Cinderella can't win...not this time.

Let's see...since last I blogged, here's what's been happening:

- Last summer, I was in a production of Carousel with a group called Musicals at Richter in Danbury, CT. It was a lot of fun doing outdoor theater and I made a bunch of new friends.

- Remember that knee injury? I ended up needing surgery on my left knee (torn ACL) and spend 4 months doing physical therapy. I was given the OK to start working out again in January, but I have yet to try a dance class. I do the treadmill, elliptical, bike, weight machines and I recently took up Pilates (which I love, even if I feel like passing out/throwing up for half the class). I tried taking Zumba, but it must be too intense because my knee swelled up on me afterwards.

- In the fall, while I was still recovering from my knee surgery I did a musical review with Spotlight. They let me sing stuff like "In My Own Little Corner" from Cinderella and "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story. It was fun.

- A few years ago, an old friend found me on Facebook and when I was looking for someone to go see Disney's Beauty and the Beast when they re-released it in theaters this past October, she offered to go with me. We got together for brunch before the show and caught up on each other's lives and had a lot of fun. Shortly after, she told me that her dad's security company needed help in the office and she asked me if I was interested in working for him part-time. I wasn't in a position to say no, so I took it. I'm glad that I did - I'm bringing in a (very) small but steady income and we've become good friends again - not only do we talk at work, we hang out outside of work. We went out for her birthday (New Year's Eve - more on that later), went to a party together, went out to see a co-worker's band play, and she even talked me into road-tripping to Jersey with her to try out for Simon Cowell's new show The X Factor. This summer, we'll be going to see New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys in concert and we'll be seeing Rent when it returns to Off-Broadway...it's gonna be awesome.

-A friend talked into auditioning for Spotlight's production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I didn't get the role I wanted (they put me in with a chorus of rejected spellers instead) and suckered me into doing most of the choreography. I really do have a hard time saying "no." It's terrible. And the same thing keeps happening - the company keeps doing shows meant to be done with a small cast and expanding them to include an ensemble...even though the ensemble isn't given much to do. I didn't have the most fun ever - it was kind of a pain in the ass. Fortunately, the cast was talented and fun so that made it bearable.

-At the same time that Spelling Bee was going up, my father had bilateral knee replacement surgery. As a result, there was more responsibility put on me - you don't realize how much someone does until you have to do without them...I'd have to worry about taking care of the dogs, doing the laundry, taking out the garbage, doing the dishes (among other things) while working part-time, job hunting, going on interviews and rehearsing for/performing in a show. He spent about 10 days in the hospital (he had complications) and then another 10 days or so in a rehab facility. He just came home today and is now resting comfortably in his brand-new recliner.

-Update: May 23rd. Dad's done with Coumadin clinic (yay!) and has been going to outpatient physical therapy for a few weeks. He's walking a little better (using just a cane) and no longer needs help doing things like going to the bathroom and taking a shower. He even does simple chores like folding, some cooking (on the grill) and the dishes. Still, I have the dogs, the garbage, the laundry and I'm his chauffer. Things have calmed down, but only a bit. I've been feeling like Cinderella, pre-fairy godmother.

- During the last weekend of Spelling Bee, I had some car trouble. The brakes on my car had been making a terrible scraping noise, so I decided to take my dad's car which had been sitting idle in the driveway. I start to drive towards the theater in Croton Falls and a few minutes into the trip, the check engine light comes on. I don't think too much of it and decide to just check on it when I get to the theater. A few minutes later, the check gauge light comes on and the gauge starts going up and down like crazy. I slowed down a bit and it stopped going so nutty. Then the check battery light came on. I knew this couldn't be good, but I wanted to just get my ass to theater before I worried about the car. I made it all the way to my exit, when steam started coming out of the hood of my car! I was only 2-3 minutes from my destination, but I had to pull over. A good samaritan fireman popped my hood for me once the engine was off and the steam stopped - he said it looked like my engine overheated and the belt looked broken. After panicking for a bit, I calmed down and called AAA. I lied a bit and told them that I didn't feel safe and that it was kind of an emergency. I was already running late and super worried that I wouldn't make it in time for the show. The repair guy with the tow truck came just in the nick of time and took the car to his shop in Brewster - it was too expensive to tow it all the way home. I called one of my friends at the theater to come pick up and in just 15 minutes, I was dressed and ready for the show. To get home later, I hitched a ride with friends of a friend who were heading back up to Dutchess County. I didn't tell my mother til later because I didn't want her freaking out on me. Eventually, I pulled it together and did the right thing. Both cars got fixed eventually and I took my sister's car the next day.

