Last weekend we closed the production of the first play Zaki and I have produced as our own theatre company. Crazy. It's something we'd thought about doing for years and we even applied for a grant so we could have some money to do it. Imagine our surprise when we actually got the grant and then had no excuse but to follow through with it! The play was "Sixteen Wounded" by Eliam Kraiem (who is, incidentally, super cool, as he sent us an email, wishing us a successful run and when we sent him the positive review we got from the Seattle Times, he responded again with more well-wishes. Kick ass!). The show deals with what we referred to as the "human side" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - not the politics of it. We wanted to do the play and then host talk-backs afterward where people could discuss any issues/ideas/concerns/questions/thoughts that came up for them. Keep in mind we'd picked out this play a few years ago. We had no way of knowing that the Gaza floatilla raid would end up going down less than a week before we opened. And while I most definitely am not happy about the floatilla raid and don't feel right using the word "lucky" as it relates to us, if it had to happen, it was pretty convenient for our purposes that it happened when it did. Because suddenly more people were paying attention. And it turns out we really wanted people to pay attention! There was a time during the process when, I'll be honest, I was not sure I wanted to promote the piece. It was rough. And we didn't know how it would turn out. Also, long story short, we had to replace one of our lead actors 1 WEEK before our first performance. Insanity. Yet somehow the universe said "Don't worry, lil punkins, I got this" and not only did we pull it off, we pulled it off in a crazy-successful way. The response was amazing from the get-go, word of mouth spread, we got a great write-up in the paper, we had full houses the 2nd weekend and on the final night, after adding folding chairs and packing in an extra 10 people, we still had to (sadly) turn away 30+ people who wanted to see the show but had nowhere to sit.
Here's a pic of a scene with me and Z (Photo courtesy of Mike Hipple) (and this was taken during a rehearsal - the fake prego belly looked more real before the show opened, just so ya know):
It was an incredible experience on all counts and we learned so much from every aspect of it. And now the bar has been set very high for us for any future shows we will produce. But for the time being we're enjoying having a bit of a respite.
And it comes just in time for the World Cup. Ah yes. That little thing. That soccer tournament that the rest of the world basically shuts down for over the course of a month that I'd never known anything about until 5 years ago because I live in the US where we are too good for silly sports that the rest of the world obsesses over. I learned about its importance (hell, its existence) 5 years ago when Z and I started planning our wedding. I learned that if it was to be held around the summer of 2006 it was going to need to be early or late enough in the summer so as not to interfere with the World Cup. "You're not serious?" I said to my foreign-born-and-raised-so-he-has-worshipped-every-second-of-every-World-Cup-since-he-was-born husband-to-be. Oh boy was he serious. Thus, the reason we got married on Memorial Day weekend - the festivities and any potential honeymoon would be completed by the time the first kick-off took place. And if it hadn't been, I might not have had a groom standing in front of me to say my vows to. So here we are again, 4 years later. I am now a season ticket holder for our MLS team (Go Sounders!), so it's fair to say my appreciation for soccer has probably multiplied by 100 since 2006, and I'm more interested in the Cup this time around. And I'm cheering and booing just as loud as the next (foreign) guy during the games the US is playing. And I'm following the scores. But I'm not getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to watch 2 countries that I have no connection to compete. Just show me the highlights and tell me the score once I'm up, thanks. But anyway, if you want to discuss So You Think You Can Dance with me (which normally I'd be ALL OVER right now), you're probably gonna have to wait because currently, our evening TV time is being consumed by DVRd soccer matches. Oh - and if you know the score of those matches that took place after we left for work - don't ruin the score for my husband, he wants to be surprised. :) As frustrating as it can be at times, it's actually pretty cool the passion that he feels for it - and that the rest of the world apparently feels for it. I feel rather connected with the rest of the planet's inhabitants, knowing that those of us paying attention to the tourney are, in fact, the majority, in spite of what some US haters might have you believe. And, as a good, "America-hating" liberal, if there's one thing I like more than anything, it's feeling "above" my fellow countrymen.
Here's a pic I found online (I like to add pics to keep you awake. You're welcome) of some kid blowing the much-maligned vuvuzela and rooting for the wrong team:
What else...
Oh, so our piece of crap car finally got paid off a few months ago. Hooray! Oh, the plans I had for that money that had been going to a car payment. But the car gods had different plans. They apparently are rooting for the repair shop owners and their extended families to go on an all-expense paid vacation sometime very soon, so we've been cursed with our car continually breaking down. Cooling system issues, mostly. Such a monumental pain in my derriere. So it looks as though, rather than continually shelling out 100s of dollars for repairs of the same stupid thing, on top of car rental bills, we may be getting a new car. We're also thinking of leasing instead of buying. Since our current piece of garbage is a 2004 and ran great for about 3 years (right around the time the warranty ran out, of course), we're thinking maybe it's not such a bad thing to get a new vehicle every 3 years. So we've been test driving some cars lately. We'd originally thought we'd go with the can't-go-wrong Civic, or maybe even the Corolla (cuz all that recall stuff is done now, right?), but we've since narrowed it down to the Hyundai Elantra or the Mazda3. I think we're leaning toward one over the other, but on the off chance that anyone reading this blog has any opinions on the subject, please do share. Oh - and to the Japanese spammers: if you could type your opinions in English, that'd be easier for me to use. Smooches!
Speaking of the car, we were also inducted into what is apparently the brotherhood of true Seattleites recently when we had our car broken into. After attending a play at the theater where we would soon be putting on our own play (a troubling omen that fortunately did not prove to be foreshadowing), we returned to find the passenger window shattered and the contents of our glove box and arm rest storage strewn about the seat. They found Z's ipod touch and that's all they took. They ignored our satellite radio receiver (although it looked like they may have tried to take it but couldn't figure out how to disconnect it) and they ignored our GPS. What, our GPS isn't good enough for you? Thieving snobs. Anyway, we really were very lucky, all in all, only being out the ipod and the cost of the deductible on the window repair . Still, it sucked. I guess maybe I should feel fortunate it hasn't happened to me before, as I know a lot of people my age who have had to deal with it multiple times in their lives. It's all relative, I suppose.
Ummmm...
I went to Boise for the weekend before we started rehearsals for the play. That was nice, in spite of the fact that I somehow managed to throw my back out in the middle of the weekend. Regardless, I got in some good "mom time" and some good "grandma time" and also some good "Eli time." I'd love to post some pics for you to see that he continues to be the cutest boy that ever there was, but since I can't, you're going to have to continue to take my word for it.
Oh! Speaking of cuteness - we went to NY a few months ago to meet our first niece, Lilly Zelda Greif! Z's sister, Nina, spawned this little doll and while we didn't get as much time to spend with her as we'd hoped, we look forward to dousing her with more love at the next possible opportunity. We got a video of her laughing the other day and if that's not the best sound in the world, I don't know what is.
Here's a pic of her wearing the onesie that her Uncle Zaki and Aunt Devin got for her a few months ago. Cuz we plan ahead.
And see how I've tied multiple topics of this blog together in just one adorable picture. I'm awesome like that.
Ok, I feel like that's ample. I tried to make it long (for a change, when it usually happens by accident) to make up for all the months you, my faithful following of 3 readers, have had to endure without a blog update. I'd like to tell you that it won't be so long between this and the next one, but let's all try to be honest with ourselves about that, shall we? You'd be wise not to get your hopes up too high.
