Car Mixup?

Jason and I were picking up some groceries at Meijer. After shopping, we walked through the lot searching for the VW. We searched a little and found a VW. But on closer inspection, it was not ours. Hmm.. What was the give away? For your reference, our car: See?

A SHOW GOES DOWN

On Saturday night, in front of a full house of admiring G&S fans, the lights went down on H.M.S. Pinafore. It's always a strange/uncomfortable thing when a show ends. As Steve said, it's kind of like after your final examinations are all over. You feel a bit disoriented: On one hand, you have your life back and can resume relations with your spouse and friends whom you have ignored. You have more time to do laundry and clean up the sprawl. (Jason is hoping for this.) Still… you wonder what people do with their time? How do people use up all that free time that comes on weeknights? It's odd to think that every night this week, I can do what I want. I could even theoretically watch TV (if it didn't bore me so much.) … On the other hand, I'm missing the adrenaline rush. I miss being on stage. I miss performing and I miss the laughs, especially from this show. Am I shallow to say I like taking a bow? I miss the cast a bit. I think I will take away 2-3 new friends from the show, which in itself is a cool thing; I get along well with theatre people. Theatre is addictive, a passion.

On Hate

Last night, at a cast party, we were playing some very silly group games, including the Name Game. To make the long story short, the name that I was trying to get my gamepartner to say was "Michelle Obama." My clue: "The president elect's wife." "Bitch," he loudly blurted out, much to the delight of the people in the room. He said, "Hmm. Not even sure what her name is" and thought a minute before stating her name. I let it roll off. It didn't bother me then, but I thought about it on the longish drive home. I know the cast member has ideological differences with democrats, but why would he have such a strong dislike for certain people themselves? Oh, I have my opinions, too, but to say that I hate "W" is not fair. I'm so frustrated with his policies I could scream, but I realize that he believed he was doing good for his country. I can't bring myself to hate him, in fact, I wouldn't say I "hate" anyone. A common perception of Americans is that they don't like to think for themselves. Some let political pundits and their churches spew out hateful ideas, singling out groups whom they can blame, discriminate against, judge and persecute.

12 of 12: November 2008

Here’s what 12 of 12 is all about: On the 12th day of each month you take 12 photos showing how you spent your day, post them on your blog, and then link the post back to Chad. It's my day off! I wake up at 6:30 am and clean the office. It may not look too clean. You should have seen how messy it was beforehand! I make an appointment at the Kenwood Mall Apple store to get the casing on my old white Macbook repaired (before selling it.) Here are Woody and Vincent. Attractive, smart and helpful. They rock! I have a sandwich and a couple of beers at Friday's in Kenwood and pull out the new laptop. I take a nap. Chase is more than happy to join me at my side. I wake up and decide that I need to get off my lazy arse and go to the gym. I take a picture from outside the gym at the city of Cincinnati. Working out. While I'm not out of shape, I realize that I don't go enough. I arrive at the Aronoff Center late late. At 6:20 for a 7:30 performance of HMS Pinafore. I hurry to get my microphone, do the vocal warm up and do the microphone check, without makeup. I manage to rush to get the makeup on and head to the dock for "green room." Later in the evening, I take a picture of my fellow seamen in the dressing room: Tara is a crack up. I take this picture at intermission. These are the infamous staircase that I've run up and down dozens of times (especially during a previous show, during CHESS.) Charlie and I in the dressing room: After the show, I take a picture of the rainy Cincinnati street:

Photo Friday- SHARP

Last March, I bought a new Swiss Army knife whilst on business in Geneva. Here is the photo demonstrating the knife. Jason added a "300" filter in Lightroom for effect.

