Pursued By A Bear

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The catsitter is "administrating" above and beyond her regular daily rate:

 

 

Sync it up

 

I always have trouble adjusting between US and German time zones anyway, but this trip has been particularly troublesome. This time, I dove right into a hive of activity upon landing in Frankfurt.  My thinking process was thus:

"Hey, I'll just keep busy and then I'll fall asleep during the hours I am supposed to be asleep because I'm all burnt out."

Great idea. In theory.

Upon landing in Germany (9am Germany time, 3am my "real time"), I was scheduled to drive to the base, see a comedy show and then see a community theater production of "101 Dalmations" and then go out to dinner. I blew off the comedy show and only saw part of "101 Dalmations". Woo! Aiming low! 

The next morning (3:30am Germany time, 9:30pm my "real time"), we took a cab to Vogelweh to get on a bus for a Swiss border tour. We traveled for about 4 hours to reach the island of Mainau, which is known for its beautiful gardens.

We also spent time at a "schmetterlinghaus" --

After lunch (12:30pm Germany time, 6:30am my "real time"), we drove another hour over the Swiss border to the little village of Stein Am Rhein, which is known for lots of buildings that look like this:

We also saw a very old church, historic manholes (hee) and lot of art galleries that we liked very much (paintings and iron sculptures), but Switzerland is NOT the place to go shopping. Everything is way too overpriced!

Our last stop of the day (5pm Germany time, 11am my "real time") was at Schaffhausen falls.  Oh my, I look so tired.

All day I was thinking to myself, "That's okay - Fred has to work on Sunday and Monday. I'll get myself all caught up in the next few days." Except, no. Fred is well-liked at work so everyone was, like, shifting the schedule on Sunday and Monday so he could spend time with me...

...and by "spend time with me" what I really mean is "run errands till we collapse".

HI, FAMILY!

(...my family is laughing right now because I totally married MyFather2.0)

Tuesday was supposed to be our "day off", but Fred had me up and out the door at 6:45am. We had to drop the car off at the auto repair store for a quick fix. So, he borrowed a friend's car and made me FOLLOW him on the autobahn in the FOG all by my sleepy lil' LONESOME. I might have made a right turn on a red light, which is not legal here...? I'm pretty sure I did that and it's not. I don't drive regularly, so to drive at all (!) in a foreign country (hello, speedy speeding trucks on the autobahn!!) was really...something. 

Since we had his friend's car for the morning, we were all hither and yon until noon.  Dudes - when I am in a show? I don't even get UP till noon.

I took a four hour nap that afternoon and then another nap after Fred made me run a 5k with him in the evening.

Then, of course, when Fred was ready to go to bed (11pm Germany time, 5pm my "real time"), I was very awake.

I'm on my SIXTH day over here and I'm still not caught up on my sleep. 

Love Letters

Last Monday, my theater company gathered at Charlotte's Place and put our little noses to the grind stone to get our annual fundraising letter out to our friends and supporters.

 I am so proud of our Artistic Ensemble. We had at 33% increase in contacts this year AND we completed the mailing in just under 2 hours! Coincidentally, "just under two hours" is the same amount of time that I prefer our Shakespeare productions to be edited to in performance. It comes up in almost every season planning meeting:

"Can that be edited to just under two hours?"

I have noticed that the trend in NYC over the past year or so is intermissionless shows and earlier curtain times. As an MD that goes to lots of shows (at least one per week),I  can't tell you how happy I am to show up for a 7pm curtain and find out that a show is 90 minutes, straight thru, no intermission. Yes! Home before 10pm! Make of that what you will: I'm a natural homebody, but clearly other theater patrons feel the same way in order for this change to be so popular.

I can't promise an intermissionless Shakespeare production, but I do try to get earlier curtain times on weekdays and I push our dramaturg to get our productions down to no more than 2 hours and ten minutes - max.

It could be easy to point to these trends, cluck our tongues and say, "Thanks, Internet. There's no attention span in the world anymore!" -- but truly, I think we are right where we should be in order to keep theater alive. With the exception of a few "event" pieces of theater, such as Jerusalem or War Horse (which revolve around a star performance or a special effect), it's no longer popular to sit thru 3 acts and "meander" thru a story.

