A goal not written is only a wish: a retrospective on 2011

Well, I had a lot of goals this year, and although my intentions were good I wasn't entirely successful. That being said, I still feel pretty good about myself. I grew a lot this year, but I think most of my growth came from unplanned and unexpected sources.

Anyway, for completion's sake, here's a run-down of my successes and less-than-successes:
    1. (a) Finish the hookups to and (b) buy a washer and dryer for my condo.
        This was only about 10% completed. Dad rebuilt the designated closet to be big enough for a washer/dryer unit, and I did a lot of research and even picked one out. I even talked with a plumber and electrician to get estimates for the job. However, the closet is still a little small to fit the dryer vent tube and I'm reassessing my options. I'll probably have the plumber come by again to get his educated opinion. I'm closer than I've ever been ! 2012 will be the year I finally get it done, one way or the other!
    2. A stamp in my passport.
        Failed. But my trips to New York City and the Shakespeare Festival (twice!) were plenty awesome!
    3. Talk to at least one new guy at church each week.
        Maybe 50%. I talked with a lot of guys I already know, so it's not like I just sat in a corner and waited for people to come to me. Does it count if I tried to talk to boys and they didn't respond? Yes? Okay, then more like 70%.
    4. Take a tap class and a Zumba class; work out at least twice a week.
        Failed tap, but did try Zumba which I will continue to do as much as my rehearsal schedule will allow. The goal to work out twice a week was an epic failure, partly because I'm lazy, and partly because when I did make the effort and start to get into a routine... I'd get sick. I was sick a LOT this year. My hopes for 2012 are much higher. Try, try again until it becomes a habit, right?
    5. Attend a session at an LDS Temple at least once a month EVERY month.
        75%. Better than 2010, so I call that a win. 2012 will be perfect attendance -- YES!!
    6. Read in the Book of Mormon every day.
        85%-ish. Not bad. I'll continue this through 2012 as well.
    7. Read more than one non-fiction book this year.
        I read three!  

• How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk 
• Men are From Mars, Women Are From Venus
• He's Just Not That Into You. 

        I also started a fourth which I'd like to finish this month (keep an eye on my Goodreads bookshelf on the left sidebar of my blog). This is a big deal. I love to read fiction and awesome characters because it helps me relax, so reading non-fiction is quite the effort!
    8. Improve my human-canine relations by playing with dogs at least once every other month.
        Not quite every other month, but I spent most of my Sunday evenings in the summer with a group of folks and lovely young dog Zoey. Turns out, I'm not a long-term dog person. At least I'm not allergic :-) But she's an awfully sweet dog, and I love her in small doses!
    9. Be less "nice" professionally.
        For the most part, I think I was good at this this year. 75% I spoke up for myself more and I plan to continue to do so! I'm learning a lot.
    10. Start fleshing out some of my creative writing ideas and continue blogging.
         The creative writing fell by the wayside. I'm just not into it right now. However, I'm proud of my blogging efforts and my journalling.

I updated the goals on the left sidebar for 2012. I have a few more, but they're a little personal so I'm leaving them in my journal.

If you're interested in some ideas, I recommend this article. It gave me a lot to think about.

Okay, 2012, let's get this party started!

An Earnest change of plans

All plays have their share of craziness and struggles, and Earnest is already no exception. The director called me late last week to inform me that due to scheduling problems and politics, the CPT powers that be decided to postpone the play until March 30 to April 28. This way we won't overlap too much with the mainstage shows going on, so we'll have the backstage and technical support we'll need.

The extended schedule isn't really a huge problem for me. This means instead of a two-month commitment, it's four months. I won't get to audition for two other plays I was kind of excited about, but I am MUCH more excited about Earnest anyway. Sadly, I know of at least one cast member who has already had to drop out, and a few others who are on the fence. Noooo! How I hope no one else has to drop! We've only had one rehearsal so far, but I'm already so fond of everyone and so hopeful that this could be a tremendous production! It will be a tremendous production.

Since we don't perform until end of March, the cast read-through isn't until the end of January. I struggle with patience and was initially a bit depressed that we weren't starting rehearsals right away (I'm excited!! Let's do this!!).  Then again, much as I want to get started, I'm relieved to have a bit more time off. Time to play before I throw myself whole-heartedly into this fun show and role for three months!

