Oldies but Goodies

So I've taken a couple strolls down memory lane lately. Firstly, by spending a week in Yreka at my parents house sans 'rents looking at old crap in boxes. Secondly, by seeing 2 old friends from highschool last night as well as running into a college aquaintance in ashland. Last night I went to see a play at the Shakespeare festival with Trish Kimbell and Pete Townley both of whom are doing very well and yet are still drawn to Yreka inexplicably. Yreka is, as my dad always says, and as pete drunkenly pointed out last night, "God's Country." Even the athiest that I am, I have to agree that it is very nice. Here is an example:

My friend trish is actually making a living as a performer/teacher which is exciting. She gets to travel a lot and I'm pretty jealous of that but sort of not envious because I would go crazy being on the road all time. Pete is living in Yreka right near my parents and working for the government doing top secret conservation/agriculture stuff and most likely saving the world in ways I'll never understand. But they both seem to have a lot of passion for their careers which I am very jealous of. Oh, and since marigold thinks I should talk more about diabetes in this blog, I'll mention that Pete's little sister also has diabetes so it is interesting to talk to him since he kind of knows first hand what it is all about. Usually I have to explain how it works and I found myself listening to him explain it to trish which was nice. She thought I didn't have diabetes anymore so pete and I got a good laugh out of that one. I also got to hear what some of my fellow Yreka High graduates are up to these days which is always interesting.
On the way to the theater I ran in to Jen Belt who I went to college with and had some theater classes with. She is a very talented actress/writer amongst other things and it was a pleasant surprise to see her again and to meet her husband. She used to date my friend andy rydzewski when she lived in humboldt so she was sort of my friends girlfriend who I never really got to know because I am a horrible bitch. We saw a play called Room Service which was very funny and slapsticky although I was disappointed because there was an ottoman right in front of one of the entrance that not one person tripped over during the entire show. Why did they put it there if no one was going to trip over it? Huh? Eh? What is up with that, yo?
Also, I got news the other day that I got a part in Judgement at Nuremberg that will start when the whale show is over. I get to play Maria Wallner, the character judy garland played in the movie. It is a very good part with a couple of very intense courtroom scenes. I'm pretty excited about it. One of the other actors is Jeff Golden who is this extrememly liberal local radio guy on jefferson public radio who my grandmother and brother worship like a god. They are so jealous of me.

So you have all my news.

the end

my vacation is coming to an end and I still have nothing to say about anything. just goes to show. just goes to show.

The Almighty Truth

I guess the truth is I don't have much to say. I thought it was a matter of time and accessability that led to my few and far between posts but I'm thinking now that I just really don't do much that inspires me to write about it. I did get a part in the musical afterall. I have to drive up to ashland tomorrow and do a read through. Here is the theater's website if you want to check it out.
oregon stage works
I'll be paying Regina who is a kick ass bitch reporter. It is the fun part so I'm glad to do it. It'll be less work too. Fewer lines, only one song. But I'll get more out of it than playing a mother role. Mothers are sort of stupid. Unless they are mother fuckers! right? right?

Happy valentines day, by the way. Where are all my flowers and candies?

I black history month and presidents day.

auditions

I forgot that I hadn't mentioned anything since I last posted about my audition. It went very well and I most likely have a part but they haven't called me back since the day after I auditioned. They called me to let me know that I will probably be in the show but that they don't know what part I would play. That was over a week ago. Maybe they found someone they liked better. I don't know. I have to call them back before tuesday because that is when they were going to have the read through. Theater people are fucking flakey assed mother fuckers though, so I'm not really that worried. My other audition is for the season at the camelot theater where I did the last show. I'll be auditioning for like 6 shows at once. That should be fun. Fun like a hole in my head.

Actually, I like auditioning.

