...

I am exhausted right now.

Right before the call to places tonight, my mom called me. She told me that my pop, who had been feeling sickly with flu-like symptoms, had gotten worse and we had a back and forth about taking him to the hospital. Apparently he didn't want to go, but he had also been overheard talking to someone who was not in the room right before my mom got there, so I thought that maybe while he has a high fever and is delusional, his vote doesn't count.

Right after, I called my brother to tell him to help my mom get my pop to the hospital.

Then I had to do a show that, quite frankly, I did not feel like doing.

Lately I feel quite sorry for the guy who plays my husband since I have not been myself these past couple of shows. Sunday was the last day of our cast as it has been for the past six months, since some were leaving, and so I was crying during the opening.

And no, it is not fun to do pirouettes with a runny nose, in case you wondered.

It is also not fun for others when you pirouette with a runny nose and happen to not sniff quite in time. Lucky for them, my sniff timing is pretty good.

I know tears were designed for a reason, but sometimes I just wish there was an off button to push. Really, they can come at the most inappropriate moments and seem to be no respecter of persons.

Anyway, I had left behind the sadness of Sunday's show and was ready to dive into today as a normal person who has no need to sniff sniff sniff.

Um, not in the cards, folks.

It's hard to hear about family being sick when I am so far away. It's hard to think of my mom at the hospital just waiting and not be able to go wait with her.

I am praying for my pop, trusting God and believing he will be fine. If you would like to agree with me on this, I would not mind at all. I am so relieved that he is in the hospital where he can get good care. I just wish I could be there too.

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We had an opening night party here in Buffalo after the show tonight. One gentleman came by our table and stopped to speak with us. He may have been a little inebriated, which could certainly account for the mounds of mayonnaise smeared around his mouth in a most indelicate manner, but I am not sure that it could account for his...ah...unfeeling words.

Let's just say if the tour of the Broadway Revival of ACL happens to have just performed in front of you in the past few hours, maybe you don't have to proceed to only talk about who you liked in the Broadway cast. We will listen and be polite, but we will also wonder how, exactly, your commentary pertains to us.

And if you have to ask, Were you in the show? The generic Great Job you say right after you found out that we were, in fact, in the show (had lines and a song and everything) might not seem quite so genuine.

And last but not least, if you cannot wipe the food off your face while talking to us, the least you can do is refrain from leaving us with these parting words,

This business sucks.

And then cackle to yourself as you leave the room. Because this business is the one in which we are wholly invested right now, and we would not be doing so without the hope that maybe, for us at least, this business will not suck.

That's the goal anyway.

And some would even say that because we have these jobs and have had nice secure paychecks and insurance for over a year now, this business is not sucking.

So there you go--just a little tip for you if you ever find yourself at an opening night party for A Chorus Line.