I guess I shouldn't be surprised since this is the first of the black box season and they're still working out the logistical kinks, but it's still frustrating. My fingers are crossed this is the biggest problem we face.

Put the play on your schedule, and tell your friends!!

Christmas Weekend Highlights

It's a sad but true fact that I have bad luck with Christmas in the past. Somehow I manage to ruin it, or someone else ruins it for me (no, I shall not share specifics). But aside from a hideous 24-hour flu that ripped through my little family within 3 days I had a marvelous holiday this year!! It was one of my favorite holiday weekends, yet, and I am so grateful to everyone I got to share it with. I am so very, very blessed!

Highlights

• Half workday Friday (during which I finished everything I wanted to!), then a session at the Salt Lake Temple
• Touring the lights at the temple
• Sleeping in Christmas Eve morning, then cleaning my condo (I do love a clean house!)
• Dinner at the Cravens

• Recounting what each person is most thankful for
• Dinner companions Dad and Spencer 
• Gram getting the almond in the chowder
• Participating in the live Nativity for the first time in years (I make a terrific shepherd), the little cousins playing the wise men, Lindsey as the Angel/Star, Bryce and Kim as Joseph and Mary, and baby James as the baby Jesus (a real baby makes such a difference)
• Talent show*: singing and dancing nieces, Aaron's Elvis impression, ducking nunchucks, whacking "Jingle Bells", "Little Brothers", my Emma monologue, Spencer's original song, little cousins' piano solos, "Mr. Nobody", and ringing bells. *I made a very short video of the show, but Youtube is taking forever to load and I'm just not that patient anymore. Oh, well.
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Claymation Christmas Celebration (which, miraculously, my grandmother had never seen!)
• Sleeping at my own house while the grandkids slept over at my mom's.
• Church with my mom and Aaron; my dad singing in the choir

• Distracting the little girls while Mom made breakfast; who knew making circles in the carpet with pot lids could be so darn entertaining?
• Blueberry cream cheese french toast -- YUM!!!
• Mom calling our very late breakfast "elevensies"
• Mom: "What does it mean when a present is wrapped and under the tree but says it's from Santa?" G-unit: "It usually means the present is so dumb [i.e. socks, undershirts] that the giver doesn't want to take credit for it."
• G-unit passing out presents haphazardly
• Peter and Jordyn skyping in from Philly to watch

• Eating more than my share of candy (chocolate oranges, raspberry sticks, and beef jerky-- oh my!)
• My nieces discovering beef jerky and afterwards constantly asking for "more chicken"... including the stick I was holding in my hand (I finally got to eat the entirety of the third piece :P)
• Once they opened the doll house, the girls were no longer interested in opening presents; G-unit was only too happy to take over for them :-D
• Unckie Aaron taking over the dollhouse assembly because Adam was too sick to do it
• I was completely spoiled and cannot be thankful enough
• My gifts seemed to be a hit!
• Breezy sleeping in my lap while I watched A Christmas Story (her first words when she jolted awake were "Where's my chicken?!")
• Helping Mom make dinner
• Ham, veggie casserole, funeral potatoes, Pillsbury crescent rolls, english trifle
• By that time, most of the adults were sick, so there weren't many eaters. Thankfully, they were all much better the next day.
• Helping my Mom with the dishes

• Visiting with Kate and Brandon
• losing splendidly to all at MarioKart
• catching up with Laren
• chatting about anything and everything
• Spending Monday watching The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, and Oliver and Company with beloved gal pals Liz, Mandie, and Carrie. (We didn't do much watching -- much more fun to talk with each other!)
• Reading an entire issue of Entertainment Weekly from cover to cover!
• My mom's sugar cookies are the BEST IN THE WORLD!!!
• Quality time with the novel Pride and Prejudice, before falling asleep early

Sure, Tuesday morning I awoke at 3 a.m. to the unfortunate discovery that it was my turn to suffer the flu everyone else in the family had already survived, but at least it was only a one-day illness. It would have been nice to not be the same day I planned to go sledding with the brothers and nephew, but I can't have everything, and I HAD had an awful lot of wonderfulness up to that point. I guess there are worse things than spending all day in bed and forcing water into my system as much as possible. Plus, it gave me a nice excuse to stay in bed again and watch episodes of Enterprise all day yesterday. Maybe today I'll feel up to reorganizing my bookshelves, running to the bank, and seeing Mission Impossible 4.

