Temporarily Out of Order

Hi! I'm back from camping in Tennessee but I'm having some technical problems with my picture hosting service. Unfortunately, I don't have time to look into it as I can't fit it in around work/painting/rehearsals. Please check back in a couple of days.

Negativity Party

The money from my negativity jar was burning a hole in my pocket, so, being the first instant available since the closing of CHESS, I decided to finally have my negativity party at Union Station Video Café. The turnout was good! (Although one person that I really wanted to be there was not.) Being that it was a negativity party, I passed around small pieces of lined paper and pens. I then asked people to secretly write negative comments. The more negative the better. These comments then were put in a hat and will be BURNED this weekend. (The general intent was for the participants to rid themselves of some negativity, just as I had done over Lent.)

Such a Dumbass

7:13 pm. I was on I-75 South heading toward downtown Cincinnati cursing being late for my second rehearsal for Honk! rehearsal being a frustrated by the slow moving traffic and reckless drivers who whizzed by in the heavy rain. I had been in a rush since after work to eat and get ready for the weekend. I was freshly showered and dressed in a clean Iowa State shirt, ready for rehearsal! With my hands free set, I talked with Michael a bit about the plans and kept driving. The rain was really coming down. 10 minutes later, I pulled onto Columbia Parkway, which wound its way along the Ohio river. One traffic light was out due to an electricity failure. I drove onward, still talking with Michael. I bid him farewell as I entered the city limits of Mariemont, on the East Side of Cincinnati. I spaced a bit, driving onward. Suddenly and without warning… A thought occurred to me. Back in Westwood, I left chicken on in the stove. By my calculations, a best case scenario would be that if I turned around right then, that the chicken would only have been in the oven an hour. They were small, thinly sliced breasts. The thought of returning home to a smoky house, or a fire filled house caught my imagination as pulled the jeep around on a side street and headed West. Missing rehearsal. Not a good way to start a show. Fortunately, 30 minutes later, upon returning home, the chicken was charred but there was no fire and very little smoke. I'm such a dumbass.

18 Hours

I cleared my schedule this weekend to do some work around the house. Nothing social. Nothing theatre or work related. Just work on the house and yard. Activities included: shopping, preparing garden bed, planting 250 plants, moving around 880 lbs of bagged topsoil, weeding, lawn trimming, mowing, tree trimming. I only got about 3 hours of work done on the master bedroom, which is unfortunate. I had planned on doing at least 6 hours on my new room. Actually, on Saturday, for a few moments, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do. I have events every night this upcoming week. Still, I'm pretty content that I did get so much done. I am so sore. All over my body. And my wrists are not all that great. Yay! My new bed arrived this evening. Being so darn tired, I can't wait to get in it! I will sleep hard tonight.

Wisdom: Will & Grace Finale

"Destiny… There's no destiny. People come into your life randomly And leave randomly. Can't force it. That's just what happens." - Will, last ever episode of Will & Grace.

Weekly Roundup

HOUSE – My linens, window tratments, comforter, pillows and other stuff have but partially arrived from Crate & Barrel. I'm on a mission to finish working on my bedroom before an out of state guest visits in just a couple of weeks. Oh, and I need to fertilize plants, reseed a portion of the lawn, plant annuals and mulch when I have a moment this weekend. MEN – Recently, I've restored my confidence in there still being (at the same time) cute, interesting and genuine men out there. BREAK – I got a 2 day break from theatre between CHESS and Honk! Ah well, it's my passion. And I'm very happy that as an adult, I can do this. LINES – Rob says I need to learn my lines for Honk! A.S.A.P. so I have them down before blocking. This is going to be a lot of work. WORK – I like my job, despite its challenges and politics. APRIL – I took this picture at Circuit City with my cell phone. The guy turned around, sensing what I had done. "Snap!"

~Watching~ the Da Vinci Code

I went into the theatre tonight with the preconception that Tom Hanks is a douchebag. After watching the film, my opinion had not changed. Tom Hanks still is a douchebag. His unenthusiastic portrayal of Robert Langdon left something to be desired and didn't meet up to the 40s something, sexy, yet witty "brianiac Indiana Jones" that was in my mind's eye. Despite Hank's mediocre performance, the film was very well done. The cinematography at times was no less than breathtaking. Although the movie was true to the book, Rob said the pace was off. Agreed. I loved the deliciously controversial subject matter. I love the idea of audiences thinking and questioning. Fiction or not, much of what we believe today is the product of selective opinions that have been passed down for centuries. Really, the movie can be summed up in one sentence, "he done got her knocked up again." This is the expression they use in modern day Indiana as well as in 27 B.C. I had a great time with a happy hour/movie viewing with Sarah, Melissa, Allison, Brian, Darek, Chris, Thurman, Rob, Todd, Andrew, Brian and Gordon.

