Manhattan brat rant.

I love children. Really, I do. You should have seen me for the entirety of the run of Sound of Music, my eggs were dropping every time I turned around. And these were children - not babies. Average age was 9 years old. God knows, if there's a baby around, I'm toast. Just melted butter on the floor. BUT - there is something about the parents in Manhattan that make me want to strangle them and their children who will, no doubt, grow up to be just as oblivious and inconsiderate as their parents.

Night before last I was standing in line to see the Macy's Thanksgiving balloon inflation. I was alone, but my friends were meeting me and I was holding our place in line. There was 1 set of parents and children in strollers just in front of me, and another set of parents and strollers behind me. These rich oblivious Manhattanites behind me would push their strollers up so close that they were TOUCHING the back of my heels, and their children would yank on the tail of my coat and scream. Ok, maybe the 1st time I can forgive you, it's a crowded city, no use being all angry when you brush up against someone else. But it continued so that the people behind me kept sandwiching me so close to the people in front of me I was literally touching them. I thought I would try NOT moving up when the line moved forward until I had breathing room. Nope, they just squished in around me, running over the back of my heels and looking at me as if I was crazy for not walking up so close to the people in front of me I was actually in their buttholes.

I try not to let NYC crap get to me, but it's just common courtesy not to run over the backs of people's heels - repeatedly, and unapologetically, right? I also find it hard not to judge them based on the fact that since they can clearly afford to have children and live in Manhattan, they probably have never set foot in a subway station, have enormous Crate & Barrel apartments that they pay $5,000/month for, have poor actor receptionists (who pay $800/month for their Queens apartment) bring them their Starbucks every morning, have their nannies shop at Whole Foods for everything, and have no idea what the smell of Manhattan sewage is like. They're not real New Yorkers. So please, step away from my heels with your stroller.

Ok, I'm done. Sometimes I just need to purge the NYC from my system. I'm better now. :-)

Sound of Music and the wonders of bacon

The Sound of Music was an AMAZING experience, and I'm so sad that it's over. It's been closed 2 weeks and I could still happily be doing the show 9 times a week. The children were lovely (for the most part), and my cast was the greatest bunch of crazies I've ever had the pleasure to work with. We played lots of Clue - and by "lots of Clue" I mean nearly every night we played. We are Clue Ninjas at this point. No one understands the extent to which we love it. We felt like drug pushers trying to get a 3rd person to play with us every night. "You can quit any time. All the cool kids are doing it..." Needless to say, I'm jonesin' for a Clue fix. We had a lovely time going to a haunted house, having our very own Fireside Amazing Race, eating amazing cheese curds and burgers at the Old Fashioned in Madison, WI, drinking like we were in college, and crocheting to our heart's content. It was a great 3 months.

I found out about a week before we closed that I'll be going back right after Xmas to do another big band revue, Those Fabulous 50's and 60's. (You might remember last year we did Those Fabulous 50's, Part 2. The Fireside audience LOVES that era.) Most of the cast from last year is doing it again, which is great. I also found out that I'll be performing in the Fireside's New Year's Eve show. 2 shows in one contract. Love it. So right now, before those contracts start, I'm just chilling in NYC, unemployed. I haven't gone stir-crazy yet, probably because I know I have 2 shows coming up. But I am looking for part-time seasonal work. Tomorrow I apply at the Hershey's store in Times Square, and then Tuesday I'm applying at a BBQ restaurant. It would be great to be able to make a little cash before the shows start up.

In other news, while in Wisconsin I discovered the wonders of maple bacon. I wasn't even aware of its existence, and now my life is changed. Before Sound of Music, I would spend $9.00 at least once a week, sometimes twice, on my favorite dish at the local diner, Igloo Cafe - eggs benedict. I thought that dish was so perfect one could never improve upon it. But now I've discovered the wonders of substituting fried eggs for the poached eggs, and MAPLE BACON for the Canadian bacon. Just writing about it gives me the shakes. I LOVE it so much. So now my taste buds are super happy, and my pocket book is happier. $9.00/week, sometimes more, really begins to add up. Yay!

That's about it. I suck at updating. The end. :-)