Directionally Challenged

This is another Jeanne classic. My BEST friend Russ went to college in Michigan and after while I decided it would be nice for me to drive up and visit him. So I convinced my Mom to lend me her car for the weekend and oddly enough my sister Chrissy volunteered to come with me. We got some basic directions from Russ' parents something like this:

Take 294

to 94

Take the blank rd exit

dead ends to the college

How hard could this be right????

So Chrissy and I start out on a Saturday morning and I am thinking Michigan is north of us basically so we get on 294 N. We drive and drive and drive...into Wisconsin...hmmm this does not seem right. So we pull over at a gas station and ask them where we went wrong. Now you MUST keep in mind that Wisconsinites and Chicagoans are basically enemies. SO this gas station attendant tells me to get on 94 going WEST. Now again I am pretty dismal at directions and did not really think about where we were. So we head onto 94 WEST and drive for about 10 hours. During this time it’s gotten dark and foggy VERY VERY VERY foggy. And we keep seeing a sign for Detriot. So obviously I assume we are getting closer! However once it gets to be about 10 pm and we never see the sign for blank rd I know we are in trouble. I pull over and find a pay phone to call Russ because remember this is back in the dark ages before cell phones and GPS. Russ oddly enough is FREAKING out and I have to spend about 10 mins talking him off a ledge. Then he asks me where I am...so I look around me and I see a bunch of postings for happenings in Minnesota?!?!? Wha..what?!??! *GULP*. I tell Russ I need to go and I'll call him back. I drive a little further to a gas stop and the kind man behind the counter tells me we are about a mile from the North Dakota border and that sign I was seeing was for Lake Detroit! Ummm what the...?!?!?? So Chrissy and I discuss next steps, stay at some random motel for which we do not have money or turn around and drive home. Chrissy says she does not care and jumps into the back seat to sleep. I go into the gas station get a GINORMOUS coffee and muffin, call Russ to tell him we are not coming and drive another 10 hours back to Chicago. I am not making this up!

Hannah's new trike!

And the award goes to...

Well after the big video tape incident and getting caught ditching sectionals I was kinda on the list. But then the Fruma Sarah role was such a success that I must have been taken of the list or moved to a "new" list. At the end of senior year an awards ceremony is held for the Fine Arts students. They are given awards like outstanding actress or actor and speech coaches’ award...like a mini tony award. Well again I did not have high hopes for me receiving an award from our Fine Arts director. I figured the speech coaches’ award would go to Russ...the speech team captain and the outstanding actress to Talia for her role as Tevya's wife in Fiddler. Well shock of all shocks I was award outstanding actress (as was Talia and Jen and a few other seniors). But most importantly I was awarded the speech coaches’ award for the many tedious hours I put in recalculating ALL the speech points that I had lost during the middle of the year!!! I was shocked and honored...if only they had allowed us to make a speech!

