Happy Holidays from the dayjob

So - found out a couple hours ago that as a holiday present, my dayjob gave me an ipod nano. And fired me.

Yup. As if out of 'glengarry glen ross,' 4 days before christmas they called to let me know that my services will no longer be required, as they've decided to hire someone who treats the firm more like a career. And guess who that person might be... the friend i found for them to cover my desk while i was out of town, who told me that if they offered her a full-time job she wouldn't be interested.

I have to laugh! It's really pretty absurd. I'm actually not that devastated by it all - i'll file for unemployment and go to temp agencies (wasn't looking forward to that, i admit) and hit the auditions double hard (which i am very much looking forward to), and look for other, unexpected opportunities.

Meanwhile, i've got 2 more shows here in roanoke. Elizabeth N. is in town, which is kind of wonderful.

And hey, if anybody knows of any astounding work... i know of a hell of an actor.

X-treme Theater

This weekend was awesome and exhausting, physically and emotionally.

Number one on the list of 'what was he thinking?!' would have to be that i chose to get out of bed at 6:30 saturday morning in order to meet paul for a 7+mile mountain hike before doing not one but TWO shows that day (bear in mind that the only time i leave the stage during these shows is for intermission and for two unbelievably quick costume changes into and out of those drywall stilts). Blew the carbon out of my system, wore me the fuck out, but what a great feeling. And this sort of thing totally opens up your acting (or it can anyway). A friend wrote about a spiritual teacher who says you should piss off your ego once in a while. Which i agree with, and add that it's a good idea to push yourself in a serious way, or somehow surprise yourself or shake yourself up once in a while.

Ran into some offstage personal drama later on that night, wouldn't you know? But nothing like the day when i did the long bike ride followed by two 2-man shows followed by having a break-up phone call with sunny during which i got call waiting from beth who NEEDED TO TALK TONIGHT, IT'S IMPORTANT so after sunny and i finished breaking up on the phone over 800 miles i called beth and found out that our cat had died. Oy - that was a day! Yeah, this was nothing like that, and i won't go into it here, but it was enough to prevent me from getting good sleep, in spite of being completely exhausted. Then yesterday after the show and the bah hum bug fiesta (big success, btw) all the players in the offstage drama found ourselves in the same places at the same time, for much of the day. Tee hee! Not sure who's pissed off at whom right about now, but i'm being cool about it (as far as i know) and not letting it weigh down on me too much.

Tonight's the secret santa party - ho ho ho!

Karaoke...

...on tuesday made me hungover yesterday (ok, it wasn't the karaoke that did it - it was the shot of jameson, the jack and coke, and the many many beers, but the karaoke didn't much help) I was not in my best form, i must say - did a barely passable 'born to run' to represent hoboken, and fairly butchered 'should i stay or should i go.' How did these songs end up so high? They seem like they're right in my range when i'm singing along... oh, wait, maybe it's the beer and the smoke (bars down here are still really smokey) and the microphone and the eyes on me.

But it was a really good time, much fun with the theater folk, who amused each other if not the crowd in general (and i think we did amuse the crowd in general, although i doubt that many of them will be rushing out to buy tix for xmas carol.) A local hottie singing 'gold dust woman' got my attention, which resulted in a drunken pass i should probably be embarrassed about but which resulted in her phone number anyway.

So magic 8pod: what's going to be the deal there?

'Moonlight in Vermont,' by Billie Holiday. Nothing terribly revealing about this response, but it's a great version of a gorgeous song about a beautiful subject, so that can't be bad...

right?

Tidings of comfort and joy

Yesterday turned out great! Got some stuff done. The mechanic scared me with what might be wrong with my car (for instance, it could have needed a new fuel injector or compressor - yikes!) but then it turned out to be a loose spark plug (whew!) So that was a relatively cheap fix - and now my car feels like a luxury ride.

