I managed to completely forget that the Tonys were last night. *headdesk*

It's possible I have a few things going on.

Reason #439 to keep your web pages updated...

As I was just telling havocthecat yesterday, Doubt thou the stars are fire... has been in desperate need of updating for years.

I fully expect that most if not all of the links on the site are broken, in addition to there just being a whole raft of new stuff I should add.

I did not expect to get a polite but urgent email from the graphic designer who gave me permission waybackwhen to use one of the contemporary pieces, asking me to please change the link on hers as soon as possible, because one of her friends ran across it, and the link I had -- formerly an artists' archive sort of like Deviantart -- has since become a porn site. *facepalm*

Had a conversation with a client referencing an individual named Colleen. Went to note it in the system. Fingers typed "Coreen" THREE TIMES before I got it right. (And yes, I had to slow down and think every. single. letter. in the first sentence of this post.) *facepalm* IR DORK.

In other news, there is a toddler's sippy-cup of milk in the breakroom fridge. My hypothesis is that someone brought it in to use for their coffee, but it still occasioned considerable blinking.

Yes, I'm that boring today. Move along...

OMGMICROSOFT. :: stabbitystabbitystabstabSTAB ::

That is all.

All I'm going to subject you to, that is, not all there is. %-} Suffice it to say that today was rather aggressively Monday.

On the upside, 10K-word fic is DONE as of last night, and just went off to betas. *bounce*

Every year since I moved here, I've told myself "I really must keep track of when this WindyCon is, because I haven't been to a nice general-interest con in ages, and that's the one that's close."

So how did I manage to miss that it's this weekend? And that Tanya Huff is the author GoH? *headdesk*heaaddesk*headdesk*

Oh, right. I think it has something to do with being a trifle busy the last several months. Too damn many lives at once...

I'm fairly certain I'm crazy enough to pop over there tomorrow and buy a one-day membership at the door. I might be crazy enough to do the masquerade, even though I haven't made any of my intended tweaks to the clockdroid costume, or steamed it, or done a CD with the ideal-length cut of the Doll Aria, or printed any references for judges who might not know the source, or set the wig because it's all wilted since last year... (Also, Barbara Wright is a crazy person. Running two masqs two weeks apart???)

Even with no notice, this really works out better for me than Chi TARDIS, which I'd already 90% decided not to do this year, what with the in-laws here for Thanksgiving, etc.

Blast it, if I'd just twigged to this a day or two sooner. Arg.

...and luckily got a good night's sleep before an annoying surprise this morning: The TV-Guide-serviced grid our DVR uses? Lost the Blood Ties information. Zip. Nada. Doesn't exist in the listings anywhere.

Y'know, just in time for part one of a two-parter that I've been really looking forward to. *headdesk* It was going to be my reward after a week of rather stressful day-jobness and fun-but-exhausting performances every night but Monday. *sigh* Guess last night's (very low-key and populated by tiiiiiired people!) cast party was said reward. And since it included yummy munchies, hot cider, lovely Babes-on-downtime silliness, and viewing of the Love, Actually deleted scenes, it was a good one.

Ah, well. I guess I had to get an iTunes account sooner or later...

Let me count the ways. Well, actually there's just one that matters right now: She made sure I got new pants! *whew*

See, the pants I've been wearing for one of the scenes were marked dry-clean-only. Not exactly practical when I'm getting fake blood on them every night, but they were what the costumer could find in my size and (more challengingly) length that worked. Unfortunately, the label turned out to mean it, because they started out baggy and plenty long enough, and the last few shows they've been...well, not so much. By Friday night I had uncuffed them, and the lining (not having shrunk) was still two inches longer. And did I mention, really not baggy? So I was going to call the costumer on our day off yesterday to give her plenty of time to hit the thrift store and get me another pair of pants. Except for the part where I forgot to call her until just now.

And the stage manager, who I didn't even realize had noticed I needed new pants, had already called her yesterday. She's on her way to the space with a new pair as we speak. Yay!

Meanwhile, I am paranoid and checking my throat because of our vampire. No, I haven't lost the line between fantasy and reality. She was feeling crummy most of last week, and it turned out she had strep. She was safely antibioticked up by the time we learned this, which was Friday night, so Thursday's cancellation cut back one possible instance of exposure. As a kid I used to catch it every single damn time it went around, but haven't in years, so I'm hoping I escaped this time too. And that the scratchiness is just my usual change-in-the-weather scratchiness. Which it most likely is. *touch wood* In any case, hopefully she got some rest on our day off yesterday and is feeling better, because she has some pretty demanding stuff and has been miserable giving it her all while sick.

I R SRS ACTRS.
THIS R SRS SHOW.*

*Pay no attention to the blood on the ceiling.

