Confessions- Part 4!

Oh my gosh how I have neglected this blog! Proving my inability to creatively multi-task. Sure I can go to work and the gym and then write. But can I write multiple different stories at once and keep blogging and posting them on Facebook? Apparently not.  I have been super hyper focused on finishing up my final draft of my first attempt at a full length one- woman show: CONFESSIONS OF A LATE BLOOMER.  A story about the world’s youngest 35 year old.  I can’t seem to do anything else. I do have a couple of other story ideas brewing in the back of my mind- both include a lot of music.  Hmmm. It sounds ambitious and complicated! A soundtrack? At least my first solo show is minimal when it comes to bells and whistles.  Speaking of which…

Come on out tomorrow night , Tuesday, August 23rd and see 5 wonderful solo performers for David Ford’s class performance in Berkeley! I go on first.  Doors at 7pm, show at 7:30pm.  $8 at the door only.  Each performance is approximately 20 minutes.

The Marsh Theater, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley.  Right off Downtown Berkeley BART Station!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1170034799752926/

Cat Nanny, Casting, Writing..

So I was a Cat Nannying fool these past few weeks.  Usually I don’t book up so much in the Spring but all of my friends took trips so I got to hang out with other people’s cats.  Because that’s what I do, I’m a Cat Nanny.

First there was Andrea’s cat- Foxie, who needed to go to the vet a couple of times a week so she could get her shots.  She was a snuggle bunny though when it came to binge watching shows on tv.  Andrea was on a cruise with her family and left her fur baby with me.

Foxie Relaxes

Then my friend Peggy and her husband Curtis went to Hawaii and I had to watch two fur babies- Jack and Jojo.  Jojo seems annoyed at Jack’s carefree ways.

Then my friend Cynthia went to Cuba- dang! Who does that? Who goes to Cuba? Cynthia. That girl is crazy.  And she left me with Jasper- the friendly cat, the friendliest cat you know.  In the morning that is- he’s a morning kitty.

Morn’n.  Oh, Were You Sleeping?

Somewhere in the busy feline fury I helped my friend Tony cast some local talent for his upcoming movie, “Neighbor” which will start filming next week!  Sooo..SHHHH, quiet on the set!  Yeah, I used to work in casting for many years- I don’t really do it very much anymore, but seeking out talent never really leaves the blood.  It’s okay- although I would much rather be IN FRONT of a camera or on stage myself. Speaking of which…

My Solo Performance class finally starts up again next week and I really want to get the rest of my solo show finished this year- CONFESSIONS OF A LATE BLOOMER must be ready for Fringe Festivals in 2017.  I am hoping to finish it in 2016.  Gotta get this show up and running. I must confess I feel like it’s not edgy enough for the SF/Berkeley crowd.  Urban areas seem to want more grit and well I am just so squeaky clean! But hey, the Midwest will love me!

Gotta go. Saturday Night Live is on!

 

Spring Awakenings!

So I blinked and it was New Years Day and I blinked again and now it’s Spring? What is happening?  These past couple of months have been a busy blur, cat sitting in far away places, but now I am back in my own apartment!  Woo hoo! That is, until Thursday. Then more cats will need the cat nanny love again.  What can I say? I am in hot demand.

Being it’s already Spring means I have two shows next month! I thought the month of April was so far away that I was just kicking back letting my script get dusty, but now I am back baby, back!  Gotta start warming up the vocal chords again.  In the meantime..

I just got some postcards from the Marsh Theatre mailed to me with the details!  I will be performing alongside three other solo artists (approx. 20 minutes each). Below is the show info and I hope to see you there!

The Marsh Theatre  1062 Valencia Street San Francisco CA 94110

APRIL 4TH AND 11TH

Box Office Opens at 7pm.  Performances at 7:30pm. $8 at the door only.

PERFORMERS: 7:30PM

• Missie O’Toole, “TRANSforming AIDS:Earth, Energy, Spirit”
• Theresa Donahoe, “Confessions of a Late Bloomer”
• Elaine Magree, “Holding the Edge”
• Ron Jones, “Naked Zombies”

 

 

 

 

The Sick Blog

Saturday, January 23, 2016– While finishing up my 15,000 Fitbit steps and waiting for the latest episode of Saturday Night Live to come on, I notice that I feel a bit winded.  Uh oh..could it be?

Sunday– I wake up with a full blown cold.  Any plans I have- get scraped.  I know how I am. If I don’t take care of myself now, this cold will never go away…NEVAH!  That day I drop to 6,000 steps on Fitbit.  I make one trek to the store to load up on Chicken Noodle soup and side salads from Trader Joes.

Monday– Call in sick, but still optimistic that I may be better by Tuesday, at the latest Wednesday. I am still planning on going to my Wed hip hop class.  But by the end of the day, I feel lousy.  I do less than 4,000 steps.  Uh oh.