Last night went out to see 'stranger than fiction,' which was surprisingly good. Have to admit that on the whole i'm kind of over will ferrell, but this was a very different kind of picture for him. Excellent writing and directing and dustin hoffman and emma thompson provided really fucking good work. And... maggie gyllenhaal. Yum. Omigod omigod she has something beyond description and beyond category. Did some magazine just say that scarlett johannson is the sexiest woman alive? Frankly scarlett, not even close.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!!!!!! Hope you're having a fantastic time in germany and netherlands.

Crazy Warm

It's like 60 degrees out today. Which begs the question why am i in a coffee shop - no good reason except to do some internet/email stuff, including downloading a song one of the actors needs. Took my car to the shop: hopefully not a big deal; guess i'll find out later today. Would like to get in some tennis or maybe a hike later on. A bunch of people took off to visit charlottesville/monticello, but i wanted to stay closer to home today, to deal with the car and because i knew i'd be up late last night, which i most certainly was:

-Had dinner
-Couple beers with kelly and talked about life and how to live it
-Watched the simpsons
-Few more beers with various and sundry; tried to describe the pleasures of honey dust to a few of the actors - it's one of those things you kind of have to try before you really get it
-Played:taboo (fun game - you should try it) euchre and poker
(at around this time, ben showed up wearing a bathrobe and seemed intent on flashing the world while making it look accidental. And then he and scott started throwing cupcakes at each other for some obscure reason)
-Then a late-night check-in with scott, who by this time was past being drunk enough to throw cupcakes.

Got to bed around a quarter to 4 for some much much needed sleep. We have yet to see what today will bring...

What's the opposite of frustrating?

Fulfilling, maybe?

Anyway, that's what yesterday was, on the whole. Really full and wonderful in surprising ways.

I went to elizabeth n's family place, because her grandmother passed on thanksgiving, and the memorial service was yesterday. Had a bit of a reunion with that whole clan, then went to salem presbyterian: she'd asked me to sing with the choir at the memorial, and of course i was happy to (and there isn't much out there that i wouldn't do for elizabeth if she asked - she's just one of the great beautiful brilliant wonderful people in the world). Got to meet her neice claire for the first time: gorgeous and precocious, natch. And the service was very nice, and moving. Then a couple receptions during which i got to meet much more of the extended family and some friends. Their minister once trained to be an actor. Hmm. Lois, the dearly departed, whom i never did have the pleasure to meet, seems to have been a singularly magnificent individual, and i was honored to be a part of the celbration of her life.

But i had to bow out early to head downtown for the show. Traffic was odd because fridays are HUGE CHRISTMAS EVENTS this time of year, especially yesterday because, in spite of it's being about 16 degrees out, the xmas parade was happening in the evening. So i watched a little bit of that (had to feel for the baton twirlers, who were seriously underdressed) then went on to the theater. Good energy in the air; did a warm up, played 'big bootie' with a couple of the young cast members (this i'd have to show you in person) and then did the show. And it was FANTASTIC - just one of those nights that starts out well, and people throw in some new stuff and other people react to it organically and the audience responds in kind. [GREAT audience last night, which kind of begs the question: does a good audience make a good show, or a good show make a good audience? Answer: both, of course; but in my opinion, much more the latter - if it's funny, they'll laugh; if it's moving, they'll be moved] Even a wardrobe malfunction (fred's wife's petticoat came undone during that interminable party scene), which did cause some onstage corpsing, resulted in spontaneity that kept the show alive and on its toes.

Then out to a bar for a fun discussion with a bitchen bunch of folks.

All in all, a pretty good day.

As promised, a wee bit o' magic 8pod:

First one from last weekend that i didn't have a chance to write about then -

How will Operation Slut-It-Up-A-Notch go? The Kinks, "Who'll Be The Next in Line?" Don't really need to add much to that, do i?

