I am at the office, although I don't have full confidence that I will be able to speak at the meetings I'm meant to facilitate.

I hate being so sick that I drop the ball on things and don't even know I've done it until people are calling to find out where I am, like missing a fannish brunch on Sunday while I was in a blanket burrito.

I was working the door this morning for a conference, and it was funny to see who had heard I'm leaving.

Task ~ma, Theo!

How is it only 10:30 when I've already gotten so much done? I was startled by my alarm going off because I'd already been up for four hours by then. Did someone turn back time?

Dragging myself into the office today meant that I could pick up my new Fitbit wristbands from the mailroom where they've been sitting all week. My original wristband is falling apart, so yay. And also I don't have to feed myself.

The directors I've worked with have pretty much all treated the cast like furniture during tech, there to stand and sit and walk on command and remain mostly silent and very remote from any of the collaborative work that happened.

I've never really had a tech where the actors got to be part of the collaboration, but it can be fun to see how problems get solved - provided, of course, that everyone shows up to tech prepared. As a director, I'm always a big fan of having a dry tech first, precisely in order to minimize the impact to the actors. And, of course, I always try to show up with treats and fun things for the people who won't be doing much, as a thank-you for their time.

You sound like an awesome director (unsurprisingly).

Practically all my past directors have given exactly the anti-pep-talk that aggravates aurelia, with entirely predictable results.

I think there is a tech disconnect that I have noticed over the years. When I was in college, I learned that tech was mainly to teach the stage manager and crew how to execute their jobs, and then to make any changes that came up. We never, ever would have costumes in tech unless there were quick changes. It was definately something to get over with as much as possible, and tried to minimize the wasting of people's time

Working with designers from the big cities it seems that either now, or in a non-educational setting that is when a lot of the design gets done. At my uni, we have a lot of tension because the designers are expecting that and the production manager/tech director are expecting the other, and they both think the other set of people are not doing their job, and no one except me has realized that it is really just a miscommunication about what tech is for.

The frustration I have is with a particular director who consistently asks costumes to be there and then says we "don't have time" to deal with getting them in or out of costume or to do quick change rehearsals, to the point that the last show, we opened having NEVER run the show in its entirety, and NEVER done the quick changes with the right crew (all of whom had never done wardrobe before.

Also, bleh bleh bleh. Someone on FB for whom I have lots of fondness and respect (not a Buffista) is, my feed tells me, commenting approvingly on an anti-vaxxer's status. Not cosigning to the full-tilt crazy, but sure as sure not pushing back against it. It's very unsettling.

My mother sent a small package of gifts, and among the things for me is a pair of pantyhose. L'eggs Sheer Energy in suntan. WTF? I distinctly recall the last time I wore pantyhose, and it was to a wedding in 2002. And I am not a "suntan" colored girl.

Good luck, Theo.

Congrats, Laga!