She's back!

Yes, I am back from the world's longest vacation, which involved marrying my father! OK, officiating at my father's wedding. Doesn't have quite the catchy ring as the first sentence, though.

I'm still unpacking and processing, but I do want to let y'all know that Lindsay Lohan's Birkin is a FINALIST in the National 10-Minute Play Contest. So that's pretty rad.

I Rhythmballed at UMass-Amherst yesterday -- the baby liked it best when I dropped the ball, so he could go chase it. Quite the little retriever, he is!

Rhythmball is for everyone

I've been taking some modern dance classes -- not because I want to be the next Martha Graham, but rather because I want to add an additional level of physicality to my Rhythmball practice.

In addition, I've received DVD media of Rhythmball being played by wheelchair users!

Some folks look at our videos and think, "I'm too much of klutz to do that stuff!" Well, I'm here to tell you, if I can do it, you can do it. Pretty much all you need to be able to do is swing your arm.

Want a free wheelchair-Rhythmball DVD? Email me!.

The Truth about May 15 Gas Out

I've been in the e-mail game for a while now, and largely stay away from forwarded e-mails; most of my friends know not to send them to me. I get most of my e-mail from aggregate services. But when my father and Katie, two individuals as far as each other could be and still be human, both sent me the same

DON'T PUMP GAS ON MAY 15TH

e-mail within 24 hours of each other I realized it would be time to bring the thing to rest soon.

Carolyn sent it to me next, but with "The question ---- Does a Gas out really do anything?" I expediently conjured up snopes.com and sent its "MAY 15th GAS OUT: false" entry to her. She sent it to everyone on her list, giving me credit while also noting how speedily I'd managed it.

The moment before I logged in to BlogHarbor, I received a fourth version from my church in California.

People, please: If it really makes you feel better, remove your faded-to-white "Support our Troops" yellow-ribbon magnets and instead adorn your automobile with a car cover as many days a week as you can.

Another completed first draft

I have all these first drafts and fewer second drafts, but for now I can live with that. Count of Three (formerly Anna And...) is complete and DH has read it and his biggest critique of it is that he "wants more" of it. For those of you who don't write plays, any time someone reads a first draft of your play and invokes Beckett and Sartre and the term "deeply philosophical," well, that's a good thing. I couldn't be happier. And now it's time for "Lost," which is just the icing on the cake. Huzzah!

Quiet around here

Not much to say so I haven't been posting -- I'd hate to waste your valuable time. There was a recent study that Tai Chi helps seniors boost immunity to shingles, so I've been alerting reporters to the Rhythmball aspect of Tai Chi. Oh, and I'm in a play tonight -- an unstaged reading -- and the playwright has had me in mind for the lead ever since he started writing it, and my character is often referred to as "gorgeous," which is quite flattering to me, especially after my chili-dog-and-chocolate-cupcake diet this past weekend.

Good news is, the rain is mostly gone and it's supposed to hit seventy degrees this weekend. Now, if the baby would just stop whining, life would be perfect and I could take a nap or something.

I look cute!

For the first time in a long time since I was pregnant, I look cute again. It's just happened within the past couple of weeks. And hooray, tonight I actually noticed that I looked cute in my underwear. Monstro agreed. Happy Saturday night! Shock the monkey, indeed.

Kathy Sierra

I'm not sure what to think when I read a story online in the SF Chronicle about the Kathy Sierra death threats -- "...a world that many women in particular see as still dominated by men and where personal attacks often are defended on grounds of free speech" -- and at the bottom of the article is a Google ad for 99 Most Desirable Women.

The Bubblewrap is Gone

The bubblewrap is gone. So are the bags and boxes of packing pellets. The tubes of Crazy Glue, the rolls of masking tape, vanished. Every clean garbage bag in the house? Ditto.

Monstro and Slash and the cargo van we rented are off to ICON. They successfully crossed the Long Island Sound via the Port Jefferson / Bridgeport ferry, and were looking for "a big sports building" at the SUNY where the con is being held when I called him on our cell phone.

Oh, and who wants to help me put together our new bed before hubby gets home?

ICON, Monstro, new bed

And yet MORE writing

There's been this one-act I've been eleven pages into since 2004. Today I wrote 100% more. I think the first draft is nearly done.

The cool thing is, this one-act can be the prequel to another one-act play I've had some success with. And then I've got a two-act play, with an intermission act.

Whoo!

In other news, the baby is screaming, all excited about Springing Forward, I guess.

Happy Daylight Savings!

Best Website Ever

... and addictive, to boot! Check it out! (G-rated and work-friendly, I promise)

Yup, more writing that isn't a musical

I blame Anne for giving me a free idea, which dovetailed beautifully with an idea I had three years ago, topped off with another brand-new idea from moi. Basically, what I'm saying is, I'm writing a new play. I'm five pages into it. So far, it's not wretched. More info as I have it. In the meanwhile, I'm signed up for the first Playwright's Lab in April and looks like I'll be bringing this with me.

And, between the previously blogged stomach flu and Rhythmball (one of which was considerably more enjoyable than the other), I have NEVER looked hotter in my new jeans. Whoot!

And Yet Skinnier

This week's poundage droppage wasn't inspired by Rhythmball so much as the gastrointestinal virus that Baby picked up, which 12 hours into his recovery Monstro and I inherited; yesterday was nothing but tag-team baby care and hot-racking the bed (a military term I learned from my old buddy Jim, who was in the Marines).

