Mmm...New Guthrie...*drooling gargle a la Homer Simpson*

Dudes. I got to tour the new Guthrie facility (heh, you can't really call it anything other than a "facility") yesterday and boy am I drooling. I wanted to work there when I saw only the outside of the building. Now I've seen the inside and I'm having a hard time not having an accident in my pants. It's that good, folks.

Almost every space we walked into got a "Wow" from me. The theaters are beautiful (there's a replica of the original thrust stage, a proscenium, and a black box studio), but there's all this other stuff. The shops are ginormous and everyone has their own space, there will be two restaurants, there's a thing called a "Neverending Bridge" (or something like that) that ends in a sitting area where one can view the Mississippi river, dressing rooms galore, the new green room has its own entrance onto the "Neverending Bridge," and did I mention that that area will be open even if the theaters are dark for the day and evening?

It's just as much a museum and a poem inspired by Minnesota as it is a theater, and I think that's admirable. I applaud Joe Dowling and the designers for the work they've done. It's going to be phenomenal, possibly the finest theater in the world.

EDIT: Okay, okay. It's "Inspire Your Heart with the Arts" Day. Happy? ;)

Ahem...

I believe someone has a birthday today. I believe that someone is ME! Happy Birthday to me!

Sometimes I wonder...

...if the battles I'm fighting are really worth it.

When you're first starting out, someone telling you that they'll pay you $1000 for eight hours of work sounds really good. After you've been at it a while, though, you see that commercial you shot three years ago still running on every network in the nation. And all you got was $1000. You get exposure, yes, but your pockets are still empty. And when you start thinking about it, you start feeling cheated.

Back story: there is an agreement (written? I don't know) between AEA and SAG/AFTRA, that if someone joins one of the unions, they won't do any non-union work in any other union's jurisdiction. It's an agreement that makes sense and is intended to keep the union strong. I am now an AEA member. I would like nothing more than to be doing only union work on camera. However, it's not financially feasible right now.

So when it comes to something like, say, a non-union national commercial, I feel torn. Should I go to the audition and just suck it up, knowing full well that what I would get as a principal performer wouldn't even be a tenth of what I'd see if it was a union commercial, or should I refuse to go and possibly bite the hand that feeds me, namely my agent, all the while standing up for union standards?

In some ways, I feel like this is a larger problem than how it manifests in my life. There are larger issues at work between the unions that I can't conquer alone. I know that sometimes it only takes one person to stand up for what they believe in to make a difference, but am I willing to put my financial livelihood on the line for principals that I'm not sure I fully support?

Messy, messy, messy.

Happy Day Before Adia's Birthday Day.

I didn't post yesterday. I better do it today.

"Toad Hollow Day of Encouragement." The webpage I pull these from doesn't have links on the individually named holidays so I can't find out more about "Toad Hollow Day of Encouragement." I'm guessing that it might have something to do with the Frog and Toad books, that maybe crazy Frog was down in the dumps one day and his friends cheered him up, so he declared a national holiday. Or maybe there's really a place called "Toad Hollow" in like, West Virginia or something, and they decided too many of the townsfolk were on Prozac and they came up with a day to get people feeling better about themselves. Who knows. Celebrate "Toad Hollow Day of Encouragement" in your own way. Now that it's almost over.

I saw Man of LaMancha last night. Bradley Greenwald is amazing. That's all I can say. I'll plug it on the main page. Later. Right now I need to go to bed.

National Speak Up and Succeed Day? That's nice and all but, lame.

I'm gonna be reeeeaal tired of this holidays thing in about two months time if they keep bein' all cheesy.

I can't put myself to bed before midnight it seems. No matter how early I get up, I keep thinking of things to do to keep me out of bed. I had a phase like this shortly after I moved into this place. I got over it, but I seem to be having another one.

I seem to have been volunteered into an informal tap class on Sunday nights at Ariel and Will's house. I forgot to bring my tap shoes, though. Well, I brought them only so far. They made it all the way to Cedar-Riverside and even into the parking lot behind Ariel and Will's apartment. Then I left them in the car. I think they think I secretly hate them. And I do.

The orthodontist put another freaking "button" on my tooth today. I have to wear a rubber band - :( - on my incisor to bring it down faster. I keep running my tongue over this new disturbance in my mouth. Hopefully, if I'm good, I'll only have to wear it for three weeks. Stay good, Adia! Stay good! Oh, I miss that Kiki. New Kiki doesn't get much to do.

Hey, my birthday's on Saturday. Y'all better remember.

I fell in love today.

Go see The New World and you'll know why.

