Currently Daydreaming about...

I constantly daydream about future plans.  Things, perhaps, that I would not be really interested in if I actually looked into it. Maybe??  Daydreams are an outlet.  I can imagine myself as a congresswoman, a town mayor or city engineer.  I come up with ways to save the planet! Or at least show the way.  And sometimes they are practical...involving no mind-control powers or flashy cape.  But vastly over-simplified in how easy or hard they would be...
My current daydream revolves around a concept to have a brick and mortar puppet theater that would also be an indoor fun play place to help pay the bills.  So here is the idea.  In the Pacific Northwest, we get a lot of rain.  So we have these places in malls and commercial settings that offer large safe toys for kids to play in and around.  Some of them are paired with cafes so that the parents can get a coffee and let their kids play somewhere safe and dry.  They charge you about $15 per child to let the child play all day.  You just have to stay on premises and are not required to hover.
So I like the idea of this...first of all, no place like this exists in Sammamish.  So the front of the store would be a coffee place, the middle would be the large safe toy area and the back would have the puppet theater.  It would primarily be a glove puppet theater and would feature a cast of characters similar to France's Guignol, who basically is similar to Mr. Punch but far more Bugs Bunny like in story line.  I'm inclined to continue the use of my Puppet Heap puppets...the characters of Spudbottom. But, of course, if I am to use the Puppet Heap puppets professionally, I'd probably need to get them remade for it. The $20 and $80 versions of them I have would wear out.
I envision the front being used more as a third place...we'd host game nights for parents.  We could host parenting classes...workshops etc.  I imagine, we could sell memberships like gyms.  We would host birthday parties. We would supply strong wifi for parents who need to work while their kids have Teacher In-service days and bank holidays inside.  We'd also supply a list of babysitters parents could use to leave their kids there with older kids from the community.
I envision the whole thing being a worker co-op so I'd need about 5 partners.  Because I don't know what I don't know...but to staff a place like that I imagine 6 would do the trick. Need someone who knows coffee, someone who knows kids, someone who knows financial and insurance stuff, someone who knows how to clean, and maybe another someone who knows puppets.  How could we fail if we had 6 people pulling for success!
Of course this would take a lot of research to start...I'm not sure how worker co-ops are best set up.  I don't know what sort of capital we'd need to begin. I'm not sure if such an enterprise would supply a living wage for 6 individuals.  I'm not sure which 5 individuals other than myself would wish to join this co-op. Also, to do this...I would have to retire from my engineering job.  So perhaps this is nothing more than my current daydream that gets me through the long boring meetings.

Life Goals

Every now and then I think: If I could retire early, what would I do? 

The answer at the top of my list these days is spend more time with my girls. But then the follow-up question naturally would be: Doing what?

My head always dreams of more puppet shows, man I love puppetry!  I'd like to do Puppets in the Park, all around Washington state.  Go from little town to little town and do puppet shows in their parks.

Everyone dreams of buying stuff, I mean, STUFF is always on a retirement list.  But if I could retire early, while still in my 40s, I'd buy an E.L.F from Organic Transit and a PEBL from Better Bike...make sure to get the ones that fit small kids in back.  These are competitors in the realm of hybrid bike and electric vehicles.  I'd like to attach 2 bike cargo trailers to each full of camping gear.  Have Dad and one girl in one, and Mom and one girl in the other and camp all summer long--spending the first half driving as far as we could get away and the second half meandering back in time for school to start.

I'd like to spend the school year volunteering in my daughter's schools and running my daughter's Campfire groups.  I'd do puppet shows on the weekends and other than that, I'd like to dabble in Stop-Motion animation and post silly videos on YouTube.  I might like to have a small Etsy store where I could sell puppets and occasionally strange hand-made costumes (these are the few things I like to make).

And I'd like to be good with money...really really good, so that I never have to go back to work again.  I've worked on other people's dreams long enough.

Parent Elly

Yes, my friends, I have become a parent.  Now I declare that I have added to my Polymathic abilities.  I am an expert on one little girl.  Yay!  I can understand her beginner speech better than anyone saving only my fellow polymath, her father.  I know when she first rolled over, slept through the night, walked, and her first word.  I know which books she likes and which are her favorite toys.  Though I can say all this, am I an expert on parenting...oh heck no!
Don't expect any parenting advice to turn up on this blog.

