The Season

Whirling…that’s what my mind is doing tonight.

Busy day. So many things going on. So many things to do.

Every Christmas Story Ever Told!! calls to me – the script is on the table, where I’ve been reading it, calling…Come do your prep work! Your show will suck if you don’t do your prep work! And, no question, I need to do it. In fact, I want to do it, it’s a fun, funny show. But right now I don’t want to sit over there. I want to sit here. This is called procrastination. See it in action.

Of course, that’s just one of approximately 11,003 projects I need to do right now. Read that script, do all the prep work. Read the rewrites of Flap, the summer show at WT, and schedule auditions for it. Read a script and contact the guys at another theatre about the potential collaboration we’ve discussed. Ask the gerbils to stop making so much noise as they run around their little wheel in the other room while I’m trying to type. Pay the bills on my desk. Clean up some of the kids messes. Answer my emails. Find a way to get rich, or at least close. Figure out what I’m going to talk about at the class where I’m guest lecturing. Get my insurance/registration transferred to the “new” used car I just bought. Journal about the “new” used car I just bought.

I bought a car today. A used car, but it’s new to me. A great deal, and it’s in great shape. It only has 33,000 miles on it, which makes it a brand new little infant still in the box kinda car compared to my 1997 Ford Escort, which has 192,000 miles on it. Yes, that’s the right amount of numbers. It’s been ridden hard. And tomorrow I transfer plates and paperwork to the nice new Chevy Lumina that now sits in my driveway.

Which means I need to clean out the Escort. One more thing to add to the list that’s got my mind whirling already. Not sure why, normally my mind doesn’t whirl at big lists. Normally I can organize, pare down, prioritize, strike while the iron is hot.

Right now, though. Right now I’m all over the place. That list I started above gets much longer, if I let it…

Hmmm….possibly a little stream of consciousness rant will help.

Let’s give it a shot.

This is a marvelous monologue from the play Take Me Out, by Richard Greenberg.

My earlier journaling about baseball got me thinking about it, and I dug it up.

When I directed this play, a fabulous actor named Ray Schultz performed the role of Mason, and his rendition of this monologue was one of the most marvelous moments in a play I’ve ever seen.

Give it a read, it’s wonderful!

THE DETROIT TIGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!

I’ve been saying that all day long, and I still can’t believe it!

No question, I’ve been just giddy.

It’s such an interesting thing. This is the first time for me, as an adult, to have this experience. I spent my youth as a person who knew baseball existed, and followed it a bit, going to some games at Tiger Stadium. I listened to the 1984 Season with Ernie Harwell on the radio, because the team went 35-5 in their record season. Then, as I got older, I sort of lost touch with it. I knew it was there, but I had college and theatre and girls and all of the things that took over my life. I essentially lost interest for about 10 years or so. It wasn’t until about 1994, with the baseball strike, that I got interested again. Well, in 1995, really – I think, honestly, that it was hearing all of the fans who were pissed off about the strike.

“They ruined baseball forever!”
“How could they cancel a World Series?!”
“The Owners Suck!”
“The Players Suck!”

All of that caught my attention. Not sure if it was me going “Hey, baseball’s a thing I liked – stop knocking it!” or if it was me going “It’s cool to knock baseball right now, I think I’ll be obstinate and go the other way!”

Probably a mix of both, in truth. That, coupled with the fact that I was becoming aware that my job was starting to be my only hobby, as well, and that didn’t feel healthy.

But either way, all of that started me thinking about baseball. And so I started paying attention again.

Listening to some games. Watching a few. Then in 1996, we started going to a bunch. Unfortunately in ’96, the team sucked. Hoo boy. They went 53-109, finishing last in the division.

And I was hooked. And I mean hooked! I devoured everything baseball, everything Tigers. I wanted to catch up on the years I’d missed. I wanted them to do better. I wanted them to succeed. Unfortunately, that wasn’t happening in the 90’s. Or even in the early years of this decade. But I went. I dragged my wife to game after game to watch them lose over and over. There were great moments, of course. Seeing the closing of a historic ballpark, being there for the first pitch in what we all hoped would become a historic new ballpark. Going to the All-Star Game! Still, the team was not good. In 2003, they had the almost-worst-season-in-history, only winning 43 out of 162 games. (One loss away from matching the record for most horrific seasons ever!)

But then, things started to get a little better. Not a lot, but a little. And my love of the game grew. You want stats? I’ll tell ya. You want to hear why it’s clearly the best of the 4 major sports? You got it. You want to complain that the games are too slow? Pull up a chair, because I’ll explain to you the absolute joy of a game that isn’t decided by some clock, but instead is decided by the men playing it: it’s over when they end it, and that’s a beautiful thing.

And then we get to this year…well…no one predicted this year. No one. But it’s been amazing to watch, and follow.

And now, here I am.
I’m one of those guys who overpaid to get a ticket to a playoff game, and spent a Friday night in ridiculously low Michigan temperatures screaming for his team with over 40,000 other fans.
I’m one of those guys who got choked up when Magglio Ordonez hit his majestic homerun to end the game on Saturday night and put the Tigers into the World Series.
I’m one of those guys who, Monday morning, will be trying to get World Series tickets when they go on sale.

I’m one of those guys.

And I’m okay with that.

