Yesterday we had kind of a day off. Bear got to come home from rehearsals at 6:30 and he and Tessie and I had some time together to go run some errands, like getting some monologue books for the Gooseberry rehearsals next week (yikes) and some ingredients for the food basics lab he missed last week. We actually were all in bed by about 10ish for a change.
Today I had to be in North Fargo by 8 a.m. for my last FM Chamber Leadership class. Today all 6 groups had our final presentations of the projects we've been working on for 9 months. Our group presented on Asset Champions' Network and we went second at about 10 ish. All in all, I must say that I think that our presentation was the best. I don't have the energy to go into more detail.
We got front page with a picture and a continuation of the article on the back page this morning in the Fargo Forum! Woo Hoo! A couple of parents from the MHS2UK group were on am talk radio this afternoon promoting the show. I haven't sent any emails yet to see how it went. According to Bear, the article prompted a jillion calls to the activities office for tickets!
When we got home after grabbing a quick bite at Usher's, Tessie and Alicia were putting the finishing touches on blonde streaks in Tessie's hair.
If anyone is actually reading this - click on our website MHS2UK and take a look at all the things we've done to achieve our goal!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Tuesday, May 6
Today Bear and Downtown Dad, along with best bud Trev and his mom MJ, and a couple other girls from the cast, went to WDAY radio at dark o'clock and promoed the show. Bear is pretty articulate for a freshman. They got all the right information in, including the 'we're all in this together' angle that I pushed in my press release, even if Downtown did have to throw some of it in at the very end. It was great.
I didn't go to Tour again today - I hate real estate.
Instead, I formatted the big 75 question survey that the Gooseberry board is supposed to take online and got that emailed out with explicit instructions. I emailed Kathy to thank her for her very generous donation to Bear's MHS2UK fund and went on maybe a little too much about strained father daughter relationships, since she'd mentioned in her note that her dad was dying. We have a lot in common, Kathy and I.
After the radio thing, Downtown called me and suggested that we get some comp tickets out to the radio stations in town so they can give them away. So it was off to the activities office for 15 pairs of prime seats on Sunday evening, and then off to the three broadcasting stations. One of the program directors asked us to come back Thursday afternoon to promo the show again!
As I was on my way to Michaels to pick up 5 frame stands for the Leadership presentation on Thursday, Downtown called and said 'lets go to lunch.' After that, I had a little time to throw a load of wash in and send out a group email to find some people to do the Thursday afternoon KFGO gig. Then it was time to go back to the high school to talk to the Forum reporter who is doing a big multi page story on the remount and encore performances. MJ, Bob, Vikki, Mike, Dawn, showed up too and we all had enthusiastic stories from different parts of our adventure with this year long process.
There was a thunderstorm this evening. Tessie brought Alicia over and we had biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns and eggs and sausage for dinner. It was ready just in time for Bear's dinner break from 6 to 7. I had time after dinner to actually fold the mountain of laundry that has been eating the couch in the family room - oh well, it keeps the dog from laying on the couch... While I did that, at last I got a chance to watch Juno - great movie, love the banter and it really does have a good message. Rehearsal was over at 10:10 this evening, instead of 10:45, so now we're all home and ready for a good nights sleep.
I didn't go to Tour again today - I hate real estate.
Instead, I formatted the big 75 question survey that the Gooseberry board is supposed to take online and got that emailed out with explicit instructions. I emailed Kathy to thank her for her very generous donation to Bear's MHS2UK fund and went on maybe a little too much about strained father daughter relationships, since she'd mentioned in her note that her dad was dying. We have a lot in common, Kathy and I.
After the radio thing, Downtown called me and suggested that we get some comp tickets out to the radio stations in town so they can give them away. So it was off to the activities office for 15 pairs of prime seats on Sunday evening, and then off to the three broadcasting stations. One of the program directors asked us to come back Thursday afternoon to promo the show again!
As I was on my way to Michaels to pick up 5 frame stands for the Leadership presentation on Thursday, Downtown called and said 'lets go to lunch.' After that, I had a little time to throw a load of wash in and send out a group email to find some people to do the Thursday afternoon KFGO gig. Then it was time to go back to the high school to talk to the Forum reporter who is doing a big multi page story on the remount and encore performances. MJ, Bob, Vikki, Mike, Dawn, showed up too and we all had enthusiastic stories from different parts of our adventure with this year long process.
There was a thunderstorm this evening. Tessie brought Alicia over and we had biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns and eggs and sausage for dinner. It was ready just in time for Bear's dinner break from 6 to 7. I had time after dinner to actually fold the mountain of laundry that has been eating the couch in the family room - oh well, it keeps the dog from laying on the couch... While I did that, at last I got a chance to watch Juno - great movie, love the banter and it really does have a good message. Rehearsal was over at 10:10 this evening, instead of 10:45, so now we're all home and ready for a good nights sleep.
The Journal Begins
The house is a mess. No one goes to their closets or dressers for their clothes any more - we just paw through the mountain of clean but unfolded laundry on the couch. No one eats dinner anymore - but we make amazingly efficient use of left overs and those forgotten cans of garbanzo beans and liver pate at the back of the pantry. And while dishes in the sink multiply, our supply of teaspoons has dipped to an all time low.
But surprizingly, I am not complaining. Nor am I stressed out. I am, in fact, very accepting of the situation. And so is the rest of the family. We are in the final week of remount and rehearsal of High School Musical - back on stage again for 5 encore performances. If we can promote this and sell out all five performances, we are on track to raise the last $30,000 to reach our fundraising goal.
