Juggling Work

Juggling work and mom isn't as fun as it could be. I would like more workers who are available at the drop of a hat and willing to work whenever. Sadly, that isn't the case. Oh well. I will survive. (Maybe it will be easier during the summer...)

My current plan is to have my staff members run the light board and I will run the followspot. There are like 5 cues in both shows for the followspot. I can pop in five minutes before the show and leave right after. Not that I am ducking responsibilities - I am delegating and allowing myself the freedom to take care of my mom. Yay.

Spent a constructive hour at the Smith - hung the mirror ball and focused four lights - two in the pit and two on the mirror ball. Yay. Also looked through the gobos and picked out a few stars. I will get staff to put them in some instruments between 3 and 3:30. 4 o'clock the students start rehearsing. Yippee. It is time for the staff to start programing the light board. Huzzuh!

It is great having people who can do what I ask of them! Yippee! Got a good start before the kiddies started arriving. Gobos in, mirror ball cord tied up, spotlight set up, headset for the spotlight, etc. Then I taught (or reminded) them how to build cues. A quick couple of putters, a little bit of questioning and off I went to feed mom! 

I got to feed mom in a relaxed fashion. This is much better than the times when I have to run home, throw some food at mom and run back out the door. When I was younger, rushing was ok - now I like to do things, generally, in a more sedate sort of way. 

After dinner, back to the Smith where I let my people go and did a little Smithing of my own. After the Toeprints people headed out, I played with my new electronic toys. It took a little troubleshooting - because it didn't work at first - to get it going, but I persevered. Huzzuh! We can now use a laptop on stage or in the sound and light area at the center of the theatre to run the projector in the projection booth. How exciting is that? Very!!

Came home, puttered some more, played a bit and went to sleep. Oh, and somewhere in here, I finished Order of the Phoenix and started Half-Blood Prince. Yippee!!

Mother's Day/Mom's Birthday

Yes, a twofold day of fun and excitement. Thank you everyone who thought of mom on her day. Lovely flowers from Joe and Ginger! Cards galore and a gift from Ernst and Betty. Juliet is planning to visit later in the month. Mary Flett is planning on visiting over the summer at some point. Lucky mom to have so many people in her life that care about her.

Meanwhile, I have been asked at least 20 times who gave her the flowers. Sigh.

We didn't get around to presents yesterday due to sleep. Mom is having more trouble keeping her eyes open during the day - though she seems really good at being awake at 4 in the morning. 

Finally opened the present from Ernst and Betty! What a great soft stuffed baby chick! A HUGE baby chick. Mom really likes it. Sadly, she thinks I gave it to her, no matter how often I disabuse her of the notion. I have hidden the chocolate, so that mom will not gorge herself and get sick from eating it too quickly. Sigh. 

She was underwhelmed by the huge thing of marzipan I got for her. Go figure.

Today worked out well - though I didn't do a bit of what I wanted to do. Yes, partly through my own fault, partly from the renter's fault. I didn't get a schedule or a break down of the "numbers" until the start of today's rehearsal, so I couldn't get started on programming lights, so that meant that my workers couldn't set light cues for the acts that rehearsed today. Sigh. Still, I got to go to the Marketing Meeting, and I got to feed mom a decent and relaxed dinner. I hope tomorrow works out as well. Anything is possible. Right?

And one more time

Looks like I will be doing more laundry again today. Sigh. I hope this is just a phase and that it too will pass.

Yup, I did laundry. And it was a zippy, pleasant experience, all things considered. I washed a second pillow. I guess I will be adding at least one pillow to each laundry experience. Who knew that you could wash pillows to give them a second, puffier life? Probably lots of people, just not me.

Did a little bit of Smith work today. That is a good thing. Wrote a bit of the "So you want to be the technical director at the Smith" manual. And a few other puttery sorts of things.

Mostly, I just didn't do anything - well, made lunch, made dinner, did laundry, played xBox (and did decently), listened to a good bit of Harry Potter, cleaned the kitchen, napped, played on my phone, went to the Smith and filled out my time card and did a little data entry.

Mom can be really cute at times. She always has been able to do that when necessary. Now it just happens on its own occasionally. Recently, she took a book from the Theatre Bookshelf outside of her bedroom. For the next day or two she asked me who Woody Allen was. I answered in the obligatory 637 different ways, mostly with elements of truth in each answer. Then, when I was heading back to my room, she pointed at the book and told me in all seriousness that I should read the book - I would learn a lot. It was the biography of Woody Allen, of course. I don't think I will probably read it.

There are so many books in this house that I have never read. Or have never been read by anyone living in this house. Ever. I wonder just how many. Hmm. I know that at one time there were 15,000 books in the house, at least. But of those, how many have never been read by anyone who has ever lived here. First, the house isn't that old. Maybe the 40s. My father came to the house in the late forties. And he certainly didn't read all the books that existed in the house in his time. And he most definitely did not read any of the books that have come to the house since his demise. My mom, also quite a reader, did not read many of the books here when she was avidly reading them. Me? hahahahahaha. Karl? Juliet? Ernst? Well, maybe Ernst and Juliet have read most of the books that were in the house in their times here - but since their time?

