anagram of brat

Turns out the main obstacle last night wasn't ice under snowmelt, it was fog thick enough to cut cheese wheels from. But we all made it down... and oh my god, Burlesque was FANTASTIC last night. It was the Best of 2013 show, so all the performers were stellar and their routines were fantastic, and in at least two cases two of them brought acts that made me INSANELY happy, like Mistress Leona Star's adorable routine to this song:


http://youtu.be/JPiAY9MALoE

Listen to the whole thing, you won't be sorry.

Another special mention to Femme Brulee's bath routine that began with "I'm gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" from South Pacific... and then warped into


http://youtu.be/Oz_-VaTHpc8

You seriously haven't lived until you've seen a woman dressed in a giant bath loofah costume getting down to Jay-Z. XD

But honestly? Even though the routines and performances were amazing, I loved getting to work the show again after a couple months of being absent. All of the performers are absolute sweethearts, and I've worked the show so many times that I'm starting to get to know them a little bit outside of the show too. And I love the three people that run the show sooooooo much, especially Hors D'oeuvres. And the job itself makes me happy. I loved stage managing theater productions in high school, and this scratches a lot of the same itches, plus I've done so many shows at this point that any night I'm working I'm immediately the person bossing the other two stage kittens around. I like being in charge like that because it means less running around in heels for me, lol. But also I just really like being a part of making that show work - It's all such a labor of love from everyone. Plus it's an opportunity to dress up and play with makeup. Every so often I do feel the need to girlie girl the fuck up, and this is a great excuse to.



See?

There's also the part where I'm still trying to get up the nerve to perform in it. One of the reasons I want to get back into some kind of dance - I'm not self-concious about the strippy part of it at all, but I want to be able to not look like a twitchy robot up there. I also want to have a kickass costume and concept. The next Tassle Tussle* is in September and goddamn it, I will do it this year. I've got three or four nebulous routine ideas as it is, I just need to pick one and develop it. I'm seriously out of excuses... I've been saying I would for two+ years now, I've had a stage name forever, I know the crowd, stage and flow of things and am completely comfortable with all three... there's really no reason not to at this point. Just my usual MUST BE AMAZING AND PERFECT FIRST TIME RUNNING OR GTFO problems holding me back.

Ehhh, we'll see. But anyway. Going seemed to be the answer to most of my complainy bits from yesterday. Practical problems still remain, but the show was such a boost to the spirit that I certainly feel a lot better about things today. (I'm sure refilling my head meds today will also help immensely, lol.)

* the annual amateur competition

All in all a lazy Sunday... the kids pretty much hung out with the cats, played games, and worked on their NaNos, much of the day, and I got to be amused as Drew helped Kidzilla solve a thorny problem with her pokemanz that she couldn't figure out on her own. Father-daughter bonding is adorable, no matter what form it takes.

Moonbeam seems to have passed her final "can she stay with us?" question with flying colors - hell out of the three cats she seems to have either the most patience with the kids or the least amount of give-a-fuck as long as her 18 hour marathon nap sessions at the foot of the bed aren't disturbed.

Speaking of marathons! I actually found a livestream of the NY marathon this morning and pretty much watched all the coverage from the men's start cannon on up to them signing off at 2pm. I had Feels about it too - not just the twang of homesick that came from watching the runners pass through neighborhood both familiar and not so much, but also... the expected ones that come in the wake of last year's cancellation controversy just after Sandy and then that awful few days surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing. I think a lot of people tuned in today that wouldn't ordinarily in light of those two events, and it didn't disappoint. Reminded me of a couple years ago when Drew and I were in Manhattan and we happened to wander by the finish line for a while before bringing Dad back Carnegie Deli sandwiches. *sigh*

Dad continues to improve by degrees though not so much in the speech department. I've got feels about that too.

Speaking of improving by degrees, I'm feeling more or less myself again, besides the horse-like appetite. Though I had a sudden thought/realization/suspicion last night that I may need to talk to Dr Kate and Dr Tassoni on Wednesday about, since it turns out I'm seeing them both (thank fuck it's payday, I guess). But I think I may know what's going on with this stupid recurring rash. And possibly a lot of other things as well. All I can really say is UGH stupid autoimmune disorder fuckery. But at least I'm feeling better enough to actually go to work tomorrow. Whee I guess?

On the bead front, six days in and I can confirm that compared to the last big bead project this is definitely going MUCH faster than last time. I don't know if it's a combination of using shorter lengths of thread, or a blocky run of mostly single colors so far, or just having done it enough that I've hit some sort of stride, but a) after six days I'm twice as far along as I was six days into the Tetris Dance b) I seem to have shaved an hour off of the time taken to complete a row, so that's a thing. But yeah, I'm flying through and it doesn't seem to be hurting my wrists as much even. I don't know if I'll be able to sustain this breakneck pace all month, but considering the progress I've made in a little under a week, I'm kind of hopeful and excited. Especially since next row the pattern gets interesting again, lol.

3230 / 25840 beads. 12.5% done!

Oh hey. I'm apparently 1/8 through already, go me. Pictures tomorrow, I think.

I have a short story idea cooking involving the NYC subway that I need to get somewhat onto paper for the online edition of Drinktank. It was partially inspired by this video, which is... well. If you need a smile/lift today, this isn't the worst way to get it.



Well, I guess I could think of worse ways to put my uselessly encyclopaedic knowledge of the subway to use...

