Summer Stock

Today I arrived in Sacramento for my summer stock job. After a nice brunch with my friends...




I finished packing and drove to Sacramento.
As soon as I got here I went on walk-about (as the Aussies say) and after locating the theater,


... I turned around and promptly forgot where the hotel was... Eventually I gave in and called my friend who has an iPhone and looked up the address for me. (sigh)



Sacramento has some beautiful architecture.
This is the youth Hostel (ooh pretty)






... and the hotel they've got me put up in is pretty sweet.

the pool;

my room;

That's it for today, but I think it's safe to say that being in a new job in a different town will lend itself to much more blogging.  Yay!  

They say it's my birthday...

... and I say this is the greatest birthday song Ever. Children should be taught the Beatles instead of that old one... I really want to see a classroom with one 7 year old rockin' the guitar in the back... yea.

What to eat for dinner...

So I’m in my kitchen and thinking “I should eat something, it's dinner time”. Nothing is really appealing. I have pasta, salad, chicken,microwave lasagne, miso soup, top ramen, and various other staples… but nothing really looks good. Then this voice in my head says “how about whiskey?” “mmm whiskey for dinner…”. I shake the notion, besides that I don’t even have any whiskey in the house. Who just wants whiskey for dinner? Drunks… The little devil on my shoulder is a drunk. I opt for Cheerios with soy milk instead.

Rhubarb

Why are there no poems about rhubarb? Or Rhubarb pie? Why is it just Garrison Keelior? To me it is the most rare treat. It is tart, it is sweet, it takes over your mouth and tells you "summer is here" It is ruby red and when it is fresh you can eat it raw (sliced into sugar water)

... Rhubarb is not for everyone, but so many fine things can only be appreciated by a select amount of people... mmm. Rhubarb is so fresh this year I bought some for this pie that my mom made me last week... and this week I'm going to make another for my birthday....

politics

I've been doing a lot of research on war in the middle-East in realation to my upcoming production of Troilus and Cressida. The play is originally set in the Trojan war, but the themes of how war creates a state of ambiguity and the complexities of what is left in the wake of war lend itself to an obvious modern parallel of our current er 'conflict'. So my politics are all stirred up right now... if any of you haven't seen this madTV video, it's classic. Hope you find it amusing.  Warning; my liberal bias is showing...


... I'll get back to my own stuff later.

Company

You take them places they’ll love,


You take them to things they wouldn’t do or see at home…
You try to show them a good time

While you know that really they’re just visiting you and would have done so if you lived in the bleakest most boring place on the Earth…

After exhausting days of living through someone else’s vacation and enjoying the rare treat of their company, they go home,
and it’s a little sad.

Remember where you parked...

Oh yea, next to the "free speech zone"

... yes this is in fact painted on the sidewalk in downtown Berkeley... hippies were here.  I think you could probably fit at least two soap boxes in the rectangle, maybe up to four small ones.

The Dog Exploded

... or rather his neck burst. (you might not want to read this if you're squeamish)... Actually below the pictures with "extra-fat-face" were from yesterday, the others were from earlier in the week. Around 6 am, Adam was shaken from sleep by a "Pop"! The exploding absess was loud enough to wake you up... eww. So my roommate who has been working on "blood cannons" for Evil Dead the musical, greeted the day with a spurt of blood to step in.
The dog was SO Happy. I can only imagine the massive relief of pressure... Our friend John is visiting today so he helped pack up the dog to the vet once it opened. Thankfully the dog exploded on a non-emergency day, he just had to wait a couple of hours for the vet to open. I slept through the whole thing; when I arose from the dead I found the TV still running, all the lights on and the apartment vacant.
So now Adam has given a large chunk of cash to the vet and is heading back to work to deal with the theatrical version of projectile blood, DeWalt is chilling at the vet with an antibacterial drip and a relieved disposition, and John and I are hanging out watching "Planet Earth"... oh and I'm working on designing a Shakespeare.
Cheers!

Sick Dog.

Normal DeWalt;

Infected DeWalt;

He looks like a Grouse...

This week I made Dewalt a custom harness when we found that his normal chain collar was probably hurting more than it should...

It began with the licking, the incessant sluurp, sluurp licking… the dog began to drive my roommate and I nuts. Then later Adam’s energetic dog started getting tired after a short jaunt around the block. The dog stopped eating much or wanting to go to work. Then on Friday my friend found a huge lump in Dewalt’s throat.

The lump must have been cutting off his windpipe, making it hard to breathe, and painful to eat kibble. On Monday I took the dog to the vet . I drug him out from under the meager shelter the vet’s chairs provided so that the doctors could examine him and tell us that it’s possible that the lump could be a tumor. Thankfully yesterday the vet called to tell us that the culture they took from the dog’s neck is a bacterial infection. We’ve been feeding him soft food (something he can swallow) which has helped with his mood. Today as I painted clothes to look like they’re covered in mud and blood the dog burrowed into the bushes with a still swollen neck… unaware that he has antibacterials on the way and no neck surgury in his immediate future. I’m also in the middle of tech this week, but really a sick dog is now more stressful than pant alterations and shirt options so I’m glad that both tech and the dog are doing alright now.

humm...

Apparently the Neon sign people don't think that Neon signs are a cost effective method of advertisement.

Obama in China Town...

Found this plastered on a wall in San Francisco...

...a closer look...

... wow. I don't even know where to start. Thus I am speechless.

glimpse Glasgow...

I forgot to publish these photos... I think I was going to write brilliant insightful things about them... maybe later.  Anyway here are some cool shots of Glasgow...

Shaggy's visiting!

...but his train is late and I'm bored... so here's an old pic of the last time he was here...

Japanese Innovation

This post is mostly for my Dad...

Today Adam introduced me to a new kind of Sushi;

They're Uni Shots

That's right, Sea Urchin swimming in Saki, drink it as a shot...

It has a unique mixture of flavors that fall in succession, from the sweet of the Saki, to the Salt and umami of the fish... it changes the flavor of both and is oddly good. 

Not for the sushi beginner.