Turns out Man for All Seasons was scheduled to open on Thursday, not Wednesday. This was a very good thing, because we needed every second that we had to get it ready. As You Like It closed on Sunday and we had strike all evening. I helped with props and then went to Dillard with Matt, Moody, Christy, and Rachel. Dillard is the off-campus dorm complex that was closed when they built the Jamestown dorms. It has since fallen into extreme disrepair (we could stage an awesome haunted house there at Halloween). The Theatre department has a huge room in the basement that is chock full of all our larger props--tables, chairs, beds, mattresses, and tons of other random things. Matt has been itching to clean it out and organize forever, so we decided to spend the last part of strike making a dent at it. We pulled out tons of broken or unusable props and carted them to the dumpster, cleared out hallways, swept parts of the floor and generally tried to make the space more usable. We filled one dumpster and carried more stuff to 2 large dumpsters that were down by a construction site. All this happened in the middle of a lightning storm. It was a lot of fun; we were sweating like crazy, very tired, covered in dirt and who-knows-how-old dust. By the end all we could talk about was how much we wanted to go jump in the ocean or a pool. Instead we went to Wawa and bought cold drinks before heading back to PBK for the end of strike.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were a scramble install and paint the set. I spent time helping with props, painting furniture, and painting set pieces. The painters painted all night for three nights in a row. Matt and I stayed as late as we could each night, but we had to be conscious for the tech and dress rehearsals on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and evenings and Thursday afternoon. Tuesday night Beth, Matt's wife, brought us coffee to help us get through the rehearsal. Wednesday night we were exhausted but there were tons of notes to fix. Matt was talking about just giving up and letting the show open the way it was. But by the time the run was done he had got a second wind and we both stayed late helping the painters and trying to fix notes and keep morale up. Matt left at 2am, I left at 3; we both came in early Thursday morning and kept going. By the time the final dress started Thursday afternoon we had gotten almost all the notes done. The set looked so much better and it actually felt like the show could open. Everyone's crazy work had paid off.

After fixing a couple more notes after the dress I hung out and chatted with Matt a bit and then went back to the house to get ready for opening night. I wore black, including my espadrilles. It was tough seeing the show again (it's 3 hours long) for the second time that day and the 5th time in the last 3 days, but it was good. I sat in front of Matt and Beth and we chatted during intermission. I had a hard time staying awake the second half and when I wasn't yawning I could hear Matt yawning. But the rest of the audience really enjoyed the show; they gave a standing ovation at the end. After the show the company had champagne and toasted each other and then we all went home to much-deserved sleep.

I woke up Friday morning to a text from my friend Meg who is now back from Alabama and was in town for the day. She and Christy and Moody and I went to lunch at the Cheese Shop in CW, then the girls went to see Inception (which was awesome, btw; see it if you haven't already!!) , then we went to Rita's for ice cream and to Goodwill for fun (I bought a really cool lantern for $5!). Dinner was Pierce's for some wonderful barbeque and then we went to PBK to wander around and because Moody and Christy had to run the show. Meg and I eventually left and went to Bloom and then came back to the house and talked while I made a peach pie for the Mills. We talked and talked and talked; it was great to catch up finally. She told me all about the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and what she thought of it (which was helpful since I've applied there) and we talked about our plans and futures and all the fun we had in college. At midnight Meg had to drive back home to pack and sleep before heading to the beach for the week. I went over to Christy's apartment to play Carcassonne (similar to Settler's and Alhambra) with her and Rachel, Will, and Cameron. I almost won but at the last second Will snatched the victory away.

Inception made me ponder something which I will now expand upon: a lot of movies are about people who are the best in the world at what they do-- the best forger, the best shot, the best architect, the best secret agent, the best code-breaker, the best chemist, the best explosives technician, etc. Wouldn't it be awesome to be the best in the world at something? It even just really really good? But then the question is how do you pick what to spend tons of time getting good at? Caitlin read a book recently that said that it takes about 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. That's about 5 years of 40-hours a week every week working at the same thing. And what if it means you have to give up portions of your personal life to do it? Is it worth it to be an expert at something?

Saturday I slept in, then cleaned the house in preparation for the Mills coming home. I ran some errands and worked on job applications. Looks like I may be having interviews next week or the following week; we'll see what happens. I called home and talked for a bit which was nice cuz it had been a while. The Mills got home around 6; I helped them unpacked and we ate pizza and pie for dinner. I got to hear all about their trip and see the pictures and then I read for a bit. I watched Wimbledon before going to sleep; it was ok, fairly standard chick-flick; not terrible, not great.

Today was church in the morning; I got to see Margaret for the first time since her wedding. We're gonna try to do dinner or coffee sometime this week before I move home. This evening Christy and I are driving up to Maryland to take a load of her stuff home and then spend a few days in Ocean City. I'm really excited; I think we'll have a great time. We'll be back Wednesday before the show in the evening.