Tag: #friends

  • New York Move Anniversary

    This past Saturday, August 28th, a personal anniversary of mine slipped by unnoticed. It was the 15-year anniversary of my move to New York. Well… to be correct, I first moved to Jersey City, and THEN to New York City.

    Moving to New York was something that I had always wanted to do. I had been dreaming about it since high school, and though my life went in a lot of different directions, it wasn’t until about 2005 that I sort of got my shit together, and was able to start planning the move.

    But as I think about it, and if I am very honest, I wouldn’t have been able to make the move happen without the support of my friends Alex and Rebecca. Alex was a friend of mine from junior high, and Rebecca was his fiancée at the time. They had a house in Jersey City, and they were kind enough to rent out their basement to me so I had a place to live and get situated. Without them, without their friendship and support, I don’t know how I would have gotten here. And then there was Rebecca’s parents, who would come and visit, and I got to know them, and they made me feel welcome and accepted me into their family group, which was an extremely gracious gesture.

    And as I thought about Alex and Rebecca, I started thinking that in a larger sense, I’ve never really accomplished anything alone. I have been lucky to have friends and family who have supported me, and I really hope that I was the type of friend that supported in return. No one is an island, right?

  • ODDS and ENDS: Fantasy Football, Chopped Cheese Biscuit, That’s Not a Holiday

    “Odds and Ends” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    This week, I received the email alerting me that the Fantasy Football League that I take part in is ready for the coming season. I have been taking part in this league for over ten years, and I’ve won it twice. Our group used to be twelve players, but now we are down to six; four of us went to college together, one guy is a friend I used to work with in New York, and the other guy is the husband of a college friend. I know that the six of us have never been in the same room together, but it does feel like the band is getting back together when fall rolls around.

    Do you know what a chopped cheese sandwich is? It’s a New York bodega thing, but I feel like people outside of the City are starting to find out about it. I say all of this because there is a food market in Harlem, Manhattanville Market, that has a joint called Butterfunk Biscuit Co. that is now offering a Chopped Cheese Biscuit Sandwich. This monstrosity might take 35 minutes off my life, but it looks comfort food amazing! I might not need an excuse to stop by there this weekend.

    Yesterday was “National Dog Day” or as my wife put it, “National Tell Me Your Dog’s Name So I can Try to Hack Your Password Day,” and while we’re at it, it’s also, “What’s Your Mother’s Maiden Name Day,” and “What Street Were You Born On Day” as well…

  • Missing Friends and Theatre

    The other day, a very good friend of mine, let’s call him “Shawn”, who lives back in Dallas, posted some pictures of a performance he took part in of “A Midsummers Night’s Dream” for the Shakespeare Everywhere company. He posted a video as well of the cast backstage. Then another friend put up some pictures of a group of our college friends, some I have known for close to twenty years, all going to the show. I was really excited and happy for “Shawn” to be in front of an audience again. He’s a theatre whore, and that is meant as a complement, as his joy and excitement of preforming is boundless and contagious.

    I won’t lie, I do miss my college friends, and it would be nice to see all of them in person again. (Which is possible now!) It would appear that we are all approaching forty still in one piece, and having learned a thing or two. I didn’t so much have a pang of missing out, in so much as I had a pang of missing talking to them. I miss the diversity of our group, and their individual experiences that they brought. But I miss how we all made each other laugh.

    The other thing that happened was that I got a little bug in the back of my head that kept saying to me, “You miss audiences, too.” The last time I performed for an audience was in September 2018, in Eau Clair, Wisconsin – almost three years. Normally, I would say that I miss the camaraderie of a being in a cast, and working together, But… But, I started thinking about being in front of people, making them laugh, or making them pin-drop silent hanging on the next word that comes out of my mouth. I miss fighting to get an audience on your side, or when they get ahead of you and you have to catch up to them… To be a player in a troupe of actors…

    Stupid theatre whore making me want to be a theatre whore…

  • Talking to Friends

    I had a friend come in town the other day (We’re back to doing that again. Awesome!) and we planned on going out to get a drink and talk. “You’re going to sit and talk?” my kid asked. “Pretty much.” “Why?” “That’s what grownups do.” She shook her head at me, “That’s boring.”

    Now, my wife’s birthday is coming up, and you know what she wants more than anything? To go out with friends and talk. Minus a husband and a kid. Our daughter was again disappointed that this is what her mother wanted to do on a birthday. “All you do is talk,” the kid concluded.

    She’s not aware that she does talk a lot, as she talks to me and her mom all the time. Soon, my kid will start talking and communicating with her friends constantly. I’m trying to value the conversation time I have with her, because it’s a cycle; she’ll form those life long important bonds and enjoy just talking to friends.

  • Overhead Projector: I Miss My Friends

    It’s Thursday morning, which means all of the building’s supers are putting the trash out. I know this because when I walk the dog on Thursday mornings, I try to make sure the dog doesn’t root in the trash bags, or pee on them. In a very voyeuristic sense, it’s interesting to see the boxes that are being thrown out, which give a glimpse of the lives in that building. Boxes for huge TVs and strollers, and frozen microwave dinners. Some days there is a well-worn out couch on the sidewalk, or a mangled bed frame which makes you wonder what happened there.

    Today, I saw an object that I hadn’t seen in a very long time; an overhead projector. For most people, I think their interaction with overhead projectors comes from school and college, teachers presenting information, or writing math equations. The dim classroom, and the hum of the fan from the projector was such a potent sleeping pill in high school, lulling me to a nice, lite nap in class.

    But, when I saw that overhead projector this morning, it reminded me of all my puppeteer friends who I have not seen in almost three years. You see, an overhead projector is a very powerful tool in many of the puppet shows I have worked on. It can be used not only for projecting images across a stage, but a light source for shadow puppets. I have learned how to switch out lamps in these projectors, and how to use the focus control as an effect, as well as using a water bowl to create a waves over a stage. The hours I have spent, hunched over with friends, working with these projectors.

    It made me miss my friends. I miss my creative, funny, silly, open, supportive friends.