Wapato Rootbag

Two Years

2009-09-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

As of today 9/25/09 I have been living in New York for two years. I'm not quite sure what all I can say that I've accomplished. Lots of introspection. Learned to drink coffee. And some IKEA furniture.

Thanks to those of you who have been so supportive of and as I live and dream here.

Maybe Elmo Just Needs The Right Partner

2009-03-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

WTF

2009-03-05T14:39:00.000-08:00

Where was the NATIONAL OUTRAGE when Oregon same sex couples lost THEIR right to marry?

Learn from my mistake

2009-01-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

Due to a total lack of observation on my part I am currently sitting in a nearly empty Denver International Airport and I will continue to do so for another seven (7) hours. The airport is comically empty. The shops are shuttered, the restaurants are closed, the fryers ticking as they cool, the grease hardening.

Airports, like the stacks in a library, bear such a remarkable similarity that they serve as timeless portals to other worlds. Though they have been turned into mini-malls more recently, they ALL have been turned into malls, so though they have grown and changed, become brighter, more mercantile, you still know you are in an airport.

Which airport doesn't really matter. In a way ti makes the transition between places easier. You are eased into the new locale by emerging into a gate that doesn't look all that different than the one you left hours ago.

Unless, like Tintin, or The Beatles you get to deplane on the tarmac. That is the best way to go. Sun, rain, snow, ice I would rather walk down the air-stairs into the real world than into the carpeted limbo that is the airport.

Where I find myself stranded today. Or is it night? I think it is night. People are trying to sleep in the dark, quiet corners of the concourse. It must be night.

Warranty

2008-11-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

I bought a mattress. It was not a big deal, really. BUT in doing so I came face to face with the uncertainty of living.

First I lay on some fancy machine that was supposed to tell me how I would best be comfortable. As the nice man said it was "only a recommendation." I didn't have to buy the kind of bed that the computer suggested. But it was kind of right.

the tough part is that almost every mattress in the shop was better than the air-bed I'm sleeping on right now. But I dutifully wandered from bed to bed, pretending to toss and turn until i found one the seemed to feel the best. It turned out it was also the least expensive of the beds I had experienced.

WHY was it cheaper? The warranty.

The warranty wasn't a big deal to me until I really started to think about it. The most expensive I'd seen had a 15 year warranty, most others had a 10 year, and the one I finally purchased has a 5 year warranty.

I started to think about this: 15 year warranty. I will be 53 years old when that warranty runs out! I have never, ever thought about being 53 before. AND will I still be living in NYC when I'm 53!?! Whoah!

Suddenly I was caroming down a vortex of age and bedding that had no end. I reached out my hand and grabbed for safety- a 5 year warranty.

Ahhhh. Safe. Solid. Short term commitment. Nice.

The IKEA Monster

2008-11-11T09:01:00.001-08:00

I spent almost three hours wandering through the Brooklyn IKEA store yesterday. Now, I'm not one for materialism but I could easily spend many thousands of dollars I don't have on little things and big things at the great Scandanavian Wondershop.

This is just another sign of aging. First the popular music appeals to me (early 90's) then it was fashion, then movies, tv, and comedy. Now it seems I've moved into a design asthetic.

I'm running out of categories before not one aspect of my lifestyle is "current."

History

2008-11-04T13:50:00.001-08:00

The Cool Kids in Decline

2008-10-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

I've commented before about the Bully of the right-wingers. It seems to be getting worse and worse. I guess if you take power through threats, coersion and appealing to people's most base instincts, when it finally comes time to fall you have nothing to fight with but fists.

I do worry that McCain, who is known for his temper will not have the control to stop this slide into anger and hatred.

I am tring to to put myself in the shoes of those at his rallies who are shouting out "terrorist" or "Bomb Obama" when Senator Obama's name is invoked. Is it the same as a "Buck Fush" sticker on your car? Somehow I don't see the folks at a Kerry rally in late October 2004 as calling for the death of President Bush. Did I miss that part of the rally?

I treasure Portland's reputation as "Little Beruit" and I am at this moment wearing my "People's Republic of Portland" shirt. We leftys are just as full of anger, I imagine, but it just seems to be a bit more dangerous, more palpable, more likely to become deadly when a crowd known to support gun rights is making the threats. Is violence against "The Man" different from violence against A Man?

