So yesterday, first thing we dropped the car off at the garage. I decided that I didn't need a car for the weekend, so I am going to rent my car on Monday instead, so Mom drove me to my dog walks all day. I missed rehearsal, because I really couldn't ask Mom to drive me all the way there, and they could do fine without me, and there were only four walks, so it was a pretty easy day.

Mom dropped me off at Larry's, then ran some errands. When I was done I went to Bob's and had a coke, then she picked me up and took me to Cassie and Donnie's, then Groovy's ("That's it, that's the pole I hit."), then Sasha and Mia's. It wasn't too hot, fortunately, because Mom was sitting in the car reading all day, and there isn't any air conditioning, because it's a 1970 Volkswagen bug.

At one point I was walking around, and suddenly my knee, which still hurt after however many weeks it has been, went CLICK! which hurt like hell, but then it was fine! I was CURED!

Later on, it started to hurt again, so maybe not so cured, but it's definitely better than it was.

(cross-posted to hedgehog.net)

So, yesterday was a really super-interesting day, the definition of interesting being in the "May you live in interesting times" curse kind of definition of the word.

Rehearsal in the morning, which was fine, then breakfast with Blake with made me late for my last walk with sweet little Honey, the yorkie. I didn't have Larry, which meant that I totally miscalculated the timing, and it wouldn't have mattered at all that I was late, except that the owner was there. He didn't seem to mind, but I had never met him before and felt like a real dope.

I'll miss Honey, she's a good little girl, but she got walked because the owner was living in a hotel until his house was built or remodeled or something, so I assume that there will be a backyard situation and that's why she won't need a midday walk anymore.

I was going to work at the studio for Blake that evening, so I rushed through the day like a crazy person, which is why I what happened ended up happening.

I always park in the same spot under Groovy's building, but yesterday my spot was taken, so I had to park in the next spot over. Which is next to a giant yellow pole. This may or may not be foreshadowing.

I finished the walk with relief that I was going to make it to Santa Monica on time, pulled out of the space, and CRASH! I had forgotten that I was in a different parking space and was pulling out as though I was in the space I was usually in, the one not next to a pole, and had hit said pole. I got out of the car, hoping to see maybe a teeny dent. Here's the thing with plastic cars, you don't teeny dents, the whole front bumper had been ripped off.

So I had hysterics and called Blake to call the station and tell them that I couldn't be there, then tried to call Mom, but she didn't answer. I texted Groovy's owner and asked if she minded if I hung out at her place while I tried to reach my Mom, because I didn't know what to do, if I should get the car towed to the garage or not, and where was the garage, etc.

I sat in Groovy's apartment, sobbing, until I had to stop because the dog was completely freaking out, licking my face and jumping up and down on my lap. "FEEL BETTER!!!!" was the not-so-subtle dog subtext, so I calmed down.

I kept trying to reach Mom, I called her cell phone, I called the house phone, I kept calling and calling and she never answered. I started getting really worried. I decided that I couldn't all day, so borrowed the owner's painting tape and taped the bumper back on, then slowly drove home.

As I got closer and closer, I started getting more and more frightened about what I would find when I got home. I really thought that Mom might be dead. I pulled into the driveway, her car was there. Then I went into the house, calling her name, she wasn't downstairs. I ran upstairs, "Mom? Mom?" and finally she answered. She came out of her room and I was completely sobbing. I explained that I had had an accident and that I couldn't reach her and I thought she was dead. Apparently, the ringer was off on her phone, which she had forgotten to turn back on, and she had been taking a nap, and you can't hear the house phone from her room.

God, what a couple of hours. The accident was bad enough, ripping the bumper off your car is pretty upsetting at the best of time, but not being able to reach Mom was so scary. I could have gone to choir because I wasn't going to the station, but I just was not in the mood. I went to bed early instead.

(cross-posted to hedgehog.net)

Well, the show didn't get canceled, everyone decided to be grownups and finish it up, if for no other reason that the student camera operators are doing this show for their class and they are learning one heck of a lot. So we stayed together for the sake of the children. On the other hand, some of us just might be counting the hours until Monday at 4p.

