One more thing . . .

I received my 2007 Dieux du Stade calendar. For those of you not in the know, it features pictures of (mostly) French rugby players in provocative poses.

This is without a doubt the most erotic one yet.

The only way next year's will beat it is if it shows erections or hot man-on-man action. Personally, I'm hoping for both.

Tee hee

Did anyone watch Family Guy last night? The scene with Pat Robertson and Don Wildmon (or maybe it was Jerry Falwell . . . all those fundies look alike to me) making out made my freakin' day.

Hilarious.

Starbucks

There is a Starbucks just steps from my office (I'm sure nearly everyone in Manhattan can say the same thing). Some days the coffee is . . . well, I won't say good. Let's go with adequate. Some days, it tastes like it was brewed in Satan's colon.

Take a guess which one it was today.

Denver

Looks like I'll be going to Denver soon. Anyone know which bars I should visit?

TV

Okay, so I've been watching a little TV. Not much, but more than I intended to.

I've now seen two episodes of 'Gay, Straight or Taken.'

They really should have called the show 'Damn, This Bitch is Stupid.' There was a guy on one of the episodes that made Charles Nelson Reilly look butch, and the idiot girl thought he was the Taken one.

Taken from behind, maybe. Ba-dum-bum.

And that, ladies and germs, is why I don't write comedy.

Anywho, I saw a good production of Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters by The New Globe Theatre tonight at Theatre 3 (next door to Second Stage Theatre where Little Dog Laughed is playing). Lots of over the top fun, if you're into such things. Well worth checking out.

Done

It's in the mail and I don't have to think of it again for a while.

Whew.

I need a martini.

Free-ish at last, free-ish at last.

I just finished the first draft of my paper. Or rather, I hit 19 pages and it all just started to look like strings of words without any real cohesion, so I stopped writing. Now I'm just waiting to get back some comments, then I'll edit it, and send it in.

It's due tomorrow, by the way.

Now I'm off to make a call or two, then I'm writing my personal statement.

Woo hoo! Fun times.

The ball's in their court

So I came up with a way to save my office thousands of dollars a year with one simple change.

And if it turns out that my raise sucks as bad as it has the last two years, then I'm keeping mum about it. Fuck 'em.

Update: Fuck 'em.

Good news/Bad news

Bad News - The gas smell that is permeating the city gave me a headache from hell based on my relatively brief exposure to it.

Good News - Weather.com is finally forecasting snow. It's due to arrive on January 17th. That being said, things change from moment to moment, so we'll see.

Let's see . . . other news. This weekend I made minestrone, veggie chili, tuna salad, and a chicken and vegetables thing in the crockpot. Lots of food stockpiled for when the gas smell starts turning people into zombies.

UPDATE: They took the snow off the forecast. Bugger.
UPDATE 2: No zombies as yet.

Getting to know me

Some things I like right now:
1) The Neo-Futurists' Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. Some of the most energetic and interesting theatre in town. They perform (or try to) 30 short plays in 60 minutes. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don't. But you won't care one way or the other; the joy is in the journey, not the destination.

2) Gus Fink. This is an artist I met in Atlanta when I was down there for Dragon Con (don't you judge me). Anyway, his work is cool and disturbing and I bought several pieces of it. Not for nothing, but I really like his drawings. I'm certainly not saying you have to run out and buy me some . . . but if you wanted to, who am I to stand in your way?

3) This fuckin' weather. When was the last time you were outside in January in New York and thought to yourself, "damn, I wish I'd worn shorts today"?

4) Working on my writing sample. Sure, this is a major pain in my ass, but I'd forgotten how much I enjoy doing research. It's like putting together a puzzle where you first have to find all the hidden pieces, then put them together to make a picture.

5) My iPod. Best. Gift. Ever.

6) Losing weight. Or more to the point, wearing clothes I haven't fit into for a while.

