Grrrr!

Yesterday, the hubby and I went to watch 'Two' at St James Cavalier. What a great performance from the Pea and Edward Mercieca! Of course they were lucky to have a brilliant script to work with but still, they really, really did it justice. For those of you who don't know, the play, by Jim Cartwright, is a series of vignettes set in a pub in the northern part of the UK. The characters are made up of the owners of the pub and their clients... but the twist is that all the characters are played by just two actors, hence the name. It's on tonight and next weekend so, go and watch it.

Years ago I had played one of the characters, Maudie, at St James during a performance which stemmed from a workshop by Masquerade - what a hoot it was! I muttered all the lines under my breath as the Pea said them (completely silently of course!) But my favourite sketch by far was the one where Pea and Edward played a married couple watching TV in the pub. I laughed so much - it was just so cute and well-written and acted!

But the evening was marred somewhat by the following incident: while Edward was playing a particularly poignant character (a man whose wife had died), a mobile phone went off. Silently. So you might think that was ok. But the a**hole owner of said mobile actually answered his phone. Can you believe that?!! One of the most unforgettable, sad, quiet bits of the play and someone upstairs answers his bloody phone with 'Yes?!' and 'I'll talk to you later' and bla bla bla.

I swear, I had to grip the sides of my chair to stop myself going upstairs, hurling this idiot's mobile phone downstairs and watching it smash to pieces. I do believe that if I had, I would have gotten a huge round of applause too! Honestly, it's bad enough that people answer their phones at the cinema, but during a live performance? For crying out loud.

It reminded me of another incident that I experienced first-hand a couple of years ago when I took part in the play 'Five Kinds of Silence', also at St James. Now, this play is about a father raping his two daughters systematically during their lives so, as you can imagine, it was not exactly a barrel of laughs. As for me (I played one of the daughters, Susan) it was one of the most challenging, satisfying roles I have ever played. It really was a difficult character to play and after every performance I would be drained and exhausted. And so would most of the audience, as it was very emotional.

So you can imagine how I (and the rest of the cast) felt when, just before one performance, a woman walked in, sat down and started talking to her handbag. Yes, her handbag. Then she had a (one-way) chat with some of the people around her. Them she talked a bit to her programme.

We were terrified that she would do something equally as strange, or worse, during the performance itself. All through the play, all the cast was very tense, almost upset, because we knew that if she interrupted even one minute of the play, the magic would be lost. In fact, I remember the director, tony bezzina, standing next to her throughout the performance, ready to yank her out of the theatre if anything happened. Thank goodness, she seemed riveted throughout the performance and didn't make a sound. But I know exactly how Edward must have felt yesterday, which is perhaps why I was/am so livid.

I hope Adrian Buckle, the producer, got a good look at this man and will ban him from all future Unifaun performances! In fact, if Chris Gatt or anyone from St James is reading this, perhaps you might consider banning this individual from St James altogether. Grrrr!

It ain't over till it's over...

We're nearly there... tiles have been laid, bathroom stuff has been installed. Now all we have to do is:

1. Get the soffit delivered and fixed in (the place were I bought it from said they 'will come back to me soon, sinjura'.)
2. Put in an extractor fan
3. Get someone (hi dad!) to put the bathroom door back, as it now refuses to fit... I guess we're going to have to sand it down or something. At the moment, it is being propped up by the coffee table so the cats don't go in and play in the bath)
4. Put back the wood that goes round the door ( I think it is called the 'lintel' or something)

and finally...

5. Get rid of all the dust. We have been dusting and sweeping and washing the place for hours but there's still lot's of it left. Hopefully it will be gone by Sunday and we can start to breathe again.

Oh Lenny , I think you had my famous bathroom in mind when you wrote that song. hux pupu?

Bathroom Wars Episode IV - A New Hope

The installation of the new bathroom started today at 7.30 am. Although the tilers/plumbers are expensive, they are really doing a good job. We went from this:

To this:

in a few hours.

Looks scary, eh!?!

The house (upstairs as well as dowstairs) is covered with fine white dust, the corridor dowstairs is full of equipment and the cats miaowed pitifully all day (we put them in the spare room so that they wouldn't make a run for the front door which was open most of the day). Thank goodness, it should be over by next Saturday. Then we just have to get the new soffit installed and - hey presto - one new bathroom!

A pictorial cat story

Most of you know that I have 2 cats - Harry and Ron who are very cute and were named after the Harry Potter characters by their furry godmother Sha. When they were brought home by my then-boyfriend (now-hubby) and The Blonde as a b'day pressie for me a couple of years ago, they came in a little basket in which they could both fit very comfortably.

Now, because they are older and because I am a sucker (as soon as they miaow pitifully, I feed them), they are much bigger than they used to be and so they don't both fit in the basket. Harry (the multi-cloured one) has decided that the basket belongs to him, so everytime Ron (the ginger one) tries to sit in it, he either throws him out or just doesn't get out at all. So we get this:

Last Sunday, my parents gave me a larger basket for the cats which, I realised, would fit both the cats quite comfortably. Or at least, Ron could relax in it while Harry sat in the other, smaller one. I got it home and they sniffed at it.

A few minutes later, I found this:

I just can't win, can I...

The Second Bloggers' Meeting

Yesterday's Bloggers' Meeting at the Melita was a great success with moi, Maltagirl & the fiance, Mistoqsija, Twanny and Mark... with a special appearance by Zemploid. Much fun was had by all... roll on the next one, hopefully in summer!

A letter from daughter to dad

A friend of mine send me this by email... it made me laugh so I'm going to reproduce it here!

Father passing by his teenage daughter's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was neat and tidy. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the centre of the pillow. It was addressed "Dad".

