Props Master

A few weeks after we moved to St. Helens, I got involved with Shoe String Community Players. They were doing a production of Annie. I've never done anything even remotely theater related, but when you know absolutely nobody in town and you don't have a job, you get bored real fast. The official title  I took on was Props Master. The word "props" is actually short for "properties" and refers to anything that actors handle or move on stage. So my job was to collect/find/make all of the props. A lot of the props are pretty well spelled out in the script, but as the rehearsals developed more and more props were requested in addition to the basics.  Sometimes it wasn't that fun (most of the time it was), and I felt pretty inept, but by the end, I actually did feel like a Props Master. 

  

The Top 10 of Annie: 

These are my favorite moments from the production of Annie

10. Minecraft

Two things you might not know. Number 1, Patrick and I play Minecraft. Number 2, there is A LOT of down time during production. Although Patrick did not sign up to help with Annie, he came with me most nights and was a huge help. To pass the time, Patrick would bring his computer and play Minecraft. This almost always resulted in a swarm of little girls surrounding my husband and giving him advice about how to play the game. It was just too funny to see all the children around him.

Don't worry, they didn't eat him. He walked away and left them to their own devices.

9. Building a Taxi

For one of the scenes, a cardboard taxi was requested. So, Patrick and I built a taxi. This project was so great because Patrick didn't want to paint and I didn't want to cut out an entire taxi cab. So, we both just did the parts we wanted to do; he did the cutting and I did the painting. It turned out perfect.

8. Black Underwear

Patrick and I went into the auditorium to watch the final dress rehearsal. During the bows practice (yes, they practice the bows) one actress forget to fasten all of the buttons on her dress, so when she bent down to bow, we got a little peep show of her black undies. I cracked up. Luckily, most people didn't notice.

7. Taping

After getting all the props, the next step is setting them up so the actors can actually find them and use them. We set up a prop area. Using a few tables, we positioned the props and then made a tape outline of each one. I know it kind of looks like a crime scene, but it's extremely helpful to know what is missing and where each item belongs. Organization is the key to success. Patrick and I just love doing this kind of project together. 

Shout out to the OSU Barometer.

6. Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

It turns out that the line between set and prop can get fuzzy. Although I would consider a Christmas tree to be a set piece, not everyone would agree. Anyway, a tree was needed and someone found a free Christmas tree on Craigslist. It came dissembled in 4 large Tupperware bins. I've never put together a fake tree, but it didn't take long to realize that we didn't have all the pieces. We were missing the base. But never fear, Patrick came to the rescue. He Jerry-rigged a stand AND put the whole thing on wheels. Isn't he just wonderful?

The tree even had a leash.

5. Eating a Subway Sandwich

Fifteen minutes before curtains opened on our second performance, one of the stage hands (someone who helps backstage and typically moves set pieces) collapsed right in front of the props table. It was quite the sight, especially when they called in the medics. Apparently, he had a heart condition and this wasn't the first time this had happened to him. However, the medics did take him away on a stretcher. About an hour later I noticed there was a coke and Subway sandwich in my prop area. I asked the director about it, as she was walking by and she said it belonged to the stagehand, and that I could have it if I wanted. I waited til the end of the night to claim it and convinced myself that it would have to be thrown away anyway. I ate it. It was a dang good sandwich too. I felt a little guilty, though. I mean, what kind of monster would eat a poor heart conditioned kid's dinner? Me.  

4. The Explosion

In the orphanage scenes, they needed a baby doll. I retrieved the creepiest doll I could think of-- my own. Actually, it belonged to my mom when she was a girl and then she gave it to me. The doll has been through many adventures, most of them detrimental to her visual esthetic. Opening night, Miss Hannigan threw the doll across the stage, as scripted, but the doll unexpectedly blew out her diaper. There was stuffing all over the stage. I sewed up her crotch and duct taped it so she could make it through the rest of her performances. 

3. Feeling like a Part of Something

As I mentioned earlier, it can be tough moving to a new place. Participating in Annie gave me purpose and introduced me to people in the community. I really felt like I was part of something and I belonged somewhere. 

2. Visitors

We don't get too many visitors up here, but Annie gave our friends and family a reason to come visit us. Yay. We had six days of performances and four of those days we had visitors. Thanks for coming everyone.

My parents and I.

The Loudybacks and Patrick

1. Celebrating

At the end of all the performances, I got appreciated. It felt so nice to be recognized for my work and be told that I did a good job. I even got gifts. Then, the Monday after production was over, Patrick and I went to Wild Waves to celebrate and reward ourselves for a job well done. Wild Waves is a water park and amusement park up near Tacoma, WA. Most of the amusement park rides made me sick, but the water park was AMAZING. Since we went on a somewhat overcast weekday, there weren't too many people there. It was a blasty blast.

The gifts

Patrick in front of the Timber Hawk wooden roller coaster.

Our Temporary Home

The House
Moving into a new home, is like meeting a new person. Some characteristics are apparent from the get go, while other peculiarities take time to unveil.

Right off the bat, it was actually a really nice apartment, despite my reluctance to move to St Helens. It has two bedrooms, a spacious bathroom with a pantry, a large kitchen with too much storage for our newlywed selves, a dishwasher, bay windows, and a laundry room with washer and dryer. Oh and it’s carpeted, which we really like-- more comfy on the feetsies.

After living in the house a few months, we’ve really gotten to know the place, but we are still living with a few mysteries. 

