A few days ago, I tried to make reservations through Travelocity for my trip to Pittsburgh. After multiple attempts to get the reservation to go through on the website, I called the provided technical support number. The person there said they could check why the reservation didn't go through, but that I would have to provide the same information I had entered into the site. After providing every single detail, he said that he understood why it hadn't gone through, the reservation was made, and my credit card would be charged for the $171. Small problem, the cost of the flight was listed as $146. Yes, he'd added the "phone reservation fee" in the process. When I told him that I had explicitly said at the beginning of the call that I did not wish to make the reservation via phone, and that I had never in the course of the call asked him to make the reservation, I wanted it canceled. He said that he could do it, but I would be charged a $32 cancelation fee! I reiterated that he had made a reservation without my asking him to, and that I would have the reservation canceled without any fee. He offered to transfer me to a customer service representative. I tried to get his employee number, but all he would do is give me a name and say that he was associated with the purchase in their records. The customer service representative said that given the circumstances, they could cancel the reservation without charge and told me that it was done. Except... today, I check my credit card bill and find that they charged me the fee! So, I try calling customer service again. They confirm that yes, the fee was charged. No, I can't have it canceled. No, there's no supervisor to talk to. So, I told them that if there was no one to appeal to, I would just get my credit card company to reverse the fee as a fraudulent purchase. Suddenly, they had a supervisor for me to talk to, small wonder that... It took me a good half hour of being on hold, but I finally talked to someone higher up. They again had me go through the events and confirmed the charges were made and again said that I could not have them reversed. I brought up the earlier threat of bringing the credit card company into it and amazingly, yes, they could remove that fee! *sigh* It will be 7-14 business days and I half suspect they'll try to pull something on me again, but it ought to be done. One thing's for certain, they're not getting any business from me for a long time. I made my reservations directly through the airline this time. Problem is, me withdrawing my business is not much of a threat since I fly maybe once a year on average. I hate being reasonable. I should have just reported them to the credit card company and be done with it. Now, I feel horrible, my stomach is knotted, and I'm betting they'll try to stiff me again.

Ever have one of those days where your digestive system just decides to throw in the towel? Where, after a day of eating regular food, all of a sudden you get a gurgle, slight nausea, and a feeling that you ought to rush off to the bathroom? Except that when you do, everything comes out fine, so to speak? But then, an hour later, you get the same feeling, and it's not all fine, and then you're burping in weird flavors and the scents of the world suddenly go wonky, and you find yourself being extremely aware of where the girls around you are in their period schedule based on the change in their personal scent? *wry grin* Ok, so the last one is something that I've found that few people other than myself experience. And it wasn't so bad tonight... my sense of smell was more screwed up than hyper-sensitive. Although it gave me that wonderful moment of panic when I started to wonder if maybe all of these smells were coming off of me. Anyhow, between olfactory illusions and going spacey over the way my stomach was alternately bloating and cramping, I fear I was not the best of company tonight. Honestly, I felt mildly drunk the whole time, even though I had a fraction of a glass of wine partway into the night. Oh well, it was fun enough. I just wish I'd been there more than I was in the time my body was present.

The digestive system effects also had the odd effect that I made all of my costume changes in record time tonight. One moment, I was headed backstage and next moment, I'm done dressing without any clear memory of going in between. {shakes head} I live in my own world sometimes, but it's Ok. They know me there.

Last night, in Capoeira, I participated in the last bit of the roda where everyone stands, the tempo becomes much more rapid, and people step in and out without ceremony. It's a frenetic dance of rapid kicks and spins, usually one of your best chances to pull out the acrobatic moves which require considerable momentum. I'm usually too tired by that point to join in, but last night, I felt up to it. I just now realized that I pulled off a nifty double kick near the end. Basically, I came in with a roundhouse off of my left, angling the kick upwards, and used the momentum to launch myself into a jumping spin to do a heel strike with my right leg before landing. Essentially, in the adrenalin of the moment, I managed an a no-hands angled cartwheel, something I've never been able to pull off in practice before. ^_^ I guess I should participate in those ending bits more often...

I have almost a week to catch up on. I keep starting entries, then losing them due to browser crashes and accidentally closing windows, so I'll keep this brief.

