New appreciation for fight scenes

At last night's rehearsal, we blocked a fight scene my character participates in.  I was a bit scared of it - having never done a fight scene, I was worried that I might hurt someone through my ignorance.  Our director was very good about talking us through it all, though, and showed me the "tricks" of making it work.  Those of us who are doing the actual fight are now supposed to run it every rehearsal so we can get comfortable with it and work it into our muscle memory.  First order of business, though, is to get off book for that chunk of dialogue so we don't have to worry about lines as well as the choreography.

After spending a substantial chunk of last night's rehearsal on a sequence that probably only lasts a minute or so, I have a new appreciation for fight scenes!

Stretching my thespian muscles

Playing Sara Lee is going to be quite a work-out:

• It's far and away the biggest role I've ever played, which means a lot more stage time and a LOT more memorization.
• I have to "smoke" on stage, which means I'll have to learn how to use fake cigarettes and a real lighter.
• I get to have a major blow-up in one scene, though I don't think the director will have it result in an actual fight.  I also get a melt-down in another scene, and end up laughing hysterically with one of my sisters in another.

The playwright demands quite an emotional range from his characters; challenging, and rewarding if I can pull this off to my satisfaction (and the director's, of course!).

Making a list and checking it twice

Working on my Thanksgiving grocery list tonight.  The Chief & I are doing a small Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday (I didn't know you could find a turkey that only weighed 11 1/2 lbs), then going to friends' on Thursday.  TW has decided he wants both regular & sweet potatoes for our dinner, both kinds of cranberry sauce, stuffing, a Moroccan carrot recipe I found online and which was an immediate favorite, and we'll have pumpkin pie for dessert.  I'll make a 2nd pumpkin pie and an apple to take to our friends', so I need to make sure we have plenty of apples, eggs, half-and-half (the family pumpkin pie recipe calls for a full pint of it!), stuffing mix, celery, onions, carrots... We just had dinner, but this talk of food is making me hungry; I can just about smell how wonderful our house is going to smell!

What's with the T?

Lately I've noticed more & more people pronouncing the T in "often".  I can't imagine where that's coming from, unless it's another overcorrection, like all the people who say things like "please reply to Fred and I".  If anyone has any theories, please share.

Getting psyched for holiday baking

A couple of times I've gotten (just barely) organized enough to do a little baking for the neighbors at Christmas.  Nothing fancy, usually just a quickbread (though one year I did use my mini-bundt molds instead of loaf pans).  This year, though, I've allowed myself to be seduced by the King Arthur Flour catalog and have ordered a fruitcake mix and some mixed dried fruit.  I also ordered some boiled cider (like apple extract, apparently) and eggnog extract to try.  The reviews on the site were pretty enthusiastic, so I'm cautiously optimistic.  I plan to try the boiled cider in apple pie and cake to see if it ups the apple ante in those recipes.  I'm especially looking forward to the eggnog extract.  Homemade eggnog lattes, anyone? :D

It seems I'm amusing

Last night at rehearsal we were discussing our characters, their relationships with each other and so on.  B kept laughing at the way I was phrasing things,at one point reacting to something I'd said with "You're funny!"  They all had a good laugh when I said my character was a bit scandalized that her sister E and E's fiance were sleeping together "without benefit of clergy", and I was really surprised that only one of them had ever heard the phrase about someone "going to college to get her MRS".  The others were trying to figure out what kind of Master's degree I was referring to!