Eight Random Thoughts

The following is a list --in no particular order-- of random thoughts and observations spinning around in my head at the moment.

1.  At least 90% of my Abnormal Psychology classmates must be heavy smokers. You can always tell when that class is about to begin or just ended because the same big group of people will be huddled right outside the library doors taking desperate drags from their cigarettes. Once in that class we were doing group exercises and one of the guys in my group snuck out in the middle of our hour and fifteen minute class so he could run outside for a quick smoke.

2. It really is a "small world"! On Wednesday a piano tuner came from out of town to tune a couple pianos here in Raton. For my birthday present, my Granny lead the piano tuner up to my house and he tuned the piano up here. (It sounds great, Granny! Thank you again!) When he finshed, he headed back into town for some lunch and then to tune more pianos. I left shortly after he did and went to the Shuler. (I'm helping with Miracle on 34th Street and I had to paint parts of the stage in time for it to be dry by rehearsal time.) I arrived at the theatre and fruitlessly knocked on the front doors and office windows for a little while, getting more and more frustrated and embarassed by the minute. It was shortly after noon so Main Street was pretty thick with traffic and the sight of a lone girl with crazy hair desperately banging on the front door of an obviously closed business was attracting more attention that I would have liked. However, just as I was about to give up on the whole endeavor (either by storming off or breaking into tears, I'm not quite sure which) Mr. Billy Donati pulled up in a chariot resembling an old truck and let me into the building. It took some digging around in the left vomitory, but I found some old beat up paint brushes and a can of grey/black paint. I had just started painting when I heard voices out in the lobby. I glanced up from my work to see Mr. Fegan entering the the theatre, leading... the piano tuner! I'm actually really glad the timing worked out like it did- the piano being tuned was the large upright down in the pit and during all the Miracle on 34th Street music rehearsals had managed to get wedged way in the corner and it took a lot of work getting it out far enough that the tuner could actually open the top.

3. I have been so accident prone lately!  I know some people say you get clumsy when going through a big growth spurt but I sincerely doubt that's the case- I don't think I've grown an inch taller since about 4th grade. I remember when I was a lot younger it seemed that I would take after my mom in height- I towered above just about everybody in my classes at school! And then... I stopped growing and everybody else kept growing. Now I'm way short.. and thanks to this clumsy streak, covered in strange bruises.

4. Tomorrow is opening night for Miracle on 34th Street and I'm way nervous! To answer your question, no I don't have a lead acting role in the play. Actually, I don't have an acting role at all. I'm up in the light booth, running the.... SPOT LIGHT! It sounds so ridiculously easy- turn on, point at actor, follow actor, turn off. But somehow, I still found a way to have a hard time. I haven't yet been able to move the spotlight around without spasm-like jerking and even when I just aim it at an actor and they don't move, the spotlight still seems to bounce around. It's okay though, I'm sure I'll have it perfectly under control... just in time for the last performance of the season.

5. I've been kind of busy lately so I haven't had a whole lot of time for reading but the last new (to me) book that I read was "The Shining" by Stephen King. It was actually the first "scary" book I've ever read (except for "No Escape" by Madge Harrah, which is pretty intense when you're eight). I gotta say, it just really impressed me how someone can create that kind of horror and suspense with nothing but written words. I mean with a movie there are scary sounds and watching it on the screen can make it look like you're right there. But it takes a whole lot of talent to do that with words alone. I doubt I'll ever be a horror book author, but it's that caliber of writing that I aspire to, no matter what the subject.

6. It probably goes without saying that I've had, and will have, the songs from Miracle on 34th Street playing on repeat in my brain for what seems like many months.

7. So it's December 7th. Where the hell is the snow?

8. In case you didn't know, my dog sleeps with me. Of course, wording it that way makes it sound like I share my bed with her, when really, it seems like the other way around. It's totally her bed, complete with her blue stuffed lobster, Chester. Anyway, the point I'm making is that while I'm typing this on the computer, she's lying right next to my chair and every thirty seconds or so, she lets out an exasperated sigh that tells me only too clearly that it's past our bedtime. Oh, see? There was another sigh. I better take the hint.

Sarah