I had dinner with Joyce tonight. The dinner was nice, despite the car ride that reminded me why I never liked her driving me anywhere (she gets anxious and tantrum-y when she doesn't know where she is). We spoke about things going on in my life, the most prominent of mine being the HOH disaster, the Matt fiasco, the work stress, and the true blessing that is WEBS.

Cheers to the Elephants, whether it be on stage or off; it is they that got me through 2007 when no one else could.

Dinner with Joyce was the first of the December Festivities of Uncertainty. The only thing I know for certain is I will be in Connecticut for Christmas proper, which I am looking forward to, predominately so that I can be catty with Amy, Michelle, and Wendy. I have invitations from Dad and Michele as well, and from Amy2 and Andrea for other December days. I don't know what to expect day-to-day anymore so I'm not sure exactly what Matt is doing.

Jamie is back in New Jersey after deciding that Guadeloupe turned out to be a lonely, frustrating, and barren wasteland. I understand this decision.

Work in the morning... much to do and worry about. In addition, I've got to score presents for the holidays and several of them have to be in the next week or so if I am in fact seeing other family members before Day.

Very, very tired. I know that last night was filled with debauchery... lots of vodka... and aquatic Disney movies. Lenny, Jamie, and I watched Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid. We sang "Poor Unfortunate Souls," I quoted nearly all of Ursula's dialogue simultaneously, as Matt looked on in bemusement (he showed up for Mermaid).

At some point, Jamie and I fell asleep on the bed, in our underwear and Matt tucked us in. Jamie was feeling particularly jimmy-arms because I found myself squeezed off the mattress and flat against the dresser because he was so spread out. Other than that, I guess I slept alright, except I kept dreaming about sleeping through my alarm (which I didn't, because those dreams were hours before it went off).

Ah, well. Want to go back to sleep now. I think I shall nap for lunch.

I never wrote about Gay Pride '06. There was just so much. It spanned like 4 days. Well, actually, first off, there was a special show on last Friday. The Cinema East/Nyack cast reunion for eLiz and Matt went off pretty well. I got to speak to matt'sJoe a little more. He's a really nice guy. I also got to meet Carol, who pretty proudly declared that when I was helping her practice for Magenta, that I was the only Riff Raff she'd never had/have sex with.

I obviously didn't perform for the show, although we had some HOH Transies involved. I taped it, and really hope it came out ok. The show itself was a fun, spastic mess, and that was ok, too. Since many of these performers hadn't gotten into costume and on a stage in almost 10 years, it managed pretty well.

Saturday was spent gearing up for HOH's Gay Pride Night. What I loved most about it was that Matt announced it sort of off the cuff, with no intention for it to really become a "theme show" and by the end of it, he and I hijacked the hell out of it, and effectively screwed with casting and costumes, and by the end of it people were saying things like "when we do this next year..." That was fulfilling, really.

But Saturday day was less fun. It all worked out, but it was largely spent fixing up Matt's Crim book. It was very rainbow. And that took some effort. I was able to find all of my stuff I needed in advance, and to great relief. I was playing Eddie and Dr. Scott. About six people that night said "I'd never seen you as Eddie or Dr. Scott!" Yeah, me either!

For Eddie, I ended up wearing the pink Corona t-shirt that I tore the hell up for last year's beach night (Frank, whipping scene). I put on my Broadway Rocky Horror dog tag and the one with Matt's and my names on it. My gay pride chainmail (which has actually stayed on since), my torn-up and marker/paint/make-up'd jeans. This was actually what I was going to wear for Eddie if I got it on Hat Pick Night.

After all the preparation I did for him, though, geez, shortest scene ever. It went by so quickly. I also could barely see anything; I didn't have a lot of time to really adapt to being on stage in a new role--'cause I all of a sudden I had to die.

Richy was Columbia, and that was great. The dance worked out pretty well, and I got a huge audience pop for it, which was invigorating. Just from 0 to 10 to dead is an awful transition I don't wish on anyone; I don't know how Angelo, Genevieve, or Paul does it.

