Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Sh*t I Like Right Now-June 06

Ok, I have been in to so many different things recently, that I thought I would throw them all up here, instead of doing 20 different "My Favorite..." posts.
Ok? Deal.

Books...
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks has been a long time read for me, but I have been re-reading it recently, just to brush up on my readiness, you know-in case the Zombie plague should happen this summer.


Several Different Calvin and Hobbes compilations by Bill Watterson...
I never have gotten over my love affair with these two. Nothing captures the whimsy of Summer more to me than some of these drawings. An essential for the kid at heart.

Rise of the Midnight Sons....a Graphic Novel by Marvel Comics...
I read this crossover saga growing up, and loved it. It involves Dr. Strange, Morbius, Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Blade, and others fighting against Lillith, who is coming back from hell to have her children reborn. Heavy stuff. I loved the darkness of the saga, and the supernatural topic of Lillith. I recently purchased this on Amazon, and poured through it in a day. Loved it.

Desperation by Stephen King...
I want to revisit this novel, and am about 70 pages in. I read it years ago, and want to read it before I FINALLY watch the movie, that is still awaiting my viewing on Ryan's Tivo thingie...

Music...

Barely much music on the list, because I haven't bought much new...except for this...
Sunday in the Park with George-New London Cast Recording.Hmmm.....I do like it, but. Hmmm. I'm such a purist. I always love the origional Cast Recordings so much better. It's ok, I guess. But that's it. Ok.

Movies...

The Shape of Things...
I have never seen or read the play,(by Neil Labute...sp?) nor seen the film until yesterday morning. Wow. I was blown away. It was like Closer meets Cruel Intentions, but still colder. The twist at the end knocked me on my ass. Great film.


The Hills Have Eyes-Unrated...
My first Birthday gift from Matt so far. I was NOT dissapointed. This is the first remake of a 70's horror film that I like. In fact, I like it better than the original. Much more charachter and situation development. Gory as hell, but a well done film.

SO, that's this month's "Sh*t I Like Right Now" list. I did have images to go with every one of these things, but Blogger is ONCE AGAIN not letting me upload. *sigh* More later.
Luv,
SGS

Monday, June 26, 2006

I'll take "Up and Coming Composers" for a thousand, Alex...


So...randomly, Jeopardy will be having a question on tomorrow (Tuesday) evening's show that is related to my hubster's new musical, Nevermore! They called Signature to let them know this, and that it would be on tomorrow's show...
Please set your Tivo's!

WHERE WILL YOU STAND WHEN THE FLOOD COMES?

It all started with a few dark clouds on the horizon. I was smoking my pre-show cigarette with my red bull(what I call my warm-up), and I noticed some ominous clouds moving in. I recall hearing something about a flood watch, but not really registering the fact in my muddled grey matter. As I flicked off my cigarette and looked to the sky once more, I thought..."hmmm...hope we don't lose power...".

It was Pride night on the Sunday evening performance, and the audience was wonderful and very responsive. Towards the "Ford" scene, I started to notice the sound of rain coming down in rivers. There was the rain that those black clouds foretold.
Then I forgot about it until the end of the show, when we all sang the final, "Everybody's got the right..." (there is a silent pause there...and during the pause, all you could hear was what sounded like rivers being dumped on the roof).
After the show, there was a reception, and even though it was pouring out, we all thought little of it. Slowly, people decided to brave the elements and make a run for it...I thought, forget that, I'm staying right here until the rain dies down a little. I am a notoriously bad driver, and when the elements of rain and darkness combine, forget it. Then my friend Caroline left the theatre, only to return 3 minutes later, claiming that she couldn't see 3 feet in front of her. This cemented my decision.
Suddenly, there were about 20 people left, give or take a few, and we started noticing cars stalled out from the high water on Four Mile Run. Then we noticed something much more disturbing...water started rushing in the double doors of the lobby...We ran and grabbed towels and put them down.
The water kept coming.
We started unplugging low electrics and moving important things to higher ground.
I ran back to the lobby to discover the water level had risen to the level of the lobby windows. Unreal. Trash was floating by. The water that got into the theatre was never more than an inch or so deep, but it got pretty far in as we tried to push it back with brooms.
Finally, the water subsided out front, and we made a break for home.
Home, flooded home.
Our basement flooded again. Nothing too bad, just totally soaked carpet. So yet again, as in the great sewage spill of March, we are making our bed on the couch.
We gathered around my NOAA weather radio and listened to the surrounding havoc while enjoying a soothing late night snack of mozzarella sticks and Pizza. Buddha was pleased. And after all of that, we settled down for the night and to comfort myself, I put on the new Mommie Dearest DVD with John Waters commentary.
I have never seen anything like the flood of last night, and I hope I don't see any repeat of that in the next few days.
Bedless...Day one.
Luv, SGS

Thursday, June 22, 2006

HITCHCOCK WAS ON TO SOMETHING...