Excuses

Steve wondered why I don't post very often in a comment recently. The reason is because I do most of my blogging afterwork at a coffee place or at the library and sometimes at work which is bad. And I feel guilty for it. So guilty, in fact, that I inadvertently recommended that my boss add spyware to my computer at work. I don't know how it happened really, all I know is that one minute I was asking her questions about web access at work and the next minute she was answering my questions by showing my how our spyware works and then showing me how to install it and then installing it on my computer. Oh well. It is for the best, really. I shouldn't blog at work and I shouldn't read other people's blogs at work. I don't have a computer at home but that all may be solved soon because my brother's coworker is selling him his for really cheap because he is an alltech kind of guy who needs the newest shit all the time. So I may be able to post more frequently. In fact, this week I expect a lot of blogging since I am in Yreka for the week with no working at all. I'm very excited. All this guilt and anxiety at work would also be solved if I took marigold's advice and got another job which hopefull I'll be able to work on this week too. Nothing makes me feel more guilty than looking for and applying for jobs at work, both of which I have done in the past couple of weeks.

The real problem, I think, is that I am a stimulus whore. I have to have constant stimuli and at work I sometimes need to be reading the news when I answer phones and make appointments. I have the least amount of errors and the most productivity compared with my coworkers according to my boss so I don't think it really effects my job but it does make me feel guilty. all the time.

So in addition to making up shit to write about here and looking for a job, I have several other projects to work on this weekend. I have to pick a song and monologue to do for another audition on saturday and then I have to work on them. I brought all my CD's so I can make some kick ass mixed CD's for myself because I enjoy doing that. I also brought my gamecube and some piano music so I can learn to play the piano again and play my new lord of the rings game. Every minute will be accounted for. My parents have an endless supply of magazines and I brought a couple books. The only thing I don't have are movies but I can watch tv and rent a movie if I want to.

Also, currently my brother and I are obsessed with Tenacious D. I got 2 dvd's from netflix with live stuff and their hbo stuff and some videos. My brother is especially obsessed with the song Tribute and plays it over and over and over again. Just before and after this part especially.


It is pretty awsome and I recommend it heartily to all and sundry.

Unmentionables

I forgot to mention, mainly for steve's benefit, that my favorite musical family, the Wainwrights, were all featured in the Aviator. First Rufus, then Loudon the III, and then little martha. All singing old timey type songs at the coconut grove. It was interesting and almost disturbing since I thought I was all underground and stuff with my love of loudon and martha(everybody likes rufus), but I guess if they are all in the biggest movie of the year I am just very cutting edge but not really very cool. Oh well. Also, remember when I was complaining about musical theater hell? I have an audition today for another musical and it has kids in it again so I am either a glutton for punishment or I don't know what. I'm pretty excited, though. It'll be a bigger part then the show I was in and a smaller cast, which will be nice. The show is called The Boy Who Talked to Whales.

It sounds very sweet, doesn't it? I got a call out of the blue yesterday from the woman who choreographed the last one and she really likes me. I don't think I am shoe-in necessarily but I think I have a very good shot at a part. I'm not looking forward to more rehearsals, however, especially now that American Idol is back on. I love that shit so much.

Good News and Bad News

Well the good news is, my job decided not to change our insurance plan just yet. It was too soon and the doctors also said that it was unfair to change it suddenly without giving us all time to prepare for the change. The bad news is that I still kind of can't stand this job and they are going to change it most likely in july so I am still going to try to get a job somewhere else in the mean time.

In entertainment news, I saw the aviator this weekend. I liked it. I really liked Kate Blanchett but Leonardo is just such a little boy still. He has a little boy voice and a baby face. He is very interesting to watch though. I do like him and I did like the movie. My two favorite parts were the courtroom scene with alan alda and the beverly hills plane crash scene. Howard Hughes was totally awsome!!!!

I am taking a vacation in Yreka so you can expect quite a few posts during the week of 2/14 through 2/18. If anybody reading this wants to take a vacation during this time, my parents are gone so we can totally have a party at my house. Its the best kind of vacation because I get out of my house and go to a better house, for free, with cable and a computer and the internet and free food and I'll bring my game cube and my books and I'll do nothing but entertain myself and drool for a whole week while my parents are in LA going to disneyland and generally LA-ing it up, LA style. I love Yreka sometimes. If you ever want to go somewhere where no one will know where you are or care, go to Yreka. But if you are expecting to visit the Yreka Bakery, you are out of luck because no such palindromic establishment actually exists despite the crazy money making machine it would be what with all the palindromophiles out there. And by that I mean you, Steve.

