Tag Archives: blogging

More Monsters on Non-Sequitur Thursday

Sometimes when I have no ideas for a blog post nor brain to come up with any, I get on Facebook and find a cool picture, usually of a monster.  Sometimes not so much.  That is what you might call a heck of a note, especially during the month of October.  I wonder if my dear husband Steven downloaded anything good recently…

Was Elvis crossing over to the Dark Side or was Darth hoping for a gig as a back-up singer?

I’m going to count Darth Vader as a monster, although I suppose he is more properly considered a villain.  This being Non-Sequitur Thursday, I picked a few non-sequitur-looking pictures.  Darth Vader and Elvis Presley, there’s a buddy picture nobody ever made.  I suppose I could write a screenplay (if I knew how to write a screenplay), but who could we get to play Elvis?  Anyways, I would probably be lousy at pitching it to the studios.  That’s what you do with a screenplay, isn’t it?

It’s actually pretty good read.

Vampires are definitely monsters.  This is a book which occupies a proud place in our Halloween decorations.  Steven sought it out when he first heard of its existence.  I think a friend saw it in a bookstore window and posted a picture on Facebook.  Let’s hear it for posting pictures on Facebook!

Some humans are undoubtedly scarier than ghosts.

There’s a new ambition for me:  to find a ghost or other monster whose bed or closet I can hide under or in.

As you may have noticed, my writing tribulations continue.  I open the notebook and put pen to paper and nothing happens.  Oh, sometimes I write words then cross them out.  Then I write other words, some of which I let remain uncrossed.  They look up at me mockingly, flaunting their own ineptitude (how’s that for an awkward bit of anthropomorphism?).  And I make silly blog posts with pictures of monsters.  I like monsters.

 

Brain Off on Tired Tuesday

My brain has been functioning on and off all day, mostly off.  I hurried home from work and managed to accomplish the tasks I had set for myself EXCEPT make my blog post before my rehearsal for Strike Story, the reader’s theatre production in Little Falls later this month (is that a run-on sentence?  My brain is back in off mode, naturally).  I just about had time to make a not very good post, but my brain clicked off big time.  It barely clicked back on for rehearsal, but I managed to stumble through that.

Of course, the operative thing to do would have been to write my blog post earlier, while on breaks at work.  I was totally going to!  I even had something to write about.  When I started to compose it in my head while working (I have the sort of job where you can do that), I found I didn’t really know enough about what I wanted to write about, so I would have to wait till I got home and got on the computer.  I just could not manage to write about anything else.  Some will say this is mere laziness or perhaps that I am not really a writer after all.  Dammit, I know I’m not a real writer!  I’m lazy, too, I admit it.  The fact is, I am down, and I always have a hard time doing anything when I am feeling blue.

In fact, I’m having a hard time typing this now.  However, one thing I have learned is, one must persevere.  One thing I must learn is how to write when I feel blue.  Another good thing might be to learn how to make a blog post with my brain in off mode.  Wait a minute, I think that is what I just did.  How appropriate for a Tired Tuesday.

 

View from the Bottom of the Hill

Wrist to Forehead Sunday indeed!  I cannot even type in one coherent sentence!  Never mind why; it is not that interesting.  I have not had a particularly an interestestetring

That was when I gave up and stopped typing.  How embarrassing!  On the brighter side, it seems I spelled embarrassing correctly the first time for once.  It is early Monday morning.  It has happened a few times that I miss my daily post so do it the next morning as early as possible.  I actually could have done this one at 2 a.m. when I woke up and could not get back to sleep, but I like to stay in bed and keep trying. I often meet with success, as I eventually did this morning.  Ah, but will I meet with success in making a blog post?

Probably not.  As I was about to type when I became quite disgusted with my clumsy typing, I did not have a particularly interesting weekend.  I enjoyed it; it’s just nothing to write blog about (get it, like “nothing to write home about”?).