I'm just wrapping my head around the possibility of being the party in Power for a while and what it looks like to be seeing angry mobs marching MY WAY.

Can McCain pull it off? Can he rile all these people up and still be able to calm them down when the election is passed. Has he crossed a point of no return? Can he make peace now that he is preparing for war?

God, I hope so. The next president will be inheriting a hell of a mess. Let's hope McCain cleans up his.

Headshot search (again)

2008-09-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

It is that time again to have my picture taken and for you to weigh in on what you like best.

http://gallery.me.com/adlindberg#100173

Let me know what you like best and why. I'm going for something that says "guy," "characters," "I will be awesome," "fun," "deep." (I find that if you play the fortune cookie game and add "in bed" after each of those it really helps.)

A Few Things

2008-08-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

• I saw an interview with filmmaker Fritz Lang. He was wearing an eye patch AND a monocle. What balls.

• I am tired of the politics of bully. The adds that McCain is running against Obama right now are all about being mean, being a bully. Just like when Rove showed up dressed in hunting gear to mock Kerry's hunting photo op, these guys think that by being mean they can sway people to follow them. It isn't about giving us proof of why they are deserving of our trust they want to make us think they are the cool kids and that the other guys are 'other.' Are we a nation of bullies?

• After watching diving form the Olympics I want a pool.

• Frozen lettuce is kinda gross.

Happy Now?

2008-07-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

There. I'm on Facebook. Leave me alone.

Drive Shaft

2008-07-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

When I decided to make the move to NYC I was excited for many reasons, one of which was the idea of not being an owner of an automobile. High gas (diesel) prices, CO2, and other concerns would no longer be mine.

But any time you get behind the wheel you runt he risk of getting that sickening, falling feeling in your stomach as the engine sputters, fails, sputters and finally dies. Your vehicle that just a moment ago was a useful conveance, an open invitation to explore the world, this symbol of freedom suddenly becomes a very heavy set of chairs and a radio.

The theatre’s ’92 Ford Tempo nearly became a 2 ton couch last night as I turned into the Brown’s drive. I’m hoping a little more gas (you never know how accurate someone else’s gauges are) and some motor oil (I hope the 20w50 I accidentally bought wasn’t a fatal mistake) will help.

Yucky-boo-boo!

2008-05-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

Gross things like soy butter SHOULD NOT be colored and packaged to look like yummy things like peanut butter. It could ruin a guy's bagel.

Improv Everywhere

2008-05-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

At my brother's suggestion I have become involved with an organization here in NYC called Improv Everywhere. They organize events that through often complex machinations put on shows for people by people in public. I appreciate that the goal is always to have fun. Never malicious or mean.

Anyway, last Friday night I spent two hours in the blowing rain on the Brooklyn Bridge trying to be a part of a camera flash wave from Brooklyn to Manhattan and back. You can see my view on a Flickr Photo Stream I have set up.

Be sure to explore their website and see some of the great fun they have engineered.

Look at my Other Blog

2008-03-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here.

Dancing Walrus!

2008-03-17T06:34:00.001-07:00

Things that need explaining.

2008-03-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

I saw a man standing on the Broadway bridge (from Manhattan to The Bronx) throwing handfulls of goldfish out of a bag into the East River.

Why.

Hodgkins lymphony

2008-03-06T07:42:00.001-08:00

I had the most remarkable experience yesterday. I participated in a
roleplay at a local medical clinic in which I appeared as a patient
newly diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma, a form of cancer. So I was
told that I have cancer 11 times.

It was fascinating to experience the different doctors work through
their version of how to break this news. It was oddly fun actor-wise.
Plus I left cancer-free! And walking on a cloud having spent four
hours in misery I was suddenly in New York on a sunny evening with my
whole life ahead of me.

To repeat I do not have cancer. That I am aware of.

Testing

2008-03-04T19:31:00.000-08:00

I am experimenting with posting through email. I wonder if it working?

Rain. I miss the rain.

