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January 31, 2002
Well, I have had an
Well, I have had an exciting morning. I accidentally tripped on the cord of my Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop last night. I had just finished watching "Bridget Jones's Diary". (I really love that movie. Upon seeing it again, I have to say that Renee Zellwiger got robbed in the Golden Globes; she was much funnier and more diverse than Nicole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge"...that said I still like Kidman alot. But I digress...) Anyway, I thought I was in the clear with the computer as it still worked after the fatal tripping. So I left it on overnight to defragment. Well, when I got up this a.m. it was off and would not turn on. At all. So I trepidatiously called Dell Tech Support. I bought the computer a little over two years ago so I wasn't sure what kind of response I would get. Well, I got a great one. Jeff, helped my fitz around with it for awhile and then he decided I would have to send it in. So Dell is sending Airborne to me today with a box for my computer. They will ship it to the facility to have a new motherboard put it in and check everything. It should be back in 7-10 days. The upside is Dell has EXCELLENT service support. If I ever buy another PC (instead of MAC) I will look toward Dell first. The downside is my access to a computer is going to be spotty for the next week. So if there are no updates, or you don't electronically hear from me. That is why. No computer for at least a week. The Dark Ages. I am a little scared.
Posted by mermu at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2002
On Friday I went to
On Friday I went to see a play called "True Love" that a friend of mine was managing. The performance I saw was being filmed by Lincoln Center for archival purposes with an unprecendented three cameras the night I went. (Lincoln Center usually only uses one, but the way the play was directed in that particular space required a minimum of three.) The theatre was in a converted Zipper factory. I fell in love with it immediately. It had a bar and the male and female restrooms shared sink space with the actual gender specific toilets in separate rooms The play was set in a gas station in rural New York. Basically all the characters talk about love or some deviation of it. There was nudity (male and female), a live chicken, and a live band. The play covered incest, bondage, festishes, cross-dressing, cheating and whatever other ribald aberration the author could dig up. That is all it had. I came away with the feeling that the author was looking into a mirror and preening for himself like Narcissus. The play was mostly dull (except for the nudity); like a sermon on sex from the Priest of Pretention. I was feeling pretty frustrated, bored, and critical of the play in the last ten minutes when all of the sudden I hear a dull ringing in the audience. Now this is one of my biggest pet peeves. Sure I didn't like the play but still those actors were up there working their very visible asses off. They deserve a little respect. And then it occurred to me: No! NO!....yes. I had forgotten to turn my cell phone off and it was the culprit of the offensive ring. I hurriedly turned it off, I think hanging up on the unsuspecting caller. I was so horrified. One of the Lincoln Center cameras was right in front of me too! And my friend was the Company Manager ! I felt like a bug. ........Why didn't they make the announcement at the beginning!!!! ?? As much as I hate the intrusion of a cell phone and I try to remember to turn it off always, I have always known that sooner or later my jig would be up. I would forget and it would be my turn to face the brunt of frustration from a dark audience, the self-loathing, the embarassment. God, I think, was saving this up for just the right, most disastrous, moment. She has a sick sense of humor.
Posted by mermu at 01:16 PM | Comments (1)
Not much has happened as
Not much has happened as I have been out of work but some things that have happened have been interesting. I went to the Art21 interview. They were really nice and the company looks interesting. It seems like a fun place to work. I think they are looking for someone with a broader experience in Accounting though...more like a consultant who could create an accounting method specifically for their company as well as do the books. We'll see.
I also finally made my Voiceover Demo tape. I had such a great time doing it. It sounds really professional too. Thankfully I already had money in the bank earmarked for this purpose...well, it was for new headshots but I probably won't get those for another year so... it is now VO money. The session took about six hours. The CD Demo is about 1 minute, 18 seconds long. I spent a total of $850 (for the engineer, my coach, and the studio fee)...how much does that break out to per second? almost $10 I think. Sheez....I hope this works.
