It's over now.....the music of the night

Done!  I survived countless hours of practices and preparation and 4 productions of Phantom of the Opera.  When the aforementioned Director cornered me in the hallway at the beginning of the final performance and said "So!  Will you do another show with me?"  The only response I could think of, which I gave her, was "Uhhhhhhhh"  It was not my most erudite moment.

That being said, it was wonderful to see those kids bleed sweat and pull off what was, truly, an amazing set of performances.  I'm sure THEY all felt it was worthwhile. 

It was worthwhile for me to get this text from my daughter somewhere in the middle of all of that:

"Mom, I love you so much.  I'm so lucky to have such an awesome mommy."

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

What was initially significant trepidation on her part at having me in her realm turned into not only acceptance but also inclusion, to the point where I got multiple hugs from her in front of cast and crew.

Yes.  Worth it for me, too.

While the production is over, the hilarity is not.  I received this photo text from my daughter this morning, which will only be funny if you've seen Phantom and are familiar with the crashing chandelier.  A mid class doodle.

What really happened to Osama Bin Laden:

Disasterpiece

When you know you're not as young as you...

a.  thought you were

b.  hope you are

c.  wish you were

d.  would give something valuable to still be

e.  any and all of the above

I am in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA HELL.  The components of which are:

a.  aforementioned child in the production

b.  "                "  napoleonesque director

c.  ill advised offer to "help" (which, in my mind, was just sort of a general "oh, sure, I can lend a hand" but has turned into the inevitable sewing on evenings and weekends)

The update looks like this:

First production is this Thursday, followed by 5 more performances this weekend.

We have yet to run through even the first Act completely.  I have not seen Act 2 at all.  

The notes of things we "NEED" that we took on the first half of Act 1 was 6-7 pages.

The performance I did see last night was not without it's moments of hilarity and actorial brilliance but was, truth be told, one big hot mess.

The tears to lack of sleep ratio has reached its apex.

It would make more sense to spoof this production and turn it into Zombie Phantom at this point, so we could just forego the makeup and hours of finishing touches to costumery that are going to be required altogether.

Upside....I met some lovely, creative, and incredibly type-A women this month.  My kinda gals.

Downside....I have absolutely no faith in the future of mankind if it rests on the shoulders of today's teenagers.  (With the notable exception of my own, of course, who is a brave and awe inspiring genius!)

We are doomed.  All of us.  Doomed.   

Email Etiquette

I hadn't ever run into this little issue before, which, I suppose, falls under "Emailer Beware" which we all should practice more often anyway. 

I get an email from someone I don't know, but the subject is about an event that I'm familiar with, and something I have and would again volunteer for.

He's sending out the announcement about this year's event and asking me to log on to a survey to answer questions about my availability.  All fine.  I'm happy to take his survey... I use surveys sometimes to plan meetings, because it's easier than getting a massive email train going about when people can and cannot meet.

In any event, I shoot him back a quick email saying "super, thanks, can't wait, blah blah blah".  I contemplate including my particulars, but decide not to....i'll just fill out his survey later.

I hit SEND.

Two nanoseconds later, I get my own response.  Back to me.

I realize, suddenly, that his email address is not actually a "personal" email address, but rather a pseudo address that is masking as a list serve. 

Listserves are fine, I follow a bunch of these professionally.  But, because you KNOW (up front) that they are list serves, you KNOW better than to reply to the sender address because you KNOW that your response will then go to EVERYONE on the list serve.

Right?  Tracking with me?

So, no harm done, I don't care if the whole group (and I have no idea who is in the group, or how many) knows that I'm happy he's gotten back to me and that I'm excited about the event.  No worries.  But, it does give me a moment's pause that I didn't know it was a listserve up front.  I think about emailing back to say "hey, could you just let everyone know this is a list serve address so that no one sends anything stupid?!?!"  But I don't.

So, what happens not 5 minutes later?

Yup, some poor unsuspecting soul sends HIM an email with lots of detail about what she did last year, what she wants to do this year, how she's old, but she's enthusiastic, and she liked doing this task but not that one and she's happy to do whatever is needed, but just a heads up (in confidence, to HIM), she absolutely positively REFUSES TO WORK WITH MR. XXX this year, or EVER AGAIN.

I felt a collective cringe and shudder across the ether. 

The next email I receive is from HIM again, politiely alerting us (all 120) that, OH, by the way, this is actually a list serve and that if you want to email him personally, please use this alternate address.  

Shame on you, Mr. listerserve man.