Wha???

Yesterday, Caleigh (7) was confused! She didn't think she was confused--but believe me. SHE WAS!

She asked me, when I got older, if I would be her grandmother???

I had to explain it several times before she realized the error she was making. AYI!

Silly girl.

Amazing Feats Accomplished

I MOPPED!!!!! Can you believe it???? Well, I am seriously impressed with myself. It's not a task that is below me. No! It's nothing like that. It's more about the fact that there is rarely an opportunity to get it done... or the motivation.

Think about it. I have six kids, who all have friends trapsing in and out. I have this one-cup coffee maker that we all tend to drip on the floor while taking the filter to the garbage for dumping out grinds. I have a dirt yard for the time being, while the patio and irrigation is being worked on (at a very slow pace--because NO ONE has time). I have a large dog. I'm not much of a mopper to begin with. The grout around the tiles in the kitchen were never sealed due to some of the same reasons listed above and so it NEVER looks clean anyway. And once the floor is vacuumed and prepared for mopping, the "alloted" cleaning time has ended [darn], which means it just never gets mopped (not properly).

So YAAAAAY for me!!! [gives herself pat on back]. I think I have blisters on my delicate, dainty hands.

Whatever...

The race is on... again. The school board elections and budget vote. If you recall, last year I ran for a school board seat along with 3 others. There were two seats open and I came in third. Our goal was to make sure that the 3 school SUPPORTERS came in ahead of the one candidate who wants to close the school. It's a three-year term, so I rejoiced at the results. We succeeded and I didn't have to sit on the board this year--which would have drastically altered the choices I have been able to make over the past few months. What I'm doing now is MUCH MORE FUN.

This election season has brought three school board seats up for election, and there are seven candidates running. I AM NOT ONE OF THEM!!! Woohooo. I decided that I just couldn't do it this time around. We have four candidates in support of the school and three candidates who are AGAINST the school. THEY HATE THE SCHOOL!! and are running on a platform that claims they want a better education for OUR children and will lower taxes. They claim that our school ranks below the surrounding districts in test scores, and that our taxes will be reduced if we tuition high school students out to surrounding districts. The studies done this year have proven both arguments wrong. Our students are thriving at BH and our property taxes will increase with a district merger or a tuitioning-out cost.

Blah blah blah... I actually have other things to do than to bore you with this stuff. But if you want to see some humorous posts about BHS and this whole ordeal go to People4BHS. It's hilarious! I HATE POLITICS!!!! I LIKE TO LAUGH.

It's too bad that Bridgehampton has to fight this battle over and over again. This whole battle boils down to a BH Main Street vs BH Cocktail Circuit, as one of our new friends of BHS put it.

Young Playwrights Theater

While I was performing at Guild Hall for The Naked Stage Marathon last night, my daughter and Nicki's daughter (Jennah and India) were performing at Stony Brook University for the Young Playwrights Theater. Over 100 plays were written and submitted by middle schoolers from several surrounding schools. Only 9 plays were selected to be performed. The students then do everything from stage crew to acting to directing to set design. It's a great learning experience.

Karina's play was one of the plays selected from the Bridgehampton students. She's pictured below on the left along with BH Student--assistant stage manager, Tatyana.
Let's see if I can get recreate the story line with pictures.

I'll start you off by saying that DJ (India) and Penelope (Jennah) are cousins who used to have a wonderful time spending the summer's together, but it's been three years since they've seen each other and during that time Penelope lost her parents. Penelope is coming to stay for the summer, but DJ has developed some resentment towards Penelope and doesn't want her to come. She's jealous of the attention her parents have given to Penelope, feeling as though they like her better and our more proud of her accomplishments and awards.

Scene begins with DJ writing angrily in her journal about her cousin coming.

Penelope arrives and is excited to see DJ and amazed to see her.

DJ is NOT excited and doesn't hide it.

Penelope ignores the attitude and tries to keep it like old times.DJ makes it even more noticeable

At one point, Penelope accidently drops DJs best trophy which builds the frustration and tension even more.

Penelope doesn't get DJs anger and shows off her own trophies.

They have a major blow out (I couldn't take pictures during that part because it was WAY TOO intense and emotional--AMAZING performance-- one that I didn't want to distract from with the sound of a camera).

