Set the Tone: Let Go

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be".

- Lao Tzu

Photos Around the USA

Wishing everyone well at this afternoon's artist's reception for Daniel Yoffee's Photos Around the USA exhibition reception later today at the Pearl River Library. No doubt a fun time will be had by all... in the Hub Gallery's rotating monthly exhibition of photography, original art work, sculpture and collectibles! Yoffee continues to emerge as one of Rockland County's most prolific emerging photographers after studies at the School of the International Center for Photography and the Puffin Photography Club (part of the Puffin Cultural Center in Teaneck, NJ). Numerous fellow photographers from an International tour to the Middle East are expected to be on hand, as well as numerous leaders from the Sundance Outdoor Adventure Society, the NYC Photo Club at the Center as well as buyers and photography buffs from all around the entire tri-state area.

I Am Still Fierce

Happy Saturday...

I don't buy any of this Age of Aquarius so now your Zodiac sign has shifted bullcrap... I am such a Cancer with a Libra Rising and a triple Scorpio. I am fierce... (And so is Mr. Gavin who keeps asking me: "We are still Cancers, right!?" You betcha!)

On the Bose Wave: Uakti by Philip Glass...

Midwinter TV favorites this year?: Batman reruns on The Hub. Oddities on Science Channel, Petkeeping with Marc Marrone on Hallmark channel, Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC. and the DVR is set for the Dreamgirls movie musical tonight on ABC at 8pm.

Snow, Snow Snow.... More expected this week. Ok Dokey with me. Snow days are always good days... They force everyone to slow down... (You can quote me).

A bit of paint has chipped off the CAPS key on my Motorola Cliq. This really bothers me. Guess I gotta do all the red tape of an exchange... Coincidentally on the same day the paint flaked off, I got an email from Motorola to upgrade to a Cliq 2... I followed the link which clearly informed that I could have it for $99 with a coupla rebates and a new two year commitment blah blah... Then it asked me to log in. Once logged in... The deal wasn't so good. T-Mobile really knows how to continually frustrate and piss off their once loyal customers.

Public Service Announcement: Blood banks are low. All the snow has kept people from donating. Go donate. Unless you are gay, then they don't want your blood. They won't take your blood. Doesn't matter if you are HIV negative, and/or your blood passes all the other safety/health screens... They don't want your blood! So if you're straight... Please go donate soon... They really do need blood.

I just boiled my toothbrushes...

Happy Friday

Wishing all a restful and restorative midwinter weekend....

Snow Day Surprise!!

Today is only the seventh time since 1978 that NYC public schools have been closed for snow...

I was delighted and surprised by the news. I'm glad I bothered to check the web before I got up and dressed for work!!

Sorry for my outer-borough friends who may be feeling so snowbound lately...

If you all sell your houses and buy Hell's Kitchen apartments around here, we could all walk to Central Park together this morning and build a creative snowman...We could arm wrestle over who gets to build what... Imagine the fun!! (Image credit to Tim Burton)

OK... So, now I have to contemplate whether I want to spend the entire day watching the tv in my pajamas or get up and actually get some chores accomplished with this bonus day off...

I'll re-heat some more coffee in the microwave and think about it...

Mid Week Reflection

"A little thing comforts us because a little thing afflicts us."

— Pascal

Stiller and Meara

Enjoyed watching Theater Talk this week, as usual. It's always fun seeing friend's names roll by in the credits... Diana Lekus is a big time TV producer apparently. I didn't know this til I spotted her name on a crawl. Then she confessed...

So the guests this week were Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara Stiller and Meara... It was a two-parter, largely because there was too much to talk about with the great careers of these two...

Lots and lots of fun on their website:

stillerandmeara.com...

Episode 16: The Homeless @ Yahoo! Video

Set the Tone: Give People Back to Themselves

"I believe God wants you to know that your job, your invitation from the Universe, is to give people back to themselves... You can do this every day, in a hundred ways. Why not practice it with the first three people you encounter after reading this?... It is really a very easy thing to do -- yet it can affect a person mightily. All you have to do is look for the best in that person, and then show it to them, right then and there. Describe it. Admire it. Thank them for it... Do this for three people every day and watch how your whole life can change. At last you will realize what you are doing here. All the rest will be just stuff and nonsense".