2008-03-04T12:32:00.000-08:00

It has been raining today in NYC. It has reminded me of my near aquatic nature. I just plain need more water falling on me.

Eurovision

2008-02-25T07:47:00.000-08:00

I have never understood the Eurovision Cong Contest, other than it brough ABBA to the world's attention.

This year Ireland is submitting a singing turkey puppet:

Aw, man...

2008-02-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

Remember when you wanted your own lightsaber? Well now you can have one.

Check It Out

2008-02-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

My first paying theatre gig in NYC.

Sweating to the oldies.

2008-02-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

A bunch of guys at my gym have been wearing what I learned from Google just now are sauna suits. One guy got off the treadmill and dumped about a liter of sweat from inside of his suit. It was really cool. I also loved how he just left the puddle there by the window for everyone to ponder. (This is the same guy who sits in the locker room for 20-30 min. after his shower air drying. Or maybe he is just waiting for his body to stop sweating.)

Also I have noticed a tendency for my workout clothes to smell like artichokes after prolonged use. Just one more negative association I will have with working out. I guess it could be worse. I could smell like cooked green peppers or I could ooze mayonnaise. Blech.

I've said it before

2008-01-30T19:20:00.000-08:00

But the internet can really creep me out.

It's like someone has a conversation about you that hangs in the air until you happen to walk into it.

And, yes, Jessica Alba and I are basically the same person.

The East Coast Runs on Dunkin'

2008-01-21T20:08:00.001-08:00

Maybe it's a snobby thing, but I just cannot wrap my head around the idea that Dunkin' Donuts is so damned popular out here in the East. I guess there is only a tablespoon of oil difference between a Starbucks scone and a Dunkin' donut, and sitting in any chain is sitting in a chain, but I just can't quite comprehend.

During my childhood I witnessed the death rattle of popular donut shops in Portland. Remember Winchell's? "Frank you're such a dumb-bum." That add used to bring my brother, mother and I no end of laughs. But slowly the Winchell's began to become "Wimpell's" or some other on the cheap repaint of the Winchell's sign. Then they were noodle shops, then they were paycheck advance shops.

Dunkin'ses became "Sesame" or a cafe, or even a Starbucks. Only the hipening of donuts (Voo-Doo Donut) could stop the inevitable slide off the face of the earth for donuts in PDX.

So imagine my shock when I come to the East and the place is just lousy with Dunkin' Donuts. Isn't a Dunkin Donuts just the hot food version of a Baskin-Robins? Well in Penn Station there is a combination Dunkin Donuts-Baskin Robins.

Oh, Atlantic Coast! Will you never learn?

I'm beginning to dislike MySpace

2008-01-21T14:41:00.000-08:00

I just don't think MySpace is doing good for society.

First for whatever reason MySpace on my computer is slow as molasses on a cold morning. This in and of itself is a reason to not bother.

Next people are constantly sending me to their MySpace page, but IN PERSON. Not with a clever link from their own well crafted, coherent web page. No, they are telling me the name of their MySpace page verbally expecting me to remember.

Regular web page names can be difficult enough to remember (except for those of us who have eponymous sites). But put the MySpace prefix or suffix in front or behind of whatever name these people are flogging and I really don't care anymore.

People, I took the time to buy my domain and build a bloody website. You can do the same.

Ian Holm Deserves the Oscar

2007-12-08T14:56:00.001-08:00

Ian Holm as Chef Skinner in "Ratatouille" is almost flawless. His freak out makes my jaw drop.

Website

2007-11-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

I refreshed my website today. Mainly a batch of re-worked pages. But a few new things. Several old threads of thinking are gone.

Lots of new Picture Galleries.

On the radio (in PDX)

2007-11-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

Today I was on the radio in my hometown. I move to New York so that I can sound exotic on Portland Radio. I was a guest on the Rick Emerson Show and chatted about 'Stand By Me.'

You can hear it here

Ti-ming

2007-11-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

I moved to New York just in time for the Writers Guild and Stage Hands strike. Might not be the best time to be an emerging actor.

Oops.

