Weekly Roundup

NEW COMPUTER – OK. I have a perfectly good Powerbook. Tag Adams has been the best. But, well, he can't do certain things. I won't bore you with the details, but, he just doesn't have to room to do what I need. And he tends to heat up. So, I bought an iMac this week. (Creative name. Anyone. Anyone?) HEADSTRONG – When I moved the wagon, I headed down the wrong path. Fortunately, I'm headstrong and am making headway in my recovery. Despite having had a minor concussion, I feel pretty normal. In fact, I did four loads of laundry and cleaned for a part of the day. The director is not alone in suggesting that I just say still and relax.

CHESS Meets Phantom of the Opera

FOREWORD The set for CHESS is relatively simple and uncomplicated. The fun part of the scenery (without giving away too much) is two 10 foot round towers that move and change into different interesting configurations. One of the towers is approximately 10 feet tall, but it was constructed to be light. They will not be a big deal to move when were are at home, at the Aronoff Center, on Sunday. FRIDAY NIGHT, 8:05 pm We had just finished the scene ___, and I curser myself, remembering that I was one of the people who was to move the taller tower (or "wagon," as we affectionately call them.) There were a couple people behind it and I took a position near the stairs, in front. I smiled and jokingly yelled, "heave!" I turned around and saw something with the corner of my eye. I looked up and a large 8 foot industrial grade florescent lighting fixture was falling toward me. The florescent bulbs shattered in thousands of shards as it descended. Smash! I ducked and ran for cover with my eyes closed, thinking, thank God nobody was injured. A few steps later, I heard a couple of cast members gasp and I felt a wetness in my scalp. I was covered in glass. People were concerned. Someone grabbed me and led me forward. I didn't want to open my eyes, fearing the tiny glass shards. I stopped thinking I would walk into something, but I went on the faith of my cast member and I found a seat. The next 10 minutes were extremely chaotic and I felt my heartbeat raise. I was bleeding a bit. Someone found a clean rag to catch the blood, Brian, the nurse in the group, looked at me and started to brush glass from my face and hair. I kept my eyes shut. The image of the falling light… made me.. smile? For some reason, I thought it funny to see such a thing. I smiled and felt dizzy and groggy. I grinned as I realized that Darek was taking some pictures for our blogs. Soon, Charlie came with a makeup brush and brushed shards out of my eyes. I could feel shards everywhere. Despite Brian's efforts to calm, I felt warm. My neck hurt being up at an angle and I felt crowded. "Guys, I'm a bit dizzy," I said. Brian suggested opening my eyes. When I did, I saw the cast huddled around me, looking at me concerned. Someone suggested giving me a bit of air. My head floated; I was light headed. It reminded me of the time I had given blood a couple of years ago, Smash! Thankfully, after a few minutes, the lightheadedness passed. Rosie offered to take me to the emergency room at Christ hospital. I was worried about shards of glass being embedded in my skin, although the blood had stopped.) LATER FRIDAY NIGHT After checking in to the E.R., I was questioned and given a Computerized Axial Tomography scan. A drop dead gorgeous female nurse and drop dead gorgeous female doctor had the same diagnosis: no trauma to my head. (I thought how similar this ER was to the one on TV, everyone was so friendly and pretty.) A nurse assistant spent about an hour helping me clean my hair and taking saline solution to get the small shards of glass out of my face. We both laughed at the situation. It was odd to have saline water and shards of glass dripping down my face. Rosie watched on, ever the cheerleader. No stitches. Just a couple dozen minor cuts. Scot picked me up and brought me home. He observed me overnight. THOUGHTS I take things in stride and am thankful things were not worse. The light hit my glasses; had I not had the luxury of strong glasses, I might have lost an eye. Rosie and I joked that there were two reasons why I did this: 1.) To sell more tickets to CHESS (A few of the ER staff were intrigued by the story and by the play and promised to attend.) 2.) To get out of loading the set on Saturday and unloading on Sunday. (In truthfulness, I was kind of excited at the prospect of being up in the attic of the theatre, helping with the lights. Next time!) The outreach of concern has been really nice. It did remind me of how genuine and caring a lot of people in the cast are. They are amazing. Theatrics aside, I'm proud to associate myself with them. And we are going to ROCK at opening night next Friday. Tickets on sale at http://www.cincinnatiarts.org/

Yay! Camping!

I just made the first plans for going camping this year. I'm excited! Glenn, my camper-buddy and I are going to that one campground in Indiana. The nice one with heated pool. Yep. I'm going to maximize the fun and sun this summer. Sure, we don't have oceans here in the Midwest. But we do have fun camping, lakes and pools, hiking, good company, etc. I've pulled out my Excel spreadsheet from last trip as a starting point for planning the upcoming one. Yep, I am a project manager.

