Welcome to the Neighborhood!

Well, we're moved!

I vaguely remember an epic 24-hour packing session followed by two days of moving, a day of cleaning (all while teaching full-time during the day) and another 24-hours full of "Where's my... ?" and "Have you seen the box with the...?"

I was teaching the teen Shakespeare workshop with PT's Summer Camp program that week, and admittedly, I did not expect the kids to be so dang good! I let them design their own program for the final performance on Friday and they chose 'Death by Shakespeare' which was a montage of 6 scenes depicting epic Shakespearean deaths. Romeo and Juliet, Caesar, the MacDuff family, Desdemona, etc. My introduction did not appropriately prepare the parents and other students for what they were about to see... and so a performance that had begun with adorable little 7-year-olds singing and dancing to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ended with Titus and Lavinia slitting the throats of her tormentors followed by the double suicide of Romeo and Juliet.
In retrospect, I should have pushed for the vignettes from Midsummer...

This week has proven to be more family-friendly as we've dumped the heavy content of Shakespeare and taken on 'Mastering the Monologue' and audition prep. I've got an extremely talented and enthusiastic group of 20 kids workin' their tails off when they could be on their couches sleeping, watching TV or playing video games; so I respect them all for being there every day.

In other news, the Jeep waited until the last load of goods had been delivered to the new place and promptly decided that it didn't want to start again. It has done the same thing before... and has responded at times to jumpstarting... and last Memorial Day, after my step-dad assisted in taking out the starter to have it checked, the thing started back up just fine. I just don't know what to make of it. Could be that the neutral safety switch is gummed up. Could be electrical. Could be my solenoid. I just don't know.
So... I'm hoping to have it towed to the house today.
Thankfully, my mom loaned me her Prius, so that has been getting me to and from work every day until I can get The Beast back up and running.

Luckily, I'm in the glamorous part of Mesa that is just a stone's throw from a bunch of mechanic shops... and I suspect that at least one of the three drunks who live across the street is handy with a socket set on a vehicle.

I went to the nearest Wal-Mart with Jason and as soon as we walked in, he broke out the Che... "Oh what a circus, oh what a show!..."
Oh yes... downtown Mesa has all the adventure and excitement of downtown Phoenix... but without the culture, food and arts. (And I don't mean ALL of Mesa... it does have it's venues and restaurants... but my little corner is pretty desolate except for the Bookman's and the Atomic Comics.)

The commute into Phoenix is shorter by a good chunk and the commute to Chandler is a short jaunt at best, so I'm happy with the location. Now I just have to start making the new place look and feel like 'home'... which isn't helped by the stacks of boxes waiting their rightful places in storage or unpacked in one of the rooms.
Meh... I'll get to the rest of it this weekend... in addition to tinkering with the Jeep.

In the meantime, I've got a class to teach and a show to put on!