As If I Needed Another Reason To Love Him

Tonight Fathom Events showed an encore presentation of The National Theatre's production of "Frankenstein" starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller (Yes, they both play Sherlock on TV in case you didn't know). I got to see Johnny Lee Miller as "the Creature" as they were calling him, and Benedict played Victor Frankenstein. It was directed by Danny Boyle and for those of you Harry Potter fans out there...George Harris, who was Kingsley Shacklebolt and said "You may not like him, but one thing you've got to say is Dumbledore's got style" was also in the play.

The only regret I have is not going Monday so that I could see Benedict as "the Creature"  and compare and contrast.  But I'm not complaining. I thought it was extremely well done. Yes, maybe a bit overly staged in some points...like I don't think we needed the "steam punk" group when the Creature first goes out into the world, and the giant chandelier lighting was a bit distracting, but I did love every minute of it. I am and always have been a theatre geek and this is theatre at it's finest. I understand why the actors changed roles every other night. It has to be exhausting putting in the effort to play the Creature, not only physically but mentally as well. The 2 hours just flew by and it was the perfect length. Nothing dragged or seemed out of place and the story moved along. There was some humor, but mostly you felt for the Creature as well as Victor Frankenstein who was more like the Creature then he probably wanted to admit. 

Most of all though, it just made my respect, admiration and yes, love, for Benedict Cumberbatch grow that much more. You can tell he researches his roles, whether in movies or live on stage. You can see what an amazing range he has. Even his speech changed to match the mood.  I'm not sure how you're supposed to see Victor, as the victim or as the monster, but I did find myself feeling for this lost man who did something and thought no one would find out, yet it tortured him throughout his days. In understated simplicity, Benedict portrayed all those emotions and if you were supposed to hate him, I just couldn't. He is truly gifted and I'm really hoping that they allow a camera crew into his portrayal of Hamlet later next year in London and that Fathom Events shows it.  (I also have to cook this man dinner!)

OUCH!

I didn't write yesterday...I was too exhausted. I went from just walking around the office and to and from my car to walking almost 3 miles yesterday. We live in a very hilly part of Los Angeles. I thought the major hills were in San Francisco but when you haven't walked in awhile, the last .2 of a mile uphill to get home feels like you're walking up Lombard Street.

So when I got home I was tired and sore, but no where near as sore as I am today. My ankles and my calves are screaming at me. Even the top of my feet hurt.

In the long run though, it was good to get some fresh air and exercise and to let someone else do the driving for a change.

I'm also doing squats and planking to help get in better shape. I did that yesterday as well. Today I got to take a break from squats but still held the plank position for 30 seconds. I just hope that when I get out of bed tomorrow morning that my legs will have forgiven me.

A House is Not a Home

Until you add some personal touches. We've been in our apartment for about a month and a half now. We have put most of the things away and hung up almost all of the clothes, however we still had a pile of stuff on the dining room table...and under it and surrounding it. So today I moved the boxes into the bedroom, and unwrapped the pictures that we had hanging in Pasadena. Then I carefully went around the apartment and decided where each picture/painting should go. The Quimper went in the kitchen, the Chagal in the dining area, Jeckyll and Hyde in the bathroom, etc. Just this simple act of placing things where they belong (I didn't hang all of them yet) really made a difference. When Eric walked in after work and frustrating traffic he was going to say something else, but he walked in and said "ooh! How nice!"

So it's the little things that make a difference and while we are rapidly approaching our 1 year in California Anniversary, it's good to think that we're finally settling in.

Too Tired to Write

I waited too long today to do my post and can barely keep my eyes open. So I'll just say Goodnight.

Too Much Time in The Car

That's what I did today. Spent too much time in my car. I got up this morning and turned on the news to see what the weather and traffic was going to be like today. The weather was warm and traffic, which is usually pretty decent on a Friday was horrible. There was a SIG Alert on the 101 at White Oak. I have to drive past White Oak to get to work. This was at 6am. "That's OKAY" I told myself, I'll just leave a bit early and take a side street to work. Apparently I was not the only one with this idea. It usually takes me 10-15 minutes to get from the 405 split to work. I got off on the 405 today and took it to Victory. From there it took me 45 minutes to go 5 miles. I emailed my manager to let her know I would be late and was happy that when I pulled into the parking lot that many people were in the same boat. Two of the other music researchers were not there yet and they didn't arrive until about half an hour after I did. So that was almost 2 hours in the car this morning. Then I worked a full day in a cramped cubicle.

Then on the way home it took me another hour and a half due to accidents in Hollywood. I did get to see the sun set in my rear view mirror which was sort of pretty, but I would have exchanged that view for a simple 40 minute drive home.

Now I'm sore. I'm tired. And I don't really want to get back into my car until Monday.

Not Much To Say

The problem with blogging is that sometimes you just don't know what to write. I have several ideas floating around in my head, but am trying to separate them into different blog posts rather than having one long one. So in the future, look for blogs on Podcasts, commuting, reality TV, and of course, food. 

Tonight I'm letting my mind go blank. Tomorrow is hopefully a new story.

Relocation

I've relocated a lot in the past year. Chicago to California. Pasadena to Los Angeles. 5 years a a freelance employee to a permanent employee with paid vacation time and benefits. Today I relocated my desk at work. 