And really, who can afford a babysitter for a 6 hours evening anymore? <-- that's the main complaint of my friends who want to support my company but also have children.  They can't afford to leave the city right now, but they can't afford to get a sitter and get out and DO things in the city, either! That's the economy we're dealing with, so we adjust and give our audience what they need: an off-off broadway entertainment gets them home at a decent hour. Clarity and compassion are the main goals of our storytelling.

With that in mind, our intrepid little group sat at the conference room table and hand signed every letter. I know it seems a little silly, but I thought happy, mindful thoughts as I sealed each one...

...and off they went to the Post Office with our Finance Director, Ross Hewitt!  

 
 Our Spring 2012 show is going to be Pericles.

Some of you have already asked if we are doing a Fall show. 1) Thank you so much for your interest! 2) The answer to that question is "no" - but with good reason.

We have secured a theater in midtown that will allow us to extend our run by another 2 weekends. Also, we will have the theater space for one month prior to opening, making it possible to rehearse on stage. This is an incredible luxury for a company that is only 2 years old. We are so fortunate. It has been our dream to have a space "in residence" ever since we started the company and this is definitely a step in the right direction.  We will be doing a series of "play dates" in the Fall with our core group to create a tight ensemble of actors and "edit-down" a clear script for this epic story that is rarely produced in New York City.

SO!

I will be bringing you some production updates throughout the Fall. I think it will be great (not just for me, personally, but also for this writing space) to have a little more "breathing space" in production than we usually do. I think (for the first time?) I will feel more inclined to share the process in writing, since I will have more time to enjoy it!

We start these "pre-rehearsals" on October 4. That's not far away for me AT ALL. I will be visiting Fred overseas for the rest of this month and then...

...!

We begin.
 
  

Ferragosto

On Sunday, I did another 101 list item:

#91 Ferragosto on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx

 

 

Ferragosto is a big Italian street fair and it is lots of fun! Live music, parading patomime characters and local businesses took over the street from noon - 6pm.

 

 
Yum.

There were TWO cigar rolling establishments showing off their skills. 

 

Here's a picture of random people drinking the most popular drink...

 

PEACHES AND WINE!

 

I had a lot more fun stumbling upon that tent as opposed to this one: 

I settled on a nice, unrecognizable shell steak sandwich for my meal instead!

 

I will definitely go back to Ferragosto again. It's waaay up in the Bronx, so it is a bit of a trek. Even after you get off of the subway, you still have quite a few blocks to walk.  However, I got cat-called and God-bless-you'd by the young, er, gentlemen up there on my walk to and from Arthur Ave far more than I do down in Manhattan these days. So...thanks for the ego boost, lads!

I think - because it is an eat/smoke/drink event - it is going to be a lot more fun to go with a group of people. There's lots of seating and opportunities for people watching. If the weather's nice (our's was overcast, but not humid) I bet it would make for a really fun afternoon with friends. You know, just kickin' back and enjoying life. La dolce vita!

 

Girl Crush. Literally.

I have a new love.

Saturday night, I completed #41 on my list.

  Queens of Pain vs. Brooklyn Bombshells.

Three stories down, in the bowels of Hunter College.

Roller Derby!!

Who. Knew.

You guys! Have you been to a Roller Derby bout? It's the GREATEST.

Here's the Brooklyn gals, warming up:

 

 

And heeeeeere's Queens:

 

QUEEEEEEEENS!

I probably don't need to tell you who I was rooting for.

Here's something you do need to know: there are women walking around NYC every day who are "derby famous". You wouldn't recognize them in real life, but they are really famous in the Derby world. Woah! One of those women is Suzy Hotrod and she is the Captain of the team representing Queens (the Queens of Pain). She is amazing!

Here's a quick clip - she is the Jammer in the silver shorts.

 

I turned off the camera too soon - she comes up from behind every time with her "trot-trot-trot" on her tippy toes and she just crushes it. You can see a good example of her technique here, but you can't see the reward (she eventually got around the the pack. She always finds a way.)

SUZY. HOTROD.

Look at her ARMS, people. Just...LOOK.

Are you KIDDING me?

She is an incredible athlete. Stefani and I were fawning over 1) how great Suzy Hotrod is and how 2) clearly she works much harder than we do with our piddling little exercise programs and diets in order to look that good and play that hard and 3) blah, blah, blah admiration-cakes all during the first half.

