Well, dear readers, I am eating nuts. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you get such information? Nowhere, that’s where. My darling daughter thoughtfully gave me three tins of See’s goodies – Almond Royal (all gone), Toffee (all gone), and Salted Nuts (almost all gone). The Salted Nuts are quite yummilicious – cashews, almonds, both dark and light (blanched), and also hazelnuts and walnuts, both of which I remove from my nut mix. Salted Nuts – that’s the title of my next novel. One simply cannot have enough Salted Nuts, don’t you agree? I adore my Salted Nuts, frankly. Speaking of Salted Nuts, I had a gloriously glorious sleep the night before, and I felt refreshed and marvelously marvelous when I awoke. And then, miracle of miracles, I started up on my current short story and wrote two count them two pages. I’ve got about ten more pages to go, and then it will be on to a new story. It felt really good to write again, and I shall look forward to doing it daily. I also did several errands, made several telephonic calls, and answered a plethora of e-mails. At about five, I went over to the El Portal Theater to check out our set, which was being loaded in all day yesterday. I must say, it looks quite good – I had a couple of questions, and rather than have them redo a couple of simple things, I just made a couple of blocking adjustments. What became immediately apparent, however, was that six seats on the right side of the theater, have obstructed views for one important sequence. We either have to lose those seats or sell them at a discount as “obstructed view” seats. My actors cannot wait to get in there to start rehearsing on the set, which will happen this coming Monday. My set designer, despite having known about our video shoot for weeks, informed me that we should think about shooting elsewhere, because someone systematically removed all the lighting instruments (why that was done no one seems to know), and because one component of what we need will not be ready. I informed him that shooting elsewhere was not an option, that we’d bring in some stand lights if we had to, and that the component not only had to be there, it had to be working. We’re having a meeting about all of that at three today. Then I toddled off to rehearsal. We did act two, with me stopping things every few minutes to work on details and performance, and also for the actors to lock down their lines in a more letter-perfect way. Tonight we’ll do the same for act one. I then came home and sat in my hot tub for the first time in over eight weeks. It was quite lovely.
Yesterday, I attempted to watch a motion picture on DVD entitled Rocket To The Moon, one of those huge-cast things (Terry-Thomas, Burl Ives, Daliah Lavi, Lionel Jeffries, Troy Donahue, etc.). Unfortunately, I did not make it all the way through, as it’s a completely tiresome and mostly unfunny and leaden bit of business. The one bright thing about the film is its wonderfully tuneful musical score by my pal John Scott – I love the main theme, which sounds like something out of a Broadway musical.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got quite a busy day ahead of me and one simply must get crackin’.
Have I mentioned that I’m eating Salted Nuts? Have I mentioned that we’re but a moment away from our New Year’s Rockin’ Eve bash? Have I mentioned that we’re the ginchiest party in town?
Today I shall be lunching with the head of the LACC Theatre Arts department, as well as one of the teachers – more talk about my program. After that, we have a meeting at the theater, after which we have a rehearsal, our final rehearsal in our rehearsal space, thank goodness. We then have four rehearsals in the theater prior to starting tech. We then have three tech rehearsals, and then our first preview. I cannot believe how fast this is all coming up – it’s giving me anxiety attacks.
Did you know that prior to each rehearsal, I walk to Dairy Queen and get myself a small soft vanilla cone? It’s such a nice treat, I must say. Salted Nuts, then a soft vanilla cone – now, that’s a diet!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, finish the Salted Nuts, I must write, I must do errands, I must pick up a package or three, and I must then attend a meeting and rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your ten favorite CD releases of the year? Favorite soundtracks, shows, vocalists, etc. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all partake of our various and sundried Salted Nuts.