Last night, I took my laundry over to Blake's to do it, not because he has a washer/dryer, which he doesn't, but to go to the laundromat and eat that the diner. It's more fun than doing my laundry by myself, and I really really needed to do it, as I was on my last pair of underwear but one.

When I was pulling into the driveway I Blake's, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to walk a dog! For the first time ever in the four years I have been doing this, I had missed a stop! The reason being that I normally walk them around 1.30p, but today I was supposed to do it at 5p. So I turned around without stopping and called Blake. "Are you here?" "Yes, but I'm leaving! I'll be back in about 40 minutes!"

Rushed over to the dog's house, and the owner hadn't come home early and the dogs hadn't peed on the floor and all was well, but hopefully this won't happen again as I practically had a heart attack.

(cross-posted to hedgehog.net)

Well, that was an extremely interesting rehearsal and aftermath yesterday. There is a chance that this TV movie will not be finished, and there is a chance that if this happens, I won't particularly care. We will see.

So I had the interesting rehearsal, then did my patented race off to work and get through those walks as fast as possibly, then race back to Santa Monica for the theatre talk show, this time using the scripts that Blake and I wrote with the host on Saturday, and it was much better! My best joke was left out, which saddened me, but the whole thing was much smoother.

At one point, Blake asked me to mic everyone and I did it with the grace, confidence and ability of a baby elephant. The teacher of the student camera operators looked at the monitor at one point and said, "Who put those mics on?" I answered, "The ones that were done really poorly? That would be me!" She grinned and said, "We're going to have to have a little lesson on how to mic properly!" Apparently, I shouldn't feel shy about sticking my hand up people's jackets like they are glove puppets and not try to hide them under their collars, as they end up coming out and waving at the camera like football fans standing behind the roving reporter doing a piece about Gang Green (J-E-T-S, Jets Jets Jets!).

If only the show would be canceled, I'd get to sleep in the mornings again.

(cross-posted to hedgehog)

Yesterday was the third day of shooting, and I draw a veil over the entire experience. Only one more day of this to go.

(cross-posted to hedgehog.net)

Yesterday was all Josh all the time. Morning walk, noon walk, then dogsitting from 4p-10p, but somehow I also managed to see a movie and go to the church festival! I am a genius of time management!

Went to the early morning mass, then Josh had his morning walk, then rush home, pick up Mom and race to the Academy to see The Pirates! Band of Misfits, or as it is much more amusingly titled in the UK, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. I suppose they thought that Americans would be frightened off by the term "scientist," as everyone knows that Frith created the world and the stars from his droppings.

But no matter what it's called, it's hilarious and wonderful and everyone should go see it immediately!

Then back home, walked Josh while Mom went to church, as there isn't the smallest chance on earth that she would ever voluntarily make the 7.30a mass without at least two guns to her head. One gun wouldn't cut it. Then was the church festival, which was rides that I didn't go on and games I mostly didn't play, but it was fun to walk around it and eat and look at stuff. I don't remember the last time I was in town for the festival, maybe when I was 13? I filled out a raffle ticket, but did not win $5000, and we looked at the silent auction stuff, but the only thing I would have bid on, the autographed picture of the cast of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I would have to be a rich person to do so.

Then my nice, relaxing six hours with Josh, which I always enjoy. I watched three episodes of Saturday Night Live on the DVR, as I haven't seen a single ep this entire year. I saw the Emma Stone, Jimmy Fallon and Channing Tatum hosted ones, and frankly, had I seen Channing Tatum's ep before seeing 21 Jump Street, I wouldn't have been so surprised at how funny he was!

Third shooting day tomorrow, and early rehearsals all week. But at least it's the last week of them, because I am getting tired of sunrises.

(cross-posted to hedgehog.net)

So Blake and I have been directing this show about theatre in Santa Monica for the TV station, it's like a much smaller Theater Talk, the PBS show about Broadway with Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins. For the first four shows, the host just talked off the top of his head, but we thought it would be better if he had intros and outros written and memorized so that he wouldn't say "um" or look down at his notes.

