New glasses

I don't like my new glasses. My old ones were in such a state that replacing them was no longer really so much indicated and a necessity for continued life function, but sadly I couldn't find a flattering new pair that was similar enough to the frameless style I had been wearing. I liked them because they disappeared on my face, which pleased me due to a long-held desire to deny the fact that I need glasses at all. These new ones looked chic on the display, but I'm not sure the purplish half-frame across the top really suits me, at least the way the others did.

I don't love them. I think they make me look old, or tired at least, as for some reason the bottom edge of the lenses sometimes creates the illusion of bags under my eyes. They also are not totally adjusted properly; I walked into an eyewear store the other day and had a quick job done, which made them better, but not perfect. The nose piece is still a bit tight, behind the ears as well. Maybe I'll like them better when they don't give me headaches by the end of the day.

Maybe I should just give contacts another go. I have a hell of a time getting them in and out, which is why I've never bothered with them. But I've always hated the fact that I wear glasses, and how dependent on them I am. I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't feel so dull-looking then.

Blue today. Not sure if this is just a low mood, or the beginning of a slide back into the depression hole. Today, everything seems gray and unengaging, making me want to just go home and sleep for the rest of the day.

ASP audition

So I had my audition for the Actors' Shaksespeare Project. Hard to say how I did. I was nervous and I couldn't tell if it showed. I probably could have stood to do more preparation, but I just didn't have the time with everything else going on. So I can't really gauge how well I did, especially since I don't know what they were looking for or how I compared. I used Helena's "How happy some o'er other some" monologue from Midsummer mostly because I like it and I already had it mostly memorized.

I'm probably not getting in, I know that. Still, I guess it's good that I tried. Now what I need to do is forget all about it, so I'm not worrying or disappointed when they don't call me back. And, hey, if by some miracle they do, then it will be a pleasant surprise.

The lean-in, roles reversed!

So, as I mentioned, thefarowl* came dressed to my party adorably attired in masculine costume in a black pinstripe suit with a fedora. Some fun photographs we were taking inspired me to get one shot in particular in order to create this contrast:

The first picture is of me as Paris, creepily doing the lean-in on Caitlin as Juliet. This second picture reverses our roles. The creepery-ness has come full circle. :-)

Fancy party achieved

Yowza. After that weekend, I am burnt. I literally did not stop doing things from my 8AM wakeup each day to my 2AM bedtime each day. So, non-stop activity and a fair bit less sleep than usual. It was great fun and I am incredibly glad I took part in everything I did, but I am as blown from these last two days as I have been from entire weeks in recent time. I am having a hell of a time focusing at work today, but fortunately the dumb little mistakes I keep making have not really hurt anything, and I have caught and fixed them as they occurred. Still, I really want to just go crash somewhere and bum around for the rest of the evening. My busy state came in part from helping beloved friends formerly of the Citadel move to their new place in Watertown, as well as a lovely jaunt to the International Steampunk City, but most of it was due to planning and preparing for my long-awaited fancy party.

The fancy party went, as I hoped it would, wonderfully. The food was fabulous, with much thanks to lovely helpers Gigi, laurion*, Michael, and blendedchaitea*, who heroically stuck it out with me the whole six-hour prep period. The outfits were lovely, all sharp suits and elegant dresses, and I made good on my threat to change outfits every hour. Everyone looked fantastic, but costuming highlights of evening come from the fact I have amazing friends who aren't afraid to shake things up-- no fewer than two couples, both the wonderful captainecchi* and electric_d_monk* and the fabulous thefarowl* and Plesser, came with the lovely lady in the sharp suit and the dashing gentleman in the elegant dress! It was so fun and funny and it amused me to no end. Also,lightgamer* and twilighttremolo initially showed up in pajamas to get me back for the one time they came massively overdressed for a regular old dinner party of mine because of a joke I'd made about "proper attire"-- well played, dear ones, well played!

I love throwing these things. I love playing hostess and showing my friends a good time. I wish I had room to invite every awesome person I know and the budget to feed them all! Unfortunately this may be my last large party for a while, as my new house Illyria will not have the same volume of entertaining space. Well... we'll see. Dinner parties will definitely continue-- in fact I'm seriously thinking of hosting one a week with a rotating guest list --and I still may be able to throw parties on a slightly smaller scale, though probably with a strict attendance cap. But I do so love entertaining, and really need to keep on with it due to the joy it gives me.

