Spring Season at the Eisenhower

This Saturday marks my first day back at the theatre for our spring season. After a month away, I've missed it terribly. I've had this job for two years now, and love it so much more now than I ever have. I'm quite excited to be involved once again. This momentous occasion has prompted me to think about all the wonderful times I've shared with my fellow crewmen in the dark backstage area.

On a cold morning in late October, we were unloading a truck stuffed from top to bottom with the usual assortment of production stuffs. Road boxes had shifted and settled during the trip, and a layer of cases was completely jammed. A crewman from the tour was getting frustrated. He climbed up over the jam to try pushing from behind. There was a small space behind the stuck case, but when he went to drop down, his pants were caught on a rail holding some pipes. The entire backside of his right cheek area was ripped completely off his pants. Somehow, his boxers were entangled in the mess and quite a bit was taken with his pants. He stood there with his bum entirely exposed to most of his and our crew. After an awkward second, he turned around and shouted, "No stopping. I'll change later." He pushed mightily on the roadbox and freed it. True to his word, he didn't stop to change his pants until after the truck was unloaded and empty.

We had an easy light hand somewhere in September. We finished very early, but there were a few huge boxes setting out on the loading dock. A shipment of new chairs had arrived, and my supervisors took the opportunity to have us unpack and assemble them. They came with the legs already attached but the backs were separate. For some reason, bubble wrap had been taped over the seat before the legs had been screwed on, pinning tape between the seat and leg assembly. My special job was to peel the tape off the chairs, including what was under the leg area. It was difficult and slow, so Gary came to my rescue. He started mumbling something about the manufacturer having some Freudian issues. Frustrated at the slow progress, he suddenly burst, "This guy must have really hated his mother!"

The season was winding up, it was November, everyone was feeling frayed after a difficult load in. I was at the very back of the audience area, hooking up sound equipment at the mix site. I looked up to see Tom, with a very thick rope draped around his neck, tossing the free end up in the air and yelling in frustration when it missed his mark. A lineset (backdrop) pipe was above him, 20 feet in the air, but his rope was no more than ten feet long. "You can't get out that easy," shouted the sound guy. "Stop trying to hang yourself and get back to work." Tom, in his comedic way looked dejected and turned to walk offstage. A few minutes later, I watched him tie the free end of the rope to the handle of a roadcase on the front of the stage. Everyone was watching. He took a dramatic leap off the edge, landing three feet below on solid ground. "There's no escape," he yelled and trudged off back to work once again.

As long as I've worked at the theatre, Marty has always kept a very thick gruff beard. Two years, and it would vary between semi-trimmed and downright bushy. A few days into November, we were given the daunting task of setting up the sound shell for a musical performance. I figured it was the usual people at work that day, but noticed a stranger in the crowd. A big guy, with slick black hair and a round face. I stared and stared, but it wasn't until he started talking that I realized Marty had a clean shaven face and fresh haircut. It wasn't the mountain man I was used to seeing. He had been Clarke Kent for Halloween and shaved completely for the first time in years.

I'll get this out of the way. I'm used to seeing people in all forms of nakedness at my job. Being one of the few trusted females, I'll always be working wardrobe and costuming during shows. I help people change in and out of costumes. I'm used to it, they're used to it. One day, I was in the unusual position of assisting with the men's costumes. Normally dancers will wear leotards under their costumes, but no Ukranians. I was finishing hours worth of ironing when the performers started shuffling in and getting ready. One minute, everyone was pulling their outfits off the rack, and the next I looked up to see an entire room full of men wearing only the most revealing of speedoes. I immediately dropped my head and turned my ironing board to face the wall. It didn't help, because the one thing I learned about Ukranians that day was their utter lack of shame. The men stayed in their costumes only as long as necessary, and lounged around backstage in their skimpies. Even after the performance ended and our crew started cleaning up, the men were sitting around in no particular hurry to get dressed. Sensing that I had no comfortable place to put my eyes, Gary banished me to a corner of the room "for being such a perv." I was only glad to accept.