Personal Sacrifices Made in the Name of Art

Just when I gave up negativity comes another opportunity for sacrifice. Through casual conversations through email today, a couple of fellow cast members explained that they will be giving up caffeine and alcohol until May 14, when the musical is over with. My response to Allison: "By caffeine, do you mean coffee, too? How does that work, not drinking coffee?" Allison replied: "Yes, that means no coffee. Or soda. If you drink coffee or soda, make it decaf. Caffeine dehydrates your cords so quickly, and soda just makes you belch. Try water. Or if you drink coffee, only drink it in the morning. Before noon, then switch to water for the rest of the day. And I mean a lot of water. Like two water bottles between noon and rehearsal. Your cords will thank you." I think I'm gonna take the CHESS challenge. If my voice is not 20% prettier or my range not fuller than now, then I'll.. well.. not do anything. It's really not that big of a deal for a couple of weeks. UPDATE (4/26) – I drank a baby 12 ounce cup of mix coffee/decaf as I got to work. Per other advice, I popped a Sudafed allergy relief capsule and spent on talking some budgetary issues and sending out invitations for my next board meeting. I had a protein rich lunch (to maximize staying awake) and was fine until 1:30 pm, at which time I began to feel very tired. Then my head began to ache. I needed a diet Pepsi. Baldy. Bev suggested ice cream or some type fun sugary thing. I decided on a hot chocolate. By 3:00 pm, I felt like crap. I left at a timely hour and took a 1.5 hour power nap, before groggily driving to the warehouse where I arrived 5 minutes late for CHESS rehearsal.

The Warehouse

The set design for CHESS is currently done in a warehouse near the vast railway yard, near downtown Cincinnati. Walking to rehearsal, I took the following picture:

Less Than Two Weeks

We are T minus 2 weeks from the opening night of CHESS. We've successfully been through the entire show without stopping. This first time kinda scared me. While the staging/acting was very good, the orchestra was a bit shaky and some of the vocals were still not there. But, since then, each time we do it, have gotten steadily better. Some of the last kinks are being worked out and it's becoming quite nice, overall. On Sunday, we will actually "move into" the Aronoff Center. We're all taking 4 hour shifts to install the set and lighting. Then Monday through Thursday, we will do the show each night before finally opening on Friday, May 5. It's exciting and a bit intimidating at the same time. GROUP DYNAMICS I think we're kind of bonding as a group. As I figured, we have talked with one another quite a bit (while waiting in the wings to go on.) The women had gone out as a group a few of weeks ago. Combined, we went to Hamburger Mary's a couple weeks back. Then on Saturday night, the men went out to dinner and then to Adonis (nightclub,) as a group.

How Beautifully Blue the Sky

What amazing weather we are having here in Cincinnati! (A partial screenshot of my MacOS X "widgets:") Almost cloudless sky... … Perfect for laying on the hammock and relaxing! I did get some practical work done, such as cleaning my car, weeding, trimming the bushes in front, raking, etc. Now, time for a nap on the hammock!

Weekly Update

SHOPPING – As mentioned, Boston is a great city for shopping. I went back to H&M (and bought a new sweater, shown above.) I also bought a controversial shirt at French Connection UK. (fcuk.) I wore the new sweater out to dinner with a coworker. Then wore the French Connection out to the Eagle. BUSY – I've been a slacker with my blogging, as I have been so freaking busy! My week was consumed by a large part by work. Over the week, I made last minute preparations for a major presentation on Thursday. (The following two lines are boring:) My team has had some early successes on the project and we are on track with the overall project plan. I flew back to Cincinnati tired, but very happy with the progress. CHESS ACTING – This really is going well! I'm still struggling with my lines in the Russian language. I need to dedicate some time to perfecting them this weekend. CHESS DANCING - We had a dance-only rehearsal tonight. I was even surprised that my dancing in "One Night in Bangkok" was on. The choreographer who had previously frowned at me had complimented us as a group. CHESS MUSIC – the music for CHESS is not as straightforward as I had thought (from listening to the recording.) The bass harmonic progressions are odd as is the text. Luckily, I did have time to review the words in Boston, in a nice setting:

Oops, I did it...