It all started a few days ago. I went for my first walk of the day in Del Ray. I got to the porch and heard an ominous and threatening chirping noise, but thought nothing of it. I went in and got the dog and brought him out of the house.
A bird swoops down at me, dangerously close to my head. I run like Tippy Hedren away from the porch...wow. Scary.




I later describe the bird to our resident bird expert, Donna. She informs me that it is a mocking bird.


When I take the dog back, I dodge several more kamikaze swoops. The owner is home and informs me that I should be careful, because her neighbor got hit by the same bird in the head. Maybe this was the reason that the owner was home, but preferred that I be the one to walk the dog...hmmm.
Yesterday, Matt and I were walking to our car to go to the show, and we saw "Devil-Cat" (the resident evil looking cat of the neighborhood), being dive bombed by a few mocking birds. The birds were on the ground, level with the cat. They started chirping loudly and flapping their wings, trying to ward the cat off. The cat looked mildly irritated as its tail slowly twitched around....then it backed away from the tree that it was close to...but only for a moment. It stopped and looked back for a minute, and then the dive bombing started. It got hit in the side, and didn't really budge. It laid down in the grass, as if to say, "oooooh...you birds are so scary...*yawn*".
When you see birds attacking a cat, you start to wonder if the world is coming to an end.
Then today, I was in a different neighborhood, walking a Doberman. I let the dog into it's own backyard, and it started to get dive bombed by more mocking birds...the Doberman freaked, yelped and ran back inside. I followed suit, taking the dog's instinct as wisdom.
Strange how Hitchcockian Arlington seems of late...

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

THANKS FOR THE TIP

An audience member from last week's audience tried to help out with her 2 cents.
After Lee Harvey Oswald shoots the big shot at the end of the Assassin's choral pleading, there is total silence...a yente in the front row says outloud, "There were actually 3 shots"...

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Monday, June 19, 2006

IT FIGURES


All day Monday, while walking the pooches, I looked forward to a dip in the pool.
The sun was beating down, and I was sweating in rivers. Walk after walk passed...my legs grew more and more weary.
I finally get home and get out of my car..thunder cracks...
no pool.
Ok.. Tuesday hits...same ambitions...pool....by the time I am done walking, I have no desire to dress and swim....If you get what you want and you want what you get, is the getting as good as the wanting, or the wanting as good as the getting? Hmm.
Maybe Saturday, I think.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Video of the evening...

This goes out to my gay male lover...;) (He and I were discussing this brilliant video)...enjoy...
I hate blogger! I can't upload photos again! Since this is mostly a photo oriented blog, it's killin me here!
So...Until I can figure out what gives, some YouTube treats...This tip from Sean, who will be here to visit this week...

And then I gave him this tip...

Sunday, June 11, 2006

TRACY LYNN OLIVERA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,TRACY! And now, some words of advice as you party the evening away...

CONNECT...CONNECT...CONNECT


Friday night, after the evening performance of Assassins, Matt and I went out to the local watering hole, Cap City. Joining us were some members of Assassins...
and also, joining us a little later, as we go 2 hours with no intermission, were Parker Esse, Michael Forrest, and Harry Winter from the cast of Mame, and Kevin Burrows from the cast of Spamalot...it was a mini Damn Yankees reunion, as I, Michael, Parker, Harry, and Kevin were all in that show together.
It was good to see them all, and made me laugh at how cast shatter apart after a closing, and then sometimes drift together again...sometimes by association with a show, sometimes by closeness of location.
The stars were just aligned in the right way that Spamalot's tour was here at the same time Parker was here doing Mame, and we all could get together. Strange and wonderful.