Because my job keeps me up late a few nights a week, I sleep longer than Jeanne and the kids a few mornings a week.
We have a rule that says “On mornings when Daddy is sleeping late, we all have to kiss him goodbye before we leave for school.”
So, on those mornings, Jeanne and the kids come wake me up for a kiss and a hug and a “have a good day”, and then I sleep for another hour or so.
(A kiss from your wife, your 6 year-old son and your 8 year-old daughter is just a nice way to start the day.)
Usually they come in one at a time as they’ve finished getting their shoes/backpack/stuff ready for school and are heading out to the car.

This morning, Maggie came in and gave me a big kiss and squeeze, and said:

“You’re the best Daddy. If I had a whole big bag of Daddies, I’d still pick you.”

Yep.
I’m a lucky guy.

When opening a show, I often go a few days without seeing my kids.
(which stinks)
After not seeing him for a couple of days, I told Max I’d be home in the evening.
This is the call he made to find out exactly WHEN I’d be home!

Max got in trouble at school a couple of weeks ago.
We had a big talk about how to behave respectfully toward others.
This is the phone call I got the next day!

…to chat about, and so little time…

I will be attending a Tigers/A’s playoff game this weekend! YES!! I CANNOT WAIT!! They’ve beaten the A’s two games in a row in Oakland, and now come back to Detroit, hopefully to take 2 out of the 3 games here and win the American League Championship! If that happens, it’s On To The World Series! *Shakes head in disbelief, giddiness*

In other news, my son Max has a broken pinky finger. 😦 Poor guy! He’ll be fine, it’s taped up and healing and the Doctor says he’ll be good as new. And, as would be expected with my kids; a good story! He and his sister decided to turn part of the basement into a disco (?!), and hung my big heavy black flashlight near the ceiling on some rope and spun it around to get a very nice “Disco Ball” effect. *sigh* Unfortunately, while they were playing, it fell and smashed his little finger. (Thank goodness it didn’t hit him in the head!) Kids. You leave them alone for 10 minutes in a room that should be perfectly safe, and they STILL find a way to break something! Good news, though: We’ve proven that this flashlight is tough as nails! *laughing*

Ticket sales for Rounding Third at Williamston Theatre have picked up, but we still need more folks to come! Especially to our Saturday matinees which, interestingly, are our poorest sold shows by a wide margin. The great reviews helped, though, so yay.

Okay, LOST is back, and I’ve really liked the first two episodes of the season. No spoilers here, but I’m enjoying this show much more than I thought I would when it first came out. Still, though – if they don’t come through with some actual answers in a “this was the plan from the beginning” fashion at some point, I’m going to be annoyed. (The reason I gave up on X-Files years ago was that it became horribly apparent that there was no plan whatsoever, and all of these loose ends and mysteries and questions were not related, supported by the mythos of the show, or ever answered in any way – that was annoying. I don’t need everything wrapped up in a bow, but “NO resolution to anything, ever, too bad for you” is poor writing, disrespectful to fans, and just plain stupid.)

No more time to write today – too much work to do! Happy Thursday, all!

Okay, the people at Altoids have a lot more going on than mints, and this is one of the fun things. I may be addicted.

EDITED TO ADD: Best score so far: 44,870

What a week. Lots of very, very nice things to be thankful for.

I spent a couple of days in Buffalo, at the Studio Arena theatre, beginning prep work on the show I’ll be directing there in early 2007. Tremendously cool.

My brother Dominic and his wife, Alesha, have a beautiful new baby boy! I was there at the hospital (at around 1am on Wednesday morning) with the rest of the family for his arrival, and then we saw them all again yesterday afternoon when we took some dinner over for them. He’s a sweet, sweet little guy! And Dom and Alesha are doing well, also.

The reviews came out for Rounding Third, and they were overwhelmingly positive. Go team! We’re making some noise now, and I like it.

The Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. Holy cow.

Our gerbils had more babies. Yes, it’s only been a short time since they had their first set of babies. Apparently Mom and Dad Gerbil are VERY eager to boost the gerbil population. Yowza. (“They’re just playing, kids – let’s…um…let them have their privacy, though.”)

My High School Reunion was last night. What an odd, fun, melancholy experience. It was fun to see so many of the people I was peripherally acquainted with, and a real treat to get to chat with the small handful of people that I stayed friends with for years after school, but slowly drifted away from as life took us to opposite ends of the world. A nice reminder that good friends are a wonderful thing to have in life, and letting those relationships fade away can diminish us. There’s probably a longer post on this topic brewing, but it won’t be tonight.

Today was a nice day; famiy time, some work around the house, Jeanne’s sister Jackie and her family came over and we played a bunch of catch, and enjoyed an unbelievably beautiful October afternoon. I’m absolutely exhausted, from the whole week, but also from racing my son’s Razor scooter around the driveway with the kids and my brother-in-law Joe. (Zipping around the circular driveway were two scooters, a couple of motorized kid-sized jeeps, and a couple of bicycles.)

For the record: those scooter things are a blast.

Also, for the record; it’s been a while since I rode on anything like one. Witness the following exchange, which is pretty close to accurate, if you allow for the whole “my mind was scrambled so I might not get all the details right” part:

Dad?! Are you okay?
Yes, Maggie, I’m fine.
You kinda crashed!
Yes. Yes I did.
At least you missed the tree.
It doesn’t feel like I missed the tree.
Are you just going to lay there?
Yes. Yes I am.
Can I use the scooter?
Yes. Yes you can.
Cool!

And now it’s after ten and I’m getting ready to call it a night.
It’s been a wonderful week, but one that has just left me absolutely wiped out.
And a little sore.
Looking forward to reading a play while I lay in bed.

And since my week was so great I hope the same was true, and will be true next week, for all of you out there!