So, not on the list of Things It Never Occurred To Me I Might Do, because it did, but certainly in the Trying To Avoid category: "Spatter a critic with blood." *facepalm*

This was a pack, mind you, that has not gone even remotely in that direction before. Fortunately, the critic in question was Mary Shen Barnidge, who is known to everyone in the Chicago stage combat community as an aficionado of all forms of pretend violence, and she was more than cool with it.

As was the friend of the playwright sitting next to her, who informed me at the bar afterward that he also caught some droplets. :: hides under desk ::

Luckily, it's so far proven to come out of clothing extremely well. Y'know, along with my contact lenses.

Skin, OTOH... Well, let's just say the post-show Lady Mac quoteage isn't going to be stopping any time soon. %-}

I keep forgetting to warn anyone coming in a car to leave plenty of time to find parking, because right next to the Loyola campus is not exactly my favorite place in the world to do so. Not impossible by any means, but can be a bit of a PITA.

Now adding to that a recommendation not to wear anything dry-clean-only...

On the list of Things It Never Occurred To Me I Might Do, "Dye my contacts pink while wearing them" would have to rank fairly high.

(Now that I have your attention, I hasten to add that when they say this stuff is non-toxic, you can believe them. I had no idea -- although I should have, considering that my eyelashes were kinda glued together -- that any had actually gotten in my eyes until after I was home and taking my contacts out. And they got clean with no problem. It was just odd to have a lens in the palm of my hand, go to rinse it, and think, "Pink. Huh.")

genevieve1352 and I were trading lines from Lady Mac's sleepwalking scene while scrubbing away with baby wipes after the run. Although our hands were probably plenty sweet without any perfumes of Arabia, which I doubt would mix too well with the corn syrup.

I have mentioned that there's, er, some blood in this show, right? ;-D

First preview tonight! (Or FINAL final dress, depending on whether we have any actual audience members...)

Since it did SO MUCH GOOD. Okay, yes, I should have reapplied at least twice. If I ever do anything like this again, I need to get the spray kind, so I can reapply without having to redo my body paint.

I got slightly lobstered today. By Tuesday, I expect it will have turned to tan.

With white scrollwork.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am returning to the mortal world with the weirdest tan lines EVER. *facepalm*

Very amused that the bottle of bubbles I happened across in the kitchen cabinet yesterday morning ended up being my most reliable shtick of the weekend. OTOH, plunking oneself down in the mud is less compatible with shimmery faerie attire than with peasant garb.

Key to success in any interactive improv situation: Play ditzy characters. It makes life soooooo much easier when you hit that point in the day -- and there is always that point in the day -- when the brain says "Okay, done now."

One of the vendors to me, as I was packing up my car: "This is the part where you tell us you have a doctorate, right?" *chuckle*

The lorelei of the Fox River has done her blondest, and made it home to tell the tale. :: collapses in heap ::

Memo to self: Yes, I know you can't help defaulting to ASL when your voice hasn't worked for over 24 hours. But that still doesn't mean your husband can understand you.

Memo to Microsoft: Once again, no, my music device hasn't changed. Kindly stop interrupting ripping in the middle of CDs to tell me it has.

Memo to Mucinex: You can start working any time now. No, really.

Memo to PerformInk: Getting my April 13 issue on April 25? Not terribly helpful. Half the audition listings are stale.

Memo to Thursday: I want a refund. :-P

Well, at least there was only a page and a half in that new fic file that went *poof* when my Palm decided to run out of juice halfway through the synch process.

DAMN.

Once upon a time, about 3 1/2 years ago, central heating was sucking all the moisture out of the air, my mucous membranes were having anxiety attacks, and my old humidifier had died. So I bought this one (for approximately half the price shown on the linked page).

Each time I pull it out of storage for the winter, it needs a new filter in order to function properly. The last two winters, finding new filters for it proved to be a bit of a challenge. Upon locating them this winter, I stood in the store aisle pondering whether to buy one or two, thinking "With my luck, if I buy two, the thing will die on me, and I'll be stuck with a filter I can't use." But after two weeks of hunting for the damn things, I bought two.

You guessed it. Last week, the humidifier died.

Even more entertaining, when I went looking for a new one yesterday at the Wal-Mart near my office, there was an eye-popping supply of the filters in question. My guess is someone found them stashed in a corner of the stockroom. Meanwhile, Holmes has redesigned their entire selection. Needless to say, not one of the new models takes this filter.

Also needless to say, I ain't paying $70 to replace the same model in order to get use out of a $6 filter, when I can get a new model for $30.

If anyone here happens to own a functioning humidifier that takes Holmes UH-311 filters, comment and we can spare you the hunt next time you need one. Otherwise, it'll probably go on eBay.