I didn't get into Music Man. Long and short of it, my 10th high school reunion is on the same days as the beginning of tech week and that was not acceptable to them. Similarly, I will not be auditioning for Oklahoma with Haddonfield Plays and Players because their tech week is on the same days and has many of the same people involved. I'm still very vexed that I received no phone call or email saying that I was not cast and explaining why. Is it so difficult to stick all of the non-cast people in the To field of an email and to blast out a "You were not cast. Sorry. Better luck next time" message?

The Batizado for Capoeira went fairly smoothly. There were some amazing displays of Capoeira including an excellet demonstration of malicia by Mestre Pinatti in his takedown (it's traditional for the mestre to do at least one takedown on the student in the roda, particularly for their first Batizado, to remind them of humility). He's 73 IIRC, and is not as spry as he once was (although he still does an impressive one-handed queda de rins) so I was curious as to how he was going to pull this off. After a very graceful exchange of movements, he beckoned over the student who was testing. He went down on one knee, pointed to the one that was still up, and told her to sit. After she sat down, he put one arm around her and pointed off in the other direction while talking in Portuguese. While the student was distracted, he quickly removed the knee she was sitting on, dumping her to the ground. ^_^ Amazing! I have my green belt now, which means I can no longer attend Beginner classes. Which is a shame because my endurance is still not quite up to the level of the 2-hour all-belt classes, but apparently they've had a few new people scared off by how competent their fellow "beginner" students were (although, admittedly, we also had some very competent beginners, through prior experience, hard work, or a combination thereof). Eh, I'll endure and I'll get better.

The Pajama Game went well, just two performances left. My microphone is still dead, but I'm doing pretty well without it. We had an interesting time Friday night, as one of our cast members got stuck in Miami on a business trip, so our director had to fill in for him. I have enjoyed this show and I will definitely miss it when it's over.

I've been having weird dreams of late. There was one where I was doing Capoeira for a parade, at one point going into a sequence of aù-to-negativa and aù from negativa. There was another one, a few days back, where I was a super-heroine, Lady Liberty of Freedom City I think, and I had some kind of infection which required me to undress, roll around in a powder which caked onto me, and then have an ultra-violet light beamed into my eye. Oh, and for some reason, I had to go to a super-villain clinic, so there was this constant worry that they would realize my identity and there would be trouble. And, even more bizarre, I had a classic case of the most common super-heroine superpower complete with the odd sensations when I had to set them on a cold steel table while I was getting the light shone in my eye. It's not the first time I've had to deal with a body not my own in a dream, but the undertones of the dream made it really weird.

I feel like there ought to be more... I'm sure it will come to me in time. Just one of those issues with waiting a week between entries.

Oh, and I'll be in Pittsburgh from the 8th to the 13th of August. For those few of you reading from Pittsburgh.

Many and uncanny are the things I have seen in this world. In the foreboding tundra far beyond my lands, where the sky comes to awful life with the shimmering of ions charged by far-off stars, I have watched an old woman, shriveled with terrible wisdom, strike the bare trunk of a tree with an axe until something like unto blood flowed from it, and then boil that viscous ooze into a sinister delicacy for the tables of kings. I have traveled many miles west to the Hills of Blackness, and looked upon the towering, alabaster faces of the ancients who ruled this land, their stoic and silent visages hewn unnaturally from the living rock. I have seen patchwork kingdoms ruled by vermin, and living heads in boxes inciting brother against brother. But naught of this has prepared me for the wonders and trials of my new existence, to which I took vows of dedication, devotion, and adoration, but which has resulted in geases, both passive and active, I did not anticipate. Before all others, one particular obligation tasks my very soul.

You must understand, first and foremost, that this was a duty for which I felt neither desire nor qualification. But it was pressed upon me, by that matron of the house wherein I resided, with a stern reminder that, on a basic level, I was at least partly responsible for the situation. I could not argue with this fact; it had necessarily been ascertained, with my very blood and genetic matter, by a local laboratory often beset by protesters of the most vehement sort. What was I to do?