Bucket List Check-in

Still don’t have terminal cancer like in the movie, but looking back over that old post I thought...well, have I done any of them since 2009?

So, here is my old list of the things I’d like to do before I kick the bucket:
1. Own someplace to make and perform with puppets (Nope)
2. Pass the Level 3 Japanese proficiency test (Nope)
3. Go to an international puppetry festival (Nope)
4. See the Great Wall of China (Nope)
5. Visit Australia (Nope)
6. Write a novel (Nope)
7. Make a self-published book online (Nope)
8. Build a Punch and Judy set of puppets (Yes)
9. Enter a puppetry competition for an award (Yes, and won too)
10. Go back to Japan (Nope)
11. Visit Outer Space (Nope)
12. Find & Frequent my own Harmonia Gardens or Cheers bar (Nope)
13. Make a Victorian Costume (Yup)
14. Go on a Kayak overnight trip (Nope)
15. Perform in another Shakespearian Play (Nope)
16. Make a YouTube Web Show (Nope)
17. Live in a really big city for a while  (Yup)

So there it is...not bad.  Of course, now my life has changed.  I think I'd remove things and add things now.  I'll have to think it over more...

Paris Part One

We arrived in Paris on a Tuesday morning in time for the morning commute.  I didn't sleep at all on the plane and it was just 11pm back home so I was starting to be sleepy.  To win against Jet Lag, we figured we had to stay up until the sun went down.  That was a long time away.
The RER train and Metro got us to the hotel with little difficulty.  But Kayak.com had let us down.  They didn't tell us that the hotel had informed them that the credit card did not go through and the reservation had been canceled.  So beware of booking hotels with Kayak.com!  The hotel was fully booked by this point but there was a room in a nearby branch just two stops down the M6 line.  That was fine...though the rooms were smaller it was closer to the Eiffel Tower.  We made it there, and got into our very tiny room.  I wanted to collapse, so we took a walk.
Paris is so much better for having hundreds of years of history.  So many different cities in the US disappoint me by being cookie cutter versions of each other...the same box stores and fast food dives block after block.  But Paris is not like that for all it's McDonald's and Starbucks locations.   
We found a baker we thought we'd try and had two of the most yummy baguette sandwiches which would serve to set the bar high for the remainder of the trip.  I filmed a bit of the bustle at the place...definitely a popular place with the salary folks.
We continued to walk around window shopping until Dylan declared that he had hit a wall.  My feet were beginning to talk to me too so I agreed to return to the hotel and crash. We did nothing but sleep that day.  I was up quite early to chat with Mom via iMessage but I kept trying to sleep some more.
By 6am, we both agreed it was impossible to lie in bed further.  We showered and headed down to breakfast in the hotel.  Got there at 6:45am, and they served us even though the breakfast started at 7am.  I had to ask them if it was too early.  I suspect they did not wish to attempt to explain it to us.  The breakfast was yogurt, a basket of bread which included a baguette and a croissant, coffee and orange juice.  I was pleased to practice greeting everyone in French.
That morning, we walked to the Eiffel Tower and took many pictures from the Peace memorial to right under it.  We marveled at the length of the line and agreed we would need to stand in it at some point.  We walked to the bank of the Seine river and down to the area with the river boats.  At this point a Foxity bus which was parked nearby began moving toward the road up and our location.  I pointed to it and mentioned to Dylan that such a tour would be a good idea to get the lay of the land.  The bus driver spotted us and pulled over to ask us to board.  We took little convincing as a trip around the major areas was only 13 euros each and there was an included audio tour in English.  So we saw all of the places we would go back to in the next few days.
I had found and chatted with by Facebook, a local puppeteer who did regular shows in a permanent puppet theatre at the Buttes-Chaumont Park. His company is called "Les Petits Bouffons de Paris"--isn't that a great name?  The website said we could see a show at 4:30pm in good weather.  I messaged back and forth with Pascal about the weather, and in the end we determined to go to the Park because the rain had not yet come.  The show went on!  It was delightful.
The story was about the Marquis' Singing Competition in which he insisted that Guignol, the black-capped hero, participate. Guignol had planned to spend the day chasing butterflies but alas, he had to instead deal with a slapstick wielding Professor of singing!  He convinced his pet cat to sing as well.  Guignol's cat spoke very little, mostly "Meow put put".  This phrase lived in conversation between Dylan and I from that point forward and should anyone ask you to do karaoke, I suggest you too say "Meow put put!"
Guignol and his cat had all the children torn as to which puppet should win the singing competition...they easily triumphed over Madame Begoody (her name means Mrs Curlers) and the young boy, Felix.  I think the Marquis had to call it a tie between them but I'm not sure.  Either that or the cat won...hard to tell.  But the Professor had to make one more attempt at seeking revenge...this time both Guignol and his cat worked together to see the professor off with a soundly smarting pate!  The end!  Hooray! Meow Put Put!
After the show, Pascal asked me back to see the stage and puppets.  He and I talked for some time and I gave him a Hobey Ford Peeper puppet as a thank you.  He gave me several posters of Guignol to take home.  I think both Pascal and Bernard were pleased to have the Peepers.  I gave Pascal a brown pair and Bernard a yellow and blue pair.  Bernard did not talk to us much until that point.  But he was very pleased at the gift and found many different ways to use the peepers.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the beautiful Buttes-Chaumont Park until my feet hurt, then we had another sandwich at a baker just outside the park.  After that, we headed back to the hotel.