As Preethi, her husband and I walked along Dartmoth Street, she mentioned that she had some special clove cigarettes and showed the pack. Earlier in the evening I had tried some of the best whiskeys of the world at their place, while overlooking the lights of the city. We had a late meal at Joe's American Grill on Newbury street. I had had seared tuna that was prepared by the gods, it was so good. My taste buds were in heaven and I felt no pain. "May I please try one?" I asked. I don't usually smoke, but it seemed like a nice idea as we walked in the cool spring air. It was a bit windy. She lit my cigarette. Nice flavor we walked on. When I took another puff, it went out. Preethi noticed and offered another light. "I'll just smoke it later," I said smiling, putting it in my pocket. She offered me another drag of hers. I bid them farewell a couple of blocks up. It had been a delightful night. I went up to my room and changed into my French Connection shirt and headed for a quick nightcap at Eagle/Boston. The Eagle bar was not too crowded. The bartender, Jack recognized me. He remembered that I was born in the North Shore, but couldn't remember the state where I live. He pushed a Miller Lite bottle across the bar, which I really didn't need. I was in a great mood and looked for a matchbook. I asked Jack and he gave me one. I drank half the beer and casually pulled out the cigarette. And lit it up. I was near the bar and Jack grabbed it out of my mouth. He took the bar sprayer and sprayed it out. I was confused. "What are you doing? You know that's not allowed in here? What, were you just wanting to make a spectacle of yourself? Well you did it!" "I'm sorry.." I began. "Well, I could get a $1,000 fine if they were to catch you lighting up." His ranting went on for another 30 seconds. People began to stare. Thanks, Captain Jack. I took a swig of beer, turned and walked toward a seat in the middle of the bar, remembering that Boston is smoke free in all restaurants and bars. Oops.

Giving up Negavity for Lent

As you may realize, I decided to give up negativity for Lent. Not that I'm catholic but with some personal issues, my friends were seeing that I was becoming increasingly bitchy, taking every opportunity to put certain people down. Then right before Lent, I heard on NPR that some Catholics were not giving up petty things like food, but more advanced things like negativity. So, I decided to give it up as best I could. I knew going cold turkey just was not possible. So, I made a deal with myself. For each infraction, I Statistics: Total number of infractions: 39 Average per day of Lent: .79 WEEKLY TOTALS The first week was very rough. I had way too many infraction, but things got better—until the last week when I just got sloppy, 4 in just a couple of days. Although to be fair, Glenn did egg me on for several the infractions. THE SUBJECT OF MY NEGATIVITY When I first started this experiment, I thought that I would be complaining about a certain person. It didn't end up that way. One coworker in particular got the most negativity, especially while I was in Boston when my Bostonian team egged me on. OK. I'll take responsibility. WHAT I LEARNED There are a lot of things that you complain about in life that add absolutely nothing to discussion rather than taking up airtime.

Weekly Roundup

JUST LIKE THE FIRST TIME – This week has been a lot of firsts for the season: first time having margaritas on the patio. First time grilling. First time that I had washed my car this year… Indeed, the weather has been in the mid to high 70s, which is unseasonably warm. NEW NEIGHBORS – While grilling on Saturday, I looked up, and 20 feet away from me was my shirtless new neighbor. Being that he is not from Ethopia (like the previous neighbor,) I figured that he was a new neighbor. This morning, while drinking my coffee (with my new Braun coffeemaker,) I noticed he was on the porch again, smoking. I worked on my mildly-offensive Easter card.. Hard into Photoshop, I looked up and there was my neighbor, leaning over the railing looking at me. In surprise, I said "hi." NEW NEIGHBORS II – So, the couple moved in during the last week. After talking a few minutes about my Freon exhaust pipe and my Jeep, his wife came out. She was missing some teeth. But, no, they were genuinely nice. He was surprised when I told him I lived in "such a big house by myself." He's a bit curious. This I can already tell. I'm sure he'll be surprised by my pool parties this summer. HOGSHEAD – In college, being in an engineering fraternity, my nickname was "Hogshead." In the United States, a hogshead is defined to hold 2 barrels, or 63 gallons. Anyway, Harry Potter's "Order of the Phoenix" mentioned this name, as the name of a bar in Hogswood and I had to smile. A lot. CHAOS – Because my next 4 weeks are going to be so chaotic, I decided to have a very slow weekend. I didn't work on the new master bedroom. I didn't dedicate time on my presentation for work. What I did do is take naps, do some light cleaning, writing, audiobooks, walks, etc. It was kind of like my big deep breath before starting a marathon. CHESS – So, people are nagging me about the musical. "What is the music of CHESS? Written by the guys from ABBA? I've heard it's so cool…" Click here to download a sample of my fav songs from the 1988 Broadway edition.

I love….

