Going To Hell In A Handcart

...and the wheels just fell off!

Well, it was bound to happen. It happens every time we get to this point in
the production. We move to the theatre from the rehearsal hall, and are
suddenly faced with a different space, real sets instead of tape marks,
different lighting, depth, space for movement. And yes, things always take a
turn for the chaotic.

Of course, this time it's a whopping huge show, with involved sets that
transform, in a stage space that really isn't much space at all. We need
wing space. We need fly space. Exits from both sides, and not just a
crossover. And of course, we don't have that.
For a redesigned space that once was the old opera house, we're doing well.
But for something like what we're trying to do? Ha!

So, tomorrow was already going to be nightmarish. They want all the costume
pieces that are involved in quick changes, which is practically all. And the
few that weren't needed for planning changes, well they wanted those for the
photo shoot! So, essentially everything...

Mind you, now the director wants to do some reblocking because the physical
set works less easily than the imaginary one from rehearsal. (Quel
surprise!) So we gets us a teeny bit more time in the morning to sew, in
exchange for a later night tomorrow. Oh well.

But it's definitely time to start building the voodoo doll of the
playwright!

vandy

TWAS

I'm sincerely hoping that at some point, we can get far enough along to
actually look at what we're doing with this show, and see progress...

Mind you, we're 9 days in, counting Equity days off, and have only 7 till
the photo shoot!

Twas. It's the Christmas show at Theatre Orangeville. Specially written for
the theatre by a warped little playwright named Eric Woolfe. Actually, it's
a great play. I loved reading it. I think it could be a captivating
production with a lot of appeal for all ages.

But it would make a great movie. With CGI.

As it is, the theatre has gone crazy wild and has hired TWO costume
designers on this! (which means there's two of us to also find, alter,
build....) And as well as the ten actors playing 28 roles, (with a gazillion
quick changes,) we're having to costume about 88 more kids as orphans, when
the TOYS choir joins in for the first two scenes!

Argh!

Needless to say, I must be brief, because I have a mountain of stuff to get
to. But maybe I'll be back later to talk about the conjoined trolls, or the
dogman, or the Julenisser....

v

Another Techno-Rant

Sigh. I feel there are far too many of these hogging room on this blog.

At long last, I have my old, but renewed, computer back. There's a new
motherboard, and a slightly faster processor, and we'd moved in a clean hard
drive and done a brand new installation of the operating system. A blank
canvas.

So I slaved in my old HD with programs and data, and swapped back the best
of the RAM, and started consolidating life. Of course I've got bits and bobs
of it all over the place now. Because the whole thing started with an email
problem, there's a trail of different email programs and oddments of mail.
There's six months of life on a 2 GB drive that I'd like to fetch back. And
varying programs and data to move around.

Some of it worked slick as a whistle. It's here on the slave drive, now
it's there on the main. Whee! Easy peasy.

Other things not so simple.

I thought, gee, here's my chance to try networking, and I'll be able to
move the six months data in a nice straightforward fashion. I moved the 2GB
to another machine with an Ethernet card. I set up the drivers. I got a
crossover cable. Then I had to Google and Google and Google to find
instructions, because oddly, while it's something that *everyone* is
supposed to do these days, families all networking together for maximum
value, it appears that there's no real How-To's that are easily accessible.
Windows Help tends to skip over the details of how to get there, and just
tell you how to enjoy it once it's working. Their trouble-shooter walks you
through a few steps and then assumes you'll get the IT guy to fix it.

It's a teeny bit like being a woman with a car. Sure, we'll accept the fact
that you might be able to fill the windshield washer, and maybe even change
a tire, but after that, step aside and let the MEN take care of it. (Really,
I don't WANT to know how the spark plugs work or how to change them, but I'd
like to have a better sense of when it's THEM not working, and what's
involved. Is that a betrayal of my gender?)

I mean, I don't really WANT to take computers apart. I'd prefer it if they
worked. But since they often don't, I'd also like to be able to understand
the small stuff. I don't have a computer repair fellow on call, and couldn't
afford it if I did!

Anyway, after some head-banging, I achieved a network! I transferred one of
the files as proof, and then decided I'd run out of playing around time, and
would have to get back to it in a day or two.

Of course, the network went away, and I've not been able to find it again.
And wiser heads than mine have looked at the info I've given them and said
"that should work". Sigh.

So, by now, in between failed attempts, I've mostly copied the obvious
files onto floppy disk and transferred them that way. There's still some
more obscure stuff scattered around, and one really big thing that won't fit
on a disk, so I guess I'll have to try something else. At some point.

Because it would be nice to be done with the 2GB HD machine and make a nice
new home for the xpoodle* machine a friend just gave me. (With the proviso
that I was NOT supposed to take it apart and tinker; just use it!)

*I call it the xpoodle, because it's so cute and tiny and compact, smaller
than my breadmaker, like a toy poodle, and is running XP. (Heck, I won't
need to take it apart to make myself crazy; just try to understand how to
use it!)

vandy