The day sucked, the night was fun.

I spent most of the workday cleaning out my office, which sucked and made me sad. Hannah and I griped privately about how having surprise shit dropped on us with 1.5 days notice really sucks and wtf about this, anyway?

I also had to have a team meeting, but at least that didn’t go as badly as expected. It may have been less “much” because all three of us were feeling like roadkill one way or another (the term "warm bodies" was used), and it was commented on that I wasn’t exactly full of vim and verve so I’d better explain why I wasn’t. To which I was forced to explain that I’d been up since about 3:30 feeling unwell in ways I did not want to explain in great detail (note: they made me explain in somewhat detail, sigh) and had we not had this meeting and it being the last day I get to have an office, I would have called in sick about it.

We had to go around saying what we wanted/what our issues were and I was basically all, “I’m scared all the time here due to public service and the shit I went through with the Shark Tank,” and they were all, “you don’t have to be any more,” and I was all, “I dunno about that, the crazy has sure escalated here....” Anyway, that was not fun but went better than expected.

This was also my last day of doing the data entry aspect of my job, which I have been doing since I started here. This makes me sad. I also decided to secretly (while I still have a door and the ability to be alone on the phone) call my buddy in the other office that part of the job collaborates with and tell her ALLLLLLL the shit that has gone down so she knows why my office is making such a ridiculous move to get rid of me on that. Me fucking up on the phone so much they transferred me out, the Shark Tank hating my guts and all that went down there, and me having to get transferred back out again and out of this job entirely so as to not continue to piss them off. I felt like I needed to warn her because now she will only get to deal with them from now on. To which she was all, “I knew there was something, none of you would talk in meetings.” And also I guess she doesn’t think they are the most pleasant of folks either, and “why don’t they leave if they hate it so much?” To which I said I don’t think they can get jobs either. To be fair, this is a very niche specialty and I’d probably have to move elsewhere to get another job in it, and I haven’t seen a whole lot of it offered elsewhere when I used to look. She offered to be a reference for me, and I said I haven’t been able to get anything else because I don’t qualify for anything outside of this office--hell, I don’t even qualify for anything IN this office.

Anyway, she was very nice about the whole thing and said if they gave her shit, she can get ornery and she doesn’t care if people act like asses to her. She said she grew up with arguers and I said so did I, but it bugs the hell out of me and I am just Not Cool With It. And it bugs me that everyone thinks I should be cool with being abused like that while trying to do the job. I don’t get how anyone is cool with that. I don’t consider myself an empath even though some folks have asked if I am, but I do pick up if someone is dumping all their shit upon me, it don’t bounce off a lot. *lus, you know, people being fucking vengeful out of nowhere.

In the team meeting, Lioness was all, “when did this happen, years ago? You’re not near to being fired any more,” which is true, but I will always wonder as long as I’m here if something like that is going to happen again.

As for the evening, I went to see Puffs, the show I auditioned for a while back. It was interesting to see who in the audition got into the show and I think some who didn’t get in were working in the audience tonight. The girl I knew from Gumbo and the guy in Little Shop got in. I recognized most of them one way or another.

One guy (who played Wayne) mentioned in his bio that this was his first time getting into Sutter Street and his first ever show lead and I was all, “how’d he fucking do it?! How’d he get into the clique?!” and then I read the rest of the bio and he has been acting since high school and is in bands. Never mind, he has more experience than the likes of me. All of them do, really. Maybe if I get into three more plays at Winters this year (i.e. all the ones with large casts that are not particular!), I might count as having enough experience to actually have a resume to turn in at things like this. Right now I have technically four shows but I can’t exactly be all “I’ve been in ten shows and have seven acting nominations” like some folks have in here.

As for the actual show: of all the shows I auditioned for in the last year, I think this is the one I really regret not getting into. I would have liked to have gotten into the Winters shows to see my friends, but this one looked like The Most Fun. Like Tony n’ Tina level of crazy fun. I’m sorry I missed out, but then again, ain’t no way in hell they were going to cast me and nobody there recognized me tonight from auditions anyway. Once again: how am I memorable everywhere but at an audition? I’m so confused.

It’s delightfully nuts. The idea is that the show follows the Puffs (the “wizard school” houses are called Braves, Smarts, Snakes/Bunch Of Dicks, and Puffs) while Harry Potter rolls in periodically doing stuff. Ron and Hermione are played by mops once in a while. The main three Puffs are Oliver the math nerd who is considered “dumb” at this school except in Muggle Studies, Wayne the geek nerd who can’t get “Accio!” to work, and Megan, the punk daughter of a Death Eater who hopes her mother comes to get her someday. That was played excellently by the girl I used to know, who still doesn’t recognize me even though she sat next to me at one point...but yeah, I was such a nobody there, she shouldn’t! I also liked her pink hair, which looks like mine is going to in a few weeks when it fades some more. I have to say, still like it even faded.

The narrator (we eventually find out who he is at the end) fast forwards through the Puffs’ perennial disappointment in losing third place in the House Cup, losing Cedric, and eventually having to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts. Some of them even die, which made the audience sad.

But other than the “Zach Smith” part (I’m not sure why some guy comes in and acts like every asshole coach you ever saw in a movie for like, ten minutes, it didn’t really fit the show and I don’t remember someone like that in the books?), the whole thing was a delight, the acting was amazing. I am absolutely not worthy to be in this show. One girl has her eyes crossed for most of the show and as someone else who can cross her eyes, I was all “fuck, that is a LONG TIME to be doing that,” it’s not something you want to do for long other than to show off to your friends. No wonder she stumbled into things, though that is also probably the plot. I also enjoyed the use of 90’s music, the sounds of ancient Internet, etc. the Death Eaters having a 1980’s party, etc.

In the end it’s a bit like the Doctor Horrible number “Everyone’s A Hero In Their Own Way”, i.e. the “not heroic” way. Which fits for Puffs. As does learning how they lose, a lot. Heck, their group chant is, “"We are not a threat, please be our friends." To see them go from that to fighting is a delight. And it points out that we all want to be/are heroes in our own story, even if we don’t end up being remembered other than by our friends in the end.

I highly recommend it. I wish I’d brought everyone else, but I mentioned it to Robert at the bar and he sounded so-so on it (he is more looking forward to seeing “Cursed Child” this weekend) and then I thought, “oh fuck it, if he’s not that into it, the rest of them probably won’t be either, I’m just gonna go myself ASAP so I can get a ticket by myself easier and that way I’ll know the weather won’t suck, or rain, or have a tornado by the time I go....”

This is not the production I saw, but it’s an excellent rundown of the plot. My favorite website also has this covered.

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