Book Recommendation

Eaarth by Bill McKibben

Really interesting book.

Read it on my Kindle that I got for Christmas.

If my Leaverton/Stembridge Book club was going, I'd pick it for the next. Hint. Hint.

Sign now before it is too late

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My First V-Blog

Like other firsts with a new camera...this one starts with an excellent view of my chest and much fiddling around with a camera...which I just knew you'd love to see!

Humongous List of To-Blog

Mom has sent me an email letting me know that she has noticed Mandy, Megan and my blogs have been sadly neglected. I looked and indeed it is true, I have a long list of things I should’ve blog here and have not yet. They are:

1. Hatsumode 2010
2. My nifty sparkler Paint Shop Pro (PSP) Image
   
   
3. My Singing and Voice Over classes I took in the Winter at Green River CC…with a side note about my shiny new Seattle Public Library card I got and the great books of sheet music I found there.
   
   


4. My new glasses and adventures with Crazy Eye contacts
5. My trip to see Dad for his birthday and the resulting demos thereof
6. Seeing South Pacific at the 5th Avenue Theatre with Pam
7. Radcon where I was once again a visiting pro
8. Seeing Legally Blond at the 5th Avenue Theatre with Pam


9. Seeing Beckett in Macbeth
10. My trip to Boise, the WarHawk Museum and the merry St. Patrick’s Day party my sister and I attended
    
    
    
    
    
11. Apartment Hunting and my big move to Ballard
    
    
12. My winter obsession with Kusudama and the class I taught on them (and the PSP edited B&W isolation image I created)
    
    
13. My trip to finally see the Ballard Locks
14. Seeing Beckett in Grease
15. Seeing The Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Center House Theatre with Pam
16. A Meeting I attended of The Seattle Sea Kayaker’s Club and the Kayak Meetup.com site I just found. Plus pictures of Lake Auburn from my kayak and possibly a bit about Stimson Marina where I’m now keeping my kayak.




17. Adventures with Peeps, Rice Crispy treats and Sushi knives
    
    
18. My first Amtrak ride
    
    
    

Wow! I’m a busy girl! Plus, that’s really not all…I’ve imagined several useful tip type blogs I thought would be fun to write about like “Which store has the best grocery totes”, for example. Whatever shall I do first?

Mom's Blog Book

The book I made from Mom's Blog and gave her a copy for Christmas:

Sirius

Thoughts from a Tra...

