Growing up in Canada, I found it natural to trust my dentist and assume that anything they did was simply looking out for my best interests. After moving to the States I found I had to become a lot more defensive about how I went about dealing with the dentist (and, in fairness, healthcare in general). It wasn’t a lesson I learned overnight, though, but only after paying considerable out-of-pocket amounts for extra cleaning procedures. Procedures I didn’t feel I necessarily needed, but that I was “sold” on by the dentist, who in hindsight seemed more interested in racking up insurance claims than they were doing what was best for my health, and wouldn’t hesitate to use his or her authority to make it seem like I was just expected to go along with whatever they proposed.

The thing is, I actually have remarkably resilient teeth, a small but kind-of-awesome genetic trait that I inherited from my dad. I’ve only ever had one tiny filling (which I don’t even remember getting), and while build-ups and deposits have accumulated over the years I’ve never had an actual cavity. The hygenist at the new place was actually extremely surprised to see that I have all of my teeth, including my molars. In her inspection she found what she was nearly certain was a cavity, but it didn’t show at all on the x-rays and the dentist confirmed that it was just a pocket that had a lifetime of accumulation. He told me that the decay will someday reach the point where I need fillings and that in the future one of my specific molars would get infected and require fixing, but that there was no real urgency or need to remove my molars. (Contrast to the dentist I last went to, that tried to persuade me to undergo the operation, claiming that my molars were in danger of becoming impacted in the next couple of years. They didn’t.)

Of course, it’s entirely likely that this new dentist was more amicable only because I explained to him the reason why I didn’t resume seeing my previous dentists. It’s a bit of a conundrum for me, because I am all in favour of acting in the best interests of my oral health and don’t want him to withhold his professional opinion just to placate me, but I’ve already been bitten (excuse the pun) too many times by people whom I felt borrowed from the credibility of their profession so they could twist my needs to fit their agendas.

Anyway, it’s still a miserable and painful experience but now that I’m feeling more in control of the situation I’ll be going back to this new guy regularly. My business is his to lose, and I think he understands that.

The other big news is that I am lined up to be in another show come Christmastime: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at SecondStory Repertory, the same place I did recently Spelling Bee. I wasn’t expecting to get in. On the one hand I had a lot going for me: they know me and like me over at SecondStory, and the show has eleven brothers for pete’s sake (and that’s not counting leads). On the other hand, the director (who didn’t know me from Adam) is fairly well-known in the region for his heavy dance and choreography focus and Joseph is such a spectacle song-and-dance show to begin with, I was expecting him to fill his quota with the people who could give his show the oomph he wants it to have (there were a LOT of people that auditioned for this show, the majority a whole lot more talented than I am when it comes to singing and dancing).

Frankly, I was overjoyed just to be invited to callbacks. This was the first audition I’ve ever done where I was asked only to sing and not to deliver a monologue, and for someone who usually manages to stay pretty level-headed in auditions, being asked to prove myself on the merits of my singing alone scared the pants off of me. Add to that it being the first time I was trying out new songs I’d been working on with my voice teacher, and I was nearly a nervous wreck. It was extremely affirming to see my song land with both the comedy and characterization I intended. Yes, the song I chose naturally caters to my strengths as a comedic performer and conveniently sidesteps the areas I’m weakest in when it comes to singing, but I’ve been working with my current voice teacher a little over a year now, and getting my voice to the place where I can deliver a song effectively enough to just let my singing get out of the way of my acting is a huge landmark for me.

The callbacks themselves were insanely hard as far as the dance went (as a number of way more experienced dancer friends of mine who were there confirmed with me) and I wasn’t adequately prepared for the singing, so I don’t suppose the process did me any favours, except inasmuch as I was able to demonstrate during the singing portion that my audition song wasn’t just a fluke and that I really could act and do comedy. I’m pretty positive that’s what got me in the show over the other men – and even got me the character role of Potiphar in addition to being a brother – and writing as someone who deeply, deeply envies his more talented and skilled friends, it’s validating to feel like every now and then the third leg of musical performance is given enough importance to compensate for the other two.

In the midst of all of this, I’ve been keeping up with Build Your Own Musical and Theatresports, the former of which is extending its run for a week. I’m glad I’m doing this show but it’s been kind of a middling experience for me. I still have yet to play more than a background role in any of the musicals we’ve done, in part because I’m being tentative when I see us straying from our director’s mandate. The shows we’ve been putting on are funny and entertaining, but I wouldn’t say they hit the primary goals that have been set out for us. I don’t know if I can be in a major role unless I’m prepared to compromise on that? With only a handful of shows left, I suppose I’d better figure it out.

Dan.