With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:-

Dear Dad,
It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you, but I'm leaving home. I had to elope with my new boyfriend Randy because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I've been finding real passion with Randy and he is so nice to me. I know when you meet him you'll like him too - even with all his piercing, tattoos, and motorcycle clothes. But it's not only the passion Dad, I'm pregnant and Randy said that he wants me to have the kid and that we can be very happy together. Even though Randy is much older than me (anyway,42 isn't so old these days is it?) and has no money, really these things shouldn't stand in the way of our relationship, don't you agree?

Randy has a great CD collection; he already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. It's true he has other girlfriends as well but I know he'll be faithful to me in his own way. He wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too. Randy taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and he'll be growing it for us and we'll trade it with our friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Randy can get better; he sure deserves it!

Don't worry Dad, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.
Your loving daughter, Rosie.

At the bottom of the page were the letters "PTO".

Hands still trembling, her father turned the sheet, and read:

PS: Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbour's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk centre drawer. Please sign it and call when it is safe for me to come home. I love you!!!

Saturday Night's Alright for Kvetching

Went to watch MADC's 'Kvetch' (comedy by Steven Berkoff) last night . Maltagirl and Mike were there too , as well as the Pea and her hubby *waves*. It was fun and very 'naughty' (one scene in particular!)! Alan Montanaro, Izzy Warrington, Vanessa Attard, Edward Degaetano and Chris X. Grech all did very well. Edward was a bit young for the role he played but I was quite impressed to see him carry it off nonetheless!

I love Berkoff and always make it a point to watch any of his plays presented locally. 'Kvetch' is very well-written and funny in a 'black, wicked humour' kinda way. It is also very, very technical. Or rather, the director Frederick Testa chose to direct it in a way which really made the lighting essential. Basically, whenever the characters were 'thinking' to themselves, the light changed completely. Sometimes we only knew that a certain character was thinking (ie) not talking aloud because of the light changes. Which meant that they had to be perfect. However, especially in the first act, they very often weren't perfect, which spoilt it a bit for me. Basically, I am of the opinion that if you are going to rely so heavily on the light cues, they have to be 100% perfect. (90% is good... but not good enough!) Yes, I am a stickler for these things.

Anyway, that bugged me! Otherwise, I found the direction tight (although I do think it was played too much for laughs) and the acting good. Oh, and the way they turned the table into a bed was pure genius!

Yesterday, we were also invited to the opening of Lisa Falzon's exhibition at St James Cavalier so we went there straight after the Manoel. I love Lisa's work - it is so refreshing to find an artist of her age with such an amazing 'black' sense of humour. We had never met face-to-face (ony through email), so it was really nice to meet her 'properly' at last!

Her exhibition is fantastic. It is called 'The Secret' and runs until the 5th May and I really, really suggest you check it out. Hubby fell in love with one of her paintings called 'The Green-Eyed Monster' but it was already sold. However, there is another one we both fell in love with and really want to get. But *sigh* we have the spiza of the blessed bathroom (one week to go!) this month. So, if there are any benfactors out there who would like to get me a Lisa Falzon original for Easter... hehehe just joking (unless Bill Gates is reading this, in which case, he can get me the whole exhibition).

Boing boing!

Spring is here (hence the title hehehe). I am sitting at my p.c. with the balcony door open, watching the cats play-fighting on the sunny patio - bliss! If it wasn't for my slight sore throat (yeah I spoke too soon about being 100% better - typical), I would be perfectly happy. As it is, I still need to blow my nose every so often, as well as take cough medicine and spray my throat as my glands are a bit swollen. No, I won't tell you what they look like coz it's gross.

Apart from lazing about last Friday and today - which is a MAJOR change/unusual thing for me to do - there's not been much to report in my life really. Oh, except for meeting Maltagirl at Stagecoach last Monday where she regaled me with the funniest (and only!) song about snot I have ever heard, to the tune of 'A Pharoah Story' from 'Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat'. If you ask her nicely, I am sure she will let you have a copy (she recorded herself singing it and emailed it to me - she is a rhyming genius!). I still think she is the best chance of us ever winning the Eurovision...

What else? Ah yes, the Saturday before last, I went out to lunch at Mamma Mia with the Pea and the Singer - Karen, one of the original 'sistahs' (which comprised the Pea, the Blonde, Ka and myself, and later Sha). Ka went back to her native Canada last summer and was in Malta for a short visit. Lunch was mega-fun, as well as being mega-yummy (the other 2 gals had salads; I had the biggest chicken burger in the world - and thoroughly enjoyed it mwahahahaha!) and it was as if she'd never left.

I sometimes miss those days when we were all closer than we are now. I seem to have drifted away somewhat. I don't know why. The others will doubtlessly say that I'm being paranoid! But sometimes, I feel as if I've slowly but surely kinda 'grown up' and I don't really like being 'grown up'. Sometimes, I just want us to be how we were before, laughing about stupid things; discussing films; getting dressed up to go out on the town; having a laugh while watching TV; phoning each other up to have a gossip... Maybe I've just changed and become boring. Or maybe I'm just blathering on. What is for sure is that, when we do all get together in the same country, for a while, I go back to being that young, silly girl having a laugh, even if it's just for a few hours. I like that 'me'... she's fun! But she seems to put in an appearance less and less these days.

Oooh, this was meant to be a nice, short light-hearted entry, and here I am pouring my heart out! I think I know what it is... waaayyyyyyyytoo much work and little to no play. I mean, I got sick a month ago and haven't really recovered since, so I've been working and sleeping, working and sleeping. Perhaps I just need some 'fun'. Hmmmm, maybe some retail therapy would work?! And a holiday would be nice, but no way to both until the new bathroom is paid off, for sure!

Suggestions for 'fun' things which can be done without actually spending any money are welcome hehehe!