During halftime, Stef noticed the man sitting next to her had a "Derby Dad" T shirt on. She casually asked him which player was his daughter and he (cutely) (proudly) said,

"I'm Suzy Hotrod's Dad!"

Here's Stef, geeking out:

 

Hee hee! We're sitting next to our Derby Idol's DAD!

Oh, and Stef? She has A BLOG.

Now, I am so inspired and want to go sign up for level 1 of the recreational league.  Fred, of course, is ALL FOR IT.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Inside note to Stef -- I told Beth all about it this morning and she wants in. We were down in the fellowship hall and she turned to Keith and was all,

"Hey! I'm gonna do some roller derby!"

and he was all,

"I think that great. That would be...(searching for discerning words)...an excellent way to exercise, Beth."

Beth turned back to me and was all,

"BAH! He means an excellent way to work out your aggression, BETH."

So, Stef...?  Come on. Are ya in?

------------------------------------------------------------

Roller Derby.

DO IT.

 
 

OBX weekend

Back in April, I was working on the Tennessee Williams shows (plural) with my friend, Mary. 

Sidebar: Yes. If you were born in the mid 70's - like me - and you are a huge fan of 80's sitcoms - like me! - then you must say her name like Jackee on "227" - Go ahead. Put your hands on your hips, move your neck and say "Maaaaaaa-ry". It's immensly satisfying.

So, we were working on these shows (plural!) (yeesh!) and when I say "working" I mean we were acting as well as doing 50 other jobs including cleaning the bathrooms 10 minutes before patrons arrived at the theater. Suffice to say, we were in the trenches. One day, while sitting side by side at the make up table, attempting to cover the awful purple bags under our eyes, Mary sighed and said,

"I haven't had a proper vacation since 2009."

I was like,

"Oooo, yeah. I mean, I've traveled with Fred, but we usually go to urban places. I haven't laid on a beach in ages."

Da-DAH.

The proverbial lightbulbs went off above our heads and we started plotting and planning! Originally, we attempted a Labor Day weekend itinerary to Aruba...but do you know how much it costs to fly to Aruba on a holiday weekend?  Enough to not make you want to go when you only have about 48 hours of vacation time. We settled on the outer Banks in North Carolina, instead. And it was a great choice:

 

Due to our work schedules, we had to wait until Saturday morning to fly to Newport News, Virginia. 

Mary's family lives near by (as does Mary's car) so her mom picked us up at the airport.  We had a quick lunch together and then Mary and I drove to the Outerbanks.

We were on the beach by 3pm.

We stayed on the beach until Monday afternoon - having a grand time! We played scrabble, talked, listened to music, watched movies, went shopping, ate great food...here's a few pics:

 

We even had some mis-adventures...

But can I just say? Mary is the raddest travel buddy. She is so chilled out and good fortune followed her all weekend.  If I had been traveling with anyone else, that car situation would have turned into a 2 hour wait for Triple A to show up. But Mary, all 5'10" of her bodaciously curved being, slinks out of the car to check the "damage" and immediately three firemen show up all,

"...You in need of some assistance, Miss?"

Brilliant.

The only thing that did not go our way over the weekend: 'member how I said we played scrabble on the beach? Well, with our backs facing the sun. This involved our very poor application technique for that spray-on sunscreen stuff...?

   

My back finally stopped hurting today (ahem, five days later). At least I didn't peel. Also, I'm a little bitter because the burn just settled into a decent tan, but summer is O-VAH here in NYC and I am swaddled in layers, unable to show it off.

Don't tell my mom about the sunburn part.

I can has vlog.

See? I do one single entry on being more authentic and it gets a lot of hits and comments the next thing you know, I'm vlogging. 

What made this happen: Fred recently got a huge promotion and the chance to extend his job overseas for another year. I have no problem with the extention - he loves his job and I've always been independent. However, there was one thing that Fred was feeling rather wistful about: the cats. 

"At least I know I can reach you on the phone or thru email. The cats can't talk. Or type."

Hoping that I'd capture frequent footage of his babies, he got me this new camera for my birthday. It came with a little tripod and remote control -- which means I can appear in the footage, too. So without further ado, here's my first vlog!

  

Now, I know it's not perfect. It's my first try. I'll work on my vlogging skills - I do want to get better at it. For now, just enjoy it for what it is. I think those of you who know me will like its simplicity. It's...just me. And those of you who don't know me in "real life"? Hello on a deeper level!