I'm looking forward to many more early mornings, late nights, long hours, frustration, venting, and all the good times that come with spending way too much time around the same people. Here goes nothing.

Once again, I am not making it back to Utah for the holidays. I know how much everyone will miss me, especially my sporadic piano playing. So in honor of the I-have-to-finish-the-song-before-the-commercial-break-ends type of music I love so much, I have brought you Turkish Rondo (on crack.)


I went shopping today for my Thanksgiving feast. As many of you know, I am a big fan of food. Thanksgiving is, by far, the best holiday ever invented. All that you are required to do is eat as much food as possible as quickly as possible. James tells me the "as quickly as possible" isn't required, but I argue that in a big family it is key. If you don't eat fast, someone else will eat what you had on your plate.

Anyway, I went shopping today. Everyone has left town to go "home" and be with their families, so I had rough luck finding a ride, as James took his car and left town. I finally broke down today, realizing that no one was around, and took the bus across town to the other grocery store. I spent more on food for this one event than I have for myself in the last three months. But this is Thanksgiving, and this will be done right.

I've had to change my dishes around a bit, because James wants to have some of his family's traditional food as well. On the menu: Turkey with homemade stuffing and fresh cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, butternut thyme squash, green bean casserole, harvest apple pumpkin bread, and a sweet potato pie for dessert. I'm debating on whether or not I should make a pumpkin roll in addition to the pie, because there are only two of us. However, we will be eating leftovers for quite some time.

Some of the traditions, I will miss. I don't know if I can top mom's exploding turkey, melted utensils, melted cups, melted pitchers, burnt plates, and pans falling apart. I am just too good at cooking. I heard that Miranda is being allowed in the kitchen this year to take Mom's place so Mom can play with all the grandbabies. It's nice to know those traditions will live on, because Miranda is expert at kitchen disasters.

Much love to all. Happy Thanksgiving.

Pictures of My Life

I don't have much of a life right now, what with working two jobs and trying to see my boyfriend once in a while. I try to take the opportunity to snap a cell phone picture every now and again to record what's happening. The first picture is from when I went to get my driver's license photo taken. Of course, they were closed the day I went, so my license doesn't look nearly that cute. I'll probably end up getting a new one soon with how often I move anyway.



I walked in my bedroom and saw Pearl cat hanging out in my windowsill. I have no idea why my window is her favorite.



This one is a little dark, but Jacob is mauling me instead of letting me watch the movie at his house.



James, Jacob, and I went out to breakfast a few weeks ago. I went with the strawberry waffle and was very pleased.



I went to the secondhand store with Jacob to buy some new jeans for work and ended up with five pairs of high end designer jeans for cheap. I was very happy with the results.



The view from James's apartment after we got 6 inches of snow on October 15th.



The view from the back porch at my house after the 6 inches of snow on October 15th.



A very large caterpillar I found while walking home from work one morning.

Worst Weekend

NWS: 6 inches of snow in some parts of Pa.

The Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - An autumn stormed has dumped as much as six inches of snow in parts of northern Pennsylvania.

The National Weather Service says between five and six inches fell in State College, which set a record for earliest snowfall on record. The previous earliest snow there was one-tenth of an inch on Oct. 18, 1901.

On Friday morning, I woke at 2:00 a.m. to my bedroom in complete darkness. I had left my light on, and was wondering where it had gone. I got up an flipped the switch a few times, to no avail. A quick trip around the house showed than none of our lights were working, and a look out the window revealed an entire street with no light whatsoever. It had been snowing since 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, and was up to 3 inches in my neighborhood.

I was forced to shower for work in the dark, find clothes to wear by the dim light of my cell phone, and dig out my winter boots from the very back of the closet. Talking to everyone at work, the entire Park Forest neighborhood, where I live, was out of power. Those with electric water heaters weren't able to shower in the morning, and everyone was without heat. Hoping Allegheny Power would have everything up and working by the time I got home at 10:00 a.m., I wasn't terribly worried about things. The problems were far worse than I knew.