By Dannielle Leaverton

Book Preview

The Cat Lady Observation

On Saturday, at approximately 12:15pm, my fellow explorer, Pamela Clark, and I departed for the wild unknowns of Puyallup. There had been a report that a flock of Cat Ladies were descending upon the Puyallup Fair Grounds. As this was a rare opportunity for sighting this often sequestered segment of the population, we were determined not to miss this opportunity.
At the entrance of the enclosure where the Cat Ladies were thought to be flocking, we were arrested by the sight of an even rarer specimen…the volunteering boy. He was clearly the gatekeeper of the enclosure for he looked directly at us with expectation on his face. We had come prepared for this encounter and were well stocked with the proper greens to sate this voracious specimen, but for good measure, we also included some of our provisions to sweeten the deal, namely: a can of chicken broth and a can of string beans. The volunteering boy went on about his business when the deal was struck, after giving us a map and manual for the wilds beyond that we were to face in our quest for the Cat Ladies.
We did not have to look far before we came upon our first sighting of a flock of Cat Ladies. I must say, the first ones we encountered were fine examples of the population. The mission of these particular cat ladies was to find unattached felines in the wild and bring them back to the collective for use in converting the unwary to their way of life. We skillfully dodged their overtures. Pam used the feline allergy tactic and I used the two feline max rule for apartments. Everyone knows that to become a Cat Lady, one must possess a number of felines which, in total volume, requires more food than the average human male. Ergo, apartment dwellers that are compliant with rules are safe.

The second flock we came upon we could only assume were Cat Ladies because though they had no felines present, their knowledge of felines in general was extremely vast. Other confirmed Cat Ladies brought forth their felines to be inspected by this flock. In fact, all who were present treated this flock like revered village elders. They spoke in whispers around them and took all compliments or insults from them with either great joy or great disappointment. They never challenged the opinions of this flock of elders either. We can only conclude from this evidence that they were not only Cat Ladies, but what we must now refer to as Super Cat Ladies. It is assumed that Super Cat Ladies are in possession of extremely large numbers of felines at their respective domiciles.

We spent most of our time observing and photographing the Cat Ladies who had evidence with them of their membership to the population. Next to each Cat Lady, was a folding table on which was placed a large cage. The cages held large numbers of felines in all stages of growth. The cages were highly decorated as is the practice of the Cat Lady culture. Most decorations reflected a traditional upcoming holiday which most of the present population were known to celebrate. Routinely at periodic intervals, a super cat lady would step up to a device which would increase the volume of her voice and issue orders. Several of the Cat Ladies would uncage only one of their felines and bring it to the Super Cat Ladies and a cycle of inspection followed by compliments to a select few of the Cat Ladies with which a decorative ribbon would be given. If the Cat Lady had already received a decorative ribbon, she would instead be given a small metallic gold piece of paper which was sticky on one side and had writing on the other. This would be fixed upon the decorative ribbon under the original paper given with the ribbon.

Surrounding the main flock of Cat Ladies, were the expected predators, who would lure a Cat Lady into their lair by displaying what we could only term as bait. After the Cat Lady had provided the predators with the proper greens, they would be allowed back out into the flock. The Cat Lady got to keep the bait and therefore did not seem upset at all at the behavior of the predators. This symbiotic relationship seemed to please all involved. We came up with a theory that the predators where in fact mislabeled by previous explorers and we opine that the proper term for them would in fact be “enablers” (paper and proper documentation to follow).
At 3:15 pm, we concluded our observations as we had gathered sufficient data. We departed the enclosure with mutual satisfaction of a mission well executed. We successfully navigated out of the wilds of Puyallup, which required no small amount of skill and equipment. I attribute the success of our departure to the skill and foresight of my companion. We thoroughly debriefed the mission in transit. We then adjourned to a local establishment in civilized territory to seek some sustenance.

Two New Demos for Dad's Website

I don't know if the people who bookmark Dad's website pay this much attention but we always do new demos at Thanksgiving. And this Thanksgiving was no exception. I did a little card weaving for the first time EVER...and we filmed it. Heh...weaving it isn't the trick though. Stringing it is. But the fun for the demos is the weaving--seeing the tool in action, you understand. We also went to an assisted living center to listen to Dad's neighbor, Jack the engineer, play in a Bluegrass band. I striped off the music for the card demo. So it's our first demo with music:

Card Weaving on The Roller Beam Loom @ Yahoo! Video

For the second one, Mandy and Beth need a bunch of straps for some bags they are making done. Dad and I brought another Nakadai to her place and I started a pattern Mandy has never done before on it. I made the demo super quick like, so that she could finish the project on her own.

