Saturday in the Park with George

Ok, first things first: today is Cory's birthday. That is momentous, and I think you should take a moment to acknowledge the awesomeness of the occasion. Perhaps light a candle and sing a song. Or something. Something juicy.

Cory came up with the title for this post. You see, as part of her birthday celebration, she got a girls' day and night with our friends from last year's birthday day out. They took a trip to the outlet malls, and while that sort of sounds like punishment to me, they actually planned the whole thing out and were looking forward to it and everything.

One thing Kristin did ask of me was to look after her dog George for the day. "Ummm... ok!"

I mean!

So they came to Chelsea and dropped off George, then took off to Woodbury Common. And George and I got a day together. I'd send them little phone photos with text updates: "George at brunch" (I took him to brunch. No, I didn't feed him from the table.) "George finds the chair." "George finds the couch." "George finds my lap."

It was a ridiculous amount of fun.

And after brunch, and walking through the Village, and listening to part of an opera, and watching a movie together, we decided to go to the dog park in Madison Square.

See, this is life. One day: no fun. Another day: So much fun!

I could go on, but for now, here's a little photo essay of George's interaction with a Weimaraner puppy at the dog run. It's a little scary at first, but it gets better...

See? You think he's in trouble, don't you?

Total stand off.

But many things can be resolved with a little bit of sniffing.

Followed by a little more sniffing.

Those kids are going to get along just fine.

And that's how a bill becomes a law!

There's more to share, but I have to get ready for the Big Birthday Dinner!!!!

The Empress of Sex

That being the title of the play we performed (well, in staged reading form) with the Hive Theater company a few weeks ago in Times Square. It was, of course, somber tragedy. Oh wait, no: it was a sex comedy. A ridiculous sex comedy. I have described it thusly: "Sort of a live-in-person cross of The Hangover, No Strings Attached, Twelfth Night, and that cable series Spartacus. Maybe a dash of Porky's." Like I said, ridiculous. BUT - with some good writing, some good acting, some good music, and plenty of laughs, if I may say so myself.

It was very staged for a reading, so there was also some skin. One purpose of a staged reading is to get a sense of how a show might work in full production, and this is one of those shows that you really just won't be able to tell how it works if there isn't a certain amount of boobage. And butts. And simulated sex acts. Cory came with our friend Joe and they were sitting at about the 4th table back (this happened in a comedy club with cabaret-style seating). One of her comments was something along the lines of: "I didn't have a very good view of that part where you were on the floor surrounded by those three topless muses and you had all those boobs in your face. Yeah, I was ok with that." It was a big mess, but legitimately funny, I think, and quite a bit of fun for a bunch of people.

And no, I did not show any excess skin of my own. Probably for the best...

The Y Words

The premise here is that if you have a blog and leave a comment on this post, I’ll assign you a letter. You take that letter and make a list of 10 things you love that begin with that letter. Then, you pass on the letter love to the bloggers who make comments on your post. (Or, if you don't have a blog, comment or email me and we'll go from there.) It’s creative and social!

I got this from walkalong, and the letter I got is Y.

SOOOOoooooo.... In no particular order:

1) Yo La Tengo -

One of the baddest and bitchinest bands out there. Not surprising that they made the list.

2) Yes - The affirmation, not the band. Not. The. Band. (I mean, Roundabout is ok and everything, but those guys don't get into the top ten.) The idea of saying 'yes' to things though, to diving in with positive energy and enthusiasm: that makes the list.

3) The Yes Men - both the movie and (especially) the performing/activist group.

These are the guys who brought the suit shown above to a meeting of the World Trade Organization and held their attention for an entire presentation. The guys who orchestrated the switching of voice chips between talking G.I. Joe and talking Barbie. During the Holiday Season. Like Improv Everywhere but bolder.

4) You. Yes, you! You know who you are.

5) Yo Yo Ma - Cellist extarordinaire. Great work in many genres.

6) YMCA - The gym, not the song. Not. The. Song. But the Y around the corner has been my gym for years, and while it's no-frills, it's not bad. That's my answer and I'm sticking to it.

7) 92nd Street Y - Cultural center, community center, performance space, important to New York. I've performed there, and I've seen and heard LOTS of good stuff there. Did you know that this is a YMHA, not a YMCA? You probably did.

8) Yoga - Sure, I don't practice as often or as intensely as I could, but I love it nonetheless. My daily practice has slipped to the wayside the last couple weeks. Maybe this list will spur me to get back into that.

9) Y chromosomes - You know, those little microscopic things that pair up with X chromosomes to make a person a boy instead of a girl. I wouldn't say that I prefer Y to X inherently, but let's take this opportunity to celebrate maleness.

10) Yoni - Let's take this opportunity to celebrate femaleness. I think it's fair to acknowledge a love of Yoni. Not all Yonis. And NOT Yanni. But, the idea of Yoni, the right Yoni, the Yoni for me, yeah, we can celebrate that.

This installment has been brought to you by the letter Y.