TheRedheadDiva - Jenn Ollivier

A Day in the Life of Jenn: Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 06:25:00 +0000

Day 2 of my busy week. I stumble out of bed around 8am.

Paul is up already in his usual spot.

Ira is up and home. It's raining pretty hard so he isn't sure if he'll have work today since he works outside.

I have a performance this afternoon in Seattle so I've done my hair in a 1940's style. We're doing a recreation of an old time radio show that first aired in 1936.

Gathered my things for the day.

Not sure which pair of heels I'll wear. Plus I need to show them to the costume lady later tonight at the theater/church so we can decide which ones I'll wear for "It's a Wonderful Life".

Make-up case, panty hose (beige and black) lunch, fake nails.

Uhhhh... slow driving today. It's raining hard and there's a lot of traffic so we're going under 30mph most of the way.

Now it's a little better.

I forgot! Today is Toby's last day so the whole office is going out to lunch. Toby is the furthest one in the back. The man in black is Armen, the owner of the company. He is sitting next to Travis and Greg. Across the table is Deepthi and Katrina.

Oops! Bright flash. We're having Indian food and it's really yummy.

Before going back to work I stop and get gas. $60.04....

My make-up kit. I won't need my lunch now that Ira packed for me. It will be my dinner later.

Work work work....

I put some make-up on. Also false eyelashes. Cute!

3 buns in the back of my hair. So much hair gel. It's crunchy.

View from my make-up mirror. It's about 3:45pm. I have to leave soon so I can make it to downtown Seattle by 4:30. I also glue on my fake nails.

Traffic was miserable and it started raining HARD. Then I got lost. The GPS on my cell phone was working pretty well but I missed a turn. The part of Seattle I needed to go to was a bunch of 1 way streets so I had to figure 8 my way back up to the right street so I could get to the Ranier Club on time. I jumped out at Valet parking and someone parked my car for me and told me where to go. No pictures, I was in too much of a hurry. Also, a couple nails popped off and I need to glue them back on.

I found the room where we are going to perform. The club is a beautiful old mansion built in 1904. We tested the microphones and did a quick rehearsal of our show.

Fancy fancy!!! I had a free glass of wine. That helped my nerves. The room filled up with about 75 very rich looking people. All of the men were wearing jackets and the women were in heels and skirts or nice slacks. They were a pleasant crowd and we had a good show.

Going to the bathroom wearing panty hose and cheap fake nails is a TERRIBLE combination.

I got my car back from the Valet. It's after 6pm and I've gotta hurry.

Now I had to get back to Redmond. I had rehearsal for "It's a Wonderful Life" at 7pm. I was going to be a few minutes late.

Traffic was AWFUL. You can see the Space Needle in the distance.

At least it's not raining.

Trying to take a picture of my name tag. I should be driving.

Trying to get a nice picture of Seattle at sunset.

OK, put the camera away and drive!

Going over Lake Washington on 520 Floating bridge. The waves were huge and the wind was fierce.

Made it to the rehearsal only 5 minutes late. My hair and make-up are already done. We're taking pictures tonight.

Actors playing "George" and "Mary".

After pictures we rehearse the show for a bit.

Home.

You can't really read this. It's my car stereo/clock telling me it's 9:35pm. I spent way too much time in the car driving around today. 56 miles total.

Time to take off all this make-up. I love Pond's cold cream. It's the best.

I've taken my hair down, face is clean, jammies on.

Sooooo tired. Time for bed!!

A Day in the Life of Jenn: Monday

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 05:16:00 +0000

I decided to make a picture post all about how busy my days are. It's hard to say "I'm busy" without describing what it is I'm so busy doing. Here is a typical Monday for me.

Paul is already up warming his feet by the radiator. It's on a timer so it begins warming before we get up, turns off during the day and comes on again in the evening.

Messy bedroom. Ira was up and left for work about an hour an a half before I got up.

I sit on the couch here and sip coffee for a bit, trying to wake up.

Big TV. After about an hour I am ready to get going for my long day. It's around 9am.

Today I don't wash my hair but I do brush my teeth and wash my face.

Still a little sleepy but ready to go!

My food for the day.

