There isn’t an awful lot of news to report on. I’ve been working like crazy on both the dancing and singing for Joseph, which opens in only a couple of weeks. It’s terribly difficult but I’m doing okay, at least when I’m not actually in the moment where we’re performing the scene. It will get to where it needs to be in time, but it’s still nervewracking. There are a lot of men and women in this show who are more “pro” than I am (or at least vastly better equipped with the necessary skills to be in the chorus of a show like this) and it’s hard not to feel like the odd man out.

Combine that with work suddenly getting extremely busy. I’d been assigned to a different project and was suddenly crunching in a way I hadn’t for months. It seems like the worst of that is over, but I should be careful about jinxing it.

The good news is that my replacement green card finally arrived. The previous one had arrived about five months earlier, but had the incorrect date of birth on it. It took longer than the average posted time (3.5 months) and I was getting quite stressed about it. When it finally arrived, everything correct this time, I was more relieved than anything else. Now my biggest dilemma is that I’m required by law to carry it with me everywhere I go, but I now have first-hand knowledge of how painful they are to replace if lost or stolen ($450 fee, the forms and biometrics appointment, and up to 6 months of waiting where you’re in a tough spot if you need to travel internationally). Conversely, the fine if you’re “caught” without it is a maximum of $100 and 30 days in jail. The jailtime wouldn’t be cool (although I can’t imagine anyone has ever had to serve such a term) and I wouldn’t want a misdemeanor on my record, but it seems absurd to me that the fine is less than a quarter of the replacement fee. I’ve decided to carry it with me in spite of what seems like poor reasoning. After all, the odds of my wallet getting lost or stolen (just recently there was a rash of personal effects stolen from improvisers at Theatresports while they were performing) are immeasurably greater than the odds of any local authorities asking to see my card. There is a huge divergence of opinion on the Internet regarding this matter. Some people carry a color photocopy in their wallet, but this is still clearly agains the law and the typical response to that is to see how effective it is if you’re pulled over carrying a photocopy of your driver’s license. I wish I had a good solution to this.

I had a little adventure in home-ownership the other day: my kitchen faucet has always been somewhat leaky, and even though I successfully repaired it back in March it recently began leaking again, even worse than it had before. Since I was evidently unable to do anything long-term to fix it, I decided to run over to Home Depot and just pony up for a new faucet. It seemed almost like poor judgment that I hadn’t done so the first time: sure, it was more expensive, but installing a new faucet is actually a pretty straightforward process, a whole lot less mysterious and error-prone than repairing a thirty-year-old existing faucet.

I estimated it would take less than an hour of work, but it wound up being over seven hours total, accounted for over an afternoon/evening and the following morning. All because I had no idea what I was getting into trying to remove the existing faucet. It’s difficult enough when you’re crammed into a 1-foot-by-2.5-foot opening underneath the cabinet, and the furthest bolt holding the sink in place is about three feet away from you, and there are two sink basins, a garbage disposal and drainage pipes blocking both your arms and vision. The nuts on these bolts were rusted in place, and the majority of my time was spent just getting them to move. I’d already bought a basin wrench to help reach the nut, but I wound up having to buy an even larger one to get sufficient leverage. I had to let them soak in WD-40 multiple times and strike them with a hammer before I could finally summon up enough strength to get them to turn, even the tiniest bit. Even after that, removing the first was a slow, laborious and painful chore. The second one – the further away of the two – proved even more difficult, though: when I finally applied enough force to free the nut, I also disconnected the bolt from whatever was holding it in place, so it would now spin freely when I tried to turn the nut. This meant the only way I could get it to move was by holding the bolt still somehow, which was nearly impossible to do.

I finally managed to get a large and strong enough pair of pliers in there with my other arm to hold the bolt steady (a feat enough in itself, as getting both my arms near the bolt with all of those obstacles was nearly impossible) while I twisted the nut off with the basin wrench. It took multiple tries and multiple bursts of strength, until I finally was able to pull the faucet out enough to jam the pliers in place from above while I twisted the nut the rest of the way off.