I did see a cartoon on Facebook that caught my attention and my thoughts.  It showed a person at the bottom of hill carrying a bicycle on Monday; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent struggling up the hill; Friday was a happy person at the top of the hill starting down; Saturday zipping down; Sunday reaching the bottom and into Monday in an endless cycle.  I thought, “Yes, that is exactly what I feel like, only without the bicycle.  I feel like I’m pulling myself up a vertical incline with only my fingernails for tools.”  Seriously, that is the exact image that has been coming to my mind lately, even before seeing the cartoon.

However, the point of the cartoon was, “Don’t be like this.”  I commented, “How, how, how can one accomplish this?”  So far nobody has replied, although I got a couple of Likes (on Facebook as with the blog, I love to get Likes).  So now I appeal to my blog readers:  How can one accomplish this without changing one’s job, going back to school, or otherwise completely disrupting one’s life?  Any ideas?  Anybody?  Bueller?

Full disclosure:  I am not feeling particularly ill-used by fate this morning.  I actually feel in a pretty good mood right now.  Is it the coffee?  Or the blog?  Maybe I should start waking up with the blog on a Monday.  It may have a positive effect on my life.

 

Slacker Saturday, But Here’s a Scarecrow

I won his hedgehog buddy at a Christmas party for Ilion Little Theatre a few years ago.

Yesterday when I was purchasing some last minute things for our cast party after the final performance of LiFT Theatre Company’s production of The Tempest, I impulse bought a scarecrow.  There he was, in a group of friends or brothers, sitting on a display in the produce department.  It is my first decoration for this year’s harvest season.

So this is a late post on a Saturday, and it is going to be kind of lame.  Perhaps I should have sub-titled it, “And a Little Bit of Tim Curry,” because my husband Steven and I have begun the movie watching portion of the evening, and it has a Tim Curry theme.

I can’t get that smoky eyes look, but I have achieved the red lips.

 

Here is Tim Curry and a couple of friends from Rocky Horror Picture Show, a DVD Steven recently acquired.  I have never seen this movie in the theatre and only recall watching it once on video back in the early 1990’s.  I suppose it is quite the event movie.  I remember it being shown at midnight at the Roxy Theatre in Potsdam, NY, back in the day (you know, the “good old days” when we weren’t good, we weren’t old, and they weren’t days, they were nights).

We watched that one and Steven just put in Clue, another one I never saw in the theatre, but have enjoyed on video and now own on DVD.

It is quite the star-studded cast.

As you may have guessed, I did not do a whole hell of a lot to blog about today.  I don’t care.  I’ve shared a couple of picture and I am going to get back to enjoying my evening.  Happy Saturday, everyone.

 

Wrist to Roger Corman to Tempest

Hello, it is Wrist to Forehead Sunday, the day I just can’t get much done and write a foolish blog post so I can get back to not doing it.  I am looking at (I can’t say “watching,” but I am periodically glancing at the television screen) a Roger Corman movie.  I thought I had not seen It Conquered The World before but now I am remembering parts.  I really will have to watch it with some attention some day and write a blog post about it.  For now, however, I am still in All Tempest All The Time mode.

I draw your attention to the entry at the bottom of the sign.

Yes, we performed at the Utica Zoo yesterday.  It was a great deal of fun, and I think the audience enjoyed it, too.  I guess the zoo has a lot of stuff going on. I’ll have to check out a few other events when I get a chance.  That would no doubt be worth a blog post.

Next time I want to be the guy with his sword up in the air.

This is one of the cast photos taken after the performance.  We do one smiling nicely and one “in character.”  My character tends to smile nicely each time. An exception would be a picture taken in Little Falls, when the King’s drunken butler was next to me.  I shared that photo before, but for anybody who has forgotten:

Luckily he is not a “method” actor, or he may have drooled. Ew!

I have been thinking again today about what a great cast I have been working with this summer.  I will miss them when this is over.  Then again, there is always the next play.  That is a cheerful thought for Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

 

Is a Lame Blog Post Useful?

