Yet Another Nickname

But first... The job is going smoothly after the overwhelming first day. Of course, we haven't actually had any conferences yet, so we're all a little nervous. But we've been preparing for them, which keeps us busy enough. It's so weird to have such a nice work environment. There are no grease stains. And there's carpet on the floor. It's amazing! The work I've been doing hasn't been super interesting, but it's easy enough. Mostly I've been helping with key inventory, making sure they all work and putting lanyards on them and clips on key cards. It's not very stimulating, but it's definitely not hard.

I've been waiting for the feelings of isolation to set in with practically everyone but the 10 of us gone from campus, but honestly I've been too busy. It is weird to go back to my room and have it be empty. I almost feel guilty about having so much time to myself. But I've been inundated with calls and emails from friends staying in Spokane who want to hang out and have lunch and so forth, which makes me feel loved, which is always good.

This weekend was fun. I don't really remember what I did Friday. Saturday I went and saw CYT's Beauty and the Beast. Karen was in the orchestra and we hung out for a bit beforehand. I saw 4 Whitworth people (Lee Moser was in the mall, so was Keith Wyma and his family, Kelsey Something was playing oboe in the orchestra, and Lucas Beechnor's mom was at the show). The actual show was pretty awesome. I can honestly say it beat Couer d'Alene Summer Theatre's production of a couple years ago, which wouldn't be hard to do but says something considering those actors were mostly professionals. I was amazed that they found 2 high school guys who could sing, and really well. Both the Beast and Gaston were phenomenal, Gaston especially. It was slightly bittersweet because it reminded me of CYT's last Beauty and the Beast, which I helped with sound for. That was when I was 16! It felt so old then and feels so young now. I know I was 16 because I could drive myself to the rehearsals. That's almost 5 years ago now. The kids up there all look so young. It made me feel old. But it was a really good production and made me wish I could go back and do CYT again. I was so much more insecure then, it was probably a good experience for that reason.

Sunday I went to St. Luke's 8:30 service to hear Amy play (that's dedication friends). And accomplished practically nothing else the rest of the day. I did find the 1982 version of the Scarlet Pimpernel on tudou.com, the Chinese YouTube. :-) It stars Ian McKellan as Chauvelin and Anthony Andrews as the Pimpernel and features amazingly huge hair. It wasn't too bad though. Anthony Andrews' lips kind of freaked me out... But Ian McKellan rocked! Oh, and it also has the girl who was in Somewhere in Time as Marguerite with the biggest hair ever! (thought Katrina might be interested to know).

Now we're back to the workweek. After a morning of "meet & greets" (where we met a guy who used the words "tarnation" and "crumb soup"), I directed traffic for a jr. high track meet. I got to wear a bright orange vest and show people where the crosswalk. And I got a codename, because we had walkie-talkies. So, here is updated list of nicknames (hopefully in the order received).

The Swede
Toast
Sheidino
Sexy Hips
Holla Polychord
Mendelssohn

Wow, I'm missing at least 3. Gosh I can't even remember what they are. I'm not counting Milk Maiden, or Swedish Dumpling, or Furry Pumpkin. Don't even ask me. Mendelssohn I had some say in. It's not referring to Felix, it's referring to Fanny, his sister. But I'm the only one on the team who knows that. I didn't really want to be called Fanny. So me, Mike Essien, Scooby Snacks, Papa Bear, and Lucky Charms directed traffic. After work I had the best intentions of practicing, but ended up watching 2 episodes of Arrested Development and playing cards with the crew. *sigh* Tomorrow I will be good. Gosh I wish I could remember the rest of those nicknames. It's ridiculous.