Wahoooo!

This is my first post from my new I-Mac.

I love this machine.

DAMMITT!!!

That is all.

Randomly Overheard Statements This Past Weekend

"It's sheep, sheep, sheep, and then we're out."

Dan Covey

"It's that sheep! It's trying to kill us!"

Holly Twyford

What Are You Doing Saturday Night?

This Bitches!

If Only You Could Translate Sounds Onto Blogger

Then you would hear me crashing and burning.

To the MSGAP, ignore the previous post.

A Question For The MSGAP*

What do you think of asking someone out via email?

* Multi- State, Girlie- Advising Posse

Update?

For several months I have been less than motivated to write here on the ol blog. Part of the reason is that work has been busier than the law should allow. Seriously, I went four months without going to the grocery store. There are only so many different meals you can really make from the stuff available at 7-11.

Another factor in my lack of posting was being involved in a relationship for a while. Strangely enough, I wanted to spend free time with the GF rather than sitting about writing blog posts.

Probably the biggest reason for my silence of late is that most of the things I have cared enough to write about recently I have cared too much about to write a half-assed or truncated post.

I would like to pause and say a big thank you to those of you who have continued to tune in despite the lack of reasons to do so. I appreciate your loyalty.

So what is going on?

I am currently in Baltimore designing scenery for one of the universities up here. The show has been going fairly well, although there have been some interesting mindset adjustments that have had to be made. For instance, part of the action of the play is for one of the characters to smash a guitar onstage. I suggested rigging a fake guitar to do this bit, but instead we purchased enough guitars to destroy one every night of tech and performance.

We have spent more on guitars for this show than the scenery budgets for several projects I was involved in last season. Of course this is a university with a "use it or lose it" budget situation. Like I said, a whole different world.

I have met someone I think I would like to see a whole lot more of. I suppose time will tell.

Work slows down considerably after this week. I am actually going on vacation for a while. Looking forward to getting away.

I hope I will get back to a little bit of blogging soon.

Peace in yer crease.

Why I Am Aggravated At The Moment

Because I am a big wuss.

It is amazing how much this bothers me.

And yes, I know I am being cryptic again.

Eastern Promises

Easily the best movie I have seen all year.

A Moment Of Silence

Luciano Pavarotti died today at the age of 71.

Argh!

Expletive! Expletive! Expletive!

That is all.

Blah!

I am in California at the moment. Tonight was 1st preview for Bleacher Bums. The show has been going well so far. We will start tech-ing The Weir on Monday. I will catch a plane Wednesday and finally head home.

As always seems to happen when I go out of town for extended periods of time, life has thrown me a few curve balls*. One of my mother's two surviving brothers had been sick and went to the hospital to discover that his whole body is riddled with cancer. The doctors have estimated one to six months left for him.

I received an email last week that a friend from college (the first time) died after a long illness last Sunday. Steve was truly one of the good guys. Despite the pressure of a very intensive program, he was always able to maintain a view of the larger picture. He was a dedicated family man and managed to find a balance between life and work that has so far eluded me. I wish I was a better writer so I could really express what a loss to the world Steve's passing is.

I won't go into details other than to say there is no bad guy in the situation, but I am single again.

I will pause here to say Happy Birthday to S, who is 28 today.

Peace in your crease, folks.

And There Was Much Rejoicing

Let all of the gods in heaven be praised.

I have working AC in my apartment!

Wouldn't It Be Great...

...if there was a magic ring we could drop into a volcano, and George Bush and all his cronies would just go away?

What I Am Doing Right Now...

...is drinking Jack Daniel's from the bottle and listening to Folsom Prison Blues.

It's been a grumpy two days.

If Nothing Else....

A meme. Citymouse tagged me with this some time ago.

Bloggers must post these rules and provide eight random facts about themselves. In the post, the tagged blogger tags eight other bloggers and notify them they have been tagged.

1) I can juggle. At an earlier time in my life, I lived with professional clowns. I could not stand to be the only person in the house who could not juggle, so I learned. I can only do balls though, not clubs. My attempts to juggle clubs ended when I actually knocked myself unconscious with one.