It's another silent one and the pattern is pretty easy but turns out rather cool and strappy:

A Pattern Demo for the Takadai @ Yahoo! Video

So...what do you think?

Etsy

Well, I'm an internet seller consultant here in Pomeroy, WA. I just helped Anna, one of Dad's Neighbors, make an Esty Shop. See:



I made the banner for her (above), and walked her through posting items. The first two mini-boxes we did together.

If you feel so inclined, send Anna some feedback, okay?

Neck Less Army

Everyone, who is not a spelling genius, has a word that—no matter what—they always need the spell checker to get right. At least I hopes so. For me that word is necessary. Hmm…that’s a bit confusing way to put it. I know…quotes. For me that word is “Necessary”. I can’t begin to fathom all the ways I’ve misspelled that word and I swear I never get past it without that red zigzag line showing up under it. So I am determined to banish that word from my spelling handicap. It is nessissary..er…crucial to do!
But how to do it…nine letters…three squared. I could play the license game with it. We used to do this…WA state plates are three numbers and three letters and as we’re driving, Mandy and I would come up with words that use all three letters in order (they can be divided by other letters but not rearranged). For example, my license plate has SSR on it—therefore necessary would actually be a winning word for it. So since my word has nine letters that can be three license plates: NEC – ESS – ARY
That’s easy. NEC just needs a K to be ‘NECK’. ESS also just needs one letter to become ‘LESS’ and if you add an M to ARY, you’d get ARMY (Mary is a proper noun). So to spell NECESSARY you’d just think “Neck Less Army” and remember to drop the K, L, and M.
Hmm…kinda tricky. I think it’s neseccary…er…essential to try something else. Jimmy Cricket taught me to spell encyclopedia by singing it. Nine letters would necessessitate...er…call for a three note song. Not a lot of those out there that ends after three measures. I thought “Three Blind Mice” immediately but only 9 note sort of leaves you hanging: En-Ee-See, Ee-Es-Es, Aa-Ar-Why…Why am I caught up here on a high note…where’s the rest of the song? A longer word is nesscary…er…needed.
NEC-ESS-ARI-LY is 2 more with is eleven and a prime number…divisible by one and itself. Yuck! NEC-ESS-ITA-TED has four bars of three beats…easier. Still…not much further in the song. Alas! We’re losing focus here.
Another method is necceccary…er…required
Could always go with the old stand-by: the super long acronym. Just gotta come up with a title or better yet a sentence that starts with the letters of NECESSARY. N could be nice. That’s nice…lot’s of them use nice. Adjective. Very flexible. E followed by C…well I love cats so I know I want to use Cats for C so that means I need another adjective for E….hmm…Excited? Yes, cats can be excited…maybe…if they’re toying with their food before eating it. E equals eat. You should see Eve with a spider. Wait…I need an S! Spider! Two SS…silly spider? Not bad…okay. ARY…already got subject, verb and object…if I go with And for A I could add another object R Y…what’s some cat food that begins with Y? Difficult. I can think of an animal…a yak…Sesame Street Standby for Y limericks. But cats don’t eat Yaks…unless they were really small and we’re talking about a big cat like a lion. Small…R…Runty! Runty Yaks…but why would a lion bother with Silly Spiders.
Oh well…better not think too hard on it.
So we have: “Nice Excited Cats Eat Silly Spiders and Runty Yaks”.
Whoa…now that’s really REALLY dumb.
One begins to wonder if all this is neccessary…er…obligatory. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to spell it without the nesescary..er…indispensable spell check? Well…could always write it over and over again.
But if I’m going to do that, might as well not waste it. I should blog it! Yeah! What a good idea! Let’s try that…(continued at the top of page)

Faux Glass

My latest polymathic pursuit is making faux stain glass using Deco Art's Liquid Rainbow. How did I get started on this? Well I was wandering through the paint section of the Joann's and I saw this blank plastic sheet. I wondered what it was for. It didn't take much looking to find an instruction book explaining that this plastic sheet was for paint which would dry into a window cling. It starts with Leading Paint:

You wait a couple of hours for it to dry then you fill in with the color paint. It's cloudy to start and looks like this:

But it dries to a surface that mimics stained glass. The colors take a lot longer to dry and they'll tear if it's not thick enough so I often add another layer if I can. You then slowly peal it off the clear plastic and it's ready to go up on a window like this:

And Ta-Da! Elly has a new fad hobby which should keep her happy until Christmas at least.