Theater to come

So as of this past Wednesday, Hold Thy Peace has a plan for next semester. This coming season will be really remarkable for the club, for a number of reasons. As I've mentioned, my little Shakespearean cabaret-style revue, Merely Players, will be going up as a side project. But the mainstage is looking to be particularly interesting this time around as well. A new member of Hold Thy Peace, a smart, sweet guy by the name of Dave Benger had a really cool idea of cutting together Shakespeare's plays that feature the historical French princess Margaret into one new play with her as the main character. It's a clever, novel idea for the club, not least because we have not had many shows with a true female lead. As if this weren't enough, Dave's relationship with the UTC is good enough that he got Brandeis Players, one of the other theater groups, interested in co-sponsoring the show. Given the animosity that has existed between HTP and the other groups in the past, this is a pretty big step forward in improving relations. If the collaboration goes well, it could really do a lot for mutual respect, as well as increasing mobility between the troupes. I confess my bad experiences in e past have made me a bit nervous, but I have high hopes. I think Dave is both capable enough and well-liked enough to make this happen, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

One worry I do have is that if a lot of new actors come out for Margaret because of Players' involvement, some HTP members may end up losing out on parts they otherwise would have gotten if there suddenly weren't extra competition. Don't get me wrong, I think Dave will cast fairly according to who he feels deserves the part, but still, otherwise deserving people who have dedicated a lot of effort to the club may get shut out. If that's the case, then I think the only right thing is if Merely Players becomes the "overflow" show, taking those HTP members that didn't get into the main stage. I confess that's not my preference, I'd rather take whoever suits the roles best, but I want the show to serve the needs of the club. Of course, there may be only nine people who want to be in the damn thing, in which case no matter what that will have to be my cast.

In other acting news, I have secured an audition slot with the Actor's Shakespeare Project. I am very nervous; it's actually been years since I had to do a truly serious audition. It occurs to me that I should probably not follow my usual MO of reading men's parts and trying to stretch myself. I am more likely to impress better if I choose a piece that suits a twenty-something girl-- of which I frankly have no good examples in my current prepared repertoire. I will have to choose one, and get it ready for this Tuesday. Geez, that's soon, and I have so little time. Another thing I want to try is to see if I can emulate the style of acting I often see in ASP shows-- if that features often, it may be that is the style they want and end up casting, so it might improve my chances. I am not expecting to get anywhere regardless, and am endeavoring to firmly keep from getting my hopes up. Still, I think it's worth a shot.

"What a thing that I have seen tonight!"

I know the rhyme scheme's all over the place, I'll have to fix that. But here's the first draft-- Justinian has just met Theodora for the first time, and now is musing, awed, over the experienced.


JUSTINIAN

What a thing that I have seen tonight!

Full of fire is my mind,

That hours on has my body gone,

Yet kept captive all my thoughts behind.

This maid— what maid? What's this I feel,

Of eyes that flash, and wits as sharp as legion steel?

To look, to speak, to spend a moment there,

Her spirit, keen as winter, laid me bare.

Is this Justinian? Is he yet his own

To find his cunning so ensnared?

Can dissembling actress hide a witch

And boldly to bewitch a prince she dared?

Nay. I, Justin still; my wits, a whole; myself, yet mine.

It is some wonder of her hath caught mine eyne.

The heathen Turks that tremble at the Emperor’s name

Equal not her tongue, a sword that pierces claim,

And where others led like asses, she holds no fear of me,

An unbound mare, who shakes her mane defiantly.

I will go back to where that lightning struck,

And if I am rent again, it is a blessed luck,

For many’s the miracle that is once, and away,

But few so rare I may see every day.

The party general

This weekend is going to be packed for me.

I was tempted to have someone over to hang out with me Friday night, as Jared will be at the Four-Color Supers game for the evening, but as much as I would like that, on further reflection I think I need to spend that time cleaning. I want the house to be spotless for Saturday, and right now it is a certifiable wreck. I am going to do the whole place top to bottom, even other people's dishes if I have to, because I am going to need that whole kitchen to be ready to go on Saturday, when the cooking starts.

