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I want to be a Flying Monkey

In High School and College I dabbled in theater. It's wasn't a big interest of mine. For one thing, most theater in that age group is Musical Theater and I can't really sing that well. But also I was more into writing and working at WECI, the college radio station.

Don't get me wrong. I like to sing. And I can kind of, sort of, carry a tune. If I practice a lot and am singing with a group or the song isn't very challenging and very much in the middle of my range. Or all three.

But get up in front of a bunch of people and sing cold by myself with no one to support me? Not going to happen. Not in my lifetime.

Or so I thought.

Mini-Mac is Babette

I forgot to mention that Mini-Mac is Babette in the Stage1 production of Beauty and the Beast Jr.

They had their opening weekend last weekend and it was fab. It's a very different experience from her usual theater group. Instead of hundreds of kids in 3-5 casts all milling about, they picked the top kids and really rehearsed them.

It makes a big difference.

The show is much tighter and much higher quality and much more enjoyable to watch.

Plus Mini-Mac is awesome in it, of course.

I'm still glad Peter Pan Foundation is around giving kids a shot. Because every kid gets in, Mini-Mac has been able to have experiences that she wouldn't otherwise been able to get. She's gone from being in the Ensemble with occasional solos to having name parts. I don't think that would have happened if she was just auditioning and auditioning and not getting to production after production.

Plus they do so much good work raising money for charity.

The Toyota is Dead. Long Live the Toyota!

MacBoy totaled his car.

Okay, HE didn't total it. Some dude totaled it for him. The other guy was going at least 50 in a 30 mph zone. But says he had a Green light. MacBoy says it was a flashing Red.

Which means it's "he said, he said."

We think the insurance company will come back with "Unable to determine fault."

That's good in a way because it means MacBoy's insurance rates won't go up. But bad in a way because he only has Liability insurance and so he won't get a dime for the wrecked Solara.

The Cash for Cars people gave him a couple hundred for it though. And another couple hundred for his Aunt's Saturn that she gave him but he couldn't learn to drive because it was a stick shift.

He did try on the stick shift but he couldn't get comfortable on Mr. Mac's car and his Aunt's was in much worse shape and much harder to drive.

We ended up buying him a "new" one for his birthday with the understanding that he'd pay us back for most of it over time.

It's another Toyota but a Corolla. So quite the step down from the Solara in some ways. It's a 1997 too. But slightly less mileage. And not dying like the Solara was. At least not as far as we know!

Blane asked me to prom!

I have been unhappy at my job for a while and lackadaisically searching for a new one. I had worked with a friend on creating a better resume and had started on a list of job leads but hadn't done much else. I knew I had to work harder and in a more organized fashion to get a new job, but the rest of my life kept getting in the way and it didn't happen.

I was even dressed for the prom when I got the news

Then at April's SVTC Happy Hour, I ran into a friend who got excited that I was on the market and had me send him my resume. This led to a phone screen by his boss and then an in-person interview, which I was pretty sure would lead to a job offer (sometimes you can just tell).

Two business days later, I went to work and was told my contract wouldn't be renewed past the end of this month. I said "Oh." My supervisor looked at me funny, but what I was thinking to myself was, "Good thing I went on that job interview."

MacBoy has a job!

A real one. He's going to deliver pizza for Pizza Hut. He likes to drive and he likes pizza so I think this is a good job for him.

He may now need to give his car a tune up. It's been a while.

MiniMac is a High Schooler

I think this where I'm supposed to say "I feel so old!" Except her being in High School doesn't make me feel old. (Other things do but not that.)

On the other hand, it does freak me out a bit. Mostly because she's going to a traditional High School now and so there is homework and Back-to-School Night and grades and getting ready for college. It all seems so vital somehow and like any second now we can make a decision that will screw things up.

One thing Mr. Mac and I told Mini-Mac when she said she wanted to go to this school was: This is your idea so you have to make it work. We aren't going to nag you about homework, keep track of your tests, or otherwise do the work for you. I anticipated some adjustment and drama over having to deal with these things but [knock wood] so far, so good.

And I can't stop myself from working about the homework and the tests even though it drives Ms. Mini a bit crazy. I think she's said "I know, Mom" about 50 times this week alone.

She's thrown herself into school activities too. She's a member of the color guard and signed up to do the Freshman Skit for starters.

She's not doing the Fall play though. Says the school's theater is lame and the play is lame. She's got callbacks with PPF for their Christmas play. She's being considered for two parts. So she'll do that instead.

We also told her, if she decided to go to public school, that this was it for a year. No whining two weeks into the semester that she wanted to go back to DVS. Well, she's not whining that she wants to go to DVS. Instead she's whining that she wants to go to Irvington. They have an arts magnet program and I told her to apply last year and she refused.

Which isn't stopping her from driving me crazy, nagging me every day to call them and figure out how to get her in there sooner than next year. Sigh.