My scripts. I'll need these later tonight. Better pack them in my bag. The pink box of fake fingernails I won't need until tomorrow.

Portable recording kit. If I have time, I'll do some audio recording later at the office where it's nice and quiet.

Paul wants to go outside and chase the birds but it's time for me to leave!

Got my bag all packed. Breakfast/Lunch, scripts, cell phone, iPod, pencils, wallet, plus all the other nonsense I always carry like lotion, a mirror, eye drops, highlighters, a note pad, tissues, etc.

There's my car, nice and wet.

Goodbye house! See you in 12 hours.

Driving to work only takes about 20 minutes if the traffic isn't too bad.

There's Bellevue off in the distance.

Getting closer. The rain isn't too bad. Just drizzly and chilly and DARK. It's almost 10am

Arrived at work! J Street Technology.

Since it's Monday I have to check the mailbox and pick up Saturday's mail. There are probably checks in the mail for me to deposit.

Our office is upstairs. When you come into the front door, there is my desk. I am the receptionist.

I get my computer turned on and ready to work. Time to check my emails and see what I need to do today.

I turn on the phones so I can receive calls. The white thing is a check scanning device so I no longer have to go to the bank to deposit checks. I do it from my desk!

Oops, time for breakfast. It's 10:30 and I haven't eaten yet. Mango Passion-fruit cereal squares and some string cheese.

Since it's Monday I look in my folder and pay bills that are due this week.

I wish I had a window from my desk. The window by the front door just looks out onto the landing. Has it stopped raining? I never know.

The rest of my desk. To the left is the conference room. There's a laptop that I'm in the middle of repairing.

Work work work... I also try to check my personal email and favorite news sites.

Since it's Monday, it's my job to water all of the plants in the office.

I wonder how these grow... there's not much light in here.

A view from an empty private office. It's around noon. Still pretty dark.

I keep working until about 1:30. Time for some lunch! I'm hungry. I am heating up a frozen bowl of Masaman Curry from Trader Joe's.

Well, it's about 4:30 now. I've been working all day. I clock out and get to work on some recordings for my audiobook that I'm working on.

I forgot to bring an important adapter. Oh well. No recording today. I take about an hour to edit some files I previously recorded. I delete my mistakes and make them sound nice so I can send them to the company Audio Cinema Entertainment in Los Angeles.

Time jump here. I left work and drove up to the church where we are rehearsing "It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play" I got there a little early, around 6pm. I spent that time sitting in my car and calling my mom. I like to talk to her at least once a week. I also ate the last of my snacks.

It's 7pm. I have my script and I'm ready to rehearse.

We are also trying on our costumes to see if they fit. The costume lady is ready to make any adjustments on clothes that don't fit right.

Some actors and the director talking. It's 9pm and we've just finished rehearsing. We talk for another 10 minutes or so before leaving.

Still raining. "Hello House!" it's 9:45pm.

Ira is home. He is taking a pizza out of the oven so we can have a snack. I watch "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" before going to bed. I finally get to sleep around 11pm.

As Time Goes By

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Well I just updated my Blogger layout and I think it looks pretty nice. Might inspire me to actually post more. I've really gotten out of the habit of blogging. I just don't even know what to say anymore...

This weekend should be nice and relaxing. Since I've been gone all week at work and rehearsals the house is a total mess. I'll guilt Ira into helping me clean up and then we can do a little grocery shopping and catch up on our shows. There's a couple of audio books I'm supposed to be recording but have also fallen out of the habit of doing that. I spend so much more time fiddling with the levels and the computer and the microphones... then trying to crop out all mistakes and bleed-over sounds that I find the whole process rather frustrating. If I could just plunk down, record my bits and be done with it, all of this would be a lot easier, fun and go faster.

I'm going to be appearing in "It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play" again. It opens the day after Thanksgiving. That show is so much fun for me. Being able to play so many different characters simultaneously is sort of what I do best. I'm performing in another radio show recreation on Oct. 11th at the Ranier Club in downtown Seattle.

