Busy and Wonderful Weekend

 On Friday we had the absolute joy to see Matthew in The Pirates of Penzance, Jr. at his middle school. He completely wowed us. I mean, parents have a certain understanding of their offspring -- he's the one with the witty non sequiturs. She's the one who makes the leaps of connecting seemingly unrelated ideas. He's the one who loves vegetables. She's the one who only wants meat.

But there are times -- delightful and wonderful times -- when a child surprises us. When their talents or cleverness or charisma just surprise the pants off you. This was one of those times.

Matthew had deliberately not practiced much at home. So, we had no idea what to expect when we arrived at his middle school auditorium. His rich baritone rang out over the crowd (and much of the cast). His humorous stage business and line delivery were both charming and appropriate. He was a star.* What pride and joy!

Saturday morning I went for a longer-than-usual-for-me run. I've been trying to get back up to 5K form, with my eye on some longer events later in 2015. So far, I'd been doing 4-minute run intervals, broken up with 2-minute walk breaks, over about a mile and a half -- a few times a week. But on Saturday when the timer went off in my earbuds, I wasn't ready to walk yet. I skipped the break. And the next one. I ran twelve minutes, then took a four minute break and then ran another ten -- for a total of 2.3 miles. And I felt fine.

Fine enough that even after we had friends over on Saturday afternoon for a few hours and hosted Game Night** until 1a.m. that night, I wanted to be back outside again as soon as possible on Sunday morning.

So the family took a three-mile walk to/from the local Mom & Pop grocery for milk and cinnamon buns.

We mostly chilled out for awhile, and then I did my stage management things at Rent rehearsal. And then Joe and I had a movie date at the not-so-nearby-but-way-nicer-reclining-seat movie theatre to see Kingsman. A thoroughly enjoyable, violent but humorous in our kind of way, movie. I hope there will be a sequel.

And now ... back to work and proctoring standardized testing for the rest of the week. Bleah.


*He evidently has such a lack of pecking-order sensibility (the opposite of his sister), that he didn't even realize that having the last bow in curtain call is an honor and something every actor strives for. Despite his years of exposure to theatre, he'd never picked up on that little tidbit. He didn't know he was actually the lead.

**Over 30 people played Texas Hold 'Em, Bang, Pandemic, Hoopla, Cards Against Humanity, Forbidden Island and other games. And ate fabulous and yummy foods. Our "Monthly" Game Night has become quite a thing. I'm bummed that theatrical pursuits*** are getting in the way so we can't host one in April.

***I'm Stage Managing and Joe's Assistant Stage Managing Rent. We open on April 17! Tickets are on sale now.

So Many Things ...

So, I directed a show. It was a phenomenal success creatively, financially and personally. I am extremely proud of my accomplishments and even prouder of the growth of the cast. The look of the show was just what I'd envisioned and the performances exceeded my imagination. It has been a long, powerful experience and a blessing in my life.

And, a la Adrienne Martini, I'm sharing this list of links I've found in my recent Internet travels.

• What a wonderful idea to get people moving a bit more.
• Nic Cage is a weirdo. And not really in the odd-but-let's-hang-out kind of way.
• How to be happy (NSFW language warning)
• Hermione Granger vs. The Patriarchy (there seems to be some concern about whether this is actually an anti-feminist mockery, but I enjoyed it, so there you go ... )
• Calculate what cutting your cable can save you