Friday, October 31, 2008

My Golden Halloween Costume 2008


My secret costume is out! I'm a little Chinese girl from the Beijing Olympics! I was just about the only one dressed up at work today. But I get to do the "big show" when I'm with five other "girls" at the Halsted Hallween Parade. Can't wait! I'll post pics and video if I can ...

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Four Cats on a Bed



Since my cousin Celia's dog Wonton has a blog, I thought I'd at least post a few pictures of my cats. Yes, there's four--and on the bed at the same time! Talk about coordination. And then there's Jussi (You-see) sitting in the sun. They live the life of luxury while I slave away at work. Must be nice.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Preparing for Halsted Halloween


I've never been to the Halsted Street Halloween Parade, but I'm going this year because of Asians and Friends. Depending on how our costumes come out, we may want to enter one of the bigger contests that will be going on that night. We'll see ...

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

An Open Facebook



Yesterday I took a friend up on an e-mail invitation to become his friend on Facebook. Suddenly I find myself putting my aol e-mail addresses through their Facebook friend finder and I've got 25 people I know who are already on Facebook. My fingers went flying and now I have over 60 "friends."

It's kind of neat to keep in closer touch with folks, especially theater people who are notorious for getting close during the show and then disappearing. The drawback is knowing too much. I mean, am I really interested in what my friends are feeling at any moment of the day? Do they want to know that I'm sluggish this morning or anxiously awaiting Friday night Karaoke?

Still, in moderation, I think Facebook will be fun. And I'm wondering too--I've had a MySpace page for a while, and I really haven't used it that much. We'll see if I become a Facebook slut or just a one-night stand.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

My Inner Demon


Between watching HBO's True Blood and pouring over our Editorial Team's mission statement at work, I've been evaluating what my inner demon is--or what keeps me from being productive outside of my regular job. Yes, I do commit to what I have to do at work, but I have numerous side projects that I want to carry to fruition. And instead of executing my plans, I have a tendency to sit and watch TV. Reality shows mostly. Cop shows. Celebrity news. God, not even the real news.

So I've decided to put a face to my demon, as a way to recognize him when he's around. But rather than exorcize him, I'll just let him roam around my mental home, giggle, jump around, organize his purse and mostly, let him sit and watch TV while I get stuff done when I'm at home. We'll see if that works. Otherwise, I'll have to throw his lazy, purple butt out.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Buzzing Over Beehive



Part of my weekend fun (in addition to seeing the first opera of the Lyric Opera season, Manon with the fabulous Natalie Dessay) was seeing some great friends at Winnetka's Big Noise Theater do Beehive. The 60's musical was rich with the girl-group favorites from the Supremes through to the standout solos of Tina Turner and Janice Joplin.

The gals I knew who performed were also top knotch, including Linda, Sajay and Pascale, not to mention my good friend Joe who was musical director and pianist.

It took me a while to remember, but I saw Beehive at the Briar Street Theater before Blue Man Group took over its perpetual run. Hard to believe that Beehive's first selections were popular almost 50 years ago.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Dancing Queen L.A.


My cousin Celia took this picture of me when I was in L.A. with the Nunsense cast last month. I needed to borrow shorts because she had a jacuzzi and her father (my uncle) lent me a tight little pair of aqua shorts he wore from when he was pixie thin in the 1970s. With me in the trunks and my cousin having a disco ball on a shelf, some kind of queeny explosion was inevitable.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Debate Over


Last night, I found myself in a bind--and in a pink dress. I had planned to go to my pal John's house to watch the final episode of Project Runway. But when I got there, he was not home. I did not confirm that I'd be coming so my heart sank and I thought he had gone somewhere else to see the show. I had even put on a pink dress to make him laugh and to get in the spirit of the evening.

So dejected, I went to a gay bar down the street and saw they were set to watch the presidential debate. Three other patrons had requested we watch that instead of Project Runway. I lobbied to change the channel, saying that I was a castaway from a Project Runway party and needed sympathy. They said they would watch the debate and make fun of me. So I sat there, pink dress, white gloves and a glass of bad Merlot thinking I was in hell.


Thankfully I finished my wine and decided to check on my friend John one last time. He was home! He just stepped out to the grocery store and missed me when I showed up. He loved the dress, so a grand time had by all.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Election Night in McCain Country


Of all the places I'm being shipped for work, this is the most ironic. Instead of being in Obamaland on election night, I'm flying from Illinois to Arizona to take part in one of our company's many roundtable workshops. I fly in Tues. Nov. 4 for the sessions which start first thing the next day.

Hint: That night, I'll be in a bar somewhere.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Red, White and Blues Bros.


Glimpses of my fun times at this past week's convenience-store convention in Chicago continue to surface. Here's a scan of a Polaroid that was taken when I did my Uncle Sam "election" spot for my magazine's video product, CSP TV. Jake and Elroy weren't that witty on camera, but we took a fun photo! If you want to see that TV segment, go to the link I've placed in this entry for CSP TV. Go to Week 2 of the NACS convention coverage and scroll down. Look for me as Uncle Sam and click that option. Election fun is contageous!

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Alastair On Stage


Here's that picture I mentioned. Me on stage at the Retail Leader dinner last Monday night.

Alastair Angel


I'll get an actual picture soon, but this past Monday at the national convenience-store convention here in Chicago, as part of our company's annual gala dinner honoring a convenience-retail leader, I read the honoree's life story dressed as Alastair Cooke from Masterpiece Theater. Although I was able to rehearse with the script and did a run-through that afternoon, it was still a bit nerve wracking to get up in front of the industry elite. But it all went terrific and I got numerous accolades. Here's a photo of me in the rehearsal smoking jacket.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

The Carpenters and the movie Halloween


My friend Robert talked me and another pal John into going to see this campy reenactment of the horror classic Halloween, as retold using songs from Karen and Richard Carpenter. It was high-larious. Without revealing too much, there's strategic uses of the "ahhs" from "Close to You" and a ton of other surprises, including puppets with uncanny comic timing.

P.S. The girl in the picture's, like, a dude.

Angel TV



Well, it's that time of the year again when I get to do more on-camera reporting for our magazine's online TV product. I'm the reporter in the Wednesday and Thursday segments that were posted for this week. The event is the annual convenience-store convention. This year, it's in Chicago--so no traveling for me but a lot of time downtown. We'll have three entire weeks of coverage, both TV and print, so you can follow along. I'll have four other segments airing over the next two weeks, so stay tuned!

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Esoteric Projects



I'm in the thick of one esoteric project and on the verge of starting another one. The first one involves the book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins, a researcher who studied how companies went from underperforming to outperforming in their respective industries.

I've been working with my fellow editors at coming up with our "Hedgehog" statement, which is kind of a mission, but infused with our challenge of writing for convenience-store retailers. If you're into visionary discussions, which I am, I'm seeing the potential of our group coming to a definitive statement this fall--which after almost a year of meeting is a welcomed conclusion.

Then I'm about to be involved in an effort to "count" gay, Asian men in Chicago. As part of Asians and Friends and my own personal interest in engaging others like myself for unifying and esteem-building purposes. We've initially called in the Abacus Project for obvious reasons.

So with one hand, I've been building an intellectual penthouse and with the other, I'm starting on a foundation.