Summer Summer Summer Time

First of all, thank goodness that heat wave is over.  What a siege.  New York City in the dog days of summer is unbelievably gross, sticky and all-around uncomfortable; so even the warm-to-hot days when one can have one's windows open to the sweet twilight air are heavenly.

How's my summer going, though, you ask? Well...


I have been sick for three weeks with some variation of strep throat.  It is incredibly annoying and I am crossing my fingers this last bout of antibiotics wipes that bitch out.

The NYMF (New York Music Theatre Festival - the "T" is silent) has come and gone, and with it, a lovely staged reading of a new musical I was fortunate enough to participate in.

There have been long hours at my desk as I've added and subtracted and polished both my memoir - "The Definition of (Love) Insanity"- and my intro-to-wine book "All You REALLY Need to Know About Wine."

I have knocked Team #18, the St. Louis Cardinals, off my list as I work towards singing for every Major League Baseball team.  This completes my 2013 anthems, unless that woman from the As stops teasing me with "let me check the calendar and I'll get back to you" and actually gets back to me.


And I've consumed about sixty-eight gallons of wine on rooftops and in bars and on my sofa.

It's been a pretty fun summer so far, I suppose.  I would honestly rather be inside, performing a wonderful theatrical piece somewhere.  Or even in a humid rehearsal room.  Or even in a humid and un-air-conditioned audition room.  Or out on a boat on the Turkish Mediterranean - my new favorite dream vacation destination (I'm not a total glutton for punishment.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there has been much about this summer to enjoy.  But I am dreaming of the fall.  Of wearing a sweater.  Of "good sleeping weather."  Of colored leaves crunching under my feet.  Of returning to Indy to do "Les Miz."  Of returning to Indy to spend hours in the gym and eat really well and get fantastically into shape while I'm doing "Les Miz." Of winding up this incredible year with a bang so that I can catapult into the clean slate of 2014 laid out in front of me.





If I start running now, just think
of all the momentum
I can gain.

Meanwhile, I wil enjoy this beautiful city in all its stunning summer glory, be it hot or humid or both.

I Am Annoyed

This is a vent, pure and simple. I am generally a happy, well-balanced person, but sometimes the stars align to throw many things that annoy me directly in my path. So here they are:

TOP TEN MOST ANNOYING THINGS TO ME (AS OF NOW.)

10. When people stand in front of the subway doors and don't let you off the train.

9. Also on the subway - the new version of the 70s-80s boom box issue - when people listen to music on their phones, etc., without headphones, blasting the tinny crappy music for all to hear. These people are usually young people with clearly no manners. (I have turned into my mother.)

8. The dudes who hang out under the scaffolding at the end of my block and smoke pot ALL THE DAY LONG. And often harass ladies as we walk by. Get a life, you guys. Or at least bring enough for everybody.

7. Rain. If you've been living in New York City this summer, you get me.

6. Supposed friends who don't treat you like friends. This is one particular person right now. All the rest of my friends are awesome. He's in the doghouse.

5. I annoy myself, sometimes, when I can't seem to get stuff done. I get distracted (Gemini) and maybe a wee bit lazy, and the piles on my desk just stare at me and I become annoyed. Like right now, I'm blogging instead of filing. I feel fine now, but in 10 minutes, I'll be very annoyed.

4. Pain. Rhymes with no. 7, rain. I have of late been dealing with a knee problem, and now I've injured my right middle knuckle boxing, which means no boxing for me for a while, which is annoying. My pain isn't hugely painful, it's the indication that something's wrong and now has to get fixed that's my problem.

3. (I'm running out of steam here...) Uh, when people don't actually CURB their dogs, and let them pee and poop willy nilly on the sidewalk, so we all get to walk through the detritus. People, it takes a hot second to train your dog to do its business two feet to the right, I've done so myself. (Train the dog, I mean, not do my business off the curb.)

2. When sweat rolls down the back of my legs.

1. Okay, okay, so not that many things really, truly annoy me. Looking back, the common thread of the main issues is INCONSIDERATION. There are more people in NYC than in other places, so there will obviously be more inconsiderate people in NYC. But why are so many people inconsiderate in the first place? Why do the kids blast their music, oblivious to the fact that probably no one else in the car wants to hear it? Why do people plant themselves smack dab in front of you, clearly prohibiting your egress? Why do those dudes act as if the sidewalk scaffolding is their living room? Why do people let their dogs walk them instead of the other way around?

If people could all be a little more considerate, wouldn't it be so much nicer to go through our day-to-day lives? It really would. But I don't know how to inspire them to be more considerate. And people's constant inconsiderate behavior just makes me want to punch them in the nose. Which I'd be more likely to do, if I hadn't messed up my knuckle boxing. Annoying!