ILTC

Getting On Track

After a downer of a, well, week, I’m…well, I’m still pretty down, but am trying my best to get through it. All will work out. It has to. 🙂

So, to feel that I have SOME control in life, I decided to do a little (very little) bit of organizing. Sometimes anything larger seems too daunting. But this I could handle.

We purchased these wall organizers from Target awhile ago. Like, before we were married. I knew I loved their design and neutral palette, but didn’t quite know what to do with them. Today, inspiration struck. I drilled 4 screws into the wall with all my might – seriously, our walls are like cement – and hung them up.

Getting On Track - image on https://megactsout.com

Now, I have one system for my current theater goings-on and another for my important bills ‘n things. In a huge confession of personal flaw, I must say that while I pay my bills (mostly) on time, I’m horrible at keeping them organized and getting them filed away. So, this system will not only keep them from stacking up on my desk, but will remind me “oh, yeah, that’s getting way too full…time to file.” Or, at least, that’s what I’m telling myself. 😉

The bottom section of the “personal bills” container is for current “must pay” bills – a visual to give me that good kind of stress that says “Hey, stupid, pay this.” The larger back part is for stuff that has to be filed.

The other container houses recent minutes in the top, large section and miscellaneous theater things (as you see, a script I have to read, among other odds ‘n ends) in the bottom. Since Dave and I are (gasp) officially planning on still being on the board next season (unless we receive a flood of nominations from the floor at our next dinner meeting), I’m encouraged to have things in a normal, orderly, shall-I-say routine spot.

While I was at it, I finally decided to fling my plan of finding proper frames, and simply nail up our New Year’s Resolution collages. So, here they are:

You can’t quite see all of our goals (in visual form) in this picture, which is a good thing – some of them are kinda personal and it’s nice to keep some things private. But, for those wondering, here are the highlights (in no particular order):
– More eco-friendly products, represented by the Tom’s toothpaste and Meyer’s cleaning liquid.
– Kitties! Yep, we found a sketch of a cat, which is strange because we got our second cat shortly after snipping the picture. Aaaand who knows, perhaps we’ll get a third! (I may be going crazy, what do you think?)
– Keeping an open mind.
– More all-natural eating, from more fruits ‘n veggies to making our own salad dressing. The hardest part is using up the numerous dressings we already have on hand, especially after tasting my very own homemade thousand islands…and, recently, my very own homemade thousand islands with homemade mayo. Yes. Yes, I am going crazy, I think…but it’s kinda fun. At least I don’t have relish made from homemade pickles or homemade ketchup. Yet.
– Writing more/tapping into our creative sides.
– Home improvement on a budget!
– Finding happiness, wherever it is and whatever it may mean.

So, there’s my little corner of our office. It’s starting to match the other walls a little more, even if that may mean “clutter.” To me, it’s “us”. We’ve got a huge movie poster of “The Philadelphia Story”, a crappy painting I did of sleeping Beardslee, some floating shelves, and tons of sketches and we’re-so-proud articles of Dave’s. It may not be 50-50 yet, but eventually the office will belong to both of us…and hopefully turn into one of my favorite places in the house, rather than one of my least faves.

Acting Out Again

Ten little soldier boys…

Hello, dear readers. Here at meg, acting out, I talk about a lot — from home improvement projects and eating organically to married life and, of course, the cats. But, just last night it occurred to me that you might like to hear about something truly relevant to the name of the dang blog.

Last night, Dave and I went to the Little Theater for our first night working on their next production — “And Then There Were None,” an Agatha Christie murder mystery. Dave is playing the part of Marston, a snobby, spoiled brat who seems to care about nobody – except himself. I’m playing Vera, a secretary who gets wrapped up in the “mystery” aspect of the murder mystery.

Before this read-through, I found myself to be, sure enough, happy to be getting back onstage (and of my own accord, at that! The last show, I got roped into, and didn’t enjoy it in the least — ah, the loyal life of a community theater participant), but a little apprehensive. I hadn’t read the whole script and wasn’t sure how much I could do with my part. Luckily, the read-through proved to be not only a BLAST, but told me that my character has lots of ranges to play with – from calm, sweet and capable to downright losing it.