-- Neale Donald Walsch

(Thanks to Lady Donothing)

Another Bitter Cold One...

It was 16° when I went out to breakfast at Lenny's. 17° now. Climbing possibly into the lower 20's, sez Weather Underground. They also say tomorrow, that both the high AND the low will be 16°? That seems odd.

If you didn't read the Sunday New York Times today then you missed: Dan Savage's opinion piece on why the President should push for gay rights in his State of the Union Address this week despite the Republican House...; Stephanie Rosenbloom's great little article on New Year's Resolution management strategies; And Baldness: Put a Crown on it by Tatiana Boncompagne...

What is with this Blogger editor???.... It's constant updates and saving of drafts freezes my typing flow momentarily... And it seems to happen a lot... Similar delays happen all the time with Twitter and Facebook.... I don't know the computer language to describe what it is that all these sites are using, but I don't care for it... Is it Java, maybe?

Can we talk here? Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best premieres this week. I know some people in it, so watching is mandatory for me... But then, so is the fast forward button on the remote! The DVR is set!

This is for my American readers: If you were going to Obama's State of the Union Address this week.... And you wanted to sit right next to somebody of the opposing party to make a visual statement about togetherness, who would YOU sit next to?? I'm quite sure that Michele Bachmann and Eric Cantor don't have Dems sitting next to them, yet... LOL. Talk about being cold!

I couldn't find my favorite Lapsang Souchong tea in any local grocery stores... So, what was the next option??? Amazon.com, of course.

OMG... It's 10am already??? I feel like it'll be Monday morning and time for work again before I know it!!

F-F-Frigid S-S-Saturday

Yesterday was snowy and tepid by late afternoon. Today is bone chillingly frigid. And why not? I love it...

Was to a local Greek diner, read and recycled the weekend New York Times, sorted the mail, and hit the grocery store by 8am on this Saturday AM... Funny how I instinctively awaken at the stroke of 6am, even without the alarm set...

Glad to see that the Park Life gallery is putting up a fight against Jeff Koons attempt to hijack the balloon dog as a personal copyright... If anyone should own it, I think it belongs to Chuckles the Clown... So Koons can start writing his checks to the widow Lady Donothing at once...

Time for collecting and gathering tax documents and putting them in a separate envelope for the tax guy. A seasonal ritual, right on schedule.

So Keith Olbermann quit Countdown and MSNBC last night? I can't say I'm surprised, really. He's been pissed for a while. Or maybe Olbermann was fired? No surprise either as MSNBC was pissed for a while.

But really?? Lawrence O'Donnell's dry and less "in your face" style on The Last Word is prolly better for these times anyway. And I won't miss that horrible sophomoric Oddball segment where Keith always delighted in showing footage of confused deer in grocery stores, or other poor confused wildlife... I fast forwarded through it regularly... And I never did share his weekly affection for James Thurber.... But ahhhh, those Special Comments of Keith's. They were oft brilliant tidbits of rhetorical genius. His view and voice will be missed. Although I'm confident he will soon find a new outlet... I'll keep an eye on his Twitter page...

Had a visitor last night that ooooo-ed and ahhhh-ed at my two computer screen set-up on my desktop... I can't imagine why everyone doesn't have this... I really don't... It makes everything from monitoring social networking to editing tasks and other publishing tasks a snap!

Almost time to call the parents for the regularly scheduled (at least) weekly chat. I thank God daily for their continued good health and independence...

Stay warm...

My Friend Don

Here's an interview from the Coachella Review with my ol' friend Don Cummings.

Excerpts?

What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received? Why?

The best writing advice, hm….hard to pick one thing. I like the spirit of Anne LaMott in Bird by Bird. I always suggest to writers to read that one. You just sit down every day and you write and you do not worry about anything but doing your work, bit by bit. Also, Julia Cameron’s saying, and I am paraphrasing, “God, I’ll take care of the time, you take care of the quality,” meaning, I just have to get myself in the chair and do my time and if I stay open, committed, the good stuff will show up. Lastly---and this is from a very good white witch friend of mine in Los Angeles, “The thing you are most uncomfortable doing, that’s what you have to do.