The honking

2007-11-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

When I traveled in Asia I would often be passed on the street by men who wanted to provide me the service of arranging time to spend with a young woman. This offer was usually made by the fellow muttering "girls" under his breath as he passed. My joke to myself, which I often vocalized to whomever I was walking with was to ask "What did he call us?"

Here in New York the offer is not for time with a young lady, but rather time in the back of a Town Car. Every time a Town Car passes me on the street they honk. As if to say- "Want a ride?"

What is it about me suggests that while in Asia I want girls and in New York I don't want to walk anywhere? Commerce be damned, I don't need a hooker or a ride!

Halloween

2007-10-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

Now, I have not been a big holiday guy for a long time. As an actor/pirate I also get the chance to dress up in costumes quite a bit. So Halloween isn't really a big deal for me.

I suppose some of it is my feeling that if I AM going to wear a costume I should wear really good one. So I don't usually wear one at all.

But it would seem that Halloween is becoming less and less about costumes and more and more about rotting corpses. Most of the decorations I see around town are not cute ghosts, or witchies, but the fetid, rotting corpses of the recently deceased.

In the lobby of my new apartment building there is a decoration featuring the slumped over bodies of a couple in their wedding attire. Eyes eaten out by vermin, flowers wilted they sit leaning shoulder to shoulder with their mouths open in what I can only imagine is some sad death rattle.

How this tragic scene of lovers cut down in what should have been the happiest moment of their lives passes for festive decoration, I just don't understand.

Across the hall stands a rubber faced zombie that I am told moans and moves when you approach it. Needless to say I will not come close.

Beautiful (white) women

2007-10-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

I love this morph sequence.

Google Map

2007-10-01T16:24:00.001-07:00

You can now view my interactive Google Map on this blog! I'll add or subtract locations, pictures and stuff when I want to learn something or want you to know something. It's like playing the home game.

The myth of the West

2007-10-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

I always learn a lot about my home when I go abroad, and this move to the magic world of the east coast is no exception. I was struck as I walked up the tiny stairs to my tiny room in a tiny apartment, that the idea of the wide open spaces of the frontier would be very appealing.

Imagine living in squalid, crowded conditions in a tenement building in cold, rainy east coast olde USA. Your home is full of people, your streets are full of people and the west promises free land, lots of it.

I can see why so many people move west in search of something. I spent my summer in a crater surrounded by nothing bu wind and trees. I'm spending my fall surrounded by urban walls and blacktop.

I need to reread 'Sometimes a Great Notion.' This is the best time of year for it.

Another thing that different

2007-09-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

Straws. Am I just ignorant of the poor sanitary conditions in bottling plants, or am I being handed unnecessary straws when I order a pop here. (And yes I said 'pop.' Commie.)

Things that are different

2007-09-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

People just do not double park in PDX. Not in the way that means you leave your car, like PARKED in the street.

Humidity. I step outside and I sweat. It doesn't stop until I'm in the freezer for at least half and hour. I need to bring a change of clothes everywhere. Not convenient.

Crowds. Think of the most crowded festival that you attended in PDX and have that happen all the time. Everywhere.

Three hours in the future. I totally know what you are doing in three hours.

Leg room, head space, and elbow room

2007-09-25T15:39:00.001-07:00

Don't be fooled! More legroom will not help you sleep on the plane. Or it doesn't help me. I can only sleep by kipping over forward and smushing my face into the seat in front of me. In this fetal crunch I can usually find an hour or two of sweet, sweet foggy sleep.

With more leg room, however the seat is that much further forward and it make it hard to kip. In short- my neck hursts and I haven't slept.

This makes me groggy and somewhat irritable. Not the best space to be in for looking for a place to stay. I mean I need to be on first-date sort of behavior, right.

I looked at a place in Bedford-Stuyvesant (a very authentic part of B-S) that belongs to the most delightful woman from Detroit. My little wood nymph sensibilities were a little taken aback by it all. She is great, though.

More places to be explored tomorrow. Maybe some pix.

PDX

2007-09-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

PDX is a great airport. Free wi-fi, good coffee, that stuffed blonde rock climber (who dusts her?) and (almost) Laurelwood microbrew.

Damn. I'm just remembering I left a Black Butte Porter in my fridge. I was gonna drink that.

