I belong to a theatre company. Sometimes I feel like I’m not a very valuable member, since I have no formal education in the subject, am not the best actor out there, and have never written a play in my life. On the one hand, it takes the personal pressure off me. I had to take about two years off while I was working nights, and although I regret that I’ve never felt any judgment from this group. Which is rather a feat, since about once a week I feel like even the doorknob judges how I twist it so carelessly. I just work that way, frustrating as it can be to everyone.

But anyway. every couple of weeks we get together for either a planning meeting or a social meeting. Every time, I come home feeling fulfilled in an artistic way that my work has never given me. I consider myself a writer, and although many of the jobs I’ve had in the past require at least a grasp of the basics of English, none of them have really pushed my writing skills themselves. Tonight was a social meeting at the Draught House Pub and Brewery, and only a few of us made it. We talked about how to push the company forward in terms of the works we produce and how to bring it back in house. Such discussions can quickly get out of hand with too many people, so I’m very glad it was a smaller group. Talking about what motivates a writer, how we can come together as a group to come up with a play, and a concrete plan to begin pushing towards our goals was emotionally and intellectually satisfying. It reminded me of a writing group I used to belong to, and how good it would feel to put something out there for a workshop again one day.

I just wanted to capture the feeling before bed. And remind/inform you that I will be participating in Script Frenzy 2011, so please be prepared for the script to be taking place, warts and all, here. As of right now, it officially begins in 51 hours!

And now to bed, because holy hell it is late.

Well it’s been a long couple of weeks. Life isn’t always easy, but that’s how it goes. I made a decision when I started this blog not to talk about work, because that’s a great way to not have a job anymore. Just ask dooce. But today has been one of the most emotionally draining days I’ve had in a very, very long time. The good news is I honestly think I can pull through and come out on top. After I push through just a couple more anxiety attacks I’m sure I’ll be able to prove my worth in my usual rockstar fashion. Until then, well, I’ll be keeping Papa T. on his toes. Read the rest of this entry

Instead of writing I have been hanging curtains, fixing dishwashers, replacing hard-to-reach lights, changing out showerheads, fixing leaky toilets, rearranging furniture, and going to Seaworld. None of which I documented well, so I’ll makeup for it soon by posting Grandma T’s muffin recipe :).

I haven’t had one. I’ve actually had an awesome day! My parents arrive at 2:55 5:30 9-ish soon and I spent the day getting the house neatened up a little. Also, I watched this video at regular intervals. It is enough to make any day better.

And I found a video of Mia playing with an orange! Hooray!

Today, I made pork chops for the first time in my life. I’ve never been a big fan of pork, so learning to cook it has been low on my priority list. Unfortunately, it shows.

I tried to make them with some barbecue marinade thing I found on the internet. The sauce sounded good, and tasted pretty awesome before the cooking-with-pork commenced. Afterwards, not so much. It was sort of like vinegar and ketchup soup with onion chunks and giant globs of pork in it. I personally prefer my vinegar and ketchup soup creamier and vegetarianer. Why oh why didn’t I use the BBQ sauce from a bottle? I mean, I know why; I wanted to differentiate my new pork chops recipe from my pulled pork sandwiches (which are actually pretty good. I’m sure this is mostly due to the fact that I use the sauce from the bottle). I’m seriously considering making that difference be which brand of bottled sauce I use.

Part of the problem may also have been how long I cooked them. When I looked it up, the Interwebs told me 170° for pork products. So I pulled them out 4 or 5 times expecting them to be done, only to find that they were around 100° pushing towards 125°, but wouldn’t go past that. Eventually, Papa T. was able to confirm that the chops were fully cooked despite my meat thermometer claiming they needed at least another 2 days in the oven.

Papa T. is very valiant about eating my failed experiments as long as he’s pretty sure they won’t kill him or make him throw up in his mouth. Which I think is reasonable. My parents had a rule that if you didn’t like what they cooked, you could have cereal. Since I don’t stock my pantry with cereal, it took the two of us a while to find an alternative rule that worked for both of us. If it won’t kill him, he’ll usually eat it without too much complaint. I get comments like, “You bought inferior pork chops. A pork chop should be thicker than this,” but he’ll rarely declare a meal categorically inedible. When he does, it really is. On nights like tonight, when the meal is edible but sorta blechy, he’ll eat one pork chop and then declare himself full. 15 minutes later he’ll be making a PB&J, but my fiction of having created an edible meal is upheld and I’ll pretend not to notice. A good marriage requires good communication, the ability to compromise, and the willingness to forgive. But it also requires knowing when to pretend there’s no one in the kitchen making a PB&J.

I guess I’d better start buying cereal by the time we have kids.