I edged open the door of the darkened chamber with trepidation. The stench of human effluvia was overpowering. The light from the portal fell upon a raised cage of ancient wood, not quite square, and decorated with icons of some lost tribe that worshipped beasts. The sigils celebrated the gluttony of the bear, the wild and uncontrollable fury of the tiger, the fatalism and endurance of the donkey, the inscrutable yet impractical wisdom of the owl, the smug quickness of the rabbit. The metallic rim of the construct glinted as if angered that illumination had touched it.

Suddenly a cry erupted from the miniature prison, and I perceived a thrashing and a shuddering within. Swallowing terror as best I could, I peered over the rim of the cage.

There it lay! Approximately two feet long from end to end it was, with a disproportionately large skull and flaccid, powerless limbs. Its pallid flesh was utterly without hair. Its eyes were huge and unfocused, and it appeared plump, as if recently fed to satiation. God in Heaven! Could I truly have caused this creature to emerge from nothingness into full being?

No matter. My task lay before me. As I had been instructed, I laid a square of clean cotton cloth, nearly as long as the creature itself, just so upon the nearby table. The cloth I anointed with a whitish powder, intended to subdue the reek of the creature and soothe its raw and uncalloused flesh. Easy enough so far; but the true challenge lay in the next step. I took a breath, made my peace with the uncaring universe, reached into the very cage itself, and lifted the nearly inert creature in my sweating, unsteady hands. It immediately began to writhe, as if sensing my doubt, and abruptly it emitted a wail I shall take to my grave.

Ah, God, it mewled so! The walls rang with its incessant shrieks, both piteously high and yet somehow guttural, and my ear drums nearly burst, and my nerve nearly failed me; but it was clutching at me now, trying to find purchase in my flesh with its newly-forming talons, and I had no choice but to persevere. Fortunately, I had been given some rudimentary instructions on how to deal with the creature’s outbursts. Several strokes of my hand along its spine, as if I were hypnotizing a crocodile in the manner of the Buhaia tribe in the jungles of Ahndjur, and numerous repetitions of the words of power I had been taught, “toora loora loora, toora loora lay”, and the creature grew somewhat calmer, though still its eyes were puffed with what alien emotion I could not guess.

But now my nostrils were assailed anew by the reek of the thing. I had remembered too late the cotton cloth it yet wore, once immaculate and wholesome but now tainted and befouled beyond retribution, the cloth I was to replace!

For a moment I lost all hope, but then I espied a receptacle nearby, strongly constructed and cunningly sealed, which could be for no other substance than this blighted fabric. I lay the creature on the table next to – not on – the prepared linen, and carefully opened the clasp which fastened the old cloth in place. I was not prepared for the corrupt vapours which wafted o’er me as I unfolded it, but the end was in sight. I grasped the creature by its legs, lifting just enough to draw the grim fabric from beneath it. Into the appointed scuttle I dismissed that besmirched linen at once, taking care not to touch (and thus taint) anything else with its foulness.

At length I was able to crudely wrap the freshly prepared cloth around its nether regions. This I affixed in place with the clasp, which I now noticed was a cunningly constructed locking needle of the purest steel. It did not seem to have any discernible ill effect upon the creature, but I felt safer for having the cold iron between it and me.

Gingerly, so as not to rouse its keening once more, I returned the creature to its holding pen. It did not seem to mind its imprisonment, however, but gurgled happily, and then arranged itself for sleep with a countenance so trusting that my heart suddenly went out to it, and my hand started forward of its own accord to stroke the creature’s brow.

At that very moment, I remembered myself, and what I had done, and I stared at my traitorous hand for a long moment before fleeing the chamber altogether, dreading the inevitable time that, once more, the task should fall upon my troubled soul.

^_^ It's even better when read dramatically by Tom Smith.