Even that wasn’t the end of my difficulties. After putting the new faucet in, I was dismayed to realize that the old inlet valve on the hot water had a built-in tube that didn’t match the new faucet line… and as I tried manipulating the thirty-year-old tube, it snapped off. So the next morning I needed to return to Home Depot and get a new inlet valve, which meant shutting off the water supply to the condo… of course, water still leaks from the pipes after you shut off the source, so I was dealing with the constant dripping and spilling of water as I attempted to install the new valve. I got really anxious when Elizabeth first turned the water back on and it started leaking out the end of the valve… it was already very tightly installed, and they caution you about over-tightening. Still, I tightened it some more and the leak went away, and after all that I finally have a shiny new faucet with a removable spray head that most importantly doesn’t leak and had better not for the remaining days I live in this condo.

My entire body is still sore and tender from the experience. Next to going into the crawl space it’s easily the most difficult task I’ve undertaken in this field. I was a total wreck at rehearsal that night as well, and the dirt that wouldn’t come off my hands or out from under my nails must have made me look like a real champ. At least it’s done, though, and next time if it’s going down this sort of road I’ll know to call a plumber.

Dan.

This has been an ongoing process that has been a nearly constant source of stress for me, especially as I started down the final stretch of the six-year period for which you are allowed to be on an H-1B visa. (If you’re doing the math and wondering how I’ve been here for 7+ years, I was originally on a TN visa that allows professionals to work temporarily but doesn’t lead to immigration.) There was never any substantial danger of my getting kicked out of the country or anything (I’d reached the point in my green card application where I could renew with my current company on an annual basis anyway), but getting it at long last is a huge deal.

I actually was a bit hesitant even posting about it now, as it came with the incorrect date of birth printed on it and I had to send it back with more forms and documentation to get a new one issued. I already managed to jinx the process up once a couple of months ago, the point at which my labour certification had finally been approved and all that remained was for them to finish processing the green card application, which to me seemed trivial by comparison. I let my breathing relax and my guard down, only to receive a Request For Evidence that demanded several pieces of information (including my long-form birth certificate; I can empathize with Obama now) that I didn’t know if we would be able to provide to their complete and utter satisfaction. To make matters worse, you aren’t supposed to leave the country while your green card is still being processed, and I had a trip planned to Canada next month, right at the end of the 60 day period they can potentially take to process your response to the RFE. A conflict was pretty unlikely – if they just so much as got the approval notice to me, I could get my passport stamped and travel without the card itself – but if there was a request for additional evidence or some other problem then my travel plans were probably hosed.

The immigration service has a website you can use to check on the status of your application, and I was checking it compulsively, sometimes even multiple times per day. Its status of “Request for Evidence Response Review” never changed, when one day I received a piece of mail from Lincoln, Nebraska, where the processing centre is. My heart went boom-boom-churn-churn as I opened it, not to a notice saying that they needed more evidence, or a notice that my petition had been approved and my green card was on the way, but to my considerable shock and disbelief the actual green card itself, and documentation that said (among other things) “Welcome to the United States”.

The card alone is something of a technological beauty, layer upon layer of holograms, digital inscriptions and security measures way more advanced than any other piece of identification I possess. It even comes with a little insulating sleeve to prevent its RFID signature from being read wirelessly. Upon discovery of the error in my date of birth I was hesitant to part with it, as it’s such a magnificent trophy and represents so much to me. I don’t know how long it will take to get a replacement issued, but I’m not terribly worried about it as I am now a registered alien (with a number and everything) and can get my passport stamped in time for the trip.

Beyond the actual card, though, what it represents is huge. The autonomy to work for whomever I please, the ability to get paid for my extracurricular activities (ie. theatre), the right to stay and live and work without the difficulties of obtaining a visa or the existential threat of unemployment leading to deportation. As far as getting rid of monkeys on my back goes, this one was a gorilla. I can’t believe it’s been almost eight years.