We met the host at the station for a writing session that Blake thought would take maybe an hour. I thought he was nuts, that it would take much longer, but even I underestimated the four hours that it took. Intros and outros for eight segments over four shows, as well as question ideas.

After that, we put together the set for the scenes of our TV movie that we are shooting on Monday, then did the shot sheets. We ended up being at the studio for twelve hours. I missed seeing The Five Year Engagement at the Academy, which didn't break my heart, though Mom really liked it a lot.

Originally, I was going to be taking care of Josh yesterday, which would have meant an 8a walk, a noon walk and then babysitting from 4p-10p, but through a misunderstanding the owner got someone else. That turned out for the best, that's for certain!

(cross-posted to hedgehog.net)

The knee of doom just will not go away, so yesterday I realized that my father's cane was hanging on the back of my chair, so why not just start using it?

Very easy day, only four walks, thank goodness. Did not use the cane while walking dogs, as I don't have difficulty walking when I am walking, what is tricky is walking after getting up. Also, who wants to have a dog walker with a cane? So I pulled it out in the evening when I had to stand up and walk to the bathroom, and it turned out to be pretty handy!

I really do have to have my stupid knee checked out.

(cross-posted to hedgehog.net)

I am so tired. Too much getting up, not enough sleep.

Yesterday I had to get up at 6a in order to finish a prop for the show that I had totally put off until the last possible second, i.e. yesterday at 6a. It was a book cover for a fake diet book, and I ended up calling it "Lose 10 Pounds in 20 Hours! Guaranteed!" I should totally write that book, it would be total bullshit and make a mint, because nothing makes more money than the promise of totally impossible things achieved with no effort involved! The sequel will be called "Sit on Your Ass and Wait for Money to Fall Out of the Sky! Guaranteed!" I see a series!

I knew that I had Bailey and Rocky for their biweekly Mommy out of town walk, but totally forgot that I had Josh until I looked at my schedule email that half the time I barely look at since I keep my schedule in my phone completely updated. Not this time! Because I was trying to get more of the Josh slots that started out being available, but then not available, I didn't put in the slots that I actually had. Whoops! But all was well and he was walked on time.

I was sleepy all day, though, and ended up falling asleep at Groovy's house! I sat on the sofa after the walk, she cuddled up next to me and I was out like a light. Fortunately, I was in no rush to get to Sasha and Mia's house, and frankly even if it had made me late, I really really needed the rest.

Choir rehearsal after work, the first one in a while because of Easter and being in Oakland and the show, so hooray! I was back! And could barely stay awake! I certainly couldn't handle talking to the choir master afterwards about maybe getting in the damn choir someday, so I just sang, left, drove home, and collapsed on my face on the back porch. Just kidding, I did manage to walk through the door and up the stairs and undress and get into bed, but just barely.

(cross-posted to hedgehog.net)

Not last night but the night before, twenty-four robbers came knocking at my door.

Not really, but every time someone says "Not last night, but the night before," it's an automatic response, like "Marco!" "Polo!" which Blake and I do in the studio when no-one else is around and one doesn't know where the other is.

This is a complicated way of telling the story that, night before last in the middle of the night I woke up for I don't know what reason, and then started hearing noises, and was fairly certain that twenty-four robbers were knocking at my door!

Mom puts bottles in front of the door when she goes to bed so that if someone tries to break in, the bottles will fall and this will scare the robbers off. And theoretically wake her up, though she is deaf as a stone these days and the only way the bottles would wake her would be if the robbers picked them up, took them upstairs, went into her room, and dropped them on her head.

My point is, I heard bottles fall. And wondered if I should call 911, or if that would make the robbers find me faster. I was sleeping naked, so the first thing that I did was get out of bed and put a tee-shirt on, because I wanted the robbers to find me decent. Was I hearing someone come up the stairs or were the stairs just creaking because stairs creak at night? And, most importantly of all, was what I heard someone putting out their recycling?

Finally, I heard more bottles fall, and definitely heard them outside. The perils of sleeping with the sliding glass door open on garbage night and also being a little paranoid when I wake up at 3a.

(cross-posted to hedgehog.net)