Quote

2007-09-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

"It's never to late to be who you might have been."

-George Eliot (Mary Anne Evens)

Heard this and it stuck with me as a part of where I'm going and what I'm doing.

Attention Portland Cycling Community!

2007-07-03T17:59:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when you must retire those black spandex cycling shorts. Why? Or rather when? Well as I saw today there comes a point when a major portion of the fabric that allows your shorts to remain opaque rubs off. So for those of us riding behind you your cycle shorts might as well be a sheet of Saran Wrap pressing your cheeks together for all of us to see. You have created the bicycle equivelent of a pressed ham.

Pleas buy new shorts, or just cycle nude. But choose one.

I return the Grump

2007-06-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

Why are all the people who shop at the NW PDX Whole Foods in a hurry and/or an a$$hole? Is it the prices of natural things? Cheeto withdrawl? High horse syndrome? A stick in the rear?

I feel like I have to slice my way through the crowd. No one will budge or give way. Come on people! This is Porland where we are polite and courteous to the point of endagering our very lives.

I never wanted to work food service because I didn't want to come between people and their food, but simply standing between food and people at Whole Foods earns glares. Or if not glares than the 'I'm looking through you because you don't matter' glance.

I do love Oregon starwberries though.

Wind River Crane webcam

2007-02-28T09:30:00.000-08:00

Check THIS out. It is a webcam in the canopy at the Wind River Forest Reseacrh Facility that lets you control the crane in realtime!

Personal DJ

2007-02-25T23:17:00.000-08:00

Check out pandora.com.

It's like having a personal music shopper. You create a playlist based on an artist or song that you like and then provide feedback from there.

Cool.

Two funnny people you should know about.

2007-02-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

I love this book.

And this fellow's music.

Picture Post

2007-02-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

Kind of ghostly

2007-02-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

The interweb is so weird. We're all connected, but not entirely. I've had a couple of people from the past track me down over the web. Cool, but also so unexpected. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You know? One of my best friends from childhood found me through Bogg & Salty. Crazy!

If you do find me (Kanga...) I'd love the chance to find you back!

Weighing in

2006-12-13T20:50:00.000-08:00

Have you seen this show on NBC called "The Biggest Loser?" I have to say, though flawed (the 'Mansion' is loaded with food temptations, and they use food in some challenges like some sort of drug) it is inspiring. A great investment by 24-Hour Fitness.

Some of these people have lost over %50 of their body weight! Amazing. Just amazing. And, as I say, inspiring.

I'm still plugging away. ODS set me back, but I am refocusing. Slowly, slowly.

Slouching towards blogging

2006-11-10T19:01:00.000-08:00

After a session of ODS I have returned to the cold, wet embrace of PDX. I love this rain. I know it causing suffering and erosion, but I just love it. It brings me joy and recharges me to hear the constant rainfall. I love to walk out and be soaked.

How about them Democcrats? Not the thumping they got themselves in '94, but both the House and the Senate. IT makes you wonder. I think that the press over-simplifies it all. Blue or red, whatever. I think people finally figured out that the single issue vote wasn't serving their interest.

Can the party of Clinton take this opportunity and use it to do good works? Iraq will do what it does and ultimately the blame falls on GW. But can the Dems use a slim majority to stem the tide of losses to our liberty?

The News email and site redesign

2006-08-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

I have done a slight redeign to andylindberg.com and sent out a mass email explaingin a few things about my life, as it now stands. The email inks to a website I made in iWeb.

http://web.mac.com/adlindberg/iWeb/Site%208/The%20News.html

I still need to go back and find some new ha-cha for the older content pages on my site, but that comes later.

Camping with LJ.

2006-07-11T22:20:00.000-07:00

Lindsay Lucas and I went camping this week. It was great. Green Canyon on the Salmon river in the Ht. Hood National Forest. Lovely, just lovely. And about an hour and a half from home. I need to remember that. You could decide to go camping at work and be there by 7 around the fire, AND be back to work in the morning (smelling of wood smoke).

