My stint as a performer in the Haunted Forest has inspired and facilitated my foray into real life community theatre! On Sunday night I attended auditions for Dracula: A Reversed Genders Production. I hadn't actually tried out for anything for about a decade (as a desperately awkward and unattractive teenager, my dillweed high school music director dashed my hopes of stardom by not even casting me in the chorus of my freshman and sophomore year drama productions). I thought I'd be really nervous, and I was a little bit, but I actually had a ton of fun! I found out yesterday I'm playing "Ariana" (Arthur) Holmwood--think Cary Elwes's character from Coppola's version in a dress.

How cool is it going to be to do a play about a Countess Dracula preying on "Jane" Harker, the up-and-coming law clerk engaged to stay-at-home writer "William" Murray? Even better than that is the fact that my character's fiance "Lucas"--who I'm pretty sure I get to stake to death after his conversion to vampirism--is to be played by the baby_snister's new beau Miles. The two of them came over to watch the movie and make fun of Keanu Reeves's crappy British accent with me in preparation for the try outs. (Adorable as he is, it will admittedly be awkward if I have to kiss him. But I'll just have to deal with it if that's what the craft requires of me. :-)

My boss thinks that community theatre is going to be my new "thing", and I can't help but think she might be right. It's the perfect combination of flamboyancy and not sitting around inside of my apartment all the time. It's kind of funny because I'm actually pretty shy in person, but it's rather freeing to immerse yourself in someone else's role. I'm guessing that it appeals to a lot of people for that very reason. (beagley, if you're reading this, tell your delightful wife she completely made my day!!)

I got the most exquisite purple 8gb ipod nano for Christmas (complete with a custom inscription from dear mom)! Between loading hours of songs to it, I decided to whip up an ipod cozy for it to keep it looking new forever, using a bit of leftover sock yarn.


( More pics & pattern. )

Now that Christmas is over and all my knit gifts have been delivered to their recipients, I can finally post my other recent projects!

Hot magenta houglass socks for the snister:


Manly brown & blue socks for Dad:




Lace beaded scarf for willowfinn:



(This scarf is so pretty, I am definitely going to make another one for me!)

Hope everyone had as lovely a holiday as I did with my family!

The holidays are in full swing, and my poor neglected lj is in desperate need of a real update! This isn't that, as I am on a real mission to crank out two and a half more socks before the 25th. Instead, I give you another installment of hilarious spam messages from my email at work. These are some of the best that I've been saving up over the last few months:

• "More men knitting as a hobby"
  
• "Godzilla will be jealous" ???
  
• "Viagra will help you in any situation" Really, any situation? Mountain climbing, doing my taxes??
  
• "Stay rock hard all day" I thought I should call my doctor about any erection lasting more than 4 hours.
  
• "Viagra $1,41 per pill. 100mg x 10 pills = $59.95." Um, you might want to check that math.
  
• "Missing 800-Pound Unicorn Returns"
  
• "Muppet creators go adult" Welcome to the altered state of Drugachussetts!
  
• "Dont let your neighbour satisfy your wife"
  
• "Impeach Bush: Almost 1 Million Votes" Better late than never I suppose.
  
• "Doctors secretly recommend you this store" They're a tricksy bunch, those physicians.
  
• "Your anatomy can be the bad ass truck" Huh?
  
• "Burst through your pants in 2 months" Marketing skills: you can't haz them
  
• "'Silent Night': Carolers Told to Stop"
  
• "Secret tiny helper for men." I hope this is an ad for spider monkeys!
  
• "Message in a bottle? No -- recycle it instead"
  
• "full contact poker"
  
• "Break those chains that have forged your manhood." Remove the stone of shame... attach the stone of triumph!
  
• "one wife is not enough"
  
• "Your manhood will fly like a white dove - independent and free." That's strangely poetic.
  
• "You can visit public pool as you know you have big tool." That one, less so.
  
• "Your little friend will grow like mushrooms after the rain bigger and bigger."

And my personal favorite:

• "You can look fancy even if you are a simple taxi driver."

If you'd like to exchange a Christmas card with me this year, post a comment with your address and I'll send ya one! I know a bunch of folks on my friends list have posted similar offers--I'ma try to hunt down and respond to those entries, but maybe just leave me a comment here anyway, if you can. (If you responded to my postcard post, or I know you IRL, GUESS WHAT! You're already getting one!)

Jebus, December 3rd already?? I've got some serious knitting to do!!

I'm sitting here trying to think of some clever preamble to a post that's really just blatant camwhoring, but it's taking too long and I have a knitting project I want to work on.

I went shopping with my mum last weekend--she's losing a bunch of weight and we can finally shop at some of the same stores together. I think this shirt is my perfect shade of red:


( More pretty new things. )

This came hand-addressed to me in the mail yesterday:





Goddamned Jehovah's Witnesses! Where the heck did this person get my address and why is she sending me her garbage? I wonder if she looked up my name from the Haunted Forest program and she's spamming everyone who participated in such a satanic ritual. What do you think I should send back to her? Atheist propaganda? Pornography? An Ozzy Osbourne CD?

In other news, at the Haunted Forest cast party last night, I signed up to be contacted about performing in a Green Mountain Renaissance Faire this summer, so I have that to look forward to. I also was asked by one of the Fun For Change board members if I'd ever be interested in joining the Board of Directors! I might consider it--it sure would look neat on a resume!

My next knitting project is well underway, but I can't post pictures just yet because the person it's a gift for totally reads my lj. Soon though!

I finished Chris's sweater last night, despite having the majority of my free time completely consumed during the month of October. I think it's my best sweater yet, and is a real milestone--I've only been promising Chris a sweater for the entire 7½ years we've been together!

Isn't he handsome?


( More pictures )

Well, no sense in wasting time... I'm off to start my next project!

Looks like the Director finally uploaded some pictures!


I am paid in ( INNOCENT HUMAN SOULS FOOL!! )

So much fun... so glad it's over!! Anyone get their postcard yet? Anyone still want one? :)

I can't believe that only three lj friends trust me with their mailing address to receive a postcard! Maybe the lack of pictures caused people to skim over the entry. Anyway, the offer's still out there: leave me a screened comment with your address if you'd like a postcard from your petulant livejournal friend in exotic New England!

Well, barring the possibility of a last minute absence during tonight's performance, my role as the Evil Fortune Teller has concluded... but the black and blue eye makeup will live on forever. Seriously, I've scrubbed three times and that shit does not come off:


From after I got home last night--love the hat hair!

My poor co-star this time got his script at the last minute and could not act his way out of a paper bag! You'd think he'd at least be able to fake elation at having escaped from jail, since he had been in prison for 3 years. (Yeah, that wasn't an awkward conversation or anything.) I still rocked the scene though, and coached him as best I could between groups. It's been a total blast but I think I'm just about ready for this think to be over!

I think I'll try to go shopping for some warmer shoes for my role as a guide tonight. I seriously thought I was going to get frostbite last night. If I have the energy when I get home, I'll watch Natural Born Killers, as is our newly formed Halloween tradition. What are YOU doing for Halloween?

The last couple of weeks have been so incredibly busy with the Haunted Forest and I am really behind on my friends list! I'll make it up to you: comment with your address and I'll send you a real life postcard! (Comments are screened, of course.) Let me know if you'll send one to me and I'll supply you with my address as well. :-D

I decided Ghouls Gone Wild wasn't for me and signed up for more Haunted Forest volunteering tomorrow--the final show. I've made a lot of cool friends and would much rather be there for the big "OMG it's overrr" party for free than spend $20 to hang out with a bunch of drag queens I don't know.