Oh, and I'm not ashamed to admit I'll probably keep my decorations up through at least half of January. I already miss the music on the radio. Some people think Christmas lasts too long, but I don't think the season lasts nearly long enough!

I hope you all had a happy Christmas, too!

If my life were a Christmas movie...

I took a quiz called If your life were a Christmas movie, it would be... on the AMC website, and was pretty surprised at the result:

Why was I surprised? Because I LOATHED this movie when I saw it! Last year, I wrote a little bit about why I hated it so much. Perhaps I was too busy being distracted by all the sadness and frustration in the film to notice the things George's life and my life might have in common (not going the way we expected it to, for one). After all, it takes place over about 20 years, and it's hard to show a true balance between happy and sad, especially when the main character doesn't seem to notice the happy stuff until the end. I hope I'm more positive and thankful than he. Then again, it's been a good ten years since I've actually seen this movie, and I'm a more positive, empowered person than I was that year of college. Maybe I'd like it more now... if I can bring myself to give it another shot...

Maybe next year.

In the meantime, here's a clip from one of my favorite Christmas movies; I watched it last night and couldn't help but sing along!

Happy Friday! Only two more sleeps 'til Christmas!

P.S. Did you take the quiz? Which movie did you get?

"Pulling a Monica"

There's an episode of Friends where Monica's mom hires her to cater a brunch. Monica is wearing fake nails, and during the course of putting together the meal, one of the nails is lost in one of the mini-quiches. Obviously the quiches are ruined. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Monica as messed up in such a big way, and Monica's mom calls the event "pulling a Monica." According to the Urban Dictionary, "to pull a Monica" means "any and all screwups by an individual." After this is established, they use the phrase several more times throughout the series, and I've heard it other places, too.

My family has adopted a few of the same types of names-as-verbs situations, based on things typical of us.


"Pulling an Adam"

Definition: A teenager who grows a foot and loses his baby-fat practically overnight.

Check out the tall, handsome fellow on the right!

Backstory: A guy in our ward growing up came home from his two-year mission and didn't even recognize Adam because he had changed so much. My youngest brother, David, did the same to me. When I left, he was shorter than I. When I came home, he was over six foot -- it definitely took some getting used to!


To "Lindsey" something

Definition: To pick up an item in a store, then in the course of shopping decide not to buy it and put it down someplace random (not in the item's original display area).

Retail by Norm Feuti

Backstory: Adam coined the phrase and to Lindsey's dismay, it has stuck. Let's be honest: don't we all do this from time-to-time?


"Pulling a Megan"

Definition: To make up an answer to a question you don't know, and discover later that you were correct.

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Backstory: Okay, so this isn't actually something my family says, but I'm hoping it will catch on ;-) The other day a friend was trying to explain the telegraph to her son, and faltered when she realized she didn't know how the Titanic could telegraph without a wire. I said they probably used radio waves. She didn't think that sounded right, so she looked it up. Sure enough, the wireless telegraph used radio waves. Lucky, guess! It seemed logical when I said it, but I could have just as easily been wrong.


Does your family have these kinds of "inside" family phrases? If so, I'd love to hear them!

Grinchy rants (a.k.a "Bah! Humbug!")

I'm not a fan of Neil Diamond anyway (except "Coming to America" -- that song gets me every time), and it irritates me that he has a Christmas album. I feel like popular Jewish entertainers shouldn't record Christmas songs. They know that their fans will snap up those albums just because their names are on them. It just seems like a shameless cash-grab to me. SHAME ON YOU!!!

Dear neighbors: Thanks so much for varnishing/stinky painting/chemical bombing your apartment Friday afternoon. Much as I enjoyed throwing open my windows and running the fan all night, I'd really appreciate if you didn't do it again. I don't need a chemical-fume-induced headache for the holidays. Especially not when it's December and 15 degrees outside and we're experiencing an inversion that makes you resistant to letting me leave the building door open to air out the hallway. *Note: The smell still lingers. Sigh.

