you can't teach an old dog new tricks

I messed up tonight's plans completely. I've been getting better at being more organized as I've gotten older (and wiser) but tonight was a gong show. There wasn't a lot of time to spare and I really didn't plan ahead even nearly enough to make it work.

The plan was supposed to be that after rehearsal I would rush home, load up the dogs, drive to the vet for booster shots, race them back home, feed them dinner, and then race back out to the restaurant to meet the inlaws and Shawn as he was getting back from work.

Instead, after rehearsal I dashed home, spent an eon searching high and low for the door to the dog crate for transporting the puppies, left the house with only exactly enough time to make it to the vet's office without a second to spare, realised as I pulled out of the driveway that I didn't have my wallet and had left it back at the school, turned toward the school, realised halfway to school that I had left the school keys at home, raced back home, picked up the school keys, realised there was no chance I was going to make the vet appointment on time, called Shawn from the cell phone, had him cancel and reschedule the appointment and then drove home.

The only pleased parties are the dogs. They got a car ride, a treat, and no needles. And dinner fifteen minutes early. It's a dog's life.

I love idioms and expressions that have dogs in them. Like dog days of summer. And dog Latin. Sick as a dog, in the doghouse, dog tired, dog's breakfast, three dog night, dog eat dog, every dog has its day, tail wagging the dog... there are just so many. Well, maybe that's it. I'm out.

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Today was interesting. My grade twelves started performing their monologues today and in spite of the disappointing attitude that some of them have demonstrated - the monologues were truly amazing. I was proud of all of them... and made an extra effort to squeeze out a tear or two just to show them how powerful they were. It was really exciting to see how much thought, effort and energy they had put into planning, rehearsing and performing.

After rehearsal tonight some of them hung around and chatted a bit, which was also encouraging. Bit by bit I feel like I'm going to win. Just going to take some time. And I have lots of that.

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I had a dream last night that I went to visit my old school (brought on, no doubt, by the threat hanging over me of the old Drama teacher coming to visit my current school). Much to my annoyance, the school had somehow come up with zillions of dollars since I'd left and managed to create a beautiful theatre space for the new teacher complete with private office, endless storage, theatre seating, greenroom, etc., etc., etc.. To make matters worse, she was somehow managing to put on full length Broadway-style musicals with the same kids I'd struggled to get much out of whatsoever. It was disheartening and made me feel totally incompetent.

I guess dreams like that are a way of purging those dogged (another one) fears.

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I think this isn't a real expression, but when I was in high school, we used to call the kind of actors who tried to steal the show as Messanger #3, "doggits". The verb of course, was "to doggit".

"Stop doggiting. You're such a doggit."

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