I am now trying to marshal my kitchen help, as I am certain I will need a staff for everything I'm planning. In the morning there will be an epic shopping trip, and then I will lay out all the ingredients and tools I will need so when my slaves-- I mean, helpers --arrive, we can just dive right in. Though I've written up the shopping list, I still haven't put together my plan of attack for how the cooking's going to get done. I want to have a plan on how to proceed, as there's a lot to do and I want to finish early to give myself time to clean up the cookware, wash up, and get dressed after all that work. One thing I'm anticipating is needing a lot of fridge space to store my finished canapes until it's showtime, which may prove difficult given how packed the fridge is. I will have to ask the roommates if there's anything in there that can be moved out, at least until the next day. I am confident that if I go into this with a battle plan in mind, it will all fall out the way I want it to. I shall be the general, and party planning shall be my war.

Sunday I am double-booked, but determined to make it work. I have agreed to help lightgamer*, morethings5*, and ninja_report* move from their current place in Waltham to a new place in Watertown. As I am a Waltham local, it looks like I will be on the loading end, carrying out the boxes so that they may be transported and unloaded by the remote team. Sounds very much like a covert military operation when I put it like that. But Jared and I also have day passes to the International Steampunk City, so I am hoping that either before or after helping with the move, we will go over to that and see what's going on there.

Birds of a feather



I have never understood how people make relationships work when they don't have stuff in common. I don't mean you need to be the same sort of people. I haven't had many relationships, but of the few that I've had they've been based on sharing interests and doings. Jared and I are very, very different kinds of people, but we care about many of the same things, have lots of the same interests, and take part in the same activities. We met in a larp, to begin with, and we both are into many of the same things like gaming and theater. We talk endlessly about this stuff, and it makes me wonder what people who don't do and care about the same things talk about. I know you need differences to keep things dynamic, but how do you spend time together when you don't have activities you like to share?

Of course, I do believe that different personalities in a relationship make things work better. Two people in love should complement each other, each strong in ways the other might possibly not be. Jared is sensitive where I am tough, he is smart while I am sensible. We make each other better that way. But it means a lot to me that we have so much in common that we never run out of things to talk about.

More walking



Now that the weather is finally warming back up, I think it's time to rededicate myself to the resolution to start walking whenever possible rather than jumping in the car. I can't bear the cold, so I drove everywhere to shield myself from having to spend time outside. But God knows I need the exercise, though I did manage to work out four times last week. Let's see if I can do at least that well this week, even though when I'm really in a groove I can do it six. But also quite pressing is the rising prices of gas, which haven't been this high around here for ages. I could really do without spending that chunk of change on so regular a basis. The only trouble is time-- I certainly don't mind the effort, I actually actively enjoy walking places, but it can be so much more time-efficient to drive instead. Often my life is so tightly scheduled (as yesterday was, yowza) that I just can't spare the minutes in my already packed day plan. The solution is probably just to not overschedule myself, but knowing me that is easier said than done. I do better, especially with the emotional hole I've had such a hard time digging myself out of these last few months, when I have more going on, more things to do, more projects to work on, more things to think about.

Today when I got out of work Jared and I walked the mile to the grocery store and back, so that's something already. :-)

Boston Olive Oil Company

So my parents recently discovered an olive oil and balsamic vinegar taproom in my hometown, a lovely store full of stainless steel drums containing various types of my personal gourmet addiction. They have fine oils from all different kinds of olives from all around the world, plus variations flavored with all manner of things like garlic, basil, sage, jalapeno, and herbes de Provence. They also have balsamic vinegar, aged to perfection, many of them flavored as well-- some favorites of mine were fig, vanilla bean, and lavender. My parents buy some for me on gift-giving occasions, and the last time I was home they picked up a couple of bottles that I sadly will not have until they drive up in two weeks, since I was traveling by plane and didn't have a checked bag to take them in.

But this past weekend Bernie took me to a similar place that's right here in our very own Boston. It's called the Boston Olive Oil Company in the heart of oh-so-yuppie Newbury Street, and it has everything I love about the place back home. It's fairly reasonably priced given the quality of the product, and though I won't be needing my own for a little bit, I know I will become a good customer of this place. I am willing to shell out to feed this particular addiction of mine. I'd like to get some others who love good oil and vinegar together to go there sometime, as it is quite a treasure to have accessible.