There was Chocolate Yoo-hoo in my fridge.

I really enjoyed the conversation about Motivation on the last post – thanks everyone!

The Detroit Tigers are now 19-9. 10 games over .500! Go Team! Even the national press is noticing! Check THIS out!!

The chocolate Yoo-hoo was in ‘drink-box’ form. Only one of them, the remainder of an 8 pack. This means that my wife and children have had 7. I took it. It’s now sitting on the table next to my hands as I type. Calling me.

The amount of work getting done at Williamston Theatre right now is amazing. Risers and walls being built, drywall being hung, meetings being had and money being raised. We’re getting close. Every day something cool happens as we build toward our first rehearsal. We have a costume designer, as of today. Excellent. We start rehearsals in 12 days. Excellent.

The Yoo-Hoo is chilly. It’s sweating onto my desk. Calling me.

We had to take Max to the Emergency Room a couple of nights ago. You simply cannot be in the same room as your almost-6 year old every second of the day. And of course, when you’re not, he decides that the best place to practice his “Funky dance moves” (his words) is on top of the slippery table. In socks. He’s fine, and has nothing more than a fat lip to show for his trouble. Well, that and a great story about falling off of one table and smashing his mouth on the corner of another on his way to the ground. Funky Dance Moves? *sigh* Man, it sucks when your kids get hurt. Between the worry and the guilt, if you’re any kind of decent parent you’ve got a night of fitful sleeping ahead of you. Still, a little antiseptic, a little “Maybe a mild concussion, but nothing more – he’ll be fine” mixed with “Hey, my 5 year old boy is always hurting himself on something – it’s what they do!” and you just cuddle them and hope that you can teach them to make good choices.

The straw is in the Yoo-hoo, but it’s not yet been sipped. It’s been shaken, of course, per the big red “Shake It!” on the top. Even the straw is calling me now.

Um – did anyone see Lost tonight? SWEET!!! Oh, man, it’s about time they did something big on that show – this season’s been a little less interesting for me than the first season, but I liked tonight a LOT!!

Sweet Mother of Pearl. That’s some good Yoo-hoo.

Tomorrow I get to go on a field trip with my daughter. I can’t wait. I get to accompany my 8 year old and her class to a museum in Lansing, MI. When I got home from running some errands she was already ready for bed, and came running up and jumped on me and said “Yay! You get to come with me tomorrow! It’s gonna be so much fun!” I’m pretty sure she’s right – it IS going to be fun, and I can’t wait!

I have a big date with my wife this weekend! Yay us!

*sigh* These drink-boxes are very, very small. Do they make this in gallon form?

I’ve been thinking a lot about motivation lately.

A little question for anyone interested in answering:

What motivates you? Take that to mean “What makes you tick?” or “What do you use to motivate yourself?”, either definition.

What motivates you?

I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.
-Og Mandino

Walls! Seating Risers!
Williamston Theatre is becoming a reality!

Click the pic to see the big version!

This first picture is taken from the lobby Point Of View; the wall under construction will separate the lobby from the theatre itself, which will be through the doorway you see at the lower right of the picture!

This second picture is taken from Upstage Right, looking across the stage toward Down Left. You can see on the floor the first completed seating riser (which will actually be the second row of seats – the front row is on the same level as the stage.)

This third picture is from Far Down Right. Actually I was standing so far Down Right that I was in the center seating section, looking across where the center seats will be to where the Stage Left seating bank will be, up against the lobby wall. This picture shows a better view of the first completed seating riser. The other two will be built behind it, like big steps.

This is a very exciting time for us. Seeing the thing come together, with the help of so many donors, sponsors and volunteers is really, really amazing.

So Opening Night for LEAVING IOWA went wonderfully – people laughed, people cried, and afterwards people were moved to stand around the lobby and share and talk about their lives and their families; what more do you want from a play?!

This was pretty great though: I was standing there talking to some complete strangers who said to me “Thank you for this show! This reminds me so much of what we did when I was a kid. My folks are gone now, but my wife and I decided, while we were sitting in our seats right after the play, that we’re going to take our kids and do a road trip vacation this summer. We’ve only got a couple years left before they’ll be too old for it, and we’re going to do it in July.”

Dammit, sometimes I love what I do for a living.

