Category Archives: humor

Dead End Run

Posted on May 13, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

As I segue into All Boilermaker All The Time, I thought it would be a good idea not to skip my Saturday run.

As I type that, I think it isn’t really All Boilermaker because I don’t usually mention the actual Boilermaker except in passing. But All Running All The Time seems a little generous for what I do. And All Shuffling All The Time is too self-deprecating, even for me. Boilermaker is a kind of a fun word. And I am training for the Boilermaker. So there you have it.

This is closing night of Harvey at Ilion Little Theatre (which I believe I’ve mentioned before that I’m in), so I didn’t feel I wanted to rack myself up too much with a major run. Then again, I have all day to nap and drink Gator Ade, so I don’t feel I need to blow the run off entirely. I dithered until Steven left for work, which had the added advantage that I was home visiting with him for the maximum amount of time available. Always a good thing with a nice husband such as mine is.

It was warm when I set out. The thermostat in my house said the outside temperature was 59 degrees. The bright sun made it seem warmer. I was still dithering about where to run. I knew I wanted to write a blog post about it, so thought I should take a new direction. But which? The disadvantage of starting my run later (it was quarter to ten) was that traffic was picking up. I thought it best to stay off busy roads with no sidewalks or shoulders to speak of.

Then I thought of an idea I had to go down German Street and run up and down all the Dead End streets (of which there are several). I don’t often go down dead ends, although I know I have recently and mentioned it in this blog. I’m not into the out and back runs these days; I like to return by an alternate route. But I like to run somewhere different. And then, too, I had a ready made headline for the post. So off I went.

There are some nice houses on these dead end streets. Is it because they are not bothered with too much through traffic? Or had I stumbled into the rich section of town? Maybe I just noticed more nice houses this morning. I’m sure there are nice houses all over Herkimer.

I saw a lot of flowers. Forget Me Nots seem to be everywhere these days. Steven even mowed down a bunch in our back yard this week (although he was able to leave a few over by the rhododendron). I saw one house with a bunch of flowers in pots lined up along the driveway. No doubt someone was about to arrange and/or transplant them somewhere creative. Must get going on my own container garden.

A couple of nice screened in porches caught my eye. One was on the second floor. Ooh, did that look pleasant. Someone was sitting there. I was envious. What a nice place to sit and write or drink coffee or just be (or all three; I could multi-task to that extent). But my object was to run and not to sit.

I ran on, reflecting that whatever ambitious things I accomplished today I could not sit on my deck and reward myself with a beer, because I have a show to do tonight. In fact, I’m not even going to do anything majorly ambitious, because I mean to recruit my energies. I may have family out in the audience. I must be at my best (oh, rest assured, I strive to be at my best for any audience members, even people I don’t like) (then again, I like everybody who comes to see a play at Ilion Little Theatre) (but I digress).

As I ran I realized my folly in waiting till almost 10 o’clock to begin my run (and it was past 10 when I realized it). I have a sensitivity to sunlight. It makes me feel tired and ill if I spend too much time in it. And this was turning into the brightest sunny day possible. Oh dear. Still, a 20 or 30 minute run couldn’t hurt much, could it? I ran up one street that was not a dead end but kind of curves around and comes back out on another street that leads back to German. Along the way I found it crossed another dead end street, so I ran down that one. Hey, there was a house having a garage sale. I think Steven and I went to a garage sale at that very house last year. I eyed the goods from a distance. Must hit some garage sales next weekend.

The sun was beginning to bother me. Where was the shade? Then I saw some across the street, at the H.A.R.C building. Ah, I would run up and down one more dead end, then cross the street and run in that shade for a whole block. I followed that plan, then decided that heading back home would not be a bad idea. I was plenty far enough from my house; I was getting great exercise.

My legs were feeling not too bad. No “I can rock this” feeling, but not too bad. Certainly no “I LOVE running!” I think the “I LOVE running” stage only really happens when I’m headed down hill after a strenuous uphill. Perhaps tomorrow, when the play is over.

I ran for 30 minutes, which I thought respectable, what with a show tonight (and one last night and the night before and working ten hours Friday after a mere four hours sleep) (put away the miniature violins; I’m not complaining, I’m trying to be factual)(“I’m trying to be factual” is a line from the play. Not one of my lines, but still).