I think I'll try to kick my caffeine habit during that week. Yes! Yes, that would be an excellent idea. Whenever I see Yes! Yes! written just like that I am reminded of a kurt vonnegut character who, if I can remember right, was the elevator operator in Cat's Cradle and would grab his own ass and yell "Yes! Yes!" when he agreed with something whole heartedly. Isn't that what he would do?

stupid fucking world

So my job is going to change our insurance. I've worked here for less than 2 years and this will be the 3rd time we've changed. This time is definately the shitty shits though. Right now I have a 500$ deductable which means I have to pay 500$ out of pocket and then my isurance kicks in and starts paying 80% of my office visits. I have a copay for dr's visits and medications. In the last 6 months I've shelled out about 600$ total for prescriptions and dr's visits and labs. They want to change our plan to a 1500 dollar deductable with a health savings plan to help us pay for it by allowing us to put money in a medical savings plan tax free. We already have something like this called a flexible spending account or cafeteria plan. I put money in, tax free, from my paycheck and then when I spend 100 dollars on prescriptions I get reimbursed for that 100 dollars even if I haven't put 100 dollars in the account yet. So basically all this new plan is doing is changing my deductable from 500$ to 1500$. I worked it out, after looking at my statements from my insurance as to what they were billed and what they payed and I was able to see what I would have had to pay if I was on this plan for the last 6 months. I would have had to pay almost 1800 dollars. It would triple my out of pocket expenses in just 6 months. Let alone a year. Let alone vision and dental. One of the women at work is pregnant. She is due in may. This will start in february. Because the deductable for family is 3000 and her husband will be on hers since he has no insurance, she will have to pay 3000 dollars of her own money before they start paying for her pregnancy. She didn't plan on this when she got pregnant and hasn't been planning for it since she got pregnant. Now she has 4 months to save up for having her baby. And she doesn't get paid a lot. Probably 13 or 14 dollars an hour at the most. Another coworker of mine has MS. Her medications cost 1300 dollars monthly without insurance. Not to mention doctor's appts and labs. And occasional visits to the er when she loses the feeling in her legs. I'm getting my resume together this evening after work.

predictions

I was going to put down a list of american idol top 10 predictions from last night but I got sidetracked with all the crappy people and they cryers and all I wrote down was "girl with udders is good" and "Anwar" So maybe after the next few episodes I'll have a more definitive list of people who I think will go all the way. You see, the last three years I knew from the 2nd I saw them that the people who went all the way would go all the way but I didn't tell anyone so I couldn't claim that I knew. But I knew. So this year I'm going to post it for everyone to see.

Musical Comedy Hell Over At Last!!!

Steve and Marigold's recent posts were so incredibly depressing that I just couldn't resist posting something about my miserable life. At least I'm not married though. God would that suck. I finally finished the show I've been doing. I am at my gramma's house in ashland right now waiting to head over to the cast party. I'm planning on staying for a little bit and then going to a movie. A very long engagement is playing at the varsity here in Ashland. All the cool movies play here. Kinsey is playing at 6:50 so I'll probably go see that. Yeah.

The point is, I hate parties. I hate them so much. I am so awkward and uncomfortable and at the same time aloof and snooty. I look at people like I have no idea what to say to them but I hope they don't start talking to me because I couldn't care less about whatever it is they are going to talk about. And I don't really like drinking very much so I can't even drink my awkward loathing away.

Brad, Jen, what about the beautiful babies???

