Sleep is never easy.

At last we can sleep easy.  The shows are finished, the web streaming is done and Rachel has left for London.  Apart from Rachel leaving, all is good.

During the shows was another matter though.  I don't think we'll ever do more plays when Lynn is still at work.  She was exhausted spending all day writing jokes for her brother's voice and then performing at night.  The adrenalin produced during the performance doesn't dissipate easy and so sleep can be tricky.

Our youngest also was finding sleep difficult.  He decided that he didn't like that we were out and so refused to sleep till we got home.  He was up till 11:30pm for all three nights and his face turned a kind of grey color with the fatigue.  Being that tired really messed him up.  He was pretty much always in a good mood when we got home, though he appeared to be trashed; all staggering, uncoordinated and slurring his speech.  He was even just as uncooperative, but easily fooled, as a drunk...and so each night I tricked him into his bed.

Sunday was our first day without any visitors, or work, or shows to prepare for.  We all went to bed early on Saturday night and so when our younger dictator awoke at 6am, we grabbed the opportunity and headed for the beach.  We could not have had a better time and had a timely reminder of how wonderful this place can be.  I think we need to go to the beach more, hike more and most importantly sleep more.

So for our www.OneHourTheater.com projects we're firmly in the "never again" school of thought!  And so we're now preparing for the next run of Heart & Sole in February....  I know, we're gluttons for punishment but somehow each time we learn more, we can't help but set a new goal...

Calm

Photo: Rich Marchewka

I know it's coming.  I tried to ignore it.  Almost completely ignored it through the Christmas holidays.  The last few weeks have been crazy as we prepared for it.  Tomorrow it starts.

Every time Lynn says, "The next play we should do is...," my heart should sink, but it rarely does.  We seem to gather enthusiasm from somewhere and before we know it we're talking about how we can make this the best yet.  Once we're committed, then follows a calm.  A period of reflection I suppose.  Every so often one of us will blurt out another 'great idea.'  The great idea will be discussed for a couple of minutes before the awkward silence appears, and then we watch the TV.

And all the time we are drifting towards the committed dates.  Stuff does happen in this period.  There is a plan.  Really, it's not necessarily written down, but there is a plan.  In that plan is a sketchy idea of how we take care of our boys.  We always plan to spend more relaxation time with them before the shows, but nearly always that's a naive intention.  Apparently, there something called rehearsals and line runs and web sites and designing images and printing and promoting and... you get the picture.

Yesterday my eldest played basketball, and won!!! Then he had a play-date. [Note: A play-date in the US is where your kid goes to a friend's house to play.]   Meanwhile my youngest pretty much did as he always does... whatever he damn well wants to!  There's been a lot of Backyardigans watched.  There's been a lot of play dough shaped and left to dry.  And there's been a lot of toys left out in a specific pattern designed to impale any un-shoed foot.

Now there's no silence in my head at all.  There's just a mush of lists and thoughts and what if's.  Tomorrow's performance will be fun, no doubt, but when planning this event, why did I think starting on a Public Holiday might be good for audience figures?  When I should have been thinking, how will I cope with the kids being off school?



[Go to www.OneHourTheater.com for details of the shows.  Rachel Ogilvey's performance on Wednesday Jan 17 will be filmed for all to watch either live or within 24 hours of the show closing - just register with the website beforehand.]

Financial Viewpoint From Our 8 Year Old

Our eldest has started to understand the world of finance.

First he started to grasp the concept that I couldn't afford to buy him toys every time we went  to a store.  Perhaps telling him we could either buy a toy or food for dinner was a little dramatic... but it worked (he was hungry!)

We have 4 'Aunties' visiting at the moment and so the other day they took him to the beach.  He was very pleased to be considered old enough to 'look after' the Aunties by himself.  Whilst out with the Aunties, one Aunty delayed their return to the car (and his Nintendo) saying she needed to go to the ATM to get cash.  Our boy responded, "If you need cash, then why don't you get a job?"  At least he gets the principle, his brother thinks Lynn works for chocolate brownies - and frankly he's content to let her go to work so long as she returns with the brownies.

And then, whilst at the local supermarket, my eldest pointed out to me that they are hiring at the moment...  I think he's just keen for me to start earning, so we won't have to choose between toys and food!

In fact I think he might understand finance better than me, currently all my effort is centered around charity and non-profit enterprises.  Lynn and one of the 'Aunties' will be performing at the Stella Adler - LA with all profits going to the school - see here for info and tickets.  Once that's over I'll return to my other formative obsession of how to help my friends use social media and internet mapping software for their charity cycle rides.  One's planning to go LA to NY in aid of Parkinsons charities and the other is already booked to do the San Francisco to LA Aids/Lifecycle.

New year, same old apologies...

1/1/11 was a funny day for me.  Well, not initially.  You see our Hogmanay celebrations were very good indeed.  I even won the 'best dressed man' award at a pajama party (skilful use of a Ferguson tie and an Ekky Thump hat).  In fact it was all so good that I didn't get to sleep till 2:30... and then my youngest awoke at 4:30 for half an hour of intense negotiations, followed by a too-short 3 hour nap.

So I was a little tired starting this new year.  I'm never quite at my best in the morning and so I met the day particularly grumpily.

I couldn't shake my mood till I became aware of something idiotic.  For some unknown reason, I'd not noticed a little error in my last blog post of 2010.  I'll call it a typo, though I made the same error twice (including the title!).  You see the Scottish toast is spelt, Slainte Mhath... I even linked to a definition page with the correct spelling.  I dropped the 'T' in Mhath - I fear I may be called Mr Weddle in future!

This error made me laugh a lot, though not as much as Mrs T.  You see, I'd avoided asking her to proof read the offending blog post because Lynn had 'edited' a previous draft to a point that I became overly huffy as I no longer recognised as my own.

So I start the New Year with an apology.  I sincerely apologise for my errors and my grumpiness of 2010.  To try to make amends, my New Year's resolutions are to be more open to seek help and to try to laugh a little more.  ;-)