As the night ended, I got a little sad to say good nights, as I knew that this would probably be the only get together we would have...Everyone's schedules are always so busy and everyone is always so tired, you know. You want to get together, you say you want to get together, but actually doing so is always such an effort...and then when you get there, you are so happy that you did it.
One of our best friends, Marcus Davis is down at Shenandoah Conservatory doing a production of Cats as we speak. It is about an hour and fifteen minutes away, and I doubt if I will see him...yet hope I do.
Now, I'm in no way trying to blame lack of getting together on others...I am as much to blame, if not more.
I am a little nuts, you see. Being a Cancer, I am the ultimate homebody. I don't like to venture outside of my shell too much. I get comfortable in my own little zones, and don't venture too far from those limits. I am just stuck in my ways.
I have my dog at home, and I am a horrible driver. These things combined make me prefer to stay within a relatively confined radius. Sad, but rather true. My Aunt Val lives about 30 minutes South of here, and I can count on my one hand the amount of times that I have visited her in the past 6 years.
Tonight, actually, there is a birthday party for my dear friend, Tracy Lynn Olivera. The party is up near Colesville Rd.
I love her dearly.
*sigh*
I can't, after a 2 show day, drive up there and be worth anything. It makes me sad. But I wish Tracy, who was, PS, the bloggerist who Bloggerized my first several posts on this website...(see here).
So Happy Birthday, Tracy...wish you were here.

SWEET SMELL OF....

I'm driving along on week with my AC on because it was hot as hell. I keep thinking...what the hell is that smell? Did I step in shite? No...
Hmm....
Oh.
In my usual way, and as I described in this previous post, sometimes there are no garbage cans around my dog walking route in Del Ray, and I end up putting the bags o' shite under my windshield wipers until I find a trash can to displace them.

I had done this again on this hot day....only to realize that when my AC runs, it must pull in air from the vents by the wipers...that is the only thing that I can figure, because the car sure smelled like shit.
Gross.
I love my job.
I found a trash can and threw the yard berries into the rubbish, and a few minutes later, the odor subsided. Unfortunately, I really didn't feel like having lunch after this episode.
Thus continues my glamorous journals in the dog walkin' world.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Everyone does stupid things. Every single day we do them. I find myself doing more stupid things than most people, unfortunately.
Every single day of my life, and I'm not saying that this is exclusive to me, is about time. I need to get to my first dog in a 20 minute range, then each subsequent dog has it's own window of time that I need to be at the house. If I am running late at all, it throws off my whole day, and I am frantic to keep up with the the time demands...then when I am with each dog, I keep to a strict time schedule of how long the owner has paid for me to be with them. I look at the clock about 100 times a day. Tick-tock, tick-tock. It is maddening.
Now...being an actor/dog walker is not the most lucrative of dual professions to have, but it is where I am right now, and that is that. Gas prices being what they are, and since I have to drive all day, I constantly dread getting more gas.
Last Saturday, my gas tank registered "Low Fuel". No biggie. I only had to drive from my house to Signature a couple of times, and I can go quite a bit on "Low Fuel". I fgure that I will wait until Monday. I was running ragged mentally and in many other ways, as the end of previews of Assassins was coming to a close, and press night loomed in the not too distant future. I also was running on close to empty in the bank department...so, I was waiting for my Friday deposit to be a little more close to clearing for me to get gas, which is usually a $40 endeavor.
Monday comes. I drive down to Del Ray to start my morning route. All of those dogs are within a block or two radius of each other, so I drive little to none. I drive back up to Fairlington to do my 12 o'clock. As I pull in to a parking space, the car runs out of gas.
I am horrified.
I try to start the car again...no luck, chuck...she's dead.
I ponder what to do. I remember that at 7-11, I saw mini gas tanks for sale...stupidly, I thought that they were already full of gas, and meant to put in your trunk in case you ran out of gas...no, stupid. They are empty, and not for cars at all, but for lawnmowers and the like. I walked ALL THE WAY to Quaker Lane to find no hope.
I left a message for Eleasha saying..."You're never gonna guess what stupid thing I did...", and kept walking. I should have stopped at a gas station and explained my sitch, but didn't think that they would do anything but laugh at the fag in the bandanna and abercrombie shirt.
I did what I had to do.
I called my boss,and as always, she came to my aid in a heartbeat. She stopped at a gas station and got a little tank that you can borrow and take back for just such situations...(never knew that). I filled up my tank with the tiny container's spoils, and my car started with no problems...
I immediately went and filled my tank...
Moral? Don't be a stupid ass....when your low fuel light comes on, go get yourself some fuc*ing gas, dipshit.
Luv,
Dipshit

Oswald


Gives a new definition to the term "window shopping", doesn't it?

