Is This a Bad Idea?

I have to go buy an air conditioner.  I had one last year but it didn't work very well, and it was loud, so it was hard to sleep at night with it on, so anyway, I got rid of it and need a new one.

Today's my day off and I was planning on heading over to PC Richards... but I am wildly distracted because I have decided to write a memoir.

I am also writing a wine book this summer (that I'm very excited about,) but this new project leapt out of nowhere and put a stranglehold on me.  I have taken down from the shelf all of my journals spanning the last twenty-four years (yikes) and have been flipping through them, gathering information and steam... and I am already seven pages into writing:

The Definition of (Love) Insanity: An Investigative Report.

What I figured is: if the definition of insanity is repeatedly doing the same action yet hoping for different results, I have to apply the inverse to get a different result in my love life.  So I need to figure out what these past patterns of love have been in order to circumvent them.


I am only on page seven and think this is going to be really important for me.  I also think this is going to be something people will want to read.  But if my intention is to write a book, I wonder if mentioning real people (even if most of them are only referred to by their initials or aliases) is a good idea.  I mean, I have to mention them.  But what if they read the book and sue me for some ridiculous reason?


I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.  For now, I'm crazy gung ho about sitting here and putting all of this down, even if it means I'm sweating in the heat and humidity.


So I guess, no, it's not a bad idea at all.

Control and Progress

I recently posted about how BEIGE I found Indianapolis.  Well, that was before the early spring triggered an explosion of color in this 'burg!  Pale pink dogwood blossoms, yellow daffodils, deep green grass, lavender trees, red tulips... a riot of color.   The beige has certainly blown away.

I am reminded how nature will continue to move forward, no matter what we do.  Global warm the place?  Ok, spring will still arrive, just earlier.  Vines will grow, bees will pollinate, ants will find their way inside my housemate's bedroom and freak her out... it seems impossible for nature to stagnate and cease its cycle.  Even death is not a full stop but a necessary part of that cycle.

This week I spent an incredible amount of time and money and effort to fly home for an audition.  I was happy I did so, regardless of the outcome.  However, when I found out today I didn't book the job, I wasn't really disappointed or upset - I was frustrated by the lack of control I felt.

An actor relinquishes nearly all control in his career: someone else decides to represent you, someone else decides to give you an audition appointment, someone else decides if they think you're a fit for their project, someone else decides where you should stand and how they want you to interact with other actors, someone else decides (in print) if they think you did a good job or not.  We are in control of very personal things related to our craft, but do not have a hand in the grand machine.

So the frustration nags for a moment, until I remind myself that I did a great audition (the casting director wrote my agent, "Loved hearing her sing that material!").  And that I even said the effort of going on this audition was just as valuable a building block of my career as booking a job.  And that just as the Japanese maple blooms and the daffodils burst, headway is being made.

It is not necessary to have a stranglehold of control to make vibrant, important progress.

Toasting with Bubbly

Tonight we opened the show!  It went so incredibly well, not that I expected any less.  We had an opening night party at a local brewery (which had nice wine, so all was grand,) and now I'm home and having a glass of bubbly to toast a milestone of sorts before I fall into bed, exhausted.

Bubbly is obviously a perfect catalyst for celebration and my professional Wineau side will wax rhapsodic on the subject as often as possible (cross-promotion: see www.wineminx.blogspot.com where there is a recent treatise on the joys resulting from secondary fermentation.)

In other words, it was worth it to me to open a bottle (not intended to be completely consumed in one sitting so potentially wasted) for the celebratory aspect.

I am celebrating freedom.

I am celebrating joy.

I am celebrating what theatre is about; transporting an audience.

This show, "Legally Blonde," may be one of the 'fluffiest' around, but it is so much fun to do - the audience has an absolute blast - and so do we on stage.

I am performing a leading role that is distinctive, humorous, and relatable.  I get to belt my face off, and have a ton of laugh lines.  And I get to work with a company that is talented, dedicated and all-around lovely and this is all reminding me why I fell for this career back when I was eight years old.

I couldn't be happier, and the only thing missing is someone special to clink this glass of bubbly with.  But that's for another day.  As Steven Wright beautifully said, "You can't have everything... where would you put it?"

This Place is So Beige...

I've been in Indianapolis for a week now... and this place is so beige.  It is winter, so the sky is mostly beige, and when there's no snow the ground is beige, and most of the buildings are beige.  This place is the opposite of Miami Beach.  Beige.

But I am part of a fantastic company doing its best to bring some Hot Pink to the area, and I think we're bound for success!  This is the first regional gig I've done in YEARS and I honestly didn't remember what it could be like.  But last night the company went to see the current show at the theater, and I was enveloped by a warm wash of love for this group and what we're doing.

The beige is melting away...

Well, That Doesn't Happen Every Day.

I had a private audition for a play this afternoon that lasted nearly an hour!(See above title.) Kind of riding high from that one, not gonna lie. The director quasi-interviewed me about the character and what drew me to the play, we did the scenes, he told me all about the theater, and then we chatted about personal stuff for ten minutes.

Someone said it sounded like a date, and in a way it was exactly like a date. What a luxury to get to see if you get along with someone and actually like the person you may be working with!

This meant more to me as well due to the fact that I get pigeonholed into being seen only as a musical theater actor just because I've got a killer voice. So, no matter what happens, I know I set the bar very, very high!!

I have been considering resurrecting this blog for a while... it has lain fallow in deference to my Wine Minx tome (www.wineminx.blogspot.com) but episodes like today's have gotten me itching.

We shall see...

I will sort these thoughts out