Monstro was setting the alarm last night. "Weird."

"What's weird?"

"The alarm is set for 8:12, and right now, it's 8:12."

It didn't at the time occur to me that 51 years ago, we'd have to wait another minute.

Hey "Out of Beta" Blogger.com

If you're so "out of beta," why am I still seeing data transmitting from beta.blogger.com? Huh?

Skinnier all the time!

Well, I'll admit that when we all had sinus infections after winter break my Rhythmball practice went by the wayside. But I'm back at it, plus my Lenten promise is to drink two liters of water daily, and woo hoo! Yesterday, I wore a size 16 suit that hasn't fit since before pregnancy.

Had a meeting with another client today, someone who hasn't seen me in a while, and he asked me, "How's Rhythmball?"

I threw my hands up over my head and said, "It's working!"

His response? "I can tell."

I am noticing more muscles in my arms -- long, lean ones -- and my waist is becoming more whittled. It's great motivation to keep going. So buy one already! And then get a paddle and ball for a friend, so you can keep each other honest. :)

rhythmball, skinny, milf

Happy Valentine's Day!

I spent it snowed-in with Monstro and baby... not so terrible, that. But what do you get for the man who already got everything for his birthday the week before? Well, a knob for his desk drawer, for starters. And then, I learned one of his favorite songs on the guitar, recorded myself singing and playing it via my PowerBook, and burned it to a CD. Truly amazing. I rock. Happy V-Day!

Happy Birthday Monstro!

My darling husband Monstro has a birthday today. Hope it's happy, sweetheart!

Totally Cool

First off, at playwright's lab, the facilitator asked me if I'd bring in anything in a few weeks, and Sarah (fun and TALENTED) said, "How about another funny little thing? Or your Mormons again?" My saga of exchange students in an SLC laundromat was read way back in October.

Two: because the stage manager of a local theater that considered my Mormon laundromat play for an unstaged reading was visiting Lab for the first time, and I got to ask him for comments (another Lab member sent me e-mail saying if my play'd been accepted, I'd know by now), and he took a breath, screwed up his face, and said, "The thing I couldn't get my head around... was the set. I couldn't imagine all those laundry machines."

The set? That's it?? I already knew that part was problematic and told him so. "This was an early work, and ever since I've written for primarily black-box settings. So, what should I do about this one?"

"Add a director's or producer's note of, 'it's a laundromat.'"

He also didn't understand why it had to take place in a laundromat and I gave him my on-the-spot rationalizations of "I needed an unlikely setting within an unlikely city with two unlikely teenagers; I needed a place where the characters would enter metaphorically dirty and come out clean."

I didn't feel the need to beat him over the head with the overarching baptismal symbolism.

Anyway, once lab was *finally* over I talked to him again and made him laugh about how self-involved I was and then said, "aren't we all," and I asked him to reconsider my Mormon laundromat based upon his suggestions. And I think he might have nodded.

So we'll see about that one.

Another aspect might be that they're looking for three-acts, "a full night of theater," and I haven't written that long yet. I've thought about adding a bonus post-laundromat dinner-party act for the same characters plus the parents. Maybe. (Then I could split it in to a Pilot and First Episode and sell 'em to HBO or that cable channel that runs the new DeGrassi series. Hmmmm...)

I'm thinking more about my "I could only write it as a screenplay" idea and think I have it worked out for the stage, at least for the set (I've learned my lesson! I've learned it!). And three acts would be good, because I see this as a particularly beginning-middle-end piece that'll need some room to breathe.

*And*, also Totally Cool (see title), last night for Anne's birthday I wrote a poem, something I've not done for years, which is funny because Anne and I met at Carolyn Kizer's graduate *poetry* workshop -- Anne was a lock for it; I didn't make the cut. I think I culled all the extra words out of this one. Happy birthday Anne!

**AND***, coolest of all cool, this week we received Rhythmball inquiries from Canada, Prague, and Australia!!! Let's go global, people! :)

Poem: 1/26/2007

Our coldest night of
three Massachusetts Januaries:
We eat b-b-q chuck and corn on the cob
till the butter grows muddy.

Rhythmball for Rehab

My friend Katherine just had major surgery on her leg and is in a cast the size of Italy. She asked if I thought Rhythmball might be beneficial to her recovery, and my answer is a resounding "yes!" Katherine's a real go-getter, hike till dark then hike some more sort of gal, and I can't imagine her being still. The good news is, while she's still in her cast, she can play Rhythmball while seated. I'd recommend she buy a few extra balls to ease the retrieval process, though. Rhythmball is a great aerobic exercise for people confined to chairs, because it gets your arms moving. Super for circulation -- do you ever see fat orchestra conductors? Of course not! Because flapping your arms is super exercise! But Rhythmball is more fun, plus it has the added "will I keep it on the racket" surprise factor.

So Katherine, yes! Please try Rhythmball and let us know how it helps your recovery!

And scratch Miss Gigi, your darling poodle, who I'm certain is VERY happy to have her mother stuck in one place for large periods of time.

Our Two Cats are Hopeless

We have a mouse. Two cats, and a MOUSE. In the same kitchen where they eat their food. 'nuff said.

P.S. Cats pictured do not belong to us

black cats, unhelpful