Good News

The good news is that I have been accepted into the cast of "Honk! The musical," with Mariemont Players. It's the story of the ugly duckling; while not the most well known of musicals, it is rather cute, in a sugar sweet kind of way. open on July 7 and play three weekends, until July 23! My vocal audition was tonight, where I sang the song I will be singing on stage, "You Can Play with Your Food." For some reason, I was slightly nervous, but by the third try, I sounded pretty good. I did scales. At the end, David, the director said smiling, with his thick Tennessee accent. "We laayke you. You're ee-yen!" Yay! It's going to be a lot of fun. I'll be playing "Cat," a whimsical creature who's always trying to eat the poor little beauty-challenged duckling. The role is pretty meaty; it’s one of the leading roles. Several solos and a fair amount of dialog, all of which will be done with a French accent. Interestingly, as a minor lead, I won't have to learn a lot of the choral music. Being "Cat," I'll sit them out and just concentrate on “my stuff.” Yay! I'm so excited!

Bad News

The bad news is that I will be missing Rich and Andrew's commitment ceremony that will happen on Saturday, July 8 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. (This conflicts with the second night of "Honk!") As Andrew put it, he will not have another such ceremony in his life. Indeed, it is something special. I will be there in spirit. They are a cute couple:

Bad News

The bad news is not that I went bad to the gym. That's good. However, I had I had a misfortune on the eliptal "track" machine. I had my iPod nano on me and I was rocking. It was clipped onto my shorts, but I took it off (the nano) and laid it on to the small ledge of the exercise machine. Into the rhythm. Rocking. Moving. Then somehow, I moved my arm too much. The iPod nano fell down while I was mid stride. As it fell, the headphones detached from the unit. I looked down, and before I realized what was happening, I heard a crunch. Kind of like a human bone breaking. "FUCK!" I screamed a little louder than I had wanted. I picked up the unit and I about cried.

Good News

The good news is that I bought a replacement iPod. Black. Sexy. And I decided to upgrade to a 4GB model. More music. More audiobooks for road trips. Despite what you hear, more is more. Bigger is better.

Bad News

The bad news is that this costs me. The simple blunder of unhooking the iPod nano from my body and placing it on the exercise machine cost me a lot of money. The broken iPod Nano does still work, from a sound quality perspective. I can sell the iPod Nano for parts on eBay. I have a lot of stuff for eBay.

Life after CHESS

CHESS closed on Saturday night. While I was in a funk on Sunday and Monday, I have so much to look forward to in the upcoming months that I can’t look back. What am I going to do? - Not waste a single opportunity to be outside or camp! - Not waste a single opportunity to spend quality time with friends! - Get my house in shape! Finish my master bedroom. Get my yard and garden in order! Prepare for putting up my pool! - Get me in shape! I feel like a bit of a lump as I’ve not taken the time. I want to be slender and sexy over the summer. This means hauling my ass back to the gym and also taking nice walks in the evenings. - Change my diet! This means less pigging out and more sensible eating. - Continue to limit my intake of caffeine and alcohol (for my voice.) - Grow back my goatee. (Per popular demand.) Having set these goals, my plans may change slightly after tomorrow night: I’m being considered for a role in upcoming musical that opens on July 7. Soon, I should know whether I’ll have passed their auditions. It’s a meaty role which would be a lot of work. Fortunately, my travel schedule is pretty light.

From the Ex-Files

It has been a rainy few days and I had spent most of yesterday at home, so I decided to drive over to Friday's for lunch. There were only a few cars in the driveway and I was the only person sitting at the bar. As I sipped my ice tea, I noticed someone walk in, take a seat near me then abruptly get up and turned. I never got a good look at the person as I was writing at the time. Even without a good glance, by the motion, I knew who it was in an instant… …After 6.5 years with someone, you know the way he moves. Even if it had been in near darkness, I think I would have recognized him. MP moved to the other side of the bar, placing the middle of the bar between us. To the best of my knowledge, the two of us had not been in the same room for 18+ months. A year ago, I would have felt anxious and would have wanted to leave immediately. But I sat there and ate normally, coolly talking with the female bartender and eating a high fat Jack Daniels burger and fries. I considered what to do. Should I say hi? Would I regret saying nothing? I pondered the circumstances in which we broke up: the pain, the anger, the lies, the restraining order on him... But I realized these emotions were in the past. Any bad things that happened with him are the price I've paid (in some cases, quite literally) for being where I am today. Today, I'm a well balanced, confident guy. I am following my passions and I'm surrounded by some wonderful people. I have no complaints or regrets. I walked out, prepared to wave and say "hi." But he was hunched over reading a paper. I got a glance at him. Since I had seen him last I would say he's gained 20+ lbs and he looked tired. I've gotten some indications that things are not going well. I wish him well, but he's not my problem.