I just realized just how long its been since I posted anything. Jeez. I had this interesting dream last night that I was visiting Portland, checking things out, and I went to this great place called Sub Pop. From the outside I thought it was just a vintage clothing store but it looked really big. It was a vintage clothes store but it also sold posters and music and all sorts of "cool" stuff. But the best part was in the back there was this bar and it was called something clever that had to do with the tropics or islands or the sea or something and there were two really big canoes that you could sit in to have drinks and tables all around and it was all blue lighting like you were under water and a big band stand where they had this buddy holly kind of MC guy anouncing what this years spring fling would be like. Wasn't sub pop the label that nirvana was on? I know I've seen that before but this was like short for Submarine Pop I think. Or so my subconscious would lead me to believe. I would really like to go to go to a place like that. Maybe if I move to Portland I will find a place just like that and I will be so cool. I'll tell you one thing, that was a lot better than the dream I had a few nights ago that I had aids

What else.... hmmmm... Christmas was okay, I got presents. And some money. My nephew learned about santa clause. The day after Christmas there was a big snow storm and we had some trouble getting back from yreka over the hill to ashland. We had to stop and my brother had to put on chains because I'm just a girl. It took twice as long as it normally does but it was very pretty.

I'm still in this carnival play. I think this is the longest run of a play that I've ever been in. This is our 6th week coming up this weekend. 6th and last. I think that last play was 4 or 5 weeks long. But it is still fun at times. I have to wear clown makeup every night, however, and this is getting kind of old. And I am getting sort of irritated with some of the cast members.

I am reading the 3rd book of Robert Jordan's Wheel of time series and I recommend it to any fantasy dorks. It is pretty good crap. I've been listening to a lot of david bowie lately because I saw The Life Aquatic and I loved it so much but for me the best part was the acoustic portugese david bowie songs. If anyone has seen City of God, the actor who played knockout ned in that is the guy who sings all the songs in the life aquatic and I love him. I found this funny picture of him.

I also love willem defoe, and the guy from harold and maude. I'm so glad wes anderson put him in a movie because it is like poetic justice in some way. Harold and Maude IS wes anderson. Wes Anderson IS Harold and Maude. I've also been listening to the soundtrack to Avenue Q, a sesame street knockoff on broadway where the puppets say bad words and sing about being gay. It is very funny.

I also saw finding neverland and national treasure recently, both of which I enjoyed, but one more than the other. Guess which one? I'll give you a clue, I read The Illuminatus! Trilogy : The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple and Leviathan when I was 15.

Hey, does anyone know what the time frame on this will and johanna wedding is? Is it going to be in like a year or 2 years or some distance future date beyond my comprehension? I'm planning my life around their nuptials.

Interesting Things

So this doctor I work for, lets call him Doctor Schmoctor for this story. So on Thursday afternoon 12/23 at about 4:50, my coworker and I were winding down for the evening and getting ready for the 3 day weekend ahead of us. Docter Schmoctor walks in and says, with his most sincere face on, "You two are the unsung heros here and I have some gifts for you." He pulled out two large wreaths from behind him and as he was doing this, the nuclear medicine tech came around the corner and said, "Hey, did you get rid of those wreaths yet?" And then I died of laughter. Doctor Schmoctor was very embarrassed. He was really trying to be sincere, is the funny part. Really trying. He tried to do his best, but he could not, as Neil Young says.

Secondly, I have a saga to tell about some emails I've been receiving. I'm hoping someone who reads this may be able to figure it out. On 10/14 I received a strange email from an address that had KonradF-BMW7hw1aNnF6IKQ6qXMQ. I was afraid to open it because it looked like spam but it wasn't in my spam . So I waited until 12/24 when I was on my dad's computer in case it exploded. Guess what it was? A picture of Will. So I emailed him back asking him who the hell he is and he emailed me this back, "uh... i don't remember sending anything to you.. who is this?" So I emailed him back, "I am a friend of will's, the fellow in the picture. Who is this?" And he emailed me back, "will who? what picture are you talking about? this is konrad..."
And I emailed him back with his orginal message and the picture forwarded as well, "I received this email from you and responded to it. The picture is of myfriend will. Strange that you would email a picture of someone you don't know to someone you don't know but I would know the person inthe picture..... curiouser and curiouser." And the final email from him, "that's really odd... i don't know you or that guy... i have no recollection f sending you anything... i don't believe anyone has my account password... what an enigma." Any ideas of how the hell this went down????????? I think it has to do with Justin some how.

I've decided that the Most Underappreciated Genius is......

