Rehearsals

Saturday, February 7, 2009

I just wanted to say that I feel like I need more rehearsal time for the Vagina Monologues. I went to Tempe today for "rehearsal" and we spent about 45 minutes blocking the entrances/exits and doing two run throughs of the group opening and one run through of the group closing. We then spent another 45 minutes or so making Valentine's cards for the women in the shelter who are the beneficiaries of the proceeds generated from the ticket sales of the show. I'm not knocking making the cards, I just feel like it would be good to spend more time practicing when we get the cast together.

But, I'm an actress, not the director.

I have rehearsals again on Wednesday for my pieces "The Vagina Workshop" and "My Vagina Was My Village." I'm looking forward to that. I've got my lines memorized at this point. It's just about acting out the words not just saying them.

Next Saturday, Valentine's Day, the cast is going to the shelter to meet with the women. The last week of February is Tech Week. That means from 6-9 on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri we do complete run throughs of the show. Our show runs two days, February 28 and March 1. I'm excited as the time gets closer!

On the way home from rehearsals, I stopped by Last Chance to see if there was anything special on sale. I got a gray cardigan (so soft) and a pair of brown high heeled sandals. Josh is out of town this weekend so I'm going out tonight with Kym, a new girlfriend I met during a church small group Super Bowl party. She has a couple of friends who are coming out too.

I must tell you all how much I love Phoenix. Driving to Tempe this morning, it was just gorgeous with the sun and mountains coming up all over the valley.

Oh yeah, we must talk about furloughs at ASU. So, I HAVE to take 10 days leave without pay before the end of June. Josh must take 12 days without pay. Ok, that's fine...whatever. But, then, ASU gets totally shady by offering something called "Voluntary Pay Reduction." So, instead of taking 10 random days off without pay (where you're not supposed to look or answer your work email, take phone calls, etc.) with the Voluntary Pay Reduction your paycheck is reduced by, let's say, 8 hours per pay period, so that your paycheck is consistently reduced rather than one pay period I lose 3 days of pay, for example.

Here's the shady part: If you take the voluntary pay reduction, you're supposed to also get your 10 days off, however, it's all in-house in your own office. There's no tracking to ensure that you actually took 10 days off although you had 10 days worth of pay withheld. This is also shady, because when you have a voluntary pay reduction, you don't have any rights to unemployment, etc. It's just like, "Oh yes, please reduce my pay and I have no rights because I'm doing this of my own volition." Not going to happen here.

My boss was like, I'll be sure to give you guys your ten days off, etc. But, I said, "Sharon, what if something happens to you and we get a new supervisor?" There's too much trust being placed into the institution by taking the voluntary pay reduction. I can't have that. If I have to do this, I'm doing it the manner that's best for me.

Not to mention the fact that if I were to quit my job before the furlough time frame ends at the end of June, the university is going to garnish my wages up to the amount I owe them for my 10 furlough days. Does this make sense to anyone?!?! I OWE the university money if I quit working there?!?! WTF?!?! I asked my boss if I should just cut ASU a check and have them leave me alone.