In Park Forest alone, two transformers had blown and one power line was down. In the Downtown area, next to the University, there was another transformer blown. Down Circleville Road, between Park Forest and Downtown, there was at least one more power line down and a possible blown transformer. All this was on the north end of town, and I still have not heard how badly the south end was hit.

I hid out at my boyfriend's apartment all day, because they still had power on the east side of town. They had heat and electricity and were able to open their refrigerator. My roommate sent me a text at 7:30 p.m. that said our power was back on. Unfortunately, there are still neighborhoods that don't have electricity. At least, as of bedtime Saturday there were still crews out trying to find and restore all the downed lines and blown transformers.

I bought a wool coat. It has snowed 6 inches in the middle of October, and I am miserable. I want to go back to the desert, please.

Chipmunks, Pumpkins, and Fall Festivities

What an exciting week! I don't really know where to start, so we will do this chronologically.

On Sunday morning, I was doing my normal groggy routine; wake up, stumble to the bathroom in the dark, do my bid-ness, hop in the shower. I got to the "hop in the shower" part, and my routine was severely thrown off track. When I reached down to turn on the water, something small and brown scuttled behind the curtain. "Oh, God!" I screamed and ran to the other side of the room. I inched back over to the tub and lifted the curtain ever so slightly. A small chipmunk shivered in the corner. I laughed, put on my robe, and went to ask Jamie what to do about him. She said to catch him with a blanket or towel. Armed with a fleece blanket and the desire to shower before work, I went to catch the chipmunk. He was just a little guy who couldn't even get back out of the tub. I chased him around and around with the blanket, trying to get him into a corner of a generally round tub. He skittled and scuttled, not wanting to be trapped. I finally got a firm hold on him and whisked him off to the back door. There are two cats living at my house, so I was very careful to close the door behind me. The second I released the little fella, Mr. Kitty appeared out of nowhere. I'm sure the neighbors think I am a crazy person, out on my deck in the early morning, wearing a robe, screaming at the cat and carrying on. Luckily, my chipmunk made it up a tree first. Mr. Kitty kept watch for ten minutes before getting bored and stalking after something else.

Don't know if I've said it before, but my roommate Hanna is on the Woman's National Rugby Team here at Penn State. Last Wednesday, she came home from practice with a swollen black eye. I hadn't seen her since, because she had the Big 10 Tournament over the weekend. She came home on crutches, but Penn State won so she is happy. The sprained ankle and black eye make her look like a battered girlfriend. Jacob likes to go out in public and tell people she talked back to him if they ask what happened.

Yesterday, Jacob came to my house with a giant pumpkin. Last year, we baked and pureed a pumpkin that gave us no less than 5 tupperware containers full of puree. It lasted us clear through December. I believe this gourd is larger than the last one. We got 5 and a quarter, but I don't think that is accurate. Once this pumpkin was out of the oven and semi-cool, my roommates, Jacob, and I started picking at it and eating with our fingers. Even with nothing on it or mixed in, it was the best tasting thing I have eaten in weeks. I snacked the entire time I pureed. Last year, we were using a blender and a spatula, in much the same way my dear mother used to do it. And in much the same way as my mother, I ended up getting the spatula caught in the blades and had to pick plastic chunks out of the puree. I am so happy to have my current roommate, Hanna, who came fully equipped with a food processor. Not only did it take a quarter of the time than with a blender, there was no need to push the pulp from the top to the bottom with a spatula. Between Hanna and me, we probably ate an entire container worth of pumpkin. After everything was pureed, we broke out her jar of raw honey and ate the quarter-container of pumpkin like it was our dessert after eating straight pumpkin for dinner. So delicious. Tonight, we feast on vegan pumpkin soup and pumpkin cake rolls. I feel like, with my roommates also cooking with this puree, this pumpkin will not last until December.