Rehearsals with the band have been going well. I just wish we could be gigging more. None of us are really going out there and getting the gigs so it's starting to feel like we're doing a lot of this for nothing. We're finally getting around to making some recordings so that helps. Work is great. I love my job and the people I work with. Things have been a little tight and a few people have taken jobs elsewhere but that happens. I have no plans on leaving. I have one of the best bosses I've ever worked for, I enjoy learning more about technology and what we do and the commute isn't that bad.

I've finally achieved my goals of moving up here. I live in a house with a nice yard, have a cat, have Ira, sing in a band, do voice-over work. I'd like a better car and just more money in general but I have to say otherwise I'm pretty happy. Life has had its ups and downs but right now, everything is looking up.

Another Day

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 22:56:00 +0000

I've been updating my Amazon Wishlist and trying not to worry too much that Ira's bank account is overdrawn again. I've been working enough to keep myself afloat but it's hard constantly thinking of the two of us and never having enough left over for anything fun. At least I had Vegas. I'll still be riding that high for a while.

My skin infection feels like it's trying to come back. Having to go back to the doctor again is just not something I want to worry about right now.

Since it's Friday we'll probably relax at home after work. We'll make dinner and play some board games or watch TV and wait for another tomorrow to come. I've got a good book that I'm working on.

We've almost made it through another day.

TEST #3

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:15:00 +0000

testing testing 1...2....3......

I think I have the settings correct this time.

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:50:00 +0000

I just got annoyed enough with livejournal that I'm going to try posting over here now. I was in the middle of my first post in ages when my work got hijacked by a badly coded add link box and my draft didn't get saved.

Sooo.... what was I saying? ummm... ok.

Friday night was fun, got to hang out with Mary. She's very pregnant and was very very sleepy. So was her poor husband. We had dinner and got to chat a bit before she was done for the night. I got home around 8:30pm, hung out with Ira for a bit then got to playing Civ V. The best game ever. I need a better video card though to properly play it in all of its glory.

Slept in too late on Saturday. It was dark and rainy and we were tired. I made French pressed coffee and added hot frothy cocoa milk. A coworker gave me her old immersion blender and my favorite thing to do with it lately is froth up hot milk. Mom gave me her old Moka (that was the link I was trying to add, nothing fancy!) and I can make espresso drinks at home now. Then I made Ira some crepes stuffed with a mixture of bananas, honey flavored greek yogurt, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. They were super fantastic.

Later that afternoon I finally got around to re-recording a test voice-over file. I have been so sick with the flu for weeks and congested that I hadn't been able to get back to this project in over a month. We set the futon mattress up sideways in the nook of the bathroom/hallway area and draped blankets everywhere. I tried using a less sensitive mic to avoid picking up all of the traffic and birds blaring outside our thin single paned windows. It worked, but it also didn't pick me up as well as I would've liked. There was a small background hiss that I couldn't take out... Not noticeable to your average user but I was sending this to an audio engineer and I know he would've heard it and probably cringed. I also ended up slicing two takes together and I was a wee bit closer to the mic for the second one. I wasn't perfectly happy with how it all ended up but I was getting seriously tired of reading that same short essay over and over and over and over and over again.

Later that evening Ira dropped me and a girlfriend off at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant in Pioneer Square. We have a lot of fun there and I was interested in hearing the band. I had seen Eric "Two Scoops" Moore a few other places around town and like his blues style. He plays piano and sings along with a stand up bass, drummer and AMAZING saxophonist. We had dinner which was good but not great and waited for the band to start. Beeb's friend Sarah showed up and ordered some gumbo. They have a drink there that I love called a Black-eyed Susan. It's rum, OJ and Kahlua. A weird combo, I know but I think it's damn tasty.