Our office is set up with cubicles and kind of community pods. Our pod in the music research department was dark but open. Six of us in the same rectangular area with a file cabinet in the middle, and bigger areas for the two people who had been there the longest. I was in one corner with not much of a view. Ok. No view. We kept the lights off...just because that's how it had been done for years and because when we did actually experiment with the lights on for a few days it felt very institutional. So now I have my own private cubicle. I still face a wall when I'm working but there's more storage and definitely more light. I also noticed it was quieter. I could hear more conversations from other cubicles but I didn't have to have my music on as loud. I will miss the few conversations that my co-workers and I had from time to time. (Mostly on Friday afternoons). But all in all I think this relocation will be positive, just like all the other ones have been.

DARN!

I haven't written in over 2 weeks. That definitely was not my plan. I've got to get myself more disciplined so that I don't go that long without writing. I've been tired, which is no excuse. I said I'd write every day, even if it's just a sentence. Even if I'm tired I should be able to spit out a sentence. They say you have to do something consistently for 60 days for it to become a habit, so starting now, that's my goal. 60 days in a row. Word. Sentence. Essay. Novella. Whatever. It will be done.

I'm also going to go back to exercising or stretching in the morning and taking walks. I need to lose some of this weight. I'm sure if I do that I won't be as tired. It's not like I have an excuse of bad weather here in California. Also planning on eating better. Smaller portions. More fruits and vegetables. Less take-out.

It seems overwhelming, but it's really not. Just a small thing and I CAN DO IT!  Enough with feeling let down and disappointed in myself.

Stay tuned!

Back to the Books

I'm a reader. A voracious reader. I've been reading for many, many years. I had a teacher tell my parents to not let me read so much because I was ahead of the other kids in class. I was an English major. I have read and recited The Canterbury Tales in Old English.  I have over 3,000 pounds of books. In one class in one semester in college I read Anna Karenina, War & Peace and Crime and Punishment. I read the Harry Potter books before I saw the movies. I read The Princess Bride before I saw the movie. Jurassic Park is a better book. The Horse Whisperer has a very different ending in print than on the big screen.

Now, I also love movies and television. I also love in this day and age that when I go to bed at night I have my favorite movies or TV shows right at my fingertips on my iPad. But I need to get back to reading. I had challenged myself to read 24 books by the end of this year. That's only 2 a month. I'm behind. Way behind and it's October. I do miss my commute in Chicago where I could read before and after work on the train. Now I have to pay attention to the traffic and the roads. So for the next month the iPad will be off and I will read at night. Every night. Let's see how many books I can read in the next 3 weeks. The TV shows and movies aren't going anywhere.

...And Without a Sink Too

As you know we moved into a new apartment a couple of weeks ago. Everything was fine...the shower leaked a little but we learned how to properly turn it off. The drawers and cabinets get stuck all the time but that's because they were freshly painted and I think adding some  knobs and handles will solve that issue.  We also had the fiasco with Time Warner Cable, but that seems to be working now too.

The kitchen is great. I have enough counter space for ALL my appliances (Cuisinart, convection oven, microwave, coffee maker) and still have plenty of room for prep. It will be nice to take the Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven and have someplace to put AND carve it without rearranging the entire kitchen. The only complaint I have is the sink. It's a double sink with an "insinkerator" (don't call them disposals in CA). The insinkerator hasn't worked since we moved in. Not a big deal, I can live without one. Egg shells can go into the trash as easily as they can down the sink. But last Monday night, as Eric was on the phone with the cable people, I was doing dishes and the sink with the insinkerator started to back up. I'm pretty resourceful, know my way around some tools so I grabbed the plunger and gave it a few tugs. Took care of the water back-up and I went on with washing dishes. A few minutes later I found myself standing in a puddle of water. I opened the cabinet doors and there was water pouring down the pipes. Oops. So we called the landlady and she said she'd have someone out the next day. He never showed. So we we're promised that he was coming the next day and could she let him into our apartment (since we both had to be at work). No problem...except I remembered her telling us that she only had 1 key to our place. Turns out I was right and she couldn't let the guy in on Wednesday either. So Thursday comes along and Eric has the day off. The cable guy comes and the plumber comes.  He apparently fixes the sink and is even sent back to our place by our landlady to make sure the insinkerator works (turns out all it needed was a flipped switch). So, Eric does the dishes and I come home to a clean kitchen with what I thought was a working sink.

Flash forward to Saturday. I'm doing dishes before I cook dinner and  lo and behold, both sinks are filling up again. Now on Friday, Eric had said not to use the insinkerator because he didn't think it was working properly. So I didn't touch it. But now both sinks are full of nasty water and I end up having to do my dish washing in the bathtub!  Eric looks at the sinks while I'm in the bathroom rinsing the soap off with the spray from the shower and again the sink starts leaking everywhere. Yuck.

Now I don't mind doing a glass or two, or some forks, or a plate in the bathroom. But I'm a cook and I make meals which use pots, pans, cutting boards, measuring cups, etc...and it's no fun sitting on the toilet, hunched over the bathtub just so I can make a good meal at home.

The plumber was back today, brought help and rooted out the sink, the insinkerator and Eric did the dishes again without any problems. So that's basically a full week without a sink. Keep your fingers crossed that it stays unclogged. I can cook without an oven, but I need a sink!