Fruma Sarah

Well needless to say after my little outburst caught on tape about my mistreatment in the drama department the roles did not immediately come flooding in. Add to that I lost all the speech points and had to contact every school and recalculate ALL the points, I was convinced that I was not going to get any more parts in any plays. I joined the track team which was another dismal failure on my part but at least I felt I was doing something. I even got my picture in the yearbook as a track and field member! I also decided to be a little rebellious...I would sneak out during choir sectionals and go to the cafeteria to eat donuts! I know I know I was terrible! Well when it came time for tryouts for the spring Musical I told everyone I was not even going to bother trying out...I mean really did I need that kind of rejection AGAIN?!??! Another posting of a cast list without my name on it...no thanks! But then our choir director announced that everyone who was in choir was REQUIRED to tryout. HRMPF! So I tried out but was very lackluster about it. The day the cast list was posted my friend and I had snuck out of sectionals and gone to the cafeteria for our morning doughnut. When we figured they were about over with sectionals we headed back up to the choir room to find the director and the entire choir waiting for us at the top of the stairs. Mr. B the Director was red faced and fuming..I really think he even stamped his feet and clenched his fists and shook them at us. Other than a parent I had never seen an adult that angry! He shouted at us that he could not believe the day the cast list was posted we had ditched sectionals. I was a little nervous but ultimately I felt like what else can he do to me?? Then I saw the cast list and there is was Jeanne Carey cast as Fruma Sarah. I was a little shocked for 2 reasons. 1. I got cast. 2. I got cast as Fruma Sarah a ghost come back to haunt Tevya in his dream who had a very operatic voice (VERY out of my range). Hmmmmm
Well rehearsals began and I was a bit nervous about my role. I had to sit on top of a 6 Ft Korean kid and screaming PEARLS PEARLS while the Korean kid who was covered by a really long dress ran me around the stage!! Plus I was not at all comfortable with the range I had to sing in!!! I felt like I had been setup for failure. But as the show came together and I became more comfortable with the singing and the running around I started to really enjoy my role! We had a professional makeup artist come in and give us tips on make-up. When he got me he was all hmm this one is going to be very hard because we have to take a very lovely young lady and turn her into a hideous ghost. I was blushing! The Fine Arts director spent around $800 on my scene alone to get the costumes right, the bed that spins, the fog machines, and the make-up artist!! He even said to me if you really think I don’t like you why would I put this much time and money into your scene??? Then when we opened and my scene became the most acclaimed scene in the show with everyone at school talking about my performance I was overjoyed!!! Not only that but my Mother who has a tendency to be a bit critical told me "Anyone could play the roles of the daughters they are vanilla, but Fruma Sarah, Jeanne no one could pull that role off but you!!" W.O.W!!! To this day I look back on that role and those performances with the fondest of memories!

Map of life

Before high school I was rather shy and quiet. I know I know it's hard to believe! But once I started performing on stage something opened up inside of me and I became much more outspoken and outgoing. As I entered my senior year in high school I noticed that more and more I was not getting cast in plays as much as I had been during my junior year. I was a bit devastated since it was my senior year and in my world my last opportunity to perform. Then as if things could not get any worse I ran against my friend Russ for President of the speech team and came in second...therefore making me Vice President and ultimately the grunt that had to collect all the speech points and tally them. Well at about 3/4 of the way through the school year I had had enough. I came into my acting class one day and seeing no teacher around went off on how unfair my life was currently and launched into a tirade about the fine arts director hated me and was literally trying to make my senior year the worst year ever!! I ranted on and on and on and on and on until I was finally out of steam. Only at that moment did I notice there was someone taping the class *gulp*. At the time I was very naive and stupidly assumed that portion of the tape would get erased and forgotten. I had a note delivered to my next class saying I was to be dismissed to see Mr. Jeffers in his office. *GULP* I slowly walked up to his office and figured I was going to be kicked out of the fine arts program. However I then started realizing that really I HAD been kicked out so who cared. And then I started thinking of all the things I was going to say to him and how I was going to really give him a piece of my mind. Well I walked into his office and his secretary looked up at me sadly shook her head and said take a seat he'll be right with you. I waited about 10 minutes when suddenly he came storming out of office face red veins beating and eyes popping out of his head. He grabbed my elbow and dragged me over to a map hanging on his wall. He said what is this...I took a deep breath and said a map. He glared at me and said this is a map of your life and see this tiny pinpoint here this is high school...that's how much high school means Jeanne it’s a pin point on the map of your life! He released me elbow and stormed back into his office. I stood there dumbly looking at the map, composed myself and returned to class. It was a good lesson about life and something I carry around with me to this day.

