Just An Observation

My Mom is a bit hard of hearing, so when she knows I'm taking a nap, she turns the volume on the television down really low and turns on the closed captioning. (Very considerate and sweet, don't you think?) Well, today I came downstairs after my nap and was sitting in the living room looking at the tv. I noticed on the closed captioning that when there's kissing or sniffling in a commercial, it says "kissing sound throughout" or "sniffling sound." Uh, excuse me, but isn't closed captioning (primarily) for deaf people? Do they know what a kissing sound or sniffling sound is?

A Scary Nightmare ... With a Purpose

One of the reasons I've been posting my weird dreams here is that I'm trying to figure out what they mean. Most dreams have a purpose, if only to ease your mind about something. One of the purposes of dreams is to think about things that your conscious mind doesn't want to think about. The nightmare I had a few hours ago did just that.

First, the nightmare:

I had bruises covering my legs & they just seemed to get worse and worse every few hours. Eventually, I asked my mother (a retired nurse) what she thought about the bruises, and if I should go to the doctor right away. She told me the light in the house wasn't good enough for her to see my legs well enough, so we'd have to go someplace else. She and my sister told me to get in the car; my sister would help my mother get ready. My mother drove around the block to the street above ours. Our street is a steep hill. She told me to open my door and stick my leg out; she'd come around and look at them. As she started to come to my side of the car, I noticed she was wearing roller skates. She was having a hard time on them and, with every step or two, would stumble and start rolling backward down the hill. I asked my sister what she was thinking when she let Mom wear the skates. My sister got out of the car and told my mom to try to walk with her hands and feet, on all fours, instead of trying to skate. Before my sister could get to Mom, she lost her balance and went careening down the hill. She crashed into the house at the bottom of the hill, banging her head. Then she went into convulsions. I ran down the street screaming "Oh my God!" over and over.

Now, here's what I think it means:

Over the summer, when I wasn't working full-time, I spent a lot more time at home and got to see how fast, and how badly, my mother's health is failing. She can't even open jars or medicine bottles anymore by herself. So, I was apprehensive about going back to work full-time because she really should have someone with her most of the day. My old job was 3 to midnight, which meant I wasn't there when she went to bed, and I couldn't really get up with her in the morning and be of much help. If I did, I wouldn't be of any use to anyone for the rest of the day because I didn't get enough sleep. The new job is noon to 8, so I can be with her in the morning and at night. But, subconsciously, I'm still worried about not being there if/when she needs me. The part with my sister, I think, has a double meaning ... and it's not all bad. Number one, I think it shows that my sister wants to help, but doesn't know exactly what she should do. Even if she did, she wouldn't be able to because of her family responsibilites. Number two, I think my sister wasn't just representing herself in the dream. I think she was representing everyone else in my mom's life. I think it was meant to tell me that, although other people want to help, I know my mother, and her needs, better than anyone. Furthermore, I think it was telling me that, because I know her needs, it's OK that I took this job and I should stop worrying.

Now, the part about bruises on my legs:

Ever since I started taking the medication, I've noticed bruises all over my body ... especially on my legs. I've always bruised easily but now, all I have to do is brush up against something too hard and I get a bruise. Sometimes they just appear for no reason at all. It's been worrying me, and I've been wondering if I should ask the doctor about it. I don't want to, though, because the medication has been working so well. I'm afraid if he changes it, the new thing wouldn't work as well. So, I think what the dream was telling me is that I should tell him about the bruises and trust him if he feels he should prescribe something else. He's a great doctor and has never done me wrong before, so there's no reason not to trust him.

That's it. Thanks for reading this whole thing. :) Sorry if I bored you, but I had to get it all out.

Soon

I really don't want to turn this into the "I Love My Job" blog so, soon, I'll start writing about something else. Next week I'll be on a regular schedule, so we'll see what happens then. Of course NaNo starts next Tuesday, so all bets may be off.

But, for now, let's just say ... I love my job!

I'm Lovin' It

No, not McDonald's. I'm lovin' my job! In fact, I can't believe how much I love it. I was on the air a few times this week and, in my opinion, I'm getting better every time. I'm still not totally happy with the way I've been doing, but they tell me I'm doing well. Because I'm still training, there's no reason to tell me I'm doing well if I'm not. So, I guess I should believe that I am, and just try to get better. Well, more comfortable would probably explain it better.

I worked the board today for almost all the afternoon newscasts. We do them every half hour from 3 to 6. I didn't think I'd catch on so fast but, I pretty much had it by the second time.