Oddly enough, the website didn’t report my status had changed for another week or so after I’d received the card. It still thinks we’re in the “Post Decision Activity” phase that comes before the card is actually produced.

It’s not like my life was on hold this past month while all this was happening. There’s some page-two news as well.

Sister Mary ran its two weekends, and wrapped. Our audiences were pretty small but the show was decent, and I was glad not to have to commit too many resources to it while everything else was going on. And if nothing else, I managed to get some cute photos for my gallery from it. Here’s a taste:

Yes, I am the back half of a camel for much of this show. It’s not even the worst experience I’ve had playing an animal’s hindquarters.

In the world of finance, I received my new American Express card that’s supposed to net me some impressive cashback for groceries, gas and department store purchases. After having it a couple of weeks, though, I realized that the 1% it gets back on other purchases was leaving a fair bit on the table, considering how much Elizabeth and I eat out. So I wound up also getting a Citi Forward Visa card that gets 5 “points” back per dollar spent at restaurants, as well as on various entertainment and Amazon.com purchases. The “points” don’t convert exactly to “percent cashback” (although I can potentially get an equivalent 5% value depending on what I use them for), but it’s better than the 1% the Amex gives me, and the card has no annual fee so it’s no skin off my nose to have it.

Finally, some other big (although not green-card big) news is that while the Market Theatre that houses Unexpected Productions (where I do Theatresports) is being renovated by the Pike Place Market, we will be moving to the Intiman Theatre, a gorgeous, professional space at the Seattle Center that has won Tony awards and national recognition for its productions. It so happens, you see, that they’ve recently fallen on hard times and had to cancel their season, which has made them available for our much smaller-budget operation.

So, I will soon be performing Theatresports on one of the most well-renowned regional stages. I’m trying not to let it get to my head. Ironically, the Intiman was actually the venue for Theatresports 13 years ago, before they got the opportunity to have their own theatre at Pike Place Market. So there is a lot of significance to this return that goes beyond it being a simple renovation hiatus.

All that and more to come next month… Elizabeth is graduating, we’re going to Canada, and hopefully summer will truly arrive.

Dan.

Which isn’t to say there hasn’t been stuff happening. I’ve been keeping up with improv and had a pretty full social calendar. There are far too many shows with friends in them that I need to go see in what remains of this month. I’ll try to pull out some highlights from what’s been happening.

I had my biometrics appointment for my green card application a couple of weeks back. This felt like a real milestone for me, although in truth it happens in parallel to the application process and really isn’t indicative of anything other than that I’m still in the queue (two separate queues, to be precise). The technology they use to read your fingerprints is very cool; you can watch on the screen as he rolls your finger on the device and it identifies the patterns in your skin. I desperately want this six-year ordeal to be completed, and the closer I get to making out the light at the end of the tunnel the more I ache and burn for it, but all I can do is wait while the bureaucracy churns its way through the backlog of people ahead of me.

I have, perhaps, dodged a bullet earlier in the month when I was invited by a friend to audition for a show he was directing with his new theatre company. I made it clear that there were an absurd number of conflicts with performances next month and rehearsals I have for Spelling Bee, but he asked me to come out regardless and they would sort out conflicts with the Spelling Bee crew if I were to be cast. So I went out, and for a number of reasons that got the better of my judgment: their theatre company interests me and I am interested in the work they are doing and where their future lies, I don’t do much non-musical theatre these days and it’s always good to get sucked into a regular play, and in the end I simply like the people involved, and I like what they are capable of. Another thing surprised me when I did the callback: I actually like the play as well. It’s The Firebugs, an adaptation of a German play about a family that lets a couple of bold but transparent arsonists into their home, and because of politeness keeps failing to kick them out even though they are clearly planning to burn their house down. The play is unapologetic about its societal metaphor and I am normally hesitant to get involved in a show that is so heavy-handed with its politics, but as we were reading in the callbacks I became… well, I think it’s too much to say enchanted with it, but I quickly realized that I think it’s a good script with a lot of potential to captivate an audience, and not just a soapbox for the playwright.