Christopher Walken

After reading my friend yustin's blog I realize now that he is my favorite artiste. He can tap dance, for christ-all-mighty-on-a-stick's sake. So he wins the big prize. Does anyone have his mailing address so that I can send him two tickets to my show? I think he would like it.
Check out the review from the paper that my brother happens to be an editor for.
Clearly the stuff dreams are made of and clearly the sort of fare that Mr. Walken would eat up with a spoon. Like sugar. Or soup.

If anyone hasn't seen him on SNL in the cowbell sketch or the census taker one, you must run or skip to wherever you can get your hands on it. I just can't resist,
here is the transcript from the scene but if you haven't seen it and you want to and you don't want this to ruin it for you just don't click on it. If you have seen it, sit back and get ready for the ride of your life on the hilarious highway of memory.

Most Underappreciated Genius of Our Time?

I say Jack Handy. My dad probably says himself. Or Adolf Hitler. What do YOU think?

Sideways

I just saw sideways and now I'm going to kill myself. Actually, does anyone ever get the feeling like they are really depressed and filled with enui but suddenly inspired at the same time? That's how that movie made me feel. I love paul giamatti. Also, strangly enough, my old college chum Tracy Boyd is listed in the credits as "factotum." Whatever that means. I don't remember tracy knowing all that much about wine but maybe he helped research it or something. Or maybe he was just there for useless info. He often did have a lot to say about things that seemed unimportant to me. Maybe he did talk about wine a lot. All I know is that I should have been more attentive and interested because then I'd be hanging out with alexander pain and paul giamatti. Now who's the dummy. I really am very bummed out lately though. I hate my job so much. I really don't think there is a chance of anyone from there googling me and finding this site since I don't think I use my full name and there are literally thousands of instances of my name on the web. It is a fairly common name. Not like Marigold Haske. Unless, of course, someone from works knows marigold and googles her, finds her site, recognizes her illustration of me, and then finds this site. But that is extremely unlikely. So, I fucking hate my job so much I could puke. I hate it so much. I spend a lot of time at work on-line looking at the classifieds and reading them in the break room as well. So someone is going to get the idea that I hate my job. Also, I talk about how much I hate it. But I really am thinking of looking for something else or moving soon. I sort of painted myself in a corner with renegotiating my rent with my brother so I can't really move now but I really would like to get another job. I just have to save up enough money to live for a while without insurance. Or find out if I can get on the oregon health plan. That would be ideal. Then I could even just get a part time job. I just can't take the phone calls and the doctors anymore. I actually like my co-workers but the doctors drive me nuts and the patients are all complete assholes and insane. 99% of them at least. And the administration is a joke. And not even a funny joke half the time. I'm so sick of it all I can't even write anymore about it. It is so fucking ridiculous.

Dogs And Blogs And Clogs And Snogs And Flogs

Thanks to Justin for giving letting me in on petfinder. I'm pretty excited about this dog thing. It will be my dog so if and when I move out I will take the dog with me. If my brother wants a dog he'll get one and he may just do that when my aunt's chocolate lab and my cousin's yellow lab have puppies in may. I want a little dog though. A wittle bitty dog that can sit on my lap. I'll name him Don Rickles. Or Ron Dickles. Or something else. I threatened to move out of my brother's place because he got this big raise and doesn't really need me to live there any more but he said he still needs to buy a car. I was all like, "I'm not going to pay you rent just so you can buy a car!!" And he was all like "what would it take?" And I'm all like, "lower my rent and let me have a dog, bitch." And he's all like, "okay mandy, whatever you say, you're the boss. Just please please stay because I'm a greedy bastard and want to keep taking your hard earned money." That's pretty much what happened. Pretty much. He accused me of "jewing him down." His words, not mine. That racist bastard. I would never use that kind of language. I might call someone an indian giver though. Or a gaywad. Because Indians and Gays are still fair game as far as I'm concerned.

