(Ed. note - this was written yesterday evening)

fuck I'm exhausted.

From Friday evening to very early this morning I was going like crazy. Rehearsal on Friday night, and that's not unusual. Except then I wasn't tired after and so stayed up much later than was wise.

Up early on Saturday because the morning was the only time I had all weekend long for errands. Frustratingly, the one that took me nearly three hours to accomplish proved fruitless. But I made myself go the long way and not cut corners and I think that's a good thing. Today I'll see about actually completing the task. But it was really just not enough time to get to everything I wanted to get done. But I got everything I thought I'd need together for the day, including a run to Kinko's to print out stuff for the evening.

Headed to the theatre for a work call. Spent a chunk of the hottest part of the day sitting in the floor of the lobby prying open corroded pails of paint and smelling them to see if the paint had gone bad. There were a few completely full pails that we had to get rid of. Then there was stirring the paint of the good pails to get the cohesion back to a useful state - many had separated into colored sludge and oil. Pretty designs get stirred up that look like tiger eye marbles. But that was pretty messy. There was also cataloging the paints... all in all not as hard as it could have been but time consuming and necessary. So, yay for being useful.

Dinner with DG after which would have been as fast as we were hoping if the folks at the 101 were...em...attentive, let's say. Talked over lots of fun theatre stuff and some of the downer parts. He liked my idea for guerilla theatre. I really ought to find something concrete to do and see if the WA directors would like it. I'm all over using it to talk up (preview?) a show and get our name known.

Afterward I headed back to the theatre to change into evening clothes. That was easier said than done what with being sweaty, warm and spattered with paint. Not to mention, all the stuff I was changing into had been in my car, get the warmth usually attained in the dryer. And my toiletries likewise were warm, which was actively destructive to some of them. *sigh* eventually I got out of there and made it to Inglewood (...up to no good!) for the Deeper into Limbo game. The game was fun for a while, but as happens sometimes, the plot got tucked away by some far more powerful types and there was only so far I could go to pursue my objectives. But I did get to play limbo, thumbfumble, and participated in a conga line - none of which I'd ever done before. I was essentially playing a party girl so there was a whole lot of reasoning that went "oh why the hell not?" Which tells me I should play a party girl more often.

Like clockwork, stuff started hitting the fan about a half hour to midnight. Besides the fact that I had a few drinks in me by then, I've been gaming long enough to know that if I'm not involved in said stuff then there's just not much I'm going to be doing for the sake of my goals. So off to the Den of Sin where I was welcomed by my real name and enjoyed games of TMI and a very hearty and determined back rub. We had so much fun there that we skipped the game wrap and kept hanging out being silly into the wee hours (there was more alcohol back there and someone brought a pitcher of margaritas, which helped). I did actually get bored around two am and between the tiredness and lack of sobriety I made the mistake of citing exactly that reason for leaving. Some folks were offended but I made my escape swift to avoid defending my reason and thereby deepening the offense. Wandered around the house drinking water and listening to snatches of conversation and made the acquaintance of very nice young man.

Around three I realized the next morning was going to hurt and what socialization was still going on could be skipped for the night. I headed home and crashed around 330am. But not before I had to close one of my windows to shut out my neighbors who were still up, drinking and being loud. At six thirty I woke up because of my alarm, but I think I may still have been roused around that time because coming in through other windows was the sound of a woman...shouting...or maybe screaming. But not really *screaming* screaming, maybe screaming quietly. Or else groaning loudly. Either way, it got my attention. While going through my morning routine I could hear her off and on (well, not in the shower). I assume she was having a good time, but seriously...loud. Somewhere along the way the front window of my neighbor's house got smashed out. There wasn't anymore screaming of the previous sort. And the weird thing was there wasn't any shouting at all over the window. Then, while someone finished pushing out the remaining window bits, there was some kind of shouted discussion between at least four people. And then one of the men stepped out to start up a barbeque with a beer in hand. It was about 8am by this point. My morning was pretty rough because of the previous night, but at least I don't party *that* hard.

Headed off to pick up my niece and both my mom and sister complimented my dress. I am pretty happy with it. It moves extremely comfortably, shapes me favorably and is generally very pretty. It's plum color confused at least one lady though, who remarked that she thought we could only wear black. Meh, ok she was being sarcastic or something. *shrug* I never really liked wearing all black. I like dark, strong colors. The perfect outfits are mostly black with standout sections in other colors like red or purple. I had been thinking I wished I had gotten the black version of this dress because it would be so much easier to match with shoes and things, but this one worked out just fine. Of course, I think the dress probably should go with much more feminine shoes, but there's just no way I'm going to wear heels to Disneyland all day long. By evening my feet hurt plenty from the boots I did wear.

