Tomorrow is my lumpectomy for breast cancer. Here I sit, freshly scrubbed and shampooed, wrapped in a towel. Waiting. I have to wait an hour and then wipe down with antiseptic body wipes. I am supposed to use 1 wipe for each of the designated areas of my body. There are four designated areas to…

I find the fat paintings of Geeske Hartine to be charming and lovely and full of whimsy.  They are the kinds of paintings that I want to just sit and ponder for a while.  Part of my pondering is wondering what the artist was thinking or wanted to convey; and part is just absorbing the…

My Senior year in high school was the only year that I was able to take any elective courses (other than band, which I was in all four years).  At the end of my Junior year, I had taken all the courses necessary to allow me to graduate, but John Glenn High School wouldn’t let…

Long time readers may remember when I spent several months in New Jersey dealing with the hospitalization of my sister-in-law.  During that time, my go-to meal was a big ass bowl of Lucky Charms cereal.  I mean I ate a bunch-a-bunch of that stuff.  I know I blogged about the effect of eating a butt…

How does a performer get through allergy season?  With a lot of careful planning. The sneezing, coughing, runny nose season is not for the faint of heart when you are a performer.  You can put those symptoms on hold while you are performing by popping a Benadryl – or three. On the upside – no sneezing,…

I was zooming with my sister Linda and her daughter Jo when the topic of pre-death planning came up (because we’re cheery like that).  We’re kind of cremation (smoke ’em if you got ’em) kind of family; but the question of a funeral/viewing came up. I had never wanted a viewing or funeral per se.…

Okay.  When I first spoke with the surgeon about the surgery for breast cancer, I told her multiple times that I had run into a problem with Kaiser when my ablation was scheduled at the Surgery (outpatient) Center because that facility has BMI restrictions.  Today, I had my first face-to-face with my “team”, the surgeon…

I only really went on spring break once in my life.  And I wasn’t even in college. I had just finished performing in what turned out to be my last season with the Fischer Troupe with an ignominious performance with almost total laryngitis due to having to change a tire in the middle of a…

I’m sitting there with my hubby watching an episode of my favorite TV show – Ridiculous – when a commercial comes on for California, and how great and safe vacationing in California can be.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KORu7H8AsSo Okay. This ad features two little kids and their parents by the ocean. Okay. Except the parents are both buried…

That is the essence of theater – showing off. Auditions are showing off; rehearsal is showing off; and performance is showing off. Theater folks are people who relish doing what most of us are told to never do – show off. The difference is that theater folks appreciate everybody else’s showing off too. We enjoy…