Welcome

Here is the first of many (I hope) blogs about amateur pupeteering, writing, and living in Seattle with two girls (age 2 and 5), a great husband and an ancient dog (age 16). Why should you find this interesting? I have no idea. However, I know enough about writing to follow the first rule which is: consider your audience. I will attempt to do so. For my audience of one (myself), I will start writing about things that cross my path.

For example, I have spent two days anxiously searching craigslist, Amazon, eBay, for a Darth Vader Voice Changer mask. I am hoping to purchase it for less that the retail price of 199.00! Why is it so expensive? Not because it works. It actually doesn't. This mask is sort of like duct tape in that the tape works well for a bunch of things (removal of plantar warts, taping wounds in emergency rooms, prom dress, see more) but not for the actual thing it's supposed to: "one should not use duct tape to seal ducts - Wikipedia."

Similarly, the mask does not make your voice sound like Darth Vader. Why the expense? The zillions of Star Wars fans out there think that this is a collector's item -- never to be taken out of the box and actually used. As a mom who is trying to keep the kid clutter to a minimum, the notion of storing something like that is, well, as disturbing as trying to donate a few of the thousands of stuffed animals upstairs that are breedling as I write.

Obviously, I'm not a collector and I don't have seven year old boys, so why on earth am I looking for this thing? A simple use not advertised on the box: A puppet show.

My dear friend Sara and I donated a custom puppet show to benefit the Water 1st organization. To make good on that, we have created a Star Wars puppet show for fans (7 year olds) who have never actually seen the movie. We perform this Saturday. And, I'm hoping the buyer read the fact that it's an AMATEUR show because, wey-ll, there's a big difference between what we do and the real thing. Pupeteering is a pretty serious business. We'll see if we can live up to the expectation that "this is all their kids are talking about."

I may make a podcast of one of these so stay tuned. For now, here's a picture of one of the Prinella shows that I did for my daughter's 4th birthday. Format: The kids watch a show and at certain points in the plot (loose plot) they break out to participate in activities (obstacle course, pin the wand on the princess, etc) related to the theme or adventure. Of course, the Star Wars one has more boy activities like lightsaber construction and practice. I'll let you know how it goes.

So, in honor of the useless usefulness of the darth vader mask, I'll end this beginning-to-a-blog with a quote about endings that doubles as a disclaimer (phew).

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. - Winston Churchill.

Disclaimer (in case it wasn't clear): While I am a writer, I am not a grammarian so don't think about correcting me. I can't stand that, unless you are paying me in which case I will do my best to get it right the first time.