Sunday, June 04, 2006

For some reason, I cannot upload photos to blogger. I have not been able to since I made the last Assassins post. Very frustrating, since I have many Memorial Day photos to share.
Grrr.
Any clues?

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Assassins Extends!


Still in previews, and we have extended...
I hear that the show is almost totally sold out for the first 6 weeks now, so if you want to come and see us, now is the time to order those tickets...
Click the link on the sidebar to the right to buy tickets.

Memorial Day

Well, if you didn't guess already, I've been a little bit busy lately. Sorry about the shortage of posts, but I have had no time to sit and write much. Now that the show is almost done with previews, and will open this weekend, I will have more time.

After our many nautical adventures last Summer on the Sweet Freedom yacht, we were happy to embark on it once again on Memorial Day. This time, the crew consisted of Kim and Scott(Captain and First Mate), Sarah and Kelly(Deck Hand and Mermaid), Ryan and Nancy(Sunscreen Patrol),Matt(Half Clothed Duty) and me(Beer Duty).
We boarded at about 12:10PM, and the sun directly above was punishing. Ryan and I immediately slathered on the SPF 300, while I think that Matt and Sarah put Crisco on. Just kidding. I think they both had SPF 2 on at least. The temperature reached 95, with a heat index of 100. I think that I lost 2 pounds that sfternoon alone.
As we left the dock and started really cooking down the Potomac, the wind off the river through our hair helped out.
It had been a year since I had the luxury of feeling that feeling. There is no feeling more freeing. Travelling down the Potomac and seeing the gorgeous trees now in droopy full bloom, and seeing the monuments as we go by...then docking around Mt. Vernon for the afternoon.
One of the visual highlights of the cruise was getting to see the Godspeed, a replica of John Smith's ship that was docked in Old Town Alexandria. I also love to see the Old Steamboat in Old Town. Strains of Show Boat play through my head at its very sight.
Ryan was displaying his now 30 pounds lighter physique, and I have to say, I am quite proud of him. Matt was also showing off his always slender physique, of course.
I wore a burlap sack over mine, however. Ugh. 5 more pounds to go.
As we were about to pack it in for the day and head back to the dock, we all paused to watch the sunset. No, REALLY watch the sunset. Ask yourself when was the last occasion you honestly took the time to do that. It was breathtaking. The waters of the river turned peach, then pink, then purple. Then gone.
As this summer begins it's journey, I was happy to set sail on another cruise with good friends. I took the time to savor the moment completely. The Summer is such a magical time. It is filled with so much beauty, and is always gone before you know what happened to it. You try to hold moments like this in your hand, and before you know it they pass.
Last year, on this very bloggety, I recalled moments of the past Summer. I think I did like 4 or 5 different entries, and I realized then that I coulod write about 50, so I better not get carried away...because...in the end...who gives a shit about SGS's summertime memories? I felt too Martha Stewart saying..."Here of some pictures of my prize winning Hydrangea...I really cherish them".
Then I thought...why the fu*k not?
People tend to share what they care about in conversation with each other...and after all, isn't this just an open conversation that friends, family, and yes, sometimes violent strangers can walk in to? So why not bring it up, you know.
So hell with it, I wrote about the boat, Pacific Overtures, The Tent, My Garden, and the Pool, I believe. If you hated it, so be it.
So when I talk about Summer, I tend to get all nostalgia crazy. I have never lost that feeling of "School's Out for Summer!", ya know? My birthday is in the Summer, The 4th of July is in the Summer, you can suddely wear hardly any clothing and it is deemed socially acceptable in the Summer, and the pool opens and you can then wear that tiny amount of clothing and jump into water with complete strangers in the Summer...that is sometimes not a good thing, however. ;)
So with this the first benchmark of Summer 06 for me, I urge you all to take the time and make memories like this while you have it. The Summer will be gone and we'll be cursing at 12 degree temperatures in stead of 100 soon enough. Take your shirt off, have a cold glass of lemonade, and enjoy it before it fades away.

Luv,
SGS