7) Cooking. Today was Mexican Chicken & Chayote Soup for lunch and a really good Tuna Pasta Salad for dinner. Tomorrow, maybe Chili or Chicken Stew. We'll see.

Things I'm Not Really Digging:
1) The assholes with their car stereos blaring and their windows down outside my apartment. While I have nothing against Middle-Eastern hip hop or whatever the hell it is, I don't want to hear it at 3 a.m.

2) The fact that Restaurant Week falls during my "no eating out" January. Meaning that I will be eating out. Bollocks.

3) Drunk assholes who sit halfway on my lap on the subway and don't have the good manners to apologize or move. Bitch, if I wanted a lap dance, I sure as hell could find a hotter guy than you to give it to me.

What's cool

You know what's cool?

1) When it's 68 degrees outside. In New York. In January.

2) Pulling on a pair of pants you haven't worn for a while and finding $50 in the pocket.

I hope you have a cool Saturday.

And another thing . . .

Another cool thing about making my own meals, rather than eating out, is that the weight just drops off me.

I lost 6.5 lbs this week. Woo hoo!

The down side of not eating anything I didn't prepare will be obvious in a couple of minutes when I go to a business lunch. I guess I'd better grab a bite to eat before it.

Cooking

The nice things about making all my own food for the month is that the house smells great.

That's pretty much all I've got today.

Blog? What blog?

Right, I have a blog. Sorry I've been neglecting it, but things are still a little crazy for me. So rather than bothering to catch you up on all the fabulous things I haven't been doing, I think I'll just list some of my New Year's Resolutions.

1) Write between 500-1000 words a day.

2) Eat out less. Specifically, for the month of January, I won't be eating anything I didn't prepare. No cafeteria for lunch. No pre-theatre dinners at a local restaurant. No calling for pizza when I don't feel like cooking. After January, I'll be limiting myself to no more than two meals out per week.

3) Be more proactive about getting in shape. Go to the gym at least three days per week. Start doing my physical therapy exercises every evening before bed.

4) Spend a little time every day (15-30 minutes) cleaning or organizing my apartment. Get rid of all the old clothes, books I don't intend to read again, and other clutter.

5) Cut back on the TV. No TV in January (though I will tape BSG and watch it later). After that, no more than 5 hours of TV per week, though I will allow myself to tape shows and watch them later. The basic upshot of this is to keep me from wasting hours flipping channels when nothing is on.

5) Add at least one CD a day to iTunes until I'm caught up.

6) Blog every day.

7) Catch up on my theatre reviews and once done, file all my future reviews within two days of having seen the show.

8) Market my plays. Submit at least five plays to festivals or local theatre companies. This should be made considerably easier by the 500-1000 words a day resolution.

9) Be better about writing. Respond to all e-mails within two days. Send someone I know a letter or card at least once a week. I know how much I like receiving something other than junk mail, it's the least I can do to brighten a friend's day.

10) Be diligent about keeping track of my finances for tax purposes. Now that I'm actually making money from my writing, I need to start keeping track of my expenses.

11) Take care of a personal matter. That's all I'm saying about that one.

12) Make one Christmas gift per month. This year I gave a couple of handmade gifts and loved making them. I've decided to make most of my gifts this year.

13) Finish one art project per month.

I'm sure that more will be added as the year goes on.

So where do I stand on the resolutions three days into the year?

Well, January 1 was spent coming up with the resolutions, so it doesn't count. But looking at yesterday and today:

1) Good.
2) Good.
3) Well, nothing so far, but I'm going to the gym tonight.
4) Good.
5) Good.
6) Um . . . well, I'm blogging today.
7) Catching up. Next show to be reviewed is Friday, so I'll let you know on Sunday.
8) Nothing yet.
9) Doing okay with e-mail. No letter yet.
10) Good.
11) Good.
12) Ordered the material for two of the gifts.
13) Nothing yet.

All in all, not too bad.

So did any of you make resolutions?