Well, dear readers, you want to know what I find annoying? Well, of course you do so therefore I will tell you what I find annoying. Having to be on the telephonic device for ninety minutes with Time Warner because I could not connect to the thing known as the Internet and it seemed to have been down for about four hours. I’d awakened at seven for some reason unknown to me – at that point I’d had five hours of sleep. I could not connect to the Internet on the iPad. I fell back asleep at eight-thirty and slept until ten-thirty so I guess that means around seven hours of sleep. I got up and could still not connect to the Internet. So, I called Time Warner. Their automated voice told me there was no Internet outage in my area and that it had just reset my modem and to call back if I still could not connect. I unplugged the router, plugged it back in and could still not connect. I called again and was taken to the Philippines. I did not ask to be taken to the Philippines and yet there I was, talking to a person who said the usual things from a script – no outage, and then he kept not listening to me so I finally told him to connect me to the United States of America. He said he would and then hung up on me. I called again, this time got someone in the United States of America, and we began to troubleshoot everything. We unplugged this, reset that, went directly into the computer, shut down the computer, removed my network, put it back – nothing, nothing worked and I could not get on the Internet. After ninety minutes of this nonsense, he said he was going to reset my modem one last time and then make an appointment for someone to come here. He reset it, I unplugged the router and plugged it in, and – wait for it – I got on the Internet. Now, remember, we’d done that already a few times to no success. What did that mean to me? Exactly what I said to him: “You had an outage, plain and simple.” They will not admit to it because they would then have to credit us money – he was a nice sort and he did admit that I wasn’t the only house in my neighborhood that was down. So, all that wasted time doing completely unnecessary things, when I am convinced it was an outage.
Of course, that caused me to miss my lunch window, so I jogged then had a little snack pack of salami and provolone – not too caloric and I figured it would tide me over until dinner. I also had an apple. Then I got ready and moseyed on over to the theater. Barry Pearl arrived soon thereafter and we did what we had to do (don’t want to give anything away at this point, but it’s for a gag in Welcome to My World. Then Sami and mom arrived and Sami was rarin’ to go, which is the Sami I like. We went over some of the notes I’d given, and we ran a number that involves two life-sized standees on wheels so she could get used to them. But, they need some work still – they need to be weighted as they’re too flimsy right now for her to be secure with them. That’s being done today. Then I took Sami off-stage, we said our three words, which we’re always going to say before every run-through and performance, and then we began.
It’s getting to the point where we really need an audience. Every time we’ve had people there, even if one or two, Sami comes alive and plays the show to them. She’s been doing a great job and getting better and better, but it’s hard to play comedy to a void and we all just want the laughs at this point. Still, she did very well. At about the three-quarter point in the show, her energy flagged a little, which didn’t happen at the previous run-through, where she was a ball of energy from start to finish. I was actually glad it happened in a way, because after we finished and I went to give notes, we talked about it and she was totally aware of exactly when it happened. So, we talked about how to combat it if it happens again – that she always has to be the driver and sometime she simply has to rev the engine if she feels it needs an energy boost. It was really terrific that she knew it – that’s a huge lesson learned and it will serve her really well. Interestingly, it was only in the monologues, never the musical numbers – it really only affected maybe three of them and I doubt anyone would really have noticed, but she did and I did and we want perfection. After, I added one more little interplay between Sami and Alby – I’ll watch very carefully at the next run to make sure we’re not gilding that lily or that it’s interrupting the flow of the monologue – they’re all funny, for sure, but I just don’t want to overplay that hand.
Then Sami went home and my stage manager and I went to the Coral Café to have a proper meal. Unfortunately, that included their yummilicious nachos deluxe and those are pretty caloric and I ate more than I should. I also had a BLT wrap and that, at least, was calorie friendly – no mayo, no dressing of any kind, and frankly I don’t think more than one piece of bacon was used for the whole thing. Our set designer joined us as he needed to pick up the key to the theater, since he’s working all day today and into the evening, when he’ll be joined by the lighting guy. He’ll be completing the set, and then I’ll finally share some photos with you. It didn’t seem fair to show it to you still unfinished, even though it really looks cute. Then I came home.
I was suffering The Guilt of 1000 Nachos, so I did a second jog. Then I answered some e-mails and relaxed a bit.
Today, I’ll do a jog, eat something light, visit the theater briefly around one, then we have our second Kritzerland rehearsal beginning at four and lasting almost four hours.
Tomorrow, I have a late breakfast/early lunch meeting, then I go to the theater to work with the lighting guy. Then Sami arrives, we work through a few things, and then we do a full-out tech rehearsal with no stops, no matter what cues are missed. Then Sami will go home and I’ll stay and work on the stuff that needs fixing. Saturday we’re back at around eleven, and we do a full out tech run at twelve-thirty. Depending on how that goes will determine whether we come back to the theater after our stumble-through, which we do here at three o’clock. Sunday, we do a full tech and costume run-through around one, do fixes and adjustments, then head over to The Federal for sound check and then show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, visit the theater, have the second Kritzerland rehearsal and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite things about the Internet and your least favorite things about the Internet? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping there will be no more never admitted to outages.