like writing. Ya know how I mentioned my book and how I wanted to work on it this weekend? Well, I decided to try this new thing called 'start over.' I know that's a ridiculous thing to consider when I'm at 200ish pages of the book, but it's revamping with a clean slate in mind. As I get inspired to tell stories that I know I've already written about, I'll retrieve them from the old document. Who knows... I'm basically just rambling at this point. I've just been feeling kind of empty lately, but I know I'm not empty.

I didn't work out Friday or today, but whatever.

I went to the library today to return several books and browse and see what tickled my fancy. For the first time since I got my library card, I did not check out a book. I was just feeling kind of unattached to anything I picked up. Plus, I know that reading will inhibit my writing. Soooooo, I am library bookless for the first time in as long as I can remember.

Finally, before I headed downtown, I met my sister for El Toro. It was gooooooooooood. On that note, it's bedtime.

Negative Nizzancy

Guess who is in hypercritical mode?! Meeeeeeee. I'm not wild about tonight's show (I guess officially last night's) in any form or fashion. Tonight I put on a tutorial for what happens when you get inside your head during an improv show. I was having a hard time getting psyched before the show and it was evident in my first scene. From there, it was like a snowball effect and starting pouring into every aspect of my performance. I kept thinking about how many people were there to support me and how it wasn't going like I wanted it to, so it just wasn't a good approach for me to have. Oh well - I live and I learn.

On the positive side, I ended up getting at least 27 people there, which was just awesome. I am really appreciative to feel so loved, especially when I'm feeling down on myself. For my own improv scrapbook, tonight I was in Emo Spot (as the straight guy - a therapist), Buzzer Interview (as my character Piper Pennington), Narration Switch (started on-stage), and ABC Buzzer Craft Show. I'd actually never played any of those games in a show and had never played three of the renditions before, so it was cool to get to try some new stuff... even if I didn't execute it like I wanted. I live and I learn. Again.

Aside from the show, today was... okay. I stayed up later than I intended last night because I was watching Douglasville win a bronze medal in the women's bobsled in the Olympics. That was pretty cool, but I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted. I got up and exercised this morning (DAY FIVE!) with hopes that it would help keep me energized throughout the day. Then, although it usually takes four minutes to get on 400, it took me 20, so I ended up being pretty late to work.

That being said, getting my steak nachos from Willy's was probably the highlight of my day. I learned today that the steak nachos do not make me as invincible as I thought. They were delicious, nonetheless.

I was coughing a lot today, but I hope it was just a weird day. My voice was starting to get hoarse as the day went on, so it's probably good that I wasn't in any singing games... although my voice is so horrible that being hoarse might be an enhancement! Did I ever mention that I signed up for these pollen alert emails the other day? Dorky, I know, but I am trying to avoid landing myself in the ER like I did last spring. Today's pollen count was one of the highest it has been all week. Wonder if there's any correlation - note to self.

This weekend I think I'll work on my book. I haven't mentioned it in a while because, well, my mind's totally been elsewhere. It would probably be beneficial to delve back into that a bit, especially since I'm sure my perspective's slightly different than it was several weeks ago. I have to work two shows at the theatre on Saturday, but other than that, I should have plenty of time.

Off to bed. It's really late. I'm working from home tomorrow and meeting an old friend at Maggiano's for lunch. I'm excited!

Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo

Greeeeeeeeeeeeeetings. Today is 12-21, which is a palindrome. Therefore, I also used a palindrome to title this post. DORK!

Well, what a weekend! I worked at the theatre on Friday and Saturday nights. I did pre-show suggestions both nights, and also ran the camera on Saturday night. It didn't feel much like work, so that's cool. I also got to laugh a lot in the process, so volunteering was surprisingly fun. I was out pretty late both nights... Friday night I got home around 1, and Saturday it was more like 2. WILD CHILD!

Saturday I got up and exercised, then went shopping and knocked out pretty much everything you can imagine. It was relatively painless, which I didn't expect the weekend before Christmas. It's amazing how efficiently you can shop the closer you get to the deadline. I mean, the lines may be long and what not, but there's no longer time to debate, compare, pick and choose.

Sunday I got up and ran 3 miles (you heard me) and then went to lunch with a friend. We went to J. Christopher's and I had the spinach and bacon skillet. It made my mouth water! I could eat another right now. I debated getting the pancakes, but restaurant pancakes often don't do it for me. They are too...solid and calculated. I can't wait to eat some homemade pancakes this week!

Last night we had a theatre holiday party, and it was a lot of fun. I brought apple tart for dessert and my white elephant gift was a bottle of Bailey's. I ended up getting a tumbler... too bad the Bailey's already belonged to someone else at that point. There was so much delicious food to eat, including one of my favorites... buffalo chicken dip!

That brings me to a very important point. Back in September, I ranked my top three foods as Mexican, pancakes, and grilled cheese. However, I have an amendment to make. I'm officially replacing grilled cheese with buffalo chicken dip in my all-time top three favorite foods. Buffalo chicken dip is just sooooo savory.

Well, it's time to go to bed around 8:30 p.m. because I stayed up too late last night. Tomorrow is my last day in the office this week. YEAAAAAAH BUDDY! GET IT CRUNK! I'm seriously so excited about it. Plus, I'm going to lunch with my old boss, so that's always fun!

Umm..... What?

I can't even fathom that it's Wednesday night. My internet wasn't working the last few days, and I hadn't had the time to try to figure it out. However, it's amazing what unplugging a couple cords can do for you. Primarily if you plug them back in after you unplug them. So, I'm up and running again!

I have been at the theatre the last three days... I had my first apprentice rehearsal on Monday night, went to a graduation show last night, and had rehearsal again tonight. It has been a busy, but fun week. I can tell I am going to learn a lot and I'm going to learn it quickly.

I installed my cruise card on my dashboard today. I use the term 'installed' like it involved more than sticking a sticker on the windshield, but it seemed like a pretty big deal. I cruised right through the toll plaza today and felt so free. I felt kind of rebellious. I also thought everyone was probably looking at me as I cruised by, so I felt narcissistic. Not fumbling for 50 cents was such a relief. Sadly, I am being serious.

Yesterday at work, we volunteered at Project Open Hand packing meals for people who are homebound. My first task was scooping broccoli into plastic trays. My second task was putting grape juice boxes into the bags of meals. My third and final task was putting chocolate chip cookies into bags. It was so much fun! We were having such a good time listening to music and moving things down the assembly line. I kind of wish we went there every day.

What else?! I worked out before work yesterday, and I'd like to get in the habit of doing that since I'm going into work a little later so I don't have much time to kill between work and improv. I got a pretty killer workout in by getting up a simple 35 minutes early. It doesn't mean I'm going to do it tomorrow, but it felt very productive. I might try to hop on the elliptical at work tomorrow since I left my gym bag at my desk...

Well, I just got sleepy very suddenly, so I'm off to bed. Happy December!