That's All Folks!

This coming Friday, July 31st is my last day as Publicity Advisor for Coal Creek Community Theater. If you remember a post several months ago titled "A Volunteer's Lament," you knew my recent frustrations with the job. Well, shortly after publishing that post, I sent in my letter of resignation. It was extremely freeing to write it and submit to the board that July 31st would be my final day. Along with it I included a list of tasks that would need to be taken care of...and because I'm sucker, I offered another option. I offered that, if they needed me, I would still do design work for them for a fee of $100 per month. Design was the part of the job that I rather liked, but it is still VERY time consuming. Although I would permanently shed all the other parts of my job (press releases, email blasts, programs etc) there would be the possibility that I would still be tied to the theater. The $100 was intended to deter them from retaining services, but instead, I fear they will just pay me. I made it clear at my final meeting that I would "rather not" do the design work, but still left it open.

At the last board meeting, I supplied every remaining board member with a 14-page Publicity Training Document. I spent several weeks compiling every task that I did with detailed instructions. Shortly after I resigned, I sent an email to the entire CCCT email list (over 400 people) that CCCT needed a publicity advisor. I briefly outlined the duties and sent it off. Well, I got absolutely NO responses! Absolutely no one wanted this job...they are smart people. I thought that someone, somewhere, might be interested. But nope, that position would remain vacant and the rest of the board would have to pick up the slack - hence the 14-page manual. Anyway, so far, it doesn't look like they will retain my design services, but then again, we aren't in the middle of a show. Once the next show starts up (which I already created the poster for...see above: sucker) I think they will come knocking. It's ok I guess since I'm the one that presented them that option, but deep down, I just want to move on.

I'm VERY grateful for the experience and the knowledge that this role has provided me. I have so much experience under my belt at a young age that I know I can be successful in the future. I loved that I got to help grow the theatre and I hope that the success continues without me. So long CCCT! Break many legs!

Sleepy, Filmy and Dopey

I am writing this blog in a little bit of a haze because I'm so tired. I'm usually tired in the morning on weekdays as I get to the office by 7am because I like leaving at 4pm. You'd think that after3 years of working this schedule, I would get used it, but nope. Every morning when that alarm goes off, I moan and complain and drag myself out of bed. Today, I'm a little more tired than usual because I had a busy weekend that also included getting up early.

On Saturday, I started work on a short, independent film. It was a 2 day shoot and on Saturday I had to be down in Highlands Ranch for an 8:30am call. So off I went for a half-day of shooting some background stuff and sitting around for a long time. See, in film, you film for about 20% of the time and the other 80% is waiting around to do something. I had a book, but unfortunately finished it too early and was left with nothing to do the majority of the time. And it's rather exhausting sitting around doing nothing anxiously waiting for your name to be called.

On Sunday, we had to wake up early to work on the yard. We have this lovely garden in the back that is unfortunately completely overgrown with grass, weeds and other random greenery. It's nearly impossible to keep under control. I had a 1:30pm call on Sunday, so all this yard work had to be done in the morning. So we were outside ripping up weeds by 830am. Then it was the usual Sunday grocery shopping, lunch and then off to the set. Luckily, Sunday's shoot was 10 minutes from my house so I didn't have far to go. I got to set at 130 and got into make-up. And then, of course, sat around doing absolutely nothing until close to 3pm. I did my short scene and was headed back home by 3:20. Oh, did I mention it was 96 degrees on Sunday? Yeah, and there was no air conditioning where we were shooting and no AC at home. So I sat around and sweat (sweated? what's the past tense of sweat? Whatever) until I went to my dad's for dinner. Oy, it was a long day!

And lastly, to address the final word in my title. I'm dopey. Nearly all the time.

Love Day

Yesterday, 07/07/09, was my husband and mine's (that's not right, how do you say that? OUR I guess) 2 year anniversary! Yes, we were married on the ever popular 07/07/07, but unlike the droves of people that chose that date because it was "lucky," we actually had a real reason. We don't need luck or a date that my husband would never forget, we chose it because that exact date was our 7 year anniversary of being together. That's right - EXACTLY 7 years on 07/07/07. How cool are we?!