2) I have three tattoos. I want more. The last one I got was with S, a few days before she moved to New Orleans and I moved back to DC. It is a symbol that means truth, a promise between us that there we will always be honest with one another, whether we want to hear it or not.

3) When I was a small child, I had surgery to correct a chest and rib deformity and for some time had a metal plate in my chest. I have a wicked scar as a reminder. I usually win the "Best Scar" contest unless someone has had open heart surgery.

4) I have lived in my current apartment longer than I have lived any one place in my adult life.

5) My 40th birthday is on a Tuesday. How much does that suck?

6) I spent about a year managing a fast food restaurant when I was 18/19.

7) I am allergic to most fruits and vegetables raw.

8) I hate the taste of licorice.

I don't have anyone to tag because most of my friends have stopped blogging. So it's a free for all.

What I Am Doing Right Now....

... is procrastinating.

I have much to do in these next couple of days before I head to Hartford for a week (I did mention Hartford, right?) to assist D on a show at Hartford Stage. I am designing scenery for Songs For A New World with Open Circle Theatre, then is scenery and lighting for Bleacher Bums and The Weir, which are being done in rotating rep. And I have been having meetings about African Continuum's first show of the season.

So a lot of scenery to draft.

Other stuff that has been going on.

S finally got a new phone, so I have been able to chat with her again, which has been good, especially because I have been able to get updates on a mutual friend who was in the hospital.

I am, as I write this, waiting on the AC guy to come look at my unit. With any luck the AC will be repaired in my apartment when I get back from Hartford.

I am trying to find time to go look at studio space so I can finally stop working from home.

I have been spending much of my free time with the GF. That has been nice.

Not much else going on. I know I have been really bad with the whole staying in touch thing of late. Sorry about that folks. Check back soon, because I actually have some thoughts on the news to share, and I have a meme from City Mouse I still need to do. So there should be something to read up here soon.

Peace in yer crease.

Show Me The Money

So you would think this is simple, right? A fee was agreed on, we signed a contract, I did the work. Yet the contract has been violated because the producer did not have my check for me on the day of the show. It has now been four days and I have yet to see the check.

Just effing pay me what was agreed to!

This is my single biggest complaint about being a freelance artist. Why do some people feel it is OK to pay people when they get around to it? I doubt very much the people responsible would accept the same behavior from their employer.

Here is a little clue, folks. This is not a hobby. This is how I make my living. I have bills to pay just like you. So fucking pay me on time!

One of the things that sucks about this situation, other than not having the money, is I now have to be an asshole to people I will (hopefully) be working with again. In a discussion with fellow designers recently, the subject of having an agent came up. While many were skeptical about the benefits of employing someone in that role, the mutual agreement was there was certainly value in having someone else who engaged in the fights with management so that one could go into the working situation without having to be the bad guy.

The other thing that sucks is I have very little real recourse. Both shows for which I am currently owed money have closed, so I can't threaten a cease and desist. Do I have to be that guy? You know the one who takes the show disc out of the console and won't restore the show until they have been given a check. Talk about a way to sour a relationship.

What do my readers think?

A Few Thoughts On The Upcoming Presidential Elections, And Other Political Ramblings

First off, the first Presidential Primary is not until my birthday next year*, yet media outlets of all kinds are focused on presidential candidates. I think this is a little nuts, but there are probably a number of reasons for this. The Democrats** certainly smell the blood in the water, believing they are a shoe-in for the White House, so it is just a matter of choosing who. The Republicans are trying to simultaneously appear to believe we are pursuing the right course in Iraq whilst distancing themselves from the President. I have not had the leisure to really examine the front runners closely, but I have not heard a great deal on either side that has inspired much hope. The political system is broken methinks, though I have a few thoughts on steps to get it back on the right direction.

