Reason #1: New Ladybug

I stumbled into the bathroom today, took my shower and when I was toweling off, I saw something moving on the curtain. I thought it might be an ant (ant season is coming around the corner), but when I put on my glasses, I saw that it was a ladybug.

I have a bit of superstition about ladybugs, and "our" ladybug died exactly one month ago today. I found it a welcome sign that there was a new ladybug on the curtain, going about her ladybug business.

Of course, if you opened up the bathroom wall, you may very well find a giant ladybug nest. The SciFi Channel will make a "based on a true story" horror movie called Ladybugs! (along the lines of Mansquito!).

I chose not to think about the potential swarm of killer ladybugs hidden behind the drywall. Our new ladybug may as well have waved hello to me, as happy as she made me.

Reason #2: Stairball

(Click on the link for a really short, really silly movie.)

Skottie has OCD when it comes to tennis balls. If there is a tennis ball anywhere in the house (except in the closet), Skottie must play fetch. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, it doesn't matter if you don't particularly feel like playing fetch. If there is a ball, there is fetch to be played.

While I was taking pictures of the new ladybug, I heard a thump, thump, thump across the bathroom floor. I looked down and saw a tennis ball at my feet and Skottie sitting in the bathroom doorway, head cocked to one side, waiting for me to throw the ball.

Stairball is a particularly effective game, as it gets Skottie running, tires him out pretty easily, and doesn't take a particular amount of effort on my part. We played five or six rounds of stairball until Skottie decided he'd had enough, and stayed downstairs. That gave me enough time to get changed, call Laurie (today we had planned to move most of her books and her bookcases into her storage unit) and head downstairs.

Of course, at the bottom of the stairs, there was a thunk, thunk, thunk as the tennis ball bounced across the tiles. Skottie once again sat impatiently, waiting for me to throw the ball again.

This time, it was three rounds of "Under the Dining Room Table Ball" before I could escape the house.

Reason #3: Little Dogs

I'm a big dog guy. Trooper was 110 lbs at his ideal weight, and Skottie weighs in at 77 lbs. However, Laurie's friends (and landlords) have a MinPin named Kukla who has changed my mind about little dogs. I thought they were all either obnoxious or too nervous for me, but Kukla is neither. She does get fidgety, and pees in excitement when she sees someone she likes, but she's a sweetheart.

Kukla met me at the gate when I arrived at Laurie's house, first barking her fool head off, then realizing she knew me, at which point she started wagging the entire back half of her body and running up and down the stairs.

Kukla has a "brother" in the form of a chihuahua named Chico who is everything I dislike about little dogs. Luckily, Chico isn't around Laurie's house too much, as he belongs to the landlady's sister. When Chico is around Kukla, she gets all nervous and yappy; but today, Kukla was sweet and funny and licked my nose when I was at Laurie's window, unloading boxes of books.

I don't think I'll ever own a little dog, but if I had to adopt one, it'd be Kukla.

Reason #4: Not Owning as Many Books as Laurie

I used to be jealous of Laurie's book collection, but after moving it several times, I'm happy with the small collection I have. I don't know that I'll ever be the kind of person who trades in every book he reads, but I don't want to have to move that many books whenever I change locations.

However, if I'm ever lucky enough to own a house in which I can build a library, I'll probably be jealous of Laurie's books again. The picture above isn't her entire collection; she still has an entire roomful left to pack. However, if you look closely, you'll see that every box is marked with a printed label, and almost every box is exactly the same size (courtesy of the Major Bookstore Chain That Shall Not Be Named). If anybody ever doubted that Laurie would make an excellent archivist, those doubts can be laid to rest. She's anal retentive in exactly the right ways.

Moving all these books was a relatively easy job. Laurie fretted that we wouldn't be able to move the books out of her window, since she'd piled books too deep along the window wall. However, she forgot the fact that I'm about 5 inches taller than she is, and could reach over the boxes and push them through the window.

Even better, there was:

Reason #5: A Strapping Landlord and The Cutest Baby in the Whole Wide World

This is Trevor, Laurie's friend and landlord. He's about 2 inches taller than me, and he's also one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. When we went to get the van, we saw him walking along the street, carrying his daughter Samantha, who is the Cutest Baby in the Whole Wide World (until Emma Linn Cleary shows up this summer, of course). Samantha reinforces my wish that Mom had been attracted to a nice black guy, because she has the most beautiful skin color, as opposd to my nearly-transparent skin. More and more, she's starting to look like her mom (who wasn't home today, but she's a very light-skinned, blonde, beautiful woman named Elaine), only with her dad's coloring. The best of both worlds, indeed!

Trevor instantly agreed to help us with the move, and he's not only nice and helpful, but he's also incredibly butch and tireless. He leapt in and out of the van, carrying boxes from the window into the van and arranging them in perfect order, all the while cheerfully chatting with Samantha, who sat quietly on a box, fascinated by her dad at work.

What could have taken a very long time was a really easy job this morning/afternoon, and Trevor (and Samantha!) had a lot to do with that.

Reason #6: 14-Year-Olds

Meet Tefan, Trevor's son. Did you know he's awesome? Do you want to know how I know he's awesome? Because he told me so. Several times, in fact. "I'm so awesome," he said, as we drove from Laurie's apartment to the storage unit. He also told me that he wished he had a big pile of money.

"What would you do with it?" I asked.

"I wouldn't be flashy with it," he said, "I'd buy a lot of food, and a little cottage somewhere. And some high-tech stuff, so I could watch TV."