How will our 'Secret Santa' turn out? Jimi Hendrix, 'Killing Floor' Yikes! Maybe we should focus on the fact that it's an amazing version of a rockin' song, or else that party might turn into a sam raimi movie.

How will christmas in new york be? Stevie Wonder, 'Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day' Hey i kind of like this one a lot. Great groove, sweet and sexy... maybe i'll have a nice warm return to the city.

What about the drive back home? Soulwax, 'Beatles vs/Kraftwerk' A cool mashup of 'Eleanor Rigby' with some good ol' synth from deutschland. All the lonely people? All right, I'll be alone on that drive, but if i can treat it like the autobahn, kraftwerk-style, i won't complain.

Ok, i don't know why this blog isn't letting me put things in bold or italics anymore; didn't use to be a problem. Also, why can't i plug links into the text the way everyone else can? Is this an anti-mac/anti-safari aspect. Blah. Not gonna let it crunch my buzz.

Frustration...

on a bunch of levels.

I've been off the blog for a while. Felt SO GOOD not to be sick that i had some euphoria going on there for a while. There were some fun parties over last weekend (including a very small roving bash called slut-it-up-a-notch) Had some really good shows, and some that were less so.

Did a PR event with a local radio station yesterday - a car dealer donated a loaded 2007 vw beetle that's been dubbed a 'Bah Humbug,' which we raffled off on the radio: buy a ticket for a hundred bucks and get a chance to win the car. Total of about 350 seats for sale, so those aren't bad chances, and the money is split between the theater and a local charity. We sold all the tix, so that's a guaranteed full house and upwards of $35,000. The actor playing scrooge and i both helped out - a teeny tiny bit of air time, which was kind of fun, a lot of answering phones, and no small amount of sitting around. We met lindsay, the PR coordinator, at 6:30 a.m. and were told they'd need us for a couple of hours. We didn't get back until well after 11 - no big deal, but mildly annoying. Still, a HUGE success for the theater and for lindsay.

Then came this morning's student matinee. The theater rep makes his curtain speech, where he asks everyone to turn off cell phones, etc. For our regular performances, this is also when they acknowledge the corporate patrons, but i was a little surprised to hear him run through the list for the benefit of these junior high and high school kids. And then even more surprised when he went on to discuss individual contributions, and suggest that when they get out of school and start making money they should consider giving to the theater. Ugh.

And then about 10 minutes into act one, around the time marley's ghost shows up, one of the students begins moaning, loudly, in the audience, fairly near the stage. Other kids were laughing, and it rattled some of the actors. Pretty soon it became clear that this wasn't some jackass being disruptive, but a special-needs kid who couldn't control himself. But that wasn't necessarily clear to everyone, especially the folks who aren't on stage a whole lot (i.e., almost everyone) So there was some line shakiness, some unintended laughter (onstage and off), and even some pretty inappropriate improv. When the act ended i went to the deck stage manager, who was laughing about it - really not a bad reaction all in all, but i wasn't finding it funny at the moment. I asked her what was going on, and what was being done about it, and she had no idea. Not only that, no one had tried to find anything out or do anything about it at all during the act. I make it clear i'm not happy and ask to be told what's going on when somebody gets a clue.

Soon the stage manager shows up in the dressing room all 'i hear you wanted to talk to me.' I hadn't said anything about wanting to see her, but she went on to say "there's a group of disabled kids in front."

"Duh."

"And none of us knew about it."

"The house manager didn't know?"

"The house manager knew, but didn't tell us, and put them down front - he says he's going to move them to the back where they'll be less distracting."

"I'm not sure that's the best idea - don't you think that might be demoralizing for them?"

"Well, we'll figure something out"

Ok, basically it's too late at this point to DO anything much to help. Beforehand, some foresight in seating might have been helpful, and a little foreknowledge of what was going on would DEFINITELY have been good. I mean, last week they warned us that there would be some kindergardeners in the house, and this week they didn't feel it necessary to let us know that somebody in the fifth row would be moaning and wheezing and gasping for breath. Then one of the other actors comes into the dressing room and starts complaining about the inappropriate behavior of the young actors vis a vis the situation. I almost yelled at him: "They had no knowledge of what was going on!"