Toltec Rock

2006-07-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

Clothes in a bag

2006-07-02T23:40:00.000-07:00

Back in 1995 I was about as slim as I have been in my adult life. I lost 80 pounds or so. I bought clothes that fit my smaller shape. By 1997 I had burst the seams of my new clothes and they went into a box in the closet, that after a few moves came to be labeled "dream clothes." The box held some of the best pants ever- Stand Up Pants by Patagonia- which they don't make anymore, plus some shirts from Thailand and a shirt I bought when I was a junior in HS and batiked at summer camp in 1989.

I had convinced myself that I had given them away.

I've lost some more weight. Not quite 80 pounds, but I will. When I realized today that everything hanging in my closet now fits me (well, almost. Two shirts are a wee tight, and 1/3 are way too big) I began to wonder if I really had thrown those clothes away. I didn't.

I am wearing some of them right now. I had just gone to buy fabric to make some new Stand Up Pants. Now I'll have two pairs that fit and two more to slim into.

When I started to lose some weight I figured I'd slim down so that I was no longer "obese." Honestly, to be where the BMI says I should be to be "normal" weight I'd need to be what seems ludicrously small. But when does one stop losing weight if you are really going to do it?

I see adds at the Bally Fitness place I am currently using to workout with pictured of men in the "before" shots that seem just fine, thank you. How much is enough, and how amazing that I am in a position to even imagine making such a decision.

I'll totally look like a Ho-Dad in 1996's clothes.

40 at 40

2006-05-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

I was honored last night as one of the “40 at 40” at the MESD Outdoor School auction. It was a great honor. 40 people were chosen to represent the 40 years of Outdoor School. I was included in the same group as past program coordinators, volunteers who raised thousands of dollars to literally save the program, and other members of the community who have contributed greatly to the program.

I didn’t do anything extra. I just did what came naturally. That would appear to make my natural state a heightened one.

But ODS is someplace where I always excelled. That first week in 1985 with “Springs” and Antelope cabin showed a young Walrus being good at something. I was able to put many of the best qualities up front when Walrus was at ODS.

Again, in the spring of 1998 when I became a Site Supervisor all the best came out.

The people in the ODS community are remarkable, as well. It has been great to dip my toe back into the pool.

As I begin a several week stint with the program I may just see my best again.

What is "best"? Is that success? (We'll get back to these issues later.

The bribe, and the casino

2006-05-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

Looks like the idea of bribing us to keep quiet about gas prices has begun to circle the drain.

-----

The thought of a casino at the Mulnomah Kennel Club site is on my mind. I have no love for casinos. First the Spirit Mountain paved over my favorite milkshake spot, then the Chinook Winds made Lincoln City more likely to be filled with sad, wasteful people.

Would a casino in the PDX area take money away from the Lottery? If people don't want to pay taxes, the least they can do is buy their body weight in scratch-its.

Gas Prices

2006-04-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

Senator Bill Frist is proposing a bribe to Americans in the form of $100 rebate check to offset the high price of gasoline. Mr. Frist seems to think, as President Bush did with his damaging tax cut, that we will be put to sleep if he rubs our belly with money. This is such a transparent stunt.

When the price of gas has doubled during the Bush administration it makes you wonder if Mr. Bush's ties to the oil industry might have something to do with it.

Our fine senator Ron Wyden took to the floor of the senate today to try and get oil companies to pay royalties on the oil they are a removing from our land and shores. The oil is on our land, the land of the US people. Shouldn't we get more than screwed for the opportunity to go get it?

Wear sunscreen.

2006-04-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

The following was incorrectly attributed to Kurt Vonnegut but was actually a 1 June 1997 column by Chicago Tribune writer Mary Schmich. However it was set to music for the Baz Lurman film "Romeo and Juliet." I heard it again recently and there really are a few nuggets in it. I reproduce it here:

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Fun things.

2006-04-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

I went through some old pictures and pulled this one out as it makes me happy for many reasons.

St. Pat

2006-03-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

I went to the St. Patrick's Day parade today. The largest in the nation. Down fifth avenue in New York City. What a let down. A bunch of guys in uniform walking in lines, followed by apparently random white folks. how are people chosen to walk in this parade?

I was accross from The Metropolitain Museum of Art, near the end of the route, so most folks in the parade were pretty paraded out by the time they got to us. One fellow was dangerously close to losing his kilt.