They both end up being very upset and devastated.

After having a heart-to-heart talk (no pictures then either) they realize how they have misjudged and misunderstood each other and how they've been feeling. Penelope is willing to spend her summer at her grandparents since it's causing DJ to feel so upset. And this notion helps DJ to feel differently. She rethinks her anger and resentment.

When Penelope gives DJ a very meaningful and precious gift that belonged to her mother it "seals the deal".

It's all very emotional!

They decide to spend the summer together as planned and DJ gives her cousin a big hug.

I'm so proud of them.

This was the dress rehearsal/performance which I was obviously able to attend, thank the good Lord.

Too bad no one was able to make MY performance to take any pictures of me. :-/

Ah, the sacrifices parents must make for their kids. But no regrets about that!!!

And this is what you get...

All my pictures turn out like this...
Oh... and my hair only looks good the day of the cut because they style it for me. After that I'm on my own, which means that it will dry naturally however it decides to dry, because I can't do that styling stuff worth crap. (It's still wet in a few of these photos).

Look at that double chin! Yea baby. At least here you can kind of see the new color.

And here, you can also see the new wall color in the background.

See? You were so excited about all of this. ho hum.

Just imagine what I must look like with make-up AND the hair styled professionally. WOWZA! ;-)

You Are NOT Going to Believe This...

I took the big plunge!

I got my hair colored!!! YAH. Shocker, I know. I thought I had kind of vowed to myself that I wouldn't ever go there. I told myself, "It's too much maintenance. It's too expensive. I don't mind having the gray." And all that is very true.

Well, I got caught in a moment of spontaneity, because I had finally made an actual appointment to get my hair cut. It's been 8 months since my last one--literally! I mean really... who goes that long without even a trim? Definitely not someone who cares all that much. But all this rehearsing and preparing for the performances has made me more conscious of my appearance. And the few times I've donned make-up (for pictures and whatnot) I've been a little taken back by all the compliments--to the extent that it's made me think I must really look like a hag without it. HAHAHA!

Anyway, I gave Jessica fair warning (Jessica plays Reno in the show so I see her 3 times a week, and she also works in Jayne's Cuts where I used to go for my yearly hairdo). I told her weeks in advance that I was planning to come in, and I wanted her to cut my hair. I picked her because I figured she had already sized me up during rehearsals for a "look" that would suit me well. When I got there yesterday, I found that I had judged correctly. She simply suggested that we do a little coloring the next time I came in... I said, "Well, if it took me 8 months to get here this time, chances are, it won't be easy to get me back again. It's today or never... I'm game!"

OMG. We went for it!

Things turned out great! I strutted my stuff into rehearsal last night, with a new hairdo and a little make-up--and wowza! Hahaha. You'd think I was some hot chick walking across stage in a bikini or something. HAHAH. The cast is great. So supportive. They make me laugh. I told Terry that his response to my new look was way out done by my theater peeps. They're great actors--LOL! (It's not that remarkably different, btw. It's just a nice toning up of the rats nest). Terry's excuse was that I barely strutted my stuff for him before running out the door for practice... which is true... but, "Yea yea. You're gonna have to make it up to me!"

Sorry, there's no image available. I should have taken a picture yesterday--which will be the only day it will ever look nicely styled. DANG!

The International Dinner

It's become an annual event at our school and I think this was the 5th year. It is so much fun. The past two years have had some sad circumstances surrounding the event. Last year Eleanor Swan, the ESL teacher at the school who began these dinners, passed away after a battle with cancer only a month before th event. This year we lost Pablo a week before. He was one of our students, which has been quite devastating to everyone. We were all just getting to know him this year at our school. His funeral was on the same day as this event, which ended up being a good thing. Many of the family friends came out to it. It was nice to be together at such a wonderful event with great food, and be able to just enjoy the entertainment after such an emotional week.

The 7th grade hand drummers performed.
Here are some beauties SMILING for the camera. (Thanks Anika)

DJ Toni Tigga! Scratching out the tunes. (He bowls with the clique too, wink wink)

Some great Mexican folk dances were performed for us.

Laura is showing us how great the food is. That's Nate's girl (on and off--Ayi). She's a great girl.

