saxikath | Entries tagged with gondoliers

*sniffle* I think I've developed an allergy to cats, of all things. Or at least I seem to have a mild reaction to something here where I'm housesitting, and the cats certainly seem to be the most likely suspect. Which is too bad, because I like cats. Emily (a somewhat skittish calico, who's also my local alarm clock) decided my lap was an ok place to be for a while earlier, which was very cozy but left me sniffly. Robert is a black "tuxedo cat" (he has a little white patch on his chest) who has been very distrustful of me ever since a previous housesitting visit during which I had to chase him all over the house to free him from a plastic shopping bag in which he'd entangled himself. However, he too seems to have decided that I'm more or less okay now. Daisy is the third cat; she's a big old lump of tabby cat love. She's just a sweetie.

( Enough about cats, on to the rest. )

Current Mood: thoughtful

You know, I love Camilla's cats dearly, but I do wish Emily wouldn't decide that, no matter how late I was up, 6:30 is the right time to start waking me up. Admittedly, there are worse alarm clocks in the world than a purring, chirrupy cat, but I do wish she'd wait. I usually manage to roll over and go back to sleep for a while, but she's persistent, and it's fitful at best. I may want to close the bedroom door tonight, since goodness only knows when I'll get back after strike & strike party.

Only one more Gondoliers to go. It always feels sad just about now. After the show is over, no doubt I'll be glad to have my life back, but right now I don't want it to end. My first venture into directing has gone very well, I think. I'm afraid we may have burned some people out by the intensity of the rehearsal schedule, but boy the result is gorgeous.

Current Mood: sleepy

If any of the cast of Gondoliers are out there reading this, can I just say -- you rock. You so rock.

We had our first full dress rehearsal tonight, and despite the near-catastrophe of having the light board memory get zapped and with it all the light cues (thank goodness our lighting designer still remembered them all and managed to reprogram them in two hours!), the show looks, and (perhaps more importantly from my point of view) sounds awesome. I am so pleased. I am so psyched. (Knock on wood.)

This is the first time I've ever directed anything (okay, I was nominally music director for something once before, but really what I was was the pianist). I got a lot of great talent to work with as a vocal director for this show, but I'm still pleased. Some young singers without a lot of training or experience have improved over the course of rehearsals -- and while the work is all theirs, I can at least hope that something I said or did helped along the way.

It's odd being in the green room before the show/rehearsal with everyone getting into costume and makeup... I've been in a number of shows with this group, so that routine is very familiar -- and now I feel like I'm a bit of an outsider there. I'm not part of that pre-show bustle this time around, and that's weird. Opening night will, I suspect, be weird as well -- all the work, all the effort, and I'm not going to be up there for the payoff. But I will be proud of "my" singers, that I'm sure of.

It's nice to have something to be glad about. I've been kind of drab the past few days, and certainly haven't been getting done any of the myriad things I should be doing. At least I made myself a list before rehearsal tonight, so I can try and be better focused tomorrow.

In the meanwhile, I'm going to exult in my show for a little longer, thankyouverymuch. (And knock on some more wood. I'm not normally superstitious, except when it comes to theater...)

Current Mood: jubilant

You know, a lot of dust accumulates under a bed in a few years. I finally got new slats for my bed today -- four nice, new maple 1x3s, instead of the mere two (one cracked!) slats and a jury-rigged plywood setup that there used to be. Now my head is full of dust, but I expect I will sleep more comfortably than I have in a long time. And no more squeaking noises that sound like the whole thing's about to fall apart.

So I've accomplished many of the things I set out to in my week. I got the desk, got stuff out of my closets and took it to the thrift shop, and fixed my bed. I still haven't cleaned my room, which is a disaster area, but I guess that's tomorrow's project now that I no longer have the rental car to tempt me to run off and do other things.