WEEKLY ROUNDUP

PRESIDENT ELECT – And, we have a new president, after 18+ months of agonizing. I’m extremely pleased that the US people spoke up, went to the polls and voted for Barrack Obama. I'm excited for so many reasons. THE SHOW – Cincinnati Music Theatre’s H.M.S. Pinafore is a smash! The word on the street is that it is a great production and our audiences continue to get bigger and bigger, nearing capacity of the 400 seat theatre. It’s quite gratifying to see a full house! HELL WEEK & OPENING NIGHT – In theatre circles, the week leading up to the opening of a show is sometimes called “Hell week”—with very good reason. There are last minute tasks, marathon rehearsals, etc., etc. Anyway, I survived the past week without too many problems. Opening Night went very very well. Our energy was great. APPLE CULT – Ya, I know… CELEBRITIES – Jason, Chase and Paul were recently featured in Citibeat, online. Here is the pic of these dashing men: PALIN - Pray, tell me, why is the press still giving Sarah Palin air time? Who cares? Ser-i-o-us-ly. REFLECTIONS AND SHADOWS – Cats are a bit funny in that their behaviors can change over time; they act in phases. Chase, for example, has recently taken up a strong fascination with shadows and reflections. Sure, he did this before. But now, he spends more time staring at walls looking for shadows and reflections. Either that or our townhouse was built on an ancient Native American burial ground…

Election Day in Cincinnati

After lunch today, I took a quick walk with Jason to check out the noise coming from a block away. Specifically, I wanted to see democracy in action--without going to the polls the proof that an important election was happening. My hope is that we can paint the city "blue" at the end of the day today!

Matt's USA November Madness Bracket

The following is my "bracket" prediction for "the big game" today. Let's hope that this one is more accurate than my NCAA bracket this last March!

Move In: H.M.S. Pinafore (Updated!)

Yay! We moved into the Aronoff Center today! CMT's H.M.S. Pinafore is coming to life! I tried on my sailor uniform for the show. I'm really happy with the outfit Patrick made: I spent 3+ hours working with Don, the Sound designer, on the wiring for the show. Here's an early picture of how the set looked as we were moving it in and reconstructing it: Updated! Here is what the finished set looks like:

Weekly Roundup

NEW GLASSES - I finally decided to upgrade my wardrobe and get some new glasses with my Flexcomp money. Jason helped pick them out. They are pretty modern and fun! NEW BLOG HEADER - I thought it was time to change the header for die Fledermaus! Thanks to Jason for helping to clean up an image. MEIJER - Since being in Cincinnati, I've usually shopped at Kroger, as there has always been one nearby. With moving downtown, Jason and I have had to "shop around" for grocery stores as there are none in the immediate vicinity. While the place I know the best is the Kroger is Westwood, I've found that I actually like Meijer the best. There are certain favorite products that Meijer almost exclusively sells: Premade, non-frozen pizza Fresh Cat grass plants Inexpensive carbonated water (Meijer brand 2-liter bottles cost only $.69!) Organic lettuce and milk Multi-vitamin juice (favorite brand, from Poland.) A QUIET HALLOWEEN - With all of my rehearsals and time spend with theatre in the past and upcoming month, I was glad to have had a relaxing night last night with Jason. I picked up a pre-made pepperoni pizza from Meijer (see above.) We opened a bottle of wine and turned on the outdoor light. We had a laid back meal despite being interrupted by about 15 cute trick or treater kids from the neighborhood. We turned the front light off at 8:30 and snuggled, watching "Nightmare Before Christmas" on Blu-Ray. OPEN ENROLLMENT - It's official. Jason and I are now "domestic partners" from a company perspective. I've signed him up for company benefits starting January 1, 2009. I'm very grateful to my employers for recognizing same-sex partners. OHIO RIVER - Talking with a coworker, I learned that her husband is a fishing aficionado and especially liked fishing on the Ohio River. About 5 year ago, while routinely fishing, he "bit" the line (that contained Ohio river water.) Just from that exposure, he got a parasite and was sick for 6 months. Hmm.. We swam in the Ohio (in a similar stretch) a few weeks ago and yes, I would say I swallowed some water...