*Geek Alarms*
In other news – it appears that the reports of the next STAR TREK movie being Kirk and Spock at the Academy may have been premature. JJ Abrams, the guy who’ll be spearheading the next STAR TREK feature film, had some negative things to say about all of the published reports of the “prequel” type film.

This could be a good thing since, as I’ve mentioned, I’m pretty much against the prequel idea!

Thanks to allisona for pointing out this article!

Dear Journal,

Life has been crazy lately. Busy busy busy.

First Preview of LEAVING IOWA went well. It wasn’t really a “Preview”, it was the “Student/Faculty” show, which means all of Otterbein College can come and see the show for free. We had nearly a full house, and they loved the show. Tonight is the official Opening Night. It’s been very fun working with the students here, but I’m also glad to be getting back to work at Williamston Theatre.

Speaking of which; construction is underway, as I type, on the seating platforms and lobby wall needed at Williamston Theatre. Sooooo excellent. Rehearsals begin in 18 days for our first show!

The Detroit Tigers had a pretty great road trip to the West Coast. They won 6 out of 9 games, and come back to Detroit with a record of 13-9, which puts them at 2nd in the division. Frankly, better than I expected them to be so far this year! Go team!

I had to post about This story! How much would it stink to be one of those kids!?

The good news is that tomorrow I get to see a minor leage baseball game (weather permitting)!

And, we open Leaving Iowa on Thursday – it’s going very well. (Have I mentioned that I’m directing that show at Otterbein University? Fun.)

Tiger’s are losing right now – there’s still time for them to come back, though. They’re 12-7, and I’d love to see them get to 13 and 7! The Angels are playing pretty well, though, and they’ve got some great pitching.

Here’s a fun little meme, swiped from several folks. Unfortunately, this paints a few of you in a not-so-nice picture! 🙂

Your Livejournal zombie attack. LiveJournal Username The name of your zombie infested home town. Your zombie killing weapon of choice. How much do zombies scare you? More than death itself.ZOMBIES!?! HOLY FREAKING CRAP!They freak me out a bit.Well… They’re a bit scary… I guess.Zombies? Meh. Small stuff.I eat zombies for breakfast. Oh noes!!11 A zombie! What do you do? RUUUUUUUUUUUN!Its shot gun time.Sit in my arm chair, flip on CNN, and have some ice cream.Hide under the bed. No one looks under the bed.Hunt down the zombie leader.Steal your neighbors car.A BARREL ROLL! Blasting zombies left and right with a freaking twelve guage. What do you think? oldstancher Curled into a fetal position crying their eyes out. walou Is pwning some zombies with Don’t Stop Me Now playing in the background. allisona Is sitting at home watching CNN and eating ice cream. evanlawrence Get ripped to pieces by the zombies. Bummer. rather_reticent Is the zombie king who you must destroy to end the zombie menace. temporalone Number of zombies you decapitate. 798 Chances you survive the zombie swarm. 56% This Fun Quiz created by Rob at BlogQuiz.Net

Virgo Horoscope at DailyHoroscopes.Biz

So they’ve announced that they’re making a new Star Trek movie! J.J. Abrams, the guy who created Alias and Lost is in charge of the project! Whoohooo!

So, they’ve announced that the new Star Trek movie is probably going to be a PREQUEL!; it’ll take place when Kirk and Spock attended Starfleet Academy, and it will chronicle their first meeting and first adventures together.

NOOooooooooooo!!! WHY?????????????

*sigh*

I hope, hope, hope that this movie works, and is brilliant.
I fear, fear, fear that it’ll be a lame Sci-Fi Buddy Flick:

Hey, see the young arrogant Kirk.
See the young “Not-yet-in-control-of-his-emotions” Spock.
See them quarrel and not get along.
See the fate of the universe land in their lap.
Gosh, could they only solve it by working together?
Will they become buddies at the end? I just bet…

I’m sorry, but the experiment with Enterprise, the last show, failed. Going back in the past is a bad idea for a series or a movie. These stories need to move forward. Show us the growth. BOLDLY GO WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE – do not Blandly Go Back To The Past Where We Already Know What The Future Of All The Characters Is!

Rehearsals for Leaving Iowa are going great, the tech process was awesome. YAY!