And...

What is the one thing you hope people most take away from your work?

I call it FPA. It’s vulgar, but here it goes. Fucking Pay Attention. And I don’t mean to my play, but to your life, yourself, what is around you. I think people are terrified of the truth of their circumstances. I hope to jar them into that (in the funniest, nicest, most forgiving way) and I hope I am loving enough to let them know that it is going to all be okay, and even better, if you stop lying.

But what people usually take away from my work is a good time, a desire to be on stage with the characters and a few good lines they can repeat in a cafeteria. Fine with me.

William Jefferson Clinton's Post Presidency

The following is a press release on one of my personal heroes...

Ten years ago, President Clinton left office amidst America’s longest period of prosperity and peace in more than a generation. 

He moved into his new offices in Harlem in 2001 and started the William J. Clinton Foundation. The Foundation immediately began its work in the surrounding community to support emerging entrepreneurs, but he couldn’t ignore the urgency of global issues such as poverty, climate change, and the unequal access to health care and economic opportunity worldwide. President Clinton set his Foundation to work on a global scale.

Over the past 10 years, President Clinton’s vision and leadership have resulted in more than 2.6 million people with access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment. His work has helped to turn the tide on childhood obesity in the United States. And he’s redefined the way we think about giving and philanthropy through his Clinton Global Initiative.

In addition to his Foundation work, President Clinton serves as the UN Special Envoy to Haiti and the co-chair of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission. (Learn more about his work in Haiti.) He also lends his voice and support to other organizations and causes important to him, including involving young people in public service, increasing funding for breast cancer research, and advancing action to create peace in conflict regions around the world.

Throughout 2011, we invite you to visit www.clintonfoundation.org, fan President Clinton on Facebook, and follow us @clintontweet, as we highlight the extraordinary impact President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation have made in the past decade on some of the world’s most pressing issues.

Wintry Mix

It was that kind of day...

Weathermen call it the Wintry Mix
...

The antidote: Mee Noodle Shop's Shredded Chicken with Egg Noodle Soup with added Chinese Broccoli...

And then a giant Amy's Bread oatmeal cookie...

Wasn't a bad day after all...

On the DVR?

8 P.M. (13) PIONEERS OF TELEVISION The topic is science fiction, as told through the eyes of Gene Roddenberry, Irwin Allen and Rod Serling in shows like “Star Trek,” “Lost in Space” and “The Twilight Zone.”

and

Piers Morgan interview with Howard Stern on CNN. This will my first time to catch this Larry King replacement and to learn a little about the radio jock who is a huge part of pop culture, but I have never listened to his drivel... LOL

A Monday Holiday Report

I want to start by acknowledging the sheer importance of the life and death of MLK, Jr... A hero of the ages!!

Meantime... I promised myself, as a New Year's Resolution that I would do two cultural things a month, and so far, two weeks into the New Year, I have done nothing... LOL... I guess I'll make a point to get over to MoMA or something... There's a little animated artsy film at the Paris Theater.... called The Illusionist... But I dunno... Wanted to see the Charles LeDray at the Whitney, but they are closed today... Some museums arrange to be open on holidays... And others do not... MoMA is user friendly! The Whitney could learn from them!

I really should, must, gotta clean off the Dining Room table and surrounding area... It's been stacked for months...

Today's New York Times spotlights the greed of Apple in keeping people from being able to replace paper magazine subscriptions with e-versions. I hate Apple.

Very cold day... I love it, of course...

Back to work tomorrow... And then a four week stretch til the next break... We still live for the breaks, a most persistent character defect to be sure...

Babyface Sunday

Soooo tacky Lawrence Welk Show, 1968. The fabulous Jo Anne!!!

Setting the Three Day Weekend Tone

"Today is the oldest you've ever been, yet the youngest you'll ever be. Enjoy this weekend while it lasts".

Stop Motion History of Stop Motion

Here's a little mid-week interlude of artsy fun...


I love stop motion from chloe fleury on Vimeo.

