It's a wonderful life

Happy Monday!

I hope this post finds you all happy, healthy, and satisfied after a wonderful Thanksgiving. As I sit here in my kitchen after one glass of wine to compliment an episode of Brothers & Sisters, I find myself content in every way. It's been nearly four months since I moved out here and somewhere I along the way I put together a life for myself. My initial feeling was that Thanksgiving was going to be incredibly difficult to go through this year not being at home with my family and doing all the normal things I usually find myself doing on that particular family-oriented day of the year. However, I found myself feeling thankful more than anything. Thankful that I am here. Thankful that I am healthy. Thankful for all the little things that make life worth living: fresh air, good food, good friends, memories, and hopes for the future.

My Thanksgiving seemed a little like it came straight out of a TV sitcom really. Not a single blood relative in the bunch, but it still felt like a gathering of family. Maybe, like I said last week, I just seem to find family wherever I am. My roommates and our guests found ways to make our lack of seating area work. We maneuvered our ways in and out of the kitchen in order to make sure everything was prepared in a timely manner that never got in the way of something having to go in or come out of the oven. We ate off Dixie plates and sat in the living room on a futon, an air chair, and various other sitting apparatuses we found in our apartment. Everyone was stuffed but still had enough room for pumpkin and apple pies. Nothing seemed to all go together, but somehow it all made for an incredibly memorable Thanksgiving.

Of course I was back at work on Friday, serving all the hungry shoppers that found their way to our restaurant among the hustle and bustle of Black Friday. Maybe it was the 9 servers that were working that day, but we didn't seem as busy as we should have been. Oh well, nothing can be done about it now. Thankfully, Missy and the fam made their way in and had lunch after doing some shopping all morning and came with tidings of great joy: they got orchestra seats to see Finian's Rainbow that night! If you've never heard of it, Finian's Rainbow is the story of an Irishman named Finian McLonergan (theatre veteran Jim Norton) that travels with his daughter Sharon (Kate Baldwin) to the fictional town of Missitucky (which apparently resides near Fort Knox). Finian has "borrowed" a pot of gold from a leprechaun named Og (Christopher Fitzgerald, Wicked's original Boq and Young Frankenstein's Igor). According to legend, if you bury gold in the shadow of Fort Knox it will multiply by exponential degrees. The little sharecropping town of Missitucky finds itself in financial squaller as it owes $115 in back taxes (this is the 40's people). The town's main-man Woody (Cheyenne Jackson) comes in to town with the money only to be told there's $65 in interest due as well. Sharon supplies the interest payment from her life savings and the town is virtually saved. Meanwhile, Og finds his way to Missitucky in search of his stolen pot of gold. Another legend tells that when a leprechaun is separated from his gold, he is slowly turned mortal. Thus, throughout the show, Og's suit gets smaller and smaller on him. There's a lot to it, including a Woody's mute sister that communicates through dance, but it was an incredibly enjoyable show. After all the rock and pop that is now on the Broadway stage, it was really nice to sit back and listen to a classic musical with a beautiful score, a fun story, and a cast full of standouts. Among those, Kate Baldwin and Christopher Fitzgerald are bound to be vying for some awards come next spring, especially the latter.

Saturday, work, work, work... (Cue song from Cinderella)

Sunday. Sunday. Sunday. Since it was Thanksgiving weekend, there were no kickball games so I had Sunday all to myself. Naturally, I decided to go see another show. Why not, right? So I got up at 7 am to get myself in line at the Schoenfeld Theatre box office to purchase a student rush ticket to see Wolverine and James Bond (read: Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig) on stage in Keith Huff's play A Steady Rain. Unfortunately, the box office didn't open until noon, so I went back home, got a bagel, and returned later. And not a minute too late. I got the LAST student ticket available for the performance. I am so glad I did. HOLY CRAP! This is a 90-minute two character play about two Chicago cops that have been best friends since "kindygarden". Throughout a series of monologues and some really well-played dialogue, these two recount the events of the previous summer. It all starts out all funny as Denny (Jackman) talks about becoming a Nielsen Ratings family and inviting Joey (Craig) to dinner to meet some women so he can finally settle down. Soon, things go a little awry and the two unfold a complex game that a cross between good cop/bad cop and a twisted whodunit. Overall, both actors leave their hearts on the stage that bears only two chairs. Sadly, the production is a strict limited engagement that ends this coming Sunday. Again, I am so glad I got to see this show before it closed.

Today, typcial Monday. Laundry, errands, lunch in Chinatown. Not a whole lot of excitement. However, my lunch with spent with the lovely Al-Amaaanda. Our conversations are always pretty interesting, but today I outlined for her the plot of the play I'm writing about my family. Suffice to say, she was very supportive and is going to hook me up with a friend of hers that is a published playwright. We'll see what happens with this. I also showed her my ideas for my stand-up act. It's not much, but I've got a rough sketch of some topics on which I want to give my own spin. I'll let you know how that goes.

Nothing else really big in other news. Just work and enjoying life. I hope to see a lot of you while I'm home in a few weeks. Let me know if you'll be in Columbus.

Happy Adventures!