Friday, February 15, 2008

Another Day, Another Role



Well, Valentines Day was successfully navigated and no deer heads were mentioned in any context except for when I read my husband my last blog entry. He never reads my blog and I think he's quite happy to pretend that I don't have one. It makes him understandably nervous, and I believe he's afraid I'll start getting all personal and write things about him that would make him look bad to the ones and ones of people who read this.

But I thought it would be sort of romantic to read it to him and so after I got the tuna marinating in the Yucatan Citrus Grilling sauce, I opened the MacBook and read it out loud, him leaning up against the kitchen counter. I was practically in tears before I was through with the whole long thing (where is a good editor when you need one?) and except for occasionally telling one of the dogs to shut up, he was quiet and seemed to appreciate it, although I think he was more interested in the comments people had made so thanks to all of you who took the time to do that.

Then we had a nice grilled tuna and some mashed potatoes and a salad with avocado and I made a salsa of fresh mango, pineapple, red onion, garlic, lime, salt and cilantro for the tuna.

Can I just say yum?

No pretzel salad.

And so, once again, Valentines Day is over and I have to admit that yesterday while I was running around Tallahassee buying things like mangoes and pineapple, it was sort of nice to see people buying flowers and candy and picking out the fattest artichokes and the thickest steaks and it occurred to me that it's not such an awfully bad idea to have one day a year set aside to tell the person you love how you feel about them and to celebrate that together.

Love is a good thing to celebrate. Probably the best thing.

But the hearts and flowers are over for another year and tonight I'll be at the Monticello Opera House, doing the sound effects with my friend Kathleen for what they're calling Live Radio Theater.

I didn't set out to be doing sound effects and thought I'd be reading a part but due to the recent deaths we've experienced here I called the director and told her that I just didn't know when I'd be available for rehearsal but that I'd like to come and help in any way I could. Kathleen said she could use some help with the sound and so...next thing you know, I was on stage trying to make hoof beat sounds with two coconut shell halves in a tray of gravel and making jello at home, not for salad, but to create the sound of a giant amoeba being dumped into a bathtub, which is not as easy as you'd think and we're still sort of hit or miss with that one.

I'm having the time of my life and it turns out that Kathleen and I are the comedic relief and when she waps the hell out of a head of cabbage to recreate the sounds of a good, old-fashioned fist fight and cabbage is flying all over the stage and we're picking it out of our hair, it's pretty funny.

The best, though, is the avalanche which is worth the price of admission, I do believe.

Throw in the two of us making slurp sounds for the amoeba as it eats its victims and well, let's face it- we have no pride and we like it like that.

And my husband is coming to see this performance and again, I have to say that's true love because mainly what I do besides making slurp sounds is open and shut a miniature door to make door-opening-and-shutting sounds, and in-between my opening and shutting I just sit on stage and knit. And Abbott and Costello may have been hysterically funny back in the forties but times have changed. I will say that there's some real talent in the cast and oh yes! I do have a few lines. I get to read "young Dan" whoever he is, and that's fun, too.

So! Life moves on and after tonight I'll be able to add "Foley Artist" to my burgeoning resume and just like all my other skills and talents, it's one that has absolutely no use anywhere in today's job market, but at the Monticello Opera House makes me a pretty important member of the cast which is far more rewarding and fun than you can possibly imagine unless you've been there and done that.

My ex-husband's wife, the other-mother of two of my kids, has just been tapped as the Film Commissioner of the Office of Film and Entertainment which sounds like an extremely important and hopefully well-paying job and one she richly and certainly deserves because she is dedicated, hard-working and smart. Not to mention beautiful. Although she passed up on my offer to be her personal assistant (I pointed out that I can iron, answer e-mail and mix martinis), perhaps she can keep me in mind if the job of Foley Artist ever comes available.

You never know.

5 comments:

  1. And believe it or not, you make an excellent teenage boy. (Never thought I'd type that).

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  2. Well, I'm just channeling "Young Dan" as it were as I haven't given one second of thought to what he "should" sound like. I just walk up to that mic, open my mouth, and Young Dan comes out. One of my favorite moments of the whole thing. Because it's all about me, right?
    Seriously, Jon, you are the star. Storecheese alone is worth coming to hear.

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  3. Sounds like "Prairie Home Companion!" How did it go?

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  4. It went freakin' great! More fun than a woman this old should be allowed to have.
    Seriously- what fun.

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  5. Hi - I think I tried Wellbutrin briefly...that's why going back to the same shrink I saw before makes sense - she would know exactly what I tried and my reaction to it. But, thanks for the suggestion. I just have to get my ass in gear and contact her...tomorrow...always tomorrow...

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.