Twice in 24 hours I was almost run off the road. Is it really THAT difficult to put on your blinker 3 seconds before moving into another lane? Furthermore, is it THAT difficult to check if anyone else is already in the lane? It drives me crazy when people jump in front of me only to drive more slowly than I am! You really couldn't wait a few more seconds for me to pass you?

Dear lady-who-is-holding-my-last-gift-hostage: Puh-leeeeeeeeeeeeease call me back! Even if you can't get it to me in time. If it's not going to work out, I need to know so I can make other plans!!

I think Zooey Deschanel is adorable, and I enjoy that her character in New Girl is as awkward and ridiculous as I am, and I love her taste in clothes... but every time I see her in a mini-dress or short-shorts I think, "Oh, Zooey... you poor thing. You look so bad!" She doesn't quite have the legs to pull them off. On the flip side, it's awesome that she flaunts her flaws (is that the only one?) -- I'm not that confident! Maybe I'm just jealous of her cuteness. After all, every single other thing about her is practically perfect!!

Dear guy who thoughtlessly hurt my friend, causing her to be completely depressed for the better part of this week: Fix it, NOW! For a moment, try to put yourself in HER shoes and do something that will be meaningful to and mindful of her -- PLEASE! She's been loyal to you and deserves a little kindness -- just because she has forgiven you for every transgression up to now doesn't mean she will be able to forever. The human heart can only take so much :-(

I'm usually bugged when people complain about Utah weather, but even I must agree that this inversion has gone on too long. I can no longer pretend it's just clouds! I really, really, really hope we have a nice, big snowstorm soon, and that it somehow manages not to interfere with anyone's travel plans. Not only do we need the clean air, but it would be sooo nice to have snow for Christmas :-D

I want my long, relaxing, holiday vacation to start nooooooooooooooww! Sorry, Work. I'll do what I can, but my heart just isn't in it. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas as I just want to celebrate!!!

End of rant.

After all, who can feel Grinchy when their brother might dress like this on Christmas day?

Buddy: Sounds like somebody needs to sing a Christmas Carol.

Jovie: No way.

Buddy: The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear.

Jovie: Thanks, but I don't sing.

Buddy: Oh, well, it's just like talking, except longer and louder, and you move your voice up and down.

Jovie: I can sing, I just choose not to sing. Especially in front of other people.

Buddy: If you can sing alone, you sing in front of other people. There's no difference.

Jovie: Actually, there's a BIG difference.

Buddy: No there's not. Wait...

[Starts singing loud and off-key]

Buddy: I'm singing/I'm in a store/and I'm siiiiiingiiiiing!/I'm in a store/and I'm siiiiiingiiiiing!

Gimbel's Manager: HEY! There's no singin' in the North Pole!

Buddy: Yes there is!

Gimbel's Manager: No there's not!

Buddy: We sing all the time!

Gimbel's Manager: No you don't!

Buddy: Especially when we build toys!

[Back to Jovie]

Buddy: See?

Excuse me while I go put on some Christmas carols!

Playing in Earnest!

In my post yesterday, you may have noticed that at the top of my list of dream roles is Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest. Ever since I was introduced to the play fourteen years ago, I have wanted to tackle that part! I've seen at least seven different versions of the play, and I own the movie, and Cecily was always the one to stand out for me. Perhaps it's because of her energy, or her whimsy, or her hilarious lines. Her journal entry the day she breaks up with her fiance reads:

"'To-day I broke off my engagement with Ernest. I feel it is better to do so. The weather still continues charming."

I do tend to identify with the slightly-crazy, blonde chick. At any rate, Cecily was the dream. I've auditioned for her several times, and never had much luck.

Last Saturday, I auditioned for CenterPoint Legacy Theater's first play in their "black box" Leishman Hall. I performed a little monologue I love from the movie Emma in my most Cecily-ish manner, and when I was done I felt very happy about it. The director said I did well, and then asked me to perform it in a more sedate, refined manner -- more like Gwendolen, who I had said I would also consider. I thought for a moment, took a deep breath, and gave it a shot.