Who knew I would make it to another Lame Post Friday?  Not me on Monday, that’s for sure.  Friday seemed oceans of time away!  Come to think of it, the end of my work day seemed pretty far off earlier today.  Ah, perspective.  There’s a bit of half-baked philosophy for you.  For anybody just tuning in, Lame Post Friday is the day I sometimes indulge in random observations and half-baked philosophy.  I do not know how much I can indulge in anything today, though.  I think my fall allergies have kicked in, big time.

I’m sure many readers can identify with my allergy-related tribulations.  If you have never suffered from allergies, congratulations.  If you suffer from allergies and have never to complained about them… PANTS ON FIRE!!!!  How can you say you have suffered and have never complained???  Oh well, maybe nobody ever said that.  Anyways, I have pontificated before on how I raise concerns, YOU complain, THAT GUY OVER THERE pisses and moans.  But I guess I can admit to a little personal whining.

Where was I?  Ah yes, trying to make some semblance of a blog post, before figuring out what to do with the rest of my Friday evening (ooh, that would be a good blog title, but I think I have already used it).  I feel I must do something useful.  I have a rather full schedule this weekend (remember All Tempest All The Time?  Well, that’s still going on), so I have no time to waste.  Therefore, lying flat on my back, watching the room spin, is not the best use of my time (full disclosure:  I actually tried it earlier, and it just made my back hurt).

The nice thing is, if I do anything useful now, I might be able to blog about it tomorrow.  You, gentle reader, will be the first to know. Happy Friday, everyone.

 

More About the Tempest

I hope everybody can read it.

It may be All Tempest All The Time for the next couple of weeks.  Our Aug. 5 performance is in the books, but we have shows the 10th, 12th and 13th.  Then we’ll have at least a couple of rehearsals at the Utica Zoo, preparing for Aug. 19.  I may be able to sneak in a few real Mohawk Valley posts after that, but then we’ll be preparing for our final performance on Sept. 1.

Then I’ll start getting ready for Halloween, yes!

Thursday’s performance is at Benton’s Landing in Little Falls.  It is where we did our preview performance on July’s Third Thursday (that’s a thing in Little Falls).  Perhaps you read one of my blog posts about it.  It is an interesting performance space with a couple of different levels.

It doesn’t really show the whole space, but you can get an idea.

This is the cast of last year’s summer show, Much Ado About Nothing.  It was the only photo I could find on LiFT’s Facebook page of Benton’s Landing.  As I was adding it to this post, I remembered, I shared some photos of our Preview Performance last month at, you know, Benton’s Landing.  How silly of me!

I took this one standing behind the rapt audience (if they were not rapt, I would rap them on the noggin!) (just kidding, in order to make a pun).

So I am getting ready to go to rehearsal at Benton’s Landing.  Tomorrow is the performance.  Yikes!  That happened fast!  How did three days of this week just slip right by while I was at work thinking time was dragging on?  Ah, that is a topic for Lame Post Friday, when I occasionally indulge in half-baked philosophy. Now Friday seems pretty far away.  Perspective!

 

 

To Blog or Not to Blog

Today’s mantra is, “Less stress.”  I have very little reason for stress.  OK, that’s a polite fiction I am telling myself.  The fact is, we all have reasons for stress, and stress is not always a bad thing.  However, since this is not Lame Post Friday, I will not philosophize (half-bakedly or otherwise) on stress.  Instead I will attempt a moderately amusing Non-Sequitur Thursday post.  I think I’ll use pictures.  I think Steven may have downloaded a couple of new ones…

I am NOT saying, “To be or not to be.”

This is LiFT rehearsing The Tempest at 120 London Bridge,  Caroga Lake, where we will perform on Saturday at 6 p.m.  It is a donation-based performance. I’m not sure what the suggested (or requested) donation is.  It is a lovely space to perform in.  Incidentally, I am the one in yellow tights, Acting (yes, it needs a capital A).  The photo was taken by Matt Powers, our director.

I missed him on TV!

Recently, Matt went on NewsTalk on WKTV to talk about LiFt and Shakespeare.  This is not what he will actually wear in The Tempest (he has two roles), but I think it was quite a theatrical choice for publicity purposes.

