It's Harder at Night.

Hello everyone!
My newest New York addiction is playing computer solitaire while watching The Office on Netflix. Netflix is now offering unlimited Watch Now hours if you have an unlimited plan, which we do. So, I am now watching The Office because I never caught it on regular TV and now it is thousands of times more awesome than anything because there are no commercials and I can just watch them all back to back. The Office is hilarious because there are so many personalities on that show that I have actually worked with. I'm not sure which one I am yet. Maybe I don't want to know.

OK, so my title...It's Harder at Night... (Insert Michael Scott saying, "That's what she said." Love it.)

Solitaire is really hard for me at night. Of course it's easy to miss solitaire moves when I'm laughing at The Office in the corner of my screen, but it's also hard for me to play in general at night. I guess my mind is tired. Apparently not tired enough to just go to sleep, but definitely tired enough to miss some game altering moves. Hopefully I will get better at playing at night if I practice...and maybe, when the need arises for me to think late at night, in real life, I will be solitaire trained and ready. My brain will be ready to recognize connections and relationships and colors in a snap. Or should I say "in a synapse"...

Although my gaming-at-night skills are still in development, my humor-at-night skills are in peak form.

NYC Interview

Happy New Year!!!

I just finished the preview of my first show in New York! Hooray! I am doing The Ted Haggard Monologues. I am not actually doing a monologue, but I'm in the chorus. It's been a great warm-up to New York theatre. It's a very small company, so it's been nice to meet some people and get back in front of an audience. For the millionth time, I am so grateful to have Shawn here supporting me and cheering for me and telling me everyday how much pride she has in me. Seeing her there in the audience, wearing my little gray winter hat to hide "end of the day" hair, reminded me of home in a new place. We made this "interview" video on our way home in the subway station. Check it out!

Alligators and/or Lava!!!

Did you ever play that game where you can only walk on (or jump between) specifically colored tiles on the floor? Were your parents ever annoyed because you had to take the long way around to make sure you didn't fall in the invisible lava?

I am eight years older than my sister, placing me in perfect big sis=free babysitter position. Sometimes when we were bored at the house, we decided that all the carpet in the den was really lava and we couldn't step on it. We immediately jumped onto a couch and then strategically tossed the accent pillows around the room between the couches so that we could move around the room without being melted by Carpetlava. Oh, the pillows were lava retardant, somehow. Once everything was in place, we then entertained ourselves by jumping from couch to couch to chair to footstool to pillow to pillow to pillow in a big circuit, laughing all the way. We climbed and jumped all over the furniture we weren't "allowed to play on." It was awesome!

It's funny, we weren't allowed to play on the furniture like that because it would wear out the upholstery or hurt the springs or whatever, but we actually had that furniture for most of my at-home life. Imagine if we HADN'T played Carpetlava...that 70s furniture would probably STILL be at the house.

When the parents came home, Carpetlava became plain old carpet again. Boring. Sometimes, we also pretended that the tile in the kitchen was really a swamp filled with alligators. We have this black iron railing delineating the kitchen from the den. The slits in the railing are plenty big enough to place your feet in, so once Alligators were declared, we jumped into the slits of the railing and navigated our way around the kitchen as carefully as possible. We were often told that we shouldn't hang on the railing or play on it because someone could get hurt or because it would loosen the railing from the floor and strip it. But, in my at-home life, no one I knew ever got hurt on the railing (other than one of the neighbors briefly getting his giant kid-head stuck between the bars. He was fine, just scared. It was sooo hard not to laugh at him crying with his head stuck in the railing.) and my dad only tightened the rail once or twice.

Without fail, Mom would call us for dinner while we were clearly maneuvering just out of the Alligators' reach. Then came the challenging task of reaching over the railing to pull a chair away from the table and then swinging over the railing to get into that chair. More planning was involved to get us both into our chairs the same way. Our efforts and sisterly teamwork in these dire situations were rarely, if ever, lauded or appreciated. In our parents' eyes, we were just rushing our kitchen furniture into disrepair...the same kitchen furniture that's still there, in fact.

When I'm a parent and my kids want to (no, must) walk some funky way or path to avoid something I can't see, I'm gonna try to be as patient as I can and remember that A) Furniture is really strong, B)Siblings should work together, C)Avoiding Alligators and/or Lava is extremely important in the development of problem solving skills, and D) Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Watch out where you walk, you don't want your feet bitten off by an Alligator or melted by Carpetlava.

