I was HOPING to have a bunch of great pictures of Brigadoon rehearsal to share with y'all today, but unfortunately they keep expecting me to actually PARTICIPATE in the rehearsal. And I find it hard to stay in character when I'm also taking pictures of my costars. So I'm afraid you'll just have to wait. Next time I'll try and remember to just give the camera to Sarah and have her discreetly snap some shots, maybe even some video. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't do sound.

Although, now that I think of it, that's probably a good thing, since you won't be able to hear the sound of Sarah's teeth gnashing while I get my love on with Jennifer and Arianne. (The latter plays Jane Ashton, Tommy's fiancee in New York; I don't think I mentioned her in my Brigadoon update earlier this week, for which I am greatly remiss. Arianne Langsam is HILARIOUS. She is also extremely good looking, and highly flirtatious. I get to spend the entire show making time with attractive women other than my wife. Life is good . . . life is very good.)

As of last night, we pretty much have all the scenes staged, and I'm actually about 90% off book. Those of you that have worked with me on shows in the past (which would be high school) are probably wondering what's come over me, since back then I was notorious for not learning my lines until about 2 weeks before show opened, and even then I would mostly paraphrase, which went over very well with my costars who are trying to listen for cues that I never gave them.

Well, dammit, this is the new Matt Hearn, and he's taking his job seriously! It helps that many of my costars are semi-professional actors; Jennifer won some actual acting awards for work she did out in Indiana (although now she probably thinks I'm a stalker for looking up that stuff; hey, whaddayawant, I sit in front of a computer all day and Google people). Dave (playing Tommy's hunting buddy Jeff) has been almost entirely off book since the first rehearsal. There's not any real pressure on me yet, but I sure feel like a schmuck if I'm the only guy wandering aimlessly around the stage with a book in my hand. So I spend all day looking at my script instead of, you know, doing my actual paying jorb. Nobody's noticed yet, of course.

Speaking of my jorb, I had my annual performance review a few weeks back; apparently I am highly rad. I've been the Technical Lead for one of our smaller clients for a few months now, and apparently the client has been greatly pleased with my efforts. Plus, it has been noticed that every time somebody is sick or busy on a day when they have SMOD (Systems Manager O' the Day) duties, I cover for them.

I still probably won't get a raise, though. ARGH.

Of course, "Technical Lead" is something I definitely enjoy having on my resume. I should get my Sun certification, then I'd be all kinds of groovalicious and pulling down mad bizank.

Or maybe my Broadway career will finally take off. Not that I knew I wanted one until, uh, this month.