Shame on me...

I know, I know. I said I'd be better about keeping up with the blog....
Don't look at me like that, baby. You know I love you.

It seems that when my life is most blog-worthy, I don't have the time or inclination to document it. By the time the dust settles, I sit down at this thing and have precisely nothing to write about.

So, here are all the reasons I haven't been blogging.

1.) It turns out that Diana (the mother in Next to Normal) is a pretty big role. I'm very guilty of repeating the phrase, "Oh, I'm only the understudy" which suggests that I don't have much work to do. The truth is, I have the same responsibilities - learn the role and stay healthy - without the nightly show schedule. And learning this role is an on-going process. Every time I see the show or open the script/score, I learn something new about this woman and her relationships. I haven't done this much book-work on a show since the Shakespeare days (admittedly, my most recent 'bubblegum' musicals haven't required a ton of dramaturgy.)
Needless to say, I find myself nose-deep in the script while simultaneously looking up mental/psychological dysfunctions and ailments on the web.

2.) I'm moving! TWICE! What began as the most stressful decision I've made all year is slowly making way for the administration and logistics of moving across the country. All while being halfway across the country. No, no stress here at all. (lies.)
My lease is up on June 10th and my landlady has prospective tenants already, so she doesn't want to extend through the end of June. I'm home for a week at the end of May before going to Kansas City for the show, so during that week (6 days, actually) I will attend my son's graduation and cry my face off before packing and sorting and moving everything into two functional households. One household will stay with Jason in Mesa and the other will get stored (Hey Mom, how empty is your garage?) until it goes to Florida with me in August.
I will be teaching classes and workshops through June and part of July - and will sell what I can, beg, borrow and fund-raise to help make this move possible - since, let's face it, I'm flat broke. Aside from the fact that I have more crap accumulated, I'm basically just as broke as I was at the age of 18. Except I had a better job back then. How pitiful.
So, while I've been in Little Rock, I've been searching for apartments, contacting realtors, mentally inventorying my costumes and props for donations to local theatres, and pricing U-Haul vs. U-pack vs. Movers and trying to figure out how the hell to make it all happen in such a time-crunch.

3.) I've been a phone whore. Fun fact about me is that I'm actually not much of a 'phone' person. That great job I had at the age of 18 was working customer service. I would go on to work 5 jobs at different communications corporations before the age of 32 - all of them heavy on the 'customer service' and 'phone contact' categories. This doesn't include the many temp jobs I worked as a receptionist. Phone voice? I haz it. But I got burned out on the phone - and my job is such that I can't get calls while in rehearsal/performance - so text and email are usually my preferred methods of communication. In the past few weeks, however, I have spent an average of about 2 hours on the phone with my future roommate (Ann) almost every day since tech. At times, it's a typical conversation between friends - discussing movies and music and boys and life. Or a conversation between roomies - will the furniture fit, what's going on the walls?
More recently, however, the conversations have turned to mutual creative and business ventures that could very well be a lucrative adventure for both of us. At very least, it promises to be fun and entertaining. So, we've been throwing ideas back and forth on the phone (and via text) a lot - which is how you do things when you aren't in the same state.

So, stay tuned. As I settle into the chaos that will be the next three months of my life, I promise I'll have more fun fare to post and share.

I swear it, baby. You're my only blog and I love you.