100 Happy Days, Part 1
100 Happy Days, Part 2
100 Happy Days, Part 3
Last time on 100 Happy Days:
Day 75)
March 27
Knowing I have friends who can keep me in good humor even if I’m so tired I’m practically falling off my chair at work is amazing. Thank goodness for friends. (I’m sorry… A secret hiding spot for a car is so very James Bond that anyone could have made that mistake.)
Day 76)
March 28
Friday! Running all over the place, but it was the last day in the costume shop. We had pizza. I stabbed myself a couple times while hemming pants for the wedding scene by hand. Began to feel like I might be able to breathe this week.
Day 77)
March 29
Saw Molly Ringwald in Stowe. She did an amazing concert. We were sitting in the third row. I also ended my ballet class with a meditation bit that the girls sorely needed.
Day 78)
March 30
MOVE IN DAY!Unloaded the cars, packed the dressing rooms full, then began to unpack everything and sort it by actor. One of the other crew members got an awesome picture of me with my pants covered in tags. (I was removing safety pinned tags and replacing them with masking tape tags that won’t be seen from the audience on the men’s costumes that were to be moved upstairs.) However, I had no where to put the old tags, so I just pinned them all to my pants. Caused quite the stir in the costume crew for creative thinking. The crew member I was working with called it my “lap full of men” given they were all male cast members. I also got my badge (a.k.a. my backstage pass) so security knows who I am.
Day 79)
March 31
Relaxed ever so slightly. Also, Wil Wheaton’s words on being called a nerd was inspiring.
Day 80)
April 1
Not one April Fool’s Day joke was played in school today. Not one. How crazy is that? I also did not dress up like a wizard for “Fool the Muggles Day”, since I was in school all day… Talk about being “unprofessional”. If I actually had a job there, I totally would have done it.
Day 81)
April 2
FIRST DRESS and I was promoted to Assistant to the Lead Dresser. (Also known as “train the newbie/rookie”. The exact phrasing changed depending on who I talked to.) For the sake of simplicity, my nickname has taken off like a rocket. I’m pretty sure about half the cast knows me as “Gin” now. Trial by fire, and it was AMAZING.
Day 82)
April 3
My last day of teaching for my practicum. Played an epic game of Kahoot with the kids. Man, they had quick fingers. The grad students I tested it on on Tuesday were no where NEAR as fast as these high schoolers. Also, I have not eaten fish fingers and custard today, and after not participating in “Fool the Muggles Day”, I feel vaguely like I’m betraying my nerdiness. If someone could just have fish fingers and custard delivered to the Flynn, that would be amazing.
Day 83)
April 4
Opening night!!! Opening night and I was lead dresser for the show! It was amazing. I got everyone together, laid out assignments, went over everything we needed to know in order to keep everything running smoothly, and we got on with it. We only had one minor hiccup with the wedding dress change, but other than that, opening night was amazing. Then our costume designer came up to me after the show to tell me I had moxie. MOXIE! I love it!
Day 84)
April 5
Saturday and we have two shows: a matinee and an evening. Both went really well. I’ve been taking on more and more changes as time goes on and we lose a dresser here and there. We’re beginning to realize that for some of the costume changes we don’t really need someone there, or we really just need someone to make sure the clothes from one change make it to the other side of the set.
Day 85)
April 6
Last show for this weekend and after the pant fiasco of yesterday, I was half expecting to walk in and see half of the pants falling apart. But no. I walked in and we only had THREE fixes on the board. So I fixed our young Cosette’s skirt, then went out to my car to grab my phone and the grabbed breakfast before heading back. Came back to see them rehearsing Javert’s suicide again, so I got held up backstage for a bit. Came downstairs and there was STILL nothing to do. Amazing! I ate breakfast, and then we got through the show. And have I mentioned yet that the weather was amazing? I cleaned out my car after the show when I got home it was so warm! I HAVE A CLEAN CAR. In short, it was just an amazing day all around. I also worked on my new jacket for the first time since the apartment I moved out of in February 2013. (It’s the first time since then all of the pieces/instructions have been in the same place!) Would have probably finished it if it wasn’t for the fact that I couldn’t find pins and I’m not attempting to attach the sleeves without pins. But the collar is done! It’s legitimately beginning to look like a viable spring jacket. Which means if I finish it on Tuesday (my day off) I will actually have a new spring jacket! FOR SPRING!