So we’ll see what I find to write about tomorrow. My Sunday run or are these running posts getting a little monotonous? Just a side note: I’m coming up on my one year anniversary of writing this blog. I made up my mind I would post every day for one year. Once I accomplish that, I may take a day off.

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Steven’s Culinary Adventure

Posted on May 12, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

This week’s Friday Lame Post has neither random observations nor half-baked philosophy. It is a mere cooking story, and I didn’t even do the cooking. To make it even more lame, I wrote and typed it in Thursday and saved the draft, because I was afraid I’d be too tired to get something together on Friday. So here goes:

Wednesday night we had no rehearsal and no performance (did I mention we’re in Harvey at Ilion Little Theatre? I think so), so we thought it would be nice to cook a real dinner. I had an eggplant I wanted to roast, but early on at work I decided I wanted to run and let Steven cook.

I called him on a break (it was his day off) and told him to take something out of the freezer. He looked in the freezer as we spoke (love having a cordless phone) (I know, why doesn’t he have a cell? we are SO 20th century). Could I think of anything to do with sausage?

“Well, we could fry it up in a pan and add some tomato sauce and spices, then cook some macaroni.”

He further discovered some pizza sauce in the freezer that had come with the last pizza crust we had bought, so our plan was set.

Steven started cooking as soon as I got back from running. At my suggestion, he added a can of mushrooms. At his own inspiration, he added garlic powder, oregano and minced onion.

I was upstairs on the computer, emailing an important question to someone who would know. Steven came up to report that there was not a whole lot of sauce amidst all the stuff in it. Should he add more? I said no, my goal being to minimize leftovers. He showed me the amount of pasta wheels left in the canister, but I thought it not enough. He said he’d open a box of the twisty kind.

It was starting to smell quite yummy by the time I came downstairs. We enjoyed our dinner very much. Perhaps it could have used a little more sauce, but that’s a mere quibble. Perhaps this is not as exciting a post as when I cook something myself. Of course, hands on is always nice. Well, what can I do? I wanted to run. I’m in a play. I’ll try to cook something for your next week.

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Pedestrian Rant

Posted on May 11, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

This has been bothering me for a long time, and I thought I would write about it before it segued from rant to tirade to incoherent noises of frustration (think of that noise Cary Grant used to make).

LEFT SIDE FACING TRAFFIC. Don’t they teach that in elementary schools these days? And for heavens’ sake, when there’s a sidewalk, use it!

I know runners make the argument that the road is smoother, and in some cases I suppose it is. However, the smoothest road in the world still has sewer grates and manhole covers. You always have to watch where you’re going. If a smooth, regular surface is so important to you, I suggest you run around the track at an area high school or college. I believe there are several readily available.

At least if you must run in the road (and I know some of you feel you must), left side facing traffic. For one thing, most runners I see these days run with headphones. If you can’t hear oncoming traffic, it is a good idea to at least be able to see it.

But leaving runners aside for a moment, let’s talk about pedestrians, who have no excuse. Some of them are IDIOTS! This morning I saw a young lady scorning a perfectly smooth sidewalk to walk on the right side with traffic with her head studiously bent over a device she was texting on. At 4:30 in the morning! For those of you still sensibly in bed at that hour, I’ll tell you if you don’t already know: it’s still dark out. In fact, by some standards, 4:30 a.m. is still the middle of the night. What the hell are you doing walking in the middle of the road in the middle of the night? (said in a loud, frustrated voice, not really expecting an answer)

OK, this girl was not exactly in the middle of the road. My point remains: get on the sidewalk if there is one. Left side facing traffic when there’s not. As they say, it ain’t rocket science. If you don’t reliably know your left from your right (I don’t), just make the L with the thumb and forefinger of your left hand.

I suppose I should be happy people are out walking for health and/or transportation and not sitting home demanding the universe provide them with a car or gym membership. I ought, perhaps, to be impressed that people are out running in the world instead of on a treadmill while they watch DVDs of rolling hills. Well, for starters, regular readers know that I think “should” and “ought” are dirty words (and if that’s not widely know, perhaps it’s material for another post).