Big Blue Truck

When I was a junior in high school one of my closest friends was Russ...actually he is still one of my closest friends. I was also very close with his parents...Mama and Papa, my pseudo parents. Russ and I had a complicated relationship at the time, dating then friends then enemies then friends. You know how it is in high school. During one of the time when we were pretending to be friends we were at a theater cast party and Russ was flirting with some girl and I was jealous. So when one of my friends needed to get home for curfew I volunteered to take Russ' big blue truck and drive them home. Russ was hesitant but he wanted to be friendly and he wanted me out of the house so he could flirt without me glaring at him. Reluctantly he handed over the keys. Now of course this being high school my sister and another friend jumped at the chance to go for a ride. There is now me, my sister and two friends Jen and Jean in the truck. We are driving merrily along and suddenly the truck dies. I see that the tank says we are out of gas. So Jen and Liz run over to a gas station which is closed and of course the pay phone is broken. While we are waiting for them to return a cop car stops to assist. I am totally nervous because if they ask for insurance I am not listed as an approved driver on that car! Luckily they do not. They tell us that we are blocking traffic and need to move the truck off to the side of the road. They tell me to get in and put the truck in neutral and they will push. The policemen PUSH us into a sewer and can't get us out! So now not only are we out of gas but we are stuck in a manhole! I really start freaking out as does my friend Jean who is getting very close to missing her curfew. The police call a tow truck and agree to drive Jean home. The tow truck comes and hooks up the truck. They ask me my address and I give them Russ' address. They tow us home and tell me the cost is $65. I now have to knock on Mama and Papa's door and ask them to pay for the tow *gulp*. I start knocking and realize they are sleeping..can this get any worse? Mama answers the door and I get down on my knees begging for forgiveness and telling her I will work off the debit. Papa Lundberg goes out to talk to the tow guys and would you know it we were not even out of gas the truck had 2 TANKS! All I needed to do was flip a switch..who knew?!?!? Well Russ gets a ride home and is freaking out!!! He had been calling his Mom and Dad wondering if they had heard from me for the last 2 hours. Of course we got a stern talking to and had to agree to split the cost of the tow. It was probably this incident that helped us get over our issues and really become good friends.

Happy BIrthday to you!

Hannah singing Happy Birthday!

Hannah drum!

The Bald Soprano

When I was 16 we moved and I started a new High School. I auditioned for a play at the beginning of the school year...The Bald Soprano and was cast as Mary the maid. I had a monologue in the first Act in which I went on and on about blue eyes and brown eyes and made very little sense but it was a play in the theater of the absurd so it wasn't supposed to make much sense. My costume was a French maid costume complete with fish net stockings. I was thrilled to have gotten the role and be part of the theater group at Maine East. However I was chosen over a senior who had already established herself as part of the theater group. Therefore right off the bat I was the outsider who stole the role from Christina...not the best way to enter into a new high school. However it worked out pretty well in the long run I also directed Greater Tuna that year, was head of costumes for The Foreigner and a member of the chorus for Guys and Dolls. I ended up making friends with kids who I am still friends with to this day.

Future opera singer

Hannah singing her little heart out.

Little Drummer Girl

My husband is a would be drummer and I think that gene must run in the family!

What's in a name??

Before I was married my full name was Jeanne McGuire Carey. Can you already tell where this story is going? Now when I was younger and we had those crazy hearing tests at school where you line up and have to give the examiner your last name first..yeah this is how it went:
Your last name please?
Carey.
No honey your last name.
Carey.
Your last name is Carey?
Yes.
What's your first name?
Jeanne.
J-e-a-n?
No Jeanne with two n's and an e.
JeAnne?
Just Jeanne.
Oh.
What's your middle name?
McGuire
HUH?!?!??!
Yup that was my life for a loooooong time. So I started just using my middle initial to avoid some of the confusion. But still having two first names never did me any good. One time I was at a theater production and had entered a raffle. The name that was called repeatedly was something like Joanne Casey and no one was claiming to be the winner...but they kept calling this name over and over and over...finally my friends looked and me and were all...that MUST be Jeanne Carey! Sure enough it was my ticket!
As I got older and email started to be more predominant especially at work my name would appear as such: Carey, Jeanne. Needless to say most people just called me Carey. Emails would arrive to my inbox Hi Carey can you do such and such. And even though I always responded to the emails and signed off as Jeanne Carey the emails would return Thanks Carey!
And the spelling of my first name...nightmare! At Starbucks where they ask you your name then misspells are constantly on your cup here are a few of the names I've seen:
Gene (this is the most common)
Jean
Jeannie
Gean
Jeane
And so on....
I thought life would improve with the last name Tari...but often I get emails as such:
Dear Tari can you please schedule me for the next training class?
Really?? Tari…that’s my first name??? Come on now folks!
A note to parents naming their kids…please give them a break, no two first names!!!