At the time, I didn't realize just how popular that date would be. We got engaged in June of 2006 and I immediately started planning. Much to my surprise, when I started calling venues for that date, they told me they had been booked for 07/07/07 since January 2006 or earlier!! I know wedding venues often book quickly, but still it was extremely frustrating that every venue was booked - and some even double booked. We finally found a place for our 250 guest wedding and it was smooth sailing from there...ok so not really. The folks at our venue were AWFUL communicators and couldn't successfully coordinate an event if their lives depended on it. So, I became a babysitter for the venue workers for about a year to make sure they had everything correct. And still some things were wrong the day of the wedding, but they were easily fixed. Anyway, 07/07/07 came and went and it was the most glorious day. I got to marry the best man in the world and share that great experience with lots of friends and family! I'm one lucky girl! I love you, hubby!

Getting Laid...Off

In 3 months and 6 days, I will be living the blissful life of an unemployed citizen. In September 2008, we were told that our positions with the company would no longer be needed after October 1, 2009. During the time in between we would need to help transition our duties over to the new company. Oh, perhaps I should back up. Last summer, a competitor took over our company. They are a much larger operation with headquarters out of state. Ok, so back to the story...so, from September 2008 until now we have been helping merge the 2 catalog departments. And by merge, of course, I mean just letting the other company do everything and realizing that everything we had worked to build here meant absolutely nothing. That might sound like I am a little bitter over the situation, but the reality is that getting laid off is quite possibly the best thing that has ever happened to me - work or money wise.

I was jumping for joy (on the inside) when they told me that I no longer needed work here after Oct. 1st. The deal is that they continue paying my salary up until Oct 1st, give me a retention bonus for staying that long and then pay me severance for several weeks after I'm done. They are quite literally paying me to leave! And who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. Even though I was so happy at the idea that I wanted to kiss that gift horse right on the mouth. Ew..ok...anyway...

Oh and did I mention that the past 9 months have been some of the easiest months ever? We have no work of our own anymore, so the other company has to give us stuff to do and well, they are less than attentive. We maybe get one, small project a week that is supposed to keep a team of 8 busy for 5 days. That project usually takes 1 person 3 hours to complete. Needless to say, we have A LOT of downtime on our hands. We've tried to fill it responsibly by holding professional development training sessions, playing around with different software, cleaning up data that no one will ever use and for some, attending a myriad of job search training classes. However, after months of this activity, it has grown stale and now we have become experts at filling 8 hours a day with mindless crap. It's wonderful. I go to work and get so much done for other aspects of my life - like theatre work and fun design stuff. I've also become the master at several online games...but I digress.

The underlying reason why I am so happy to be jobless in the future isn't the money for doing nothing (although that sure is nice!), it is the freedom and the sign that I needed to tell me it was time to move on. Time to do what I really want to do and follow the dreams that I've always wanted to follow. Being the uber practical person that I am, I have always struggled to find a balance between what I want most in life and being able to pay the bills. The thought of just quitting a job and running off to do something crazy was nearly impossible for me to fathom. Well, now that choice has been made for me and my life has never been so clearly laid out. You see, I am taking this opportunity to actually live the life I dreamt as a child. I would be lying if I was saying that I'm not completely and totally terrified at the idea, but the time has come and I'm ready to take that next step. I only hope that I don't fail miserably, but if I do, at least I can say that I tried to follow my dreams.

So, I Went to France

We were in Paris for the last week or so. We saw all the important sites plus some really beautiful country villages. It was a great vacation and I'm glad I got to experience it, especially with my lovely husband. It was hella expensive, but it's a place that people should go to at least once in their life. I have to admit though, I didn't fall in love with Paris. All the great tourist sites (Eiffel Tower, Versailles, Champs Elysees) were so packed with tourists, they were almost not enjoyable. We could barely move at all (except for the sudden shoves by hoards of people trying to push through) at Versailles and it made me resent the tour instead of enjoying the beautiful palace.

The local Parisians hardly smiled and seemed as though they didn't much enjoy life. Eating seemed to always be a hassle whether it was getting a table, getting waiting on, getting correct food, getting the bill or simply eating food that wasn't quite what I was expecting for Paris. I spoke ok French, but found that although I could speak and read it, I couldn't understand it for crap. They would talk so fast, that I simply couldn't keep up. There was 1 waiter that we had that only spoke to us in short simple French and I understood every word - god bless him.

