A lot has been going on at work lately, and yesterday I had to fly to San Jose and back, all in a single day. Both flights were booked solid, and the only ticket I could get for the return flight was first class (which the company went for, as it was less expensive than having me stay overnight). I’d never flown first class before, although I think this barely counts as the flight was less than two hours and about as “budget” as first class gets. The extra space was nice but I was expecting more pampering… we got free alcoholic drinks and a small bruschetta plate, and that was it. At least I got to be first off the plane.
(Typically my biggest factor in seat selection is how quickly I’ll be able to escape the hell off the plane. I didn’t actually have a choice on the flight down, and they stuck me in the aisle seat of the very back row. It should have been okay in that regard, as the flights to San Jose often exit from the rear of the aircraft as well as the front, but it took them so long to get the stairs to the back of the aircraft after we’d landed that the plane was almost done exiting by the time they opened the rear door, grr.)
I figure that this may well be the only time I ever fly first class. In that light, it was pretty disappointing… I certainly don’t see myself ever paying the extra money voluntarily, at least not to Alaska Airlines, who operated the flight.
My return to improv has plateaued since the last time I wrote here… it’s been a while since I had what I would consider to be a really strong performance. To make matters worse, last weekend I threw out my back while picking up a fellow performer… I’ve had backaches and pains before, but this is the first time I’ve ever seriously thrown it out, to the point where it was nearly impossible to stand up. It happened right before intermission, most of which I spent backstage lying prone and in intense pain. I faked my way through the second half, with the rest of the cast covering for me as needed. It took most of the week for the pain to subside fully… of course, Robaxacet isn’t available in the United States (at least, not OTC as it is in Canada), so I was mostly stuck with it.
We had a minor snowpocalypse last week that shut most of the city down for a couple of days. This didn’t impact me too greatly, working from home as I do, but it impacted Elizabeth and (combined with the back pain) generally increased the stress levels of myself and everyone I know. So Thanksgiving was a welcome respite from the stress, as was turkey and pie and the general overindulgence that goes with the holiday.
Hopefully we can make it through the next month without another snow dump… it’d be nice to escape to Florida without having to deal with that again!
Well, I hardly planned on taking up another theatre project so soon after Cannibal ended… but I’ve been somewhat unexpectedly cast as Vice Principal Douglas Panch, the semi-downtrodden, bordering-on-tragic overseer of the day’s events in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at SecondStory Repertory (the same place I did The Underpants and Urinetown). It doesn’t begin rehearsals until March, though, so at least I have quite a while off before diving into it.
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.
It’s Yom Kippur, and my more-traditional-than-religious day of atonement shall soon conclude with an extremely welcome breaking of the fast.
I spent most of the day driving around looking at barbecues, perhaps in the desperate hope that I might emerge with one I could break my Yom Kippur fast with tonight? At the end of it all I conceded defeat and accepted that I’m simply not going to get a reasonable price on a grill with an infrared rotisserie burner. So I’ve gone ahead and ordered a Nexgrill from Costco, which at $500 has extremely spotty reviews and lots of complaints regarding the quality of the parts, but that’s the same stark reality for all grills in my price range. The only other eligible candidates were similarly overpriced at Sears and Home Depot, with similarly problematic reviews and issues. At least this one has free delivery, and comes with the rotisserie kit (which I would have had to purchase separately for just about any other barbecue) and a grill cover, which are decent consolation prizes. Plus it will take at least a week or two to deliver, so if by some miracle I find something else I’d rather have before then I can just refuse delivery on this one.
Rehearsals for Cannibal are in full sway, and I am looking forward to getting the show mounted again. It was almost like returning to summer camp, seeing everyone for the first time in the same room in that same context since almost a year had gone by. I think we’re all a bit surprised by how much we have to relearn, not even considering that we’ve replaced two cast members and have had to make some alternate orchestral arrangements. We only have about a dozen rehearsals… I am excited to be playing recorder again, and will even be in an additional song since we no longer have a flute player, but I’m rather slow at learning music, so it’s going to be a lot of work.
Sunday rehearsals are an interesting dilemma for me, because on the one hand it’s costing me roughly 15 bucks to park near the market every weekend, which I find really frustrating (especially for a show I’m not getting paid to do), but on the other hand it’s also pretty much the only time all year that I am down at Pike Place Market during the business hours of the I Love New York Deli, which is the closest to authentic Jewish food I’ve encountered in my five years out here, and just about the best matzah ball soup I’ve had anywhere that wasn’t home. So it’s a bit of a love-hate thing for me.