Special thanks to my crazy vegan sister, Leah, for helping me make more of my recipes vegan-friendly so I can feed my crazy vegan roommate, Hanna.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day weekend, I was really hoping to go down to Pittsburgh to visit Chelcy and meet her new husband. Unfortunately, Chelcy has lost her cell phone telephone and did not check her internets until Saturday night. A bit too late to plan a weekend, I believe. Both of us are greatly disappointed. Jacob and James did their part to cheer up the whole event, though.

After I got off work on Saturday, the three of us made chili and watched the Penn State vs. who-cares-what-team-we're-playing game. Penn State totally dominated. I think our score was in the high 30's, and their score was 7.


Jacob has a great recipe, which he keeps to himself, for making chili. It's becoming sort of a game-day tradition for him to make. I help where I can, with the peeling or chopping.
James, for some reason, gets to watch the game while Jacob and I slave away in the kitchen. He kept flipping back and forth between the Penn State game and the Naval Academy game. Both his teams won, and he was happy.
It was rather odd to only have the three of us on a weekend. There was leftover food, there were things to drink, we could actually hear the game. I may be saddened if people start coming over to watch it at the boys' house.

On Sunday, Jacob decided we should drive the 40 miles down to Altoona to check out their shopping center. He wasn't quite sure what exit to take, as there are three exits. Needless to say, we ended up missing the one we wanted which happened to be the last one to Altoona. We took the next exit instead, but there ended up being nowhere to turn around and no other connection between the two highways. 20 minutes later, we found an exit that allowed us to turn around so we could get back to I-99, so we could take the exit to the mall. Quite an adventure.
After going through all the stores, I ended up with a belt and a new green sweater for the upcoming cold months. Jacob got a belt buckle, a jacket, and a new pair of shoes. On our way home, we decided to take the exit before our usual N. Atherton St exit, which is marked with a simple "Waddle." Assuming it meant Waddle Road, the road parallel to Atherton Street, we took the exit. 15 minutes and a winding road later, Jacob called James to figure out what road we were on and where we ended up. Turns out Waddle is also the name of a neighboring town. I had told Jacob at least three times that we should turn around and take the N. Atherton St exit. He was having a great time driving and was enjoying the road we were on, though. We ended up near Bellefonte, which is 15 miles away from State College. Another great adventure and a lot of fun.

On Monday, James decided to go to the Rothrock State Park. Neither of us has been, neither knew the way, but James knows the roads and the general directions. We were really hoping for a road sign to tell us where to turn to get there. Indeed, there was a sign, and we got onto a small gravel road which told us the picnic area and campgrounds were 6 miles away. 6 miles takes an awfully long time when the car is only traveling 15 mph. We eventually made it there, in one piece.

It was a lovely little spot, and we decided our friends need to go up and have an afternoon barbecue before the weather gets to cold. There was a sign for that, too. No alcohol. Maybe this isn't the place for all our friends.

We ended up near a small pond, and nowhere near the lake/reservoir on the map. It was cute and quiet and full of foresty charm. There was a beaten path that went a little way down the stream.James and I walked down the little path along the little stream. The quiet of the forest was only broken by my childlike squeals of delight at finding an entire nest of water-skeeters with more little bugs than I have ever seen in my life. I love water-skeeters.

The sign told us there is no camping allowed in the picnic area, but this spot is too perfect! There is a mossy bank protected by trees that was super soft and rock/branch/root free. I shake my fist at that sign and declare that I will pitch my tent on that bank someday.


We tried to walk the whole way around the pond, but the north end proved to be the water source and therefore very muddy. Instead, we walked halfway around. It started raining a bit while we were on the other side of the pond. Not wanting to be caught in the rain on a winding gravel road, our little adventure was cut short. Totally worth it, though.

Bring Him Home

As many of you may have heard, I received a free piano from a lady who was moving and didn't want to take it with her if her son was no longer going to play. She had received it free from an elementary school, so she passed it on in much the same way. It's missing some keys, pretty dinged up, old as the dirt itself, and in desperate need of a good tune. But it's mine, and I'm happy to have a piano.

This is for my mom.