Projects, Projects...

Time for an update.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

What I mean is, I can finally see an end to this crazy-stupid triple-booked schedule I've been maintaining for the last three months plus.

Thursday night brought the announcement that one of our producers on Ordinary Angels has found himself overbooked and was offered a very attractive commercial shoot during our scheduled shoot. Ordinarily, this would be a major hurdle, except for the fact that he is lining up all the resources and replacement people before he leaves. That, and I emailed our co-producer from Duo, and she's interested in coming on board. So in the long run, I think we'll be just fine.

We're two weeks away from opening The Dining Room at Youngstown. The crazy schedule will kick in during tech week, when we're in the theater space and rehearsing with a real set and props. Once the show opens, however, it becomes the actors' show - I really have to (and get to) drop the reins and just watch along with the rest of the audience.

I had a tech meeting at Youngstown yesterday morning. It was surreal walking into the technical director's office, which is about 1/3 of the control booth space. As we climbed the stairs and reached the door, Samantha's name greeted us from an etched slate plaque. The tech director works there - she passes that name many times every day, and likely doesn't give it a second thought. But it was a little strange for me.

Anyway, I made a lot of progress on the show yesterday, and typed up a shot list for Angels. Tyler encountered some issues with his computer, and ended up overreacting to the point where we found ourselves in another standoff. I called my brother (the middle school teacher) to come by and run interference. He is an adult male whom Tyler respects (and well versed in child psychology), so was able to talk him down. Tyler was very contrite and ended up hanging out with me all night. Gavin and Michelle left, and my buddy Ron and the kids and I had our Friday night pizza, then Kayleigh went to do some artwork and we boys watched the first two Alien films on the projector screen with 7.1 surround! I think that means the screening room has been officially christened.

With all the moving and time constraints, I haven't been to the gym in over a month, and I'm feeling like things are starting to slide. I need to get my slidey ass back in there soon.

I'm supposed to be building sets today with one of the Dining Room cast, but I think it's gonna be more of a Home Depot shopping trip. I'm going into Brian's studio tomorrow with Mike Berg to do some more on the tribute CD. It's sounding pretty good. Can't wait to get it done and out the door!