a mixed day

Yesterday, we had a full day planned.

We went to Detroit and saw two shows. We saw Cyrano de Bergerac at the Hilberry Theater in the afternoon and then saw Alfred de Musset's Fantasio in the renovated Studio Theater in the evening. The drive into Detroit had some snow covered and slippery roads, but Dear Husband K managed just fine.

The Cyrano was missing some spark- somehow the direction allowed it to be both somewhat slow moving and also managed to rush over/miss some of the moment to moment nuance and comedy. Still, it was a competent production.

I am turning over in my mind the showing of Fantasio. Several of my students were in the production. I think show was again competent; I would have to read the script, which I am not certain that I like, to see how well the director captured- or did not- the style of the play.

I also chafe every time I read the apologia of a note on the "PhD Student Series". This blurb has been implemented since I have graduated from the program and basically boils down to advising (warning? reassuring?) the theater goer that these are PhD student directors, under the careful supervision and guidance of the faculty - you can almost hear the subtext "no undergrad actors were harmed in the making of this show."

In my experience, there have been several Studio PhD shows that were as well directed, acted and/or designed as any of the shows upstairs- with a lot less money and time invested in them.

ANYWAY

We drove home- and the roads were fine.

Then we found that one of the dogs had shit in the bedroom where they had spent the day. (which one? DH K thought it was Jackson, because he'd seen Jasper poop outside before we left; I was pretty sure based on the poop's appearance that it was Jasper).

Now, we have left the dogs home alone for this long or longer with no such accident.

GRRR.... DH K took the dogs outside, and I cleaned up the poop, washed the floor, sprayed odor neutralizing spray, burned a candle- in short, everything was as it should be when DH K came back upstairs with the dogs.

So we curled up and watched Jimmy Fallon host SNL - a rerun, but with some good moments. Off to bed.

Then at about 1:30 a.m. I woke to dogs pacing and a HORRIBLE stench. DH K did not wake. I grumbled and turned on lights.

DH K did not wake up.

I kicked out both dogs.

I cleaned up the poop soup from the floor on DH K's side of the room, on my hands and knees, an operation using two toilet flushes, a bag full of paper towels.

DH K did not wake up.

I got out the mop and mopped all of that floor. I sprayed odor neutralizer. I lit another candle.

DH K did not wake up.

I stripped naked, took a shower, washed my hair, changed my pajamas, let in the dogs.

DH K did not wake up.

I grumbled (loudly, I thought): I can't BELIEVE you are sleeping through all this!

DH K did not wake up.

I continued to grumble, If this happens AGAIN, I swear, I am leaving it for you to clean and moving into another room to sleep!

DH K did not wake up.

I read for another hour, since I couldn't go back to sleep.

DH K did not wake up.

So, finally, around 3:00 A.M. I go to sleep.

I wake up around 4:00 A.M. hearing a dog pacing. I LEAP out of bed.

This time DH K awakes as I turn on the light, and rush the dogs outside. In time. I notice the dance Jasper is doing, and that once outside, it is Jasper who does the poop crouch while Jackson dashes off to seek bunnies to tear apart.

As I come upstairs, I grumble, You are really lucky I got them out in time. I can't believe you slept through it the first time.

What? says DH K.

I can't believe you slept through it! The dog shit all over the floor! Horrible stink! Your side of the room! I cleaned, I mopped, I showered! I can't believe you slept through it!

I'm sorry, says DH K.

I say, well, you can let them in. And if it happens again, I am TOTALLY going in the other bedroom.

So DH K brings in the dogs, I go to sleep.

Around 5:00 A.M. I awake to a horrible stench.

That better be a fart, I declare. I turn on the light.

DH K wakes up.

I scout. There it is, poop-sprayed floor on DH K's side of the room. DAMN IT!

DH K (because he likes being married to me) says, I will clean it.

He takes the dogs outside for the rest of the night-morning, and starts cleaning but I CANNOT BREATH and it is too hot under the covers so I light a scented candle and I still CANNOT BREATH and so I get up and move to another bedroom for the remainder of the night-morning.

Let's hope we've gotten all the shit out of the way for today- or for the week- or the month-

Google me, google you, have a google...

So I got my email yesterday about Google simplifying and uniting all the platforms under one privacy policy.

