Gchat

When I first switched over to gmail, I didn't realize that you can choose how peoples names appear in your chat window. Matty pointed it out, saying he had changed Dan's name to "Fag Monster Dan".

Which, when you're talking to him, just appears as "Fag".

Today I realized that you can also change someone's picture. So I took the picture Dan already had and altered it. Gmail was also kind enough to offer to email Dan a link of the picture and suggest he change his profile picture to what I have.

Dan, via gchat (Warning, strong language. Put your toddlers away.):

Fag: oh fuck you

me: excuse me kind sir?
Fag: that fucking picture
no, im not updating my picture
me: oh, well when I look at MY gchat picture of yours, it looks as though you have.
Fag: CHANGE IT
 
Despite the swearing, I'm not changing it.
And if anyone would like a copy of the picture for their own gchat, just ask.

Currently reading...

To make up for my brief foray into teenage vampire novels, I am now reading House of Leaves.

I cannot recommend it enough.

It has more thought put into it than any book I have ever read.

I don't want to spoil it for anyone who may want to read it, but one of the chapters looks like this:

So now I look crazy on the train because some of the text is upside down and I am constantly turning the book this way and that. Or I'll come across pages like this:

And then I really do notice people looking at the book and then at me.

But it could be worse. At least there's not large type font of the word "psychic vampire".

Leftover files

I spent the past two days cleaning out all of the things the last person at my desk had.

It was a LOT. This is just a fourth of the things that were hidden under the desk.

I had to put gloves on to do it, because apparently I am allergic to something that she used on her hands. Possibly a lotion. But it's all wiped down now and so I should be fine.

Apparently, hives gets you sent home early from work. But not in a fun way, since Benadryl makes you feel like a crazy person.

Speaking of Flowers and Norm, awhile back Flowers drew me this picture of Norm.
It now hangs on the wall above my bed.
(Crooked, because the house is on a slant and the hardest thing ever is to try and hang a picture straight on a slanted wall, I mean, come on.)

Twisty, viewed from the light booth

Nick & I have done notes for Twisty the past 2 Saturdays, as Norm has had prior engagements.

This week they applied our notes from last week really well and had a great show. I was super proud of them.

The best part of doing notes is sitting in the booth with Flowers, who insists on giving notes of his own -

"Put plus 2 points for that."

(after playing a sound effect) "Write down 'Classic Flowers'."

"They're not initiating, they're dominating."

HouseCo Audience

Ticket sales for HouseCo have been going like crazy. Normally the tickets all go on Saturday, since we get a lot of walk-ups. But this week we were almost sold out by Thursday.

So by Saturday the show was sold out. It was a fun show, it always is, I look forward to it every week.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy performing for a room full of muggles, many of whom have never set foot in Second City before, and may never again. We get a lot of people who are passing through, visiting family or friends, who bring them to the show.

I know this because we interact with the audience quite a bit. And also because every now and then someone will recognize me on the street and grab my arm, which is terrifying until they start telling me they were at the show.

Washington & Wells...almost

Every day my train pauses right before the Washington & Wells stop, which is the stop before I get off.

We can be there briefly - for 20 seconds - or for awhile - 8 minutes or so.

It is the absolute difference between being on time and late for work.

Of course, people here understand more than somewhere where you would drive in. The train effects everyone.

But it is frustrating to be so close and only be able to sit and wait.

Ginger's Ale House

The last few days have been all about last minute - CHOKE ON IT was asked to sub in for another group at Ginger's tonight. Since Timmy is on the boat (and CHOKE isn't allowed to have sit-ins), Andi & I did a 2-man.

It was fun, as always, but I am very excited for Timmy to be back soon so we can start doing the 3-person shows again.

Timmy & I try to talk every week on his one day in Miami. Or as he refers to it, "dirty, skank-ass Miami". In between bits about JC Chasez, we are trying to make some plans for CHOKE to possibly have a run somewhere when he gets back.
I am hoping it pans out...doing those shows has been some of the most fun I have had. And none of us are really sure how it all happened, all of the sudden we were friends, then we were doing shows together and giggling.

Chicago Sketchfest

Around 3:30 today I received a call from Logan asking me if I could fill in for one of the actors in Ruby Weapon. I agreed, and then only had 2ish hours to learn the lines before heading down to the theater.