Build Your Own Musical made it through rehearsals and had its opening weekend. We feel under-rehearsed but the show is a lot of fun, and I in particular have valued a lot of what I’ve learned just from going through the process. Musical improv, unfortunately, isn’t much like riding a bike for me: if I don’t keep up at it regularly the skill evapourates from me like morning dew in a sunnier climate than this. Between the thought-out and extremely precise philosophy our director has and the sheer repetition of doing this show, I feel much more renewed in this area. As a bonus, I’ve been able to incorporate what I’ve been learning from my vocal teacher this past year, and it’s been extremely helpful. When it comes to singing I’ve always struggled with technique and lessons have been a matter of baby steps; I may still be delinquent when stood next to some of my more talented/skilled counterparts but I’ve made a lot of significant advancements and I’m proud of them.

In the meantime I’m keeping up with Theatresports at the Intiman, and that continues to be surreal. Unexpected Productions is also now doing shows at Edmonds Community College, which has a pretty spectacular new black-box theatre that they just completed before cancelling their theatre program, leaving it wide open and unused. I did a show there last weekend since the Intiman was closed for Bumbershoot, and it’s no Intiman but it’s still pretty sweet: ultra-modern, large and spacious (seats 220), great amenities (dressing rooms, scene shop, costume department, etc.)… no fly gallery or orchestra pit and the wings are pretty small, but still, it’s a pretty kickass space for a college that no longer seems to need or want it.

I’ve finally got around to posting some photos from the vacation. They’re pretty random, I’m afraid, and perhaps a few too many pixels wasted on random shots of animals (or Elizabeth feeding animals), but there are some nice ones nonetheless:

The director of the staged reading of When The Boogeyman Spent The Night also posted a highlight video and a full number from the show; the interested may choose to check them out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xsGKcw8Lgo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szCAcadwDDs

Here’s a free closeup of my makeup job:

That’s about it. Throw in an overnight business trip to Portland (a bit inconvenient but I do generally enjoy taking the train) and call it an update. Really it might not seem like much, but when you’re rehearsing several days/nights a week and then doing improv shows late at night on the weekends, it tends to consume most of what you’ve got.

Dan.

The visit to Canada went well. Elizabeth and I spent five days in Toronto, seeing the sights and giving me the opportunity to reconnect with a few of my old friends. Then we took off for the cottage, where we had a week and a half of practically nothing to do other than read and relax out by the water. The worst part had to be the colds that she and I came down with almost immediately after arriving in Toronto; mine managed to stay with me for the entire the vacation, although thankfully it didn’t ruin it.

The weather was excellent for most of it; oppressively hot at times (especially our first few days in Toronto), but for the most part just nice and sunny and warm and great for relaxing outdoors and swimming in the lake. The only day it rained was on our anniversary, when the skies let loose and ruined my plans: I had intended to take Elizabeth horseback riding but instead had to postpone until the following day. We had a good time out at a ranch that was still getting up and running; my horse was mercifully docile and we went on a great little trail-ride tour of the property. It was my first time on a horse since one time I went on a trail ride when I was a kid, and while there were a few awkward moments on the whole it went pretty smoothly. There are a few photos and I will get around to posting them eventually.

The ecology of the cottage is something that keeps changing: when I was a kid ducks were a pretty uncommon sight, and now they’re practically a fixture and act like they own the place. In the same way, frogs used to hang out in our corner of the bay and I’ve not seen any the past few times I’ve been. The past couple of years have seen the introduction of a new tenant, though: turtles. There haven’t been many of them – only two on this vacation, although one we saw sunning itself on a rock was still quite young and small, suggesting the population may be growing. The other one was about the length of my arm and we discovered it attacking a duck, who was quacking manically as it tried to reach the shore from the middle of the bay. We could only tell that it was caught on something, but couldn’t see what until it was near the shore and I could see the turtle gripping the duck’s foot in its mouth, letting itself be dragged towards shore. Not being sure what to do and perhaps being more scared of the turtle than a man in his thirties ought to be, I grabbed a rock and began whacking the turtle with it, just hoping to startle it into letting go of the duck’s foot. Eventually I got the two of them separated, but not without the turtle ripping off a chunk of the duck’s foot as a souvenir. The duck sat in shock on the beach for a while, and I wasn’t sure if I’d done it any favour by intervening, but I left it a few pieces of bread so that it might get some energy back. We were able to identify the hobbled duck the following day as it was sunning itself on a floating dock along with a bunch of other ducks, so while I don’t know if it will ultimately survive or for how long there at least appears to be some hope for it.

Being at the cottage is much nicer now that my parents have high-speed internet there. I actually brought a couple of inexpensive wireless routers I purchased here back to Canada with me to set up for them both in their condo and at the cottage, so that we could get a nice strong signal down at the waterfront. This was a working vacation for me, and I must say it was pretty sweet being able to work on my laptop in a chaise lounge down on the lower deck, with the sun, the waves and the breeze all there keeping me company. In what was more of an experiment than something I actually decided to use more than a couple of times, I found I could actually stream recorded television from my fancy-pants box at home in Redmond all the way to my parents’ cottage in Muskoka. That’s pretty impressive, I think, especially since the cottage Internet is delivered by satellite, so not only is the video streaming over 2,000 miles but is actually being sent up into space before being blasted back down to the little cottage outside of rural Gravenhurst, just so I could watch the Thundercats premiere.