And speaking of material for other posts, I’ll get to headphones and electronic devices another time. Stay tuned.

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Multi-Purpose Run

Posted on May 10, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I thought I would do the thing today of coming home, running, then writing my blog post about my run. It’s worked before. It could work again.

I did not write my blog post during my breaks at work today, because I really could not think of what to write. I’m still on All Harvey All The Time, and quite frankly, I am out of things to say about Harvey. We had our pick up rehearsal last night, but I’m thinking that would not make a great post. I mean, we had a lot of laughs, but to convey the humor I fear I would have to explain too much. And even if I explained enough, the jokes might fall sadly flat (I refuse to use the condescending expression, “You had to be there”) (anyways, you would have had to be there not only last night, but through the entire rehearsal period. So you see).

Be that as it may (one of my favorite transition phrases), I came home and got my running gear on right away before I could change my mind. I made up my mind early on not to demand a long run of myself. Thirty minutes sounded about right. Twenty in a pinch. But I thought up to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) the front way might be a good idea. For one thing, that is usually my Sunday run, which I missed this week.

I thought if I was unable to cross German Street, I would be off the hook and just run the neighborhood streets. But right away I had my chance and sprinted across. On towards the college I went. My body was not best pleased with me, but one learns to live with these things. I thought about what traffic was likely to be on the road to the college but refused to let it deter me. When the DARE 5K was approaching, I reminded myself, I ran that road every day about this time for at least a week. I could hang.

A nice car even stopped for me to run across Lou Ambers Drive to get to left side facing traffic. I stayed in the parking lot of Salvatore’s Pizza, but that didn’t last long. I ran past the spring without stopping for a a drink.

Lots of cars were coming down the hill. Some of them were flashing their lights at cars going up the hill. I had to look twice, because the cars had daytime running lights and I was not sure if they actually flashed or a bump in the road just made the lights appear brighter to me. No, that was a definite flash. Did that mean there were cop cars up the hill? I think that’s the usual signal. Nobody flashed me. That’s OK. I’ve been flashed before; it’s not the thrill you think it’s going to be.

I ran up and up, telling myself I could rock this. Let me be perfectly clear: I was NOT at the “I can rock this” stage of my run. I was just trying to be encouraged. Oh, it took a long time to go up. I thought about the DARE run and thought I had not shuffled so slowly that day. At last I got around the curve. Oh, that wasn’t so great after all. You think you make it around the curve and you’re there, but the road keeps going up. Ugh.

I got to a clearing where you can look out over the village below. Cool. I’ll have to stop there sometime and try to really recognize landmarks. I could see a wide highway in the distance. Probably the Thruway. I’d be moving a lot faster in a car.

There were the dormitories. I wondered if someone would yell something out a window at me today or if that was something that just happened on a weekend morning. Apparently so. I guess those kids had other things on their minds. I saw a young man holding an empty bucket and whapping a mop against the building. Good man, cleaning up the dorm. At least, I think good man. He may have just now been getting around to cleaning up the results of a debauch from two weeks ago. Still, he had apparently been mopping something.

I could hear an announcer saying something from the athletic fields. I could just faintly make out some music playing, such as I had enjoyed running to one other day. I did not keep running across campus, though, adhering to my thirty minute goal. I finally saw a cop car, but of course I have no idea if he was the one those cars were flashing about. I continued on my way, down the back way. The breeze died down and now it was just muggy. I could feel the sweat running down my face. I was tempted to scoop some water out of the little stream and splash it on me, but I kept running instead. It wasn’t really that hot. I’ll put up with worse in the months to come.

Another sprint across German Street, and one across Caroline. Then I stopped and petted a lady’s Jack Russell terrier. I love a cute dog. I hurried home to my own cute dog, and we walked around the block for my cool down. Then I felt I had to eat supper before attempting to compose anything. Luckily, Steven was willing to cook for us.

So I think I’m transitioning from All Harvey All The Time to All Boilermaker All The Time. At least, this is the first I’ve mentioned the Boilermaker, but of course one purpose of today’s run was to prepare for that race. Another purpose was to have something to write a blog post about. And I have consumed a few calories that needed burning off. Really, a multi-purpose run.