"The people in fezziwig's party were laughing and making faces"

"Those guys thought it was some kid being an asshole."

"It was obviously a disabled student."

"It was obvious to us because we were on stage the whole time - the fezziwig people had no clue. I didn't know for a few minutes what was up."

"I knew right away. And no matter what, it was inappropriate."

Which, of course, it was. And unprofessional.

And frustrating on so many levels...


Wow. I've got to write more good stuff, and less overwordy rants.

Next time i think i'll throw down another Magic 8pod.

getting better all the time...

...but just little by little.

This damn cold has been hanging on tenaciously. [btw, must go see the tenacious d movie soon] I at least feel like a real live human being today, which is a big plus. Went out into the world for a reason other than to do a show or feed and medicate myself, so that felt good. Up to the roanoke 'star' to walk around and see the sights a bit. Talked to elizabeth n. on the phone and found that her grandmother just passed away on thanksgiving. All condolences and sympathies. The service will be next friday here in good ol' roanoke, so at least i'll be able to attend that and see her and her family there.

We had a student matinee this morning. The fullest house we've had so far (of course) and they were wild and unruly, natch, but in a very real and alive way, and it turned out to be a great show. Love being out there to hear them fuck around and make noise and semi-mock the experience until they get sucked into the story. I've never thought about it this way before, but i think that a room full of 300 kids who are silent because they're listening to actors/artists/musicians do their thing is one of the best sounds there is.

So now i'm off to a media/publicity event (the theater is raffling off a new vw - a 'bah humBUG,' get it? - in conjunction with a local radio station, so they're doing a remote out at the auto mall) then feed the cold and get some rest before tonight's show.

Also must see 'the departed' soon. Can't believe i haven't seen it yet. And 'for your consideration.'

All hail robert altman, while we're at it.

Hiking and healing

I have a cold. Which really sucks, but hopefully it will be one of those things that comes and goes really quickly - i think i got from the dressing room; held it off until opening weekend was over. Woke yesterday (my day off) with a sore throat. Trying to do all the right things.

The low level cold did not keep me in though. Went on a hike with david and andrew at smith mountain lake - very nice, it was a beautiful day. Went out with amanda and lindsay for some good spicy mexican food, which i'd been craving, then saw the new james bond movie, which i really liked.

So now i'm going to finish up here and try to get some ingredients for healing - ginger and garlic and airborne (which apparently is the cure-all for 2006) and such stuffs - and lie low until tonight's show...

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times...

Ok, it's been neither, but i figured the sitch was ripe for a dickens quote.

And i will admit that the inspiration for that particular quote was wednesday, which would have to qualify as the worst day i've had since i've been down here in roanoke. Poor sleep the night before, and i woke to a cold and rainy day. And, since the day before my tennis partner was unable to locate a wal mart he promised existed, and the thanskgiving feast-coordinator had been unable to find butternut squash or apple cider, i had to run out to do some shopping. On the day before thanksgiving. In the rain. I really only had a little to do, so i figured an hour would take care of it... three hours later, wet, famished and in a vile mood, i finally returned to the atelier to begin working on the soup i pledged to the company feast. Really just no way to describe quite how unpleasant this all was, but as a little treat to myself to assuage the hunger (and some of you know how nasty i can be when i'm in need of foor), i picked up some comfort food: fried chicken, (real) mac and cheese, and collard greens. Which i was really looking forward to at this point, but i wasn't prepared for the stuff to have slipped just this much on the floor of the back seat, so that the juice from the greens formed a little pool in the bottom of the bag, which then leaked onto the upholstery as i pulled the bag from my car. So i cursed the heavens (still raining, by the way) did a wee bit of damage control, and unloaded the bags.