Sweeney Snob

Have you heard about the Sweeney Todd movie that's coming out? I've had several thoughts I would like to share about the recent movie musicals.

The commercial for Sweeney Todd has a small little musical clip in the background. No biggie except that it features a happy, normal chord resolution in a happy, normal major key. I was surprised because that little clip is probably the least appropriate sample of the music in the show which is mostly dark and cynical and weird. Also, the full title is Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but the commercial only calls it Sweeney Todd and only flashes the full title screen for a moment before encouraging everyone to make it their holiday movie.

Miscues all the way! I really hope people know somehow what they're getting into when they take Grandma and the kiddies to see a musical slasher movie. Sure, it's one of the best slasher musicals EVER, but it certainly hasn't been marketed with the most truthful angle...at least in my opinion.

I was also thinking of how much I've appreciated the IDEA of musicals being brought to the big screen again. I'm such a huge fan of old musicals on cable and dvd. I'd like the rest of the world to not think musicals are stupid or to get embarrassed when the characters break out into song. But then, I've been so disappointed by the recent movie musicals. They tend to cast pretty people who can't sing. There are THOUSANDS of pretty people who actually CAN sing that should be in the movie. They just aren't famous in the mainstream. But they should be.

For example:
Moulin Rouge (OK, pretty much everyone in that because it stunk, but are you kidding me? Nicole Kidman)
Phantom of the Opera (Yikes, Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler. Both are gorgeous and can't sing for poop.)
Rent (Ay, poor Rosario Dawson. They were able to reunite almost the entire kick ass original Broadway cast and they couldn't find a real heroin-chic rock star?)

I'll give props to Chicago...although I still haven't convinced myself that Renee Zellweger is anything but a pair of weird lips on a single sheet of sheer typing paper, but then again she was cast in the "guest star" role of Roxy (meaning Broadway lets all the Hollywood folks that can hold a tune do that role on the big stage).

Hairspray...eh. It didn't kill me to see it, but there are only two memorable songs in that whole show anyway and they're at the very beginning and the very end, so you have to cheerlead yourself through the middle. (Nikki Blonski was very cute and had a nice voice. I didn't mind her at all, but John Travolta was just not right. Why couldn't they put a giant drag queen in that role like God intended?)


I guess that's it for "recent" movie musicals. While I appreciate more people getting acquainted and reintroduced to this genre, in a way, I'm also kind of a snob about it. I can see doing Chicago & Hairspray...they have mainstream music and snappy costumes, but Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd? The average joe needs something of a Sondheim warm up first. Try some Into the Woods or even Company before you give 'em the Sweeney. As much as I want to show the world the wonderful world of musical theatre, it doesn't come for free. You have to log in the hours, especially to appreciate the genius of Sondheim's crazy-awesome lyrics and twisty-winding melodies.

Johnny Depp totally excels as Tim Burton's b*tch, but I sure hope he can wail. And Helena Bonham Carter looks creepy-good as a grown woman in pigtails, but I'll take Angela Lansbury or Patti LuPone any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Ah well. Let us attend the tale...

Applesauce at Midnight

Hello! I figured everyone would be very happy to have a new post from us! Hooray!


Here's a recent happening...

Today, I was shooting around and working on my ball handling in the gym. There was another guy shooting at the other end of the court, so I had a basket all to myself. After a while, another guy came in with a gym bag. I was kind of worried that he would want to shoot with me. There were side goals open, but no one likes shooting on those if they don't have to.


I was hoping he wouldn't wander around my goal and commit the cardinal sin of rebounding MY shot and, in doing so, assume he could shoot with my ball. Guys do that ALL THE TIME and I HATE IT! Then they say something ridiculous about you being a girl in the gym and call you Mrs. Jordan (as in Michael) and make a big deal out of you having basic basketball skills and you have to make small talk while you're trying to get your ball back.


When the guy came in, I had been using the side lanes of my half of the court to work on dribbling, so I nonchalantly made my way back to the basket for a few more shots just to make sure he knew this basket was taken. Kind of rude, I know, but c'mon, I've put up with more than my share of crappy guys who'd rather offer you tips on your technique than shut up and work on their own skills.