From the Theater Alliance of Greater Philadelphia audition page:
Music Man/Rocky Horror, The New Candlelight Theatre

Music Man & Rocky Horror Show – Equity Performer Auditions in PA Monday, Aug. 18, 2008, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008, 6PM – 10 PM both nights. Sign-in starts at 5:30 PM The Rock School for Dance Education The Avenue of the Arts 1101 S. Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 No appointment necessary. Please prepare a song the shows off your voice and range. Please bring music, an accompanist will be provided. Some may be asked to dance. Non AEA will be seen as time permits. All roles open. Please bring a picture and resume, stapled together. (posted 7/24/08)

Music Man/Rocky Horror DE, New Candlelight Theatre

Music Man & Rocky Horror Show – Equity Performer Auditions in DE Wed. Aug. 20 6PM – 10 PM Sign-in starts at 5:30 PM The New Candlelight Theatre 2208 Millers Road Ardentown, DE 19810 No appointment necessary. Please prepare a song the shows off your voice and range. Please bring music, an accompanist will be provided. Some may be asked to dance. Non AEA will be seen as time permits. Please bring a picture and resume, stapled together. All roles open (posted 7/24/08)

---

I will admit that I never would have thought of merging Music Man and Rocky Horror into the same cast... fascinating idea. It's a shame that both shows are out-of-state and are biased against non-Equity actors.

Och... another round of the "been meaning to update for days". Let's see... in order of remembrance, there's The Pajama Game, the Shakespeare movie, and The Music Man.

Although it spans multiple days, I'll address The Pajama Game first. We had our usual Friday, Saturday, and Sunday performances. Friday was very rough, as people hadn't done the show for a good four days or so. Saturday was better, although there were definitely some bobbles. Sunday was awesome... we had a bunch of senior citizens come for the show (in a non-air-conditioned bus in this heat wave!), some of whom, it turned out, saw the original show in its first runs on Broadway. And they loved us. ^_^ Musically, the show got off to a rough start with one song involving an unintentional round due to an error in when to come in (it's one of those things where there's line of arbitrary length and people have to come in on the next downbeat. Some people took the next one and some took the one after and it just got a bit ugly) and another song coming in about two notes too high. But we rallied and made our way through. Oh, and I was UnPlugged. *wry grin* Two microphones were dead, mine and another's. I just added a little more oomph to my voice and apparently I was just as audible as before (as noted before, I'm not used to having amplification, so they usually practically have my microphone turned off anyhow). Speaking of microphones, sound has been screwy. You know how I mentioned before that there were grumblings that crew would be switched around? It happened. There was a night when all of the sound levels were wrong and one person accused the other of malfeasance and the latter was taken off of the sound board and put on spotlight. Well, the problems with the microphones haven't ended and I daresay the feedback issues have gotten worse. While I understand the pressures involved when things go wrong a few performances in, I hope the accused party at least got an apology. *sigh* But, of course, I'm sure there's details I'm missing. Theater drama...

I know I mentioned a while ago that I was doing a Shakespeare movie. We filmed more scenes Saturday. I had fun at it, although I sometimes feel a bit inadequate when it comes to the frequent improvisation. And he had me playing a mildly sociall unadjusted geek for a few of the scenes (typecasting, I cry!) which was easy enough to do, but was mildly depressing. Meh. Oh, and I got to see my cousin, Sarah, on her way through Jersey with her husband. We had dinner in Haddonfield. In retrospect, as the person with a job (they're both researching their PhD dissertations), I should have just picked up the check instead of just paying my share, but you know how hindsight is 20/20.

Lastly, I auditioned for The Music Man with the Broadway Theater of Pitman. For my song, I did "A New Town is a Blue Town" from The Pajama Game. I did... OK, I think. As usual for me at auditions, I got really nervous, but I managed to unclench my throat enough to hit the high notes and I only bobbled a few words. It was good enough to get me called back for callbacks tomorrow. One minor quibble... we got the "these people need to come back in while the rest of you can leave; this has now bearing on casting" speech beforehand. This is the third audition in a row where they've done this. Don't they figure people will catch on? Although, given the feedback policy around here for not being cast consists of never being contacted and them ignoring any messages you leave (admittedly, maybe I've just had bad luck in that area. But wouldn't it be nice if they just sent out a short little email saying, "Sorry, but you weren't cast for the show. Better luck next time."?), I guess that until you do become one of those people called back, you'd never know. We'll see how the callback goes tonight, and what they offer me. I goofed on dates and it looks like this one intersects with the reunion too, so I may have to pass on anything but a very principle part.