Fini. Vorbei. Pasado…

It's over. There will never be the same composition of people assembled in one place, for one purpose again. We achieved our goal. We brought fun, joy, laughter to 2,000+ people and we had an amazing time in the process. We took a quirky storyline and tedious music and created something magical. The best part of being a cast member of CHESS was clearly meeting the people. I think that I'm comfortable in calling any one of a half dozen or more people at a whim to hang out. Others I've chatted with in AIM. They rock. This has been an especially emotional journey for me. I started the show in the shadow of a breakup and I ended it in a great place, despite falling lights! I've learned so much from people. I've grown in both a personal and a theatrical sense. I look back on the last 3 months with a big smile and a solitary tear.

On May 14

Ever looked at the date and thought, "Wow. Is it really this date? Where has time gone?"

WEEKLY UPDATE

JOUR DE CONGÉ - I had a kind of day off on Friday. It was supposed to be a day off, but I couldn't get everything done during the week. I had a standing 1:00 PM meeting that I attended then I got talked into another one. So, I ended up working a good portion of the day. At least I was able to sleep in. THE OFFICE - Jim professed his love for the secretary. Gash, that broke my heart. I've been in the same boat. The difference is that he got a kiss afterwards. MAC COMMERCIALS - I'm such a longstanding Apple geek. I love them. MEN – One of my blogger friends wrote something about gay men being "shiny and golden on the outside… A thin, thin golden layer with useless iron at the core." Sometimes, I just have to agree with that. I feel so out of place in environments where I'm expected to "dumb myself down" in order to fit in. (Hamburger Mary's on Thursday was like this.) THEATRE PEOPLE – I'm drawn to people who are think just a bit differently. I've been invited to go to a banquet ceremony for local community theatre performances next month. I'm so excited about it! Theatre, good company, booze. Recipe for… success! FLEDERCAST – I'm getting more versed in "iMovie," the Mac-only video editing software. I'm going to produce a videocast soon!

Worn

I’m tired. The Wednesday night performance of CHESS went very well. It was probably my best individual performance. But, upon crawling into bed at 12:00, I couldn’t sleep and lay awake for an hour. I was very excited about the current show and prospects of an upcoming one, which I’ll write about soon. I had initially planned to take tomorrow (Friday) off, but I had one standing meeting that is at 1:00 pm with Boston that I couldn’t move. Another meeting was kind of forced upon me today. And because of a special event today, there is not enough time for me to finish all that I needed to get done this week. I need to work a half day tomorrow. My wrists are hurting as I have been typing so much lately. At least I get to sleep in late tomorrow.

Jiggy Dance

Fellow blogger Brett Cajun has just published another of his infamous "jiggy dances:" I realized that I have the same Old Navy shirt! Whereas I have a new computer with a very good camera and enough space to work with video (on my hard drive,) I too could publish a jiggy dance! But, alas, I couldn't be so sexy!

Weekly Update

MASQUERADE – Thanks to Kristin and Sue for guiding me through the tenuous process of buying makeup this week for CHESS. You rock! (All of it was good with the exception of the foundation which makes me look a bit yellowish.) OPENING NIGHT – Came and went without any major hitches. We had a blast and, I have to admit that Cincinnati Music Theatre is damn good. You see, any two bit group ~East Side Players~, can do theatre. It's just extremely gratifying to do theatre well and to be acknowledged for it. Understand I've not done this for a while. I was a little verklempt at curtain call for opening night. CAST – I really like the cast of CHESS. I've spent a lot of time with the cast lately, and I have to say more of the same: They are cool and fun and I gladly take their company. SLEEP – I got so little sleep last week. WEIGHT – Several people have consistently said that I've lost weight. Really odd. I've not. Separately, I've been told I look a lot younger than I am. So stop complimenting me! OK... I'll give ya an hour to stop! HIGH – I'm a bit high on life. DIVERSITY – I'm not going to be just writing about theatre in the next week. Sorry, to estrange readers. More about bats and technology to come.