The time spent in Toronto was at my parents’ new condo around Yonge and Finch, which is actually quite nice, although there are a lot of stairs. My parents have always had a good knack for managing their living spaces, and I was surprised to see the vast majority of furniture from my old house had been successfully repurposed and rearranged in the new place. That was a good time, too: we got a package to go see a number of tourist spots, although between the amount of walking in hot weather and our colds we only really got out to three of the five sights. We went to Casa Loma, the Toronto Zoo and the ROM, but left the CN Tower after realizing it was a three hour wait to ascend it, and gave the Science Centre a miss. We also took a jaunt out to Hamilton to see my old university stomping grounds, and we got to hang out with one of my old roommates as well, which was nice.

Sometimes you remember things as being better than they are, but I’m glad to say that my revisiting some Canadian restaurant chains, especially Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s and Pizza Pizza were not a disappointment. God, I miss them out here.

Oh, I also grew a beard over the holiday, for the first time since 2007. It has to come off this week, though, as I’m going in to have my biometrics recorded for my replacement green card, and I don’t really want it trapped for the next ten years in its holographic imagery. I may give it another chance after that appointment, though.

It’s been slow to adjust back to normal life, especially since so much has changed all of a sudden. Elizabeth, in particular, received her license and has opened her massage practice, so her schedule is completely different and still in a transient state. I’ve also begun performing Theatresports at the Intiman, which is crazy in all kinds of ways… for starters, I’m pretty sure the height of the lobby alone exceeds the entire width of the stage we had at the Market Theatre. And we’ve confirmed that the entire Market Theatre could fit into the backstage space we aren’t using at the Intiman.

It’s taken some adjusting to performing there, and it doesn’t help that we’re currently dealing with relatively small audiences in a theatre that seats over 400. It’s fun and exciting, though, and feels just the tiniest bit naughty, like something must have gone horribly wrong for our ragtag ensemble of performers to have the run of one of Seattle’s most impressive and dignified (not to mention award-winning) professional theatres, a kind of inmates-running-the-asylum scenario. (And of course, it is because things went rather badly for the Intiman that we were able to step in and make use of their space. It still feels bizarre, though.)

I’ve also enlisted myself in another improv show that we will be running there in September: Build Your Own Musical, a show that will give me the opportunity to really expand on my musical improv skill, so I am excited for that.

That’s all for now! More updates as I regain further consciousness.

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.

Spelling Bee had its run and closing. It was a fun show and a good show on the whole, and a good role for me, although it was a struggle for me not to feel pigeon-holed in the character. I’ve uploaded some photos to my gallery, so there’s that. If I seem a little melancholy about it, it’s because this was a show I truly felt divided on. There were some terrific performances and it was a terribly fun show both for the audience and everyone involved. I also got to meet and work with some excellent new people. It kind of made me feel like I was a one-trick pony, though, even if people thought it was a good and endearing trick.

I had no plans to jump into any new projects after this, but during the run I was asked to be in the cast of a production of Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You that opens next month. I agreed after doing a little homework on the play… it’s Christopher Durang, who I like (although the only other play of his I’ve known is The Actor’s Nightmare), and the part is small but substantial… I’ll be playing a guy who confesses to being alcoholic, abusive and suicidal, so it should be an interesting acting exercise, and hopefully a dose of medicine for the one-trick-pony syndrome I contracted in Spelling Bee. The commitment is light enough that I think I can manage it without stressing out too much, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover the woman playing the title role is someone I’ve worked with both on Urinetown and Lysistrata, and is (in my esteem) an excellent actor who should do quite well with it. Our first rehearsal is in a couple of hours, so we’ll see how that goes.

This weekend also marks my return to improv, which I’d been staying away from while I was in Spelling Bee. I’m performing in no less than five shows this weekend, including two Theatresports and some Mother’s Day-themed shows. Last nights shows were okay but not great; we’ll see if tonight is any better. One thing we have going for us right now is some huge audiences thanks to a ton of tickets that were sold on a daily-discount website (we nearly sold the house out last night), so at least there is no lack for audience energy.

I’ve been spending a little time trying to figure out what to do with myself financially. This is largely prompted by the anniversary of the credit card I got exclusively for the miles that came with it as a bonus, which I promised to myself I would cancel before I had to pay the annual fee. I’ve now kept that promise but have been stuck trying to replace it with another card that delivers what I consider to be decent rewards without creating a bunch of hoops to jump through. This in turn has led me to examine some other financial aspects of my life, like what I’m doing with the multiple 401ks I have sitting around from previous jobs. I should also be looking at refinancing my mortgage if I’m serious about saving. Unfortunately I have no real aptitude for this kind of stuff. I’ve been looking into recruiting a financial adviser… I’ve had a couple of recommendations and may pull the trigger on it soon.

It’s nice that we’re starting to see some brighter and warmer weather, but we’ve still got far too much of the cold and damp going. I hope summer comes soon; I could use a good summer.

Dan.