Sshhh. Don't tell anyone but, I think ... I think ... I'm going to tell them on Monday that I'm ready to do the 3 o'clock live, by myself. Amazingly enough, I didn't even get nervous when I typed that. Must mean I am ready. We'll see on Monday, I guess.

Talk About Weird Dreams!

This was more of a movie than a dream. It was so vivid ... and weird. But because I'm writing this 12 hours after I woke up, and after a busy news day, I can't remember the details as well as I did this morning.

Anyway, at one point, I was running away from people, one man in particular, who I knew were going to hurt me. I made my way to this building where my dad used to work. I felt safe there for a few minutes, and even started to relax and try to figure out where I could hide. I decided I'd go down a flight of stairs to the women's restrooom. As I was halfway down the stairs, the restroom door opened and the guy who was chasing me came out. I turned and ran the other way.

Somehow, I made my way to this place that looked safe. It was kind of an indoor garden with all kinds of plants and flowers all over the place. But when I got inside I found out it was some kind of cult headquarters. The women were all dressed in something like "I Dream of Jeannie" outfits, except not as revealing. And, women and children were not allowed to urinate. At one point, a little girl "went" on the floor and the women were trying to hide it before the men saw it and punished her. But they didn't hide it in time and the men came and dragged the girl away while yelling about punishment for breaking the rules.

I got out of there fast, and somehow found myself backstage during a performance of some kind of play. I was familiar with the play, so I helped out with stage managing.

Next thing I knew, I was in church.

That's where everything gets fuzzy. I really don't remember anymore.

Who knew?

Not me, that's for sure. I never thought I would or could miss writing news. But, I'm tellin' ya, I got a little bit of a rush today after writing my first-ever radio news story. It's only been one day. I haven't been on the air yet. I don't know how to do any of the technical stuff yet. Despite all that, I love it already.

This is probably a very strange thing to be excited about, however, I was very happy to learn that we have weekly staff meetings. It's nice to know that some people in the communications business still communicate with each other for the betterment of the company.

My first day on the air isn't supposed to be until Oct. 31, but I'm hoping it will be sooner. I'm so excited about this!

OK. I'll admit there was one thing that bothered me but that's only because of one of my (many) quirks. I may have mentioned before that I have an irrational fear of being late so I'm very compulsive about making sure I'm on time or early for everything. So, it really freaked me out when the news director, with like a minute to go before he went on the air, said he had to go to his office to get something. I was thinking "But, but, but ... What if you don't get back in time? I can't do this. Can I? Maybe I can. Is this a test to see if I'll do it on my own? I could try but I'd probably screw it up. Yikes!" Of course he got back in time. I'll just have to learn that they know what they're doing. I don't yet. I need to trust them.

Odd & Ends

I'm not a NASCAR fan, although I do know many of the drivers' names and I do have a favorite. (Kevin Harvick, because he's from Bakersfield) Last night there was a race on TNT. Following that was The Shawshank Redemption, which I have never seen from beginning to end. I was looking forward to watching it, and figured I could watch 20 minutes or so of NASCAR until the movie came on, especially since, at the time I turned it on, Harvick was leading. Wouldn't you know it? They set a track record for cautions. By the time the race ended, I was asleep so I still haven't seen all of The Shawshank Redemption.

~*~

Speaking of movies, What's Up Doc? was on tv the other night. I love that movie! I don't know how many times I've seen it but I laugh every time.

~*~

I had another weird dream last night. It had something to do with me covering some kind of big important trial. The courtroom was packed. The defendant, who was not sitting at the defense table, and his family were harassing me. During a recess, the defendant started looking through my purse (I don't even carry a purse *shrug*). I got angry and started yelling at him. A baliff pulled us away from each other but I managed to kick the defendant in the head. As soon as I did it, I knew I'd be found in contempt and kicked out of the courtroom, so I told people to call my lawyer and fix the problem.

~*~

Sometime when I was in California, one of the intersections here went from a traffic light to stop signs. I still have trouble remembering that ... but only at one of the stops. It seems every day on my way to work I sit there for a couple seconds waiting for the light to change. Duh! Luckily, no one has ever been behind me during those brain farts.

Speaking of changes and driving, on Monday there will be some big changes here and, because of the ignorant drivers, I'm scared to death. You see, one street, which has been one-way for years, will now be two-way. Another one-way street will now be going east to west instead of west to east. You'd better believe I'm going to avoid that part of town as much as possible for the next couple of weeks. Thank God my new job is on the other side of town.

~*~

Speaking of the new job, my first day on the air by myself is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 31, the day before NaNo starts. This may be the first time in five years I won't be finishing. I'll give it my best shot, though.