The kid came along and seemed to have a mostly fun time. She charmed my friends, as she always does, by being So Darned Cute. Half the time she was flying so high on all the fun that she forgot her shyness and was happy to talk with people about whatever came to mind. We hardly had any time in Fantasyland but the pipsqueak did pick most of the rides. Around noon I tried to get her onto Pirates of the Caribbean. But while she'll talk about loving the movie and practice her piratical "arr!" with glee, she just wouldn't go on the thing. As soon as we got into the wonderfully air conditioned building she started shaking and crying. I took her around to the Blue Bayou and she was still unhappy but I had to be stern. I asked her if she was going to be ok, because we were going to come back there for lunch. If she wasn't ok then I'd have to take her home. Buzzkill, but necessary. She calmed down and we met other people and went on more rides. Lunch did work out pretty well, even if she barely ate anything. She was happily playing with people - she really took a shine to Kelly and of course got along famously with Scott, NoahK gave her stickers, which she loved. And she had a blast sneaking up on Bret repeatedly and trying her various dinosaur attacks.
We headed out of there and off to Pirate's Cove, nee Tom Sawyer Island. So much fun there that the kid was actually sounding positive about going on Pirates. So we gave it a go. but, again, the second we were inside she started crying and carrying on. Even if I could have forced her through the ride other people would have had to deal with her crying, so instead I decided it was about time to head out. We skipped the ride, though it was touching to have the rest of the crew wave good-bye to us. We headed up to the Dumbo ride and I got my sister to agree to meet us at Dland so I wouldn't have to drive to the house and back. Unfortunately, that means I didn't hand over the stuff for the kid like the carseat and change of clothes.

Disneyland for me is a ton of fun. And nostalgic and just... I dunno. I'm not much of a chronic optimist; I try to be realistic. But I do tend to hope for the best and expect good things out of people. I'm totally aware of the empire that is Disney and their extraordinary love of cutthroat capitalism, but I happily throw myself into the actual product and the essence it tries to evoke. So that's why "When you wish upon a star" gets me every time; I grew up being able to watch the fireworks from the house and they never get old. And no matter how many times I've been on the mainstays like The Haunted Mansion or the Jungle Cruise, I'm always having a good time. I haven't been able to get to Disneyland for a full day with only adult company for a few years now and I really miss it. I used to be methodical about getting to as many rides as possible. It could be tough, I was at the height of my game before fast passes. Now it's pretty easy, if you're determined (and not corralling other people). But either I've had short days or a kid in tow so I've missed rides like Big Thunder Ranch and Star Tours. And here's some heresy - I never really enjoyed the subs so I don't care if they're back. The kid was determined to go until, 15 minutes into the 2 hour wait, she realized standing in line is boring (there's no fast pass on that ride). Maybe we'll try it on a weekday before school starts - if my sis can find a way of getting her in for free. The attraction I am kind of nostalgic for is Captian EO. That thing made me laugh so hard.... I wish they'd occasionally swap it out with Honey I Shrunk the Audience.

Ah well, the night ended nicely at the Lounge inside the Grand Californian. God I love that place. The lobby is just one of the most fantastically beautiful rooms I've ever been in. And as bars go I persistently enjoy swank and class over dive. Not that I'll say no to a dive bar, but the ones I cheer for returning to are on the fancy side. I'm kind of chagrined at this - I know it's hard to tell in the writing. But somehow I picked up a taste for whatever is more expensive. It's not like they pour better drinks at the Californian, trust me. I've had better Irish coffees at O'Connell's. But the look and feel gets me and so I like that place...even if the prices are jacked up for no particular reason. It's kind of a tongue in cheek lament, but it's honest. I wish my tastes weren't so expensive.

My sister wasn't up that late to get the kid's stuff so I left her a message to let me know when/where to take the stuff. I haven't heard back yet... Today has been exceptionally low energy. My feet *still* hurt today and though I was up for a while late this morning, I actually took a nap for a couple of hours (which I tend not to do).

so now it's nearly 5pm and I've done shit all today...