One nice thing about the Sunday rehearsals is that it makes it very opportune for me to perform in the Sunday improv shows that we do at Unexpected, which take place an hour after our Cannibal rehearsals conclude. These are typically much smaller shows and less well-attended, but can be a great opportunity to just play and take risks without the same stigma as regular Theatresports. I used to perform in them a lot, but not so much lately as it’s just too far out of my way for a Sunday evening. It’s nice to be able to do them again, and it means that both this past weekend as well as this one I’ve been doing improv there three consecutive nights a week. Unexpected really has become a home away from home for me, a sentiment I know a lot of the ensemble members share, and it’s nice having that extended family.
The past couple of weeks have been a little more relaxed but I still feel tired on the whole. My quest for the ideal barbecue has been going poorly… it just seems that infrared rotisserie burners are incredibly uncommon in this year’s models, and the only ones that have them tend to be really low-quality brands that are still way overpriced for what you are getting. As the season winds down my options are only getting slimmer and slimmer as well, and my belly hungrier for the kinds of foods I would prepare on it.
Rehearsals for Cannibal start up next week, and I’m pretty jazzed about it. Last year was so much fun, and about 80% of the same cast is returning. I hope it’s received as well and with the same high level of attendance as it was last year, although I don’t know if that’s how these things work, seeing as it won’t have the novelty it did then. I hope so, though, as it’s the kind of show I could easily do for a month pretty much every year, kind of like going to summer camp.
Improv has been going pretty well, and while I’m still not as strong as I’d like to be I’m content overall with how I’m doing. My storytelling is still a bit ho-hum, I think, but I’ve had a number of pretty clever moments these past few shows that have helped make up for it. (I felt particularly jazzed by a gag I contributed last night to a scene in the style of a spaghetti western. I was desperately hunting for a prop that I could roll across the stage to simulate a tumbleweed, but all I could find were the large black stage blocks we use to simulate things like chairs and tables. It was admittedly cheap, but the audience found it hysterical when I clunkily rolled that block across the stage like a big square wheel in front of the performers, and while I can’t claim it a big win in terms of my improv skill or anything I was proud that I had the guts to take a chance on it.)
We’ve been playing King of the Hill for the past year or so, where winning teams come back the following week to defend their title against new competition. In addition to this, we’ve been encouraged to form teams and submit them to compete rather than just teaming up randomly with whoever is available. I haven’t really been a fan of it, because there’s a competitive edge to it that I find jarring with the ensemble mentality and operation, and because frankly I’m not very good at it… there are people in the ensemble who are very adept at actively pursuing teams, designing them to win, and finding ways to come back every week, and I simply am not one of them… I’m neither good at promoting myself nor comfortable with imposing on others to be on a team with me. It’s been frustrating to feel like I have to win in order to keep playing, and knowing that if I lose I might very well not get put on a team the following week just by sending in my availability, especially since priority had been given to new apprentice ensemble members. Well, this week it was announced rather unceremoniously that we are reverting back to random teams based on whoever is available, and while I don’t know what the impetus for the change was (I’m guessing that it’s in response to a dip in availability from ensemble members) I’m rather happy for it, and am hoping it lasts a while.
Everyone’s mood is improving as the light at the end of the tunnel of construction on our condo complex grows nearer. Our building is pretty much complete minus a few touch-ups; it’s nice and painted and we have new numbers on our door and everything. I finally got new blinds installed to replace the fairly cheap ones I had before. I didn’t go whole-hog but the three main ones in my living room are now cellular, top-down-bottom-up blinds, and while I didn’t spring for the cordless kind I did get them professionally installed, so I wouldn’t be voiding the warranty on my new windows or anything. It’s a real improvement having these blinds that can close from the bottom, since you can let in some light and foliage up top while still keeping your privacy down below – nice to have when you’re on the ground floor of a busy condo complex with windows that face a walking trail.
Today is (well, at this hour, more like was) Labo(u)r Day, and a welcome holiday off for me. Between improv, weddings (one last weekend, and one this weekend coming up!), social engagements, shopping for barbecues and the like there’s not a lot of “chill” time. Things are pretty good in my life right now, but I could use a few more quiet days like this.
Maybe it’s time I come to terms with the fact I’m just not very good at updating this blog as frequently as I used to. I hope that you, the few loyal and lonely (and intensely bored?) remaining followers of it, aren’t too disappointed. I will still attempt to get something here every few weeks, but please excuse my continued transgressions.
We had a few weeks of utter hell heat-wise, where temperatures pushed up into the nineties and it was stifling. So it was perhaps ill-conceived that myself and three friends chose to follow it up with four days in Las Vegas in the middle of the Nevada desert, where temperatures were well over a hundred. (Plenty more on that in a bit.)
