OMG, Imma be FAMOUS!

It was just announced that I was cast as one of the leads in the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus Christmas production entitled “Shall We Prance?”

I’m a bit chuffed.

I’ll be playing “Prancer”- who is now older and retired from the reindeer team, and who has moved to the tropics to get as far away from the Pole and his old life as possible. He’s An ex dancer (?), curmudgeonly, and a bit bitter about Rudolph getting all the glory. (I feel like this is a bit of type casting.). The other characters are “Lil ClipClop”, a millennial reindeer who ran away and who is fascinated by Prancer and life on the team. And there’s Rudolph, of course. Who may or may not be a love interest.

The show is scripted and has a through line, where the chorus sings songs that thread through and tie everything together. I don’t have a full handle on the entire script, but I think it’s all about reconciliation at the holidays and stuff.

It should be mildly racy, somewhat bawdy, a bit irreverent, yet have some heart, too. Somehow I’ll have to find mine, or do an academy award worthy performance to make people believe I actually have one.

Anyway, this is a bit of a departure for me, but a nice change. I’m only slightly nervous, because I enjoy hamming it up in stage. I’m mostly excited, just because this is something new for me.

I’ll keep you posted as things progress. The script won’t be finalized for a couple weeks, so until then…

Oh, and I’ll be Prancercizing to get my weight down.

Two Days More…

I’m in Facebook jail for 2 more days. Pound sign eyeroll emoji, middle finger emoji, poop emoji.

I tend to get in trouble on Facebook- mainly because my humor doesn’t translate easily. Also, because I don’t treat Facebook as an “asking for prayers” platform or for “vague booking”. I post irreverent things and generally try not to take it very seriously.

What did I do this time, you ask? Well, I got a 30 day suspension for “hate speech”. Again, insert eyeroll emoji.

The FB algorithms were out in full force in this one. A gay friend had posted a lament about how his nephews said some things like “gay people get what they deserve because they chose this lifestyle”. He was sad that they were being raised with such intolerance. So I jokingly commented “well, I’m fairness, gays literally are the worst— except when it comes to sex.”

Aaaaaaand “hate speech”.

Evidently because I used the term “gays” I was “targeting” a group with “hate”. Obviously I appealed and said your algorithm is a piece of shit (in a round about way). But alas— banned. For 30 days.

It’s gotten to the point where you can only say controversial things on Facebook if you’re a conservative Christian Republican. 😬

Anyway, I am seriously thinking of ditching FB. I only keep it around as a means of keeping tenuous contact with friends and acquaintances. I could probably just keep messenger and instagram for that though. Although the picture thing on Indra is a pain in the ass. I don’t have pictures for everything.

Nightmares

While I do have fairly vivid dreams, t tend not to remember them very well. Just impressions, really. Unless they’re the “searching/struggle” dreams which are exhausting and I usually wake up tired and frustrated. And most of my dreams are fairly benign

However, last night I had a pretty vivid nightmare.

It wasn’t like horror story nightmare, or a “frightmare”. But it was still disturbing.

I was living in my condo, but it was near a nuclear reactor. I think it was the one in Ukraine. Anyway, a warning went out that a meltdown was imminent, but in this case it meant a nuclear explosion was coming. Sirens were going off and people were rushing around, getting in cars, and trying to drive to get to a minimum safe distance.

I found myself running around my condo looking for what to pack. I was having trouble figuring out what was most essential, and then was chucking things in a back pack like a madman. Al the while there’s this Alien-esque countdown bein broadcast: you now have 15 minutes to reach minimum safe distance.

I or to my truck, started it, then realized I didn’t have something. So I had to dash back upstairs, while I watch more neighbors peeling out as they race down the street. It’s twilight and there isn’t any electricity. The brick buildings all look deserted and also a bit bombed out. I the back of my mind I know it’s from the Russian shelling.

I start to leave again and then realize I don’t have my cat. I start frantically searching for her, but I’ve left my door open in my haste to leave the first time and she could be anywhere.

I finally manage to snare her and I dash for my truck. But I’m running out of time to get to a safe distance. I toss everything in, rev up, and start driving down the cratered street…

Then I woke up.

It took me quite some time to get back to sleep. I was wry agitated.

Last day of summer

Almost Literally and definitely figuratively. The autumnal equinox is Thursday, heralding the beginning of fall. However, we’ll get a day’s jump on things up here as we have a dramatic weather change in store for us tomorrow. It’s going to be like 65 for a high. And even cooler on Thursday.

Boo, I say. Boooourns.

More Mom Stuff

Last Thursday I got a weird call from my mom during the day (she never calls me when I’m at work). It was her giving me a heads up that she called the paramedics and was heading to the hospital.

Evidently she had another Parkinson’s episode where she couldn’t really make her legs work/move and couldn’t get up and about. This same thing happened a little over a year ago (maybe 15 months?) and it’s called frozen leg syndrome or something. When it happened before, they adjusted her medication dosage which seemed to improve things. Until now.

She went to the emergency room and was there basically all day. After a lot of tests, they did basically conclude that it was another episode related to the Parkinsons. So they did send her home eventually once a home health aide was arranged to spend the night to make sure she would be ok.

Thank goodness she had friends who could be with her and help her out!

I went down on Friday and was there all weekend. She was getting around ok- although she was pretty fatigued still after her Thursday adventure. She was also mentally fatigued still too, which happens when she’s tired. Saturday morning she was still sluggish, but doing better. Sunday she seemed about where she’s been- mobility wise and mentally.

