250 - Undoing

Morale is horrible at work; everyone is on edge because even though the market has picked up, the “west wing” says we’re still in the red.  It’s hard sometimes to find the positive when your income has decreased for the last 3 years, because it does eat at the back of your mind.  It’s also tough when your department puts together what the executives ask for, but when they see it, the comments are along the lines of “Ok, but can you put this, this and this in it?”  It simply amazes me that executives forget how far a pat on the back goes to picking up morale.  So, we find our own ways to pat ourselves on the back, knowing that we’ve done a good job …. and theorizing that the air is thinner the higher up the ladder you climb.

In March, I had to do some creative programming to get our property taxes to balance as they needed to be printed, signed and mailed.  Today, I faced the prospect of getting that cleaned up and the assets recorded properly for the 2010 tax year.  Hooray!  Everything that was creatively changed last month, is now recorded for 2010 and balances.  Whew.  Now comes the challenge to make sure this doesn’t happen again next year!

TTFN!

249 - Maybe Next Time

Got the email from Theatre Jax that I wasn't cast in the upcoming production of Nunsense.  While that may seem like a negative, I'm looking on the positive side of it.
*  The baby steps I'm taking around my house can continue
*  There's no conflict with going up to the mountains for our annual Mother's Day gathering
*  I got to go through the audition process again (which is much more difficult for me than a show)
*  I can continue to work on acting and singing in prep for my next audition on June 13th
*  I have other things going on in the theatre community

I know I can be the master procrastinator and can always justify it, so I'm hoping that my first point is true.  It's baby steps taken at a snail's pace, but it's still forward momentum.

Not going to the audition would have been a failure.  This is not.
TTFN!

An LOLCat perfect for my procrastination ....

248 - The Scary Thing

Auditions tonight at TJ.  For me, the hardest part and scariest part of theatre is the audition process.  I shake horribly during my song and reading.  Tonight, I made the first cut and am now waiting to hear if I'm cast in the show. 

The cool thing, though, and I know I sound like a broken record, is this theatre community.  We are, in essence, competing against one another, but it doesn't feel like that.  There are hugs, "good job", "hope you get cast" and all that ... and it's sincere.  Either that or I'm just a sucker.  It was really, really good to see my friends tonight.

Time to rest .... and wait .....

247 - Another Step

A couple more steps taken ...

Gate set up so Oliver cannot squeeze through and get out of the back yard;

TV moved in the front room (which is part of the process of moving my office in there);

DVD player finally connected to the TV in my bedroom;

Stretched and vocalized.

TTFN!

246 - Square Peg

More shelves are in my little storage room, and the peg board is up. 

It's nice having it more organized. 

Now to get more out of my front room!

TTFN!

245 - They're Coming Back!

I was thinking about my blog earlier today and wondering what positive I could write about.  It's been a day like most others - frustrated at work because I'm back in the same place I was 2 years ago, a place where I was completely burnt out; no desire to really push projects because of the burn out; nothing much going on at home because it's a work day.  But then I got a Facebook post.  Terry Goodkind will be writing another book about Richard and Kahlan.

Some books become a part of your life.  The Sword of the Truth series, an 11 book series by Terry Goodkind, did that to me and a few of my friends.  None of the books are short.  The first two in paperback are over 1000 pages; fortunately, they do get a little shorter after that.  The story follows Richard, a young man in a world without magic, who finds out that he's the grandson of a wizard and must fight to free the magical lands from the tyranny of a Rahl.  Oh, they are wonderful books.  The series ended with the 11th book.  It was happy/sad.  I felt the Terry Goodkind did a wonderful job of wrapping up the series, but that doesn't mean that I missed my time with Richard and Kahlan.

Then today - the post on his Facebook page that said a new book would be out early in 2011.  Woot!!!  A little glimpse of his fan base ... there were so many hits on his website after that announcement that it took the hosting servers down.  So, they cleared everything off the site except for the video announement so everyone would get a chance to see it.

Now the countown begins ... to when Richard and Kahlan come back into our lives.  I can't wait to see what's next, and this book will def be pre-ordered.  My friends who read this blog and the books - you know what your Christmas present is going to be!  :-)

Anticipation!

Wizard's First Rule:

"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything.
Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they're afraid it might be true. Peoples' heads are full of knowledge, facts and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."  (From Book 1 - The Sword of the Truth.)

244 - Feet Up!

With Spring here, the big tree in the back yard has beautiful green leaves all over.  With Daylight Savings Time, the evening is longer.  After the insanity of work where blood pressure was raised and voices tried not to be, 5 o'clock meant a tall drink, a book and a chair out under the tree.  The kids love it because Mom's outside with them.  Mom loves it because there's no computer out there, and she can disengage. 

TTFN!