Strangest words I ever heard from a professor regarding an assignment, but that was exactly what Dr. Felicia Campbell, who passed away July 27 from Covid-19 complications, announced as the details of a class project. “Just do … something,” she’d reiterate when questioned by a student who didn’t quite understand the freedom of the directive. “It doesn’t matter what you do, you just have to do something.” Continue reading “Do Something”
Well, this week, Monki and I turned a collective 57 (or, on average, 28 1/2 each). Personally, I think get the better side of that since in reality I’ve just turned 53 (Holy shit that’s a big number) and she’s just turned 4 (which, in its own way, is also a really big number). Continue reading “Birthdays – 2020 edition”
So about 41 year ago, I was being bussed back and forth to sixth grade. This was some genius plan to move kids around and for a year, we all left our neighborhoods and went to “sixth grade centers.” I started late, because the first part of that school year, I was sent to a private Jewish school run out of the temple we attended. Not sure why I was yanked away from friends I had been going to school with for the previous two years (might have had something to do with the whole bussing situation) but it happened. And I hated it. Continue reading “This guy…”
Jan 28 – Home I’m Darling
Tuesday morning I was up bright and early. Lin once again made fried egg and bacon sandwiches and we joked about the reviews I would leave regarding her hospitality. Truth be told, she was an amazing host. She took absolutely great care of me and Cecil, her wonderful cat, even slept with me a couple of the nights (and the less said about the hardness of the fold out bed, the better). Continue reading “Home, I’m Darling – Day 7 London 2020”
Jan 27 – The History Boys
Monday was my last full day of this trip and there was still some shopping I wanted to do. To that end, I arranged to meet my friend Tim at Forbidden Planet, just in case there was something I wanted to get. Turns out there was. I ended up picking up a really cool Spider-Man journal for notes and writing and then, when Tim showed up, had a fun time showing him around the place. Continue reading “The History Boys – Day 6 London 2020”
Jan 26 – Vagina Monologues
Sunday was the one day I didn’t have any shows planned. We’d thought about trying to get tickets for something else, but the only things available for Sunday were outrageously (for us at least) expensive. This left us open for other endeavors and without any time constraints.
First up was meeting with friends from Lithuania. Continue reading “The Vagina Monologues – Day 5 London 2020”
Jan 25 – A Delicate Balance
One of the nice things about visiting London is seeing friends. There are a number of folks I know on the Island and whenever I can, it’s always nice to see them. So once I knew the dates and schedules, I began making plans. Continue reading “A Delicate Balance – Day 4 London 2020”
Jan 24 – Death and the Maiden
I get up early. Can’t help it. No matter when I go to bed, I still wake up early. Even if I go back to sleep, waking up early is a bane of my existence. In this case, it was fine, in that I was able to chat with Rasa and Monki before Lin woke up. But when that was over, it also meant I was up for a while until Lin woke up. So I watched some TV and read a bit. It wasn’t an issue, since we had planned for this, having booked the afternoon tour at the Highgate Cemetery. Continue reading “Death and the Maiden – Day 3 London 2020”
Jan 23 – Night of the (Los) Iguana
Of all the days I was going to be in London, this was the only one Lin was actually working. In a practical sense, what this meant was that she was up and out of the house early, leaving me to fend for myself. So since I was on vacation, I lounged around for a bit, made myself some breakfast, and called Rasa and Monki. All of which took me to about 9:30am. When I relax I really relax, huh? Continue reading “Night of the Iguana – Day 2 London 2020”
Jan 22 – Come From Away
A few months back, I was lamenting the lack of theatre in my life. Having grown up in the theatre (I joined The Rainbow Company, a professional children’s theatre group at the age of 9 and was with Las Vegas Little Theatre for a number of years) this was something I missed. Interesting that when I lived in Vegas, I certainly didn’t see all the local theatre open to me, but at the same time, I knew it was always there, so it was okay. Continue reading “Come From Away – Day 1 London 2020”
September 21-22, 2019, the dates of this year’s Comic Con Baltics, had been on my calendar since probably sometime in April, when I had been invited to come and meet the organizers to talk about the project which would become Generation Geek.
As time went by, several Generation Geek videos were released and I was asked if I would participate in the con itself. Naturally, I agreed. Of course, I didn’t know what I was agreeing to, but sure, I’m game for anything. Continue reading “Comic Con Baltics 2019”
We’ve been looking for a new place to live for a while. Every day, Rasa would scour the listings, hoping to find something in our price range, in a decent neighborhood, and which fit our criteria of more room than we currently had. Then two weeks ago, she found something. We made an appointment to see the place on Friday at noon, discussed it for about 3 seconds, agreed to take it, signed the papers on Saturday and just like that, we had a new place to live. Continue reading “2 Men and 40 minutes”
On March 9, 2019, the art of magic lost a legend. Sure, more people may have seen Penn & Teller or David Copperfield or Criss Angel or Lance Burton, but all of them acknowledged Johnny Thompson as a true master of the field.
I had the pleasure of knowing and spending some time with him when I was living in Las Vegas, and I certainly have my stories to share, but the following words, by people who knew him far better than I, are a perfect tribute.
Rest easy, Great. You did good work. Continue reading “The Great Tomsoni – 1934-2019”
March 12 &13, 2019
Tuesday was my last full day and I had only made one plan for the afternoon to meet a friend and Lin had tickets for me to see a show that night, so I figured this was a day on my own. I was up and out of the house before Lin knew I was gone.
I had arranged to meet my friend Ian near the South Kensington station so I headed that way. I found a place just outside the station called Muriel’s and treated myself to a “Little English” breakfast while I wrote out a few postcards and watched the rain fall outside. This is what my vacation was all about. I wasn’t rushing around to see stuff and take in all the sights and wonders of a new place, instead I was just relaxing, watching the world go by. It was wonderful. Continue reading “Coffee and Rain, Postcards and Plays”
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 