Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!  Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa!

My wish for you all is that you are able to hold the peace and joy of the holiday season in your hearts all year long.

Can We Get A Reality Check On Aisle 7 Please?

I was on my way to a meeting this evening when I passed an upscale furnishings store.  As part of their window display they had a coffee table book entitled Luxury Private Islands.

Luxury Private Islands

We will pause while you consider this.

Really?  Isn't the word "Luxury" terribly redundant?  Not to mention insulting to those of us without private islands.

Is there anyone, anywhere, who has actually said, "Yes I have a private island but it is a real dump."?

And if there is, do they understand they will be among the first whose heads wind up in the basket?

Good Grief!

For Those Of You Who Monitor This For News Of My Health

I made it back from New Orleans mostly intact (my liver might disagree).

Lots of fun.  Lots of relaxation.  Lots of avoiding the confusion that my life has become.

Sadly, I must once again face that confusion.

Yeah.

Does Anyone Know?

When it comes to male/ female interactions, do we ever really get out of middle school?

Yes folks, we are back to the cryptic posts.

Sorry about that.

A Quick Shout Out...

... to the MSGAP.  

On Sunday I was in desperate need of female- behavior- reading help, and who better to aid me than the Multi- State, Girlie- Advising Posse.  So I turned on my Clueless Symbol and pointed it at the nearest cloud.  My much esteemed Posse did not fail me.  

Each one talked me through the finer points of what I was witnessing, and provided sage advice on how to proceed.  

So thank you all, ladies.  I don't know how I would make it through life without you, but I am comforted by the knowledge I won't have to.

So keep watching the clouds for the Clueless Symbol.  Odds are pretty good it will be on again soon. 

And This Has What To Do With Art?

The day started favorably.  I got into the studio, taped out a clean ground plan onto the drafting table, taped down a piece of tracing paper, and started the beginnings of a doodle.  Then the Production Manager dropped by with a contract for me to sign.

I read the contract, cause you know, I do that.

I then spent the next three hours rewriting and adding language to said contract, turning it from a page and a half document into one over seven pages long.  Cause you know, I do that.

Why does anyone really think I would sign a document that says you can fire me at any time without cause, but the only way I can get out of the contract is for you to fail to pay me?  On opening night.  On the date the contract ends anyway.

Why does anyone think I would sign a document that says I can't sue you if through your own negligence, you drop something heavy on me?

I really need a manager!

Yesterday's Quote of the Day

From Hell's heart I stab at thee.

For Hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.

So I was a little grumpy yesterday.

WaaH HOOoh.

We now have less than one year to suffer under the Presidential Imbecile.

I Even Ate First

Dammit!

I just finished watching the film Big Night, and I am hungry again.

The Day I Knew Would Come...

... has arrived.

I am now out of bookshelf space in my apartment.

Time to move.

Happy New Year

A New Year.

Really, how the eff did it get to be 2008.  Just yesterday it was March.

Unlike last year, where I missed the turning of the new year because I was reading a book, I actually managed to make plans and go out.  Indeed I went to two parties and had a wonderfully festive time at both.  I even got kissed at midnight.

The down side of New Years Day, other than the hangover, is it is a week before my birthday. So that whole what have I done in the last year/ what am I going to do in the future year just feels so much more intense.

The past year was mostly up, with a bit of down.

The Ups:

Two fantastic design gigs with the most creatively inspiring director I have ever had the privilege of working with.  

I got to assist on a show at Roundabout Theatre in NY.

I managed to patch up a friendship that had gone south.

I got to work with a director who wants to hire me for much better money at another theatre.

I had work for the whole year.

Also for a brief time I was involved in a relationship, which was lovely while it lasted.

The Downs:

My brief relationship ended.

My uncle passed away after a short illness, and I did not have a chance to see him before he died.

The year ahead looks far more uncertain.  I don't have a lot of design work lined up at the moment, although there are some rumors on the wind.  

I am planning to take the Scene Design Exam in the Spring.

I have decided to swear off women for the year.  I love the women in my life dearly, but women are insane.  And all of the MSGAP who I have said this to agree.

I hope everyone's New Year is safe, happy and prosperous.

If You Are Planning To Buy A Car...

...please consider buying a Ford.

I stopped driving several years ago, so I cannot comment on the quality of Ford's automobiles.  However, their commitment to fair treatment of homosexuals and trans-genders is certainly something worth supporting.

Interestingly enough I was alerted to this by an email from the American Family Association, an organization that seems, at least as far as I can tell from it's emails, to spend most of it's energy and resources promoting blind hatred and bigotry disguised as religion.  They refer to the "Homosexual Agenda" and ask their members to encourage companies that have non-discrimination policies and provide benefits to same sex partners to "remain neutral".

The rest of their emails tend to be about boycotting stores that use the words "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".  One wonders in a nation with somewhere between 700,000 and 2,000,000 people homeless (36% of whom are families with children),  36.5 million people living in poverty (including 12.8 million children) and 47 million people without health insurance (including 8.7 million children), what Jesus would have to say to those bastards who won't say "Merry Christmas".

I Love Panda Cam!

It's just a little burst of happiness in the day.

Am I The Only One Who Thinks This?

The Internet is the worse thing to happen to dating.

Ever.

The Holidays

The period from Thanksgiving to New Year's is my favorite time of the year.  It always reminds me of good food, fine wine and the company of people whom I love.  Even if I don't get to partake in all of that every year, I still love the season and all it means.

And the best part of the whole package is Christmas.  I was discussing this recently with a friend of mine who noted how strange it was that an atheist (ie me) should love Christmas so much.  I tried to quote to her the passage from the Bible that to me sums up the idea behind Christmas* but I mangled it.  Here it is:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them: and they were afraid.

And the Angel said unto them, "Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

While I don't believe in the divinity of Jesus, I do think he had a lot of great ideas about what it means to be a part of the human race.  And I don't think it at all hypocritical to celebrate that idea; peace on earth, good will toward men.  Would we did not have to confine that notion to one day.

So I hope my non- Christian friends will forgive me when I wish you all a Merry Christmas.  I hope you all can take from it the same meaning I do.  

And wishes for you all to have a Happy New Year.

* So did Charles Schultz.

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.