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Monday Run

Posted on May 9, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I missed my Sunday run so thought it would be a good idea to run on Monday. It wasn’t raining when I got home from work, so I got on my gear and off I went.

My run time is up to 44 minutes. I did not increase it by the recommended 10 percent this week, thinking to give myself a break while the play is going on (Harvey at Ilion Little Theatre; I may have mentioned that before). When I set out Monday I was undecided: 20 minutes, 30 minutes or the full 44? I would see how it went.

I was able to cross German Street right away. I headed in the direction of Main Street, because I saw a pedestrian headed in the opposite direction. Yes, I often decide my route based on these arbitrary considerations. Well, who wants to follow a pedestrian? Suppose it took me three blocks to pass her? How would that make me feel?

I thought I’d go up the hill out Main Street. It’s steep enough to be challenging, and you have a choice: you can either keep going on up or turn off in one of two places. Oh, it was not fun going uphill, but I thought about how I like to be tough and run up hills. “Run,” of course, is the generous term I use to describe my middle-aged shuffle. But you knew that.

As I continued my run, it became clear that I was not going to reach the “I can rock this” stage, much less the “I LOVE running” stage. I reflected that I had not had a perseverance run in a while. It would be good for me.

I ran down a rather lengthy dead end street. At least, there was no sign saying “Dead End” or even “No Outlet,” but I was pretty sure I had run up it before and it was. Still, a different street, a quiet street. I ran down it. I could turn around and run back. I know how.

Then I heard the ice cream truck behind me. Was that thing stalking me? Damn! No ice cream. No ice cream. I picked up the pace a little, but the music only got louder. Well, I can’t outrun a truck, not even an ice cream truck. I didn’t have any cash to buy any ice cream anyways. There was no point in asking for credit.

At last I reached the end of the road and turned around. And discovered that the ice cream truck was not on that road after all. Had it caught the brain waves of my frustration and turned around, or had it never been on the street to begin with? Sound does travel. No matter. The truck was gone now. I could continue my run.

On and on I ran till I found myself in the business district. For those that are still in business. I ran by Pete’s Tavern. Ooh, a beer would taste good. Hydration. But I was a little informally dressed, even for Pete’s. And, of course, the lack of cash.

I passed a couple of young ladies with extremely cute toddlers in strollers.

“Oh, would you please give me a ride in that stroller thingy?” I asked.

“Sure, no problem!” one of them said with a smile.

Past the post office and through Myers Park. It looked as if I might make it for 40 or more minutes if I didn’t run straight home. I passed two ladies and two young boys in front of a house. The boys had a scooter and a Big Wheel.

“Could I borrow that scooter?” I asked. “I need wheels!” I would have had to crunch way over and squat down, but it would have been worth it. The ladies laughed. I know, the same joke twice. I make that joke all the time. What do you want from me, I was running.

As I ran toward my street, the words echoed in my head, “I can totally run the Boilermaker!” Oh, you can push past fatigue. I forget that sometimes.

I ran for the full 44 minutes by virtue of running from end to end of my block before doubling back to my house. I felt pretty good about myself and pretty tired. Not a bad combination for a Monday night when you don’t have rehearsal.

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Deep Fried Fun

Posted on May 8, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I often spend Sundays cooking something fabulous for dinner. I like to cook with wine, and the therapeutic benefit of chopping vegetables is not to be denied. This past Sunday, however, I was otherwise occupied.

I believe I mentioned being in Harvey at Ilion Little Theatre and that we had a matinee on Sunday. It went very well. We had a perfectly delightful audience who rewarded our efforts with copious laughter.

I suppose the operative thing to have done would have been to throw something in the crock pot that morning. Anyone who thinks I did that is crediting me with a great deal more foresight and ambition than I actually possess. I did have a misbegotten adventure with peanut butter cookies (and wrote a blog post about it), but my culinary activities went no further.

So Steven and I were starving as we left the theatre. Sending out for food was in order. What to get was the question.