Y'know, I wouldn't call this a conspiracy per se. But I certainly do think this sort of thing wouldn't happen with nearly the frequency and speed that it does if it didn't force spending that would otherwise be unnecessary. All hail the Mighty Consumer Economy. :-P

Just occurred to me to check whether my comment notifications were being routed to my spam folder. Sure enough.

So if you get some very belated replies, that's why...

Looked outside this morning, it didn't look too too bad, maybe four inches. Got ready for work, got out of the driveway and on the road with no problem.

Should have taken the hint when our street wasn't plowed, which mean school was called off. (It's usually plowed by the time I get up at 6:15 because there's an elementary school across the street. Today, they're treating it like any other little residential street, which is to say it hasn't been touched at almost 11:30.)

Thought, "Hmmmm, is it getting heavier?" Listened to radio talking about winter storm warning and how the department of transportation was urging people to stay home unless absolutely necessary. Had heat going full blast, on defrost only, and could barely keep the front windows semi-clear.

Decided to turn off the highway at the stoplight leading to the back way home, about two miles away. Called in to work.

Got stuck at a stop sign a block from home, and again at the foot of the driveway. Gave up on trying to get back to the garage next to the front porch.

Time elapsed from departure: about an hour.

About five minutes later, brainiacfive found a voicemail left by BigBossLady while I was in the shower, saying not to try to go in today. *facepalm*

It's tapering off a bit now, but not before I glanced out the attic window next to my computer desk and watched a police car get stuck at the stop sign half a block away in the other direction. Somebody hooked up a chain and pulled him out.

Nothing like what the folks have gotten sometimes in the mountains, of course. But anything that stops things in this area is still pretty impressive. First school snow day since we moved here.

Stay warm and safe, midwest!

I have now received a Cialis spam comment. (From an ID whose LJ is in Russian.) I feel like a Real LJer now. ;->

So, that whole "everybody needs to be in the office 45 minutes early to impress visiting client" thing? Other than the fact that I got the right day this time... Yeah. Kinda ( all for nothing. )

I am going to beat this cold before I run out of Airborne. Of which I have been faithfully guzzling steaming mugs several times a day since Wednesday. Luckily, I find the hot-watery-Tang flavor oddly appealing.

Nothing will stop me from sewing tonight, dammit. Well, except for plunking on the couch to watch last night's Heroes and Studio 60 with my brainiacfive. I caught teeny snippets of each after getting back from voice lesson, and am now quite curious. Only comment I have so far is that Amanda Peet's handling of Sorkin dialogue is starting to sound a little less like the only white girl in the crowd clapping on the downbeat.

Yesterday morning: Stuck behind multiple accidents (the time of year when it sucks to be going east for much of my commute), half an hour late for work.

Last evening: Arrived where the map on Villa Verone's website indicates they are ten minutes early for rehearsal. Finally found Villa Verone -- a block north and three blocks west of where the map indicates -- an hour later. (Note to self: next time you print a map on your way out the door, make sure they also have the address on it like most webmasters with any sense.) At least rehearsal went fine after. *sigh*

This morning: Is not, in fact, the day we have to be here 45 minutes early and in business attire for a client visit, as I somehow managed to get into my head. That would be next Tuesday. Which is good in one way, since leaving at 6:45 did not result in arriving at 7:30. Turns out the sun-in-the-eyes thing is even worse that much earlier. However, I'm now stuck in a suit I never much liked, which no longer fits me well, for the rest of the day. Along with the shoes I bought to go with it, which are also uncomfortable. The fact that I put any of this on this morning is testament to my not-awakeness. :-P (Note to self: Next Tuesday, lay out clothes the night before. And try them on first if you haven't worn them in, like, four years.)

And after all that, I only got here ten minutes earlier than my usual time anyway. Which means I can't even put it down for overtime, which is actually approved at the moment because I'm getting ready to train someone to take over some of the stuff I do so they can shift me into doing some different stuff, and still need to keep the rest of my stuff up to speed.

And, of course, I get to do it all again next week. Except, apparently, I'll need to get up even earlier. :-P At least I won't have been out late singing Puccini the night before.

Anyone have some cheese to go with this whine?

...you get a letter from an attorney saying that they're moving for a default judgment for failure to plead, and type it in the file notes as failure to please. *facepalm*

At least I caught it before I saved the note...

A mermaid who thought she had one until 20 minutes ago. *headdesk*

At least the seller told me reasonably quickly (after I emailed her to say I needed it for a specific date -- she had no reason to know before that) that her overseas supplier is running behind. And she's refunding my money and cancelling the sale, which she technically doesn't have to do even on a Buy It Now. It's good business, obviously, but eBay sellers as a rule don't necessarily practice good business.

Hopefully Elgin Children's Theatre or All Dressed Up will have something when I go to them tomorrow morning. Otherwise, I'll be getting creative in a hurry...

ETA: ADU's website lists Peter Pan among the shows they have plots for, so I'm hopeful.