Play OVer For Now

And My Internet Was Down

Lost TV, phone, and Internet to a Comcast issue sometime on Thursday. I called early Thursday afternoon, then again later in the evening. Some mix up did not report my earlier complaint, so they set up an appointment "between 3 and 5" on Friday. Because we'd put the play on in the afternoon, I was able to leave school and get home in time to meet the cable man in the driveway.

I'd told them my aunt's cable was out next door, and when I got home, the lady who takes care of the man in the next house over had gone out to intercept them, apparently to tell them his cable was out too. Then, I called the neighbor in the other direction to find out that indeed their cable was not working. That meant the trouble was south of my house. Still the cable guy had to climb my pole to determine that the problem was not there and I had to sign the work order. Then they told me the other people should have called too.

OK. Duh. Neighbor one is about in his late 70's and not well. My aunt is in her 80's and neighbor three is elderly as well. Calling the cable company requires the understanding of one of those complex, "Dial one for info, dial two for service, dial three for...." well, you get the picture. Thus, it falls to me to make one call for everyone. Of course, cable company does not ever get that right. The last time, they had me make separate work orders for me and my aunt, with separate appointment times even though we are clearly both on the same cable server. At any rate, once they sorted out the fact that it was indeed a problem down the road somewhere, the whole system was back up and running in less than two hours. So, one good deed done for the day.

The play has now had five successful performances. We canceled the Thursday night show when too few people showed up as an audience. During the day, though, we were seen by four good sized teen audiences. There were some rude remarks and not too polite responses, but the actors did fantastic jobs regardless. What was fun from that side was seeing these young performers grow in the roles and become more secure and better. As well, they adapted to whatever the audience reactions were. Their work was phenomenal.

I don't know how the one adult in the cast did overall, but I have to admit when I had a few titters in the audience during my time on stage, I made a point of letting my speech to the reporter character reach out to the kids sitting in the dark and I felt them suddenly come to attention. I am not a great actor by any means, but 38 years of teaching have given me some ability to take charge of a situation and turn it around to my advantage--especially when I'm dealing with kids.

Let me put it this way. If my play makes one kid think twice when he's/she's driving, and makes him/her avoid a bad decision then it did it's job. And if it saves even one kid's life, then it was worth every hour of time, work, and exhaustion I've spent on it.

We have one more performance for a student audience on Tuesday, May 26, and then The Other Sidef of Stick River Road goes to bed for...well, who knows how long? It'd been an interesting, tiring, and rewarding journey.

Tomorrow? I intend some kind of horse activity. We shall see what I can manage. At least the Boys seem to know who I am....or is that just because I fill the feed buckets? *G*