Category Archives: Wuss Out Wednesday

I’m a Wuss, But I Have Rehearsal

Posted on October 29, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I guess it’s time for this blog to switch over to All Lunch Hour All The Time, because all I can think about is the rehearsal I have to head out to soon.

Lunch Hour, for anyone just tuning in, is the current production of Ilion Little Theatre.  I’m stage manager.  I must admit, I’m not a very good stage manager, but the director is very nice about it.  In fact, speaking of not being a very good stage manager, I just remembered I am supposed to be bringing a couple of props to tonight’s rehearsal.  I wonder if I can find them. After I type in this blog post.

Rehearsals are going very well, incidentally. The actors are doing a good job of developing their characters and building relationships with each other.  I like to watch the reactions at some points.  I’ve only worked with one of these actors before, so it’s good to see new faces.  I hope the new people stick around.  For one reason, I’d like them to audition for the show I’m going to direct in the spring.

This is our last week of “real” rehearsals.  Next week is tech and dress, then we open.  Productions dates are Nov. 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, and 15,  at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, at Ilion Little Theatre, Remington Avenue, Ilion, NY.  For more information, you can visit their website, www.ilionlittletheatre.org.  You can also Like their Facebook page, where updates and rehearsal photos are often posted.

Well, I guess I didn’t say much in this post, but at least I didn’t whine about how I can’t write a post and how tired I am.  Oh, well, I guess I did.  Let’s just call it Wuss-Out Wednesday and hit publish.  Hope to see you all on Non-Sequitur Thursday.

 

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Can’t Give You Anything But Wuss

Posted on October 22, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh dear, it is SO Wuss-out Wednesday!  I am so tired now I don’t know how I’m going to get through rehearsal, which I have to leave for soon so I am REALLY rushing this post.  Steady, Cindy, steady.  You’re only the stage manager.  All you have to do is sit there with the book in your lap and feed the actors their lines as needed.  It is one thing to wuss out.  Let us keep our wrist off our forehead.

Where was I?  Ah yes, making a blog post.  I did start to write a “real” post while at work today, about another stop on the Saturday of adventures I had recently.  I need to look up a few more things about the place (preview of coming attractions).  I had planned to go running after work, so I thought I would make a Running Commentary instead.   Why do I even bother planning anything?

Oh, I did run.  If you could call it that.  It might even be good to write about my plod/shuffle/whatever-it-was.  For one reason, other runners may read it and feel a whole lot better about their own endeavors.  For another reason, it might be more humorous than my current whining.

It’s no use.  Right now I’ve got nothing but whine.  And I don’t dare have any wine or I will fall asleep for sure (no, I’m not an alcoholic, I was making a play on words with whine/wine.  Sheesh!).  All I can do is try again tomorrow. Thank you for bearing with me and Happy Wednesday to you all.

 

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Overwhelming Temptation

Posted on October 8, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am going to have a Wuss-out Wednesday and I am not going to apologize.  Maybe I will apologize.  Or maybe it will be too much trouble even to do that.

Oh, quit playing that imaginary violin.  Like you never got tired at the end of a long day!  Get over yourself!  Or don’t get over yourself.  I am trying to avoid telling other people what to do, although one must admit, sometimes the temptation to do so is overwhelming.

I  worked a ten-hour day today, and it was one of those days where the tenth hour was tacked on at the end.  Why is it that so much more tiring than going in two hours instead of one hour early?  That may be a good question for some half-baked philosophy on Lame Post Friday.  Will I even make it to Friday?  I suppose there is no reason to fear I will not, but the temptation to express myself dramatically is sometimes overwhelming.

Leaving work an hour later than usual, I nonetheless headed to the laundromat, something of a nemesis to me these days.  Perhaps I could have gone out and bought new underwear, but I was running out of clean everything else as well.  I started late enough that I was not finished when Steven got home from work.  He called me on my cell phone then drove to Ilion to join me.

Naturally the temptation to send out for food was overwhelming.  Steven called Sorrento’s, which is right across the street from the laundromat.  Unfortunately, we were done folding and our food was going to be 45 minutes.  Now what?  Sorrento’s does not have a bar where we could sit and have a drink while we waited.

“There’s Crossway’s Tavern,” I suggested, not thinking Steven would go for it.  Steven went for it.