Tuesday– Call in sick again.  I drop to 3,000 steps.   My brain is a fog.  I take Tylenol and Actifed twice a day and rotate Nyquil and Thearflu for sleep.

Wednesday– I tell my work that I may come in for a few hours.  I finally take a shower.  I realize I still can’t function fully. I go back to the store to get more soup and salads.  I call in sick.  3500 steps.  Is this cold over yet?

Thursday– The self hate/guilt is in full force.  I feel lazy and question if I am really sick at all.  Of course all of these thoughts are while I am in bed, perfectly still, playing Candy Crush.  Then I finally get up to go to the bathroom.  Yup, still sick. No work for me.  And so sick of soup! I google, “Can you exercise while sick?”  Small amounts of walking should be okay. 6,000 steps by bedtime.

Friday– Feeling slightly better.  Take only one Actifed that day.  Not sneezing as much.  Still run down.  Stay home from work to be on the safe side. 7,000 steps around my neighborhood.

Saturday– Wake up and convince myself, since it’s the weekend, I should be better now.  Go for morning walk, chest hurts from the Phlegm.  Screw you, you stupid cold.  I am determined to do more than 7,000 steps even though I still get a little dizzy.  No more of this. I have to better by Monday.  I envy every productive fully functioning human being alive.  Someday, that will be me…someday….

To be continued.

 

Happy New Year 2016

It’s 2016 and I am 45 years old.  How did this happen?

Anyway, my solo show in December went pretty good.  I am taking the next session off though- (I normally take a 10 week class will culminates in a performance at the end).  It is a huge commitment to take a Sunday class when my only day off is Saturday.  It doesn’t leave me much time to recoup from the work week.  I will be focusing on writing though.  I have some new ideas for the next chapter of the Late Bloomer saga.  I know what scenes I want to write.  I think I will write them in a blog format first and then when class starts again in the Summer, I will have material ready.

I bought a Fitbit yesterday and today is my first day wearing it.  I did my daily 10,000 steps and man is it harder than I thought it would be and it’s my day off! How am I gonna do 10,000 steps when my job is a desk job?  I have a feeling I am going to be sore tomorrow.  I guess I need to be taking longer walks.

It gets dark so early these days. I hate it.  Dark by 5pm.  I already can’t wait for Spring. The minute the holidays are over I wish it to be April.  I don’t need the Winter months – I have no use for them. The minute it gets dark I no longer want to be productive. Everything stops.  I don’t know how people in Alaska function.  I don’t ski, so Winter – GO AWAY.  I know, I feel this way about Summer too.

2016 Resolutions

1. 10, 000 steps a day?
2. Finish 60 minute draft of my full length solo show.
3. See Star Wars before it leaves the theater.
4. Re-organize my apartment. It’s a disaster.

Resolutions are hard for me because I live in the moment.  I live for today.

 

Confessions-Part 3-Dec 14th

This latest session of the Solo Performance class that I have been taking at the Berkeley Marsh has gone by so fast.  Taking a class during the holidays and my birthday is causing my head to spin.  Somehow I managed to come up with some new material though. I am always amazed at what gets accomplished in a short amount of time.

“Confessions of a Late Bloomer” (Part 3)  fills in some gaps to a longer story about – “The world’s youngest 35 year old woman who dodges every rite of passage until her wisdom teeth can’t take it any more!”

I’m so deliriously tired as I write this.  I hope I have fun on Monday performing it!  Come on out if you are in the area.  There will be five story tellers doing approximately 20 minutes each.

DATE: Monday, December 14th, Doors at 7pm, Show at 7:30pm

VENUE: Berkeley Marsh Theater- 2120 Allston Way (right off BART)

COST: $8 door

https://www.facebook.com/events/864346100350259/

 

 

 

They Say It’s My Birthday

I was just going to write in a daily journal, (that is more bi-monthly for me, really).  But I wanted to pop in here first and wish myself a happy birthday.

I turn 45 today.  It doesn’t seem right.  The baby of the family is never supposed to grow older.  I guess you can say I have Peter Pan syndrome, which is what I am currently writing about in my latest solo show titled “Confessions of a Late Bloomer” – the story of the world’s youngest 35 year old woman who dodges every rite of passage until her wisdom teeth can’t take it anymore!

Some women say they love this time of their life. I hope so.  I just know I feel older and my metabolism has slowed down and so have I.   I am thinking it’s the whole 40 hour work week thing as well. It rubs against my creative sensibilities. I think office work drains me mentally.  Such is the continued fight between art and commerce.

In the meantime, I will enjoy my day off- do a little writing, send out a mass email, practice my solo piece and hit the gym later on tonight.

Alright, let’s get cracking.  Here’s to 45 and breakthrough.