Sunday 1:43 am

I realized driving home tonight that I was smiling… We had an amazing opening night followed by a cast party. Tonight was our second night followed by a second cast party at Allison's house. … I really like the cast and crew. We've had a lot of fun together recently, both in doing theatre or hanging out. The parties were fun, but I am so tired. My eyes look sleepy. I've not slept more than 6 consecutive hours since last Saturday. Time to crash. I'll write more tomorrow.

Final Dress Rehearsal

(Sorry that this is all that I'm writing about at the moment, But, currentlu CHESS is consuming a lot of my energy and time!) We freaking rocked tonight. We finally had an audience and we had a great performance! From a personal standpoint, I found myself relaxed, confident. Despite a costume glitch, my stuff went off without a hitch. I had a lot of fun and, I was on! One scene was particularly interesting. I ad lib'ed a bit when an ensemble member missed being in a scene. The audience wouldn't really have known the difference. The leads smiled while talking about it; Not bad for a newbie. There were a couple of extra details I added tonight that I hadn't done before. Tomorrow is opening night!!! I'm excited and very tired.

First Formal Dress Rehearsal

The first formal dress rehearsal for CHESS was last night and it went a lot better than the previous. Mark, the director asked for increased intensity and he got it. Some of the subtle details make the show quite professional looking. I had a miserable first act, however. I allowed myself to get upset by a certain situation and it really threw off my concentration. Toward the end of ACT I, I had two costume issues, I missed an entrance and messed up a line. I was off and I was extremely frustrated with myself, which further messed up my concentration. Act II was better as I had the situation more under control. Repeating the actions to control the situation, I think I'll be in good shape for tonight. Tonight will be our first time with an audience! (The Aronoff Center volunteers are our ginue pigas.) We will also be videotaping the show. I'm sure there will be bootleg copies all around the internet, just like with Brokeback Mountain. What can I say, we're that good!

Beauteous!

No time to write! Our CHESS (musical) dress rehearsal went very well, in my opinion. Things are falling together nicely. It’s fun! I think that my EIGHT costume changes are particularly amusing. A couple of times, I was literally running the back corridors to the stage room to pull off one costume and pull on another. I have two colored ties which I have to retie each time (as they are not long enough.) I’m having a ball, despite the fact that I need more sleep. (It’s VERY hard to unwind after a show. Even being tired, the adrenaline is still flowing and thoughts of the show consume your mind while lying in bed.) Over lunch, Sue and Kristin are helping me buy some makeup as we are in full costume plus makeup tonight. My face as healed enough where I think I can safely put makeup on! I’m really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, as I have the day off until call at the Aronoff Center, at 6:00 pm.

Hell Week

In the theatre business, this week is what they call "hell week." And tonight I learned why. It's the beginning of the week and there is already tension and stress that people bring upon themselves. And with 5 hour rehearsals each night this week, I wouldn't expect things to get much better. Everyone cares about the show and some are vocal when things are not "right," (in their eyes.) I, myself, was bitched out tonight and it was not pretty. I brushed the outburst off, but I was intrigued as to how normally quiet people could become mini director-wannabes. You'd think that I'd be stressed out being that I've not done a show in more than 15 years. Strangely, that's not the case. Although I took the opportunity tonight to ask a lot of questions. People are generally patient with me, but there have been a couple of times where people have talked down to me. And I casually thought, "I may be a newbie to this group, but I'm not an idiot." Sometimes, it's obvious who the leads are and who the leads are not. Like several people I was a bit surprised by the stage. It's kind of small. Or "intimate" is a nicer word. I'm excited and tired, but not stressed despite the fact that I still need to review some of the song lyrics. Thank goodness I have Thursday off. I'm planning on sleeping in and recharging my batteries that day. Maybe go on a nice walk. I guess what I've learned is to not care about what other people are doing but to put 100% of my effort on focusing in on presenting the best I can be. Oh, and remember all of the set changes that I have to do.

Monday Morning

It's Monday and I'm feeling really well and I'm working from my home office today. (Matt, thinking about going the morning without caffeine.) Despite being a bit restless, I did manage to rest, especially on Sunday. I really didn’t need much pain medication as my head barely hurt. Again, I was fortunate. I've heard from Cécile that the set is all moved into the Aronoff Center. I'm looking forward to seeing the cast and rehearsing tonight!