As we sat at the bar at Crossways, I said I would write a blog post about it.  However, now that we are home, in our comfy clothes and have eaten,  all I really want to write is a Wuss-out Wednesday.  The temptation to do so is, as you might guess, overwhelming.

 

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Boy, Is My Face(book) Red!

Posted on September 24, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I think my readers will be patient with me.  I think they understand that I am not a young woman and infinitely resilient (oh yeah, like I was EVER infinitely resilient).  Yes, friends, I am indulging in Wuss-out Wednesday.

I wrote earlier today, but it was not a blog post.  It was a letter to a friend.  I don’t know why, but I am really into writing letters these days.  I know, nobody writes letters, and they haven’t for years. Ah, here’s a blog topic:  communication between friends.

I remember when people were just starting to get computers and be online, distant friends would say to us, “Oh, I wish you had email.  I don’t write, but I EMAIL.”  So we got on a computer at Kinko’s (remember Kinko’s?) and got email.  Guess what?  Nobody really emails.  They just forward jokes.

And now there’s Facebook.  I know there are other things as well:  Twitter, Instagram, texting on cell phones, but I don’t know from technology.  I do like Facebook.

However, how much do people communicate via Facebook?  I personally enjoy the pictures of people’s kids and grandkids, fun activities, and even their yummy dinners.  I like when people post things like, “I just had a cup of coffee and now I’m going for a walk.”  I’m not so nuts about the cryptic posts:  “Oh, it’s such a big decision!”  “My whole life just changed.”  “Feeling sad/frustrated/angry/whatever.”  One day I posted, “Well, that really sucked,”  just to be that way.

All this by way of admitting:  I had time to log onto Facebook, check my notifications and read down a few statuses (I didn’t scroll as long as I would have LIKED to), but apparently I do not have time to write a decent blog post. I was about to say don’t judge, but, well, perhaps I deserve it (hanging my head in shame).

Here’s an idea for me:  I’m going to get a camera that can transfer pictures to WordPress (did I mention I don’t know from technology?) .  Then I can indulge in Wordless Wednesday instead.  Tune in again on Non-Sequitur Thursday, when Mohawk Valley Girl says, “In my defense, shut up!”

 

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First You Take the Blog Post…

Posted on September 17, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

So there I was, pressed for time, short of brain, and I wanted to make a blog post.  Would I get it done in time?

First, I thought, I will make Steven’s sandwich.  You see, I must meet him at his work at six, to go to our pick-up rehearsal at 6:30 for Roxy, the play I will apparently never stop talking about.  Steven nicely left me a recipe for the sandwich.  I will share it, with explanation and memories, for today’s post.

I had asked Steven to leave me a note, reminding me to make the sandwich. Included in the note was the sentence:  “First you take the sandwich.  Then you make it.”  Now I will explain that.

Many years ago, when Steven and I had recently moved into our first apartment together, we were discussing things we could fix for dinner.  I suggested meatloaf.  Steven did not know how to make meatloaf.

“Oh, it’s easy, ” I said.  “First you take the meat.”  Then I realized I did not feel like going through the whole process, so I just said, “Then you loaf it.”

He was not gratified by the explanation.  However, some time later we had gotten some fish, which Steven also did not know how to cook.  He was to arrive home first that day, so I undertook to leave a note explaining what to do.  My note read:

“It is very easy.  First you take the fish, then you loaf… oh wait, wrong recipe!”

I went on to explain the intricacies of cooking fish (you put it in the oven with butter and garlic, if you want to know), and we both thought it was a very funny joke.

I believe this explains why we are still so happily married after almost 25 years. We laugh at each others’ silly jokes.  Perhaps nobody else will find our jokes so amusing, but I thought for a Wuss-out Wednesday, it would do.

 

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The Heat Is Already Wet

Posted on August 20, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, this is embarrassing, although I suppose I should be used to it by now.  I ended yesterday’s post with a silly prediction that I would be explaining once again why I could not write a decent post.  I was kidding!  I meant to write a good post!  I really did!

However, it is a well-known fact that shit happens.  And sometimes doesn’t happen.  In this case what did not happen was my brain functioning.  I’m going to blame it on the continuing heat and humidity, which I had not expected.  At least, I had not expected it to be so bad.  I thought yesterday was supposed to be the worst day.  I thought we were supposed to get thunderstorms at some point which would cool things off.  Another cruel hoax by the weather people!

