Mamma's Boy

1995-2009


So it is with an empty place in my heart that I bid farewell to my dear Jaco. He lost his battle with an extremely aggresive form of cancer on Friday. I miss him.

Pets are such a wonderful gift in our lives. But the void they leave when they are gone.....

time off

Yes, I realize that I have not updated in a while. However it doesn't seem that anyone truly noticed. And that's ok. We've all had many things to deal with in the last year. Work, for many, is all consuming. This past year we lost Bud's mom. It was a complete surprise; she just went to bed and didn't wake up. Unfortunately, it took that for us to realize that we have let "life" become overwhelming to the point of not spending the time doing the things that truly matter. Ok, great. Fantastic realization. How does one then begin the implementation of the solution?? Weeeellllll, that is the not so easy part. Much re-training must happen. And not just for yourself, but also some of your co-workers; who don't really understand why it is important for you to go home, or go see your family and friends when you didn't really spend that much time doing that before. It's hard to re-train yourself too. Work, or a schedule, becomes a habit, an addiction, a crutch; and those are very hard to walk away from. (Yes I ended the sentence with a preposition, deal with it)
So it's been a rather difficult few months. But I suppose that if we do not change, we do not grow. But must it be so painful?

Enough introspection. I just wanted to say hello people. We aren't dead. I haven't moved. I still work at Lorton. And we went to several baseball games, and Bud and I had a truly wonderful vacation in Myrtle Beach this year. We are splitting Skins tickets for the season, but you know it is really only all about the tailgate. Especially this year. OY. Thank God I really root for the Jets and Giants. How about that cute Rookie quarterback, huh??? :)

Much love my friends. Hopefully we will talk soon.

Oh LORD!!

Ok, I am soo sorry that it has been MONTHS since the last post. When I started full time at Lorton I lost all track of ..... my life...basically :) But now we're open and hopefully things will slow down a little bit. The Grand Opening was fantastic and all those classes have begun. I will have some Barbara Cook (and her crazy assistant) stories on a later post. I was the stage manager/handler. Very cool lady who knows how to cuss like a sailor when necessary. Felt like I was spending time with several of the women in my family :)

Bud and I celebrated our 20th anniversary over the summer. We got to go back to Jamaica for a week to celebrate. It was fun and I have some great pictures of us on the zipline canopy tour. It was crazy fun and we did it twice....

I am devastated that the Mets have blown their playoff chances yet AGAIN!! But it's kind of nice to watch Brett Favre play for my Jets on Sunday's. He can't save the whole team, but he can encourage them to reach harder. And he's much better looking than Chad Pennington:) Bud and I are splitting Redskins season tickets with a friend this year and we got to go to the home opener. It was hot as balls out there. And the seats are on the sunny side......which will be great in December against the Eagles, but let me tell you how miserable it was against the Saints!!! UGH. We get to go again for the Browns game on the 19th. We got one game a month. Of course the November game we got is the Giants :) I'm trying to see if I can pick up an extra ticket somewhere and then have my dad come up. He would love that!

Ok, I promise a real update at some point soon. I am going to celebrate my birthday with Kristen this morning with a pedicure. Our birthday really......... then off to work for a bit.

Moving on and other things

So School is out~!! I am working in the trailers at Lorton full time. My dad is here visiting. Life is really pretty good!

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. There will be more details about a Bunnies nite over Memorial weekend (Yay Antonio big winner!) And the baseball game we went to sitting in the Presidents club. Nice.

And the impromptu bunnies nite last nite. But you'll have to go to Mark's blog for pictures and video on that.

I am so glad that I have moved on in my work world. I know that everything I've learned in the last 4 years at WSHS will be put to good use. One wonders why you can only know those things AFTER the hell is over. But every job I guess is in preparation for every other job you will get.

And I want to learn how to play golf, and Krissy Doyle has bravely said that she and Kevin will take me out. I will keep you updated on the progress about that.

counting down;)

So I am counting down the days til I am out of school. 15 left in case you were wondering. As it comes to the end, I find myself looking around at some of the other staff members and wondering many things. In theatre lots of actors are not nice and many are self absorbed, but for the most part we do the best we can for the good of the show. Well, most of us do. The ones I know anyway. We don't really have time for personal drama to intrude on our job, nor do we have the energy to create it and allow it to consume us for personal gain. The show is what we are hired to do and that's the job we do.