So when I was offered an extremely prominent role by the director I found myself unwilling to turn it down, even though I knew it would wreak havoc with my life that persisted even after the show closed, as I would be both under-rehearsed and over-exhausted when Spelling Bee opened. It wasn’t until the day before the first rehearsal that the director called me and we discussed the situation, and he (with much empathy) told me he’d thought twice and changed his mind about casting me, as it was just inviting chaos into the production and he had to acknowledge the ripple effect it would have on the rest of the cast, the show and himself in addition to me. I concurred and while we both regretted that I wouldn’t be in the show I don’t think either of us suspected for a moment that he had made the wrong decision.

Again in nerdier news, most of the parts for my new home theatre computer have arrived and I had both fun and frustration assembling them. Some of them needed to be returned or replaced. Unfortunately, the key component that lets it receive multiple TV signals is backordered even worse than I thought, and probably won’t be arriving for months yet. So in the meantime I have a very cool-looking device that can do just about anything except for watch TV, the main purpose it is intended to serve.

This weekend is the Seattle Festival of Improv, and once again I am mostly a no-show for it, although I will be taking a couple of workshops this afternoon that I decided to jump on at the last minute. Hopefully that much will keep me from feeling like a complete burn-out.

Rehearsals for Spelling Bee start at the end of this month, and I think there is a chance that they will actually increase my energy, even though I’m sure I will be tired from it.

That’s about all there is to report. I spend the rest of my time treading water and staying awake, patiently waiting for more interesting times and for the ennui to subside.

Dan.

I say “unexpectedly” as the callback was unusually… generous toward me. There was only one other person called back for the role of Panch (versus six or more for most other roles), and he was probably around 20 years older than me and with a completely different look and body type, so even if I turned out to be a poorer acting choice than he was the decision could have easily slid my way based solely on the visual composition the director wanted for the show.

The role isn’t the one I would have chosen for myself… it’s a good role and an important one with quite a lot to do and some good comedy bits, but it’s extremely light on the singing, to the point where I’d almost call it (and I imagine it’s often perceived as) the only non-singing role, and while he’s listed as a principal I’d say he’s the closest the show has to an ancillary character. I’d really love to play William Barfée, which is a role I know I could nail acting-wise, but of course the competition there was far more intense with people whose vocal caliber I cannot hope to match.

It will be nice to do another show at SecondStory, which is walking distance from me when the weather, my schedule and enthusiam permit it. It will be equally nice to be in another high-profile musical, even if the role itself isn’t exactly a résumé-buster.

I returned to doing improv at Unexpected last weekend and will again this weekend, and it’s felt good so far. We had a really excellent workshop last night where we explored the style of opera with a guest lecturer from the Seattle Opera. Everyone learned a ton about the format, and I got to be in a fun scene where I spent the better part of five minutes singing about how I was killing my dog without ever getting around to actually doing it.

The last couple of weeks have been busy for me in other ways as well. My glasses came back from the lab and I drove over to the optometrist again, and the moment I picked them up I could tell that the lenses were still loose in the frame. I remained calm but got pretty stern with her, expressing my disappointment that the product had been supposedly “fixed” but that clearly nobody from the lab to the doctor’s office had so much as laid a hand on them to see if this was the case, that it seemed like their lab was doing some awfully amateurish work if they didn’t notice the lenses were still popping right out of their frames, and that I shouldn’t need to drive over there just to demonstrate to them that the job still hadn’t been done correctly. They sent the glasses back to the lab again for another week and change, this time ordering a replacement frame as well under the warrantee, and today I finally got them back after being called with multiple assurances that they had actually checked the lab’s work this time. I’m pleased to report they’re working out so far.

