A stair not worn hollow by footsteps is, regarded from its own point of view, only a boring something made of wood.
Franz Kafka

***

It’s Opening Night for The Understudy!
Here’s a fun article from the Lansing City Pulse previewing the show

***

It’s Towel Day! What’s Towel Day?! It’s a day celebrating the life and work of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, among other things!)

To celebrate, you’re supposed to carry a towel around with you!  “Why?”, you ask? Read on…

“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.”

Also, see: DON’T PANIC.
Alex and I, being very serious, with our very serious towels.
 

***

In other miscellaneous news – today was “Moving Up Day” for my daughter. This means that she spent the day at the High School she’ll be attending next year, in an orientation. This also means that suddenly my little girl is in High School!! WHAT?! Oy… didn’t we just start her in kindergarten?! *sigh*

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
Franz Kafka

A cool image of Alex Gay and Chris Purchis at Williamston Theatre, on the set for The Understudy. The set makes it look like we’ve expanded and added an entire theatre of seats upstage!

Tonight the Detroit Tigers had some VERY special guests watching their game. Sadly, all the reactions were the same when Prince Fielder threw the ball into the ground, instead of to home plate:

In news not nearly as sad as the record of the Tigers, my family has a new board game that’s a ton of fun: Ticket To Ride!
The game is easy to learn, and a ton of fun. If you’re a family who plays games together, and your kids are 12 or over, give it a shot, you’ll love it!

I’m not one of those people who post pictures of all their food all the time, but I have to say that I’ve been trying to eat healthier as I prep for the Warrior Dash in July (and, y’know, trying not to be chubby in general!), and this Chicken Caesar salad from Tavern 109 in Williamston was awesome! It looked so good I had to take a picture, and then it lived up to expectations. Come to Williamston – we have good theatre, and good restaurants!

Lastly, it’s been a long week, full of the normal challenges of anyone working to keep a business open and prospering in this economy. I saw this picture on a friends Facebook page, and had to share it, because it fit so nicely with the week and was a nice reminder of how to tackle running a theatre:

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
-Hans Hofmann

Seek simplicity but distrust it.
-Alfred North Whitehead

Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
-Alan Perlis

Simplicity is natures first step, and the last of art.
-Philip James Bailey

Here’s a fun video from Tech Day of The Understudy, at Williamston Theatre:

And from tech day, here’s a shot of a fun little corner of the set that I like!

And a picture that I like a lot from the show:
(Michelle Held, me, Drew Parker)

Also, my friend Michelle (who is in The Understudy, and pictured above), did a photoshoot for a talented photographer, Chris Arace, and I think this is a really cool picture!

Click on the picture to go to his website!

Maggie, hugging a panda bear statue. I love this picture!

A couple more shots from Max’s birthday party:
Everyone who came got moustaches to wear. Just because. And, as you can see, they took them very seriously.

and…
Here’s a handful of the party-goers relaxing outside!

I hope everyone out there is having as wonderful a week as I am!

Things to remember:
1) The worth of character;
2) The improvement of talent;
3) The influence of example;
4) The joy of origination;
5) The dignity of simplicity;
6) The success of perseverance.

Marshall Field (1834-1906)

My son had his birthday party this weekend, the “kids” party, where he got to invite a bunch of friends over to spend the night. He’s turning 12 in a couple of days. (Wow, those years went by quickly.) He asked for a Hunger Games party, since he’s read the books and seen the movie… so we set up a Hunger Games party!

Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold. -Joseph Chilton

Our yard and our neighbors yard were the battle arena. There were about 14 kids, all using foam swords, lots of Nerf dart-guns, and foam balls to throw at each other. They each wore 3 “life ribbons” (Flag Football style), and you lost a life by getting a ribbon pulled off or by getting hit with a weapon. Of course, hidden around the yard were lots of fun things, like…
and
Also hidden, among the helpful treasures, were traps, like “poison berries” that made you lose a life ribbon if you opened the box.

Almost all creativity involves purposeful play. -Abraham Maslow

They had a blast, and played 2 games well into the night! Walking around as the “GamesMaster” was fun, because I got to watch all the action, maybe be helpful or mischievous now and then, and take some fun pictures:
The remnants of an epic battle…note the weapons, supply bag, and discarded Life Ribbons. Really hits home, no?

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. -Khalil Gibran

A fallen warrior…

As the night wore on, I watched different kids respond differently. Some were teaming up, some stayed loners. Some played with honor and fairness, some bent the rules whenever they could.

We grow neither better nor worse as we get old, but more like ourselves. -May Lamberton Becker

The thing that was the most striking was how much fun they had, while also taking it so seriously – strategizing, plotting, but also pulling details from the books and movie into the game and weaving storylines, calling each other by character names. They created drama, but disputes were largely solved by the group.

And all the while, I watched my son – who I’m pretty sure was just born yesterday – as he enjoyed his day. He was loving being the center of attention, but also gracious to his friends. He moved through the “cliques” and made sure everyone was having fun, and no one was being left out… I was really proud of him, and amazed at how grown he’s become. Sometimes I think I’m too hard on him, or I’m too strict, or I’m not patient if he’s doing things in a way that I wouldn’t do… seeing him at his party reminded me that he’s a young man now. How *I* would do something doesn’t have to be the way he would do it. The Dad part of me has to keep hoping that by example, suggestion, and hopefully more discussion than discipline, I can do my job and help him grow into an adult of good character… and seeing him be a kid of good character was pretty great.

Too many people grow up. That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don’t remember what it’s like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well I won’t do that. -Walt Disney

So tonight, when I got home from work, I found him sleeping in my bed. Sometimes he’ll crawl into bed with Jeanne if I’m not home. As I looked at him sleeping there, I realized that soon I wouldn’t be picking him up anymore, soon he’ll be too big or won’t want to be lifted… and that’s a loss that I know will come soon, but one that I’m just not ready for. As I gently picked him up to carry to his room, his arms wrapped around my neck and he nestled his head on my shoulder.

And, sure, I could’ve just set him on his bed right away – but tonight, I just couldn’t bear to do it. Tonight, I just listened to him breathe, and I held him until my arms ached. This moment, this could be the last time I get the chance to do that. This event horizon that we’re on right now, we stand on a thin line and I can look to one side and see his childhood, and just a step away in the other direction is his adult life, and I know that step has to be taken, but…

I thrill at what the future holds for my kids… but I will miss moments like carrying them to bed more than I’m capable of expressing.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child’s board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted. -Voltaire