Today is terrible and has been relentlessly so since about an hour after my last post, which is about when we started listening to the Boston PD scanner. Yeah, neither cell23 nor I got much sleep last night listening to everything go down. :/ I'm also amazed I managed to get through my workday. Scary ass shit going down, y'all. So glad the kids are out here.

But enough of that. I offer a break for everyone in the form of video evidence that my cats are giant fuzzy assholes.



Lily: aw crap SHE'S RIGHT THERE you're gonna get in so much trouble
Ash: [gives zero fucks]
Both: FREEDOM! GRASS! NOM NOM NOM!
Me: [sighs, shakes head, stops recording, and goes to get them while grumbling under breath]

They are both currently pawing at the back door and glaring up at me accusingly, like I committed some kind of mortal sin by shutting it. Cats, y'all. Also wanted: suggestions on how to jackass-proof the door so we can get some fresh air in the kitchen this summer. :P

In other small bits of good news, it is lovely and warm out, if also windy and a little muggy from the morning's drizzle...

Super Bowl had its share of annoying ads (ugh, GoDaddy...) but of particular one was a long montage of pictures/video of vintage rural Americana overlaid with a voiceover of a speech about how God made farmers.

I could see why people liked it, I guess? but I think this rebuttal from Funny or Die nailed why it rubbed me the wrong way.



Other thing of note about that ad? Blatently stolen from a youtube vid made by Farms.com.



Good job, Dodge.

Just finished up row 25; am taking a break today because the last week or so I've just been beading like whoa. Not ten at a time, not a line at a time, just nonstop, pouring ten yellow beads at the ends so I can immediately flip a line instead of stop. This is not good for a number of reasons, the primary one being hi, repetitive strain possibilities, but also more clearly, bad brain weather being sublimated through MAKE IT MAKE IT MAKE IT MAKE IT MAKE IT FASTER FASTER FASTER FASTER WORK THROUGH THE PAIN! WORK THROUGH THE PAIN! Which is its own brand of not good. So I need to put the beads down for a bit and attempt to deal with stuff. Unsure how long the hiatus will go; could be a day, could be a week, could be later tonight. There's a lot upstairs that needs... dealing with.

I'm also extremely grumpy about the last three rows, owing to switching batches of beads for the middle green. Apparently this batch doesn't have as tight of a bond with the silver lining, or something changed with the angle of my needle, who knows, but there are a lot of beads in one row with the lining scraped out. It's one of those things that probably no one else would notice if I didn't point it out, but it irritates fuck all out of me. That plus the first broken bead in row 22 in what seems to me like a fairly visible place has me sorely tempted to rip out the last four rows entirely and do them over. Yeah I know. I most likely won't, because that's a lot of work and a lot of beads to pick out not to mention a waste of thread, but it's gonna bother me until I get further in the piece. In the meantime, I'm gonna be more careful about scraping the pointy bit of the needle against the inside of the bead.

1/6th of the way through though. Not too bad of an accomplishment. The sun is done, the top of the tower at the right end of the desert is starting to peek through, and I've got a few rows left before the first badge is done. Again, the desert won't get really interesting until line 44 (!!!) but getting there. Slowly.

I have some... concerns... about Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin, but aside from the racebending this looks leaps and bounds better than the second one.

I have gotten sucked into the AAAGH MY CHILDHOOD trap of watching Sesame Street vids on Youtube due to a friend posting "my name is you" on FB and OH MAN did it go downhill from there. Captain Vegetable. The Haircut Song. The Ladybug Picnic. "One two three FOUR FIVE six seven eight NINE TEN eleven twelve." And then there are the Yip-yips.



I find it impressive that this has been making me laugh nigh unto peeing myself for more than 30 years at this point. Seriously, the blue one goes "OHHHH! Chicken!" and I just lose my ever loving shit. Jim Henson, man.


In other notable news, I had dinner with htl_1126 tonight at the Hangar, which essentially is like us going to church to catch us some boneless chicken Jesus and we hadn't done it in a while. So much food, oh god. And endless "ha ha I'm drinking for 3" jokes. So glad to see her though - way too long!

I forgot to mention that the trailer for Wreck-It Ralph got attached before Brave.



NEGL the early promotional material had me side-eyeing the whole thing like who. This trailer actually looks... charming. Though I may just be a sucker for apropos usage of the Talking Heads. But yeah... it looks suspiciously like they got this one right. I may actually check this one out.

I'm honestly kinda bummed to hear Eduard Khil passed away. If you are unsure who that is, well, "Trolololo lo lololo lololo hohohohoooooo" should give you a clue.



He seemed like a sweet old guy that seemed to be genuinely amused and a little touched by his sudden, late in life Internet fame and was even having fun with it.

Interesting Fact/Cool Story Bro Time: the song is actually titled Я очень рад, ведь я, наконец, возвращаюсь домой which loosely translates as "I'm very happy to be returning home at last." I hope he is.


At some point where I'm not freezing and cranky and headachy and overtired, I should post a ramble about how one of the many reasons I have ladyboners for Russian classical/choral music is that instead of the emphasis and melodies being placed in the higher registers like most Western European music, Russian exquivelents tend to skew towards the baritone-bass range instead, which leads to a completely different sound and flavor. And I do dearly love me a warm, rich lower register. May also explain why any song sung by Leonard Cohen, Paul Robeson, Johnny Cash or Peter Steele (among other people) will get my attention rather... quicker... than other vocal ranges.