The 7th graders also performed on the marimbas--my favorite part of the night.

The 7th graders also performed a Mexican Hat Dance

One of our students is bound for "So You Think You Can Dance" or whatever that show is called. He's great and he loves it. So fun to watch.

Oh and our... can you guess... 7th graders from french class made crepes for dessert. The 7th graders ROCK!!!

The dancers performed some Aztec dances, too. I'm glad they wore something underneathe the costumes, cuz last year I'm not sure that they did--haha! Oops.

We also had a group in. There are somewhat of a drum circle, called BOOM. They are very popular around here (at least with the hippy-free-lovin' throwbacks and surfer crowd--NO OFFENSE!!) I think there may have been about 30 of them, all with a variety of drums and percussion instruments. They have a bit of a routine, but they all walk into the room playing a rhythm and being free and thrilled with themselves, and then they get louder and louder and louder until your ears are almost bleeding and your head is pounding and pulsating angrily. (I've heard them several times now and it's always the same). There's this feeling they are going for--I think it's similar to... a frenzied state! It reminds me a little bit of some of my former church daze in the charismatic circles--LOL. So I get it. I know what the "hunger" is, but it makes me have to leave the room at this stage in my life... because the longed-for emotional sensation is just that--a sensation. And I don't really need that sensation to feel fulfilled anymore. Getting away from that whole hyped-up environment is like becoming sober after being a drunk for years or something. And I found that state of emotionalism to lead to a very empty and unsafe place.

Well, I guess for some this drum thing is a release--but you probably need to have a drum or instument in hand to experience that. Maybe you can tell that I have very little appreciation for the drumming circle. HAHA. Well, I was mad, because they went on for a long time and then they were done--or so we thought--and the DJ finally got to kick in, which all the kids were patiently waiting for because they LOVE to dance. The tunes were just starting to crank, and the floor was immediately filled with the jivers and next thing you know, the drummers had come full circle through the hall and back into the gym to play somemore!!! AGGGHGHHHHH!!!! They had no clue that we had happily moved on. And they played and played and took up the DJs time and after that the night was over and everyone had to go home. NOT FAIR!!!

ANNOYING!!!!

That's why I just had to blog about it. Everything else was fantastic.

Being Convincing

I'm finding my way in this renewed interest called acting. I've never really had any acting classes or studied theater in any formalized fashion. Any performances I've done on stage in my past 41 years has strickly come from my natural-born, raw talent (not counting piano and choir performances) which isn't saying I've done particularly well with the "natural-born, raw talent" either. Never poor performances, but not necessarily great ones, that I could tell anyway.

I do have a natural gift, but I long to develop the craft and have some real training... because it's fun. I want to be good. I want to be entertaining and engaging on stage. My new desire is to become more talented and skilled in acting and even dancing which comes quickly to me, but also in singing. (I purposely did NOT put organ playing in any category of "desire". Did you notice?).

So... why now? You may ask. I don't know. I constantly have new pursuits on the horizon that grab my attention. Maybe I have a touch of ADD.

I will say that this pursuit has NOT ALL been a barrel of FUN. I have been frustrated with myself; my inability to do any of these new pursuits well--so far! I am stronger in some areas than others. I stand out as a big asset, so I've been told, when singing and dancing in the chorus. That stuff is easy for me. It's comfortable. I can lead the others along until we all "get it right" but, I struggle with confidence when it's my turn to step into the limelight, which in essence means... I'm not convincing anyone. It'll come. I know it will, I just find it stressful to NOT be there yet. Scary even.

I have two separate things coming up. The director for Anything Goes has been great; understanding, patient, helpful, and yet ruthless. My stress with that role comes only from within myself. It's a good stress. It drives me to work and think and dig deeper to find something to draw from.

I have another director from thenakedstage who is this young guy; easy-going, kind, has great ideas, and is very encouraging. I find him easy to work with because he is willing to accept me where I am and help me get to the next place. BUT... there is another person in this same picture, who is a complete THORN to me! He gives absolutely NO ROOM for trial and error, no room for experimentation, and has not a single word of encouragement to offer (to anyone as far as I can tell). He makes me want to stick pencils in my eyes and pour lemon juice on them... or as Terry would say, "Light my hair on fire and put it out with a hammer." I guess this is all part of my learning curve.

