Prep for Jacob Marley production meeting (tomorrow late afternoon).
Continue to organize/plan for the EMU Producing Theatre class I’m teaching.
Write/send the letters of Recommendation I agreed to do.
Call about bids on the WTP building.
Continue Board Recruitment for WTP
Re-do the WTP show budgets.
Plan a WTP first show with minimal renovation to building, so we can do a show ASAP upon getting the space.
Clarify Otterbein information/details for Spring directing job.
Figure out why I haven’t been able to sleep all week…
Send letter of congratulations to Kristine Thatcher.
Send notes of congratulations to EMU students in “VIDEO GAMES: The Rock Opera” (which was awesome)(EDIT: Done verbally).
Set up coffee date with Annie.
Hang cabinet for Jeanne.
Paint bathroom.
Organize basement office and desk.
Get rust on roof of my car fixed. (Maaco?)
Pay bills/balance checkbook.
Pick up Max’s show-n-tell stuff from classroom (it’s too big for the bus.
Read the giant pile of scripts I need to read.
Eliminate the Dish Network equipment that no longer serves any purpose.
Go to sleep.
Figure out if there are things NOT on this list that should be.(EDIT: added ’em)
Go to sleep.
Win the lottery. (EDIT: Dammit…still trying.)
Go to sleep.
Solve paycheck issue
Solve Max “daycare on Friday’s” issue.
Coffee with Beth
Michigan Theatre Festival Meeting
Check in about the Nov/Dec gig at the Gem Theatre.
Set up time on 23rd for Bart and General Contractor to go thru WTP building.
Set up time to go thru WTP Building with Structural Engineer

So I’m in the car with Max today, and he’s looking at some of the books that he and Maggie keep back there for car trips. And to my surprise, he starts sounding out words. Words with more than 3 letters. He starts asking for my help with a couple of things in the book, and then he sounds out “The Yummy Smells!”. There was more to the sentence, but he didn’t need it. I didn’t need it either – he was so excited about getting those words right!

Now, he’s 5, and of course we read to him and work on reading with him, but these are the biggest words he’s ever worked out for himself, so this was a Big Moment. I said, teasingly, “HEY! What the heck, are you learning to READ?! What’s going on back there?!” And he was just so proud and energized, he kept saying “I just sounded it out, I didn’t know I could read those words! I just sounded it out!”

He was so excited we called Jeanne to tell her. He wanted Mom to know.

There are times when life goes so fast. When we let it, no when we MAKE it go so fast, that we miss things, lose them. Events, change, growth. Moments. We forget to listen, and look. This 10 minutes between my son and I, in the car, could’ve been one of those lost moments.

I’m so glad it wasn’t. And, I’d like to say Thanks to the publishers of The Berenstein Bears books. They gave my son and me a great moment. Of course, at 5 years old, I’m not sure if he’ll remember it.

But I know I will.

At some point in his career, William Shatner decided to record an album or two. No one is sure why. However, some brilliant people have taken his version of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (yes, really) and made a spectacular event out of it.

So, if you’ve got a high speed connection, Click here, and enjoy a little Beatle’s remake…from the future…

Oh Lord, so much to do. In no particular order (and very likely of very little interest to anyone but me), these are the things I have to get done:

Prep for Jacob Marley production meeting (tomorrow late afternoon).
Continue to organize/plan for the EMU Producing Theatre class I’m teaching.
Write/send the letters of Recommendation I agreed to do.
Call about bids on the WTP building.
Continue Board Recruitment for WTP
Re-do the WTP show budgets.
Plan a WTP first show with minimal renovation to building, so we can do a show ASAP upon getting the space.
Clarify Otterbein information/details for Spring directing job.
Figure out why I haven’t been able to sleep all week…
Send letter of congratulations to Kristine Thatcher.
Send notes of congratulations to EMU students in “VIDEO GAMES: The Rock Opera” (which was awesome).
Set up coffee date with Annie.
Hang cabinet for Jeanne.
Paint bathroom.
Organize basement office and desk.
Get rust on roof of my car fixed. (Maaco?)
Pay bills/balance checkbook.
Pick up Max’s show-n-tell stuff from classroom (it’s too big for the bus).
Read the giant pile of scripts I need to read.
Eliminate the Dish Network equipment that no longer serves any purpose.
Go to sleep.
Figure out if there are things NOT on this list that should be.
Go to sleep.
Win the lottery.
Go to sleep.

What the hell has happened to the Detroit Tigers? They just lost 12-2 to the Kansas City Royals. The Royals. The Royals are 46-93 this season. They just recently went thru a 19 game losing streak, but the Tigers can lose to them, AT HOME IN DETROIT, 12-2?!

I mean, this is pathetic. Detroit’s lost 9 games in a row, and they’re a season low 13 games below .500. Where is the offense? What is going on with the pitchers?! Roman Colon is the new pitcher, and I don’t see anything about him worth keeping. And where the hell is Pudge Rodriguez?! This is our 10 million dollar man? Hit the ball Pudge!

*sigh* Another season of incredible frustration.

…not sure what to write today…it’s been a nice, gentle day. Got up early with my son, who didn’t have school today. We hung out and had some QT, worked on some stuff for the class I’m teaching at E.M.U. Then we took lunch to Jeanne at school, but couldn’t find her (she was in another teachers room chatting), so we played with the stuff in her room for about 15 minutes before we left. Teachers now (well, the ones in Jeanne’s building) all have these great little wireless mic’s they can wear around their neck, and when they talk their voice is amplified from speakers all around the room. It’s awesome, no more yelling for attention, or throat problems from talking loudly enough for 7 hours for a whole room to hear you! So, since Max and I had the room to ourselves for a bit, we played with the microphone for a while. He loved it!

Let’s see, then we went and ran some errands, rented the LILO AND STITCH 2 DVD, and brought it home. When Jeanne and Maggie got back from school we all watched it, and had a great time! Such a fun, sweet couple of movies…

Then Dan Walker, the Set/Light designer for Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, came over to meet about the set. We had a nice meeting, and after he left we all had dinner, then went outside to play frisbee for a while. After we put the kids to bed, Jeanne was working on school work and I updated the WTP Website. Then, Jeanne was going to bed, so I went to The Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor to see The Aristocrats. Very, very fun.

(More on this very funny film can be found here!)

This is really funny! Give it a try (if you’ve got a LJ account! If not, get one and then try it!)

…but I really like this, so I’m sharing it. Tomorrow I have to begin teaching at Eastern Michigan University. Producing Theatre, which will be fun, and informative, and useful for the students, and blah blah blah, but if there’s one thing about this business that I hope to send them away with, it’s this: Don’t Be Afraid.

Nelson Mandela said it well:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask oursleves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our prescence automatically liberates others.”

Play is the exultation of the possible.
–Martin Buber

And some definitions for thought…