"And what would you do with all that stuff?"

"I'd eat the food and watch TV. If I had money, I wouldn't flash it around, I'd just eat food and watch TV."

Fourteen-year-olds have awesome goals.

They're also awesome because they have energy to burn, and are old enough to be a real help. During the second load of the day, Tefan offered to take over where his dad had left off. He carried bookcases like they were nothing, and didn't stop for a second.

"Make sure you have that, okay?" said Laurie a number of times.

"I got it, I'm really strong," said Tefan.

Of course. And awesome.

When we got to the storage units, Tef unloaded the van quickly and efficiently, and said that he was "the best driver" of the little carts we used to get everything to Laurie's storage unit. Since he's a fourteen-year-old boy, his pants were about three sizes too big for him, and for some reason, he was wearing his dad's shoes. He alternated between pushing, falling out of his shoes, and pulling up his pants, but it still made everything go so much faster than it would have with 36-year-old me and 40-year-old Laurie alone.

Awesome!

Reason #7: Act 2

After finishing up at Laurie's, I went home, took a second shower (my back was aching something fierce from being hunched over in the van), and then headed to rehearsal.

We took cast pictures (I don't have any copies right now, but I'll post them when I get them), which was fun, and then ran through all of Act 2.

It took much longer than we did when we blocked it out, but that's because the director had cleared the stage of all the platforms that had been up for the children's theater production before us. We stumbled around with the blocking a bit, getting used to the new set, and after a few adjustments (including the removal of a table that did nothing but hinder our progress onstage, thank the gods), we got into a groove, and Act 2 really felt good.

Kate, the woman playing the maid, has an entrance where she has to interrupt Jude and I kissing, and she missed that cue every single time we rehearsed the scene. Once again, Jude and I got carried away with our "love scene" when we were left hanging without a cue to break us up. I've definitely gotten more comfortable with the whole "physical intimacy with a member of the opposite sex" thing. Jude's a really good sport about it, too. If I'm ever in a show where I have to be really physical with a woman, I hope I get to play it opposite her, because she's really fun and up for anything.

I showed Will how to fall properly (he was going down on his knees, which is dangerous and could result in serious injury). I'm not a combat choreographer by any means, but I have been taught how to take a proper fall, so I stopped him after he did it wrong the first time and showed him how to land without hurting himself. He said thank you to me afterwards, which felt really good.

This is going to be a really good show. I feel very relaxed onstage, and Bob, the guy who plays the butler, said that I looked extremely comfortable now. There's a lot I still have to work on (there are only so many ways I can portray "incredulous" during Act 1, for instance), but this is the kind of show that I can invite everyone to see. It's silly enough that there'll be something for everyone to laugh at. It's simple enough that the kids can come and see it, and it's good enough that people won't feel like they went to see it out of some sense of obligation.

Tonight's rehearsal energized me a whole lot, and I drove back to Laurie's to watch tonight's episode of Lost.

It was a great episode, though I do have to say I'm very sorry, Saundra. I think I could hear you screaming, "Noooooooooo!" all the way from Indiana.

Reason #8: Gay Cats

Harry met me at Laurie's house, and he always cheers me up. Harry is Laurie's gay cat. Though he tolerates women, he likes the men. Specifically, he likes me. More specifically, he likes my left leg. A whole lot.

When I sit down and put my feet up on the ottoman at Laurie's house, Harry inevitably rubs his face on my leg, then lies down so that he's pressed up against the leg. If Grey happens to hop up on the ottoman, all is lost, because Grey is a bitch towards Harry, but otherwise, I know I'll get some unconditional cat lovin' from Harrry whenever I visit Laurie.

Harry spent a lot of time on his scratching post and in enclosed spaces. Laurie surmised that it was because of the rearrangement of furniture and the loss of a lot of stuff. He cheered me up after a long day.

Reason #9: Great Trades

I came home to a package waiting for me on the kitchen table. Inside were four bars of handmade soap from my friend (and longtime reader) Leslie. She apparently has a company that produces these soaps. I got four different fragrances, including one called "Hippy Dippy," which is a combination of patchouli and peppermint! It smells incredibly good, and incredibly "me." I used to only like the Crabtree & Evelyn patchouli bath gel, but this smells even better, and may become my soap of choice (I won't know until my next shower, when I give it a whirl).

I don't know if Leslie is taking orders for her soaps, but if you're interested, drop me an e-mail and I'll give you her contact info if she is.

Reason #10: Four More Vacation Days

While today was very busy, it wasn't work, and I have four more days of no work to look forward to.

Tomorrow will be "project catch-up day." I have to finish off the books to send out for my trades and mail them out. I have to set up the new mattress in my room. I have to submit plays to a few more contests and write a cover letter to a play publisher to try and sell "Elephant" and a couple of other women's monologues. I have to rip a bunch of music to my iPod, so I can use it when I run around the lake.

There's going to be a lot of non-project stuff, too. Maybe on Friday, Laurie and I can take a one-day trip to New York, so that we can sightsee a little bit and visit with our colleague Nancy and maybe catch up with Kymm if she's free.

Saturday is set construction day, as well as dinner at Heather's parent's house.

Sunday is more set construction, followed by a run-through of the full play.

And then it's back to the Consulting Company, where I'll start my new career as a knowledge officer.

So even though it's been a tough week so far for me, I did find many reasons to be cheerful today. I hope anyone reading this was able to do the same.