Back in the swing of things

...and wishing I didn't have to be, as always. Truly, after the week I had, the idea of going back and babysitting Outreach and picking up Urinetown is not the most exciting prospect. But, it pays the bills for now.

Anyway, the majority of this post is not going to have any relation to fiber or knitting, so you can bow out gracefully now if you'd like. I did get a bit of work done on the second Felici sock, but am still not up to the heel. I'd like to get that fixed today if possible. I do have to go into the office at some point this afternoon and do some Outreach paperwork, and Urinetown opens tonight, so I should do the dressing up and seeing a show and having a drink thing, I suppose.

My parents did make it safely to LA.
Although we didn't really get to spend a lot of time together. I didn't make it to the hotel until after midnight Monday night, and also ended up spending a lot of time at the theater on Tuesday. They got to see the show Tuesday night (it was a private show, but we were able to have guests come) and they LOVED it. My dad's the one who got me interested in magic when I was little, so it was neat to have him see a magic show that I was working on. Dad's the type who will try to figure out the tricks, but appreciates the talent and work that go into them. Mom just loves the tricks and doesn't want to have any idea how it's done. She just likes to be amazed and entertained. They make a fun critique team.

We spent Wednesday at Disneyland. Despite frequent claims and reminders that "we don't have to close out the park", we ended up not being able to get to one shop we wanted because it was past midnight and the store had closed. The park was busy and crowded but not insane. We were able to hit all of the major rides, and the longest we waited in line was about an hour for Splash Mountain. Disney has started a new policy of offering healthy food alternatives as well as the standard park fare, which was a nice surprise. You can get grapes, apples, melon pieces, and juices now. Of course, we had to stay and watch the fireworks (no churros, unfortunately, as we had just eaten a huge dinner at French Quarter) and got a little bored while waiting for them to start:
Self portraits aren't really my forte, apparently. I'm definitely my father's daughter in attitude and build:
But I am also quite definitely my mother's daughter:
So that was fun. I'll see them again probably at Thanksgiving, definitely for Christmas. Mom wants "something online where everyone in the family can put up pictures and tell what they're up to," but isn't so sure about the idea of a blog. I'm not quite sure what the difference is, but I'll work on that.

The show itself (I did spend the majority of the week working - which is ironic as I had to use vacation days to get the time off) went very well. John is really starting to leave the show more in my hands and only does final checks backstage and helps pack up now, which is awesome. Both shows went very smoothly. We did have one illusion break on Thursday, but we were still able to do it, and it will get lots of love and attention now that it's back. I was only supposed to stay and help out with loading the truck on Friday morning, and come straight back up to PCPA to babysit (note, not run, babysit) Outreach rehearsal. I should have left LA around 11:00a. But darn the luck, John decided he would unload the truck straightaway back at the warehouse and you know, it would just go faster if Nick and I were there to help unpack the illusions. So we unpacked, Nick left, and John and I finished cleaning and taking maintenance notes on the current illusions and ended up talking through and playing with a few new ones. Then we had to grab some dinner, of course. I ended up leaving town around 9:30p. Whoops. Hence the reason I have to go into the office this afternoon. John and I have decided that the reason the place is a time warp to us is because we love it there and love what we do there. I'm not apologizing, though. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. For me, there's no choice. That show is what I have always wanted to do. What we do here at PCPA, while it is excellent, high quality work, is feeling more and more like a rut and I'm not getting out what I'm putting in. John doesn't pay as well right now, but a fourteen hour day there feels NOTHING like a fourteen hour day here. I might go back next weekend to see the video of this week's shows and work on a new illusion.

Now to the office so I can get that paperwork done and get back here to work on his paperwork.