What I did love about Paris was that every building, everywhere you went was carefully and meticulously crafted. Beautiful architecture surrounds you everywhere you go. And since we went in May, the gardens were in full bloom. I adore flowers and it was wondrous to always be around gorgeous flowers. I also loved the countryside. The villages are far more charming than Paris. Not only do they have a much slower pace, but they are quaint and far more beautiful. I also really enjoyed going to the French Open. I had never been to a tennis match before and to attend one of the Grand Slam tournaments was awesome. Although I was freezing the entire time, I think I found a new love for tennis!

What I have always known about me, was confirmed on this trip: I'm not a good traveler. I do just fine for a few days, but then it starts to wear on me. I lose interest in doing things and would much rather just hang out in the hotel room all day until we go home. I also find that instead of relaxing and enjoying myself, I get even more stressed. Stressed about money, stressed about transportation, stressed that I'm going to do something wrong and offend someone or get lost, stressed that I have to be responsible for planning things, stressed about returning to a mountain of work...ugh, just stressed in general! And it's especially worse when I travel to large cities. I long for suburbia - and yes, I know how crazy that sounds, but I really do. If I could vacation in a Target or a Chili's I'd probably be just fine. I do know that the next vacation we take will be to an all inclusive resort that picks us up from the airport, feeds us and just lets us lay on a beach all day. A vacation of mindless nothing-ness - sounds good to me.

Festival Update

Well...we didn't win and I'm actually very glad. It was enough of a headache planning a trip to Utah, and I did not want to do that again for Tacoma.

If you read the below post, you will see that the organization of this festival was a piece of crap. Once we got there...well nothing had changed, still shitty. Other than the hotel being a rather nice place to stay, the festival was a joke. Some of our paperwork was lost - of course they got our check, but some of the paperwork that was with it was missing. The adjudicators provided nothing meaningful and made such comments as "well, I wasn't bored." Awesome. I am glad we were able to perform, but sad that our little not-for-profit theatre had to spend so much money to attend this poorly organized event. The awards "ceremony" at the Applebees didn't start till after 11pm and, again, was poorly planned. They didn't notify the restaraunt that awards were being given out and that everyone should be in the same area. So when we showed up, it was chaos. Then, they handed out the 2 awards and it was done. Fortunately, the right people won 1st and 2nd place. The 1st place show was from Littleton, CO and they were amazing! It would have been nice if the organizers recognized people for acting, set design, costumes etc, like other regional festivals had done, but clearly making a few more awards was beyond them. Lots of folks worked their butts off, not to mention took time off of work and spent lots of time and money getting to the festival, and they couldn't even print out a certificate that said Good Job! We plan to send a letter to AACT explaining to them was a disappointment the festival was. They obviously can't do anything now except for maybe take more care when planning the festival next time. Which would be good enough for me.

Idiots who think they can plan things.

As you know, I will be going to a regional theatre festival on Thursday. This is a big deal to our little community theater and I'm sure it's a big deal to the others attending as well. However, it seems as though they found the most incompetent person to actually plan the festival. So, what should be an honored event to attend, is a thrown together piece of crap. Let's see, where to start...

First, the regional festival dates weren't officially set until end of March - only about 8 weeks until the festival will take place. (other regional festivals have been completely planned for months) It's not cheap to travel to a different state with 7 people, costumes and a set. We won the state festival in June 2008, but because we didn't know IF there was going to be a regional at all, we couldn't fundraise during that time. And there wasn't adequate time between when we were told the dates of the festival and the actual event to plan anything successful. Luckily, we received some donations, but they won't even cover half of the expenses.

Second, information about the festival itself was impossible to find out. I had to send several emails to the nitwit organizer asking questions that should have been easily answered - where will the festival be taking place, who is participating, when will there be a schedule, where should we stay, what are the technical specifications of the theatre...and so on. More often than not, the organizer wouldn't respond at all. I had to send several follow up emails just to get a response to 1 of my questions. One of the most important things was obtaining official registration forms for the event. We got these a mere 3 weeks before the trip.

Next, I had to bring up issues with the organizer that she most certainly should have been aware of before the planning process begun. AACT has very specific rules for the festivals, but it seems that the idiot organizing the event didn't bother reading them. I had to bring up the fact that we needed to send in copies of the script and permission from the playwright to produce the play. She responded essentially saying, oh yeah, you should send those to me at X address. HELLO! This is something that you need to make sure you have well in advance! GRR!

There's a whole laundry list of grievances I have with the organization of this festival. It is costing the theater a significant sum of money to attend this haphazardly organized festival. Oh and did I mention that the awards ceremony is at 11pm at the Applebee's? Ugh.