Posted by mermu at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)
Yea!!! I am back. For
Yea!!! I am back. For those who are wondering where in the hell I went: this site was inexplicable down for about a week. Stepan my web guru checked it out and discovered it was the Server Hostturbo. To solve this problem Stepan decided to become a reseller of web space with a huge amount of memory and such. He has now moved my site, his and my sister's to his new server. I guess this makes Step my cyberlandlord...hmm...that could be weird.
Posted by mermu at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2002
My sister is selling a
My sister is selling a wedding dress she has opted not to use for her upcoming nuptials. It is a beautiful and unique dress that retails for between 3 and 5 thousand dollars. My sister got the dress at a sample sale in NYC benefitting orphans of the WTC attack. The dress has never been worn for a wedding (it may have been worn once at a Good Morning American fashion segment) but should be professionally cleaned. She is asking $1200 but will negotiate. This dress is too beautiful to go to waste. If you know anyone who needs a great dress for a steal please let them know.
Posted by mermu at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2002
I also got my photos
I also got my photos back from my first few rolls of film on my new camera. Some of them came out really great. Some of them are a work in progress. I will try to post some of my faves in the photos page in the coming days. (This should serve as due warning to Stepan- my gracious web mentor. )
Posted by mermu at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)
Last weekend we had our
Last weekend we had our first real snow! It was quite beautiful. I think we got about 5". Really lovely. Unfortunately it is already starting to melt. The weather this season is so frustrating! I hope this isn't the only snow this year. One of the reasons I was so excited to move up to NYC was so I could experience the full force of 4 seasons.
I am still out of work and still perversely unconcerned. I do have an interview on Thursday for a part time bookkeeper at Art 21. That should be really cool. I hope I get it. In the meantime, I hope to use the free time to organize and keep up with things. Do some writing and fulfill other creative ideas that are taking up space in the attic of my mind. I am looking forward to having my voiceover demo done on Thursday. Last Thursday I went to a workshop and met one of the agents at Arcieri Talent. I must say it was really cool to use their mic. I could really tell the difference between that and the one I use in my coaching session. I hope this Voiceover thing works out. It sure is costing some bucks.
Today I am going to clean and organize and do my handwashing. I am also going to try my hand at a Lamb Stew I found in the bible of all CookBooks, The Way to Cook. Wish me luck!
Posted by mermu at 02:22 PM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2002
Okay well, coupled with my
Okay well, coupled with my entries regarding the Epiphany, that about sums up the holidays. I am happy to be back in the city. I still smile sometimes as I wait to cross the street just happy to know I am here.
I have a demo recording for Voiceovers scheduled for January 24th. I am hoping that avenue of work will open up soon. And I am also looking to acquire some more permanent bookkeeping clients. I want to write more and record more this year. I am also thinking of taking guitar lessons. All this in addition to doing more acting. So things should be exciting when coupled with the "passionate love" I am destined for this year.
For the record, Puppetry of the Penis was actually kind of dull once you got over the shock that you were staring at two naked guys and their enlarged-through-the-wonders-of-video-screens-private-parts. Most of the origami was kind of silly but they hit a few homeruns I admit. We topped off the evening by going to a drag restaurant called Lips. That was a blast! The food was really great, the ladies were stunning and funny and the event was a perfect if unorthodox compliment to our earlier excursion. I can't wait to take visitors to Lips. My friends in the midwest would love it.
Posted by mermu at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)
New Year's was a blast!
New Year's was a blast! I met my roommate at her boyfriend's apartment in the city for a Bulgarian tradition. You eat banitza and in your piece is a piece of paper foretelling where you will have fortune. I got "passionate love". Hmm. We shall see. :-)
After that I met my friend Julia and her roommate Andrew on the east side to go to a friend of her's small New Year's Eve soiree. It was an intimate group but we had a great time. There were libations and trays of delicious food and desserts (what that woman did with red peppers is amazing!) At about 10pm we made our way to my friend Jack's house. He has an apartment on 46th between 6th and 7th Ave which boasts an amazing view of the Times Square ball. So we partied on the roof, watched the ball drop and toasted the New Year famously. Who new when we were in High School on our New Year's trip to NYC that in 2002 we would be only blocks away from the hotel where we stayed that New Year's so long ago. Only this time we are full fledged adults with all the bells and whistles that entails and we are locals. It was a pretty cool experience.