I fortunately had Dr. Scott to look forward to, for which I had a red headdress, red feathers, a white top with sparkly shingles, and red fishnets. I was a drag queen. I also had no idea how to play it. I muddled through Dr. Scott well enough, but I had no idea what characterization to give him in the present attire. Danielle told me that during dinner scene I went from Dame Edna to Maya Angelou. I became a ghetto drag queen with the hand gestures, and I had a lot of fun through "Eddie's Teddy," but I did not get a distinctive read from the crowd _at all_ and I'm not sure if anyone liked it at all.

The rest of the cast was: Sarah as Frank, Liz as Rocky, Danielle as Magenta, Genevieve as Riff Raff, Willow as Brad, and eLiz as Janet.

The night was a lot of fun, though. I wasn't really tired afterwards, but we had to go to sleep because Gay Pride in NYC was going on that following Sunday, and we had to be up by 10. Blecch.

The March was cool, though. I enjoy it every year, but miss being in it. I remembered fondly being on the float some years back and all of a sudden a rush of our walkers appearing when our float finally hit the beginning of the route. That was an amazing, beautiful experience

Matt, Matt's mom, Jamie, jamie'sKristen, and I went for food after the March. Jamie, Matt, and I parted ways with the ladies, and headed for the Pier Dance. As is the rule of the Pier Dance, it was filled to the brim with late 30's-to-late-40's muscley men. The club music wasn't really pumping hard, and it was daylight. The last two years we went, it got progressively lamer. Year 3 was obviously not worth it, either--we left after maybe an hour. Before we did, I managed to see an older man sniff coke. It was very odd to witness. Not really my thing. But I did get 2 Clementine Svedka Vodka drinks.

We headed to xl instead (where I saw Jill Sobule). It's this ultra-hip gay lounge and bar. We didn't get carded and didn't have to pay a cover. Although, y'know, they never carded me for the pier dance either. All of us are of age, but for reason, I just always expect to be made a big deal about because I don't think I look 21 and my state ID has my head turned to the side, an automatic under-age qualifier.

xl was great fun, too. But by the time we were all pretty drunk, Matt wasn't really much in a driving state, and I was in an energetic stage of drunk--I wanted to dance. xl isn't a club, so I was able to persuade (really without any effort) the trio to head to Splash.

Sure enough, Splash was jumpin'-jumpin' and had a $15 cover (which was ok since we didn't drink anything, and xl hadn't charged us entry). I ended up making out with a stranger downstairs, but it was all for fun. We came home around 1, and we did not go to sleep. At about 4 (woohoo!), we all passed out.

I woke up at quarter to 8 .am. or so, head reeling. I popped some Ibuprofen, and slept until 4 p.m., and then headed to gaming relatively back to normal.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Gay Pride '06.

"What a night. I was in more laps than a napkin."
-- Sally, Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical

New Years Eve was a lot of fun, even though I was apparently a totally drunk-out-of-my-mind dancing fool and making out with a total stranger wearing plaid. Apparently the man got a little forceful, and Jamie put him in his place. I am lucky to have two strapping lads to defend my honor when I'm too stupid to do so.

Still though, despite the 6 drinks (and ironically Matt is watching the Alcoholics Anonymous episode from Bullshit! behind me), I had a lot of fun. I just don't understand how it lasted 4 hours. It went by so quickly.

The weekend, as a whole, was fabulous. Some of it's still coming back to me, though.

A brief conversation with Jamie, who's sometimes a little bit racist.

Jamie: "There are two kinds of people in this world that can't drive... Hispanics and Asians. [joking] It's because they're too used to mules."

George: "...Asian mules?"

The first of the three shows went by last night. I think it was a fabulous show. After a haphazard preshow rehearsal, I was left a little weary. We oversold, and Jamie, jamie'sKristen, and the rest of their friends however did not get to stay. Despite that they got their tickets the day before, they didn't get seats and they left. Matt and I were really upset about this, as I'm sure they were. They all got dressed up, too.