Perhaps I am being naive. Maybe that isn't how we really are, and I only see what I want to see. But I have noticed lately in the academic world that it is not like that. There are a lot of people in the building I am in that would rather create some sort of drama to bring the focus on them rather than keep the focus on the reason why any of us actually have a job there. The students. I thought that was why teachers were there, to share their knowledge with the students. Not to have accolades heaped upon them and great fusses made over them because they are amazing. Nor to have the students adore them above any other teacher. It's not a competition. At least, I didn't think it was.


It is perhaps a very good thing that I am getting out. It is extremely disheartening to walk into the building every day knowing that I will have to deal with those people. I try to avoid it by just doing my job, but apparently that's not good enough. I am in a pensive mood today. I am trying to figure out this transition in my life and also examine my stint for the last four years. I do not know if I got it right in my dealings with others. I think I may be too simple. I cannot comprehend the larger picture of all the underlying machinations that are going on around me. Nor do I have the time or energy to devote to them. I just thought I could come in and do my job within the parameters that are set for me. True, some of those I stretched to the limit when I could. But mostly so the students could go further. Not to raise a banner that says "look at me, I am doing amazing things here and you should bow down before me and give me notice". That seems silly to me.

Even sillier is the fact that I am pondering this:) I am confused by it I guess. Perhaps it is 12 years of Catholic school intruding on my consciousness. We are not above another for we have a higher purpose. Hmmm, ok, so catholics CAN sound kind of pompous. It's a fine line I suppose. All of us do crave that pat on the back for a job well done. I like hearing that I'm doing a good job, but that's not WHY I do it. I don't know.........

Perhaps the simplest distillation of my thoughts is really the fact that in academia you cannot have friends, you can only have co-workers. And that is sad.

15 days. I can do anything for 15 days.

Catching up

Hello all. So we are in the final stretch at school. Last weekend was the Spring Dance Concert "Impulse to Move". It went well I thought. This weekend is a benefit concert run entirely by the Dance students. It is called "Step Up: Dance for a Difference" and is supporting an organization that teaches dance to challenged; mostly physically challenged, children. I can't remember the name of the organization at the moment, but can find it if anyone is interested. The concert is on Saturday May 10 and tickets are $8. All the money is going to this organization. We had a tech yesterday and the dances are a full range of styles. I think it looks pretty cool. I hope if anyone has time they can come and support this cause. The concert starts at 7:30.

It's also rehearsal for the senior directed one acts. 11 student directors, 4 nites of one acts. We've got everything from children's theatre to absurdist. It's crazy. I stay after everyday to give them rehearsal time in the building. It's giving me time to pack up my stuff. I need boxes. I've run out and the copy center......... yeah, there's a lot of teachers leaving sooo lots of people are asking for boxes. I guess I should just break down and go buy some. I've collected a lot of random crap in the last few years. I've been throwing lots of things away too.

They haven't found anyone to take my job yet. They're interviewing, but so far....... it hasn't looked promising. At least that's what my AP told me yesterday. And with the other theatre teacher leaving as well............... yeah. They got nobody. If anyone knows someone who is looking to get into teaching theatre in a high school that has a theatre degree and knows the production side as well as acting................Get that application IN!!

Sorry no pics with this post. Haven't taken many lately. Concentrating on finishing at the 'Bridge and working up some Lorton stuff. Writing class descriptions, reading children's shows, trying to figure out how to pay for a children's theatre company............. you know, stuff like that:) It's kind of really exciting to be starting something new. I feel like I'm standing right on the edge and I'm not really sure where that first step is going to take me. I just know that everytime I think about that first step I am grinning like a fool. Same feeling I get when I ride an amazing roller coaster.

God, I am such a geek.

Drood!!

The musical opened this weekend and has gotten great response! Standing Ovations two nites running. The actors are having a fantastic time and the audience is VERY responsive to participating. One of the parents who helped build costumes also has been taking some photos. She's got a great gift, so the first three photos here are hers. My photos did not come out nearly as well.

Our Bazzard is hoping to go 6 for 6 as being chosen for the detective and the one kid that ............. well, let's just say he was not cast for his singing ability......... keeps getting voted for as one of the Lovers. He plays Durdles and is very popular because he's so funny.

We have a show today at 2pm if anyone has time to come out. Our houses for the Sunday mat are usually small, so any help is appreciated. We also run next weekend; Fri. Sat at 7:30 and Sun. at 2. Tickets are only $10.

I'm really proud of this show. The music is very difficult and the energy needed from everyone needs to stay high. The cast is definitely meeting that. It's nice to know that my last show there will end on a high note.