The weather has been bi-polar… the heat-wave came out of nowhere, and during it I could barely sleep and had near-constant headaches. The moment it ended the temperature dropped right back down to the 60′s. I think I’m gonna start looking for a portable air conditioner I can use for the two weeks or so of summer that it’s like this, and keep in storage for the remainder of the year. My barbecue, unfortunately, hasn’t weathered the summer so well. It was in storage during the construction, and I then brought it out for a very successful party, but my next attempt to use it the middle burner simply wouldn’t light, and I could find no problems with the assembly. I’ve been on the hunt for a replacement ever since, but I’ve had no luck finding a good price on a grill that has an infrared rotisserie burner (one of my upgrade criteria) that can also fit on my rather narrow patio. I’m hoping that prices will come down sufficiently as the season winds to a close for me to pick something decent up.
I’ve been doing a lot of improv lately, some quite successful and some not so much. We’ve been doing theme nights this past month, probably the most interesting of which was our Shirts vs. Skins night, where I eagerly volunteered to be on the skins team and do topless improv alongside two other performers almost as pasty-white as myself. It was a very good show for both myself and the team, and the audience was on our side and hysterical the entire time. This weekend I will be representing Canada in our Natives vs. Non-Natives matchup… it’ll be interesting to see how the audience treats us in that one.
Without a doubt the biggest thing to happen to me recently is the trip to Vegas that I went on with Elizabeth and our two friends Colin and Ashley (you may remember them as Brad and Janet from the production of The Rocky Horror Show I was in). We’d planned it nearly two months earlier in particular because people in the group really wanted to see two Cirque shows: Kà and O. So we booked our tickets and rooms at the hotel and went this past weekend.
It was a pretty fantastic trip overall, and I took a bunch of photos with my iPhone. We stayed in the pyramid at the Luxor, one of the older hotels on the strip but also a well-renowned and regarded one. Our rooms were a bit dismal, but one does not go to Vegas to stay in the rooms, so we were okay with it, until Elizabeth found a leaky pipe in our bathroom, at which point I was able to negotiate an upgrade for the four of us to much nicer rooms in the East Tower with more space, better amenities and an impressive view.
We were there from Thursday night to Monday afternoon, and it was pretty much a whirlwind. The Cirque shows were incredible, fantastic, and all sorts of other adjectives I cannot do them justice with. They were both so much more than the touring show I’d seen in Marymoor by my condo. If I had to choose a favourite to recommend it would be Kà, which is far more story-based than most Cirque shows, and I found it both intense and positively gripping. O was pretty spectacular as well, and truly gorgeous, but unfortunately I had an allergic reaction in my eye that made it difficult for me to properly enjoy most of it.
In addition to this, Elizabeth and I went to see Penn and Teller, whose Bullshit! series we are both afficianados of. This show was a ton of fun and a great time. I was pleased with my ability to figure out how some of their tricks are done, although there were definitely some that stumped me. I don’t agree with all of their politics, but it’s hard to deny their charisma and what generous and genuinely well-intentioned guys they are. Probably the most telling indicator of this is that after every single show they wait outside the lobby while their audience (easily over a thousand people) mobs them, and gives each and every one of them the chance to get their picture taken with them and an autograph signed. It’s how I increased my collection of celebrity noogies to include both Penn and Teller.
Other highlights included my gambling at the blackjack table and turning $30 into $100 (although the next day I lost another $50). And the four of us also made the heinous mistake of going to a timeshare pitch in order to score free tickets to the Bodies and Titanic exhibits at the Luxor. We justified it as being a rite of passage, as none of us had attended a timeshare hard-sell before and it felt like we should know if we could make it through intact. It turned out resisting the sale wasn’t nearly as much of a problem as getting out of there in any reasonable amount of time was… it was supposed to be for two hours over lunch at 1 PM, but we didn’t even begin until 2 PM (by which point we were starving) and didn’t get out of there until 4:30, which cut into the time we had to spend with friends of Ashley who lived in Las Vegas. There were some highly entertaining stories we got out of it, but I think we all agreed that the stories still weren’t worth the hassle.
All in all the trip was a huge success, and it was a great idea to go with a similarly-interested couple that we could have fun with. It’s a shame to go back to work, but I don’t think I’ll miss the desert heat. You can check out my photo album of the trip, and here are a few teasers:
I also took a couple of videos…
Kà preshow, featuring balls of fire! (Make sure to watch through to the end.)