A plus with the new job is that I don't have to worry about spelling. I used to be a champion speller but spell checking has made me lazy. But, on the radio, no one will know if I spelled something right. I just have to pronounce correctly. The word that I think will give me the most trouble is "meteorologist." I wonder if I could get away with saying "weather guy."

I'm a Sick, Sick Woman

So, I went the convenience store this morning to get a pumpkin spice cappuccino. When I left, got in my car and started pulling out of the parking lot, I noticed that if I made my usual left turn, there would be school busses in front me. Not that I was in a hurry or anything, but I didn't want the busses in front of me, so I turned right. As I was stopped at the red light, I noticed a familiar-looking SVU driving toward the intersection. Apparently, he noticed my car, too, because he did a double-take toward me as he drove by. But, as is usually the case with me, I thought it was wishful thinking, or my imagination that he would give me a second look. I've been thinking about him more than usual lately, so I thought maybe it wasn't him after all and I just wanted it to be him. So, I did a quick drive by his office to see if it was really him. Sure enough, there was GSG unlocking his office door.

Why does that make me a sick woman? Well, one of the reasons is that, obviously, I'm still obsessed with this man and I'm driving myself nuts with it. But the main reason is that I decided to post about that before I posted about this ...
I got the job!

I filled out the paperwork yesterday and I start here Monday. I'm so excited!

How Much is Too Much?

I never really know how much television is too much. All the expert studies seem to change every couple of years ... kind of like diet stuff and which foods are good for you.

So, here are the shows I currently watch: Medium, Law & Order: SVU, Lost, CSI, ER, Desperate Housewives. Also, Jeopardy 5 days a week, if I'm home, and either reruns of Roseanne or That 70s Show, if I'm awake and still feel like watching something at 11 p.m. That's 12 hours a week of actually watching television. There are other shows I have on while I'm doing other things. Let's see ... Dick VanDyke, I Love Lucy, The Real World, The Abrams Report, Countdown, The Surreal Life. That's 5 hours, which adds up to 17 hours. Even if you add the fact that I sometimes have MSNBC or The Food Network on for background noise when I'm on the computer, that's only about 20 hours. Is that too much?

People are Strange

There's this person I went to junior high and high school with. We were pretty good friends back then but, as is often the case, we lost touch with each other. Now, I see her three or four times a month and she never, ever recognizes me. Or, if she does, she doesn't say hello to me. There are two reasons I believe she doesn't recognize me. This person also dated The Best Friend for a while. He told me that a few years ago he saw her, said hello then talked to her for a few minutes before he realized she had no idea who he was. He hasn't changed that much since high school. In fact, the first time we saw each other after 15 years we recognized each other instantly. Anyway, when this woman sees my mother, she always talks to her and ... Now, this is weird ... always says "Tell Anne I said hello." Uh, you could tell me yourself, ya know?

Yesterday, I took my Mom to Mass. This woman sat a few rows ahead of us. After Mass, I went to a convenience store to get a pumpkin spice cappuccino. The woman was there. I said hello to her. She turned her head and walked away. That wasn't surprising, of course. But just 30 minutes earlier the priest's sermon was something along the lines of "All God really asks of us is to be good people and to be nice." So, even if she didn't recognize me, wouldn't you think she'd do what the priest said and acknowledge my greeting just to be nice?

Apparently, she's one of the those people who goes through the motions of being Catholic but doesn't know anything about being Christian. And, I'm not judging her, or anyone concerning how they live their lives as a Catholic/Christian. I'm just making an observation.

Another Weird Dream

I walked into a bar with a woman I used to work with, which is strange in and of itself for a number of reason, one of them being that she doesn't drink. We sat at the bar. She ordered something. Then, while trying to decide what I wanted, I noticed the bartender was standing next to the Labatt's tap, so that's what I ordered. (The Best Friend drinks Labatt's. I drink either Mich Ultra or Amstel Light.) Three times the bartender asked what I wanted. Three times I repeated Labatt's. After the third time, he said "You want a Labatt's? Here's your Labatt's" and he spit at me, getting it all over my face and hair, then walked away. I told the woman I was with that I was going to report him to the police and have him charged with assault. She laughed and told me I couldn't do that because he just spit at me. I told her I most certainly could have him charged with assault. We argued about it for a while then, with the spit still on my face and hair, I went to the police station and reported him. Then, for some reason, I called GSG to talk about something else. We ended up scheduling a barbecue for the weekend before Memorial Day next year. After I got off the phone with him, I went back to the bar and sat next to the woman I went in with. GSG got there right after I did and sat down next to me. She said something to GSG about how stupid I was in thinking that I could ask the police to charge the bartender with assault. He agreed with me, and told me I could have him charged. Then the bartender came over and asked GSG what he wanted. He ordered a Labatt's and the bartender wouldn't serve him either. Then the bartender asked if he was with me. When GSG said yes, I was really happy until the bartender laughed and walked away. I asked the woman I went in with what the story was with the bartender. She said he was the brother of the guy who sued me. I was livid and asked her how she could be that mean, to bring me in there knowing he worked there. She just shrugged and didn't answer. Then GSG said he'd see to it that the police charge the bartender.