Pony tail

Are there even words to describe how cute she is???

Madwoman

My sophomore year of high school began my theater career. I auditioned for "A Connecticut Yankee in King's Arthur Court" and received the part of ..."walk-on". I had one job to walk on stage during one scene and place an envelope on a table and walk off stage. But after that I was HOOKED! I loved being on stage and the lights and the rehearsals everything about theater I fell in love with. The next play was "The Madwomen of Chaillot". I received the part of Madam Gabrielle...a crazy old lady who talked to imaginary people. I spent an entire Act on stage talking to imaginary people, wearing a hat with a bird on a spring that flew around my head as I was making conversation with imaginary people. Some say it was type casting....but I was a HIT! Kids in school, teachers, all came up to me throughout the year telling me they loved the part I played in that production.
And I was sold I wanted to be an actress, I knew I had found my calling life.

This is us celebrating our first wedding anniversary!

Court Date

Well with the 2 tickets I know possessed a court date was inevitable! Now remember I do not even have my license at this point but I have my first court appearance. My mother attends with me as she also received a ticket. I dressed in my most innocent looking outfit and headed into courts at age 15. I was called up to the bench and proceeded to tell my story of learning to drive in the police station parking lot, hitting the building, the alarms all going off, us trying to put the front bumper into the backseat of the car...and as I am telling my story the Judge, recorder, bailiff are all trying very hard not to laugh out loud. Their eyes are tearing, their hands are covering their mouths, and their shoulders are moving up and down. When I finish my version of the story they Judge tells me that he could suspend my license before I even get it, he could fine me, and he could make me go to traffic school..But since I made everyone laugh today he was going to dismiss the case entirely, including my Mom's ticket!!! I was soooo relieved and so thrilled I almost hugged that Judge! My Mom thanked the Judge profusely and took my out for pancakes for getting us out of those tickets!

I love this one she is just being so sassy!