It was nice to see all the kilts. I reallt think they are handsom. And no matter how ugly your tartan if enough of you are wearing it, then it looks great!

What a shame the day has become yet another excuse to drink to excess. soon we'll have such a day in every month. January- New Year's Day. February- Isn't Mardi Gras in February? March has St. Pats, April has, what? Easter? Then we get Cinco De Mayo, and we'll have to work here people, we need one for every damned month! Get on it.

Drunk people are idiotic, by the way. If you think you are a clever or a cute drunk, you are delusional. Or drunk.

More New York

2006-03-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

The walking tour of Manattan continues. Today: SoHo, West Village, East Village, NYU. Whew. My feet are beginning to hurt a bit, really. But I am slowly putting faces to names on this most iconic island.

i stopped by a fabulous shop that sells vintage eyewear. There were some great pairs of frames. One pair of 60's era Japanese mirrored sunglasses were so dark I could hardly see my reflection to tell what I thought. Another reminded me of a great pair of sunglasses my father had when I was young and have been trying to replace for years. Alas I don't have the money to pay $85 for non prescription glasses. Or maybe I do. I might go back...

I love subways. I love the Tube, the Metro and the New York Subway system. I love to hear the musicians play in the hallways, on the platforms and in the cars. I would love it if MAX had musicians as well.

I love the way that The Empire State building seems to be visible from nearly everywhere I go.

In New York

2006-03-15T19:15:00.000-08:00

Day 2. Lots more walking around. Went to Times Square to get tickets to a matinee. Stood in line behind some rather nice Korean missionaries. Something backwards about that. Not quite sure how that works. But I expect they enjoyed The Lion King all the same.

Got tickets on the orchestra level for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." I was both pleased and dissappointed. Seemed like some of the actors (Johnathan Pryce aming them) who were half-assing it. The choreography was nothing special and the music was generic Broadway. there were a few nice performances. From the other two male leads and from the female leads generally.

The staging was grand, but seemed unable to make up its mind about realism or not.

What a fascinating challenge it would be to do the same show nine times a week for weeks. I'd love to try. How to make each one fresh? One would really need to enjoy the show or the act of performance.

ODS @ 40, Pirates and The Crystal and New York

2006-03-13T05:50:00.000-08:00

Wifi at PDX is ssssslowwww.

Strange confluence of worlds yesterday as B&S played for the MESD ODS 40th birthday party. Got to see some old firends and some former staff from the program I haven't seen for many years. A few faces notably absent. But 800 people rocking out to "Nellie The Elephant" on the bouncy floor of the Crystal was a treat.

Now I'm off to New York City for a few days with brother PCL. Get a chance to walk about and see what it might be like to work there, or something like that. I still just don't know. I just don't know.

Airports. When passing through the security check point I had placede one boot in the tub when the NTSA guy tells me "We'll need the other one, too." No shit. Like I'm going to refuse to give them both of my shoes. Hey, buddy. I'm not going to give you any trouble. Just take pictures of the inside of my stuff, smell my shoes and let me put my belt back on. Someone had lost a belt buckle in the line. I saw both a buckle on the floor and man with a belt without a buckle. Coincidence? I don't think so.

United is now boarding windows seats first. I hope people are honest about when they should board, or better yet that the flight staff is going to hold people acountable.

Z-z zombies.

2006-02-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

I had a straight up chased-by-zombies dream the other night. What was that about? Vampires, I've had. Ghosts visit, too. But just plain zombies? What part of my psyche did they come from?

I joke about being afraid of zombies, but when they really show up, that is different.

Have you seen the studies recently that have come out? The ones that seem to contradict medical science and common sense all in one? Low fat diets don't really prevent heart disease, and calcium suppliments don't really build extra bone density.

Take from them what you will, but the suggestion (among others) is "live well young, live to be old." You can't change your mind later on and become a health nut. You gotta be consistant.

I had an idea for a bumper sticker "You only live once- Live fat." But, well I hate fat. I hate fat people because they represent the thing about myself that I hate the most.

