And The Dawn Comes Up Like Thunder...

...not out of China 'cross the bay, but in Birmingham, Alabama, where it's cold, grey, and generally boring. As I look ahead to another day of pretending to care if the customers at Rich's get a 10%-off coupon, purchase the P.O.S. $49.99-for-ten-pieces luggage, or drop dead of apoplexy on the spot, I keep in mind that customer service is simply acting...

A gentleman presented himself at my counter yesterday with a Samsonite bag which had clearly been through the Punic Wars, and perhaps even the Boer. "Scuffed" would not begin to describe this satchel. Said gentleman mentioned that he had flown with this case "three or four" times, and pointed to a small separation within the zipper. He demanded that we "honor the warranty" and replace the bag...despite repeated statements on my part that it was Samsonite, and not Rich's who bore responsibility for replacement, he persisted in his demands. I responded with a cheerful "let me get my manager" which is really retail shorthand for "f*#k you, I'm passing you along to someone who is sufficiently paid to deal with a*#holes such as yourself." When said manager arrived en scene, I dropped all interest in the proceedings, noticing the gentleman angrily exiting moments later. Oh, well...

Must sign off for now and greet another day in luggage-land. :-)

Food, Glorious Food...

Well, there wasn't any "hot sausage and mustard" nor were there "peas, pudding, and saveloys," but this evening did provide an excellent meal at the home of my friends Mike and Julia Fallon. They had a group in for a post-Christmas dinner, which was great fun, and the food was wonderful. A South-Western soup was served, not unlike chili, but with more varied ingredients. I will have to ask for the recepie...recipie...receipie...(I never could spell that word.)

FLT3

The Holly And The Ivy...

...when they are both full-grown,
of all the trees that are in the wood,
the holly bears the crown...

No significance here...just the opening verse of my favorite Christmas Carol.

It was a very nice Christmas, beginning with an overnight (which turned into 2-night) visit to my parents' house on Christmas Eve. The next morning brought a 6:30am arrival at my sister's house for gift-exchanging and breakfast. My sister and her family, my parents, my grandmother, and a couple of friends had a good time visiting and enjoying Christmas morning. Just a few hours later brought an excellent (as always) Christmas dinner back at my parents' house. After a huge meal, the rest of the day was spent relaxing and reading, or watching the 24-hour marathon showing(s) of "A Christmas Story" ("You'll shoot your eye out, kid!")

Early day at Rich's tomorrow. I'm sure it'll be busy. :-)

No "Carnivale" tonight, but HBO showed 4 consecutive episodes of "The Sopranos" which were outstanding.

I received several books for Christmas, including a collection of the writings of Theodore Roosevelt, and I look forward to some interesting reading.

Happy Christmas to all...

FLT3

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful...

Entirely too cold to be creative, pithy, or even entertaining. Perhaps the brain and the font of observations will thaw in the next day or so. Until then, pedestrian commentary is the best to be offered.
A general malaise seems to grip those of us in southern climes when the thermometer dips below 60 degrees or so...perhaps those of hearty yankee stock are better prepared (or at least attuned) to such nonsense, but give me the heat of the summer. I'm already counting the days...
Christmas, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, and other fun diversions loom on the horizon, creating great expectancy and a feeling of incipient merriment. (I must have taken a Dickens pill with breakfast today, hence the resultant verbosity and flowery prose.) With that in mind, and with the wind whirling 'round the window, perhaps a bowl of oatmeal and "Oliver Twist" would be appropriate. ("Please sir, I want some more...")
Have gotten (re)hooked on the HBO series "Carnivale," which is well-written with some great characters, but (as the saying goes) as weird as cat shit in a blender. The re-runs have been plentiful and frequent, as the show's second season premieres in January. Still another year to wait for the return of "The Sopranos." Quel dommage!
Enough babbling for tonight...

Baby, It's COLD outside...

High for today was somewhere on the wrong side of 40 degrees...here in Alabama that qualifies as arctic. Probably less than 10% of all the conversations I had today did NOT begin with one of the two parties mentioning the freezing conditions...BRRRRRR!