And what I hear on the news is that this will make access to personal data really easy.

And there is no way to opt out except by opting out of all your google platforms.

Your gmail, google+, and I-don't-know-what-all is affected.

Seriously, I don't know what all. How do I find out?

Should I be worried?

my mom

My mom has been living back in her own home now for almost two weeks. I call her or she calls me most days.

Her house is right on my path commuting back and forth from the university where I teach, so once or twice a week I swing by on my way home.

Today I will go to her house on my way home and take her out to dinner and visit for a while, because Dear Husband K has a board meeting and will be staying late at his job.

I am delighted at my mom's healing and return to so much of herself. It's been a rough couple of years.

Today I made up the bed in the room where she was staying in my house, for the first time since she moved out. There is still some housekeeping to do in that room (and I am NOT a good housekeeper*), but for now the door can be open and it is tidy enough.

I am so glad my husband and I made the decision we did to bring Mom into our home. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

It's good to recognize the moments when we've got it right.

* I have just glanced through about 4 years of blogs and noted that nowhere do I have a confession/description of my inadequacy as a housekeeper. Looks like fuel for a future blog!

two great classes

Today has been a pretty good day.

I taught Pioneers of Modern Drama. Students worked in small groups discussing what are factors pushing theater to change, what the changes should be, and how / whether the giant of modern theater Konstantin Stanislavski still has insights to offer.

Then students reflected back to the larger group. We cracked jokes, and poked fun, and dreamed and schemed and planned our artistic revolution.

Next I taught Development of Drama 2. We were talking about Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry. We talked about pee, poop, shit, class warfare, Bugs Bunny, Saturday Night Live, not pooping on a date, masturbation, money, appetite.

We roared with laughter and blushed and interrupted one another.

And learned something about art.

Who knew?

And a PhD student wanted to know, did I think I might be teaching the seminar class in the fall? I answered that I'd love to, however I'm still adjunct and it's just one semester at a time for me.

When I came home, K and I went out to dinner- and it was yummy.

All in all, a nice day.

copy cat

I can't resist- I am going to be just a little bit of a copy cat.

My daughter is on a mission to read 100 books in 2012.

I don't know that I have that specific of a goal- but, I think that charting the books I am reading might be good grist for the blog mill.

So, here are some that I have been up to lately:

Major Barbara by G. B. Shaw- This reminds me of how slippery my memory is. I was in this play as an undergrad, and while I remember the broad strokes of character and plot, the unfolding of the action is almost new to me. Shaw's dialectical dramedy anticipates the exposing of the military-industrial complex.

A Dream Play by August Strindberg- This play really does capture the logical-illogical coherence of the dreamscape. It is eerie and strangely lovely. I cannot imagine how it was staged in 1907; as noted in my copy's preface, the play anticipates the quick visual montage of film.

Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry- I had many times read about this play without actually having read it. Jarry is still jarring, and discussing this play sparked a wild and hilarious discussion of scatology and the challenges to the theater and theater artists of having a human body.

A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen- Whenever I read Ibsen, it seems, I am shocked. How can these ideas still be so timely?

Just finished: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I have to have something that is not drama related to relax with! A memoir of loss of innocence in love that is chilling and engaging at once.

everywhere and nowhere

I've just been clicking through a website to find out where in the world the organization physically exists.

With the web, we are all immediate neighbors. We can peek in on each other from anywhere, anytime.

But.

This is not the first time I have had an interest in an organization, and wanted to find out a STREET ADDRESS, and was completely baffled by the website. It took me several pages of clicks to find out something called "Metro West" was located on the East Coast.

Really.

I understand keeping one's location vague if one is an individual- but an organization or business?

I don't get it. Why so hard?

I know, I know- how exhausting can it be to click through web pages? That's not the point, though- what if I wanted to volunteer? Or check out the facility to see if I wanted to write a check for mega millions?

Perhaps this is an indication of my age. Perhaps getting hung up on geographical location is SO 20th century of me.

sneaky

How do I get myself to write more often?

I've decided to make myself write the same blog entries I require of my students! HA HA! Tricked myself into more theater writing right there, right?

A new rite?

Am I right?

Writing!

(and silly)

(but winning!)