Mystery 1: The mailbox door. We didn’t have one when we moved in. everyone else did, but ours was missing. Part of the mystery was solved when somebody cut the bushes under the mailboxes. We found the door in the trimmed hedge. Yay. But who doesn’t pick up their mailbox door when you realize it’s missing? and how do we put it back on? Also, I learned recently that the mail carrier really won’t take your mail, unless you put that red “flag” up. 

Mystery 2: The laundry room wall. There is a 1’ X 1’ section of wall in the laundry room the has about 100 small holes. It’s like someone just went nuts with a thumb tack. What really happened? We usually just avert our eyes from that particularly heinous patch of wall. 

Mystery 3: The bathroom “ventilation.” When normal people take a shower, they turn on the vent/fan to prevent trapping the steam. People also use it to get rid of foul odors, when necessary. For a time, we just thought the ventilation wasn’t working very well, but then we came to the conclusion that it was actually making the steam WORSE and the smells fouler. What we have on our hands isn’t a vent at all, it’s a HEATER. Who puts a heater in the bathroom?

The Neighbors
We met all of the neighbors soon after moving in. The first neighbor we met was a woman walking home. We waved at her with our smiling faces and she... completely ignored us. We came to find out that she is legitimately crazy. Crazy lady mostly just slowly walks by and has no expression, but just a few weeks ago she waved at Patrick! It was a big deal. Sandy is the neighbor who shares a wall with us, and she is a gardener. Then there is a single mom with 2 little girls across from us. The little girl named Lacy has been the sweetest neighbor to us from day one. Here’s what we’ve learned about our neighbors, since our first encounters. Firstly, we are responsible for our own garbage while we live here. On the second week of garbage pickup, we forgot to put the bin out. But at 6 o’clock in the morning we heard our garbage bin being rolled out to the curb. Then the garbage truck came and left. No less than 5 minutes later, we heard our bin being rolled back to our house. After some detective work, we came to find out that crazy lady was the one looking out for us. This has happened multiple times. Thanks, crazy lady. We’ve also discovered that Sandy likes classical music, television, and her two vocal pets. She has a dog that barks. If the barking begins, it will last at least 15 minutes, guaranteed. She also has a bird. Birds are my least favorite pet. We’ve learned that the kids next door are actually really nice to talk with and they are fearless salespersons. One time they tried to sell us bright white unripe cherries, 4 for a dollar.

The City
St Helens is known for being a filming site for Twilight and Disney Channel's Halloween Town. I guess that's pretty cool. In the time that we’ve lived here, there hasn't been any filming. Actually, we haven't really explored the city too much. But I will say, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. I guess I just really hate that all of our friends are so far away and there is no Winco. I have to shop at Safeway. Anyway, back to the positive. Everything in town is within a mile from where we live, including Patrick’s work, which means we eat lunch together everyday. We've also tried a few restaurants in town that have been pretty scrumptious. We went to Klondike's and they gave us a free dessert next time we come in because they found out we were new to the area. Also, there are thrift stores. I’ve recently learned the difference between a thrift store and an antique store. Thrift stores have used things you can buy for cheap and antique stores have used things that are overpriced. Also, they have the best Goodwill I’ve ever been to. It's actually in Scappoose, but it's just a short car ride south. Now that I’m wrapping up my work with the community production of Annie, I’ll have more time to discover the city.

My First Birthday Being BEESley

I officially became a Beesley back in December, but it is really a long process to change your name. You have to change your SS card, your drivers license, your Facebook profile. 

I mean, I still haven't changed my email address, because who wants to do that? 

But slowly and surely, I'm becoming Beesley

This last week, I had my first birthday... as a Beesley. It was really a whole weekend of celebration. I really just claim 4th of July as part of my birthday celebration every year. Is that unpatriotic? Oh well.

 We went down to Corvallis for the 4th of July weekend. Although I've lived in Corvallis my entire life, I had never been to the 4th of July parade in town. It was pretty good. There were children on wagons, Razor Scooters, bikes, even pogo sticks. There were also adults, a section of dogs, LDS pioneers, protesters, and cars.

If you are ever going to a parade, make sure you dress up-- you get more candy that way. Patrick wore a glitter wig... all day.

After the Parade, we went to play disc golf. We played 3 different disc golf courses over the weekend, but this one was the most memorable. We were at Willamette Park, just playing a pretty normal round, until we got to hole 15. In the past, there has been a giant beehive in one of the trees on this hole; you could hear the terrifying buzzing as you walked by. Fortunately, the city had come to remove it. Yay! Then I threw my disc directly on top of a wasps nest. Not so yay. I tried to nab it, but panicked about 4 feet away from the nest. I told Patrick he had to get it. Patrick attempted 3 different times and received 3 stings. After that punishment, we decided to just leave the disc. Warning the next group about the bees, we went on playing. Less than 3 minutes later, we spot a man screaming and swearing and running away from the bees. He was stung 3 times in one go. Then we left. But this isn't the end of the story. 

We returned... with an entire bee suit (Thanks uncle Paul). 

When we came back, there were some people playing hole 15, so we waited and plotted. They asked us what we were doing and we explained the situation. One of the fellas (who was half naked, aka not wearing a shirt) thought he could just grab my disc no problemo. He got about 2 feet away and immediately realized why we brought a bee suit. There were hundreds of extremely protective wasps and they weren't going to let anything or anyone get near their nest, without the stings of wrath.

Patrick suited up and... Success!!! He reclaimed my disc from the evil wasps. 

Is this what you have to do to be a true BEEsley?

The rest of my birthday weekend was just as eventful. We went out to eat at El Sol, watched Despicable Me 2, ate shaved ice, went to OSUsed, picked up my diploma (no big deal), played dominoes, and I got presents. Happy Birthday to me.