I LOVED it! I hadn't considered trying that particular monologue in that way and had a lot of fun playing with some of the interpretations... I think I enjoyed that reading even more than Cecily... maybe it was just because I was able to pull it off on the fly. If I didn't know the play (and my monologue) so well, I might not have been able to pull it off.

Happily, I received a callback for both roles. When I arrived at the callback, I discovered that there were eight women about my age, and we ALL read for both roles! Oh, my goodness! Everyone was so funny and clever and we all read the scenes so differently! We each read for both parts in a Cecily/Gwendolen scene, then with a male partner for an Algernon/Cecily and a Jack/Gwendolen scene. Since I went first for Algernon/Cecily, I also got to read again last -- always nice to have an extra chance to shine!

But, the Jack/Gwendolen scene was my favorite. It didn't hurt that I got to read it with my friend Kyle, who knows me well enough to expect anything, and visa versa. We practiced together once, and I totally cracked him up with my interpretation of the line "It is a divine name. It has a music of its own! It produces...vibrations!" Unfortunately, when I actually tried to read that line for the director, I cracked up! I started laughing so hard I was afraid I wouldn't be able to finish the scene (a little unfortunate when I just had one line left)! Kyle and everyone else in the room cracked up, too. I think we all needed the release since everyone had been so darn hilarious all night. I worried about that break in character, but hoped that it would just show I'd be fun to work with or something. One of the men said, "Hey! That's what rehearsal is for!" So true! And I expect there will be a lot of laughter during rehearsals for this show.

Anyway, aside from that little gaff, I got to do pretty much everything I wanted to, including my signature hiss of frustration/anger I like to throw in every audition I go to (if you don't know what I'm talking about, ask me sometime.) I left feeling really happy with my performances, but not necessarily feeling like a shoo-in. After all, everyone was great. Everyone had their own energy. As always, it would all come down to whichever combination the director choose. The director, Jan, told us he would let us know by Saturday at the latest (the callback was on a Tuesday).

Thursday night, Jan called me. As soon as I heard his voice, I thought, "He's going to offer me Gwendolen." Sure enough, he did! He asked me not to make an announcement until he gave the green light, because he hadn't been able to reach some people, yet, and he wanted to let everyone else who had auditioned know before we started posting on Facebook and such.

We had our first cast meeting on Saturday, and I could not be more excited! CenterPoint double-casts their shows so they can run six days a week for a full month. The cast is brilliant, and I am thrilled to be playing with several old and new friends -- my Aunt Eller from when I did Oklahoma in 2005 is going to play my mom! Kyle was cast as Jack and he will be wonderful. Sadly, he's not in my cast; we're hoping there will be at least a little cross-over and we can play love interests and try vainly not to make each other laugh! However, the Jack in my cast is another friend and I think we'll have a good time and chemistry together -- hooray! My friend Jillian is playing Cecily in the other cast, and that makes us both giggle because before the audition we would have pegged her as Gwendolen and me as Cecily. C'est la vie!

So, in a bizarre and wonderful twist of fate, I won a new dream role at the very minute I decided it was one. Is that wishy-washy of me? I'm just so excited to try something new -- I have played a lot of wacky people of late. Gwendolen is wacky in a less obvious way and a little more mature and sure of herself, and I like that. It will be good for me to break out of my own mold a little bit. It's good to stretch the old acting muscles! Given the chance, I would still like to play Cecily someday, but I think that right now this is the right choice for me, and I am over the moon about it!

We will perform February 3 through March 3, and I'm in the Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday cast. Please plan to come if you can. I'll let you know where/how to get tickets as soon as I know; since this show isn't a part of CenterPoint's regular season I'm not sure if they'll be selling on their site.

Hope to see you all there!!

My Dream Roles

Someone asked me last week what my dream role is -- the part I want to play most of all -- and my mind went blank. I made a list of "dream roles" once, but as for a #1? I don't know.

Sometimes it seems that I don't realize that a role is a dream role (or a dream show where I'd take any role) until I find out there's an audition coming up for that show. That was true of Into the Woods. I had several auditions planned for shows I was looking forward to, but when I heard about Woods, I knew I had to audition. Thank goodness I did!