I’m not sure who took this photo; it was on LiFTs Facebook page.

To include three photos, as I like to do, here is one from early days of rehearsal, at Sterzinar Park, Canal Place, where next weekend’s performances take place.  I’m the one center stage, looking fairly ridiculous in the big old hat with a sweatshirt tied around my waist.  I tied on the sweatshirt not because I had tied one on (sorry; just had to make the play on words), but because I wanted something to put my sword through.  We had just started working on them.  I have a better looking sword holder now.

Performances of The Tempest in Little Falls  include Aug. 10, 6 p.m., Benton’s Landing; Aug. 12, 4 p.m., Sterzinar Park; and Aug. 13, 3 p.m., Sterzinar Park.  For more information, check out LiFT’s Facebook page.

 

A Metaphor on Mental Meanderings Monday

As regular readers know, I have been having trouble writing lately.  This morning before work, I opened my notebook (for those just tuning in, the spiral-bound paper kind) and penned the following:

Once again I draw a metaphor between writing and running.  One one reason, I have not been doing enough of either.  In many respects it is a sound comparison.  Both can be difficult.  Both are wonderful when going well, painful when not.  You have to get through the painful parts to get to the good parts.

The most important aspect of either is:  You have to do it. You can’t just sit and think about it, although some thought is necessary.  It does not count just to by the best running shoes, socks and bras, nor yet a fine new notebook and perfect pen.  You can’t just stretch, and you can’t just make notes and outlines (I personally have never successfully worked form nor even completed an outline, although I am a prodigious note-maker).

I don’t know how much further I can go with this, but at least it got my pen moving.

After writing that much, I turned back a few pages and wrote a few more notes on the murder mystery I am writing for a fundraiser for the Herkimer County Historical Society (preview of coming attractions).  I know I said you can’t just write notes, but notes are a very important part of murder mysteries.  They are not just notes I write from.  They are notes I give the actors to help them build their characters and aid them in the improvised sections of the performance.  Just to give you a little peek into how these murder mysteries are put together.

I guess I don’t know if my little comparison between running and writing has any value to any other writers nor yet holds any interest for any readers.  However, it worked pretty well as a pep talk for myself, and I’m going to call it good enough for a Monday Mental Meanderings.  This blog is just about to go All Tempest All The Time, and right now, I have to get ready for rehearsal.  I hope to see you all on Tired Tuesday.

 

Short on Excuses, Long on Monsters: It’s Lame Post Friday!

If ever there was a day I needed Lame Post Friday, this is it.  Fortunately, it is in fact Friday, the day I have decreed that I am allowed to make a really lame post.  I know, what is my excuse the rest of the time?  Well, regular readers know, I have different excuses on different days.  However, my purpose today is not to muddle around with excuses but to make a short, reasonably entertaining post and get back to enjoying my Friday.

Sons of bitchin’ graboids! Pardon my french.

This may be worthy of Non-Sequitur Thursday, but we can’t always have these things exactly when we would like to.  I went into Downloads on our laptop, looking for something to pep up my post a little.  I could not see what this was a picture of, so I inserted it in the post, thinking I could always delete it if I didn’t like it.  But how could I delete a scene from Tremors, one of our favorite movies!  We never saw any of the sequels nor yet the television show.  I felt they might taint my memory of the beloved original.

When in doubt, there is always Nosferatu.

I recently found this picture of one of my all-time favorite guys.  I shared it on Facebook, just because, and now I share it with you, for a similar reason.

I would SO buy this book if I ever found it!

For the sake of using three pictures (it’s kind of a thing with me), I include a beautiful pulp fiction paperback cover.  Now that I am looking at it, I see it is a novelization of a movie.  Interesting.  I would still buy the book, even though I do not care for novelizations.  I have a minor collection of pulp fiction paperbacks which I purchased purely because I find the covers so delicious.

So this is my Friday Lame Post for the week. It entertained me to write it.  I hope at least some of my readers are likewise entertained.