According to Project Vote Smart's website, as of yesterday there were 28 Democrats, 37 Republicans, and 49 from various other political parties. Lets just do the math shall we? 28+37+49= 114 people running for President! 114. And if we are lucky we will have three of those people to choose from come next November. Three out of 114. Now I am all for a little sifting of the political field, separating the wheat from the chaff. But it seems that every election I have voted in since I was eligible to do so has been a choice between two or three bits of chaff. Where the hell is the wheat? Perhaps the current threshing machine is not as effective as we would like to think, so here is another idea:

Do away with the Primary system. Everyone runs. Let those who have extreme agendas syphon off the fringes of the political spectrum, so that those of us who are more moderate and more capable of compromise might be able to find a candidate who exhibits those same qualities. Perhaps then we could have actual discourse on those things that really matter to most people, the economy, health care, education, retirement security, public safety, the enviroment. Perhaps then we would not have the President of the United States suggesting to us that we should waste time, money and energy to amend the Constitution to prohibit gay marriage in an attempt to arouse the most rabid and radical fringe of his party.

And speaking of Constitutional amendments, isn't it strange that the only amendment to that document in the last thirty- six years has been one to keep Representatives from voting themselves a pay raise that will take effect while they are in their present term. Here is one I would like to suggest: term limits for Senators and members of the House. We have imposed those limits on the Executive branch, yet a Congressmen or Senator can be re-elected to that position until they die, or at least until they send suggestive emails to high school pages. If you want to begin to break the stranglehold that big business and their various lobbies hold over government, take away the incentive for our elective officials to pander to them. If they can only serve two terms in the House and two terms in the Senate, they won't be so worried about securing campaign contributions so they can get re-elected ad-infinitum.

While we are on the subject of election campaign financing, let's amend the Public Campaign Financing laws to stop making it a choice whether or not to accept public funding. Every candidate gets the same amount of money. Period. And no individual or organization may spend money on a candidate's election campaign, or take out ads on their behalf. Theodore Roosevelt suggested this in his State of the Union address in 1907. That's one hundred years ago, BTW, and let me tell you that is one "old fashioned value" I could get behind.

Another thing I would like to see shifted is the Electoral College system. I know many liberals who would like to see the system go away entirely, and become a popular vote, but I disagree. To go to a popular vote would mean a candidate would really only have to campaign in California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania to obtain the majority of the popular vote. That leaves most states with no say in the head of the Executive branch of the government. Instead I would propose a change so that carrying the majority in a state does not garner a candidate that entire state's Electoral College voted, but instead the percentage of the popular vote he or she carried.

A few other thoughts at random.

Hillary Clinton cannot win. Why has no one told her this. Why is the Democratic leadership so blind on this issue? As much as the Republicans hated Bill, they despise her even more. I know women who refer to her as "That stuck up bitch who doesn't know her place." The conservatives will come out of the woodwork to bring her down. Hillary on the ticket puts a Republican in the White House for four more years.

Barak Obama cannot win either. I may be called a racist, but I don't believe we will see a black President in my lifetime. I also think that is sad.

We need to stop trying to force "Democracy" down everyone's throats. It is not a system of government handed down by the gods and just because it seems to work for us does not mean it is right for all countries.

We need to stop fighting the "War on Terror". No government in the history of the world has ever defeated terrorism. They have all eventually negotiated peace and given concessions to those they labeled "terrorists". The people who are targeting our country are doing so because of a half a century of US interference in their countries. Don't believe me, look at what a Republican candidate for President had to say.

There is more, but it will have to wait.




* January 8, 2008

** ie. the pussies who have waited until they had a majority in Congress to even begin to confront the Presidential Imbecile about the debacle that is Iraq.

Back To Work!

Except for returning a few emails, I took last week off. I sat in my apartment and read, watched movies, played video games. It was fabulous. I have designed or assisted on 21 shows so far this season in addition to work at the Atlas and working as Production Manager on a ballet production in November. I have been ready for a break.

Now I am trying to adjust to being in the working world again. I would love for the season to be over, but I have three more shows to finish up. Fortunately they are all small, but still I am feeling as if maybe the week was not enough.

Have to get back to work now.

Peace in yer crease!