Mom's Trip to the ER

Mom had muscle pains in the muscles attached to the top of her rib cage and collar bones. They were sharp piercing pains which were worse when she breathed in and out. They could be controlled by pain killers and moving slower. She’d been moving boxes from one storage stall to the other for the past two days and she’s more than a little stressed. They persisted for a few days so she was worried. Finally, she called the 800 Nurse on the back of her insurance card and asked what to do.
She heard: ‘chest pains’ out of that whole description, but she said it didn’t sound like a heart attack. However if someone has chest pains you send them to the hospital period, end of story. If you don’t and it is a heart attack, then you get sued big time. “Just in case,” she told Mom.
So we went down to the emergency room in Auburn.
In triage they heard ‘chest pains’ and also ‘good insurance’ but still we waited for 1.5 hours to get in to see a doctor. There was a long line, you see, and lots of ambulances coming and going which you couldn’t see from where we were.
The doctor said, “It doesn’t sound like anything more than pulled muscles, all the evidence suggests I should just give you pain medications and send you home, but this is the emergency room and here we must handle ‘chest pains’ by thoroughly checking that it is not your heart. So I will give you a blood test, an electrocardiogram, and a CT Scan before I release you.”
So we read our books for an hour then they came by and took her for one of the above. He came back and said “All clear on that one. Here have some morphine for the pain.”
So we read our books for an hour then they came by and took her for another one of the above. He came back and said “All clear on that one.”
So we read our books for an hour then they came by and took her for the last one of the above. He came back and said “All clear on that one. You can go home.”
It was now 2:15 am in the morning. We’d arrived at 6:45pm.
The next day Mom went to her primary care doctor who said, “Yep, muscle pain and stress. FYI that machine of yours you are walking around in has been running for over 60 years—go easy on it. No lifting. That’s what young people are for.”
Memo to Dr. Turner from this machine I’m walking around in: “Thanks a lot! Ouch!”
So let’s look back on this experience…they say:

Single payer will mean long lines

• long lines now, check

Single Payer will mean tons of bureaucracy

• Triage—scanned insurance card
• Second Triage—signed some papers
• While lying in room—paid $75 co-pay for emergency room visits
• Tons of just-in-case policy-says tests—there until 2:30am
• Need I say more?

Government will mess it up

• Someone with chest pains waits for 1.5 hours to be seen, I think we’re doing a fine job of messing it up already.

My Bucket List

No, I don’t have terminal cancer like in the movie, but Mom encouraged me to do this the other day because, right now, I’m feeling adrift in the waters of life. It’s time to get my boat pointed in a direction and go.
The nice thing about a healthy person’s bucket list I find is that they can be filled with single experiences like the movie as well as life-long goals.
Without further ado, here are the things I’d like to do before I kick the bucket:
1. Own someplace to make and perform with puppets
2. Pass the Level 3 Japanese proficiency test
3. Go to an international puppetry festival
4. See the Great Wall of China
5. Visit Australia
6. Write a novel
7. Make a self-published book online
8. Build a Punch and Judy set of puppets
9. Enter a puppetry competition for an award
10. Go back to Japan
11. Visit Outer Space (why not?)
12. Find & Frequent my own Harmonia Gardens or Cheers bar
13. Make a Victorian Costume
14. Go on a Kayak overnight trip
15. Perform in another Shakespearian Play
16. Make a YouTube Web Show
17. Live in a really big city for a while