The verdict is in on PETER PAN...with all income accounted for, we made a VERY modest profit. We will be able to pay all of the show's expenses, pay the rights for THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, and then...well, we'll be almost broke again, but that's beside the point. :-) Centerstage is building more and more of a solid audience and donor base...I forsee great things for our little company!

No work today, but back to retail-land tomorrow. Fun, fun, fun!

Quiet Monday

After a tremendously successful run of PETER PAN, it has been nice to just relax for an evening. I worked from noon to 4pm at Rich's today, and even the mall was somewhat quiet and restful. I have some very nice co-workers who seem to share my sense of humor, so the time passes pretty quickly. While I don't want to make peddling luggage my life's work, it's not so bad for the time being.

The time has come for yours faithfully to start buying gifts, addressing cards, and generally getting ready for Christmas. Every year it seems to come a bit more quickly than the previous year! This weekend, there are several holiday parties to which I have been invited, and I am looking forward to each of them. I also hope to make it to the movies at least once or twice before Christmas, as I have not seen any of the holiday releases. The new "Bridget Jones" sequel is a must-see, and I have heard good things about several others currently in release. The popcorn is good, too! :-)

Hee Hee Hee

Funny experience tonight...a few of us went to Sneaky Pete's Cafe for a late dinner after the show. Among them was my friend Andy Duxbury, author of the (in)famous MNM reviews. Andy is a very dignified fellow, and while quite fun-loving and humorous, not really given to fits of mirth. A funny story was told about someone in the cast (not a mean-spirited story by any means, but names will be witheld nonetheless.) Upon hearing the story, he became so tickled that he could not catch his breath for laughing. This made everyone else at the table crack up, which made Andy laugh even harder...by the end of the evening, one only had to mention the name of the central character in the story to thrust him into peals of giggling laughter. Oh, the little joys of theatre...

Good show again tonight, with around 200 in the audience. Still hoping for a sell-out tomorrow.

Today was my father's birthday. I am happy to say that at 67 he is still going strong and for the most part doing well health-wise. I spoke to him for a few minutes this morning and look forward to seeing him and my mother at tomorrow's matinee.

Two To Go!

Another good night last night...with several other Christmas shows going on in town, not to mention multiple productions of "The Nutcracker," we had an enthusiastic crowd of just over 180, which in a 300-seat theatre feels nicely filled. Our pre-sale for tonight is at 150, and tomorrow's matinee is at 212. Birmingham is a big "walk-up" town, so I am hopeful and optimistic about our chances for ending with a sold-out performance.

I have been working a holiday job at Rich's department store for some extra Christmas money. Retail at the holidays is rough, but at least I am in luggage, which is a slightly less-traveled area of the store. Being an hourly employee (non-commissioned) also allows one the luxury of not giving a rat's arse whether the annoying woman with five screaming kids, a perpetually ringing cell phone and a bad attitude buys a 500-dollar Tumi carry-on, a 25-dollar cardboard suitcase, or for that matter, drops dead on the spot. Fa-la-la-la-la...

It's threatening to turn truly cold for the first time this winter. Tonight's low may dip into the upper 20's, and I am already counting the days until spring. Someday, when I make my fortune, I will definitely buy a little house somewhere along the equator. :-)

Another Good Performance

Just settling in after a fine, solid performance of "Peter Pan," which I have directed for CenterStage, the theatre group for which I am Artistic Director. We opened last weekend with three good performances, and following a couple of days off, we seem headed for a successful second weekend. Audiences have been (for the most part) large and responsive, and I could not have asked for a more talented, good-natured cast. Our spring show, which I am also directing, is "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" which should be fun.
Birmingham is a ridiculously conservative town in many ways, but so far there has been great advance interest in "Whorehouse," at least among the arts community. As with any arts organization, we have to be very aware of what will "sell," and I think we can look forward to large audiences for "Whorehouse."
Not much else to add...please visit our website at www.centerstage-productions.org to see what we're all about, and check out www.centerstage-productions.org/panbios/panbio.htm for a look at the wonderful cast of "Peter Pan."

Is This Thing On...?

Just starting out on the whole "blog" thing...it looks like fun. Any suggestions/tips from those among you who know much more than I about this whole computer thing?