I love…. People who are honest and blunt Who say what they mean And mean what they say. I love… People who are artsy and creative Who have a talent or two And make the time to use them. I love… People who are real, Whose sincerity is never In question. I love… People who are smart. Who know what's going on And who do not shy at intellectual stimulation. I love… People who are beautiful Both inside and out Even if that beauty may not be obvious to others.

CHESS Cast Party at Mary's

Last night, the cast of CHESS, the director and others went out to Hamburger Mary's for karaoke. We had a freaking ball. Instead of sharing a long winded narrative. I'll just share some fun pix. (Thanks to Allison for poviding some of the pictures.) Matt, Chuck, Dave and Sara Singing and dancing to "One Night in Bangkok" Michael, Mark (Director) and Allison Brian, singing "Anthem" The bar

Sweating It Out: Today's HIV Test

"Forgive me, for it's been 6 months since my last confession," I thought to Barry as I walked into the clean, claustrophobic testing room. A couple of times per year, I make it a point to go to AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati to get my bi-annual HIV test. Without going into details, I've had a couple of scares and made a couple of bad judgments in the past few months. Nobody's perfect. To make things worse, I had gotten sick in Boston. Those who know HIV know that a short sickness could mean "seroconversion," which is bad news. Don't worry. The results of the 20 minute oral swab test came up HIV negative. I'm fine. But I have to say that I was very concerned about my results. I lost sleep and I'm not alone. HIV is hell on the gay community. It is surprisingly prevalent and, increasingly, people do not respect the illness. Innocently, fun loving, but uncareful people may unknowingly infect others, forever changing the composition of the other person's blood and bringing on unnecessary health annoyances. But sometimes it's worse: not everyone is well intentioned. Men lie and play tricks. For example, a newer partner and I were preparing to have sex. He hid the condoms and explained that there were no more. He then suggested going through the act without protection. I checked the drawer, not finding the requisite Magnums. He pushed me to continue, unprotected. Irritated, I downgraded the event to something safer and simpler. Later, thinking about it, I was proud with myself at how I handled the situation, because there are some cases where I've made bad decisions. Although not sexy, histories should be shared and protection should be negotiated. Safe bet that after today, I am further fine tuning my behavior slightly to lessen the terror at the next test. --- To set up your very own free and confidential 20 minute swab test, call AVOC at (513) 421-AIDS.

"You look happy!"

I was breezing down to the cafeteria to get some Millstone, when I heard my name being called. I turned and there was Margaret, a fellow Iowa-Stater and the woman who hired me on to The Company. We carried a bright smile. I had seen her a couple of months ago, but we’ve not talked in over a year. We exchanged greetings and, still upbeat, she said “You look great! I mean, well, you look the happiest that I’ve seen you in a LONG time! How are you?” Smiling back, I explained some of the great things that are going on in my life, including my musical and the new post with The Company. You know, you really do have to take the time to smell the roses. Although my life is far from perfect, I have to admit that I have a lot of substance and I’m having a lot of fun!

Random Acts of Kindness

On a related note to my bad back… My back was not doing very well and a friend came over to help out with a household task. It was very surprising and sweet. I'll not embarrass him with the details. What ever happened to my random acts of kindness? I need to get back into that!

Damn Back/Relaxing

On Saturday morning, I woke up with an extremely sore lower back. Like to the point, that I really could not walk. Constant lower back spasms. "Take Care of Yourself" is a great book that talks about home remedies. It told me the only thing I could really do is rest up, take medicine/pain killers to reduce further spasms. I spent the day on the couch, catching up on weeks of DVR, from Desperate Housewives, LOST, the Office, ER, and my personal favorite, the Daily Show with Jon Steward. His segment on "What's Wrong with Denmark?" that was ever so funny. THE TRIP Sam lent me the film and I took the down time to finally watch the film. I'll not give it away as it would be very obvious to do that. Although I'm usually not into dramatic movies, I thought it noteworthy. And got me thinking… It's easy for gay men and women to take for granted the freedoms that we now enjoy. This would have never come without the protests and calls for change from the 1960s through the 1980s. To them, I say "Thank you men and women who protested. My (insert future BF name) and I are in love. We're legit."

Coming Soon: CHESS

Left to right in black: Robert Weidle, Thurman Edward Allen II, Elliot Harrison Brown, Brian Berendts & Allison Collins-Elfline Left to right in white: Brian Anderson & Michael Shawn Starks Yay! CHESS, the musical opens in less than a month. This is a picture of the leads. They are really great! I'm really excited about this! Buy tickets! See us!

