That's right; we've got a dramaturg.

The production of Oedipus the Tyrant (which I'm in) that will be going up in mid-February has its own blog being run by our dramaturg.

http://oedipusthetyrant.blogspot.com/

Word of the day: dramaturg.

Just so you know, spell-check doesn't even recognize that word.

Hey, you responsibler traveler!

"Hey, it's 24 hours before your flight back to Chicago which hopefully will not be delayed by inclement weather! Have you checked in online?"

Shit yeah, I have; I'm a responsible adult who knows how to use the internet!

"Have you secured transport to the airport/paid some dude in a van to come pick you up because you're too insecure to bug your friends for a ride?"

You know it.

"Have you had all the Christmas presents you bought online for your family sent to their house so you don't need to be bothered by traveling with them?"

Damn right.

"Have you packed?"

Uh...

A nice way to start the day.

No, it wasn't the sore throat I woke up with after hanging around outside in a halter dress at midnight one a shoot last night, and it wasn't the extra 20 minutes I spent sitting in traffic on the 101 this morning. Once I got in to work, I found this message on my Facebook account...

Hello! This is a random message from an audience member from one of your recent shows.

I'm just coming by to tell you that yours was my favorite performance of the night. It was really well written and delivered, and it stood out to me even among the other really well written and delivered pieces that night.

Do you dabble in writing often, or are you primarily an actress?

Anyway, thanks for the wonderful performance!
Cheers,
XXXXX

(not posting the person's name out of respect for privacy, politeness, etc.)

My hectic schedule feels a little more justified now.

Hell isn't other people -- TEMPTATION is other people.

Well, that was a big pile of fail.

Started good, rockin' the smoothie and salad for breakfast and lunch. I even cooked my dinner ahead of time and brought it with me. The thing was, I didn't have enough time between my matinee and my evening shoot to eat it. So I left it in my car. Then I was hungry. Then the director ordered pizza. Had a couple slices, but I had blown my experiment.

Then I jumped back on the wagon this morning -- smoothie, made my salad to bring with me in case I had to go from my morning shoot to my matinee. Then the shoot wrapped early and I came home. And I was working diligently, planning to bust into the salad soon, when Matt came in and asked if I wanted anything from In-N-Out Burger.

And by god, I did.

I'm eating healthy tonight for dinner, so whatever.

Here are my thoughts:

1) Planning meals is not my style.
2) Eating something junky now and then isn't the end of the world if you eat mostly good stuff.
3) Walnuts taste really good covered in balsamic vinegar.
4) If you leave a container of broccoli and fish in your car for 6 hours, your car will smell like a fart the next time you drive it.
5) Trader's Joe's vanilla protein powder is pretty damn tasty.
6) The word "matinee" is easily misread as "manatee."
7) I really like making lists, don't I?

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a #2 Animal Style with an iced tea waiting for me...

I am Dana's flagrant lack of regiment.

For serious, guys.

I am very much a creature of habit, but only in kind of a territorial way. I like to sit in the same places and have things that are "mine," I'm good in long-term relationships... but that's about it. When it comes to my day-to-day activities, I SUCK at doing the same thing every day at any given time. Can't consistently get up to exercise. If I do, I can't do the same exercises more than a couple days a week. Don't like to eat the same thing too many days in a row. God help me if I'm required to take prescription medication at a set time every day.

(Sidenote: This is hilarious to me because my boyfriend basically eats the exact same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. This baffles me.)

I'm going to set myself a goal.
A teeny tiny goal.

Some Yahoo dietitian (by which I mean she had an article posted on Yahoo, not that she herself is a yahoo) posted some 3-day detox thing, which I saw and said, "Yeah, I can do that!" Only 3 days. Smoothie in the morning. Big ol' salad with nuts and beans in the afternoon. Fish and veggies at night. Shit yeah, I can do that.

But like... CAN I?

In theory, I totally can. But I'm wondering if I can be organized enough to ACTUALLY do this for a few days. I'm wondering if I can find a way to NOT succumb to my whims; my general eating patterns usually go something like, "Oh, food!" -> eat, work, think about other things... "Oh, food!", etc. Now, this "Oh, food!" thing could happen as infrequently as a few times a day or as often as every half-hour. I am terrible about non-meal eating. There are days I don't even really have meals. For the most part, I eat whatever is leftover in the fridge when I'm at work, since there's almost always SOMETHING at my office. As of 10:45 this morning, I've eaten 2 servings of fruit crumble and 3 breadsticks.

This cannot stand.
I'm gonna break the cycle.
You know... for about 3 days, 2 of which are definitely not at work (possibly 3, as I may be on jury duty Monday), not to mention there will be very little at-home time. (That's partly good -- no lazy snacking -- and partly bad -- the urge to grab a bite at a random restaurant is very strong.)

Let's see if this goes as well as my plans to blog about my high school reunion -- maybe I'll do that once I'm on my winter break...