I woke up this morning, blew my nose, and suddenly my throat hurt. I do not have time to be sick!

Totally besides the fact that I am doing a large cast show, and when you are the one who brings the plague to the cast, nobody ever forgets. Gorgeous George made everyone in the Cuckoo's Nest cast sick and to this day he hasn't been able to live it down. I don't want to be the Fiddlin' and Burnin' Typhoid Mary.

So yesterday I had rehearsal with Maggie and Russ for You Can Look. They have been in Portugal shooting a movie for the last month, and were supposed to get back into town Monday night.

I dragged myself out of bed at 7a (or rather, 7.30a, as I was still really tired from being up until 4a with the Oscars), went all the way out to Williamsburg, and as I was walking down the street, thought, "Gee, I wonder if they had any trouble getting home in the snowstorm last night?"

I got to their house, rang the doorbell--no answer. A guy was going in, so I followed them, went upstairs to their apartment, knocked on the door--no answer. I called Maggie's cell-phone while standing at the door and knocking--no answer.

Her voice-mail said, "Hi, I'll be out of the country for a week!" and the cat was meowing at the door at the sound of my voice, so I put all of these clues together and figured out that they were still in Portugal. Or at least somewhere between Portugal and here. Ah well.

I could have slept for another three hours, dammit, but since I was up, I decided to go to Central Park to photograph the Gates.

The Gates has been up for the whole month of February, and while I was waiting for the bus to go to rehearsal on Sunday, the old lady I was chatting with mentioned that it was the last day of the Gates, and that's why there was so much traffic.

Now, of course, I walk by Central Park every day on my way to work, so I have seen the Gates and photographed them with my camera phone, but I hadn't really shot them properly in the park. And I have this digital camera that I got for Christmas that I have barely been using! So let's do it!

And yes, I know that I said it ended Sunday, but you cannot take down 27 miles of giant orange metal arches with curtains attached overnight, particularly with a snowstorm, so I hadn't much fear that they wouldn't be up.

And there they were.

After trudging through the snow and shooting pictures (man do I love the 256 mg card on this camera! I have yet to take a single picture off that I have show, nor any of the videos, and there is still tons of room!), I decided to go to the library and pick up my books on hold and check my email.

Then I just went to work an hour early. There was only so much time I could kill.

One of the books I got was Persepolis 2, which I read immediately and loved madly. I'm not a comic book fan, per se, but this is a graphic novel autobiography about this Iranian girl sent from Iran to Vienna during the revolution, and then she goes back after graduating school. It's an absolutely wonderful story from a point of view that is impossible to imagine. It'll go on next year's Best Of list, that's for sure.

The other book I read was The Complete Peanuts Volume 2, which I really must buy, along with volume 1, and every other volume as it comes along. These are the Peanuts of my childhood--not that I was alive in the '50s, but because I had these reprint books when I was a kid (and still do, I wonder if they are worth anything?), so Lucy in a high chair and Linus as a non-verbal baby and Snoopy on four legs are very familiar to me.

After work, I decided to take one of the mirrors with me. I have to take the curtains and both mirrors by the end of the week, and I didn't have my laptop with me because of going out to Williamsburg, so I figured that it was a good idea not ot leave everything 'til the last minute, and carry one of those full-length mirrors.

One of those 200 lb full-length mirrors, that is. They were built for the show, and are about 7' tall and heavier than you can possibly imagine--at least 50 lbs. But I had decided to take it, so that's what I was doing.

Jaysus! I had to walk three blocks to the bus, resting frequently, and trying to hail a cab, but they all ignored me. I could have gotten a cab faster if I looked like Tupac and carrying a sign saying "I will rob you and kill you and set your family on fire" than carrying The Gigantic Mirror of Doom.

I got to 57th St., and there was a bus coming without a million people standing in it, so I lugged The Mirror on. Of course, once we all got on, there were a million people standing in it, but I was on and wasn't getting off.

I also couldn't get back forward to pay my fare, so it was a free ride. I meant to pay it, but people kept getting on and I had to move farther and farther back and there really wasn't anyone I could ask, "Can you please hold my thousand pound mirror while I elbow my way back to the front and pay for my ride?"

I got off at the wrong stop anyway, one too late, so that served me right for not paying my fare, and then I had to carry the goddamn thing for another five blocks--on my head and back the last two, because my arms couldn't hold it anymore.

I was 40 minutes late for rehearsal, my arms were even more like over-cooked spaghetti than usual, but I had done it, I had carried it for 1/3 of a mile. Phew! Hulk carry giant mirror! We are in this theatre until the end of March, so I have plenty of time to get the car from Cynthia and take it home that way.

O, and Mark took one look at this huge mirror and when I told him that the one on wheels was even bigger, he said that it was okay, he didn't need it. So I only have to carry the curtains, and I can put them in a wheely suitcase, so that won't be so bad.

So we had our first rehearsal in the space, and it wasn't too bad.

Everyone was all crammed into one dressing room, not realizing that there were two. You can tell real Off-Off Broadway actors by how likely they are to all change in the smallest room possible without complaining. I, however, knew there was a second dressing room and commandeered it for myself.

Mark had a look and said that he might move in, which would be nice, but it'll probably end up being the girl's room. I have the best seat, though, because I found it. Actually, all of the seats are alike, but it's placed by the wall and has good light and I like it. All I really care about is having my own spot, and it's best because it is mine.

I decided to really go for it in my fall, and accidentally led with my knee, which means that I slammed the fuck out of it. Fortunately, it wasn't my bad knee. On the other hand, I'd really rather not have two bad knees!

Mark was like, "Weeks of falling onto concrete and you were fine, we get onto a wooden stage and now you hurt yourself?" I probably should scare up some knee pads. The ones I own, God only knows if I can find, but they are also way too big and would show all lumpily under my trousers.

Song that I have been singing all day:

"Too Much Time to Want More Time" by Cosy Sheridan

I've seen too much good to think the bad won't go away
It's a hard life but there are very soft days
And I used to want to be rescued, some days I still do
And no place like home, some days it's still true
What you can't keep is still a hard thing to lose
Too much time to want more time
Too much time to want more time but I still do

Today's horoscope:
Before you get mad, remember that the family member who seems to be giving you a hard time may actually be trying to help. So if their tactics leave a lot to be desired, try to look past them.

One year ago today:
I packed and packed, using my smallest and medium suitcases, having a big fight with my Mom on the phone about how dumb an idea that was, then swapping of my own accord smallest to the largest suitcase. How it pains me to admit that she was completely right.

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Last Updated Thurs 3 March 15:27:09 2005