Chloe Fleury created a fun and informative short stop motion history of stop motion animation (Via BoingBoing)

Margaret Whiting: Farewell to a Great Lady

“Age doesn’t make you boring; boring makes you boring.”
-- Margaret Whiting, 1924-2011

Snow Coming

Time for a snow dance...

Will the schools be closed??

Stay tuned...

Set the Tone: Be Honest

"I urge honesty. Even if you don't win you win".
-- Don Cummings, Open Trench

Another Chilly Sunday in Hell's Kitchen, USA

Went to a party last night... An annual after-holiday tradition... Lots of great conversation. Lots of old friends from my TV and theater days (or daze, LOL). A few new celebs (and their kin) were in attendance... Thoughts and prayers for TOO many ol' friends who shared privately their dreary health news...

As an ex-high-school Facebook friend candidly pointed out in a private message (after I informed her that one of our youngest High School gang had recently passed of a heart attack)... "We're at that age now"...

New York Times had a great article on a professional personal organizer woman... At $150 an hour, I'll save the money. Still, the idea of a tough love non-sentimental coach helping to make de-cluttering decisions and to hold the garbage bags open isn't an altogether bad idea...

Fun article in today's NYTimes on someone with one of those Universal Life Church ministry licenses and that they now find themselves in the cottage industry of officiating at weddings... I have a friend with one of those certificates and he was ordered by his lesbian bosses to officiate at their own wedding... Not even asking if he wanted to or not... Of course, he wanted to... But it would've been nice if it weren't so taken for granted... I wouldn't tell anyone if I had such a license... Which I don't. Not yet, anyway...

But I do relate to this guy... I LOVE the cold... But I don't know if running shirtless on the boardwalk and swimming everyday year round is the stress reducer I would choose... But I DO see the point:

TGIW

Thank God it's Weekend! Eh?

So many chores to do, but I'm having none of it...

An annual post-holiday party tradition later... So resting up now.

Uploaded a few dozen pictures to a family album on Facebook in the last day... And it's fun reading all the comments from cousins and etc...

Why some people refuse FB remains a puzzlement...

OK. Now I'm ready for a nap... Need to rest after all of this doing nothing... A valuable trait I picked up from Lady Donothing... "Do nothing and rest after" is her motto...

After the party tonight, I'll rest again... People are exhausting...

Intention: The High Orders for 2011

Be authentic. Be vulnerable. Be empowered. Do the next right thing. Honor feelings. Trust intuition.  Don't complain. Speak less and listen more. Acceptance is the answer.

Meditate daily. Do A Course in Miracles workbook daily. Improve conscious contact with a power great than self. Enjoy more nature.

Take charge of financials. Save more. More meals at home. Do a will. Pay down the mortgage.

Socialize more. Meet new people. Be more open. Slow down. Seek out two new cultural events per month. Embrace opportunities to experience something new. Make others smile. Put in time every day for finding love. 

Lighten the load. Organize. Master Evernote. Become more paperless. Declutter more. Lose the overloaded shoulder bag.

Improve health. Opthamologist checkup. Tackle cholesterol. Sweat more. Eat vegetarian at least two days a week. Sleep smarter. Do the health proxy. Eat only for vitality. Seek balance.

Enjoy more of the smaller moments instead of focusing only on the finish line... Living a day at a time begins by living a moment at a time.

Enjoy.

Set the Tone: Before You Speak

“Before you speak, think: Is it necessary? Is it true? Is it kind? Will it hurt anyone? Will it improve on the silence?” 

-- Sri Sai Baba

Relax Before Reveille

I love these breaks.

But, they sure do make it hard to get back into the work-a-day routine groove...

It's gotta be done though...

Just got up from the desk to go make sure that the alarm clock was reset for tomorrow's Reveille...

Never enough time, of course, to do all the projects, chores and events that I'd set out to do...

And there's even less time/energy left to do them once the workweek wear and tear kicks in...

But, it's ALL a day at a time... And it'll be fine...

Enjoying my last day off... Hope you are enjoying your Sunday, too...

Happy New Year's Day 2011

Well, I had just about the BEST New Year's ever at an intimate gathering at a close friend's house last night...

Great food. Conversation....

New friends. Old friends...

So the year is off on a good start...

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!

Good Health, Happiness, and Peace to All!!