yeah, I'm still here

It's been half a month since I last wrote something, as I've been busy with shows and rehearsals. Today, however, was a holiday, which meant I could actually get some things done besides work and theatre. I enjoyed a cup of french press coffee at a reasonable hour of 10 a.m. while washing the first of two loads of laundry. I finished cleaning the kitchen and vacuumed the floors. I went to Target's [sic], a barbecue at my friend Kim's, then Giant Eagle. And in a moment I will be putting together a bathroom shelf. I'm pretty sure that's the most productive I've been in two months. Domestically, anyway.

But the past two weeks hasn't been all graphics and music. I helped Bre move into her first house, played organ (well, piano really) at Lorain Lighthouse Methodist, visited Becki and Matt after an ill-fated trip to the Legacy Village Apple Store, and helped Stu move stuff out of storage into his new house.

Speaking of which, Laurie has been on bedrest due to some pregnancy complications, so Stu has been taking care of her and the two-year-old, and hasn't generally been able to do much else, even working from home when necessary. Top that off with unpacking at the new house and still trying to sell the old one. This led to National Stu Deserves a Break Day, where we and a few friends took a vacation day last Monday to go to Cedar Point. Some schools were back in session, so the crowds weren't quite as bad, but still more than we expected. And just to ensure that he didn't get a complete break, he had to leave by 4:30 to get Chloe from daycare. Oh well, we still got quite a bit done.

This past Saturday I went to Cedar Point's Soak City for the first time, which was fun. Stu had been promising Chloe she could go 'swimming,' so this was our chance. The nice thing about a water park is that we could all have fun, whereas in an amusement park we'd mostly be limited to watching Chloe ride stuff. Now and then we'd trade off keeping her company so we could try some of the larger slides separately.

Unfortunately, my back earned a dark pink sunburn despite my use of Banana Boat Sport spray sunblock. I'm not clear why this happened -- if I applied it too early in the day, if it washed off too easily, if I didn't rub it in well enough, if the chemicals expired (I bought it last year), or what. Thankfully, I wasn't burned too badly, but it pisses me off that it happened at all. I threw the bottle away and bought some more Neutrogena Body Mist sunblock, which I've had good luck with before, even if its smelly aerosol cloud lingers in the air and ideally needs to be applied outdoors.

So that's where I'm at. Company rehearsals have been productive and going well. As usual I'm meeting people and making new friends, which is one of the things that keeps me doing theatre even though the schedule often drives me nuts. Try saying that to 1998 Bryan 1.0!