The next day I got on a bus for Mt Pocono for the 3rd Annual Miss Millenium pageant. I was a judge for the second year in a row. It was a lot of fun. The "ladies" outdid themselves this year! Amber Waves' talent was groundbreaking and Miss DaBoat's costumes were stunning. Miss DaBoat is the well deserved Miss Millenium 2002. This year was a little more sedate than last year's as I was nursing a champagne hangover and tea totling that night and the other judges and audience members were less rambunctious than the rowdy lot I was with last year. But it was still a blast and a true highlight of my holidays. I yearn to produce a documentary about this momentous pageant.
Posted by mermu at 08:25 PM | Comments (0)
Okay, now about the goodies.
Okay, now about the goodies. Christmas gifts were really fantastic this year. I have to say I was really worried because I wasn't really inspired to get any particular gifts until very late. But I think I did alright. My brother Danny and I got my sister Jennifer a lovely handpainted handfan from Barcelona. Danny got a hodgepodge of DVDs and books related to filmmaking. (He wants to buy a Canon XL1.) Jenny, Danny, Stepan, and I got dad a coupla things including a studfinder, shirts and underwear, a big-digit digital clock and a waterfall. We got mom a new cell phone as her current phone was fritzing and she would never have bought one herself since it was only about a year and a half old. Through my amazing powers of persuasion and diligent customer advocacy we also got her a $150+ credit on her account. I would have to say one of my favorite gifts to give was Stepan's. Danny, Dad, and I got it for him. (It was the same thing Dad got Danny so I am really glad Danny doesn't really care to shop or even know exactly what we are giving until it's opened!) It was an Air Compressor. The ones that we got came complete with a huge set of tool attachments too. I liked this gift because it was, I believe, really unexpected. It was something that Stepan never would have dreamt that he would get and it is something he wouldn't run out and get for himself (at least not right away) but that he would love to have. So despite my lack of early inspiration I think I did allright and I think everyone liked what I got them.
I was also finally able to debut my first recording experience. I recorded a version of Melissa Etheridge's "Talking to My Angel" that I sang for my Uncle Barry's funeral to give to his children. I also made copies for my immediate family and a few friends. I hated keeping the recording a secret but it was a Christmas present and a surprise. I wanted so much to write about the fun I had recording it with a friend of a friend ,Marcus Wolf. He is a really great local musician in New York who has a small recording studio in his home. He reminds me a little of Guy Forsyth, except where Guy is earthy I would consider Marcus to be ethereal. He played guitar on my recording and everytime I hear it I smile in wonder that I lucked in to finding someone so talented and willing to help on my first try out. Especially that I could afford. Mom loved the recording and drove me crazy with wanting to play it ...over and over. Hopefully it will be the first recording of many.
As for me, I was graced with some pretty great presents; a Japanese Cast Iron Teapot, a pillowcase embroidered by my Grandmother who died two years ago, and a Canon Rebel G SLR Camera as well as a few CDs from my Uncle's Choir and a St. Christopher medal keychain, soaps and a few other lovely gifts. It was a great Christmas...and this year I actually got to New York in time for New Year's.