Then i went into a frenzy of cooking. Which was very good for me. Made two big batches of squash and pear soup, enough for a party of 13, plus leftovers. The chopping, peeling and immersion blending was first rate for me to unload some aggression, and fortunately i escaped the process uninjured. Plus, if i may say so myself, the soup rocked.

I'd thought i might get in a nap to make up for the previous night's fitfulness but that turned out to be a teasing fantasy. SO... it was off to the second preview of xxxmas carol. Which was fine, for the most part, but... remember those drywall stilts? Well we'd worked out the changes a whole bunch of times, and had them down so there was (almost) time to spare. Still, this night, about a third of the way through "yet-to-come's" scene, i noticed that my left foot was slipping out of the binding of its stilt. Now it's kind of important for the phantom of the future to be, well, motionless unless he's supposed to be moving. Kind of diminishes his awesomeness if he's wriggling around trying to get his foot secured into his stilt. So i kept that to a minimum, but when i moved on to the scene at old joe's junk shop, the foot came almost all the way out. I made it to a ledge to sit down on (it was emergency time now) and tried to fix the sitch - no go: the bindings were too far out of whack, and without the use of my hands (which were holding onto big scary arms that were now extending somewhat less than ominously from my big black robe) i realized i had to get off stage for wardrobe help. Mrs. dilber and old joe haggled away downstage, as i limped along the platform towards stage left. But the platform ends about 5 feet shy of the wings, and without a handhold, there was no way for me to make it off. So there i was, leaning on the platform as the audience starts to murmur just a bit (and the director has cardiac arrest) and hoping one of the wardrobe gals will realize what's going on. I held that for a few moments, and when no one appeared i whispered from underneath my hood and veil: "i need a little help here.' Still nothing, so i try a bit louder: 'guys, i need some HELP.' Backstage rumbling and rustling, then i see katie and whisper again - 'you've got to come out here so i can lean on you' Which she did, and we took care of it, and i made it back out before we had to cross to the other side of the stage to point at scrooge's dead body.

All in all, we handled it very well, but talk about nervous-making. Mad props to the wardrobe crew, as always. They ROCK!!! And i don't know where this show would be if they didn't completely fucking rock every night.

Happy to say that since wednesday, things have been great. The weather is now unbelievably great, and though i've been working pretty hard (about to do my 5th show in 50 hours) that's what i am here for.

More updates to come...

Fun with technology

Every theater goes through some little technical wrinkles as opening night approaches (shocking, i know). So for a little window into what that can look like, which hopefully theater-people and civilians alike can appreciate, and with nothing but love for the very competent designers and crew, here's a little of what's going on with the Ghost of Christmas Present:

They have him - super talented guy, by the way - entering via a trap door in front of scrooge's bed, and that's led to all sorts of complications (more shocking news). The current solution is to try to draw the audience eye away when the trap opens by means of a fog hazer situated on one of the lighting rails above the proscenium - so they're gunning all this smoke (very loud machine, i might add) DOWN TOWARD THE STAGE, but, as i thought was common knowledge, smoke has this inconvenient tendency TO RISE rather than descend to where the ghost is appearing. They tried this for the first time (in the presence of actors) during yesterday's dress - i was very happy that the appearance of mr. present is one of those moments when it's ok for my character to laugh anyway. As if that weren't enough, our ghost is kind of a sweaty guy, and his mustache keeps coming unglued. "You've never seen the like of me before, have you?" (mustache flap) "Are there no prisons? (flap flap) Are there no workhouses? (flap flap flap)"

Gotta keep a sense of humor about this stuff. It happens at every theater, with every show. And again - BIG UPS to the crew, who are dealing with this and a hundred other technical details (and actor stupidity - remember me on those drywall stilts? Well, now that we're on a darkened and foggy stage, and i'm in a costume that obscures my sight and obliterates my peripheral vision, the fun never stops!) with ingenuity and relentless professionalism. Nothing but confidence that we'll take care of all this bidness. First preview tonight, and we open on friday!

