Hello, dear cyber-friends, have you missed me?! I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since I posted on this blog. Once, this was the most important place for me to be. If I wasn’t posting something silly, I was thinking about posting something silly. Now, I’m still working through whether or not to continue what I started. Eleven years IS a long time. Maybe stopping is just the natural course of things. But maybe something new will evolve - who knows? So I'm still keeping my options open. In the interest of feeling some forward motion, I decided to do a quick Thanksgiving post and share what I’m thankful for this year. And maybe I’ll mention some shows I hope you go see over the holidays… 😍However, this year, I’m starting with a negative. I’m NOT thankful for my apartment building’s management team. In September, we sadly had another loss in my family, which sent me home for just short of a month, and when I came back, a mouse had moved into my apartment. I cannot get anyone - my super/assistant super/landlord/management company - to take me seriously to take care of this mouse. I want it gone. I want the hole where it entered gone. In a past post about some of my irrational fears, I mentioned mice. I meant it. But I feel as if, yet again, I’m screaming, and no one is listening. I’m not appreciating the condescending ‘oh, that’s just NY for you’ or ‘ha, girls are so silly!’ attitudes I’m getting. I’m considering legal action at this point. You’re supposed to feel warm and cozy in your own home; I just sit there in dread and fear, grinding my teeth and ready to cry. I don’t sleep. There’s no enjoyment there. And I am also PISSED. So it’s been a struggle to think of things I AM thankful for, but of course I could find some. Of course I could. How sad it would be to not be thankful for anything.
I’m monumentally thankful for:
- my wonderful parents;
- my fabulous sister;
- my glorious nephew, I love him so much;
- my beautiful GNO gal pals AND our wonderful guy pals;
- my terrific extended family;
- all of my dear, darling friends who lift me up when I really need them to;
- my fun co-workers who consistently support me AND make me laugh;
- my beautiful goddaughters;
- my darling Fellows (AND their amazing work);
- Murray’s Cheese;
- Randy Rainbow;
- online shopping;
- the Calm app (it has REALLY come in handy during the unwanted-intruder-nonsense);
- Starbucks pink drink;
- Acorn TV;
- expanded access to free theater tickets;
- Shangela;
- Applegate charcuterie plates;
- Ted Lasso;
- the Nasty Suff cocktail at The Library in the Public Theater;
- Leah and Talk NYC;
- 54 Below;
- the Q101 bus;
- Parade original Broadway cast album;
- Plum Deluxe tea;
- the NY Times crossword puzzle app (I have finally succumbed to the siren song of Wordle);
- Milk Street;
- The Amazing Race;
- Jeopardy Amy;
- Copper Cow peppermint lattes;
- TDF;
- Apple music;
- Basil Brick Oven Pizza;
- subway OMNY payment;
- my ever-expanding liquor cabinet;
- Murder, She Wrote re-runs;
- theater companies who are continuing with mask mandates.
And as promised, a theater public service announcement: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go see A Strange Loop (by Michael R Jackson), Kimberly Akimbo (by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire), Ohio State Murders (by Adrienne Kennedy), Topdog/Underdog (by Suzan-Lori Parks), Eva Luna (by Caridad Svich), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Jeff Augustin), and K-POP (by Helen Park, Jason Kim, Max Vernon). These are amazing works; some brutal, some joyful; some magical and literate, some down-to-earth and real; all well worth your time and money. Please buy tickets, show the powers-that-be that we want original, no-holds-barred, diverse, complex, and exciting work. And wear your masks, please. Stay safe and warm, my friends, and have a wonderful holiday season.