Ms. Leaverton goes to 915 2nd Ave. Rm 2988 Seattle

These Organizing for America emails I’ve been getting lately really sort of pull you into the notion that you matter in this whole thing, don’t they? I’m just one person…just one voter…but if I call my senator or send her an email or post to her Facebook page or visit her office, I could make a difference in how she votes. What are my odds, huh? Sort of like playing the lottery…accept there’s some skill and effort involved. What skill? Well, I think to be heard you’d better have something unique to say and be able to say it with style. Then add a little luck…that what you wrote or said has enough style to catch the eye or appeal to one of her staff. That staff person might then have the power to bring it to the attention of another staff person a little closer to Her Senatorialness who can show it to her. And if what you said has true impact and sound-byte quality perhaps she might remember it…use it in a speech if it jives with how she wants to vote. If it doesn’t jive, well it won’t make it past the first staff person, let alone influence her vote.
These are the things you tell yourself when you get those emails. It’s the way you justify sweeping it into your trash folder. But sooner or later, they’ll get to you. You see, we all want to believe that our opinion matters. So if someone keeps telling us it does enough times…we might be tempted to go forth and take some sort of action—as I did when the Chief (hale to him) asked me (and a million others) to visit my Senator’s office.
I had one more road block to overcome…that being the classic “Who has the time to go all the way over to their senator’s office?” especially in Seattle, where going anywhere is a chore, I mean…how dare they ask me to take some of my valuable time and go…how far? I don’t know. Better google it…um…let’s see, a click here and a link there and…TWO WHOLE BLOCKS! So much for that road block. *grumble grumble* All right, all right all ready! I’ll go. So today, on my way to get my mail from the UPS store, I detoured to the office of Senator Patty Murray.
There’s a metal detector you’ve got to go through…yep…show some ID. Then you gotta ride the world’s fastest elevator (be sure to pop your ears) up to the 29th floor (not quite the highest room in the tallest tower but still)! And then there you are, facing two lovely receptionists…who have by this time collected quite a stack of fliers Organizing for America asked you to fill out and bring with you. With a little prompting & some friendly banter, you can get them to tell you all about the other yahoos that Organizing for America sent in. They’ll even show you the stack of fliers. Some people signed up on the website thinking that they would get a meeting with the Senator…walked right in and announced “I have an appointment.” Some expected to meet with a staff person! At this, I had to ask the young lady who she thought she was if not a staff person of Senator Murray? She smiled and said the others wanted to talk to a Senatorial Staff Person (with a capital SS&P). I told her that once again, I was pretty sure she counted for that too.
I then asked the question that all probably do at some point, “Does it matter more that I showed up at the office with this flier filled out and handed it in in-person than if I say…mailed it or called it or emailed it in?”
She smiled again and replied, “Oh yes, I’ll tell Senator Murray that every one of these fliers was brought in. She’ll enjoy reading them.”
See? I knew I was talking to the right person. Who wants to talk to some inflated ego SSP? They’d bungle the job no doubt, they have no paper skills and they’re busy writing clever speeches on their High-Powered Laptops anyhow. It’s the front desk lady you want. She’s the master of paper…and she’s the one the Senator smiles and greets every single morning she’s in town because she’s the only guaranteed one to have a desk that the Senator has to walk by to get to her own. She’s the gatekeeper for the masses. Diss on her to your own detriment—this woman is the true conduit to power for the little people. She’s really nice to you too, if you are really nice to her. I even found out that her mom’s an engineer too.