From the corner of my eye, I saw him open his bag and face the wall. I didn't see a basketball, so I began to fear for the safety of mine. I took another shot. When I looked back, the guy was juggling 3 ping pong balls.


Yeah.


A week ago, I darn near cried when I saw that this new rec center had a full size basketball court and again when I shot my first free throw after all these years. Basketball is something that I know. It's in my blood. It's in my bones. I played too long and sacrificed too much to not get emotional about the chance to play again... Basketball was always a place where life made sense no matter what was happening outside those gym doors.

This guy probably cried when he saw a full size court on which he could...juggle. Where the heck are we???

I can't think of a title.

It looks like things MAY be settling down a bit. I don't know. I don't really trust that. We got cable today. That's a ridiculous, yet reassuring sign of normalcy. Checking my email with Friends on TBS in the background is a very wonderful thing.

I found a really great clip on youtube that I thought was worth sharing. This is from The Tony Awards - Thoroughly Modern Millie. Sutton Foster is the lead in the purple dress. She is one of the best female performers on Broadway right now and has been for the last few years. I think she's great and all, but the real reason I love this clip is just the old fashioned decision to "break out into a straight up tap routine right in your face." Sure, Phantom has the amazing crashing chandelier, Spring Awakening has a disturbing simulated sex scene, and The Lion King has a full animal kingdom pageant...but, for my money, nothing beats a "shut up and tap" musical. I love it. Check it out.



And now that you've enjoyed that little piece of musical theatre candy, here's a clip representing where each of those girls came from.


Hey, as long as you finish strong...no one cares that you totally dropped your baton.

New York Update

Well, it's been several days since we posted anything to this blog. I hope you haven't fretted about us. We have been busy moving. Yes, our long saga with $%&* Realty is finally over. It really feels good to have that unfortunate period of our life behind us. We are in another great neighborhood. Or at least everyone says as much when they learn we have moved to Chelsea. We have tried to be positive about our experiences here, but as positive as we naturally are, it has been challenging. We are trying to convince each other how lucky we are to have an opportunity to move, to experience an entirely different neighborhood in just 8 weeks. How many people get a chance to "practice" moving to New York??

One day on her way to her "professional blogging" job (that just happened to be less than 5 blocks from our new apartment in Chelsea...how weird or perfect is that??), Christina passed the Chelsea Recreation Center. This is a center sponsored by the city's Parks and Rec department, and it offers individual memberships for $75 a year. This is a great deal by any city's standards, but in New York...jeesh! Christina walked this doubting Thomasina by last night and we are now official members. Christina went this morning and enjoyed some time on the treadmill, Stairmaster and time on the basketball court. I'm going to drag my carcass out of bed tomorrow morning.

Speaking of tomorrow...we get cable...again!! We only had it for about 5 days before we got vacated from the first apartment. I have missed TV so much! I'm embarrassed to admit it, but it's true. Television is like a loyal friend. I miss "Good Morning America", "Ugly Betty" and "Dancing with the Stars". I miss the network news and CNN. Of course I can see all of that on the Internet, but I'm old-fashioned...I want to watch it on the big screen. Or the not so big screen. Or in actuality, the really small screen. I might as well watch it on my laptop.

It's 41 degrees right now. It occurs to me that the weather is changing and very soon it will be cold. For a long, long time. Today at work, I stepped out onto the patio that looks out over the Manhattan bridge. My office is in an area of Brooklyn called DUMBO, "Down Under the Manhattan Brooklyn Overpass". It is a beautiful area, renovated old warehouses have been turned into office and loft spaces. So I'm standing on this patio looking out over the water and I take the first deep breath I've had in days. It felt good. And cold. Yes, the weather is changing. I know it's coming and I feel a little tremor of excitement that is really close to fear. I'm not quite sure I'm ready for this. I love a little nip in the air. I even enjoy wearing the occasional scarf. I do not, however, like snow. Oh, I have a child's enthusiasm for the first snow of the season. It's magical. Haven't seen this in a looooong time, so I have to admit I'm kind of curious how it will affect my rather tenuous hold on the city. Understandably, I'm feeling a little vulnerable. Don't tell anyone, but I'm a little nervous about the impending weather. Yeah. I'm scared.