And if you watch the movie and you still don't get it, you're a cold-hearted automaton.


Happy...National Handwriting Day.

Mama had a chicken...

Oh! Cartoon Network is showing an episode of Cow and Chicken! Cow and Chicken reminds me of my senior year of college. I was obsessed with that show in college. I'd sing along to the theme song and play the Cow and Chicken game on the internet... Oh, it takes me back.

I entreat you to enjoy the wackiness that is Cow and Chicken. Listen in open-mouthed awe.

Holiday Alert: 'Tis now the Age of Aquarius. Start singing now.

It's Pooh Day! Hooray for Pooh! (I hope they mean the bear.)

I'm watching Million Dollar Baby, mostly just to see the twist ending I've heard so much about. The scene between Hillary Swank's character and her mother just passed, and I'm realizing that there are a lot of bitter people in the world. And those bitter people sometimes take it out on their children. It's hard for me to not be shocked at those who speak so harshly to their children because I'm blessed to have parents who have never shown me anything but love. Nonetheless I know that there are many people out there who have had horrible parents and I feel for them. It may be naive of me, but I want to tell them, "Not everyone is like that! Not everyone takes their bitterness out on easy targets: the people who love them regardless."

In some ways I want to have children just to put a few more loving, intelligent people into the world to combat the ugliness. My college roommate once told me that as an educated person that I had a responsibility to breed. I laughed at the time, but in some ways I agree with her. There need to be more people who edify than people who tear down.

Man, I'm getting all preachy up in here. Guess I can't help it every now and then.

My fingers are crossed

My computer seems to be working much better.
First Harriet Tubman show is tomorrow. I'm not worried.
Sean wants me to update my pictures. I don't know how to tell him that I'm now 300 pounds and don't want anyone to see me. ;)
We have a second day of understudy rehearsal. Poopy. It'll be quick, but I was really hoping we would make it through everything today.
I started writing a play. I put it down for a while.
I have some more work for February. Good news.
I'm having second thoughts about moving to a coast. And that always happens. As soon as I start thinking about moving I remember how much I love it here. The weather sucks for fully half the year, but the other half is beautiful, and living is relatively cheap, and I have friends and family here, and my career just starting to get juicy, and people are nice and down-to-earth, and...and... *whimper* I just don't know.

I like being busy.

PS-Today is (was) simultaneously Judgment Day and Customer Service Day. Draw your own conclusions. I'm too lazy to do it now.

Get something done.

I think my computer is fixed now. I haven't been able to update daily because my computer's been in the hospital. Morris Hospital. I think it's better now, though. Hopefully the short-term memory loss is corrected.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day just in case you didn't know.

One of our understudies had to go on for the Saturday evening show and the Sunday matinee. I walked in to the theatre yesterday and on the callboard was a note that said, "Mark is on for Greg tonight." I gasped, and then I started laughing. I wasn't laughing at him, I was laughing because that would be my nightmare - going on before the understudy rehearsal - and I felt for him. I also laughed because it brought home the fact that it could happen to any of us. I didn't get to see all of it because we had our own understudy walk-through in the rehearsal room. I heard he did very well, though.

Bye for now.

Show's open, the major part of my work is done. Phew.

Penguin Awareness Day. That's all I'm going to say.

full belly.

Once again, I'm very tired. I've been up since 5:45 this morning. I didn't get a nap over break today. I'm surprisingly not crabby. I had a shoot this morning. It was good. They only had me for a half day, though, so we really sped through everything. I liked that. I forgot my suit, though. I had a suit that I wore the last time I did something similar and I knew they'd want that. I was halfway there in the car and I realized that I forgot it. My steering wheel took a beating. Then they wanted me to earprompt. I hadn't gotten in touch with the woman whose equipment I could have borrowed. I had to insist on using the teleprompter. I felt kind of bad because it would have been faster to earprompt, but those were the breaks this morning. I did really well with difficult copy, though so I think I made up for my other deficiencies.

We get lots of free food tomorrow. The shop is barbecuing, then it's opening night so there'll be some kind of food after the show. Hooray for free food!

Sleep now.

The first female senator was elected today, and the Batman television show premiered. Happy holidays!

I shouldn't be eating pasta at 11:30, but I need something.

I'm really sleepy tonight. Happy Women's Suffrage Amendment Anniversary.

Happy "Organize Your Home" Day! I'm totally being holiday appropriate today.

