Completely innapropriate hotel room.

Hi. I'm in LA. I'm staying in a hotel room with a crazy, nonsensical, overly sensual feature. Here, I'll give you a personal tour.



Why? Why? Why is the shower see-through? What if I were sharing the room with a coworker? And no, there is not a curtain that can cover the glass, and no, it does not fog up enough for it to be non-awkward.

Also, this hotel is famous for its swanky rooftop pool and bar. It's called an "endless" pool because the water is level with the floor, so it looks like it goes all the way off of the roof. Cool, right?

Except...here's the thing. NO ONE SWIMS IN IT! They treat it like a decorative water fountain. I mean it's bath water temperature, would be perfect for a night swim, yet it's completely uncool to even approach the water. This baffles me. That just seems so LA. "There is this perfectly good pool to swim in but NO! We will not swim in it! Are you crazy? We're here to party, and wear high heels, and sit in water bed eggs (as seen in photo)." Dumb LA.

Milking cows, trapped kitties, bucking broncos, and dangerously cute kids.

What I learned at a pumpkin patch in Iowa:

1. How to milk a cow! I'm pretty much a straight professional now. If you ever want any fresh water, straight from the cow's teet, let me know.



2. How to ride a horse.

3. I saw these kittens at the pumpkin patch and immediately wanted to adopt them, but was afraid they might be carrying bird flu or Parkinson's or herpes:



4. I have the cutest niece on the whole entire Earth.

Is this not just a delicious, delicious sound?

This is my week of concerts. Sunday - Dirty Projectors. Monday - Rogue Wave. Tonight - Arcade Fire. Dirty Projectors were just, well I'll just use a word my friend Troy coined to describe them. They were "eargasmic". And Rogue Wave, though I've had the pleasure of seeing them twice before, was just, well they were a barrel of amazing. They have so many great songs, but every time, no matter what, I just end up being such a sucker for "Lake Michigan". I mean with a two minute drum intro, who can resist?

Please enjoy my iphone's crappy take on said drum intro. Though you can't see much, you can hear everything, and oh the sound my friends. Oh the sound!

Ok I'm going to start mentally preparing myself for Arcade Fire. Can you believe it? I love this city. And by this city I mean Minneapolis/St. Paul. I don't discriminate.



Update!! Arcade Fire was so good my eyeballs fell out of my head then I had to clean them and put them back in. I waited the WHOLE CONCERT for this song and by gum, it came. The finale of the finale. I start uncontrollably dancing in the end so...sorry for the shakiness. Kind of. Ok no I'm not sorry.

Fun with Finnegans!

Last night the Brave New Workshop kicked off the newest student performance season and to celebrate, they had a party afterward. When Steph (my lover from another mother) got wind of free Finnegans, I blinked and she was at the bar.

She runs for two reasons, she says. Beer, and the bus. That, combined with her "no you didn't" face, is why I love her.

Chameleon Man

I've done a lot of traveling this summer, mostly for work. As the months went by I became intimate with the likes of San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Atlanta, Charlotte, and up and down WI and MN. But never, not once, have I come across a lizard impression quite this accurate.



I'm so proud.

Seattle is for scooters.

I'm in Seattle at a conference for work, and I decided to bring my beef along because he's super fun and we've both never been to Seattle. We've done lots of cool things so far, like hang around Pike Place Market, see TheaterSports, eat delicious food, hang out in our sweet hotel room, etc. But nothing - NOTHING - tops the moment that I walked out of the conference yesterday, peered around looking for Tom, and then saw him at the bottom of a huge set of stairs, standing next to a scooter, holding two helmets.

Let me just tell you that scooters...are...incredible. The wind in your face! The ease of use! Gliding in and out of lanes! Feeling every bump! We drove up the coast to Ballard and around the downtown area and it was pure perfection except for ONE thing. Some of the hills in Seattle are San Francisco-steep and two times, I kid you not, I had to get off the scooter for Tom to be able to get the scooter up the hill. No worries though. You can't get angry on a scooter! I mean c'mon.

We took a break from our glee-fest to take a short video for your pure enjoyment. I encourage you to picture yourself on the scooter with us, having the time of your life. Try not to move too much though because we might tip over, ok?

So proud of us! One show left.

Zombie High School!

Just so my little bloggy doesn't feel neglected

Hi!

My life this month has been working 8 hours a day, rehearsing approximately 7-11 on weeknights and for dozens of hours on the weekends (ZHS opens Saturday!), and playing with my new iphone until I fall asleep.

So, in picture form that is this:



this:
and this:


Which leads me to my next point. HOW GREAT IS ANGRY BIRDS? Anyone? Who's with me?

Mama will be back in 2 weeks, shhhhh, don't worry.

Afternoon Delight

I got a new iphone! Here's an adorable picture of me trying to "download apps" on my first day. One of my favorite apps is called Dragon Dictation. As a person who has spent hundreds of tedious, eyeball-bleeding hours transcribing audio interviews, I appreciate the app's ability to convert my speech into text, and then allow me to email, text, facebook, or tweet the message to a person of my pleasing.

Here's the thing though. Dragon Dictation isn't exactly...accurate. Especially when you sing to it, which of course you would. You're familiar with the 1976 lovable hit "Afternoon Delight" by the Starlight Vocal Band, yes? Or maybe Will Ferrel's a cappella version in Anchorman? Well I serenaded Grape (my iphone) last night and I will provide you with the original lyrics, and then the app's version of what I sang.

Original lyrics:

Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight

gonna grab some afternoon delight

My motto's always been when it's right it's right

Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night

When everything's a little clearer in the light of day

And you know the night is always gonna be there anyway

Dragon Dictation's version of what I sang:

Can you send them baby killers old phone tag

planning grants the master noon be mad

I started doing family that sad it's sad

When I went and seen the man has a cool tag match

Where everything is A-OK in a matter of JE

Thanks Grape! I love you.

Two more songs!

I'm so excited that I could just pee. Right here.