FEBRUARY: A relatively quiet month, except for the fact that my mom had a fall about a week before her 77th birthday from a possible stroke. Her blood pressure was sky-high and her blood sugar had dropped, she came close to popping some blood vessels in her head. The doctors said she came close to death. Also because of a "hospitalist" doctor that was on staff at the hospital she came within a hair's breath of being put into a nursing home. Nursing homes in this area are terrible and super expensive so she is in at home care which means that my brother, his wife, and I are doing much more around the house and looking after mom. She is recovering nicely, well steadly at least and painfully slowly. She has to be watched and someone has to watch her take her medications, and make sure she's eating and eating properly.

MARCH: WOW the WATCH awards this year, was pretty exciting performance-wise, however out of 20 nominations KAT only came away with one award for Costumes. Congratulations to Eric Scerbo for winning the WATCH award for excellence in Costuming for KATs production of Assassins. Got a chance to see KATs Nevermore, a show about the life and loves of Edgar Allan Poe. After having to change the play I'm directing for Sandy Spring Theatre Group due to set concerns (the set requirements for the murder mystery I wanted to do wouldn't work in the space they plan on doing the show) I will be directing the Steve Martin comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile. I am looking forward to it.

APRIL: Began this month with auditions for Picasso at the Lapin Agile, had a very poor turn out. Had to practically beg to get people to even audition. Beginning rehearsals going well. Mom is improving in some ways back to normal.

MAY: Finally got Picasso completely cast, the last character to be cast was Einstein. I cast someone I had worked with before, I had directed him in The Foreigner (I saw yet another production of this show in Laurel, MD. That makes the 4th production of The Foreigner I've seen including the one I directed) and he had directed me in Museum (I saw a production of Museum this month in Reston, VA). So far rehearsals are still going OK, I'm not stressed out from it. Wait until tech-week though. ARGH! My digital camera died back in March or April well it isn't completely dead it starts to turn on and the lense starts to extend, but then it colapses back and shuts off. Then at the beginning of this month my palm pilot bought the farm. Sometimes technology sucks.

JUNE: Picasso At The Lapin Agile Opened on the 1st.Opening night was a fantastic performance just a few line flubs if any, not noticeable by the audience, but a few lighting goofs. The second night was disappointing a ton of line flubs and a big lighting goof or two. The Sunday matinee was OK, but not satisfying. The second weekend was also a little of a let down, except for the Sunday Matinee but closing weekend was fantastic again. The show closed on a very high note. I am very glad. YES! I had another technology scare, at first I thought it was terminal but it turned out to be saveable. I thought my laptop had totally died, it wouldn't power up, but by taking the battery out and powering up without it, it lives again. I need to get a ton of stuff backed up, maybe I need an external hard drive, ugh. Or would just a couple of 2 gig thumb-drives be good enough? Hmmm.

JULY: Didn't keep up with what was going on this month.

AUGUST: Mom's heath has been getting pretty bad. She was having problems getting up on her own and walking without support. We had to take her to the hospital, her right leg had swollen up, they found a blood clot. Put her on blood thinners and it went down, just as it was getting better it swelled up again and they managed to get it down again. In the mean time due to inactivity and circulatory problems she started developing bruises and discoloration in her left leg. Things started getting worse. She lost all feeling in her left leg from about the calf on down and the right leg started devloping problems as well. There was discussion of possible amputation, but mom (and the family) opted to forgo the surgery and have comfort care provided for while nature takes it course and she passes away. On Thursday 30 August mom passed at about 10:45 AM. We were trying to get mom admitted to a hospice but they didn't have a spot, that is until ironically on the day she passed the lady from the hospice came by the hospital about an hour after mom had passed to say a bed/space had opened up.

SEPTEMBER: Not much except adjusting to life without mom. Of course the first few weeks were very surreal.

OCTOBER: Rehearsals for KAT's production of Little Shop of Horrors are running so I should see it a couple of times before we hit tech week toward the end of this month. It is hard to believe that last year on the 20th I had multipule heart bypass surgery. Unbelievable.

NOVEMBER: Didn't update this much, lets see. Little Shop went very well, but by the final weekend I was glad to see it go. Thanksgiving was spent first going to my cousins in Centerville, VA and then to my bros in G'Burg, MD. Both celebrations were enjoyable. OH NO! The Nationals made a trade with the Mets, that got me really really upset. They traded to get Lastings Milledge (a great young outfielder) for two of my fave players Outfielder Ryan Church and Catcher Brian Schneider. NOT Schneider-Man! I NEVER thought they would EVER trade him. Check out my blog entry for 30 November for my views on that. UGH!

DECEMBER: Trying to take it easy this month. Got to spend most of my spare time going through junk in the house packing and getting ready for my eventual move sometime in the spring or maybe sooner. Christmas is coming, the goose blew up in the microwave (feathers were all over the place... Kidding I am) but the house is beyond a royal mess. On the 19th guess what? I had to report to jury duty. Readers Digest version, there were three trials on that days docket, all three were criminal trials, all three either plea bargained or settled before bringing the jury into the picture. They sent us home early, jury duty obligation complete at least for another 3 to 5 years, it used to be 7 years. Christmas came and went, I went to my Bros in G'Burg Christmas Eve and then on Christmas day to my cousin's in Centerville, VA. What happened to 2007? I've got no real plans to bring in 008, guess I'll just watch the ball and then continue surfing the internet.

Miscellaneous: You can read my previous Years in Review (2000 - 2006) at my website at klandersen.com/yearinreview.html. This years letter (2007) will be loaded sometime around New Year's, either just before or shortly after.

Plans for 2008:

• Try to keep this silly tradition going.

Kirk