Day 86)
April 7
First day without a show to worry about for the next four, and also the first day of April Vacation! (Still had to work, but that wasn’t about to dampen my mood.
Day 87)
April 8
Tuesday, and the day during which I went to do observations for my graduate inquiry project. Also: FREE CONE DAY! Also: Had dinner with my parents. Also: Saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Also… Walked out of the movie thinking “M.A.O.S. this week is going to be AWESOME!!!!”
Day 88)
April 9
M.A.O.S. WAS AWESOME. And totally ended too soon. Almost went to rehearsal on the way to dinner to drop of my friend’s FRONT ROW TICKET that I got her using my comp. Went to dinner with a different friend instead because I couldn’t figure out a good way to leave it with my friend’s boyfriend. Got a new book. Splintered. Ate at Asiana House. Had an awesome meal and an awesome time.
Day 89)
April 10
Opening night of weekend number 2. Had an opening night celebration with the rest of costume crew. We got bottles of wine with custom Les Mis labels that had a bunch of Les Mis references on them and also had the quote, “May the wine of friendship never run dry.” Around the neck was a ring on which a swatch of fabric from a bunch of the costumes we made was hung, including a piece of Eponine’s bloody shirt and the roses from Cosette’s wedding dress. I wore it on my emergency pack for the show that night.
Day 90)
April 11
Friday night: Ran to the theatre after I taught to make sure the dressing crew members taking over for me had all the appropriate notes and to introduce the dresser who was replacing me to the cast members I worry about. Then had dinner with my parents. We went to the show. Dad kept giving me thumbs up, which I take was a good thing. Didn’t like Javert’s death, but I had anticipated that.
Day 91)
April 12
Saturday. Helped out a friend with their car in the morning. Two shows again, and we grabbed dinner at Veritas again. We then went to Veritas AFTER the show as well – pizza on the house. The shows went well.
Day 92)
April 13
Last show, and my last show filling in as Lead Dresser. (The fourth show I did.) Left my phone in the car by accident – but if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have run into extended family coming to see the show as I was coming back to the theatre. They said, “I guess we’ll see you… Or…” and I said, “If you see me on stage, something has gone terribly wrong.” The last show was amazing, though almost the entire cast was crying. It was hard not to cry with everyone else crying.
Day 93)
April 14
Worked. Everyone’s posts in the Les Mis private group have kept me entertained and in the loop. Weird not to be going back to the Flynn. Witnessed a high speed chase going down 2A. Was visited at the store by a ballroom friend.
Day 94)
April 15
Back to class. Actual class. My evening professor found me at midday to ask me to tell the class that he was going to be late to our evening class and to get started without him. We ended class early. Part of the state route between home and school was completely flooded. Exciting day.
Day 95)
April 16
Got out of work early. Enjoyed the day. Relaxed. ^_^
Day 96)
April 17
Busy day, but good. Practically memorized the Legally Blonde: The Musical soundtrack. Got a Stitch Fix in the mail, and three of the items fit PERFECTLY.
Day 97)
April 18
Friday. Taught a half present class of girls, so we played a few games and had fun. They were all about to leave for vacation. We reviewed some stuff that we’d been over.
Day 98)
April 19
Happy by mere fact that it’s APRIL 19. (I can get all historical on you, but you can also look it up.) At work, then at the monthly ballroom dance. Wore the dress I got in my Stitch Fix. Really is a perfect dress for Argentine Tango (which I don’t really dance) AND for West Coast Swing. I’m in love with this dress.
Day 99)
April 20
Easter – and my netbook has been fixed. I got new rain boots as my Easter basket. Sadly, almost all of the candy is gone. Had Easter dinner down at my Grandmother’s house. Was a bit weird that it was only me and my cousin as the two young people at the table, but it was fine. Really good hard-boiled eggs. (Should have been rainbow eggs. I need to learn how to do that.)
Day 100)
April 21
Easter Monday – not that that is celebrated in the US. Slow start to the morning, but let the dogs out and breathed in a beautiful sunrise. Felt a little bit like I worked at an aquarium as I fed the fish and added water to the tank.