Posted by mermu at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)
I can say that it
I can say that it felt really weird being so far away from NYC too. People as far out as Texas just don't really get how traumatic the World Trade Center Attack actually was for New Yorkers and, indeed, still is. Case and point: Midnight mass the venerable Msgr. King gave a rousing homily about the events that transpired on 9-9! Now, I know that there were many in the congregation that recognized the mistake (and actually pointed it out to Monsignor after Mass.) He was appalled by his faux pas once he realized what he said versus what he meant. And it was an honest mistake. But can you imagine anyone doing that who lived in NYC? I don't know..there's more than that actually. We, in NYC (and, yes, New Jersey) are still dealing with it in our day-to-day lives. And the remnants of what it was like to be scared to get on a bus, go on the subway or see those faces on homemade flyers looking for some clue or bit of hope that a WTC Loved one wasn't dead will be with me for a long time if not forever. It seems to be over for my family and friends outside New York...a piece of history that we are trying to overcome. For New Yorkers it is more a piece of our lives in the now that we are trying to overcome. We are constantly reminded now of that awful day, not by what is there, but what isn't there. It was really weird to feel that fissure between myself and my friends and family in Texas.
Leaving Texas was really hard too. I was really despondent that I didn't get to see my Dad and say goodbye the day I left Texas. And I don't think he understood that at all. It was really no big deal for him that I was getting on a plane to NYC. It was, perhaps like any other time I had left for Houston, or wherever my life has taken me. For me, I wondered if I would ever see him again. Something could happen to him or me at anytime. I know that I didn't feel that sentimental about it all before 9-11. I think that is the biggest gap between me and my fellow Non New Yorker Texans. I feel as if I, to a small degree, lived through 9-11. And my family watched it on TV.
Texas just seems much farther away than it did on 9-10.
Posted by mermu at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)
Another great thing I did
Another great thing I did was help make tamales with Jen, Stepan, Aunt Helen and Aunt Bertha and cousin Debbie who came in from California. Tamales is a very intense cooking experience. It literally takes days to cook them. There are the ojas to wash (3 times), the meat to cook and simmer, the masa to make, the assembly of the actual tamale and finally 6 hours steaming/cooking time. Because it is so labor intensive, we try to make an enormous amount so we can freeze them and have them throughout the year. This year the grand total of tamales was 96... Dozen . Jenny, Stepan and I didn't make the first two days of tamale making unfortunately. There was just too much to do to squeeze it all in. Fortunately we made the third day, the Sunday before Christmas.
Tamales in my family are like gold. Even though we make a huge amount, there seems to never be enough to go around. At least that is what I used to think. As we were waiting for the tamales to cook my sister and I (although her fiancee, Stepan, took up the task when Jen didn't) was assigned the dubious task of defrosting the freezer my Grandmother kept in the den. When I opened it there were layers of ice and tamales from Christmas' past lining the bottom. I am sure an archeologist could have studied these many layers of freezer burned delicacies and related them to periods in our family history. Mesasoic, Paleozoic..etc etc. There was no saving the 15 or so dozen tamales that I threw away while completing my task. But there was a lesson hard learned as I tearfully threw away freezer bag after freezer bag of my Grandmother's legacy: Tamales are for the sharing and the eating; not the saving and hording like a greedy miser.
Jenny, Stepan and I walked away with about 3 and a 1/2 dozen...a special emissary of my Grandmother sent me off with an additional dozen...which was really gracious considering my limited participation. I gave a dozen to my Grandma Karl and Jenny gave Mom a half dozen. I went to NY with 1 1/2 dozen and Jenny got the rest which was probably about a dozen. I have discovered that I much prefer the delight of other people experiencing my Grandma Lucio's fantastic tamales to the knowledge that my booty is safe in a freezer. Tamales are my inheritance; my fortune left to me by my Grandmother. I can always make more another year as I know the secrets of my Grandmother's recipe. I am so grateful to my Aunt Helen who so patiently carried on the legacy and taught me how to make them in Grandma's stead.
I was never great with keeping up with "stuff" and I move too much right now to take care of the "priceless heirlooms" that I might covet from time to time. But I live content and peaceful knowing that one day I will introduce my children, or my nieces and nephews to my Grandma Lucio as I teach them how to make the most delicious tamales that have ever passed these lips.