-As for the job thing, I've been on lots of interviews in the past year, but I have yet to clinch a job. I have interviewed with and have been rejected from: Lincoln Center, Youth America Grand Prix, The Metropolitan Opera (twice...for the same position!), American Ballet Theatre (3 hours round trip of getting down there - interview lasted 10 minutes!), The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and The Martha Graham Dance Company, among others. The Martha Graham rejection really hit me hard...I would've been a paid Production Intern and I could've gone on tour with the Company to Spain, not to mention it could've led to a permanent job as an assistant stage manager. The interview went really well and I thought had gotten along well with the girl I had talked to. I was so excited, I went and got my passport and everything, just in case. I wanted it sooo badly....it must have come down to me and another person because on the day I thought I was going to get a yes or no answer, I got an e-mail with more questions instead. I answered the questions to the best of my ability, but in the end I didn't get it. I cried the day my passport came in the mail. I'm currently up for a part-time Box Office Associate job at The Bardavon (a little closer to home) - I've had two interviews, we'll see what happens. I've decided that if I don't get another job in the next couple of months, I'm going to start studying for the GRE's and apply to grad school (for real this time - no half-assed applications right before the deadline that go nowhere). It's been 2 years now since I lost my job at The Blue Book - I'm sick of being poor and mooching off of my parents.

-For the most part, my love life has been on hold for the last few months. I even deactivated my OK Cupid profile. I've been trying to concentrate on my career and helping my family out. Last July, I got a random apology from Army Musician Guy for trying to put me in a "friends with benefits" situation. I haven't heard from him since. Good riddance...in the end, A) he had TONS of issues/baggage and B) he's a douche bag for leading me on for as long as he did.

Anyways...on New Year's Eve, I went out with the friend I had reconnected with (it was also her birthday). I met her REALLY hot cousin who was newly single. He was exactly my type...tall (about 6'2, 6'3) and broad shouldered with dark hair and a killer smile. I made eyes at him all evening and finally, about twenty minutes befor midnight, the two of us were standing alone near the bar. He bought me a drink, we got to talking and he seemed like a really charming, funny, nice guy. (According to my fuzzy memories, we both love Michael Jackson and there was some commiseration over heartbreak and hard times). We were both looking forward to 2011 as being a new beginning. Midnight came around, I went in for a hug and next thing I knew, we were kissing. It was kind of magical. I spent the remainder of the night (on and off) dancing with him and we kissed a couple more times. When my friend wasn't looking, I gave him my number. I didn't go home with him or anything, but we stayed up late sending each other flirtatious texts. He texted me again the next morning to say how much fun he had and to apologize if I thought he was too forward (I didn't). I waited a week and when I didn't hear from him, I texted him to say hello. I used this opportunity to (boldly, I guess) ask him out for a cup of coffee. He seemed interested, but (like my friend had told me) he had just gotten out of a relationship that had ended badly, so he was in no hurry to start dating again, but he said it would happen. Long story short - it didn't happen. Fast forward to May - I hadn't heard from him since January, but I thought about him and New Year's Eve a lot. The other night, I "accidently-on-purpose" texted him something random and innocuous...at first, he was all "who is this?" and when I told him, he seemed to remember me, but didn't seem too eager to converse beyond "hey, how's it goin?" Gaaaaaaaaaah. Oh, well. He was on the rebound when I met him, timing was bad. From what I observed with my friend, she used to be friends with the ex-girlfriend and when the ex-girlfriend started acting bitchy post-break up, my friend dumped her as a friend. Don't want that to happen to me, especially because I've known this girl since we were 4 years old and I value her friendship. On the plus side, it's given my self-esteem a boost and I now know I am capable of getting the attention of a hot guy.

But yeah, the guys I'm interested in want nothing to do with me, and the ones I could care less about are all over me like white on rice. I recently had two guys stalking me on Facebook, one from college and the other a friend of a friend whom I had never met in person...I tried to be nice, but they were being creepy and wouldn't take a hint, so I decided to just be a bitch and de-friend them. Sometimes, I think being nice doesn't get me anywhere. Also, having a conscience doesn't get me anywhere. A different friend of a friend (who I was actually interested in at one point) was hardcore flirting with me for a while and decided to proposition me shortly after my birthday in March. I briefly considered it, but in the end, it was Bad Idea Jeans because A) he's my really good friend's best friend and B) we don't want the same things. (He's happy living the bachelor life and just wants a good time, no strings attached. I'm a big fan of monogamy.) I ran into him last week when I went out to karaoke and he definitely acted kind of weird around me. It was a Catch-22; it would've been weird if I had hooked up with him and it was weird anyway when I refused. When it comes to love and jobs, I just can't win.

I've decided I'm a subscriber to the When Harry Met Sally theory of men and women cannot be friends. The only men I'm friends with are the ones who are 100% off limits - the ones who are married. They are my bros. The rest - engaged, relationship, single - are all kind of weird when it comes to me. I had a couple of platonic male friends in college (and even a couple post-college) and I'm pretty sure at one point or another, they were interested in me - I had mild to no interest. I'd get random late-night messages on Facebook or OK Cupid or whatever, they'd like my pics, stuff like that. Then one day, the messages, etc. would just stop. I'd eventually find out the guy in question had recently acquired a girlfriend (in one case, the girlfriend became fiancee and baby mama!). Apparently, in those cases, the single female friend becomes taboo and off limits. But in other cases, I've met guys in a relationship or even supposedly engaged who have no problem flirting with me. I guess I have no problem with the flirting, as long as it doesn't go beyond that. But even so, it's still kinda weird/creepy to me. Ugh...I hate men. Like I said, I just can't win.