Tech Goddess... Of Sorts

It is best to blog about some things before time removes the funny. This morning, I've already missed.

You see, a friend of mine recorded her own Christmas album at home to give as gifts this year. It's a nice solution to her limited income, so I've refrained from telling her that "homemade gifts" rank very high on the list of things people do NOT want for Christmas -- right after a donation to charity made in their name. (And you thought the phrase "Happy Holidays" took the Christ out of Christmas!) Today, I am converting her magnetic tape to digital format.

I am not engineering her project -- she's done that -- I am simply putting the album on CD rather than tape. So, after setting the appropriate levels, I hit the "record" button and walk away whistling "Go Tell it on the Mountain," her first selection. My only fear is that she's recorded her album on a 90-minute tape and my CDs will collect only 80 minutes of material (note to industry professionals: a little parity, please?), so roughly 75 minutes later, I check in on the project to make sure that no song will begin without room on the CD to end. I don my headphones and listen in...

"I-I-I-I-I'm coming up, so you better get this par-tay star-te-ed"

Er....

It is Kimberly's voice, but it most assuredly ain't a Christmas song. A wee befuddled, I let the song and the tape play through, not bothering to effect a clean cut -- the seasonal effort had obviously ended a few tracks earlier. I laughed and laughed. Kimberly, I thought, had reused an old tape. It was the old stuff playing through at the end of her Christmas album now. Cute. I made plans to buy her a bulk eraser for Christmas and planned my blog post. Then I set up for my second promised conversion: her demo tape.

As I pulled out the Christmas album, I noticed it was almost completely rewound. Odd, I didn't do th.... Oops. Heh, heh. Duh.

It wasn't Kimberly's error at all. It was mine. See, Kimberly's demo is recorded on Side Two of her Christmas Album. She needs two separate discs, one per side. But, uh, well, my cassette deck has that auto-reverse function and, er, ah, it must have flipped. See, I forgot that when one works with TAPES, 90-minutes translates to FORTY-FIVE minutes per side.

A few scant minutes sure changed the funny on that one! Now I'm grabbing my cane, hobbling over to my rocking chair, and reminiscing about the good old days when knowing exactly how much time was on a tape was second nature. "Ya shee, shunny, back in d'day we yoo-sh'd to yoo-sh di-sh tape for everything, and we tawt it was GOOD! Now, be a ni-sh boy and bring your granny her tee-sh, will ya?"

I've (ahem!) disabled the auto reverse function.

Take two....

Dude, Part Dude... Deux

So, dude, I got the Dell. And at the moment I am skeezing wireless access from a nearby WiFi (there's a McDonald's across the street) to write this post backstage during the first act of Sleeping Beauty, while my castmates sing, off key, songs of their immediate creation in the green room. Sadly, there are no earplugs to be found nearby. (Kidding, guys, you know I love you.) But here we all are. Finally.

It is Hell Week. We've moved into the Darkhorse Theatre and we open on Friday. As ever, there is much tweaking to be done as we add lights and costumes to a show that hasn't had even one successful run-through during its many weeks of rehearsal. Tonight, in fact, may be the first time that the entire cast has assembled in one place for a run. I'll refrain from commenting on "professionalism". I'm just happy to be here. I do, at least, LOVE this theatre.

The monitors are not on tonight, so those of us currently offstage, downstairs, cannot hear the show. Where are we in this thing, anyway? Is it intermission yet?

I have only a few scenes in Act I; it's in Act II that I really have to be on my toes. In fact, I have a rather intensive costume change coming up, one that (the director will discover tonight) will be all but impossible to accomplish during the 3 lines of material written to cover my stage absence. Fun, fun.

A prince has arrived in the dressing room. The prince who ends the first act. It must be intermission. Time to go.

More soon, 'cause... dude.

Dude!

Okay, bear with me. I have very little time. See, I'm borrowing a computer right now and I've got about 5 mintues before I've got to go, so I won't get to tell you WHY I've got to borrow this computer except to say that every computer I own (four at last count) is a piece of ... is kaput.

I also won't get to tell you about the preliminary hearing for my attempted carjacker, his spree, or the extortive parking ticket I received while doing my civic duty.

And I won't get to tell you about the cool deal I made for a new iPod, loaded with my father's playlist while I wait for a computer to iTune up to it.

And, oh yeah, I'm waiting for a new computer. Dude, I'm getting a Dell.

Of course, I'll barely have time to tell you how sneaky Dell is. 'Cause, see, they don't tell you, when you buy their product online, that when you click "3-5 day shipping" that means it'll take 3-5 days to get to you once they feel damned good and ready to put it in a box a month later. No, they don't tell you THAT until they confirm your order.

So... bear with me. Until the UPS truck arrives at my doorstep (hopefully more reliably than San Diego's Postal Petey) sometime mid-month, posts will be few and far between.

But OH, will I have plenty to say when it gets here!

Until then... here are some subjects. Talk amongst yourselves.

A) No one should be allowed to own pets or children before they own their own home. With a big yard. Soundproofed.
B) Badly written and poorly directed shows should come with either hefty paychecks or mind-altering drugs.
C) Your parents never bought you a pony. How does that make you feel?

Note: Comments received in answer to "C" are subject to an Our Time is Up, That'll Be Ninety Dollars, Thank You fee. Plus tax, tags, and title.