Other noteworthy news:
I fell down during the curtain call right after my bow on tuesday night in my big show. I fell right down on the stage in front of the world. Boy was my face red. And my knee. And swollen. My knee, that is. And Black and Blue. My face. From beating myself up. stupid stupid.
Also, my parent's recently got back from a trip to mountain view california to visit my preggers sister and her husband and also to meet his parents for the first time. They've been married for almost 2 years but her parents and his parents never met. That is sort of boring irrelevant news to most of the people who probably read this. Oh well.

I Suck

I keep trying to post something and then I'll save it has a draft and then I come back to it and write some more and then I don't post it because I get interrupted and then today I deleted the post I started last week on accident. I suck. Anyway, I'm super busy with this stupid musical I'm in but it is really fun. Go here to see the theater's website and info about the play if you are at all interested. I'm not pictured so don't go looking for my lovely face.

In other news, I'm going to get a dog in january. I'm very excited.

Special Thanks

Special Thanks to my Autie Toonie Baloonie for giving me space on her website to post pictures so I can link them to my site. I now have a new profile pictures which is really me, altered. And look at this neat picture of my nephew taken earlier this month:



Isn't he just the cutest thing this side of the mississip?

On-line Quizzing, On-line Jizzing

So I am now obsessed with okcupid. They have a million tests you can take that don't really have any practical application but are very fun to take. Thanks a lot to Marigold and her friend Sara for ruining my life.

I hope everybody had a great thanksgiving and stuff. I had some turkey and some stuffing and some smashed potatoes. All in all, it was fine. The best part was probably playing Headbanz with my fambily. It is a very fun game, similar to 20 questions only you get a headband and you put a card on it that has a person, place, or thing on it and you ask yes or no questions to try to figure out what your card says. I think Steve and marigold have played it. Maybe Will and Justin too. I remember playing it a lot in college but I forget who I played it with. Fun times. High times. Hard times. Sometimes the living is sweet, and sometimes there's nothing to eat. But I always lands on my feet.

Tomorrow I'm going to be in a parade in Ashland for the show I'm in. That should be tedious and cold and wet but I'll have fun parading my hot shit around because I am totally hot shit.

I'm tired and I need to go off to lullaby land now. Sweet Dreams, Indian Killers.

Oh, one last parting sentiment. This is a song I wrote when I was about eight. I can still play it on the piano but you'll just have to read the words and imagine the great melody I came up with to go with it. I was truly a musical genius until I realised girls should dress up and put lipstick on and play with barbies and keep their pie holes shut.

Thanksgiving Day

On Thanks - gi - ving Day there are thrilling pilgrim stories,
How the In - di - ans helped that first Thanksgiving day.
Oh I love - it - so, eating pumpkin pie and turkey!
Let us all - give - thanks on this bright Thanksgiving day!

Bright Thanksgiving, Bright Thanksgiving, Bright Thanksgiving day!
Bright Thanksgiving, Bright Thanksgiving, Bright Thanksgiving day!

repeat.

The UCB F-ing Rules!!!! Suck It!!

I just got the first 2 seasons of this awsome show from netflix. If anyone out there in blog land hasn't seen it before, go out and get it because it rules


I also re-rented Chopper so that my brother could see it. It is so great. It is australian and stars Eric Bana as an australian killer and it is hilariously disturbing. I recommend it highly and mightily.

Also, I am now deeply involved in this Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance game. I always resisted baldur's gate games before because it is a role playing game and I think they are sort of silly but I really like this one.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the baby naming game. However, my sister has decided not to name the baby until it is born. That way she can name it have it's most prominent feature like Big Nose, or Stumpy, or Hairlip, or Fetal Alcohol Sydromia. Or, god willing, Beautiful Blond Super Race.

Also, thanks to Jesus Christ for Will and Johanna's great news of their recent betrothment. As Steve said at the recent wedding of two other people whose names I already forget, "Will sure got lucky there... er um.. I mean, not that Will isn't a great guy, it's just that Johanna is so great, I mean, .. er.. um... I wish I had met her first.. I mean, I really like Marigold and all but ... um.. yeah...I'm a Pollock Dumbass."

I count myself as the luckiest because I have never been out of these United States of America and if they decide to have their nuptials in the lovely island of Cyprus then I would get to go and that would be totally awsome. Maybe I won't quit my job so soon.