Posted by mermu at 07:00 PM | Comments (2)
So yeah, I missed this
So yeah, I missed this place. I dream of being affluent enough to have land in Texas in addition to wherever I live at the moment. One of my favorite jaunts of this trip was hearing Guy Forsythe play at Greune Hall in the Hill Country. I am sooo glad we got to do that. I only wish we had found more adventurous spirits who could join us. Mom and I drove from Arlington to Austin to meet Jenny and Stepan and then run on to Greune (about 1 and a half hours away) to hear Guy.
I love this Guy! His music speaks to me in a very gutteral, of-this-world way. There are some musicians who are of the spirit and the ethereal. Guy Forsythe is definitely of the earth. He is gritty and bluesy. They fact that he looks like Richie Cunningham succumbing to the "dark" side only adds to his charm. It occurs to me that if Guy ever read this, he might not consider this a compliment...I hope he does....and I have no doubt he has on many occasions used his assets to thwart the virtue of a good many of his fans of the fairer sex. It was great to be in Greune Hall again too. Greune Hall is the oldest surviving Dance Hall in Texas. It has a huge backyard decorated with Christmas lights on the wood fence and the trees. You can sit on a picnic table or bench and chat or play horseshoes further out in the yard. Inside there is an old hardwood dancefloor, a proscenium stage, and rows of the same picnic benches. When you walk in the building, you can almost see the pioneers who may have frequented it. Greune, the city, is a great little town also. It is a small artsy, antique-y, town in the Hill Country. New Braunfels, where you can rent a tube to go tubing down the river in summer is just a few miles away, and so is the Schlitterbahn water park.
So it was great to get connected to my Texas roots and hear some good local Texas music. But there were so many other things about my holiday too.
Posted by mermu at 06:32 PM | Comments (0)
well, now that I am
well, now that I am officially out of work I thought I would catch up on my journal and expound on my Christmas Holiday. As I mentioned earlier, I went to Texas. I was more than a little apprehensive about flying...very stressed out in fact. But my airline of choice American was right on top of things and they have more space then other carriers. BTW, that is absolutely true. I flew Continental this summer and was appalled at the cramped quarters and the service on board. The attendants in the air were polite enough but they didn't even have pretzels and the ground attendants were decidedly unconcerned about customer service. I know I have an aunt who works for Continental and I still have frequent flier miles to use, but Continental has gone way down hill in the service department no matter how many awards they say they have. That wasn't why I was worried about flying though...this 9-11 stuff has really gotten to me. But American was so well prepared and organized at the airport that I was able to relax a little. I even saw a friend of mine at the airport. Scott F., my friend from high school who also lives in NYC was also catching a flight to Texas. I must say I really felt like a New Yorker then...running in to someone that I knew in my homecity's airport (or one of them anyway.)
The flight to Texas occurred without incident and all of the sudden I was on Texas soil. At first it all felt a little surreal...maybe part of that is because the visit seems kind of far away now, I don't know...but there was an aura of familiarity and strangeness about it. I suppose a lot of that is because I was spending time at my mom's and my dad's house and neither one of those places was ever my home. I felt like a visitor in my own country...or state as the case may be. I found that I did miss Texas soil alot. There is something about Texas to me that is so naturally beautiful and deep. I had a boyfriend once who used to tease me about how ugly Texas was (no, I didn't kill him.) He wasn't a poetic, or artistic soul so I can see why he wouldn't get it. Beauty to him was a good draft beer, the Marines and a cigarette. Truthfully, if you were just painting by numbers, I can see why someone might consider our landscape dull and brown and flat and uninspiring. But what artist ever paints by numbers?
What this guy couldn't see was the rawness of a wild land. There is beauty in the brown landscape and the miles and miles of horizon you can see when you are driving down a highway littered with billboards and unkempt fences and cows and road stands and railroads and BarBQ restaurants. Even Stephen Spielberg once admitted that the best sunsets in the whole world were in Texas. Or was that George Lucas? So yeah, I know the colors of a Texas Summer/ Autumn/ Winter can't hold a candle to the briliance of Connecticutt in the Autumn but there is something of poetry in Texas' bleak landscape. And besides, there is nothing, nothing like the way spring emerges from that brownness in Texas. Wildflowers in Texas are a testament to my homestate's unique beauty; brilliant, steadfast, and untameable.