The "oh [bleep], I have no job" gut-wrench set in yesterday while I was doing laundry. I've been pretty blase about the whole thing, but suddenly it hit me that, oh yeah, I'm unemployed. Anxiety crept back in. I'm still calmer than I might be, but I think it has now sunk in that yes, the job is over and it's time to get my rear in gear and do something about it.

I notified nSight that I'm available again, and I actually got a call from them today -- for an upcoming job at the company I was just working for, and for which I left a resume before I left! That was amusing. But at least my resume is still turning up in their searches, which is a good thing.

Plus I have another puzzle proofing job coming in soon, and I still have to edit Dad's manuscript. But those are little projects; they won't pay the bills. I need to come up with some more sources of income, freelance or otherwise, and pretty soon. I hate job hunting.

Anyone out there have tips about getting enough freelance work to support oneself? I like the flexibility of the freelance lifestyle, but I worry about the financial side of it.

I know I'm good at what I do, but how do I get business doing it?

Ah well. At least Gondoliers is starting to come together. Everyone come see the show!

Current Mood: discontent
Current Music: Gondoliers snippets

Well, here I am, it's my last day at this job. (It's a freelance/contract gig, I've been here for six months or so.) It's a shame; I've enjoyed working here. But, it's the nature of the business; projects come and then they go. And I think people here have been happy with me; they've said they want me back next time there's a suitable project. So that's good. Two different groups of people want to take me out to lunch; fortunately, I live close to the office, so I can meet up with one group later in the week.

( This is getting long and rambly. )

Current Mood: optimistic

I feel unproductive today. Not like there was that much for me to produce, but I feel like I should've gotten more done. Ah well.

Random rumination of the moment: Is there some truth to "Those who can, do; those who cannot, teach"? I can sing, but as I do this vocal directing thing, I'm not altogether convinced I can teach other people to sing. Although my alto lead did sound markedly better last night than she had the last time, so maybe I taught her something useful after all.

Anyway, I'd better head across town to MIT for tonight's rehearsal. Crossword magazine in hand, since it's a blocking rehearsal and I will thus be doing a lot of sitting around.

Current Mood: bored

Home from rehearsal now. (I'm vocal directing the MIT GIlbert & Sullivan Players' spring production of The Gondoliers.) We were missing way too many people for this point in the proceedings, which is frustrating. But, we managed a sort of a sing/read-through with the people we did have. It's sounding really pretty good, though I worry about the men's chorus, specifically about the baritones and basses we don't have enough of. Anyone out there want to join the chorus?

I'm not sure why I've decided to do the whole LiveJournal thing just now. I didn't even know about it until recently, when I joined

chrysoula's online game Compass Rose -- which I found out about from

tahnan. Joining the game led me to livejournal, and now here I am spewing my thoughts out for the world to see. I'm not sure what's so intriguing about that; do I really want the whole world to read what I have to say when I'm tired after a rehearsal?

I do like the communal aspect of it, people sharing thoughts on each other's journals and so on. I guess I'll have to wait and see what I think of it all.

Besides, maybe it'll get me to write more often, even if it's just short stuff here. It's better than sitting around staring at things and not writing. Maybe it'll loosen the creative juices enough that I'll actually start writing some of the things I keep saying I'm going to write, like historical fiction picture books for kids and things like that.

And hello to all the Callahanians out there -- still think of you fondly, even though I haven't been part of that world for a couple years now. Thanks,

davehogg, for letting me know about recent events; many condolences to George and nilptr.

Tomorrow perhaps I'll post my thoughts on this year's crossword tournament in Stamford, which was, as always, wonderful fun. But now I should think about going to bed.

Current Mood: pensive

Well, thanks to

davehogg, I'm now no longer an anonymous ghost in the LiveJournal machine. (Thanks, Dave!)

I have to run off to rehearsal now, so I don't have much to say yet, but no doubt I will. Tonight we do a full sing/read-through of The Gondoliers; we'll see how it goes. And it's snowing. (Happy spring...)

Anyway, I'll blather more later when I have more time. Welcome to lj, me. Say hi if you know me, or even if you don't!