First, let me just start with a weather report:
It's fucking hot.
My iPhone Yahoo! weather forecast thingy indicates that it's going to be in the 90s this week, and I'm not super happy about that. I don't like Yahoo anyway, so this just cements that feeling; however, I did also check the weather channel, and they're saying the exact same thing.
Of course, I have to state for the record that what bothers me is not just the heat, but it's the humidity.
Finally, according to Wikipedia, the city of Olympia, Washington, is one of the two most humid cities in the United States. The humidity in Long Beach today is currently 79%. In Olympia, right now, it's 83%. However, it's 73 degrees right now in LB, and only 50 in Olympia, so what this proves, I really don't know. Maybe I should book us a flight to Olympia, Washington. I've never been there. It looks nice and cool.
(You can tell that I didn't really understand what that weather guy was going on about when he was talking about dewpoint. Maybe I'll study that more carefully later. Maybe not.)
And on giving this slightly more thought, I also really didn't read the Wikipedia article all that closely. Let me just say that being hot and sticky for two weeks in a row, with at least one more week to go (and probably more) puts me in the grumpiest mood, ever.
You have been warned.
On to the update:
I spent Thursday night in Culver City, so that's where I'm going to start. I went to flute choir, and Jules stayed with my mom and dad, sister, and brothers. He had a lot of fun, as always: Angie made some orange play-dough. He also had Chinese food. At flute choir, Patty said, at one point, "Did someone lose a diamond?" I don't know what she was talking about (no one had lost a diamond, nor had she found one) but her comment caused me to take a look at my wedding ring, and I discovered that my diamond was indeed loose.
Being as my wedding ring is like the fourth most expensive thing I own, I made a mental note to take it somewhere to be fixed on Saturday.
(My diamond isn't very big but it's very pretty.)
I can't remember the name of the piece, but one of the things we played in flute choir was this really strange piece by the composer Ricky Lombardo. We've played other things by him and really liked them. I really liked this one too. In summer flute choir, we all sight-read, and everyone gets a chance to play flute one. That person also gets to chose the music. My friend Megan picked this one, and I was sitting next to her, at flute 2. What a great piece to be flute 2 on - Megan had to do the hard work of conducting the group (and she did a great job) but flute 2 had all the pretty parts. The music was slightly corny and a little science fiction-y, and there was one spot where we were all supposed to pretty much play whatever the hell we wanted for "10-15 seconds" but it was a really nice piece of music for flute choir. My comment on this one was, "Is Ricky Lombardo a Scientologist?" I haven't been able to confirm if he is or not.
We played other stuff but that one stuck out in my mind.
It was a gorgeous night in Culver City on Thursday.
Then I went home to McDonald Street, changed my clothes, got ready for bed, and got JP out of Angie's room to sleep with me... and a little while later, felt one of the bigger earthquakes I've been awake for. JP slept through it. It was a 7.4, in Beverly Hills. Patrick didn't feel it in Long Beach.
Friday, Jules woke up at 5. That's about 4 hours before my parents get up, but my sister was getting ready for work. He and I went into the living room where we tried to figure out their cable TV menu (how does that Pink Floyd lyric go? I've got 500 channels of shit on the TV to choose from?) I was getting frustrated but then Angie showed me how to do the On Demand kids' channels, and we watched about 40 episodes (exaggerating) of Caillou in a row. We also played, ate a banana, and read a book. Later that morning, when my folks got up, my dad made us breakfast (I love my dad's breakfasts: eggs, potatoes, and bacon), I took a shower, and we hung out some more. Then I decided to go to Santa Monica to get my ring fixed.
When I worked at 4th Street and Santa Monica Blvd. at Rizzoli Bookstore (now a furniture store!), I used to go to Jack's Jeweler's. They would polish or tighten up my ring for me in an hour or so, and I liked that same-day service. After I moved to Long Beach, I found a jeweler that had been recommended by my sister-in-law's sister-in-law (got that?) and I liked them, but they take a week to do the same job. Not cool. So, since I also wanted to go to Barnes and Noble, and the Gap on the Promenade, and possibly Anthropologie, I decided to pack up JP and the stroller, and head over there. Wow has Santa Monica changed since I was there last. It's only been a year or so, but the place is different.
Jack's Jeweler's did the work on my ring (including polishing) in an hour, as promised, and Jules and I bought books (one was a gift for his friend Skylar, plus a gift card; we went to her birthday party on Sunday. There's a huge difference between 2 year olds and 19 month olds!), Jamba Juice, and heard a woman singing a funny French song and accompanying herself on the guitar (she told us afterwards that the song translated to "he saw me in the nude"). I'm not sure if this is the same song but how can it not be? Is that a common theme for French songwriters? Her performance was cute because she kept giggling.
When my ring was ready, we paid up and drove home. Patrick picked up Panda Express for us for dinner on his way home from work, and we had a quiet night.
Saturday I went to the cue-to-cue for the next play at City Garage. It's called Orestes 3.0, and it's by Charles Mee. I haven't worked with City Garage since I had the baby, but this is their first show in their new, permanent space at Bergamot Station, and I had to be in the booth. Seriously: I would have been so disappointed to miss this. I saw the theater a few months ago while they were working on it, but the place looks so much more complete now (as it should: the show opens 9/21). It's beautiful. I was blown away by how beautiful it is.
I got there early with my friend Bo (we are carpooling again) so that we could help Charles focus the lights but he was still hanging them when we arrived, so Bo and I sat in the gorgeous and spacious backstage area and read our books (we're both reading Murakami's 1Q84; he finished while we were there, and I still have about halfway to go). Seeing the beautiful space they have created is so exciting. I helped Charles change a couple of gels, and then Bo and I helped plug in all the lights. Then we helped focus them - Bo stood on stage in various places, Charles climbed the ladder, and I just ran the lights up one by one.
Then we embarked on what felt like the longest cue-to-cue, ever. Now, it's been awhile since I've done this type of work, so maybe I'm just out of practice, but as the day (and night) wore on, I started worrying that I had made a mistake.
But I reminded myself that each show only has one cue-to-cue, and that thanks to the director's generosity, I only need to do one week of tech rehearsals (next week). I changed my work schedule so that when tech week starts, I'll be working 7-3:30 (five days a week instead of four), which will actually give me some time with JP in the afternoons. After the long day on Saturday, and my (total) grumpiness on Sunday, though, I'm worried about how next week is going to play out in reality.
Once the show opens, I'm sure it will be fine... Depending on the length of the show itself, I'll be away from home for what, 4, 5 hours? On the other hand, as I told a friend of mine as I contemplated starting this project, I feel somehow, like everything is changing again.
I can't put my finger on what, exactly. I just feel it.
Check out City Garage for show and ticket information. www.citygarage.org.
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