The docs did up her meds, and I worked to get her on a good schedule for taking them. I even set daily alarms on her Alexa to go off when she needs to take them throughout the day. She seems pretty focused on making sure she takes them all too.

My biggest concern is that I’m starting to notice more of a mental decline, which really worries me. She struggles to find words and names more, and sometimes she just says the wrong thing- like an old movie came on and she said it was Popeye, and it was Tarzan. There also seems to be a slight uptick in confusion. She also had some issues with her TV sound bar and her iPhone which got her very frustrated.

Part of me wonders if she forgot to take some of her Parkinson’s meds and that caused the issue. Information does mention that disruption in medication can cause the freezing and inability to move, etc. I can’t know for sure at this point. It may just be time to up her dosage.

I’m trying to keep her doing crosswords and wordle and other thinking games to keep her brain sharpened. And she still reads a lot. I check in with her daily, but I worry.

I’m also struggling with not being resentful, especially when I visit and become a non-stop servant. I’m kind of up and down constantly, adjusting pillows, getting things for her, dressing/cleaning, cooking meals, etc. Most of the requests just come like “I need you to fix my pillows” or “I’ll take a snack now.”

I know she’s scared and frustrated by her failing body, and she’s uncomfortable and still in joint pain from surgeries, so I’m trying to approach all this with as much grace as I can muster. It’s just hard not to get short when she’s kind of ordering me around.

And when I do get short, I feel incredibly guilty. Like I do right now typing this.

Anyway- it’s a lot and it’s frustrating that I’m 3.5 hours away and can’t help her more. And I have this low level anxiety every day. It’s just kind of draining, so I’m bitching. I’ll stop now.

Finally!

I found some jeans that I’m ok with!

My “war on jeans” started about the time skinny jeans started becoming popular. I fucking HATE that “saggy full diaper” look. It’s dumb. And is not sexy at all. Not to mention, you have to be 6’ and 120lbs to even come close to being able to wear the style successfully.

Then the whole “stretch denim” thing. Gross. There’s a reason stretch denim had a short lived career in the 70’s. Ew. Just… ew. Synthetic fabrics- just say no.

So, my war has been against skinny dimly saggy pocket jeans and stretchy crap ever since. I refuse to buy either. And let me tell you- it’s hard to find jeans that aren’t these things.

It’s been really hard to find all denim jeans. Yes, Levi’s makes some— but again. Saggy ass and pockets that droop down to mid hamstring. Eventually I stumbled my way back to Wranglers.

Thank god Wrangler knows cowboy butts. They have a slim fit retro/vintage jean style that comes in actual denim.

Yeah. I’m ok with the ways these fit.

A Pox Upon Thee!

Well, not the Pox— just the shot.

I successfully adulted yesterday and received my second Monkeypox vaccine. The first jab I got back in August, about 10 days before my P Town trip. And yesterday was my scheduled second dose.

The first dose was the big dose, in the fatty tissue of the back of the arm. But now they’ve changed protocol to the smaller, subcutaneous dose on the forearm. At first I thought I was going to get by with like no reaction. Last night you could barely see where I’d been stuck.

But today?

Now there’s an itchy patch about the size of a Susan b Anthony dollar on my arm. (A Susan what??). I guess that means my body is doing it’s job- makin antibodies and takin names!

I’m glad I got it. I feel like I’m doing what I should to avoid disease and being a good community partner. But damn. With this scarlet welter, everybody is gonna know I’m one of those “gayz”.

Last Nice Ride?

It was a pretty gorge day last Sunday, so I decided to make it count. I took Fast Eddy (aka the Pink Pony) out for a 40 mile ride.

Cherry anyone?

The falls ain’t fallin’

Sexy Eddy

My legs felt so good on the ride- it felt like I could just keep going. 40 miles averaging 18 miles an hour ain’t bad.

It happened AGAIN!

Ok, this is getting weird.

So, I’m at the Eagle for Sunday Funday (patio drinking and Showtunes) and what should happen? A guy sitting at the bar says “Hi. I read your blog.”

Whuuut?

And this guy is not a local. We’ll call him “Jeffrey”… or “Geoffrey”. Pick a spelling. He’s in town for the Vikings game— sort of. Oh, did I mention there was a Vikings/Packers game which completely ficked with the regular Sunday Funday crowd. Anyway…

“Jeffrey” is in town because his company supports the Jumbotrons and electronic banner card hi game you see at stadiums. He happens to do the computer stuff for the Viking stadium and the Twins stadium. And since he was in town for Jumbotron stuff, he was staying at a nearby hotel.

And since he’s gay, he meandered to the Eagle for some food and drink (which was not that far of a meander as his hotel was right across the street). Which is how he spotted me.

It’s still weird and slightly unnerving to meet folks who know to so much about you from the get-go. At least both readers have been super nice and not stalkerish at all.

No pics of us together this time around either. Jeffrey doesn’t blog and he said he doesn’t like to be “googleable” which I completely understand. But it was still fun to meet him.

Plus it makes for a decent blog entry.

Bike scenes

Since the weather was gorgeous this past weekend, I did two long bike rides. I’ve been almost exclusively rising Fast Eddy, my new pink bike. I’ve also given him a nickname— the Pink Pony.

Obligatory falls pic on Saturday.

View at Lake Harriet

Blue Cock or Pink Pony

The weather turns a bit starting tomorrow. Probably these were the last suuuper nice rides of summer.