I have been lucky enough to play dream roles, though. Milly in Seven Brides, Amy in Little Women, and Ado Annie in Oklahoma come to mind rather quickly. I would do any of those again, given the chance!

Here are a possibly my top 6 dream roles; these are those I would (and have) run to audition for given any and every chance:

• The Importance of Being Earnest, Cecily
• Steel Magnolias, Shelby
• The Music Man, Marian
• Nunsense, Sister Mary Amnesia
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena
• Guys and Dolls, Sarah Brown or Miss Adelaide

I have auditioned for each multiple times, but never been cast. Still, I hope someday to put my stamp on these very different and iconic roles!

It is fun to dream...

Sugar plums and water glasses

I know several people who see The Nutcracker ballet every year. I haven't seen it in a long time, but I adore the music, and this video is just so cool!

Gracie Lou was totally on to something here.

Happy Friday!

Why the devil am I sick all the time?!!

You know how I seem to get sick every time the weather changes, which, in Utah, is freakishly often?

Turns out, there IS a reason!

Finally had the chance to go to an allergy specialist and after some itchy tests (pricking me in the back with a whole bunch of different/likely allergy-inducing compounds) he determined I'm allergic to all grass, most weeds and and a lot of trees.

Basically, it's like The Happening, except in real life (okay, I never saw that movie, so I don't know how like this it is).

Oh, also I have asthma. Surprise!

So, the dust in the air messes with my lungs, sinuses, and throat all through Spring, Summer, and Fall, so that they are so swollen they take the whole winter to recover... at which point spring arrives and it starts all over again. Any virus or bacteria that came along immediately got trapped in my lungs, which is why I get EVERY THING that comes along... like whooping cough, pneumonia, the flu...

I knew I had hay fever, and suspected I was allergic to some things, but I didn't realize quite how many! Sheesh! How in the world did I survive as a child in a subdivision in the foothills where there were no other houses for several years? I'm lucky that my brothers usually had the lawn-mowing duties covered!

Don't worry, I'm not pretending this is debilitating in any way. It's not cancer or MS or even diabetes. It's nowhere near life-changing, and the treatment isn't terribly inconvenient. The doctor only gave me two new medications and adjusted the others I was already taking. The allergies are more irritating than dangerous; I don't have to carry an epi-pen or anything, and I can totally play outside and perform in plays outside and stuff. It's just really nice to finally know what I'm dealing with and have a plan of action.

With any luck, I won't feel so dang sickly this winter or beyond. Hooray for knowledge!

My neighborhood tried to kill me!

"Ha! Ha! I am woman!"

Today during a routine oil change, the technician said, "Oh, you know about the passenger-side light, right?"

I replied, "Yes.. wait, what? No."

Apparently it was out. He asked if I wanted him to fix it. My dad showed me once how to do it myself, so I said, "No, thanks." Immediately upon leaving the Jiffy Lube, I headed for a local auto-supply shop, where a nice lady looked up my make and model and lead me right to the appropriate light bulb.

Then I went home, opened up the hood, and replaced the light. Sure, I had some trouble when I realized it was in an awkward position in the car -- smashed up against the washer-fluid container and obstructed by unnecessary metal? Really? -- but I managed to finagle the wire-holder-dealie shut with the strap of a paper bag I found in the backseat (that thing really didn't want to snap into place). Yep, I took care of it all by myself.

When I flipped on the lights and saw that my newly-installed acquisition was working, I couldn't help but scream out: "Ha! Ha! I am WOMAN!!"

There are few things that make me feel as helpless and out-of-control as car troubles. What with everything else I feel like I've failed at recently, I really, really needed this win. I can't tell you how good it made me feel!

Thanks, Dad, for teaching me how to take care of myself!

Enterprise crew watches Star Wars

Set phasers to LOL strikes again!


Should I be embarrassed that I can tell from the uniforms, Riker's beard, and Pulaski's presence that most of the clips are from season two? I can also name several of the episodes these clips are from...

Happy Friday!

Impossible

The definition of "impossible" is trying to decide which of the 85 photos your sister-in-law sent you to include in the family calendar. This would be far easier if her kids were less attractive and didn't have so much personality...

I may or may not have laughed and cried at times while reviewing the pictures. I love their family!

Can't wait to see what the others send me!