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.

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.

I got a number of photos of both the theme park and Sanibel. I’m especially proud of this one:

You might notice I’m wearing my leather jacket in the photo… the first couple of days we were at Universal, it was down near freezing, and actually colder than it was in Seattle. That was a bit disappointing but it mercifully warmed up by the time we got down to Sanibel and the more leisurely part of the vacation.

Sanibel was beautiful, and with the warmer weather than last year a much better experience for the three primary activities of biking, swimming and laying on the beach. It’s just nice to walk around in shorts and get my vitamin D from the sun instead of artificial gummies, frankly, but the beautiful scenery and majesty of the ocean is a big factor as well. I’m a big fan of all of the birds on the island, and there is an aviary that I enjoyed biking to where we got to feed and even (on one occasion) play with the birds there. There are plenty of photos, but I also got this cute video of a bird bobbing its head back and forth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxEmQEIa7iU

If the vacation itself was meant to renew us, we paid the price for it in our travel experience. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened on the way down, but it was a three-legged flight with Southwest during which we couldn’t leave the plane. It was about eight hours all told, and I had naively failed to bring a proper meal on board with me, and was both surprised and disappointed to discover Southwest doesn’t offer any in-flight meals for sale.

If that was stressful, it didn’t begin to compare with our flight home with Delta. That was only two-legged with an hour and a half layover, but our first flight wound up being delayed over two hours, meaning we would be unable to make our connecting flight. So they rerouted us through Atlanta, which as last-minute alternatives go could have been worse, since it was only scheduled to arrive three hours later, although it meant a much more tiresome four-hour layover. My only concern in all of this was that Elizabeth and I be able to sit together on the flights. The flight to Atlanta wasn’t a problem, but it was also just a short hop from Fort Myers. I was infinitely more frustrated by the second leg.

They wouldn’t assign us seats until the gate opened an hour before the flight, so I waited patiently for that to happen, and was first in line to make sure we could get our seats together. Sure enough, we got boarding passes with adjacent seats assigned to us and good to go. Then, as we were actually boarding the plane, as they scanned our boarding passes new slips suddenly printed out, reassigning us to different sections of the cabin, both to middle seats (and myself in front of the exit row, so I couldn’t even recline). That was a five-hour flight, and I was grinding my teeth in silent outrage through most of it.

It’s taken a while to get back into the swing of things at home – perhaps evidenced by how long it’s taken me to get this post up – but we’re mostly returned to our routine at this point. We’ve been seeing our friends a lot (in no small part due to Elizabeth scheduling them for free massages as part of her coursework), and that’s been nice.

I also made my return to the Theatresports stage this past weekend, and that was surprisingly fun. I performed pretty decently, I thought, with several strong scenes throughout the evening. Saturday was unexpectedly cool because I was scheduled to run lights, but one of the other players was feeling sick and traded out for the less stressful job with me. We ended up selling out the house and having standing room only, though, and it felt really great performing to such a large and enthusiastic audience.

Here’s to a happy new year,

Dan.

I always take care to make sure there’s nothing visible in my car that can even be remotely construed as worth stealing, and sure enough it didn’t even seem like anything got stolen, until we discovered that my $2 phone charger was missing (and not the $10 bottle of Excedrin or anything else of even marginal value)… the working theory now is that they saw the line running to my stereo and didn’t see where it ended, and imagined there might have been an iPod or something similar tucked away at the other end. In which case, lesson learned… but what scares me is that this was a truly random incident, one which I had no hope of preventing. It’s hard not to feel violated, since the cost of replacing the window doesn’t come anywhere near my insurance deductible, so the only thing you can do is drop the $300 or so on a replacement.

(I will mention, though, that it pays to call around. The first autoglass place I called said they couldn’t get any replacement windows for a car as new as mine, and that I would have to go to the dealership. The dealership near me quoted me over $400… but when I called a different dealership, they referred me to a different autoglass place that had no trouble getting the window, and came all the way from Tacoma in their van, right to my condo to do the replacement on-site, for nearly $150 less.)

In the same vein of window-trouble, I was recently having trouble with my glasses… I was having blurred vision, especially in the evenings. I kept thinking my glasses were unclean, and would obsessively clean them, only to still find my vision blurred. I suddenly got worried that perhaps the problem was with my eyes and not the glasses themselves. I booked an appointment at the optometrist as early as I could, and she (thankfully) found nothing wrong with my eyes, and discovered that the protective coating on my lenses had fragmented in a kind of a lattice pattern. She sent them to the lab to be serviced under warrantee, and so I’ve been wearing an old pair for the past week or so. I just recently got them back and them seem improved for the most part, although I still have trouble focusing my right eye in certain directions, which I think may just be a problem with the lens that I’m stuck with. Every day I give more consideration to the surgery…

It’s been an eventful couple of weeks for materialistic things. My new barbecue finally arrived, and after much frustration I have it almost entirely put together. I couldn’t assemble the side burner, though, as the valve was extremely tough to get positioned correctly and I wound up breaking the casing on it and disconnecting a couple of wires. So I attempted to contact the warrantee company and in spite of the initial setback of being given an out-of-date website and phone number I was eventually able to reach them, and they were very obliging about sending me replacement parts that should arrive in the next week or two.

The grill itself is quite sharp-looking, but heats up a lot slower than my previous one did. Here’s how it looks:

Also, the company that installed my blinds sent another guy out to finish the job installing a skylight blind on my largest atrium window. It was a very custom and complicated job as the angled blinds are usually vertical, but my window is too wide for any vertically-closing blind to work. So I came up with the (rather clever, in my opinion) idea of using a horizontally-closing blind instead. It very nearly didn’t work, as the blind was drooping out of its track, and I was coming to terms with the idea that I simply wasn’t going to be able to get coverage of that window. But they finally tightened it sufficiently to get it working, and it actually looks pretty decent:

I finally got my hands on some photos from And Then There Were None. They are quite excellent, and I’ve added them to my album. Here are a few selections:

Cannibal opened yesterday, and we are already having a lot of fun with it. It’s pretty much the same show as last year, with a few new faces and a couple of new jokes to boot.Be sure to come see it, especially if you missed last year’s production. I finally got my hands on a DVD from last year and it is a shpadoinkle show!

Dan.