Well, dear readers, I am happy to report that the irritants made no appearance whatsoever yesterday and therefore yesterday was a good day with no irritants. Not only were there no irritants, there were many lovely moments from morn to evening. Of course I can’t remember what they were and that’s irritating. I’m kidding, I remember every lovely moment as if it happened yesterday. Of course, it did happen yesterday so there’s that. One of the lovely things I got via e-mail yesterday was a wonderful invitation to meet Latinos in my area for Hispanic dating. This made me so happy, what with being Hispanic and all. Oh, wait, I’m NOT. Oh, poo, I’ll have to not respond. Another wonderful e-mail I got asked (thoughtfully so) if I wanted a degree in criminal justice. Of course I responded immediately that I wanted the nth degree in criminal justice. I hope they have it. I see these here notes have now entered the realm of The Twilight Zone. Cue theme music.
Yesterday, as already stated, was kind of a nice little day. I got just about eight hours of sleep, got up, answered some nice (for a change) e-mails. I did some work on the computer, and wrote about half of the lyric for the opening number I’m working on for the new revue. Then Sami and mom came over and we moseyed on over to Stanley’s for lunch. Unfortunately, Stanley’s was closed for kitchen renovations. So, we ended up at some Japanese jernt, which was very good for my diet. Sami had some salmon sushi thing, and mom and I had the lunch special – three items – I had teriyaki chicken, sesame chicken and vegetable tempura. I let Sami have my soup and mom my salad, since I’m neither a fan of miso soup or the dressing they put on those salads. I’d rate the food average. But the good news is I looked up the calorie count and was thrilled to find that all the items on my plate (and they were small lunch-sized portions) were extremely (and I mean extremely) low in calories. I don’t think the whole thing came to six hundred calories. I love when that happens, and it was filling, too.
After that, we came back here and did some singing and chatting. First of all, Sami was in a great mood and after three weeks of Jew Camp I was also thrilled she hadn’t blown out her voice – in fact, she sounded really good. We’re both excited about starting rehearsals next Monday. Then they left and I went and picked up a couple of packages, then came home. I did some more work on the lyric – I’m not quite sure about the form of the music yet, and I suspect I’ll end up writing and entire second go-through of the tune, just to get in as many fun references as I can. Then I did a jog and then put my aching feet in the hot tub for a few minutes.
After that, John Boswell arrived for our work session. It’s always very fast and very easy with him – no muss, no fuss. The thing that should have taken a really long time, the What If (the song is twenty-three pages long!) went really fast, and so did everything else. We got through it all in a bit less than an hour. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched the beginnings of a couple of movies on the Flix of Net, but frankly I just wasn’t really in the mood for viewing so I shut off the TV and instead listened to music. One thing I listened to that’s been sitting next to the computer for a week is the new CD of the complete Columbia recordings of Joanie Sommers. Well, I love Joanie and while I didn’t love all the arrangements, she sounds amazing and there are many interesting songs, including four Bacharach and David songs from On the Flip Side, the TV musical in which she starred with Ricky Nelson. These are completely different recordings to the soundtracks. In any case, that was an hour well spent or, conversely, an hour spent well.
Today, I will continue working on the new number, I’ll eat (I think I’m going to make a batch of that spaghetti with sautéed onions and butter – maybe eight ounces, still under 1200 calories and under a thousand after the jog. I’m kind of tired of sitting in Jerry’s Deli by myself, if you must know. But we’ll see how I feel – I may not feel like cooking either. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages and then I’ll relax and I WILL watch a motion picture no matter what.
Tomorrow, we have a two-hour choreography rehearsal with Sami for the one big tap number in the show. The main dance was choreographed by her very old tap teacher, who once danced with Gene Kelly. Sami did that at the workshop – some of it worked fine but some of it just didn’t sit well on Sami, so my friend and great tapper Cheryl Baxter is coming in (she choreographed What If eleven years ago, and put together two big numbers for me for the ALS benefit), and she’ll smooth it all out, change what she doesn’t like, work with Sami on her upper body movement, which is too stiff, and we’ll then have a whole new thing. We’ll also talk through the staging of the song proper – I didn’t have the two props that worked properly so I could only do perfunctory things – now that we know what those props look like and how they’ll move, we can solidify that staging. Saturday I’m not sure what the HELL is going on, Sunday I have an early morning meeting at the House of Pies with our stage manager and costume designer, and then I may have an additional meeting with the costume designer that night, to have her sit with a guy who knows and does quick changes, of which there are two that need to be instant.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, work on a song, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What is your favorite type of sushi and what are your favorite other Japanese dishes? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, while I read more e-mails offering me such wonderful things as protective coating for my floors, a great deal on event wristbands, and, best of all, affordable divorce. Yes, I truly have now entered the realm of The Twilight Zone. Cue theme music.