After a bit the band started to play and my friend Chastity showed up with her boyfriend Corey. Then our friend Huy made an appearance. We were all having drinks and listening to the band happily when they invited a girl up on stage who had been blowing on a harmonica. Badly. They played a song and let her hoot and tweet and then she started singing. Or moaning, I'm not really sure. Our whole table was groaning and shaking our heads. Chas said "That's it. We can't have this. YOU are singing next. What do you know?" and I said "uh.. Summertime I guess...."
Chas (who is slender and blond and feisty) marched right up on stage and said to Two Scoops "My friend Jenn the redhead is a musician and she will be coming up here to sing Summertime with you next." No asking, she just told them. When she sat down my name was called and I went up there, blushing horribly. They asked me what key and I mumbled "uh... A..ish... I guess" and they started to play. I started to sing and really wail and people came out from the bar and kitchen to hear me. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. When I was done a man came up and slapped a ten dollar bill down at my feet. Oooh, what a rush. Two Scoops asked me "What's next, what else?" and I asked for St. James Infirmary in A. They all started up and I started belting again. People were taking pictures of me and harmonica girl smiled, gave me a wave and then left. I shook all of the band members hands and sat down. It was a lot of fun but I usually like to be a little more mentally prepared when I perform and I had been getting over the flu so I wasn't even sure if I COULD sing.

We all left pretty soon after. It was getting late and I had more drinks that night than I had in weeks. Two black-eyed susans and two hard ciders and I was done. Pioneer Square was absolutely hopping as we came out. Huy was accosted by some shifty dice-throwers, Beebs was told off by a drag queen and I was gawking at all of the men and women in wedding dressings lined up outside a club across the street. With stupid daylight savings after we dropped Beebs off and got home and had a small snack, it was almost 3am before we got into bed.

Sunday was much much less uneventful. Ira went to work early and I slept in. He came home about an hour after I got up. We sat on the couch all the rest of the day watching TV and snacking. I cleaned the litter box and we took the trash and recycling to the end of the driveway. I had a headache most of the evening. We tumbled into bed around midnight.

Today I'm feeling 100% free and clear from sickness or congestion! I was ill off and on for about a month so I'm loving feeling good again. People at work are still battling with this coming and going flu and at least one guy in the band is on his 3rd round. I don't want to jinx it, but I'm so energetic, I don't even know what to do with myself!!!

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:39:00 +0000

Doing a little promoting by spreading the news of the band I'm now singing with. UC7! Hope you can check us out sometime

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:27:00 +0000

Seriously way too many blogs. I keep forgetting I have this one. Maybe, as google slowly takes over the world, I'll find myself using this one as my primary place to put up rememberances and express myself but I doubt it. As long as lj is still in business I'll have little reason to stray.

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:43:00 +0000

I completely forgot I had this blog. The one at lj is pretty much the only one I remember to update and occasionally my myspace blog. I had one at wordpress too that I posted in maybe twice because lj and myspace were blocked at my last job and while at work is the best time to blog.

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:28:00 +0000

I think this was my favorite Christmas present this year, my new bamboo french rolling pin. Mom got one too. Its gorgeous and heavy and really cool. I also got Asian plates, a rice cooker, gift cards, a candle, books, wine, a dictionary, popcorn popper, fudge, a necklace made by my mom, a scarf, gloves, house shoes, socks and of course chocolate. I got so many presents, I don't know where we'll put them all!!

Also, I accidentally washed my cell phone. Oh noes! It was about time for a new one anyhow. Ira bought me a new Chocolate and it's bad ass!!! My old phone recovered long enough for me to get the old cell phone numbers out. Reminds me, I really really need to make a hardcopy of my contacts somewhere. I feel guilty for getting a new phone when Ira doesn't have a job. He can't afford to be my sugar monkey. We're doing OK though and I'm confident (for now) that he'll get a super sweet job before the end of the month.

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:18:00 +0000

Since I no longer have access to livejournal anymore, I miss being able to blog. I haven't had as much to report really but at least having a place to update and look back on occasionally has been something I could have easily used in the many hours I spend at work doing nothing.

I had a doctors appointment last night and the bastards gave me a tetnus shot. I was 3 years overdue. The lady was so good, I hardly felt her sticking me at all but the pain, oh lord, the pain afterwards was miserable. Note to self; heating pad not a good idea after a shot. I thought it would relax the muscle.... no no no no..... I went into so much pain my teeth started chattering. After a few shots of rum, some Aleve and acetaminophen and an ice pack and I was finally able to get some sleep. I'm still in tons of pain today but not as bad as last night so I should be able to get some rest this evening.

noreply@blogger.com (theredheaddiva) — Sat, 06 Sep 2003 17:13:00 +0000

This is so slow!