In addition to this, I also spent some of the last couple of weeks scrambling to get all the necessary work done for the next step in my green card application. I had to get passport photos taken, as well as a medical examination by a civil surgeon… the latter involved a bunch of needles including flu shot, tuberculosis test, tetanus shot and a blood drawing to make sure I’d had all the necessary vaccinations when I was a child. I’m optimistic this may mean I’m close to obtaining the actual prize of a green card, which would be a huge deal for me… if I understand the process correctly – which I’m quite sure I don’t – at this point they may need to simply send in the application and then I wait in the queue 4-8 months or so until I pop out the other end, a fully qualified resident alien of the United States. I’ve been communicating with the lawyer as much as I can without being a nag but it’s hard to know anything specific about at what rate things are progressing, and my fear is that as the holidays loom steadily closer that rate will drop.

It’s been very grey out lately and winter is fast approaching. It’s supposed to be a cold, snow-heavy one this year. (American) Thanksgiving is coming up next week, though, and I will enjoy the time off, and Elizabeth and I are heading to Florida for our vacation after Christmas wraps up, so we are both looking forward to that.

Dan.

My team won a second time at Theatresports last Friday, which means we’re returning again this Friday. My teammates did well, but it was a close call and I didn’t feel like I deserved to win… I let myself get psyched out again, something which hasn’t happened to me in quite a while now, and basically failed to contribute anything significant on stage. I took a class at the Seattle Festival of Improv back in February and was a bit shocked by a revelation that occurred there: the teacher had all 30 or so of us line up in order of the number of years we’ve been doing improv, and I was third from the front of the line… notwithstanding some considerable dry spells I’ve had, I’ve been improvising for about 10 years now. We’re all permitted to regress and make mistakes, especially in improv, but I’ve been doing this for so long; I’m pretty humbled by my ability to lose it all in an instant and suddenly behave as if it were my first time on stage. Hopefully this Friday will be better.

Saturday marks the five year anniversary of my arrival in the United States. I’m having a barbecue in the afternoon to celebrate, but don’t know what attendance is going to be like. If you read this blog and can make it, I’d love to have you! I’m a little nonplussed about the whole situation… it certainly doesn’t feel like I’ve been living on my own in a foreign country and doing that whole adult thing for five years now.

I was supposed to clean my condo this past weekend in preparation for it, but only got so far as cleaning the bathroom (itself by no means a small task). Gonna have to find time this week to finish the job… don’t quite know what hat I’m going to pull that rabbit out of.

In a similar vein of milestones, time passing, sunrise-sunset and the like, my parents just sold their house in Toronto. For many families this would be nothing special, but it has some significance to me… my parents spent over thirty years there… it’s the house I grew up in with them and my brother, the only home I’ve ever known in Toronto, and the place I’ve always listed as my “permanent” address. With me flown from the nest and my brother starting in assisted living, my parents are eager to move to a smaller place that’s less of a burden for them (my dad in particular has had nothing but grief maintaining it over three decades). They are far more sentimentally attached to the cottage, and from their vantage point I can hardly blame them, but it’s weird for me… I’ve always taken for granted that I have a lifetime of memories built up there (right back to the earliest I’ve got – I’m talking stuff like being held by my dad in a rocking chair while he sings “rock a bye baby” to me) that I can revisit anytime by going there, and now, well, I have only the memories. It’s not a big deal to me – it’s the memories that are important, after all, and not the place itself – but it’s another little stinging reminder of how quickly life is passing by.

It’s somewhat ironic that in getting the place ready for sale, my parents have had to overhaul the entire house to the point where it seems practically new. All of the old knob and tube wiring has been replaced, new floors installed (ancient carpets were pulled up from the upstairs only to reveal beautiful hardwood flooring underneath… who knew?), old basement rooms thick with dust and disuse now revitalized. My mom has said she actually wouldn’t mind staying, but my dad is determined to get out while the getting’s good.

Fiddler quickly approaches; I look forward to getting my evenings back when it opens. Things remain busy at work, but I’m enjoying it and I feel appreciated by them.

Life, it seems, carries on…

Dan.