long stream of consciousness

--PLEASE pray for Dennis--one of the leads in "Side Show"...He has been sick with the "flu" for the past couple weeks, yet has refused to go to the doctor or any other type of medical treatment. Yesterday he drug himself to the Urgent Care Center...and ended up getting hospitalized...for mono and a severe case of anemia. So one of two leading men is hospitalized until Wednesday night, and we're all just praying that he WILL be able to do the show. We do have a backup plan, but hopefully we won't have to resort to it...

--Read an article on KSDK.com yesterday regarding the deterioration, filth, and health risks inside some St. Louis schools. I was horrified, disgusted, and angered all at once while I read: lead paint is chipping off of walls and children are playing with it; plaster is flaking off and walls are separating, foundation is crumbling; and in one case, PIGEONS have over-run the 4th floor of a school, rendering it useless. It made me horrified to see the footage of the peeling paint and walls, disgusted to see the mounds of pigeon droppings, and angered for two reasons: 1) NOTHING is being done about these maintenance problems, 2) parents are sending their children to these schools, to these environments. SOMETHING needs to be done...

--I am on a mission. I am losing weight. My ideal is to lose 30 pounds, but it's all about baby steps to start out. Some of you may disagree with this mission, but it would make me feel a lot better about myself, and I've been putting this weight loss stuff off long enough. (Or starting out good and then falling off the bandwagon, so to speak.) So, let's hope I can buck up and do it--but if you see me eating a Snickers bar, please don't be like the gal in my office and say, "What are you doing? That's going to go right to your butt..." Sorry, but that doesn't motivate me; it makes me want to eat 10 more of them...

--I ache, from the top of my head to the bottoms of my feet. I don't know if it's just from dancing, or if it's from some of my costumes putting strain on my shoulders (because they're tight), or if it's stress (BIG factor)...but I think it's a combination of all of it. Whatever it is, though, it hurts. Especially in my neck, shoulders, and back...

--Yesterday started the final phase of Busch Stadium demolition. We in the office walked outside to see if we could see anything, but they started on the opposite side of the stadium from where we are located. I watched it on streaming video on KSDK.com, and although it was a bit emotional (hey, that's a part of St. Louis history coming down, that holds a lot of memories for me...), it wasn't nearly what I thought it would be. When someone says "wrecking ball", I envision a ball the size of an SUV swinging and smashing into the side of a building. Nope. Even though this particular ball weighed 10,000 pounds, it looked puny, and they simply dropped it on the top part of the stadium. (And it didn't even do that much damage, at first.) But, I suppose over time, as they tear more and more down, it will become more real...

--This is going to be a really long week...