All 4 One...

The show is going so well...but there is so much to do.  We've been rehearsing roughly 4 nights per week.  Last Monday night, I had a "first" experience.  In addition to the songs associated with my lead-role, I (and all the principals) was asked to learn and practice the chorus numbers.  Everyone then went into a recording studio and laid down the tracks to play.  This way, the chorus gets the benefit of the leads helping to fill out the sound, AND the theatre company doesn't have to incur the costs of mic-ing everyone.  I and the rest of the leads will still sing live.  It was a great experience to be in a recording studio and the background CDs sound great.

We're at the point now where the cast is exploring the nuances of their characters and the show is really starting to fill out. 

If you're in NY and so inclined:


I'm just an old-fashioned girl...

So on Sat., myself, E!, C&P, Captain Fantasticus (new friend who shall be blogged about later) and Random Guest 1, met at the premiere str8 bar in the Hudson Valley to say goodbye to one of my closest friends, May and his wife Jolly.  May and I met...damn....had to be more than 5 years ago.  I flirted with him at a coop event for my company.    We would then run into one another a few years later at one of my shows. 

He turned out to be str8, and we turned out to have a wonderful friendship with an amazing amount of things not in common...LOL...We had a lot in common...but it was our things that weren't in common, I enjoyed the most and gave us the most to talk about and share.  We were both single at the same time, so we afforded one another a lot of companionship.  That friendship has continued on, through moves and marriage and now, his wife just got a job in DC, so that's where they headed. 

I wish them well, and I'm putting on a brave face about the whole thing...but the fact of the matter is, I just don't do well with relationships of any distance (that started out physically close).  As much as technology is fun and enables the sharing of info...it's not the same.  Most of my relationships that begin as "real-world" ones, don't last when the majority of time is spent online. 

We won't have our weekly coffees, or our random lunches, or bumping into one another.  And then, I'll just get replaced.  Now, many of you may say that's silly.  "You can't be replaced."  "You'll always mean the same to him." 

I was just reading C's (of C&P) blog for this morning.  In it he shared that his worst fear is being alone.  My worst fear is being replaced.  Fears don't have to make sense and they don't have to be rational...so that's mine.    The funny thing is that I know May has a similar fear...and even watched him go through something similar...so maybe it won't happen.  But in this world of passive friendships based on Facebook and Twitter...well...let's just say...we'll see. 

Passive and Active and all in between...

So I mention passive friendships above.  These are friendships that are maintained solely through things like Facebook & Twitter.  It allows people to feel a connection to one another without putting in any effort.  In days past, you had to call people or even send an email to find out what's going on...you needed to have an interaction.  These days, communication is one way, waiting to be digested.  Is that a friendship?

I look at blogs as that space in between...I'm putting my thoughts, ideas, stories down...you have to digest it, and comment...and then you share something similar and I do the same.  The interaction isn't exactly the same as an active friendship...but the difference is that on Facebook & Twitter, the information here is substantive.  In those other mediums, it's a line...or a status...It feels somehow lacking to me.  It's why I just can't seem to spend too much time in either of those mediums...and prefer to just put more thought into my blog. 

Funny enough, May and I have talked about the ad nauseum.  I'm an extrovert by nature...which in strictest definition means that I get my energy from groups of people (I love parties full of strangers...it's my drug)...Facebook & Twitter can't provide me that energy...and so I have a harder time getting any value out of them. 

OK - I have more thoughts...but for now - I have to go run a meeting.

Laterz...

Sometimes, I'm impressed by so little!

My home office over-looks my front yard and the road.  Tuesday morning is garbage day.  The truck for lawn debris just came by and picked up my my bush trimmings which were in a garbage can.  Not only did he take the empty can and put it upside down on the lawn (where it wouldn't fill with water...it's raining and wouldn't blow away or into the street), he picked up the garbage can from the regular garbage, that the previous collector had just tossed on it's side practically in the road.

What does this tell me?

It tells me he cares; that even if he doesn't like his job (he may, I don't know), he wants to do it well.  This makes me think of the administrative people in my college, whom so often I wanted to say, "I'm sorry you don't like your job, but could you do it please and not make me suffer." (either with your bad attitude or incompetence). 

I've actually often thought about what I could do nice for my garbage men...I really appreciate them!

Laterz...

Lois, I'm just warning you. If this movie turns me gay, I'm gonna start bringing gay guys home. And I don't mean the classy, "maybe-they-are-maybe-they're-not" gay guys, I mean those big, "Oh-my-God-here-they-come-floating-around-making-noise" gay guys. Not the "fix-up-your-house" gay guys.

Today's post is all about The Gays!!! (And as such, my title pays homage to Larry' Kramer's novel!)

Reader:  How is that different from any other day?
PJ:  I'm being more outwardly observant, than just looking in my own naval.
Reader:  OK...so it's a "smile, nod and say sure PJ" kinda thing.
PJ:  Yep

I am one of those suckers who buys into advertising; especially if it's a product for something that I struggle to overcome, e.g. four blade razor blades, extra moisturizing shaving cream...or body moisturizer.  I suffer from really dry skin, so when Olay claimed that their new body moisturizer could moisturize AND rebuild the moisture barrier of your skin, I jumped at it. 

Lemme tell you, it works.  My skin is soft, well moisturized, and it lasts all day long...there is however, a problem...tiny bits of glitter.  The lotion contains glitter.  Granted the product is marketed to woman, and I assume they like that crap...BUT DAMN IT.  So yes...I am glittery...but damn am I soft. 

Straight face...

There is an episode of Will & Grace where Grace asks Will if the reason he hasn't introduced his new man friend to her is because the guy has "gay face."  When she said that, it immediately gave me a name for something that I had always known, but never gave a name to...gay men whom you can tell are gay just by looking at their face.  It's something genetic...the best example I can come up with is Carson Kressley...he totally has gay face. 

On Saturday, we attended dinner at P&B's.  The reason for dinner was to introduce us to P's former colleague, and friend Bianca and her husband Corbin (not real names...but still fun).  Bianca was delicious...fun, interesting, smart and girl can drink.  Corbin was equally delicious...for all those reasosns as well as all sorts of others. 

Anyway...as I was chatting with Corbin, I realized, Corbin has straight face.  Just looking at his face, there is no question he likes girls.  Corbin is hot in a way that gay guys just aren't and never can.  Think NYC stoner, but clean and not on drugs...funky t-shirt, trendy jeans and stylish sneakers.  It's a polished style with a lack of care that makes it something no gay man...no matter how "non-stereotypical" could manage.

OK I lied...

Now I am gazing at my naval.  There is a guy in the show I am working on, whom I tease.  I mean mercilessly...and the director has asked me to back off him.  Fair enough...so I was sitting there thinking about why I pick on him...

Whatever anyone might like to say about me.  Whether they want to call me a big Mo, a little flamey at times...what have you...make no mistake, I can be a very aggressive alpha-dog.  In this instance, I smell weakness...he is weak and makes an easy target and I go for it. 

I'm going to be more cognizant of it...and leave him be to limp around and lick his wounds.   There are all sorts of things I started thinking about in relation to this...whether I would be a good dad; would I push a kid too hard, would I not accept less than perfection...and then I decided the weather was too nice and I was done looking inward and wanted to sing along with my iPod and drink my iced coffee.

Laterz...