Rambling Holidays

There's nothing quite like this week of Thanksgiving. Seriously.

It begins with anticipation - the eagerness for fun, family, food, friends, and naps. I start getting excited on Monday or Tuesday. Then, one has to worry about traveling, and getting those activities in order: plane tickets, cab fare, putting all your shampoo into little tiny bottles and then into plastic bags, getting to the airport exceedingly early, only for there to be no line and then you have to sit at the gate for over two hours before they even board your darn plane...

Then comes Wednesday, the biggest bar night of the year. We've been celebrating Big Wednesday for a few years now. This was certainly a good one - our friends stayed out with us instead of running home to the comfort of their blankies.

Thursday is the day of the turkey, of course. It's fun to watch relatives with hangovers deal with their little cousins. Muhahahaha.

And then just the days of meeting friends, having a good time...

I'm realizing this is a rambling, lousy post, so I'll stop. At least I won about $40 playing poker last night.

My Favorite Holiday

Steve: "I'm fricking starving."
Greg: "Go get some food, a$$hole."

This is my last day in New York for a while. I'm going home for Thanksgiving, and then I've taken a job out of town for a couple months, so I'm savoring my last moments here. Savoring, as in, I'm spending all day cooped up in a former vault answering telephones.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday. My favorite I think. There's nothing else like it. Well, the problem though, is that I don't think Thanksgiving ever really lives up to the way the movies and books make it seem. I want a huge extended family gathering, lots of kids and aunts and uncles running around, dogs upending tables, babies crying, wine flowing like water ... you get the drift.

I mean, come on. Look at the classics: Hannah and Her Sisters of course! It's brilliant and such a wonderful Thanksgiving movie. Gosh, I can't wait to watch it. And, for some reason, Home Alone has been in my mind all day too. "Keviiiiiin!"

So, get ready. Put on your holiday socks, poke another notch in the belt (you know you'll need it, if not Thursday then over the next month or so), and uncork a bottle of Pinot.

Catching Up

What hasn't happened since last we spoke?

Everyone's on strike, which is really throwing a wrench in the gears around here. Pretty soon we won't be seeing any new episodes of Grey's or 30 Rock, or worse, Gossip Girl. I don't think the writers are coming back to work anytime soon. And, the word on the street that the stagehands would come back tomorrow is definitely a false hope. They've cancelled just about everything all week already. That's going to put this strike at at least 17 days or so... not good for business. Good thing I saw those plays before they all went dark... my guess is that a lot of them won't even be returning. IS HE DEAD? has only played two previews (I saw the second) and hasn't really been publicized, so I doubt it's going to get any legs to come back. And the real winner of the season, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, had great word of mouth, but is missing its opening night now and who the hell knows. I think if any of the shows will pull out of this okay, it's gonna be that one. FARNSWORTH's Hank Azaria is not going to sit around twiddling his thumbs (like one writer noted last week) waiting for the strikers to come to terms, and it's going to close that show.

Too bad for Broadway. Good for off-Broadway. Keeps me busy at work anyway.

Remember when life sucked? Well, I've been pretending that I'm happy, and things have been working out actually. I've met some interesting people, created laughter, had tea parties and made dinner in costume. After, I danced with tigers, took a rifle class, had lifeguard training and splashed in the puddles I created in my bathroom because the toilet was broken and so I just emptied a bucket of water on the ground. And then just now, I talked in a fun-Godfather-Italian-accent with coworkers.*

I'm coming home for Thanksgiving, spending some time on the couch, and then shipping out to the sunny skies of Florida for a couple of months. Wowza: you're excited I can tell. I look forward to seeing you and/or hearing from you. Write comments, show me the love...

*Some of the above mentioned events have been fabricated.

...Moving On Up

No worries. I am okay. And writing (almost) stream-of-consciousness today:

I realized the last post was crazy and haphazard and made some of you worried or conerned for me and my life. Well, almost immediately after I wrote it, my apartment was burglarized while I was there. I'm not going to rehash the thing, but don't worry - I'm okay. I was pretty shaken up about the whole thing, and ready to just get the hell out of dodge (i.e.: New York City), but I thought that might have been a little rash looking back on it.

I'm better and calmer now. I am also less streessed out and less depressed about life in general. I guess you just have to turn lemons into lemonade, and who doesn't like lemonade? So, I'm making efforts to consciously turn my attitude around and crawl out of that darkest corner of the dark place. No more dark place, instead, I'm actively searching the happy place.

So, I'm working a lot this week, seeing a couple different plays, putting money in the bank, and eating what I want (yep, I broke down forom my no-McDonalds-until-Thanksgiving-binge and had quarter pounder meal yesterday, it was delicious). I'm happier and that's what counts.

I've also just started working on my new project which will keep me busy in my downtime (that's right - I'm gonna write a book!). So, don't fret my pets. Just send me emails and comments so I have something to do during the 50+ hours I'll be at work sitting in front of a computer this week.

Thanks!
Beedow

Oh Brother

So, I'm a lazy ass. I often wonder if all people are like this. Or, would they be if they could be? I mean, I am basically just scraping by. I don't work enough hours to pay the bills, but I always seem constantly busy. I think it's because I sleep most of the time. I'm lazy. And I make up excuses.

Last night was Halloween (or, if you'd prefer Hallowe'en) and what did this guy do? Well, I sold a ticket to a Hollywood celeb (think, The Illusionist, Death to Smoochy) and then took the train home, ran on an elliptical for thirty minutes before chickening out and not doing the rest of my workout. I came home and reheated some chili I made Monday night, tried to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm season one, disc one, but the Netflix disc was cracked. So I went to bed. And slept about ten hours.

Then, today, I should have gone to an audition. But I talked myself out of it because, well, I'm really not right for the role anyway. So I made a sandwich and started to catch up on The Office. It was mid-afternoon by the time I took a shower.

Goodness. This is ridiculous. Tomorrow's going to be similar. I'm going to talk myself out of an audition that I'm not right for, go in for an audition later, only because I have an appointment, and well, probably sit around some more.

I'm just getting by. I'm making up excuses so I don't have to go and see people - why? Why don't I actually just go and see them? I don't have anything better to do with my time. I should see my friends.

I feel like I need some sort of thing, some motivation, to keep going. What is making me tick? What's exciting in life? What is going to make me really excited about getting up and doing something? More importantly, what can I actually DO? If I don't get scheduled at work, then I have all this time off and nothing to do...

I have so much time, I should at least blog every day and I don't even do that. Nor do I have a witty closing to this post.