Anarchy...

...has been popping up more and more lately. Reminders of the living theater in conversation, references to bakhunin in an article, another article about 'critical mass' and the new york bicycling movement, various references to other leaderless communities, still another article - this one about lagos and the growing mega-city trend, with the attendant GIGANTIC populations that exist beyond the scope of official society, with independent social structures, living situations, rules of behavior and economies (not to mention unfathomable poverty).

And at the same time, the most prominent/visible incarnation of the great anarchist god, the Pink Flamingo, has ceased production. I'm sure you've read about this: the massachusetts company that produces the plastic lawn flamingos has closed that wing, so to speak. The king is dead; long live the king. The omnipotent is of course immortal and indestuctible, and the plastic versions will still be fairly ubiquitous for a while (they're not exactly bio-degradable, after all), but i still thought it was worth a mention.

tick tock

First dress rehearsal happens in a little over an hour. Fast costume change up onto stilts and into a huge padded FUTURE robe will be worth some excitement. Adrenaline will be flowing and over-caffeinated runcrew will keep things moving on a more or less straight (if staggering) path. Christmas carol as cultural anthropology: enforced recreation live on stage in virginia! God fucking bless us, everyone.

Tough stuff

Cory had to get a cast on her ankle. Shit. They're pulling her from the show until she's able to get around without a crutch "because tiny tim is the only one who can have a crutch." Double fucking shit. They are being cool enough to keep her on contract and give her the equity points, but still, i don't like it one bit. I'm going to see what we can do to find a project for her to work on while recovering.

The adrienne shelly murder is wreaking havoc with my brain (and a lot of peoples' brains) Crazy scary sad tragic awful horrific i feel so bad for her and her family. Just pops into my mind from time to time and stirs up a macabre little stew. I didn't know her well, but...

shit.

Day off in VA

First full day off down here. Last night a bunch of us went to see 'the prestige,' which was pretty damn good, i have to say. Then a few of us played scrabble and drank martinis till about 3. Not a bad end to the work week.

Today it's really gorgeous again (it's been kind of cold the last few days). Slept in till about 10, and then:

-read a dylan interview (nat hentoff, '64, around hte recording of 'another side...' pretty fucking cool)
-did a set of dynamics
-shower, coffee, breakfast routine
-worked on lines
-read a susan lori parks interview (hinton als from last month's new yorker - also pretty fucking cool)
-cleaned up the room
-went to an indian restaurant for buffet lunch with a bunch of the company
-went to the coffeeshop (where i am now) to check email, etc. and write this entry

Later on i'm playing tennis with andy, and then probably more line work, maybe another movie (haven't seen 'the departed' yet, or 'borat' - both of those are pretty high on the list)

The word from the t-day is that it was great again and that jules did a great job hosting, but the whole thing was too short-lived. All hail the t-day crew!

Sunday morning...

...Not just a velvet underground song anymore.

I'm sitting in a diner on market street, in a booth facing a mannequin of some kind of old timey gambling saloon figure - not a cowboy, but wearing a straw cowboy hat, red vest and black pinstripe suit - think bret maverick with an old and grizzled face. He's standing over by the gumball machines looking pensive about it all. Just finished off some biscuits and gravy (not like what we get in utah, but pretty damn good) and they're taking care of my hangover for me.

Ok, it's not THAT bad of a hangover, but i did tie one on last night. This is the big t-day weekend, and so i had to at least try to make up for missing that. Plus, one of my r-ball partners turned her ankle this week on the court. And by 'turned' i mean 'separated a ligament from and fractured.' Yeah. Not so good. So i felt especially responsible to party with her and her peeps. Made an african peanut soup in honor of t-day virginia-style, the sort of safari-themed room they've got me in, and of course thinking of sunny in togo. Worked on lines over martinis with the truly beautiful and talented katie. Then went and put a big dent in a bottle of jameson with cory, ben and vanessa (well, ok, ben and i did most of the damage to the bottle - cory was on pain meds for her ankle)

So now it's not morning anymore, strictly speaking, and rehearsal awaits...