Laundry again

Not much exciting is planned for the day. I hope to get a load of laundry done - we shall see.

There will probably be a bit of Smithing today as well. Isn't there always?

I decided to just head out early in the morning (for me) for a change. First stop, laundry - which I will have to do again tomorrow or the next day too. Sigh. There, someone said, "Are you Karl Schoen-Rene's brother?" Small town life. Gotta love it.

Off to the Smith to pick up stools for tonight's performance at Club 86, which I will drop off later this afternoon. When I walked in, I found the meeting that I thought was supposed to be going on - building new railings for our removable front-of-stage stairs. Nice people and they seemed to have their acts together. Next, Fred and I went over the proposed catwalk for work on the HVAC system in one of my closets. Fred also helped me restart the Kiosk. It isn't difficult in itself, it is just that the ladder is perched a teeny bit precariously and it is good to have someone footing or holding it when I climb up to cycle the power.

Back to the laundromat where the clothes went into the dryers. I might just have to take some more pillows down there because the one I did clean came out all puffy and happy. Yippee! Who knew? Ok, I knew, I think I read it somewhere. On the internet - attributed to Lincoln, so I knew it must be true. I just hung out there a while - trying to use my phone as a wifi hotpoint - but I think because I use ATT and the service is notoriously bad here in Geneva, I couldn't manage it. 

Responsibility

Up at the crack of dawn to help mom out with bathroom issues. How fun! Joyous even. I wish I were still asleep.

I am not going to get to go back to sleep.

One thing about mom that has always rankled. She has lived in victim mentality for as long as I have known her. She has, over the years, managed to do a lot despite this. But to this day, most things in her life are "not her fault." Sigh. That and the whole pessimistic outlook on life thing she has going on can be awfully draining.

Sadly, my sister is feeling sick, so she won't be coming at this point to visit mom. (Feel better, sis!) Which is ok - as I now have longer to excavate the room at the head of the stairs where I was going to have her sleep. Maybe I will even fix the chair in there that was broken at some point.

It seemed like a busy Smith day - the morning was spent working on several TM things. IN the afternoon I had a meeting with a potential employee and then did more catch-up with Kelly. It is good when I feel in the loop.

Dinner was only a moderate success. Mom thought the yummy chicken bites (garlic and parmesan) were too dry. She liked her corn though and ate her over armed onion rings. At the grocery store, I got a couple of soups that I am going to try her on. Not cream based.

Oh My God

Half an hour of the same question over and over again. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I am feeling sleepy for some reason this morning. I don't have a lot to do - but I do want to pop into the Smith and test all of the film equipment. And make sure that any laptops that are going to be used and are attached to my drop box account get an opportunity to sync up before they are used by others. Does that make any sense at all? I could talk someone else through how to do what I want done, but I don't know who would do it. So I will head down around 3:30 and do what I need to do.

I am in my second "office:" Lake Drum Brewing. They just released a new beer - so I get a mugful free! For a shandy it was pretty good. I don't really like Shandys though...

Dinner is going to be from Cam's pizza. I think Chicken Parmesan and some chicken wings and onion rings. Yum! (Garlic parmesan wings are yummy)

My stupid xBox game keeps crashing and it is irking me no end. Grrr. (Turns out a lot of other people are having the same problem. Yippee! Hmm, that didn't sound very nice...)

Ok, slogged through some tedium for the Smith. Yay. But I keep learning more about Theatre Manager. Yay! Did some dishes and am ready for bed. Lots of meetings tomorrow. 

Here's Hoping

Here's hoping that the cranberry juice is a miracle worker in an 8 ounce glass. Anything is possible, right?

Meanwhile, I think I may be a post behind. I can't tell anymore. Sigh.

Busy Smith day today. A meeting in a little bit - to which I will ride my bicycle. Oh, when I went in yesterday, our office manager was a little grumpy and was having a problem (well, looking for a solution to a problem) using Theatre Manager. Her desire was to print address directly onto envelopes rather than onto labels which then needed to be peeled and put on envelopes. Turns out that TM has a pretty robust label generating capability. In my capacity as an office manager years and years (and years) ago, I did a lot of playing around with label making. It is pretty amazing what you can do with a robust label making/merge file. So it wasn't all that difficult to make her a "label" that was envelope sized and to put the envelope drawer into the printer for her. Yay! She seemed much happier when I left. Maybe because I had left...

Lots of meetings - somehow I ended up with a lot of things to do. Which is actually a good thing. The stuff that I need to do will all benefit the Smith and the Smooth functioning of things in the actual theatre. Yay.