Learning to drive

HA so anyone who knows this story has probably been wondering when I was going to post it...LOL! Summers in Chicago are notoriously terrible, hot, humid, and basically unlivable. Of course the house we were renting at the time did not have a/c and my parents were on the downward spiral of their marriage. On a Saturday afternoon as all 5 kids and 2 parents who are not talking to each other are sitting in a terribly hot house in the middle of July I decide this would be the perfect opportunity to have my Mom or Dad teach me to drive. At the time I was about 2 weeks away from turning 15 but had already signed up for my driver's ed class in the fall. I started by simply asking my Mom to teach me to drive and she said no. I ask again and again and again and again until I am BEGGING her to teach me to drive. Needless to say the heat and humidity had made her brain turn to mush. Plus the fact that this would be an opportunity to get into an air conditioned car and away from my Father...she relents. My sister Chrissy jumps at the chance to get out of the house and decides to come along. Now my Mother had "rules". I could not drive on streets since this was just to learn, so she drives us over to the nearby park which has an empty parking lot. Now we had taken my Dad's car because my Mom's car was in the shop at the time. We go to this parking lot which, by the way, did I mention is the parking lot for the Brookfield Police Station...???? Yes that's right my Mom decided that the place I should learn to drive is at the police station. We park in front of the police station and I am giddy with excitement. I get into the driver’s seat and my Mom tells me about the gears, the brake and the gas. And then very emphatically she tells me we are going to go around the building one time and then go home. I should not even bother to ask for anything more than that...yes yes yes I nod in agreement. I begin to go forward then I turn right to the side of the building then I turn right to the back of the building and my Mom suddenly realizes where we are and what we are doing. She looks around and sees policemen coming and going and you can see on her face that she realizes her mistake. So she says to me "stop the car" and of course I am thinking NO WAY I AM FREAKIN DRIVING!!! So I say "Mom just let me finish. You said one time." But she is really freaking out. So I make the next right and am on the other side of the building...we are almost done! But my Mom can't stand it anymore so she is telling me to stop, stop the car, stop right now, stop!!!! I am like no way! Suddenly she grabs the steering wheel and turns it towards her, which in turn moves me, so I try to brake but my feet have moved and I hit the gas and the car goes CRASH up the curb and into the police station building. The car is totaled and smoking and crunched! Now oddly enough at that exact moment there is a malfunction in the computer system at the Police station and every burglar alarm in the city starts going off. Now we have police men running out of the building, walkie talkies buzzing, sirens blaring and us trying to very quietly figure out how to get our car the heck out of dodge. My sister and I have picked up the front bumper that fell off and are trying to fit it into the back seat, although the front tire has popped and the engine is smoking. And of course the police have now noticed us and so have the people at the park who are coming over in droves to gawk at us. A policeman comes over to ask us what happened and my Mother being honest Abe tells them the whole story. We are ushered into the building and told to call my Dad. Since my mother and father were already on bad terms my Dad thought she was lying to him to get him all riled up. After much convincing he was forced to call his brother and figure out how to help us. My mother was given a ticket for letting a minor drive. I was given 2 tickets, one for driving without a license and another for hitting an immobile object. An immobile object...now if that building had only been mobile it could have jumped out of my way!

Much needed vacation

Hannah and I in Puerto Vallarta.

8th grade graduation

I went to St. Barbara's for 8th grade and our 8th grade graduation was a big deal. We wore caps and gowns and got diploma's handed to us by the Bishop! Our school colors were brown and gold (hideous I know!), but needless to day the gowns were brown with gold tassels for the caps. Now by 8th grade I was old enough to know that things were not going well for my parents. We had moved into a rental house in Brookfield and we all knew that money troubles and other grown-up issues were troubling my parents. So a week before my graduation my Mom pulled my aside and told me that she had spoken to the principle at my school and even though my parents had not been able to come up with the tuition the school had agreed that withhold my diploma would be an unnecessary. However, my Mom did want me to know that she had handled the situation and that all was OK. So the morning of my graduation I got up and dressed in my pretty new dress and shoes, curled my hair and put on a little make-up. I then walked over to my friend Stacy's house so we could go to the school together for the line-up. I got into line, chattering excitedly with my friends in line, and was promptly pulled aside by the Principle. She informed me that there had been a new development in my parents tuition problem and that I was not going to get my diploma until they had paid the tuition in full. My eyes grew huge and started watering, my mouth dropped open I didn't know what to say. I told her that my Mom had told me I would get a diploma and she said things had changed and she wanted me to know so I was not shocked when I received an empty diploma holder form the Bishop. I was devastated. I started crying. Meanwhile my parents were busy getting the rest of the gang ready, buying flowers and balloon. My younger brother Peter insisted on carrying the balloon to the school, he was probably about 5 at the time, and of course he let go of the balloon on the way to the school. When I walked into the church for the ceremony I was crying so hard I could not even see straight. My Mom took one look at me and she just knew what had happened. She ran over to the principle to confront her but she refused to even talk to my Mother. Sure enough when they called my name I walked up to the Bishop and he smiled awkwardly at me and handed me an empty diploma holder. I started crying all over again. When the ceremony was over I met my family outside and of course started yelling at my Mom and Dad for ruining my life!!! I was horrified and embarrassed. Turns out my Dad had spoken to the principle and it was during that conversation that she had decided that the best way to revenge herself was to withhold my diploma. I don't know what was said by whom about what but my parents paid the outstanding bill and my diploma was sent to me 6 weeks later.