I am changing my diet and level of activity. Maybe it isn't too late for me. It is tough to find the time to be both fit and happy. Still working on that one.

Fan Fiction

2006-02-11T23:38:00.000-08:00

Monkeying around with the interwebs is pretty damned fun. I've been building test sites and things to learn more about how to get information out for Sight Educational Theatre. I should put in a secret link to my website so Google will rate me higher! Sneaky, that.

A lovely woman popped her head backstage last night after the RTR show to tell us how much she enjoyed our thingy. She was very nervous, and to be truthful it took us aback. I admit we were less than charitable. I hope she didn't hear us making light of her. We only did it because she was so incrediblt sincere. That kind of honest thanks is not all that usual.

I'm not good at running the gauntlet of appreciative folks after a show. I much prefer to slip out the back.

I also prefer to play to a house of people I don't know. I'm less in my moment and more in the moment of the piece. Yet, I want my people to come and see my work.

Catch 22.

Photo test

2006-02-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

This is a test to see if I can host my own photos.

Foot in Mouth

2006-02-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

As I am getting older, and more and more unemployable I find that I am having more and more episodes of being a gassbag.

I was in a meeting today at which I became very passionate about a variety of things. For this discussion the topic deosn't matter. What matters is my willingness to speak my mind more and more.

This is a blessing and a curse. I am proud of myself for exprerssing my views. I will not apologize for my opinions, but I did have to apologize for how I expressed them.

Big storm coming. I hope the trees stay up.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

2006-02-02T21:22:00.000-08:00

I went to see "The Producers" last night. What a disappointment. Made me miss Gene Wilder and Zero Mostell.

I'm heading back to Outdoor School. I have agreed to work a couple of special sessions for them as well as fill in for Weeze when his second baby shows up in late May. One can never go home, but the week and change I'll spend at Camp Namanu should be surreal. I hope the grumpy Caretaker goes easy on me.

I'm seeing commercials on the tube suggesting that people need to "group" their trips in the car. Who are these people who aren't trying to do this? Is that really so much of a problem. Waste waste waste.

The show I've been co-writing a show for Metro through Sight Educational Theatre. The facts that I have been using to write the show have been sobering. Particularly around bottled water:

2.5 million bottles thrown out every HOUR in the US. Every HOUR! Incredible. Why are people in the Bull Run watershed drinking crappy bottled water from out of town anyway?

Move to Blogger

2006-01-29T21:13:00.000-08:00

I have moved to Blogger instead of using iWeb for my blog. I was having trouble with publishing iWeb to my site, plus there are no comments in iWeb. So I'm trying it this way. I will miss the ease of posting photos with iWeb, but until they get some more functionality in it, or I give up and move my site to .Mac, I'll keep trying to find the right way.

Bad Attitude.

2006-01-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

There has been a bit of a discussion on the PDX Backstage Yahoo Group about comments made in the Mercury by a letter writer. The short of the long is that the fellow vociferously expressed his disdain and dislike for Portland theatre.

Most of what he and others have had to say I can’t really speak to, but there is a discussion that should come from this whole silly insult fest- why don’t people think that Portland can produce good art?

There seems to be an attitude in Portland that “if it comes from Portland it must not be any good.” The converse seems to be true as well- if something is from out of town it must be good.

Is this the small town attitude, or some sort of reverse snobbery?

The comment that I often have thought about and heard just the other night runs along the lines of “you’re really good, what are you doing in Portland? You should be in New York or LA!”

This sort of attitude is hurtful in several ways. First it implies that good artists are only found in New York or LA, or at least not found in Portland. Second, this attitude would send good artists away from Portland.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be living and working in New York or London (I’ll take a pass on LA). But I love my hometown of Portland. I can think of few places I’d rather live.

Wade and I were speaking briefly about this backstage at Prometheus and he made the point that some of the attitude must come from the artists themselves. What does it take for Portland theatre artists to take themselves seriously?

Bogg & Salty gets this sort of thing as well. People seem to think that since the band is from the Portland area that it is somehow lesser. Or they assume the band is not a “real” band and should not be taken seriously.

What is it that notoriety adds to art? Is something good even if it is unknown? Must art be nationally recognized to truly be great?