I really can’t spend another post complaining about being uncomfortable, so I will share one of Steven’s and my movie memories.  One of our favorite hot weather movies is Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window.  In this movie, it is very important to the plot that the city is in the middle of a terrible heat wave.  In the middle of one night it rains.  The next day, the wonderful Thelma Ritter (one of our all-time MOST favorite actresses) says, “You’d think the rain would have cooled things off.  All it did was make the heat wet.”

Steven and I often use that line, or variations of it, when it rains.  Unfortunately, it has not rained yet, and the heat is already wet.

In the meantime, it is, indeed Wuss-out Wednesday, and I have rehearsal for Roxy is less than an hour (I did mention the play I’m in,  didn’t I?  I’ll no doubt write even more about it as time goes on).  What will I come up with for Non-Sequitur Thursday?  Time will tell.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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This is Not What I Wrote on Break at Work

Posted on July 30, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh this is dreadful.  I was so determined NOT to have a Wuss-out Wednesday.  I brought all my notes and fliers from the weekend’s adventures to work with me.  When it was break time I opened my notebook and started writing!

Well, first I couldn’t settle on a lead.  That shouldn’t matter, I told myself.  Just write something, anything.  You can always edit later.  I wrote a sentence.  Crossed it out.  Wrote another sentence.  Crossed it out.  Consulted my notes.  Realized I had left at least one flier at home.  Sat with my pen poised over the notebook till the buzzer rang and I had to go back to work.

During a ten minute break, by the way, I had worked on, I think, three potential blog posts and one article for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  If anyone is gearing up to lecture me on focus, just give it a rest.  I gotta be me.

Back at work, I pondered my dilemma.  I picked one topic I thought I could get written.  I considered the different things I could write about it.  I went to lunch, opened my notebook, picked up my pen, and started writing.

I got almost a whole page done.  Aaahh.  I didn’t hate it.  I barely crossed anything out.   I was following my notes and adding insights and observations.  I could so write!  This was going to be just fine, a perfectly acceptable blog post.

And then the whole thing just  kind of petered out.  I was maybe a quarter of the way through my notes.  I reminded myself that I did not have to use ALL my notes.  But how many notes should I use?  Had I used the notes I’d used so far to best advantage?  Was this really anything anybody would want to read?

I know, this is inner critic carping that one must tune out while in the throes of composition.  The problem is, the bitch had a point.  What I had written may indeed have been perfectly acceptable, but I could do better.  It was almost the end of lunch time anyways.  I could fix everything later.

Who knew I would be so tired after work?  Oh, I know YOU probably did (you know who you are).  For heaven’s sake, three ten-hour days, two rehearsals, not a lot of sleep, swelteringly hot, humid weather.  AND NO, I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT THE HEAT, I AM MERELY POINTING OUT THE FACT THAT IT MAKES ME TIRED!!!  Jeezum.

On the brighter side, some readers enjoy posts about the writing process.  I myself often enjoy reading what other bloggers have to say on the subject.  On the even brighter side, I still have the stuff I wrote today.  I can look it over and edit, add, polish etc, tomorrow.  And I don’t have rehearsal tonight.  I can go to bed early.

I hope you are all having a stellar mid-week.

 

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Wednesday with Quentin Tarantino

Posted on July 23, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Wuss-out Wednesday follows Tired Tuesday when one is on overtime and in a play.  I do love the overtime. For one reason, it gives me a good excuse to slack on everything else.  Uh, I mean, it gives me a chance to further my career, make a contribution in the workplace and… oh hell, nobody’s a good enough actor to sell that line of bologna.  I’m sure you’ll believe I can use the extra cash, but it is vulgar to brag about one’s income (especially when it’s really nothing to brag about) (so don’t bother hitting me up for a loan) (you know who you are).

Where was I?  Ah yes,  striving to post something, anything before going to rehearsal.  At last night’s rehearsal I showed that although I know my lines, I do not know my blocking (that’s moving where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there, for you non-theatre folks) (and for any pedantic theatre folks who want to correct my definition, oh just give it a rest!).

In my defense,  it is kind of a complicated play.  There are flashbacks AND re-enactments.  I think it’s a little bit like a Quentin Tarantino movie.  I can’t even add “but without all the violence,” because my character chops off her husband’s head (that’s not a spoiler; everybody knows that about Roxalana Druse).