Posted by mermu at 06:29 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2002
Tonight I am taking a
Tonight I am taking a friend of mine to see an off-Broadway show - Puppetry of the Penis. It is an hour an half demonstration of the "ancient art of genital origami". I have to admit, I am intrigued.
Posted by mermu at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2002
So all of the sudden
So all of the sudden it was time to get on a plane and go to Texas. I was really excited about going back home and being in Texas. I had an exhaustive trip planned. There were tamales to make, presents to give, presents to open, a birthday to celebrate and, with any luck, some great music to listen to in Greune Hall by one of my favorite musicians Guy Forsyth. But it is late now so I will finish up tomorrow.
Posted by mermu at 12:29 AM | Comments (1)
I was completely swamped the
I was completely swamped the week of the 14th! The good news was that I still had work at the ad agency until I left for Texas; the bad news was that I was doing Traffic and that is a busy, busy, busy job and theoretically in addition to the job I was already doing. Between that and the bookkeeping at Pangolin I was working 11 and 12 hour days and trying to get home to prep stuff for Xmas.
A bright spot of this week was the opportunity to do a demo VoiceOver for Citrucel. One of the Asst. Producers needed a voiceover and knew I was interested in that line of work and asked me to do it. It was a great opportunity to get on tape and also to get my voice heard with some people at Arnold. Some of the producers heard it and liked it enough to give me some names of agents and casting directors. This could be a big step in my quest to make a living doing more creative things. My coach, Peter, and I have also set up a date to cut my personal demo. Once I have that I can start soliciting for work and representation in the VoiceOver arena. Can't be soon enough. I am out of work as of January 14.
Posted by mermu at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2002
Okay, my Epiphany party was
Okay, my Epiphany party was a success. It was exactly what I had hoped for when I initially came up with the idea. I think I have new tradition! Now that I am not trying to plan anything or prepare for anything major I can sit back, relax and update my online journal. So I will start back around the 11th of December and briefly recap the last few weeks.
The week of the 10th December I had attended no less than 4 Xmas parties. Not bad for a vagabond! First there was the Pangolin Pictures Party where I am temporarily the bookkeeper. The party was at Pierrot's Bistro. The place was lovely and I had a great time. Then there was a party at an editing facility that the Ad Agency where I work uses. The third party was the Ad Agency's Christmas party. We had the party at the office. At first I thought that might be a little lame but it turned out to be quite fun. The agency invited the members of our local firestation and a few of them showed up. Some of them in uniform. Man, there is just something about a fireman. But I digress.. They seemed to be a fun group of guys and I think they had a good time. Being at the office wasn't so bad either. We had the party catered and there was a dj and it was great to get to know some of the people in my office. Finally, on Friday, my friends Jim and Andre had a small get together at their house. So that week was funfilled to be sure. I was also trying to get gifts together for my NY friends and Texas. This was right about the time where I had my epiphany to celebrate the Epiphany. There was NO WAY I was going to get it all done in time and still have a festive Christmas so I had to creatively come up with more time. I have long thought it a bit weird to do the present thing on Christmas when the Magi didn't come until much later anyway. So once I again...I am pleased as punch at my new tradition.
Posted by mermu at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2002
I know it has been
I know it has been since last year since I have written and I am sorry! The holiday season always seems to whirl about me so quickly that by mid-January I can only wonder where the time went and survey the damage. I had a lovely holiday...and I intend to expound on my adventures in the near future...but for now I must prepare for my first ever (and only if it is unsuccessful) Epiphany party and try to figure out who is going to give me money for doing stuff this month. Hope everyone is well and that the New Year has great things in store for all of us!
Posted by mermu at 05:23 PM | Comments (6)