Watched The East the other night. Not a great movie - not terrible. Not something I need to see again.

She likes them!

The blueberry muffins are a hit with mom! Huzzuh and hurrah and all that sort of ballyhoo! And she says she thinks cranberry juice is delicious which is also a good thing. 

Lazy sort of day. Lots of things I could be doing and I am busy not doing any of them. Like get the room at the head of the stairs ready for a house guest. That would be a good thing to do. And look at the Serpent of Seneca movie. And sort papers. And do some Smith work. But instead, I am playing, eating, resting, etc. Yippee.

Interestingly, I haven't been feeling verbose lately. Hence the short posts. And I haven't been doing very well on correspondence either. Sigh. 

Next week is heavily meetinged I think. I hope I have them all in my computer and phone. (Good thing that they talk to each other from time to time...)(Yup, just updated my phone. Tuesday is the busy meeting day.)

Mom woke up long enough to eat some soup. Yay! But then she wasn't interested in shrimp. Boo!

Missed my morning writing time

How did that happen? Suddenly it is the afternoon. And late afternoon at that. Oh well. Life is like that sometimes.

I got some Smith work done this morning - working on getting another producing organization's tickets up on our ticketing system. I want to design one well and then go on to all the others. 

Got the one done, I think. Waiting on some information from the venue. 

Nice day. A little bike riding, a little work, a little play. Went to the grocery store and bought a UTI test for mom, as well as Cranberry juice. I also impulse bought some blueberry muffins. Don't know if mom will eat them, but it is worth a try. She didn't like my wonderful bacon wrapped mozzarella stuffed fried bread bites. Her loss. More for me! Bwahahahahahahahaha.

The cycle continues

So, after a couple of good days, we are off to a poo day start. Yippee! Apparently I don't care and won't help and am making mom suffer. My favorite line "Why do you get to sleep when I can't sleep?" Seriously? Sadly, logic doesn't work with mom at this point when she is in this particular state of mind - half asleep and angry. Yippee!

Sleepy. I did do laundry yesterday. I hope it turned out ok. I was otherwise focused. I also branched out and visited a new-to-me place. Interesting. Yay for interesting.

My next chore is to get off my butt and drive down to the car place, drop off my car and ride my bicycle back home. I can do that. I just need to do it. Then I will come back and knock out my list of tasks. Or nap. We shall see.

5 minutes down, 10 minutes back - not too bad. That is one reason I like Geneva, it is bike able. If only there were more bike lanes and places to lock one's bike. Though I would really love to live in a world where people could leave their bike unlocked for a month outside and not have it stolen. Wouldn't that be nifty? Sigh.

Lunch is done. She told me that she doesn't like crackers with cheese. I am really starting to struggle to find things she does like to eat. Sigh.

I do worry a bit when a day goes smoothly and as planned. Oh, and when it is a "pretty"day. I rode down to the Smith - got my work there done, turned over the show to Terren, went to the bank, and rode to pick up my car. Yes, the muffler needed replacing, and I had forgotten to get the car inspected (in November), got the oil changed, a wiper replaced and the right rear tire ministered to (it wasn't all that expensive - and I just got paid from the Smith, so...). 

Mom has been extra curmudgeonly today. I think I will maybe set up another appointment with a physician's assistant or a nurse practitioner. Mom seems to be in more pain than usual. Maybe it is psychosomatic, maybe it is real. Hard to tell, of course. And what level of pain it is, I have no idea. Maybe some physician sort will be able to get to the bottom of it. 

Anyway, I played some COD AW and did ok. I think I will do one full prestige and maybe a second and then give it up to play other stuff. I am not as attached to this one as I was to the previous ones. Yay.

Ok, time to do a little Smith work and then watch something on Netflix. 

Lucidity

Mom is being remarkably lucid just now - she was pretty sharp last night and is still sharp today. For the first time in a long time she asked me about her money situation. And she has been taking care of herself - going up and down the hall to the bathroom by herself - refusing aid to get into her bed (even though, it turns out, that she never did get into it last night - sigh). But still, it is a pleasant change. I wonder why it is happening. And how long it will last.

She is totally crashed now. I think she was awake-ish most of the night last night. Sigh.

I did a little Smith work today - and then went and returned returnables. I made a mess of my car - poop. But it was good to get the bags out of the basement of the Smith. We did have quite a few returnables.

Mom slept through dinner and I am torn. Force her to wake up and force food on her, or let her sleep. Normally I force her to wake up. This time, I am letting her sleep. If she is hungry later, I will feed her something, anything, who knows what? It depends on when she wakes up. I am still going to aim for my regular bed time - midnight or one or two am. Something like that.

My list of things to do for the Smith is getting larger rather than smaller. Sigh. I will do my best to knock most of them out tonight and tomorrow. Luckily I have a staff worker doing the RPO so I can go, say hi and leave. Yippee!