Day -1

Opening night was awesome. The new booth worked out great. It was fun to have an audience and hear their reactions - I guess in theater that pretty much goes without saying, but here I am... saying it. The actress playing Helen (yes, that Helen) got a lot of laughs - I bet that was fun for her. It's also pretty cool to be able to see the audience - I could never do that in the alley space unless I snuck out into the lobby. On the other hand, I can no longer sneak out into the lobby, because a) there really isn't a lobby and b) I have to enter and exit the booth through the audience. That might be a little disruptive, no?

On Saturday we went to our friends' wedding. It was the sweetest wedding I've ever been to. The two of them are so in love. Lysa Flores performed at the ceremony, and my beautiful friend walked down the aisle to "Angel Baby." I cried; so did Patrick's friend Brian, the bassist in his band. I've been describing Brian to people as "Mexican heavy metal Jesus." He's got the prettiest eyes. Good hugger, too. Note: I'm not 100% he's actually Mexican. His girlfriend was sweet, too. I met a lot of nice people at this wedding - the love was a little overwhelming but definitely in an inspirational way.

The bride and groom exited to "Just Like Heaven," and when the congregation followed them outside, Jules and I walked over and watched the band. Yes: I sang along. He loved it - my kid's got some dance moves! Gotta get some Lysa Flores on my playlists.

Afterwards, we went to the reception, which was a lot of fun. Patrick got to hang out with his friends, and I got tips on coffee bean purchasing from our friend Jesse, a noted coffee bean expert. We also talked about parenting and music (of course) with our friend Dave, who was also the bassist at the ceremony (and from Patrick's SST band Magnolia Thunderpussy, and also - ! - our real estate agent when we moved to Long Beach. Talk about multi-talented! Dave can do it all! His band Bikos is fun, too).

By about 8 p.m., I was burned out. It had been a long week, a very hot day, and I was tired and sweaty. We drove home and all of us crashed.

On Sunday, I had to go back to the theater. Charles ran the booth on Saturday, and his report that most things were fine was welcomed by me. It was a pretty full house, which is always great. Sunday's audience was a little smaller, but the press was there all weekend, and hopefully their reviews will get more people there. This space is so much more convenient than the alley - easier to get to and park, for one thing, or is that two? - so I hope people find us and come to the show. I carpooled with Bo, and was a little grumpy about having to leave Jules, but I was glad he drove. We had a little extra time so we went to Rite Aid for some Thrifty ice cream, and that helped a little. Not driving helped, too.

Anyway, to find out more about what I'm talking about here, please visit www.citygarage.org. It's a cool place.

Sunday night I started fooling around with my new coffee maker.

I just started drinking coffee this year. I guess not getting enough sleep is the reason, but maybe also my taste buds have finally matured (I like oysters, now too. What's next? Olives? Sardines?). Whatever the reason, my old diet Cokes were not cutting it anymore. Patrick and I have a teeny tiny Mr. Coffee that we bought for $5 a few years ago. It makes enough for the two of us, but it's nothing special. On the other hand, it's super easy to use. Anyway, we unexpectedly found ourselves the owners of an extremely fancy coffee maker (this one), and finally on Sunday, we unpacked it and got it ready to go.

It's a beautiful piece of machinery, and the folks who wrote the instruction manual take their shit seriously, because that thing reads like it's not just a carafe of coffee you're brewing, it's the carafe of coffee that will SAVE THE WORLD.

Also: carafe. This ain't no ordinary pot of coffee.

The manual is very, very specific and explicit, almost strident in the way they tell you to unpack, clean, and operate their little machine, except in the one important step in the instructions on programming the timer (i.e., follow the instructions to the t, and you will end up with a pot of coffee now instead of later. Dude, if I wanted coffee now, I wouldn't be going through all the trouble of programming it). We had 6 cups of coffee at 10 o'clock at night. I put most of it in the refrigerator for today - Patrick will be sipping iced coffee all day - but we had to taste it. It was the best coffee, ever. Of course.

Anyway, I was a little afraid to use it, probably because of my innate sense of not being good enough ("I don't deserve a fancy coffeemaker!") and because after reading the instruction manual, I wasn't sure I was qualified to turn the damn thing on. It can grind the beans for you, and that's a whole new experience for me. We discussed this, as I mentioned earlier, with Patrick's friend Jesse ("noted coffee bean expert"), who advised us ably. We decided to try the beans he recommended from Trader Joe's, but in the end, didn't have time to go there. Instead, we bought some slightly cheaper organic Sumatra beans from Fresh and Easy, and while I fully admit that they probably weren't the same quality as the magic beans Jesse recommended (and Dave concurred that those were super beans), the coffee we got from those beans and our new machine was really, really delicious. I drank it all on my way to work (after adding a little half and half and sugar), and seriously contemplated going back home for more when it was finished.

So, aside from going to the theater twice a week for a few more months, my life gets back to normal starting today. I work, I go home, I play with my boy, I try to play my flute or ride my bike once in a while, I try to get some sleep, and I get to make and drink some truly incredible coffee.

Not bad. I think I can live with that.