Digging in my overstuffed file drawer today I realized that I would once again have to make a new folder for receipts and shift all the old ones to the 2005 file. Which in turn reminded me that I need to sit down and organize those receipts so that I can do my taxes. They shouldn't be as bad as they were last year, mostly because I chose to pay quarterly. That should take some of the sting out of 2005's contribution to the nation's coffers. And I certainly hope I don't have to pay more. It doesn't seem like I made as much money this year as I did last year, so maybe I'll get something back.

Actor taxes can be a pain in the arse. In order to take full advantage of being self-employed, one needs to keep careful track of all business-related expenses. All those little tiny receipts need to be guarded and recorded, and sometimes I get very lazy about it. There's a pile of them near my printer, and I'm sure I don't have all of them.

I don't need to worry about it just yet, though. I have to wait to get my 1099s and W-2s before I can do anything substantial. Taxes are going on the back burner! (I'm starting to wonder just what size this mental stovetop range of mine is. I have a whole lot of stuff on the back burners, and maybe just as much on the front ones. Hm.)

Aight. I'm tired, but I still need to finish cleaning this place. I had dishes that were sitting there for like, a month. I know, gross.

I keep forgetting that it's Saturday.

When you spend the entire week shut up in a dark room you don't really get the full effect of the passage of time. I turned on the television and was like, where's "The View? Oh yeah, it's Saturday. Not that I particularly like "The View," it's just the only mildly interesting thing on television over the 10:00 hour.

First preview is tonight. I have no idea how the director gets feedback from the audience. I suppose she'll ask some folks afterward, and listen to the audience response during the show. There will probably be changes. But that's what this time is for.

Yesterday, Friday, was obviously, Twelfth Day. However, today - and I'm really excited about this - is I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE Day. That's rockin'. I love it. I'm going to walk up to people all day and say that, and they'll be like, "Um, ok?" Hee.

Happy I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore Day!

Oh, the Drama with a capital D.

My neighbor hates me now. And even after I apologized. So there's nothing I can do that will make her not crazy. I give up. I really want to move out right now and not wait until the end of February. Hm. Can I afford to pay February rent right now and just up and leave? I think I can. And I think I might. If my mother's willing to help me move, I'm starting my packing on the 9th.

Anyway, rehearsal is going well. There's always a little bit of magic that happens when the lights, costumes and sets show up. Tech can be long and tedious, but it can also be fun. It's also fun when you get to hear funny stories about Don Cheadle from the folks who've known him for ages.

While there's still time, Happy Twelfth Night. Um, Merry Twelfth Night? You know, I would know what to wish you if I knew exactly what Twelfth Night is. There's a play named after it, but I don't think they actually celebrate Twelfth Night during the course of the play. Oooooh, just googled it. Duh. It's part of the Twelve Days of Christmas. See, we sing the song here, but we don't celebrate the actual traditional days, so I was, uh, you know, confused.

Anyway. Good night!

Boo to me.

I totally meant to update Monday and tell you all that it was HAPPY MEW YEAR TO CATS DAY. Meow! But I wasn't home. At all. So I haven't really been on the computer. And yesterday, just moments ago, was J.R.R. Tolkein's Birthday! Dude, I'm sad I missed that. (It was also Drinking Straw Day, but that's hardly important compared to Tolkein.)

However, today, January 4th, is Trivia Day. So in honor of that, here's a piece of trivia:

Who sat in the dark for 10 hours on Tuesday January 3rd and only got to watch the first 20 pages of the show she's understudying?

Give up?

It's me! Yes, it's me. If you guessed right, send an email to seriouslyitwassoeasy@adiamorris.com, and you'll get a cookie in the mail within 6 weeks. adiamorris.com takes no responsibility if cookie is broken, crumbled, the wrong flavor, or fails to appear. Shipping and handling charges apply.

New Year.

First post of 2006! Wooo!

2006 came in without much fanfare. We didn't even countdown. I was a little too tired to get really excited. This is the first time in 9 years or something like that that I've had to work around Christmas and New Year's, and in this case, working on New Year's Eve and New Years Day. Although rehearsal never seems like actual work, so I guess I didn't mind too much. I'm just really tired and I can feel it around my eyes.

My mother cooked seafood gumbo again this year, and I ate way too much food. It's 8:30 and I'm still full from 3:30 dinner. I feel like I could loosen my pants and flop on a couch in front of a television, all Homer Simpson on a food bender-like. If we watch movies tonight I'll probably fall asleep. And that's ok, because sleep is good.

My goal this year is to pick a holiday for every day of the year and celebrate it in some small way. There has to be something on every day of the year, and if not I'll make it up. So tomorrow, I'll be celebrating something wonderful. My sister won't like it, but it'll be funny.