Tons-o-Fun

Eight of us went to Magic Mountain yesterday. It's so fun! I haven't been there in at least 10 years. Needless to say they've added several new coasters since then. I love me a good roller coaster. The weather was great though once the sun went down it was super chilly. The lines weren't bad. The longest was about an hour. Mostly it was just a great day with friends.

Here's Melanie goofing off. Who'd a thunk huh?








James returning from his ride on Tatsu. Yes the picture is facing the right direction. You ride facing down as if you're flying. Let's just say...AWESOME!!! The first drop was terrifying. Come on, head first down a crazy tall drop at a super fast speed. Scary. It was so awesome!




Some of our group.


We ended out time at the park sharing a delicious, sugary funnel cake then headed to In-n-Out for dinner then drove home. We didn't even hit horrible traffic there or back.

To sum up my day, I'll close with a quote from The Incredibles:

Boy on Tricycle: That was totally wicked!

The Prince & the Pauper Photos

As promised here's a few pictures of the costumes I built for SCR's The Prince & the Pauper.

We made the Prince's gown (purple coat with brown fur). We also did MAJOR repairs to his doublet & pumpkin breeches.










We made the King's gown, doublet (though the doublet looks like a dress), fat pad & hat complete with fur piping.







We made Lady Jane's dress. I only patterned the sleeve. A co-worked patterned the rest of it before I started on the show.










Here's a close-up of the bodice & skirt. It shows the dreaded cartridge pleats. Man! I hated those things. Now that I've done them, they're not that bad. It's just ALOT of hand work.

I had a part time first hand and a mostly full time stitcher to get it all ready. Later, we got help from the rest of the staff as their show opened & they had a few minutes. I can't believe we pulled it off!

Government Agent

As many of you know I was fired for 2 months from SCR. I go back April 17th to start on Hamlet, but in the mean time they've got 2 very small contemporary shows so they don't need me. Before my time was up I started trying to figure out what I'd be doing for work for 2 months. I asked around Laguna Playhouse people and such but they've trimmed their shop down for some small shows too. Guess I'll just fill in at my old office job for a while. I made the phone call and Vera (the office manager) said she'd have work for me. Cool. Not a dream job but at least it's easy & the money's the same. Then out of no where I get a call from Vera (the shop manger at UCI). Basically the conversation went like this, "Hi, you don't know me but will you come work in my shop for 2 months?" "O.k." "By the way, we're gonna pay you almost $3 more an hour than you're used to." "O.k."

God is so good. He provides exactly what we need when we need it doesn't He? And the best part is, He knows what we actually need.

So I'm working for the government through at least March 9th & if they haven't found a permanent person by then I'll work there until they do our until April 17th to go back to SCR.

How Does That Always Happen?

Theatre is magical. Many people know that, but us costumers, we know it good. There's magic within them there walls. I was given the responsibility of getting SCR's production of The Prince & the Pauper up. I asked who else was working on it & I was informed that I had a mostly full-time stitcher & a half-time first hand. Oh. Okay. Well then. It's me then. Insert FREAK OUT here. Oh yeah, you've got two weeks. Insert SHEER PANIC mixed with FREAK OUT here.

I knew most of the costumes were going to be pulled from our stock or rented but still. I've got to build a velveteen boned bodice dress complete with heinous cartridge pleats and two velveteen, fur and brocade or silk King Henry gowns (similar to the really big red poofy sleeved coat thing in the picture). Oh yeah, and a hat. And King Henry's quick change doublet with built in fat pad. Two weeks. Okay. And all of the pulled/rented costumes that would need to be fit and altered and repaired. Lots of repair. I swear, everything rented was built in 1934. I'm not exaggerating. Those pieces had to be 70 years old. While trying to alter them velvet was exploding.

Add a wicked cold on top of all of this & let's just say I wasn't doing well. I was told today that they didn't notice be freaking out. Good to know. I guess I'm a good faker.

Here's the theatre magic: tomorrow is our first audience. We're pretty much done. Couple things here and there but if we all got hit by the chip truck, the show could go up as is. How does that always happen? There's always too much work & it's impossible to get down & yet it does. Even while freaking out I was telling Kaisara, "funny thing is, the magic of theatre will happen & it will all get done." Sure enough. I'll post pictures when I get them.

Came Up Short

You may have noticed my 2007 Mileage Tracker on the left. At the beginning of the year I made a goal to walk 500 miles in 2007. This is a spin off of Geoff's goal to run 1000 miles in 2007. Let's face it, I'm no runner so I figured half of a runner's goal would be good for a walker. So 500 miles it is. I figured if I get in 10 a week that'd give me 20 miles to spare.

I also figured this wouldn't be too hard of a goal to achieve since Dana & I have been walking before work a few times a week ever since the time change in October (do I even need to tell you how freezing & dark it is at 6am in December?). When we walk I get in 2.9 miles. We had been going Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays so without even trying that'd be 8.7 miles a week.

With January being 5 weeks long (I'm tracking Sunday through Saturday as a week not actual dates of the month) I should have had 50 miles in. I don't. I'm 7.9 miles short. For most of January, Dana and or I have been sick so we figured it's best not to make things worse & let our bodies sleep in the nice warms beds we've been blessed with. She started it with the coodies and I actually got up & walked without her for about a week. Then the toastyness of the blankies conquered me since I didn't have anyone counting on me to be out there tired & freezing.

I'm hoping I can make up for my shortage in February and get in 50 miles even though it's only 4 weeks long. On the bright side if I cut into my 20 spare miles, I'm not short. I've still got 12.1. Ouch. That's not much to hold me off for 47 more weeks.