Weekly Roundup

TIRED – I'm so tired. I feel like I've run 3 marathons this week. Work, travel, stuff outside work. It's a bit much. I'm not complaining, as I'll sleep tonight with a satisfied look on my face. I've accomplished a lot. .. IS ANOTHER MAN'S GAIN – I love shopping in Boston. They have some great stores and some stores have sales. Case in Point: Express for Men in the Prudential Center had its annual spring sale with some clothes 60+% off. In the last month, I bought no less than 8 shirts, 2 pairs of boxers and one pair of jeans. It's nice to have a wardrobe again. (Remember that I've lost weight. About a year ago, I cleaned my clothes closet, getting rid of a good portion of my clothes. I'm rebuilding basics and clothes that get some attention.) TIME – I have so much I want to do. I can't squeeze the items into one day (and still maintain 7-9 hours of sleep per night.) Having compared novel ideas with another writer, I feel inspired to pick up my "low brow" novel idea that I started last year. Wait. When would I do this? PRIORITIES – Let me list 'em: 1.) New job. 2.) CHESS. 3.) House. 4.) Everything else. (Volunteer Work/Fitness/Friends/Romance.) HEALTH – I hate that health/fitness has dropped to such a low priority. But most humans can only concentrate on a couple of priorities at once. I guess I'll recalibrate my priorities after my musical is over and after the ol' "Baisodrome" (master bedroom) is complete.

Bienvenido Miembro Kroger Plus

Kroger supermarket, Westwood, Cincinnati, 7:03 pm. I'm in the self scan line, feeling a bit cheeky. I pondered the language selection and smile, as I press the "Español" button. Grabbing, my keys, I swipe my Kroger Plus card, "Bienvenido Miembro Kroger Plus." I have studied foreign languages for over a decade of my life, why not use some of it? Plus, it's just fun. And I'm an attention whore. I scanned my Chilean wine. Two portly women in front commented loudly on this. One said "¿como estas?" and giggled. Another practiced pronouncing the word "gracias." Her hair roots didn't match the rest of her hair. Then, I scanned my Freshetta frozen pizza. No response from the ladies. I thought it was over. I pressed "credito" and the voice changed to another Speaker, one with deeper voice who told me to follow the instructions of the card reader. This made the ladies giggle a bit. "Do you speak Spanish?" one asked. I looked down and saw that she had some pastries in her cart. Hmm. Decision point. I blankly acknowledged she said something; I just looked at her vaguely, prodding on her next word. "You don't look Spanish." "What should a Spanish person look like," I thought. Although not common, I did see some very pale, people during my visits to Venezuela and Mexico. Blonde was a cool look in Caracas, especially among women. I acted dumb and "foreign." Wordless, not understanding, I grabbed my bag and headed to the door. In a low voice, a female voice said, "I guess he was Spanish."

Springtime for Bush and America...

... The U.S. is happy and gay! We're marching to a faster pace, Look out, here comes a big disgrace!

Even LESS Politically Correct

Shaws supermarket, downtown Boston, 5:30 pm. I'm looking for orange juice, feeling really crappy, thinking about how nice it will feel to take some Nyquil and get in bed. A female employee pushes a tall stock cart past me and casually says the following to a male customer: "They are everywAYAH, just like last yeAH… I looked across the street this moAHning and thAYAH were 4 of my high school coaches. Yeah, the all the lezzie ones." She continues on walking and catches my glance.

Poem: Stamford, Connecticut

Oh Stamford, You are a place in Connecticut. Your lofty building rise above. You are not Hartford. You are not Westport. You are a place not far from New York. You are a place with a lot of Stuff. A place where there are people. A place where there are trainstops. Oh Stamford, You are a place in Connecticut.

Weekly Roundup

BLACK CHICK, WHITE GUY – Sometimes, I'm not sure how I get music on my iPod. Not sure where it comes from. I found this Kidd Rock nugget this morning. I like the music and the theme is so calming and pleasing. I liked the part in the song when he "kicks that bitch to the curb." Apparently, after having been in prison, with three kids from three different men, bitch deserved it-and more. NEG – I've really been good with keeping my negativity in control. I've only had two infractions in the past week! Actually, both were caddy comments, and not really negative things, per se. SHOPPING – I dropped by the Express for Men store and, to my delight, they once again had my "thin" jeans that I needed to replace, at the full price of $60. (Oddly, the lost pair in question was stolen last year while camping.) They also had several shirts on sale. I bought the jeans, 4 shirts and boxers for just $118. MUD FLAPS – With the NCAA women's final four tournaments, this place has more mudflaps than a Mack truck dealership. SENSITIVITY TRAINING – I think I need to check myself into some remedial sensitivity training.