I haven’t done a drama on ILTC’s stage before. Dave reminded me that I did have the opportunity during “Clue” to have a mental breakdown (the night an audience member picked my “card” as the murderer), but I then reminded him that, while “Clue” was a musical, a comedy, a mystery and, yes, even a drama, whenever the chosen murderer for the evening gave their defiant, outrageous, “I did it! I did it!” speech, the audiences would go nuts…laughing. After reading Vera’s interactions with the other characters, I can be assured that, while there are amusing and even giggle-worthy moments, ain’t no one gonna be laughin’ at the wrong times.

I’m already proud of this show, and I’m not even the director. Speaking of which, our director is a very kind retired gentleman whom we (Dave and I) have worked with several times — including as our roles on the board. Regardless, it’s strange. I can tell when I’m really into a show when I suddenly feel that helping out won’t burden me or be a pain. I’ve already offered to create the programs and paint sets, and have a few other little jobs in mind if Art wants me to do them. That’s HUGE when it comes to ILTC. It’s hard to find anyone to do anything, and not for lack of caring about the place.

The show will be going up in March. I’ll be posting more information when things get nailed down completely, and I’m sure I’ll be letting you know how rehearsals are going. I’m not foreseeing any too-rough spots — the rest of the cast are pretty much pros, and we’re so excited to be working with all of ’em!

Blog Name Explained

Oops! I’ve realized that my blog name (which was chosen out of a plethora of ideas that were spewed onto one of my Facebook status updates) may be a little confusing to those who don’t know me. So, here’s a quick explanation.

I suppose there is a double-meaning (or maybe even triple) to “Meg, Acting Out” (or megactsout, whichever). The most literal comes from my involvement at our local community theater group, Ilion Little Theatre Club. I’ve been acting there, thanks to my sister’s earlier membership (and a desperate last-minute need for someone who could, heck, READ) for a few years now, with several shows under my belt. More recently, (a year ago) I became a board member – secretary – which takes up lots of time, but is something I strangely enjoy. In all honesty, this place is like home; a home full of strange, mostly-wonderful family members whom I care deeply for — and whodathunk I’d find a FUTURE family member there!? Yep, it’s where I met Dave, where we started as acquaintances, moved to friends, and eventually became partners. Oh, and although he doesn’t readily admit it, he’s the president. 😉

So, from the literal, we explore the abstract. I’m the youngest of four talented, unique individuals; we’re similar in some ways (particularly in twos — the older brother and older sister (1 & 3 in the line-up) are quieter and more reserved, in general; the younger brother and sister (2 & 4) share similar illnesses and allergies as well as their tempers and flair for the dramatic), but all quite different. I grew up known as the “spoiled one” — which is all relative. Compared to my siblings, yes. Compared to all of my friends, no.

I was also very vocal from a young age. For better or worse, and for all who truly know me, it’s who I am. My senior superlative was “Most Outgoing.” I’m slightly outrageous (but generally responsible and not prone to poor choices — can’t really do stupid things that’ll get you in trouble with the cops when you work in a school) and am known to say extremely random, at times slightly offensive things. I had a problem with interrupting family members at the dinner table. I’ve never liked being talked down to, and tend to speak up about it (can you picture a cute 4-year-old speaking up? Yeah, I’d want to give me a spanking, too). But, I was raised with enough sense to respect my elders (with exception to my mom back in the day, and my stepdad during my teen years, poor parents!) and never spoke rudely to teachers, grandparents or, well, any other adults. Regardless, my closest friends and family know that “Meg, Acting Out” just describes the person they’ve always known. I’m grateful that they’ve remained loving, and that I’ve been lucky enough to find a guy to put up with this quirk.

I suppose a third meaning could come just from living life, since that’s essentially what this blog is about. I could have just decided to write a blog about living green — but I’m not an expert. Or, I could have written about students — which I’ll, on occasion, do, but would rather not air their business too publicly. I could also have written a design blog — but, again, I’m no expert and would rather just share our renovations as they come. I could’ve written a wedding blog — but I’m not a hugely wedding-obsessed bride (although I’ll be writing more about the planning as we go along; besides, I’ve got a blog on our wedding web site). So, one reason the name appealed to me was in the fact that it somehow describes EVERYTHING I wanted to write about — which is, pretty much, EVERYTHING. 🙂

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts….”

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone! I’m a lucky duck; got an extra day off. Hope it’s as gorgeous where you are as it is here.