Refreshing Perspectives Work

Today's workday started with a group discussion about how good we have it here in the U.S. compared to workplace standards 100 years ago & communist countries now. One person in the group having left family in communist Vietnam. Interesting, refreshing and highly unusual start to the morning. :) Normally the say starts with people whining about have to actually DO work. Paperwork/computer work, in an air conditioned office, with established break times and paid vacation, and Wii consoles in the breakroom, and ergonomic specialists to make sure you've got the right equipment. It was nice to be reminded that some people here are truly thankful, grateful and appreciative of the jobs that we have.

'A Broad Way'

Soooooo I stumbled upon this documentary. They sent people out to film each block of Broadway simultaneously for one hour on June 6, 2006. It's called "A Broad Way" Their goal was to document the spirit and diversity of New York City. I think they accomplished that goal perfectly.

This is my New York City.

This is what I'm referring to when I tell people that Manhattan is where my heart is.

Trailer on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ABroadwayMovie

Watch the full length film on Hulu:

http://tinyurl.com/BwayHulu

Watch the full length film on Zimbio:

http://tinyurl.com/BwayZim

IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0902958/combined

I don't know how long the full length features will be available online.

Posty Note: Theatre #1

We (Ghostlight Theatre Club) got a new semi-permanent space or mostly our own last May. That new location and permanency also opened up new opportunities and created new responsibilities. I love all of it, even if it does mean that I rarely get a day off anymore. :)

Scary Dream...

Okay, first of all, let me say that I don't normally have nightmares. I can't actually recall ever having a nightmare or even a really bad dream where I wasn't sure I'd eventually be safe within the dream. Until last night.

It was still an odd dream, but there were of course some major points that were similar to things in my waking life.

I was at my work building, but there were classes there too and the structure was the same, but there were more open spaces and the cubicles weren't the same in placement or design. Sooooooo, at work, and we get information that someone is coming to the building to kill everyone, you know with the guns and everything like at the post office on the news when I was a kid and so many other places and and times since then. The difference of course that there was warning in this dream case. Soooo in the dream we were all finding hiding places and we knew his truck and saw it pull up. I didn't find a place that made me feel secure, but moved around keeping an eye on him as he was approaching the building. He, by the way, looked like another well known domestic terrorist who hit close to home. I found several problems with each hiding place option never finding the perfect one. This one actually scared me enough that I woke up at 3:30 in the morning. I was shaken enough that I seriously contemplated calling in sick to work. I played on the computer and got my mind on other things and got back to sleep. I did go into work today, and so far so good. :) The funny thing is that when I got back to sleep in my next dream there was someone trying to get in the door of a hotel room where I was staying, and the door wouldn't lock, but the werewolf like monster was not nearly as scary as the monster in my first dream. Hehe. I don't think it was the subject matter of the filming from the night before, but maybe it was the bologna sandwich with BBQ chips that caused the weird dreams. :D

Spelling musings...

Just a random thought.

Shouldn't the word conceited actually be spelled concieted? I mean, think about it. It's conceited so the 'i' should come first, and being conceited why should rules apply to it? It seems odd that it should be one of the few words that actually conforms to 'the rules.' I mean 'weird' gets it, it does it's own thing. It knows that it's weird and doesn't hide from it.

Nostalgia

They bought us pizza and salad for lunch today, and a birthday cake for the August and September birthdays. The birthday cake had those pastel plastic balloons on it. It reminded me of my third and my brother's first birthday. Our cake had those little balloons on it too. It made me smile. :)

Being There

Last night I went to the opening night performance of a show. I made time and went to see the show because a friend of mine had a large role. I haven't been there for her as much as I should have been and haven't been able to see any of her shows in over a year. I'm beyond happy that I went. We had a chance to talk, and I got to catch up on her life and her kids, and she told me about the problems they had during tech week. It still amazes me that people actually miss me. Miss me just being there, not miss me because of something that I do for them, but sincerely just having me around. I could see that last night, in the moment and made a mental note of it. I didn't realize how much I had missed her until last night. Seeing how well she's doing and how happy she is was soothing, and I hadn't realized that I need that too. So if nothing else had happened last night, that alone was worth so very much.

In addition to seeing that particular friend, I also ran into several people I haven't seen in a while. Several people were friends and former castmates from the theatre, a few were friends or classmates from highschool and college that I've seen around the theatre scene. One friend in particular I had classes with my freshman and sophmore years of highschool and hadn't seen since a chance meeting at a touring performance of "Evita" that we both happened to attend a couple of years later. He was crewing the show last night and we got to talk and catch up at the Opening Night Party. It's a little bit fun and a little bit odd when we realized that it had been over 15 years since we'd seen each other.

The show itself was good and I got to see actors I hadn't seen before which is always good, and new performances from actors I have which is even better. I always learn something from every show, whether it's an observation made in the script, or a choice made in acting, or a set, costume, lighting or sound design choice. Whether it's a lesson of what to do or not to do, I always learn something. I learned several things from the show last night, but the most important lesson I learned was at the party.