First we had to find a place that was open. I had noticed one local place abruptly went out of business, and we knew another had suffered a fire. Some places are closed on Sundays (and it’s funny how sometimes you don’t notice that till after you’ve perused the menu and decided what you want).

We finally settled on Yetty’s in Herkimer, NY (thought I ought to mention NY, don’t know that I had to). Yetty’s has excellent pizza, pasta and other dinner choices, but I was into appetizers. I love to make a meal of appetizers.

Appetizers are problematic, though, vis a vis my weight loss goals, because so many of the choices are deep fried. I might add that deep fried is one of my favorite flavors. I feel very virtuous for avoiding deep fried foods most of the time. I’ve even been doing really well this past week and was down a couple of pounds. With that positive reinforcement I wanted to be, you know, reinforced, and not fall off the diet wagon at the slightest bump in the road. On the other hand, I felt we deserved a reward for a play well done (as I mentioned earlier, Sunday’s audience especially loved us).

As you probably guessed by the title, I said to hell with it. We decided on calimari, one of my favorites; chicken tenders, one of Steven’s favorites; and homemade chips, which Yetty’s does exceptionally well.

The delivery man was very nice, especially when Tabby ran out to greet him. He said she was probably smelling his dog. He told Tabby she couldn’t go with him, as it seemed for a moment she was inclined to do. She took this in good part and returned to the house when we called her. She almost immediately wanted to go out back. I think she wanted to bark about it to one of her friends across the back fence.

It was a very good meal for just about the amount of effort I wanted to put in. Yetty’s is located at 109 Mohawk St., Herkimer, NY. Hours are Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight, Sunday noon to 11 p.m. Delivery is available every day from 11:30 a.m. to close. Phone number is 315-866-4201.

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Bad Cookie Day

Posted on May 6, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I have to get ready for the matinee of Harvey at Ilion Little Theatre (did I mention I was in a play?)(for those of you just tuning in, yes, I have, several times). Steven is at work. I feel stressed. I guess what I’m saying is, Lame Post Week Continues.

I guess I never declared this Lame Post Week, but I think I did mention that my blog might become All Harvey All The Time or some such nonsense. Be that as it may, I did try to have a cooking, or rather a baking adventure prior to my theatre preparations for the day.

While perusing Women’s Day magazine this morning (June 2012 issue), I discovered what purported to be “the simplest cookies you ever made.” I looked at the magazine just now to make that quote and found my error: I thought it said the EASIEST cookies I ever made. It does claim the cookies are yummy, my favorite flavor. I thought I would surprise Steven and give them a try.

I did some grocery shopping after I dropped him off at work, so made sure I had a big jar of peanut butter. I do love peanut butter. I eat it almost every morning on a banana. Yum. Back home I did some laundry and dithered about washing the dishes before I began baking (decided to wait; after all I was only going to dirty more dishes).

After preheating the oven to 350 degrees and locating my hand mixer, I measured out a cup of peanut butter. Boy, is that stuff sticky. Then 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar. The brown sugar was so lumpy as to be difficult to pack. I trusted the mixer to break up the lumps and did the best I could. I was forced to do a little math, though, at which I am not reliable, because I have no 3/4 cup measure. I thought 1/2 plus 1/4 equals 3/4. Phew, that wasn’t so hard was it? I used the same calculation for the 3/4 tsp baking soda. And looked at the recipe three times to be sure it was teaspoon not tablespoon.

I didn’t have large eggs, so I used a medium and took a spoon to scrape all the white out of the shells. A friend once told me that a baker’s dozen was 13, because bakers scraped all the white out of the shell and it made a whole other egg. I didn’t know if that would make the correct amount of egg, but as usual, I hoped for the best.

Those are all the ingredients in the recipe, but the picture looked like the cookies had white chocolate chips. I added dark chocolate chips. Some people make a recipe the correct way before experimenting. Apparently I do not.

It was surprisingly easy to mix with the hand mixer. I was right about the lumps. It was less easy getting the peanut buttery stuff off the beaters, but I did my best. I used a regular spoon to drop onto the baking sheets, which I used cooking spray on because I did not have the parchment paper the recipe called for. The recipe said “level teaspoonfuls,” but whatever. The recipe also said “makes 5 dozen,” so I guess I made mine too big. No matter. They were in the oven and I waited 8 of the 8 to 10 minutes.

