Titles and Quotes

I've had a couple people ask me via emails about the changes to my header and blog title. Honestly, I didn't know that anyone but me ever paid any attention to them, so getting questions from three different people was kind of surprising. Anyway...

1. I changed the blog title after earning my black belt. I thought it was a subtle way to try to incorporate the three main things I talk about here. Black. Stage. Stitches. The black is probably a little obscure, but it works for me.

2. No, I have no suddenly become dissatisfied with my professional life. I still really like the original quote in the header - "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life" - and think it is very much applicable to me. I've been using the new quote as a binder cover for my production calendar for the past year and a half, though. I see it on there every time I need to check a date or time. It really struck me, though, when I earned my black belt - I had attempted something that seemed absurdly out of my scope in every way and achieved something I never thought I could do. The new quote is a personal reminder to me to not be content with what I always do, even if it's good, and look into the "this could be ifs" instead. (ETA: The runner up quote was "All the world's a stage...and I'm calling my own damn cues!")

I hope that clears things up. Opening went well tonight, although we're all dead and doing a matinee and an understudy rehearsal tomorrow is not appealing in the slightest. (Insert standard understudy rehearsal rant here.) I did tell my kids (my ASMs, we have a running joke about me being Mom and they're my kids, although I drew the line at having the deck crew as grandkids) that if I was there, they had to be there, so now they're plotting ways of holding me hostage so I can't go into work. The latest plot that I know of involves something with zip ties and tugboats. I'm curious now. (This is what happens when you have three stage managers in a tiny office after the second show of the day on the Saturday after tech. It's a bad, bad situation!)

Btw, it's not unusual, in fact, I've come to expect, dreams about the show during tech weeks. Normally they're just the show itself, with something weird or odd going on that I have to deal with - trying to do The Sound of Music in a different theater, for example. Last night, however, I had a dream that one of my ASMs, my ALD, and myself were running a halftime show at a little Khorey League-type baseball field (yes, I know, baseball doesn't have halftimes, your guess is as good as mine). Afterwards, we went to this sports tourist shop. It turns out that this shop was in my house (um, mansion), and when my ASM went to buy something, I told the cashier to put it on my tab because I was Mrs. Roarke. (Sadly, Roarke himself never showed up...) Clearly, running a zany musical comedy, checking baseball scores, and having a J.D. Robb book on the nightstand creates some weird subconscious realities after a 60+ hour week...