Luckily it wasn't a ton of lines and everyone was helpful about answering my questions.

The show was a lot of fun and the highlight (for me) was seeing a band that included a flute, violin, and accordian play 'Kiss from a Rose' while Tim Racine sang to a giant mutant monster (played by Mike Madgiak).

The line for Hot Doug's.

Even though it was pretty cold, Andi & I ventured over to Hot Doug's for some delicious meat.
The wait outside was at least an hour but there were some entertaining distractions in line, for one thing I couldn't tell if the teenagers in front of us were dating or brother and sister. A mom-type was with them and she fussed over them equally. But then the 2 teenagers seemed to be pretty flirtatious. I never did figure it out.

By the time we were almost in my toes were so cold they hurt and I sincerely considered bailing...but we were so close, so I toughed it out.

Once we were in I had a bacon sausage hot dog and an antelope sausage hot dog, with duck fat fries, of course. Totally worth it.

Side note: Later that night the HouseCo show sold out and then Sunday we already had 30 pre-sold tickets for next weekend. I'm pretty excited about it, audiences really seem to be enjoying the show. Which is great, since I enjoy doing it.

Zach & Alan's kitty.

All Skate had a show tonight, one of our first scheduled weekend shows.

Afterwards I went over to Zach's and amused myself by playing with the kitty and a laser.

For about an hour, I think.

She got tired of it before I did.

Burns

My hair has gotten pretty long (for me) so I have been curling it in lieu of getting a cut. The downside is I burn myself every time. Every. Time.
These are 2 recent ones and as you can see, they are pretty close together.

That's right, I'm not only burning myself repeatedly, it's also roughly in the same spot.
I have no idea how it's happening either, I am trying to be careful and then suddenly there's a searing hot pain.

It's probably somewhat related to my clumsiness, as most of my bruises and scars are.
It really takes a special kind girl to constantly burn herself, repeatedly walk into door frames, and trip going up the stairs.

Laundry Day.

Lately Andi and I have been trying to do our laundry in a reasonable amount of time (ie not wait 2 months). We've been shooting for once every 2 weeks, but sometimes our other obligations will get in the way and it will take longer.
Because of the holidays it took 3 weeks this time, which ended up not being so bad.
The laundromat was even deserted, only one other girl was there and she left awhile before we did.

It's a cute time for Andi and I to chat and catch up, even though we live together we aren't both home very often.
The last time we went a strange woman decided to butt in on our conversation.
She completely misintrepreted what we were talking about and gave us some unsolicited advice, then launched into how disgusting Tiger Woods was. I managed to slip away, leaving Andi alone with her.

Woman: ...and he was just sleeping with all these women...
Andi: (dejectedly) Oh...

Andi then caught my eye across the room and I couldn't stop giggling.
She wasn't mad though, I'm sure if she could have escaped instead of me, she would have.

HouseCo poster in my cubicle.

Things are still going well at work, although January is the last official month of the temping portion of this gig.
But people seem to enjoy working with me and after I hung up the poster, they even started requesting tickets for my show. One of the admins came the weekend after Christmas and she really seemed to enjoy it.

So I am hopeful about getting hired on permanently, but I don't want to jinx it.
I only have a few cute decorations up - the SC chair mentioned earlier, some pictures, the poster - but that's it.
After all, I don't want to have too much to carry if it doesn't work out.
But it will work out...right? Right?

Currently Reading...

A once-favorite author of mine, LJ Smith, has been re-releasing her books from about 10 or more years ago.

When I was in junior high I began reading her various series, one of which involved the end of the world.
At some point while writing the books the author had a family medical emergency and stopped writing before the very last book was completed. 15 year old me was devastated.
So devastated in fact, that it's been a decade and I have never stopped checking to see if the book would be released.

Then one of her other series, The Vampire Diaries, was picked up by the CW to be a tv show. Suddenly all of her books are available AND she is finishing the last book from the other series. So I purchased every book from the unfinished series (The Night World) plus the trilogy pictured above.

Re-reading the books I feel a mixture of young awkward me, delighted with every word in the book, combatting with older awkward me, who is well aware that these books are geared towards a much younger audience. Younger me usually wins. But older me reared its head today on the train when I came across the phrase "psychic vampire" and suddenly realized that the font is large enough for strangers around me to be reading along.