Tuesday, March 19, 2013

isn't it nice to be home again

^^^ One of the more obscure of James Taylor's songs....

What a comedy of errors my weekend was!  The Mercury Retrograde went out like a lion.  I was up at 4 on Friday and on the road at 5:15 -- good so far.  Three hours later, though, and my cruise control being on caused the car to do the same wonky electrical thing it did last year (but hadn't done since) ... but this time it ALSO involved my transmission somehow!  The car didn't FEEL like it had a significant problem, and the warning light was not red but amber, so i stopped in the next town of decent size and started making phone calls.

Long story short:  i rented a car to continue the trip, because the show couldn't go on without me.  Thank god i had packed light.

I ended up doing a lot of intermittent fasting, so i raise my coffee-cup to ketosis, without which it might have been uncomfortable -- but of course if i were eating like "normal people" i wouldn't have had to fast, because there was plenty of good evil food ... if you know what i mean.  ;-)

The show itself turned out as well as we had any right to expect.  Before i arrived there had been one rehearsal, then on saturday there were two (morning and afternoon).  The morning one was appalling.  Our Mabel not only didn't know her lines, but she didn't even know the tunes ... and our Frederick was no better.  The director, who had condensed the script (and done quite a good job of it) also had the foresight to write the whole thing out on what one might call a period-correct teleprompter -- a big roll of newsprint.

Knowing the music better than anyone there, i became an unofficial assistant director, and pulled the ladies aside for a concentrated run-through of songs they weren't sure how to perform ... and bless him, our Pirate King came along too.  This guy is a professional (we have several actors in town who actually get paid in the real world) and though he was a little weak on his lines, he knew his songs.  We got everybody comfortable with how the parts should sound, and made a minor change in the way the finale should flow, and the last rehearsal was ... less appalling.

Fortunately we had an audience which WANTED to be pleased and amused, so the final product was well-received.  Most of the cast assembled in Meg's and my little cottage for a glass of bubbly and the kind of hilarity that comes when the worst is over.  We sincerely thanked our horrible "star" for making it possible to present our show at all -- it actually was a brave move of hers.  It was just unfortunate that seeing as how she couldn't play her part correctly, Frederick couldn't either.  :-(  For the record, this is how the scene should have looked and sounded:

Ours didn't.

The rest of the event passed as expected.  I packed out in good time on Sunday and spent that night at a half-way-home hotel, then after a few hours returned the rental and turned the key of my own car.  THE TRANSMISSION WAS FINE.

Head ... bang ... steering wheel.

Driving home without using the cruise control was a pain in the ass.  I'm so used to it, my speed was less consistent that i like through that hilly area.  Got home with no problems.  Immediately opened a bottle of wine.  Went out for dinner and had a feast, including more carbs than usual.  Slept like a baby (after a catch-up session on FB -- happy birthday again, Kim!).

The End.  ;-)

6 comments:

  1. Hi Tess

    Glad your back home safe, you are one of the good people, and we need all the good people we can get.

    Kind regards Eddie

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    1. thank you, Eddie! ...it takes one to know one, as we used to say as children. ;-)

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  2. Wow...maybe it's Aliens (the car thing) a friend had the same, exact thing happen with his car Monday morning...(cue Twilight Zone theme music)!
    Sounds like you ultimately had much fun!
    So, what you were doing....re-inacting a musical (as opposed to acting in a musical)?

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    1. :-) we were doing a period-correct show in an ALMOST period-correct way, in the course of a living-history event....

      does your friend drive a ten-year-old CrossCountry too? i tell ya, this was the last straw -- i can't put up with a car that's not dependable, considering the distances i travel by myself to some pretty obscure places. discussing the situation, however, we think we'll keep Oly and Kermit (the 20-yr-old green MX6) for around-town driving, and rent cars for me to drive to events. ...we're funny that way!

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  3. Nah...he drives a 13 y.o. Lincoln...but, same story, so I think he's shopping for a new car. I'm emotionally attached to my car (1997 Suzuki Sidekick) but it's falling apart. Still dependable though, so sometime in the near future I'm going to have to make a decision about putting $$ into repairs/getting something new(er)....we'll see. I think we could get by with one car actually, but we're spoiled. I remember in the old days, my babysitter would drive her husband to work & pick him up everyday so she could have use of the car. As a child I was perplexed by why she could drive us around all day, but when we went to pick him up, she had to slide over and let him drive!

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    1. hey, one forms a BOND with one's vehicle, sometimes the most satisfactory relationship we have! ;-)

      the bad thing is, you get a new car and almost immediately it isn't "new" any more. sides get dinged in the parking lot, scratches and abrasions and "pockmarks" on the windshield and things happen.... i have to confess our cars now both LOOK embarrassing, but they cost almost nothing to keep (taxes and insurance-wise). and as long as i CAN rent a reliable car to take on the highway, i think it might just be a good idea.

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