There is one other director I have yet to experience in this performance setting. Tuesday will be here soon enough. I think I will enjoy her, because I've always been impressed by her... and she taught my daughters in a children's acting workshop, one time. They loved it. Next weekend marks the first big performance (well really two performances) down. And then two weekends later is the big six-show run of Anything Goes.

One day, later on in life, my brain will thank me for not allowing it to fall into the same old patterns day after day after day. I've kept it in discovery mode these last few years by blogging, writing, photography, creating flyers and advertisements, learning the organ, and now acting. Let me never stop embarking on new adventures.

Hey. It's high time to get some INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL PLANS into the picture!!!!

What is this World We Live in?

First of all, let me tell you--I DESPISE NEWSDAY! It's a Long Island Daily Newspaper, and I just can't stomach it. The reporting is many times erroneous and poorly written. Of course, they use sensationalism to sell what they can. They have people hired to make those annoying phone calls to homes who don't receive their paper, trying to convince us that its only $0.12 a day or whatever. But those calls come regularly about twice a week. They don't give up either. And whenever I decide to answer, I say "NOOOOOO!" and they ask why, and I say, "Because Newsday SUCKS! and I HATE IT!!! TAKE ME OFF YOUR %$^#$ PHONE LIST!!!!"

I even got into a little email banter with a ND reporter over some school budget reporting, because she got it all wrong and put her report in a way that was so misleading to the public. She didn't think so. Whatever! I don't read that paper unless someone draws my attention to an article.

I was once told that by a columnist: One must be careful who one makes enemies with, especially when it is one who buys ink by the barrel.

I was completely turned off today even further, though, when attention was brought to an online article from said newspaper. Because we lost a student to a car accident on Saturday, many of us have been reading the online articles floating around. This one was poorly written and once again misleading... but then there were the comments!!!! OMG!! How can people live with themselves??? There are some awful, hateful, angry human beings out there that obviously feed their own evil desires on trying to hurt people. It's really despictable. And the fact that ND doesn't even moderate the comments!!!??? Oh, they have a little section with three icons where you (anyone) can "judge" the comments made... which only plays into that culture of bashing and anihilating people even more. I find the whole thing appauling. Barbaric!! I won't ever go back to that site. It's like Jerry Springer online! I wished I had never witnessed that.

I appreciate www.27east.com because so far I've seen decent reporting and commenting, as well as a moderater of sorts, at least for this delicate situation of a teenage death. But I am very disappointed in the human race right now.

Maybe Newsday will experience a bit of a shake-up. Maybe they will be forced to re-evaluate their premise for reporting. Yes, of course it will always be to make their money, but maybe someone will come in there and help them somehow decide, rather than to create an appetite for hatrid and mistrust; a lust for bad news and trauma... they would use their tool to shape a community's way of thinking in a more constructive and positive way. Bringing hope. Making a way for understanding. Promoting an environment that helps one another towards a better future.

Dream world, I know.

There's that Infamous...

...passport photo smirk!

Yup! I didn't even put on makeup for a photo that will be my international identification for the next 15 years. That's just me. I'm getting old.

One of these daze I'm going to get "glamour shots" taken and won't you ALL be impressed!!!

Today is going to be full.

The very sad part of the day will be this morning...

10:00 it's up to the school to spend time grieving with the kids and teachers. Pablo Saldivar, 16 year old student was in a fatal car accident on Saturday. Tires were bare and it was raining lightly when the camero hydro-planed into the oncoming traffic. Our hearts go out to Pablo's family.

I'll be thinking about his and praying for God's comfort, as I must continue on to the rest of my day. Meanwhile the Saldivars probably feel as though their lives are at a complete standstill.



Nate keeps beggin me. So...
12:00 it's off to DMV with Nate for his written test. Not sure if I want him to get the driver's permit. Not sure if he's earned the privledge.

3:00 back home to rehearse for the upcoming rehearsals... haha

5:30 rehearsal for theviolinmaker

7:15 rehearsal for anything goes

9:30 home... yay

Tomorrow is kind of the same. I guess the second part of my day breaks up the monotony of a long school vacation. I just wish that there wasn't a tragedy to have to endure.