Och... I hate it when I don't get around to updating for a while. I know I always miss so many little details about the prior days. Ok, last Wednesday, I watched WALL·E. It's a very cute movie. I highly recommend it to people of all ages. Yes, there's a strong environmental message, but you never feel like they're hitting you over the head with it (now, the strong anti-corporate message... which is kind of odd coming from Disney, but maybe they stole a page from the Fight Club playbook). Thursday, I made it to Capoeira for the first time in around a week and a half, the absence being due to a combination of tech week for The Pajama Game, continuing to forget to bring appropriate clothing to change into from work, the peronychia (I wasn't certain if I was going to be able to make it through much of class without collapsing into a jelly of pain), winding up a bit late to work each day (more on that later), and general laziness. It was an underwhelming performance. I showed up for music class beforehand and was doing fairly well except for my tendency to get tired quickly on the tambourine (the striking hand is no problem, but the hand holding it gets worn out after about 15 minutes of continuous playing); I even got to learn a few drum patterns. Then, we started the regular class. As usual, I started out fairly strong, throwing myself into it, but when we got to the cartwheel variations, I started to run out of energy. Combined with the slight nausea, probably from having eaten too close to the beginning of class, it was enough to sideline me for a bit. I sat out with water for a bit, then went back in. And only lasted for another exercise or two before I was exhausted again. *sigh* Part of it was the heat. Part of it was me being out of shape. I just felt like such a wimp. I only managed an hour of practice, and a good 5-10 minutes of that was spent recovering. After getting back to New Jersey, I decided to see Iron Man. It's a good film. It's not going to win any science awards, but it's entertaining.

I suppose I should elaborate on the "late to work" comment. *sigh* These last few weeks, I've been having a harder time getting out of house and to work on time. Some of it is sleeping later than I intend to (I'm getting much better at hitting snooze alarms in my sleep). Much of it is me getting caught up on email and webcomics in the morning. And overall, I think it stems into that I don't particularly want to go to work. It's still an alright job, but I'm not the biggest fan of working. I mean, I definitely prefer having money to do stuff and all, but daily grinds wear me down. It doesn't help that I feel a bit under-utilized at work. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels, waiting for more work to be assigned to me. But then, I wonder how much of this is a matter of me avoiding getting work, or of people not feeling I'm responsible enough to be assigned work. And all of this worries me because I've seen patterns like this before in prior jobs. Maybe I just need to figure out what area of computer science suits me best. Maybe I eventually need to find another field entirely. I don't know.

Under the heading of miscellaneous ramblings of the past few days, I sleepwalked again for the first time in years Thursday night/Friday morning. Or, I guess, sort of sleepwalked... I kind of woke up part of the way towards my destination and that confused me enough as to not get there. I was headed for the bathroom, having woken up with a need to find it, and instead, I wound up trying to open my front door. It was weird because I can't think of any simple direction confusion that could have led me to there. Anyhow, I probably would have forgotten it entirely except that I got on the subject of sleepwalking with a colleague on Friday and after the conversation, I remembered the experiences of the night before. My biggest concern was that at one point, I remember walking over something that gave with a plastic sound as I walked over it. I still haven't figured out what I stepped on or whether the damage was permanent.

Oh, and Friday's performance of the show was pretty good. I missed one line and confused another one or two, but I got my meaning out, I think. Things were a bit more rough for other members of the cast, leading to rumors that we would be having a brush-up rehearsal before next week's performance. *shrug* We shall see.

Make Way for Ducklings!

^_^ Anyone else read this story as a child? My grandmother owns a copy which has been lovingly handed from one grubby set of hands to the next since my mom and her siblings were toddlers. And more duck escorts, this one closer to that story..

Paronychia. It's an infection of the nail bed, either bacterial or fungal. The things I learn by contracting... Apparently the nearly crippling pain when it runs into something is perfectly normal. It happens on hands and feet (and frequently appears on hands due to nail-biting, over-manicuring, or excessive hand-washing) but feet are particularly bad because societal concerns force us to wear the hot and moist bacteria and fungus incubators we call shoes. *grumble* Oh well, if it has a name, it can be fought.