Is it just me? Whenever I see someone driving a Jeep, and they have the big giant window sticker that says “It’s a Jeep thing – you wouldn’t understand.”, I want to get out of my car, go over and punch them in the head and say “It’s a Not-being-an-arrogant-ass thing. You wouldn’t understand.” NAY.

On Wednesday of next week the construction for Williamston Theatre’s seating platforms begins. YAY!

This morning, as I was eating my cereal (Heart Smart – thank you very much), I had the misfortune to see a bit of the Ben Affleck/Christina Applegate/James Gandolfini train wreck movie Surviving Christmas. Oh. My. God. I was embarassed for them, for the people who wrote/produced/directed it, and for anyone who even had to work on it. And I only saw 15 minutes. NAY.

The Detroit Tigers took 2 out of 3 in Oakland, not an easy thing to do! They’re currently tied for 2nd place in the division at 9-7, two games over .500! Will it last? Who knows?! But it’s nice while it’s here! YAY!

I want to be a superhero.
I want to be a superhero on a team of superheroes.

Why a team?

Because I like working with others who have similar goals. I like the feeling of accomplishing something with a group of collaborators. I like the inspiration you get from your teammates, the challenge to rise to new levels.

I also like the fact that you can cover each other’s backs. I mean, face it – although we’ve all got a little hero in us, sometimes we need to just sit and enjoy a Starbucks.

Seriously, think about it: Superman’s NEVER got any free time. As soon as he’s put out the big fire and pulled the people out of the collapsing building, he’s zipping off to beat up Starro the Evil Giant Starfish. As soon as Starro’s been dispatched, some nutball who wants to get his name in the Evening News unleashes yet another “I wanna be the guy who gets famous by killing Superman” plan. Naturally, Supes takes him out quickly, but it’s still ONE MORE THING to add to the day! He’s really gotta work to carve out quality time with Lois Lane.

This is why the Justice League of America is a great organization. They can take turns. They’ve got their Justice League Headquarters in a big Watchtower on the moon, or on a satellite orbiting the planet, or hidden in a warehouse in Detroit. Wherever it is, there’s always somebody on Monitor Duty. That person sits and monitors the news and the internet, and waits for the big red phone to ring. When something comes up, they call in the troops.

They work as a team. They contribute to something bigger than themselves.

And since I’d be new at being a superhero, maybe I’d be the hero on monitor duty. I wouldn’t mind a bit.

”Superman, this is Tony at the Watchtower – we’ve got a report of a Giant Clockwork Bumblebee attacking Seattle.”

”Sorry, Tony” says Supes, “Can’t right now – is anyone else available? There’s been a volcanic eruption, and I’m tunneling thru the Earth’s core to direct a flow of molten lava away from a village of children and into a nearby river where, upon hitting the water, it will cool and form a natural levee, creating a new reservoir of usable water for everyone in this region.”

“Wow. Cool. Okay, I’ll call Flash.”

“Well, okay.” says Flash. “But only because it’s only gonna take me a second. I’m in Paris, with my wife, it’s our anniversary. It’ll just take me about 6 seconds to get to Seattle and rip out some key components from the Clockwork Bee…there, in fact, I did it while we were talking. Take my name off the list for the rest of the night, though, will ya? I may be the world’s fastest man, but there are a couple of things I’d like to spend the whole night doing with my wife, if you know what I mean. Flash out.”

“Wow,” I would say, “Cool.”

And so it would go. A crisis, a call, crisis averted. People taking turns. People working together. People with a common goal, and common sensibilities, banding together to pursue that goal.

Come to think of it, maybe I don’t even need to be a superhero for this to work.

Maybe I just need to really look around and find the teams I’m on already.

I mean, we’re all on teams of one kind or another, aren’t we? And they change. What teams was I on 3 years ago? 2? How about 6 months ago? How about now?

And the thing is; they’re all teams we either create, help create, or allow to happen.

Some of them we even let form by mistake, or negligence. These are the teams that DON’T function the way we want them to, or that we don’t really want to be a part of.

So it’s inventory time for me.
I’m checking my calendars and rosters.
What teams am I on? Which ones do I really WANT to be on?
Time to start eliminating, creating, focusing.

Time for some team management, Superhero or not!

Still…

Being able to fly would be pretty sweet.