Missile dick chick

Here's a viddy from sparkle, one of the missile dick chicks who went out to hoboken the day before the election to try to get people to go shopping instead of voting.

Gotta love our men in blue...

Almost no time at all...

...because i'm about to head to the gym and play racquetball (!) for the first time in over a year. Way psyched about the gym down here - very luxurious, relative to the place i go in hoboken. Everything's new, sauna, hot tub, 2 pools, etc.

Then it's rehearsal all day - last night, somebody asked 'do you have rehearsal tomorrow?' and i just gave her a look. If rehearsal's happening, i'm called, yo. But hey, that's what i am here for, no?

Beautiful fucking gorgeous day down here. Little mist on the mountains, the kind you can tell the sun will burn away by about noon. Not bad.

Giant beers and drywall stilts

First read through of the play last night - good group o' peeps. The locals (mostly kids, ages i'm guessing 8-16) are a fun bunch too. One little redhead guy is living in his own private idaho, but he brought a lot of smiles at the reading.

After the rehearsal we went to a bar and i had another one of those 'oh yeah!' moments - the 'inherit the wind' cast would party there too, and i had a memorable dinner with elizabeth n. there that i nonetheless had forgotten about until i passed by the booth where we'd sat. One thing had completely forgotten (if i'd ever known it) was that when you order a large beer at this place, they bring you a huge glass goblet that has about a quart of beer in it. This may be something new, actually, because i think i'd remember a detail like that. Well, this bunyanesque sam adams set me back $4.75, so i reckon i'll favor this establishment plenty...

To answer some folks questions: yes! The housing more than lives up to expectations! I have a beautiful large room with a private bath and kitchenette (kind of like a ridiculously grand version of that hotel they put the milwaukee rep interns in, sherin and jp) and i lucked out so i'm on the side of the building away from traffic and the railroad. And all of the rooms have been nicely decorated. Well... most of them. One actress describes her room as looking like 'jimmy buffet threw up the decor.' It is kind of a tropical nightmare, but she appreciates the kitch.

Now i'm in the theater office, between a costume fitting and the first blocking rehearsal. As the ghost of christmas yet to come, they're having me wear drywall stilts to get some larger-than-life-ness going on. It's a way cool outfit, and i'm having a blast charging around on the stilts.

And that's what i'm going to do now... Hope everybody remembered to vote.

Hello dixieland

Yesterday was fantastic, today is awesome, what will tomorrow look like?

Yesterday drove down to spend the day with jen - one of the greatest people there is, in case you're keeping score at home - had brunch with her in new hope, green tea at her crib, got deep, got silly, shared all the tawdry detail, all the good stuff. Then to philly to hang with darren and jackie and they're 2 babies. Hadn't seen them since last winter, so it was a really great update/reunion. They're doing fab in their new (to them) townhouse in south philly, and building a beautiful life - SO good to see the folks from school once in a while. The three years at u of i were so intense, and now we seldom get to see much of each other, but the connection is pretty direct and immediate when we do. So, thanks darren.

Today i made the drive from philadelphia to roanoke. Hit by memories as i drove into town, then FLOODED by them as i walked around the square. What's changed, what hasn't, what i remember, who i knew back then, who i was back then... Bottom line, it's a fucking gorgeous fall day, warm and clear, the leaves are exploding with color and the drive through the appalachians was stunning. Ready to get down to it in the theater tomorrow. Oh, and, good luck for me: there's a great little coffee shop with free internet around the corner from the sweet place they've got me living, so that's an unexpected perk (ew - unintended bad pun, but who even remembers perking coffee anymore?)