Nostalgia or Inflation or ... Something

Does anyone remember 45s? You know. Records? Singles? If you do remember, do you remember when they used to cost a buck or less? Well, I haven't bought a single in ages. Actually, until yesterday, I never bought a single on CD. Considering it's been about 25 years (Oh ... my ... God!) since I bought a single, I shouldn't have been surprised at the cost - $3.44. At Wal-Mart. Before tax. But, considering the full-length CDs I bought were $14-something, I guess the price is in line with what it used to be in the old days.

So, what single was it that compelled me to slap down $3.44 plus tax, you ask? OK. I'll admit it. "Inside Your Heaven," the Bo Bice version. (Nothing againt Carrie Underwood but, I like Bo's version better.) It's the first CD by an American Idol contestant I ever bought. Well, yeah. I also bought Kelly Clarkson's CD yesterday but I picked up "Inside Your Heaven" first. Bice comes before Clarkson alphabetically. That's why I picked it up first. I went in to by Kelly's CD and a Melissa Etheridge CD, which I forgot. For some reason, I bought a Rod Stewart greatest hits CD and forgot all about Melissa. Sorry 'bout that, Melissa. You and Sheryl are next, though.

Back to "Inside Your Heaven." Sometimes, when I'm in a mood, it makes me cry. Any song that makes me cry, I need to have.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

If you can possibly avoid having a job interview on a Friday, do it. Why? Obviously, you have to wait until at least Monday to find out if you got the job. Eek!

Anyway, as my regular readers know, the Red Cross job is just temporary and ends in 3 weeks. Because I tend to procrastinate, I haven't really been looking for anything else. But, as luck would have it, "anything" came looking for me. I got an e-mail yesterday asking if I would be interested. I said "YES!!!" He asked if I could come in for an interview this morning, which I did. I'm not a good judge of these things but, I think it went fairly well. I hope it did.

I'm not going to jinx this by actually posting about what the job is. Besides, if I don't get it, anyone who reads this and knows me in person might think I'm a loser for not getting it. Anyway, I've wanted this job (or something similar) ever since I was a little kid. But, as my regular readers also know, I've always been painfully shy with major self-esteem issues. When I was about 12 years old, I made the mistake of actually telling people I wanted this job. The people who didn't laugh at me told me I'd never be able to do it.

I'll show them! I hope.

I Broke a Rule

One of the first rules of cooking and baking is to make sure you have all the ingredients you'll need before you start. Last night I made candy corn fudge. (It looks like candy corn. You don't use candy corn to make it.) I got through steps one through six just fine. Step seven, however, called for yellow and red food coloring. I was almost out of yellow, so I had to use it sparingly. Unforunately, instead of bright orange and bright yellow, my finished product was kind of a pumpkiny color along with a kind of lemon chiffon color.

It tasted good, though.

But, I have learned my lesson. Next time, I'll make sure I have all the ingredients before I start.

Tales of the Traffic-Law Challenged Part 10

"Stop here on red" with an arrow pointing to a big white stripe on the road. Self-explanatory? You would think so, wouldn't you?

I wonder if the people who don't "stop here on red" and then have to back up when a tractor trailer can't make its turn are the same people who stop on the tracks at railroad crossings. I also wonder where they're going in such a hurry that they think getting a two-foot head start at the intersection is going to get them to their destination faster.

A Little Late

Yesterday I woke up at about 1 a.m. I knew I had a dream but, I couldn't remember exactly what it was. All I remembered was that it had something to do with food poisoning. I told myself I'd have to be careful of what I ate for the next few days. Then, I went back to sleep. I woke up a couple of hours later with one of the worst stomach aches I've ever had. And I had abdominal craps worse than I had right after my surgery before everything started working right again. It was awful! I couldn't tell which end stuff was going to come out. It ended up being both. So, a couple of hours after that, when I started feeling better, I said "If I'm going to have psychic dreams about getting sick from eating something, would it be possible to have the dream before I eat the sandwich?"

Aaand ... Strike!

It's over. In a way, I'm glad but, I'm sure I'm going to go through some kind of withdrawal. If nothing else, I'll go through caffeine withdrawal because I drank a lot of it during rehearsals and the show. Anyway ...