My Monday Morning Mystery

Yesterday, I lost my keys…not an unusual occurrence in my life but that’s the only part of this story that is. Sandy came over to try out puppetry with me. She and I also tried out my new rolling seats that Dad got me. I decided that they were a valuable thing behind stage. That means that I need two more. So we googled where the nearest Sears was…turns out that the Seatac Mall still has its, so we determined to go there. At this point I began the key dance. It’s set to the tune “Where are my keys?” chanted over and over again.
They are not a small set of keys. They have a huge green carabineer, my scion keys and the keyless entry remote, there are 2 retractors, one with Mom’s house keys on them and one with my UPS mail box key and all the store user cards on it, and finally, on a ring with no retractor is my luggage key and my key for my rolling file at work. The whole thing is huge and extends about a foot long—I have to remove the car keys from the carabineer to use it to drive, otherwise the long dangling keys hit my knees over and over again. So…not small.
I looked everywhere I could think of. Sandy helped too after it seemed to be taking me so long. We must have been at it for at least 20 minutes with no luck. Finally, we gave up and she drove us to the Mall. When I got home again, I was determine not to sleep without finding them. I looked for hours…I folded and cleaned…I unmade and remade the bed. I tried to put myself into a trance telling myself to retrace my steps…I lost a few hours there to sleep…heh. I one point I put on a re-enactment of the night before when I got back from the movies and arrived back home. Finally, after hours and hours of cleaning, rearranging, and searching, at about 2 am, I decided to get more sleep. As I drift off to sleep, instead of counting sheep, I repeated over and over “I will wake up remembering exactly where I last saw my keys”. This sort of thing has worked in the past and I was at my wits end.
I woke up the next morning to the chicken alarm, which I didn’t set, to find my keys in bed with me. They were under the covers next to my leg. If you read back a few paragraphs, you will find that I did at one point unmake and remake my bed. How did they get there? That’s my Monday Morning Mystery.
I have some theories…first, I walked in my sleep and continued to search, found them and took them back to bed with me. If I can do that, then I certainly can also set the chicken clock, too. I’m not someone who has been known to walk in my sleep, however. But the rest of my theories are crazier.
My second is the cats played with the keys the night before, hid them, then retrieved them last night, played with them again, then brought them to bed and tucked them under the covers with me. Yeah…oh and set the chicken clock. Are cats that amazing?
The third, and most scary is that some evil stalker stole into my room Saturday night, took my keys and copied them, then returned them last night…tucking them under the covers with me. His motives unknown, but somehow he was able to pick a locked door the night before because I do remember locking it. This nefarious person has also to be in possession of the fact that I am a deep sleeper—so they would know that tucking keys in bed with me would not wake me. They would also need to be aware that I am sleeping in a strange room of the house—not a huge leap if one considers this person should’ve been watching me for many nights. Plus they should also know how to work the stupid chicken clock, which is some what counter intuitive.
Fourth, some friend or family of mine played an evil joke on me…like that’s in character for any of them. Plus all of my family are over six hours drive from me, except of course if it was my estranged husband who did it. That would be less out of character than you think…he’s known as a practical joker. Except, who plays jokes on someone they are desperate to get free of and clearly do not love?
Fifth, call the Ghostbusters, because there’s always the supernatural angle to consider. A poltergeist is enjoying itself by taking and moving things. If I believed in supernatural phenomena, I might be intrigued by the idea. But I don’t.
Alas, we must consider that all things being equal, the simplest theory is the most likely, so the only thing that makes logical sense is that I continued to search in my sleep. But that raise more questions…why was I better able to find something while asleep? Why did I disturb nothing else? Why did I decide to take the keys back to bed with me? Lastly, why did I set the chicken clock when I knew that there was 2 other clocks already set?
What do you think?

On Laughing

My friend Pam is a very loud laugher; she's also very easy to make laugh. When she came to see my show, we were all energized to have her out there laughing. I have now been to three theater productions with her, and she is free with her laughter at all times. This last Saturday we attended The Comedy of Errors free in the park in Bremerton. She thoroughly enjoyed it. I did notice once again that most of the audience twittered, giggled, or snickered softly, sometimes behind a hand as if they were watching TV or a Movie. Not Pam, and Pam was the only one that the actors came up and thanked for laughing. More than one said she had a great laugh and it was wonderful to hear it. It gave them instant positive feedback, you see, made them walk taller in spirit and do even better on stage.
We've all been trained to laugh quietly by movies and TV. "How?" you ask. It's because TV and Movies never stop and let you laugh anymore. The older ones used the laugh-track which folks were bothered by, now some of the better ones perform before a live audience. But most of the time the shows just proceed merrily along from one laugh line to the next with the merest pause in between. So you've got to laugh softly or you might miss something. In a movie it's even worse. They tell you "Silence is Golden". We are so programmed to laugh softly, that we get annoyed if anyone does laugh out loud.
My cousins once went to a movie with my mother Mary and afterwards told her they would never got to a funny movie with her again because she laugh so loud it embarrassed them!
When it comes to live theater though, laughing softly is the worst thing you can do. The actors get no energy from the soft laugh which can easily be considered a polite chuckle. To an actor, the polite chuckle is the sign that your show is falling flat. Theater is not TV. Those actors can see and hear you. They are trained to pause during a laugh so you don't miss anything. So don't be afraid to open the pipe and let out a guffaw, a roar, an LOL or even a ROTFLMAO. The show will be even better for it and the actors with thank you--and as we discovered, if the setting is small enough--they will literally thank you and shake your hand.