On a wonderful note... my neice gave birth on Friday to the most beautiful: Sienna Claire . Way to go Brooke!! She has such "easy" deliveries that she'll most likely added a few more to her present total of 3 darlings. When you make them as beautiful as they (Brooke and Derek) do, ya just gotta keep making them!! ;-) That's what Terry and I always said, anyway.

Yesterday...

The slab for the patio was poured. YAY!

Oh Happy day.

The next step will be laying the bluestone. It may take a while. We'll see.


We also took our bi-annual trip to the Wildlife sanctuary with our bag of sunflower seeds.

We were also there to spy out some new growth... something green...

Found some!!


It was Michael's first time to feed the birds.

But these two are "old hat's "(har har--sorry Harriet)

And these two are serious bird tamers.

Bea and Caleigh are a bit impatient with the birds.

The gang likes to play a game where they get points for each handfed animal. Squirrels are worth the most... well, squirrels and cardinals... because there is no way they get that close.

but two birds at once gets bonus points.
Caleigh is serious about this whole thing!
Any signs of spring where you live?

Went to this Banging Party Yo

Me and my bowling buddies in another 10 years... ok maybe 20 years.

Serenity Now...

Yah... I'm gonna need some help with that. Just as I was settling into a wee bit of serenity last night, and drifting off to sleep... Terry came home from his extended meeting. I had a moment of hope, that maybe he had arranged something. Maybe he brought boyz home with him... but nope! I tried to stay in my sleep mode, but he just had to ask. Any idea where the boyz are? That was enough to get me all riled up again. We were both extremely annoyed about bad boy behavior. EXTREMELY!

So, then I couldn't sleep. I got up to read. I had to grab a new book from the bookshelf, read about 2 chapters and decided that it was a teeny-bopper book. I put the book down and began to contemplate my role as Purser in Anything Goes. I thought about who Purser is. (A purser is an officer aboard a ship, who keeps financial accounts and attends to the passengers' welfare). I have all these little lines and a million entrances and exits. No substantial conversation, but its a bit of a comic routine, as I'm chasing down Snake Eyes Johnson "Enemy Number One" and being completely done over by Moonface "Enemy Number 13" and Billy, a stow away, who is using many disguises by stealing items from the passengers so he can be with his true love.

I'm asking myself, what is Purser like? Is Purser full of energy, nervous, overwrought or strict, exacting, prudish? I've wanted to use a lisp, but I haven't had the guts to twy it yet. I've been so busy twying to hear and concentrate on stage direction, and tuning out evewyone's volumous chatter in the wings aghrrr! If I do get to a place where I can try a few different personalities and quirks, I'd like to try the lisp, at least once. Maybe I should do a little Suzy Stewardess!!! Polly Purser, we could call her.

Ah, Mrs. Harcourt, would you like your deck chair back? I BET YOU WOULD!!! hahaha (inside joke for Sohailah).

Anyway, I think I'm gonna go with the purser being "a fixer" both in and out of the job and use demonstrative hand motions and a lot of nodding. I'm taking some character ideas from the persona of a teacher at school--any of you locals know which one? If you guess it right, I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

Ok. So last night, after thinking about "all things Purser" I felt that I could sneak back into bed and finally go to sleep. But NOOooo! Once I got under the covers, my husband just had to come back to life and ask me if there was any sign of the boys. That got me aggitated all over again! You should have heard all the things T and I decided were going to happen as a result. Things I don't think I am fully capable of following through with once the morning comes... but man, oh man... if only I were! There would be hell to pay (whatever that means). The problem is, I have to be so angry and full of spewing hatrid and bitterness to want to punish! To make them pay!! And this wretched spirit bleeds into everything else. It's not something I want to carry around. Anger is way to easy for me. I've worked hard to find a better way to respond to situations. Let me just leave it there.

I've gotten plenty of unsolicited advice, so don't give me anymore, unless you're going to make a joke! Cuz slapping people isn't far off my list. (see what anger does to me... and lack of sleep).

I don't know what to do. I feel worn down and I hate this 10-day vacation. I wonder what the hell admin was thinking when they made the school calendar??? Yeaaa.