Saturday's show: Perfect. All the mics worked. We (SFX, lights and actors) hit all our cues. No one flubbed any lines. The audience was good. Also, the president of the theater company (who was also in the show) told me that his daughter was at Friday's performance and I was her favorite part of the show. (I think she's 10, or around there somewhere.) I said "Wow! I have a fan!" Then, during the "meet and greet" the audience thing after the show, a woman came up to me, introduced herself, told me how good it was, then went on to tell me she read and loved "Contempt of Court" and just started reading "Actual Malice" and loves that so far as well. Cool!

Sunday's show: Not quite perfect but still good.

Sunday's cast/crew photo: Funny. There's a part right in the beginning of the show where the theme from "The Adams Family" is played. Of course we all lip sync it and do the snaps. During the cast/crew photo session, the photographer was having a little trouble with her flash so, while we waited, we sang the Adams Family song. I think the photographer thought we were nuts. Well, we are. But in a good way.

Cast party: The best part of the whole thing. I don't know if all the directors do this because this is only my second show and the same person has directed both of them, but she gives little gifts to the entire cast and crew. We all got little pewter (I think) globes. (War of the "Worlds." Get it?) We also got wooden stars with "BLT 2005" on one side and "WoW" on the other. Then, after every show, the entire cast and crew receives "awards" ... with certificates. I got the "Playtex Gloves Award" for "diving head first into SFX, especially the water ones ..." The SFX crew gave the producer a box of Cheer laundry detergent (signed of course) for making us coordinate our laundry days so our matching T-shirts would always match and one wouldn't be more faded than the other. (Actually, she didn't want us to do laundry at all but we couldn't not wash our shirts. It was hot on stage, if you know what I mean.) One of the coolest things we all got was a big surprise to all of us, including the director and producer. The tech director/writer said he was going to edit the best parts of the dress rehearsral and the three shows together so the show that's re-broadcast on the radio would be a "best of" type of thing. So, we all expected the finished product would be ready for us to buy in a couple of weeks. But he gave us all a copy of it at the party so, not only do we not have to pay for it, we don't have to wait 'til Oct. 29 to hear it. And, by the way, it sounds awesome! I'm very proud of it.

Well, I guess I'm going to go start working on my WoW scrapbook. Maybe that will help ease the withdrawal symptoms.

Opening Night

It went really well! There was one problem, though. The SFX crew has six microphones. One of them died. The tech director fixed it and everything was fine after that but there were a couple of effects that the audience didn't hear. Oh well. I told the tech director that's our glitch for the the three-day run. As I'm typing this, however, I remembered the movie "Apollo 13." Very early on in the mission, a hydrogen tank bursts and Jim Lovell says "That's our glitch for this mission." Man, I hope I'm not as wrong as he was!

Anyway, we hit all our cues. I was suprised that I did, considering I was shaking so much. ;) But after I got past the part where I have to walk to the front of the stage and do an effect during the death scene of one of the actors, I was fine. Actually, somehow I was able to tune out the audience and concentrate hitting my cues. The actors did really well, too. Some of them had their best performances ever.

After the show, we all go out to the lobby for a "meet and greet" with the audience. (Refreshements are involved as well.) People I didn't even know were coming up to me and telling me how much they enjoyed it. It was so cool!

I didn't get a chance to blog about this before but I didn't realize I'd have to wear make-up. Yuck! The only make-up I wear in everyday life is a little mascara and, sometimes, lipstick. Because this is supposed to be a radio show, the director didn't want us to look really made up, so she told the women to wear their street make-up but kick it up a notch. If that didn't work, we could use stage make-up. So, for rehearsal on Wednesday, I figured I should kick it up two notches since I don't usually wear make-up. I thought I looked like a hooker but, under the lights, I looked OK.

One more thing. One of the grocery stores in town always has a sandwich board set up with a poster from the show and rehearsal photos. After Wednesday's rehearsal, I went to the store and I was standing in the check-out line. I saw both cashiers near the door chatting. They turned to look at me a couple of times but didn't come to wait on me. After three or four minutes, they both came over. They said they were looking at my pictures on the sandwich board. Pictures. With an "s." Two of them. Cool. They asked me if I had a big part. I said, although it's not a speaking part, yes, it's big.

OK. This really is the last thing. My picture was in the paper (not the one I used to work for) on Thursday with a great article about the show. Yesterday, the local paper ran a story and the director was quoted as saying "The sound effects crew is almost the star of the show." So, I figured if anyone asks me why I wanted to do sound effects instead of having a speaking part for my first time on stage, I'll say "If I wasn't going to be the star, why bother?" ;)