I studied my lines again today while on breaks at work (I know, I should have been writing my blog post; one can’t do everything, after all).  I even said them to myself while I was working.  Luckily, my job is not one where I deal with the public.  I don’t think my co-workers were particularly disconcerted.  After all, they’re used to me.

Right now I’m as tired as I was on Tuesday with rehearsal tonight and more overtime tomorrow.  But that is OK, because the show must go on!  Tired is not too great a price to pay for stardom!  Or even for having fun being in a community theatre play.

 

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One Day, Two Libraries, What’s Not to Like?

Posted on July 2, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh dear, does that headline read like I’m soliciting “Likes” for this post?  Naturally, I hope people like my blog, but I try not to be too needy.   Not to look too needy anyways.  Never mind, let’s get on with the post.

All I really want to do on my vacation is sit on my butt, perhaps in front of the TV and knit, perhaps on the deck with a notebook and write, perhaps just about anywhere with a glass of wine.  Wait a minute, that is how I feel most of the time.  I do enjoy to sit on my fat butt.  Nonetheless, I also like to get out sometimes.

I had a few errands to run today but no real plan as to what order to do them in or even if I would get to them all.  However, I set out this morning with a notebook and high hopes.  I made it to the bank for deposit and withdrawal. I even used the automated kiosk, which is quite the accomplishment for technologically challenged me.

I went to two different places looking for a poster board.  I volunteered to make the price list for a fund-raising concession Team Uncle Leo is doing three different times.  This is for Sitrin Stars and Strips Run and Walk, which benefits veteran rehabilitation programs.  Just thought I’d give them another plug.  In this I was unsuccessful, but I have time.

Ho hum, now what?  Basloe Library in Herkimer, always a good choice.  I wanted to find a book on paper flower making.  My character in Roxy, the play I’m in, made paper flowers while she was in jail.  This is not actually shown on stage, but I thought it  might be a good character thing to do backstage, in addition to giving me a new crafting skill to use while I’m sitting on my butt watching television.  Instead I found three other books that looked interesting.  Then I sat down (yes, on my fat butt) and worked on a letter to a friend.

Then I went home and took care of a few other things, including working on my lines for that play I mentioned.  I have a rehearsal on Thursday.  For anyone just tuning in, Roxy tells the story of Roxalana Druse, the last woman hanged in Herkimer County.  It was written by a local author and is being presented by Herkimer County Historical  Society and Ilion Little Theatre.

This afternoon I went to Frankfort, NY, to follow up on some fundraising for Team Uncle Leo.  I had to return to Big Willy’s Pizzeria.  I wished I had not already planned supper, because things smelled really good at  Big Willy’s.  Maybe I could hold the pork chops and macaroni salad for tomorrow.

After Big Willy’s, I realized I did not have any more plans.  Now what?  Providentially, a FedEx truck was blocking the way in front of Melrose Market, so I turned right on the street that leads to Frankfort Free Library.  Naturally I had my notebook with me.  I finished my letter to my friend.

As I wrote, I thought, stopping at two different libraries in one day is not a usual thing for a person to do.  How fortunate for me that I live in an area with several libraries so handily located.  I sadly refrained from looking for more books at the second library.  I only have so much time to read, after all.

So this is my Wuss-out Wednesday post.  I accomplished a few things, at any rate.  Do you suppose I’m justified in sitting on my butt now?

 

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In My Defense, It’s Wuss-out Wednesday

Posted on May 28, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

So this guy at work got ticked off, because he said I was stalking him.  In my defense, my doctor told me to get a hobby.  Well, I guess it wasn’t MY doctor, but it was A doctor who wrote the article somebody shared on Facebook. At least, I think it was a doctor.

 

OK, the above paragraph is completely fictitious.  None of the guys at work are the least bit bent out of shape about me stalking them. However, I thought of that for possible use as a humorous Facebook post. That is what I think about  when I’m at work (it is the kind of job where you can let your thoughts wander).  I try to think about my novel or blog or any other writing projects at hand.  When I have no thoughts about any of those, I try to think of humorous Facebook posts.

 

Some of my readers who are also Facebook friends may now be saying, “Huh.  She doesn’t share any of those with us.”  How unkind!  I thought I was mildly amusing on occasion.  Unfortunately, sometimes I think of some really good bons mots then can’t recall them when I sit down at the keyboard.

 

The same goes for my blog posts.   However, full disclosure:  today I did not think of a good blog post.  But I thought for Wuss-out Wednesday, a humorous Facebook post would do.

 

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