The fact that we oversold was a concern. And I hate when we do. I'm all for a huge crowd and every seat filled, but "standing room only" is not a good time had. It's impossible to manage. What usually takes about six minutes to have everyone in the theatre took roughly twenty minutes to ensure those who were getting seats, had them. Stress-levels raised, and the Sarah, Genevieve, Danielle, and myself struggled to get ready in time for our places-cue, "Fraggle Rock."

As for the preshow, it went incredibly well. Granted I nearly choked on a prop, but the audience was responsive and excited. It calmed my nerves completely and made me look forward to the rest of the show. Since the "orchestra pit" was filled, I played to that audience the entire time... My most frequent annoyance with the Bellevue is how far away the audience is. I love when I can see them.

Since it was Day Light's Savings Time, we got home at an insane hour but "gained" an hour. Stupid farmers. I've never bought into the "gain" and "lose" an hour concept.

...But in any case, we get to do it all again tonight. Except the Day Light Saving's Time. And I'm Rocky. With Sarah as Frank, and Dani as Janet! Yaay! This promises to be a good show.

Meanwhile, Matthew and Jamie are hopefully going to make up for last night-- they're going to a Halloween-themed party at the gay club Spirit. I'm trying to keep busy from being envious. After all, I am going to one of the biggest parties in a Rocky Horror year.

Tonight, Matt and I went to Connextions (I think I'm spelling that correctly; it's a nightmare of a word) to support Jamie in a costume contest. He went as a dark angel with some pretty awesome facepaint. Initially, Matt and I were going to dress as Rocky and Frank, but considering that the venue seemed to be a close-knit group of regulars, we would've seemed out of place and if we had won (and considering the competition we either would've and seemed like intruders, or lost because the regulars had fans/friends), it would've been weird, and I'm glad we didn't, in the end despite my disappointment at first.

The performers were all quite great. The combination of popular songs and inventive costumes/theme was exactly what I adore and try to incorporate in Rocky Horror preshows. One of them was clearly Samara from The Ring and she began with a dirge-like lullaby I think is from Corpse Bride (gotta get that soundtrack now) and went into "Dive Into the Pool" by Pepper Mashay. Considering Samara died from drowning, I found that very clever.

Another was a sexed-up Freddy Kreuger-type with rhinestone claws and red-and-green striped mini shirt and skirt. Her song was appropriately "Sweet Dreams Are Made of These." She came back for a Poison Ivy medley of Madonna's "Bad Girl" and Britney Spears' "Boys."

Visa D'Kline was the hostess, and she was great. She did a Quasimodo "My Humps" (the Black Eyed Peas) and a babydoll "Hanky Panky" (Madonna).

There was also an Elphaba who did "No Good Deed" and later did "Defying Gravity" with Visa and Glinda. Considering they had no props or effects or anything except costumes, they did an excellent job at being entertaining. This may've been due to the intimacy of the place; I always thought lip-synced preshows went over best at the Screening Zone. The Elphaba was named Cherry Bomb, and I thought she was great and made a point to tell her; she was very gracious.

There was an Elvira who then went goth-trash for Rob Zombie's "Living Dead Girl" (a song that I really hate to admit that I completely adore and have since around last Halloween when I got to play before the show based on Jamie's suggestion). She was great, too.

There was a "classic," as well, which is probably the nicest way to describe her. She was the oldest of the group, and Matt said he met her like 10 years ago. She didn't play with the theme much; her two selections (the club version of "I Am Woman" from Trick and "Simply the Best") seemed like such standards, it was almost nostalgia that I don't even have.

They all ended (with the exception with the last one I mentioned) with a spirited finale "Spice Up Your Life."

I adored it so much; it made me incredibly jealous and inspired. It enforced my wish that we really did have a bit more "live" with Rocky Horror. And made me once again say, "Yeah. I'd be a drag queen if I could." Could being the word especially 'cause I am simply not tough enough, nor do I have the energy to do it on a regular basis. But I've got my set-list and ready for bar mitzvahs if anyone's hiring.