So much for my bright experiments: whether it was the medium egg or the chocolate chips, the cookies fell apart as I took them off the baking sheet. How annoying! Well, perhaps they would taste delicious after they cooled. Hmmm…. they didn’t taste bad, but they continued to fall apart. Also, they gunked up my mouth remarkably like eating straight peanut butter by the spoonful (um, not that I ever do that).

I had had a vision of bringing some to Steven when I pick him up from work, but I fear they wiould be too messy. Also, we’re about to do a play; we probably had better not gunk up our mouths too much. I had earlier had an idea of bringing cookies to share with the other actors. I remembered halfway through getting the peanut butter out of the jar that at least one cast member has a peanut allergy. I knew I should have gone with Nestle Tollhouse.

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Post Show Run

Posted on May 6, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Subtitle: Mohawk Valley Girl Learns to Like the Young Kids’ Music.

Last night was opening night of Harvey at Ilion Little Theatre (I may have mentioned that once or twice). I didn’t get to bed till almost midnight. Still, it was Saturday and I was determined to run.

I ate a banana with peanut butter shortly before my run, because I was quite hungry. Normally if I eat I like to wait at least an hour, but I seemed to remember reading somewhere that a small nutritious snack was a good thing before a run. No time to look up how long before a run the snack was supposed to be, so I just waited a short time and hoped for the best.

The temperature warm, but a nice breeze was blowing. Traffic was not severe. Things looked good. I decided to run up to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) the back way. I’ll just mention that the only day I had run since Sunday was Thursday, when we did not have rehearsal. I ran a half hour, at varying distances from the ice cream truck, usually close enough to hear the music. When I wasn’t close enough the music played in my head. I was actually close enough to buy ice cream when I walked my cool down with Tabby, but providentially did not have any cash.

I was out at pre-ice cream truck time Saturday. I crossed German Street with no problem and headed up the hill. I looked as usual at the pretty little stream running downhill (as of course streams do). I thought that it really wasn’t a stream to run by. It looked like I ought to be sitting by it, maybe soaking my feet in the nice cold running water. My feet hurt all the time lately. Must make my way to the Sneaker Store in New Hartford for some new running shoes.

When I got up to the college I could hear music. What was that all about? As I continued up the road by the reservoir, the music got louder. Where was it coming from? Somebody in the dormitory partying hearty really early? Somebody’s car stereo out of control? I saw several cars in the gym parking lot. I saw a young man walking along. Was it his I-pod thingy? Do I-pods get that loud? I don’t know from I-pods, but I’m sure they don’t. It sounded more like a stereo system.

As I got closer to the athletic fields I could tell the music was coming from there. I’m not really a fan of a lot of the popular music these days. At least, I almost never listen to it, so I’m not familiar. I certainly don’t like the hip hop stuff, which I find tuneless. I think a lot of the more tuneful stuff is overproduced. The voices seem doctored and the instrumentals smoothed out, if you know what I mean. I guess it’s the ultimate expression of Phil Specter’s Wall of Sound. I’m not knowledgeable enough to express myself properly, so I don’t know if anybody knows what I mean. In any case, I sometimes think the 21st century is too in love with technology.

Of course, one of my favorite sayings is “To each his how, as the old lady said when she kissed the cow.” I felt sure that whoever was playing a sport up ahead was liking the music. I had to admit, it had a forward moving beat that was conducive to athletic effort. I found myself pounding along in the “I can rock this” stage of my run that I so enjoy.

I ran closer to the field and saw people playing lacrosse. The banks on the side of the field obstructed my view, so I kept running. I ran into the little veterans’ park. I must go there with a notebook and write down the different organizations that contributed to it. It is just a little area, a mere few steps around as I ran in and out. I wondered if somebody would say, “That is not a place to run in, have a little respect!” Well, I do have respect. And since I learned to run, and to love running, in the army, I think it is entirely appropriate to run through a veterans’ park.

