A Bit of Earth

I've got some plants outside on the patio. Four regular tomato plants, two strawberry plants, basil, oregano, cilantro, and a few small cherry tomato plants from seed that are still questionable in their success. We've also got a small pot of marigolds.

This is actually the second basil plant we've been through. I used one up and it was starting to flower so I got a new one. We had another tomato plant that had to be sacrificed because I planted them too close. We also had a dill plant at one point.


I say "we" as if anyone else has been in on this gardening project. Technically, Danny helped me a little with the tomato salvaging and I let Janelle plant the marigold seeds. Really though, this is mine. If I still have stuff growing when I leave, I'll gift it to Danny and Janelle. Danny's got a pretty badass garden at Janelle's parents' house. I sometimes wish I had actual land in which to plant a garden. The square foot method intrigues me.

Alas...I still claim residence in NYC where there isn't land and gardens are part of a concrete jungle.

Tiny Tomatoes!

I get ridiculously excited about silly things. Kiddie pools in bright colors. Plants sprouting up from seeds. Tiny tomatoes appearing on a tomato plant of questionable success. I acknowledge that normal people don't get as excited as I do about such things, but...there are such summery things happening around here.

The roommate and I bought a kiddie pool and a hose and some lawn chairs. I planted some marigold and cherry tomato seeds and they look like real live plants now. I got some normal tomato plants and planted them and now there are TINY TOMATOES! Why wouldn't I be excited?

Also haircuts. My friend Tony is wonderful and cuts my hair a couple times a year for the low, low price of one sushi lunch. It's the best deal ever. I trust him and he makes me look pretty. 10 inches and some judgmental comments about how much I don't take care of my ridiculous Asian hair later and I feel fantastic! And did I mention pretty?


Tonight I'm playing some mild avoidance and am conveniently going to dinner to round out a group and preserve some sanity. How's that for vague? My roommate is having a lot of people over to watch the Tony's and after the torture that was last year, I am not going to be here nor at any other Tony's party. Instead, I am going to a birthday dinner where good food and whiskey will keep me happy.

Rehearsalness

We're on Day 11 of rehearsal. It's about halfway through the process. This basically means you're incredibly lucky I woke up too early and can now blog about life. I'm averaging 9 hours a day at rehearsal, though that average is steadily creeping up to 10. The set looked better every day until we stopped working on it. Our scenic people come back next week so it will exponentially improve again once they make their return.
The trophy case drop. This is my favorite. Our scenic painters are the BEST.


A dancer in front of the talent show drop.


I finally got some time over at the other show. They did a run for me (sans diving and sea lions), but it was still funny. They're going to have a great show on their hands.

Things are going pretty good in the non-show aspects of life too. The last of the entertainment folk showed up this weekend. There are people to gather with for every kind of mood. We bought a grill and intend to use it 4-6 times a week, just like last summer. I do need to work on hanging out with the people who don't live in my apartment complex. I have rehearsal fatigue as an excuse now, but that won't matter in 2 weeks.

Roommates are good. The herb garden is thriving. I tried growing dill from seed, but only one wee seedling made it...so I bought a whole dill plant to inspire it to grow. We haven't used the mint much yet, but mojitos are on the horizon.

So really, all is still good in Chocolate town. I'm getting anxious for friends to visit, but that starts all too soon so I should rest up and get ready!

Lessons Learned

I learned a few lessons today. Yes, even at my ripe old age, I can still learn lessons.

First: patience isn't a bad thing. As antsy as I was to figure out what I'm doing the next few weeks, I spent the day focused on smaller things. I got my ID. I visited my venues. I had lunch. I hung out in the costume shop. I saw sea lions. And then some work came my way and all is well for a while.

Second: rescue missions for cilantro are futile. Yes folks, it seems as though the rescue mission was actually a murder. Senor cilantro appears to be on his last legs...last roots...there's gotta be a joke in there somewhere. Anyhow, I clipped him down a bit (and used some of his leaves in my breakfast burrito thing) and I'll see if the roots take and he livens up a bit. If not, into the trash he goes and some chives or something go in his place. That's the life of an herb.

Third: I suck at recipes. I can tell you what I put in things, but I cannot for the life of me tell you how much. Especially with spices and liquids. I use phrases like "several shakes of chili powder" or "a sploosh of milk" or "til it tastes/looks/smells right". Therefore, my amazing recipes can never be duplicated by anyone else because I can't tell them what to do. For instance, my dinner tonight was some rice vermicelli, chicken, asparagus, scallions, 3 basil leaves (from my new basil plant), 2 cloves of garlic, some peanut sauce, some soy sauce, some rice wine vinegar, and some pepper. No clue how much, which is too bad because it's definitely too thick a sauce for these noodles. I think I used too much peanut sauce. Oh well. Guess it's a good thing duplication is futile.

Thieves in the Night

So yesterday ended with an adventure! My friend Tyler designed lights for "The Wild Party" at Penn State-Harrisburg and he told me to go see it closing night. I've wanted to see that show ever since Kara chose Queenie as her makeup class assignment waaaaaaay back in 2004. So, with my now-trusty sidekick Scoot at my side, we took off for the show. The completely jaded theatre professionals in us couldn't help but notice a few small technical things (PLEASE just step downstage a half step! You'll be in your light!), but overall we had a good time. The lights looked good, which is the whole reason we came AND we discovered Penn State-Harrisburg's theatre is on the 2nd floor of the Olmsted building. So...mission accomplished? Yes.

Day 3 is wrapping up with yet ANOTHER adventure! After an unsuccessful Wal-Mart trip in the afternoon, I had some quality roommate bonding time with Stefanie (which involved watching the infamous "Injury" video from 2009) and then I coerced Scoot into joining me for dinner.

Don't worry, I haven't told you about the adventure part yet.

After dinner we decided to go on a rescue mission for my abandoned cilantro plant. In a slightly less than legal move, we rescued it from an undisclosed former place of my residence and took it with us on the lam. After a successful Wal-Mart trip, it was back to the undisclosed current place of my residence where I showed off my mad gardening skills for Stefanie while I planted the fragrant cilantro along with its new friends Flat Leaf Parsley and Mint. The result? The makings of my own little herb garden!


Tomorrow, the goal is to acquire some basil for that empty center part and all will be complete. Senor Cilantro is looking a bit wilted, but after his arduous journey, I'm not surprised he's a little down. Hopefully he will perk up soon. If he doesn't...guess we're having tacos soon.

So far: 3 days and 3 adventures...life is SWEET here in Chocolate Town.