In my most recent post, back in April, I had intended to write here everyday like a journal - capturing the drama that has engulfed us. Its a shame I didn't do that. Its so much more interesting to read 'how are we ever going to move the stage set made up of 1.5 tons of steel and wood, stored in a barn back to the high school and assemble it in 3 days, in the snow?' ... than a laundry list of accomplishments set forth in a harried voice. It's ever so much more satisfying to read about how the grant deadline was met and the grant submitted just in time to allow me to get the planning and coordination complete for our Scotland Yard Sale fundraiser from the standpoint of 'can I do it?' ... rather than just bragging about having accomplished it. There is the pathos of reading about my excitement in gaining three new customers in one day who wanted to buy or sell homes, and then, losing all three the next day. The humor in reading about trying to craft letters for three separate causes, and almost sending the wrong letters to the wrong cause. There is my ongoing nagging of Bear to write thank you notes to the overwhelming number of people who have donated to his travel fund and my incessant need to track all of this on an Excel spreadsheet. And my nagging of Tessie to memorize the final geometry terms so she can pass the class. There's my year-long Chamber leadership class that is coming to an end, and the requisite hour long presentation that 5 of us have been working on for what seems like eons, along with my brutally honest answers to the class's satisfaction survey which has earned me a spot on an advisory committee for the class next year.
All this has taken place since the first part of April, along with auditions for, and both kids being cast in the high school's spring play, which required of course, help building the set. Then there's the story about the crazy but probably harmless Viet Nam vet who wants to buy a house and has somehow decided that I'm the right person to drive his homeless ass around to look at rural properties... ah, no thank you. The three day run of the Spring show and immediate strike on Monday to make room for the above mentioned ton of steel. There would have been venomous good fun as I sneeringly recounted the oh-so blonde prom committee demanding that the set be draped in black so it would not overshadow their "Night in Paris" prom decorations with which we had to share the stage. There was the mad rush to draft a letter to the editor thanking the community for it's support, while still begging them to buy tickets for the encore performances of High School Musical's "international touring company."
Which brings us to this week, where to this point I have applied for, interviewed, was offered and accepted a part time job, learned from my sister that my mother, miffed at receiving a 'form letter' from my son will not be sending a donation to his travel fund. I wrote and distributed a fabulous (if I do say so myself) press release, and coordinated kids and parents who made the rounds to media who picked it up to promote the final run of High School Musical, attended a board meeting, 2 planning meetings, and a workshop, and.... finally... updated this blog!
** OK, I'm talking to myself here... because this, I do for myself**
Starting tomorrow - I promise - and this time I mean it - there will be semi daily journal-like entries that deal with what is going on right then. Events, thoughts about them, and how I feel and what I think. No catching up, no storytelling setups, no need for a moral or a punchline at the end.
But surprizingly, I am not complaining. Nor am I stressed out. I am, in fact, very accepting of the situation. And so is the rest of the family. We are in the final week of remount and rehearsal of High School Musical - back on stage again for 5 encore performances. If we can promote this and sell out all five performances, we are on track to raise the last $30,000 to reach our fundraising goal.
In my most recent post, back in April, I had intended to write here everyday like a journal - capturing the drama that has engulfed us. Its a shame I didn't do that. Its so much more interesting to read 'how are we ever going to move the stage set made up of 1.5 tons of steel and wood, stored in a barn back to the high school and assemble it in 3 days, in the snow?' ... than a laundry list of accomplishments set forth in a harried voice. It's ever so much more satisfying to read about how the grant deadline was met and the grant submitted just in time to allow me to get the planning and coordination complete for our Scotland Yard Sale fundraiser from the standpoint of 'can I do it?' ... rather than just bragging about having accomplished it. There is the pathos of reading about my excitement in gaining three new customers in one day who wanted to buy or sell homes, and then, losing all three the next day. The humor in reading about trying to craft letters for three separate causes, and almost sending the wrong letters to the wrong cause. There is my ongoing nagging of Bear to write thank you notes to the overwhelming number of people who have donated to his travel fund and my incessant need to track all of this on an Excel spreadsheet. And my nagging of Tessie to memorize the final geometry terms so she can pass the class. There's my year-long Chamber leadership class that is coming to an end, and the requisite hour long presentation that 5 of us have been working on for what seems like eons, along with my brutally honest answers to the class's satisfaction survey which has earned me a spot on an advisory committee for the class next year.
All this has taken place since the first part of April, along with auditions for, and both kids being cast in the high school's spring play, which required of course, help building the set. Then there's the story about the crazy but probably harmless Viet Nam vet who wants to buy a house and has somehow decided that I'm the right person to drive his homeless ass around to look at rural properties... ah, no thank you. The three day run of the Spring show and immediate strike on Monday to make room for the above mentioned ton of steel. There would have been venomous good fun as I sneeringly recounted the oh-so blonde prom committee demanding that the set be draped in black so it would not overshadow their "Night in Paris" prom decorations with which we had to share the stage. There was the mad rush to draft a letter to the editor thanking the community for it's support, while still begging them to buy tickets for the encore performances of High School Musical's "international touring company."
Which brings us to this week, where to this point I have applied for, interviewed, was offered and accepted a part time job, learned from my sister that my mother, miffed at receiving a 'form letter' from my son will not be sending a donation to his travel fund. I wrote and distributed a fabulous (if I do say so myself) press release, and coordinated kids and parents who made the rounds to media who picked it up to promote the final run of High School Musical, attended a board meeting, 2 planning meetings, and a workshop, and.... finally... updated this blog!
** OK, I'm talking to myself here... because this, I do for myself**
Starting tomorrow - I promise - and this time I mean it - there will be semi daily journal-like entries that deal with what is going on right then. Events, thoughts about them, and how I feel and what I think. No catching up, no storytelling setups, no need for a moral or a punchline at the end.
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