A sign informed me that a lacrosse tournament was in progress. If I didn’t have show to rest up for, I might go watch some. I learned on the Sports Box that HCCC is quite the powerhouse in their conference. I must catch some games. The Sports Box, in case you didn’t know, is a show on WVHC, 91.5fm, the college radio station. I’m not into sports, but I love listening to those guys.

I continued around the sports building. The music was growing on me. Good running tunes! This is why people run with those ear phones! The only thing I would have liked better would have been if they played that tune my sister likes that starts, “Every day I’m shuffling.” It took me a long time to get out of earshot of the music, because it was really quite loud. By then I was headed downhill and life was sweet.

It was a great run. Toward the end I even lengthened my stride and went for that loping run I see the young kids doing. I didn’t do too bad. I think I may have finally reached the “I love running!” stage of my training. Boilermaker, here I come!

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Lame Jitters

Posted on May 5, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I don’t see why I should not devote a Friday Lame Post to talking about how nervous I am about opening night.

As I write this I realize a few things. For starters, this could go either way. By writing about my nervousness I could get it out of my system. I’ll feel calm, confident and collected. Or not. Reiterating my feelings and the reasons for them might reinforce their validity. Of course I’m nervous! Why shouldn’t I be nervous? I should be even MORE nervous!

Before my wrist reaches my forehead and my more sarcastic readers (you know who you are) get out those miniature violins, I take a deep breath and realize I have not taken a deep breath recently. Ah! The other thing I realize is that spending 300 or more words talking about me being nervous could get a little boring (me boring? Say it ain’t so!).

Still, it is opening night, and I am pretty obsessed by the play (Harvey at Ilion Little Theatre, for those of you just tuning in). I would actually prefer to be going over my lines right now. Only I don’t want to be composing at the keyboard later. It is much quicker and less nerve-wracking to type in something already written (I’ll just mention that I wrote the preceding in my little spiral notebook before beginning work this morning). Obviously my nerves need all the help they can get.

So now I have typed in all I managed to write earlier and am composing at the keyboard, as I had hoped to avoid. I spent the rest of the day at work being nervous, singing the song from the Bugs Bunny Show that starts “Overture! Curtain, lights!”, and, you know, actually working. Sometimes I did two or all three of those at once.

I left work and drove to Hannaford to buy snacks for the dressing room. I like to nibble a little and it’s rude not to bring enough to share. I went healthy with grapes and pretzel sticks. OK, pretzel sticks aren’t really a health food, but at least they’re non-fat. I’ve taken my shower and am waiting for my hair to dry so I attempt to style it.

I’ve written over 300 words. I hope it has not been too boring. I’ll just mention, it went the second way. I’m really nervous.

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All Harvey and a Short Post

Posted on May 3, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

All Harvey All The Time — it’s not just my blog, it’s my life these days.

I work, I go home, I must positively must have coffee. For one thing, it lets me sit down for a few minutes. I have lists of everything I am supposed to remember. Sometimes I remember to consult the lists. Usually, though, I just run around stuffing things in bags and feeling like I forgot something. Then I arrive at rehearsal feeling flustered. Which should help with my character. One would think.

Our last couple of rehearsals have gone very well. Last night (Tuesday) we set the curtain call. I am one of the last characters to go out and bow, and I get to bow all by myself. Scary! What if they boo? An unlikely contingency, I suppose. I will at least get a few polite claps. I have to stand next to a character that my character doesn’t like. Another cast member told me I should give him a dirty look. I give him a lot of dirty looks during the play. I should perhaps mention (or perhaps I don’t have to) that offstage the guy is one of my favorite people and a real sweetheart.

The subject of my reviewing the play in this blog came up in the dressing room. After all, I’ve reviewed other shows Ilion Little Theatre has done (if you can count my unqualified raves as reviews) (hey, Mohawk Valley Girl is a booster, not a critic). I don’t see why I shouldn’t brag on a play I’m in. I can heap praise on my fellow actors and lightly pass over my own performance with a modest clearing of the throat. That may comprise Saturday’s post.

Once again, Harvey is presented by Ilion Little Theatre May 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12; curtain time is 8 p.m. except for Sunday May 6 at 2 p.m. For more information go to http://www.ilionlittletheatre.org or the Ilion Little Theatre Club’s facebook page.

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