Off to Dragon*Con!

In a few hours, I'll be Atlanta-bound for Dragon*Con. I still need to pack everything and read the 100+ document about all the stuff that's going on.

Looks like Atlanta will be hot and stormy, but with luck, I won't be seeing the outdoors until Monday afternoon.

Now let's get ready to party with Hermione Granger, The Baroness and Cakey!

I Get Mad

I'm usually a ridiculously polite person, but something happened the other day that caused me to act in an unpolite way, and oddly enough, I feel pretty good about it.

I was walking to the bank (this in crazy crowded Times Square), and I legally crossed the street, along with an old lady. One of those black gypsy cabs/car service cars tries to turn, but is unable because we're in the way.

The driver lays down the horn. Not just honks it, but keeps his hand down on it, and starts yelling, primarily at the old lady. She says something, presumably, "But we have the right of way," and he keeps yelling at her.

Now maybe it's just the Heironean in me, but nothing gets my gander more than someone yelling at a nice old lady. Also, I was listening to some angry music (if you can consider "How I Saved Roosevelt" from the Sondheim musical Assassins angry music), so my heart was already pumping with Broadway-inspired adrenaline.

I kept walking, but smashed my fist down on the car. Pretty hard. As hard as I could, actually, and it made a terrific noise. The Times Square tourists gasped and turned and looked, and I'm glad that they got a nice Ratso Rizzo moment to tell their family. Only in New York, folks!

The driver loudly called me a nasty curseword (the M-F one, if you must know). I lowered the volume on my iPod, so I'd know if he was gonna get out of his car and confront me, but he didn't, and so I continued on my way.

Year of Yes!

Maine Recap II

Don't know if I mentioned this, but Sarah and I went back to Maine last weekend.

Things I saw...
- The island that John Travolta and Kirstie Alley live on.
- The biggest mosquito I've ever seen... and that says a lot, since I used to live near the Everglades.
- Two dogs, three cats (one in a car outside a highway Burger King).
- Ghostbusters II for Game Boy, which I consider the best Game Boy game ever.
- Owl's Head Lighthouse.
- A lot of Moxie paraphernalia.
- Most of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was OK.
- A ghost.

Things I didn't see...
- Porpoises, seals, and/or whales (on the schooner trip).
- Lobster rolls.
- The inside of a Duchess restaurant.
- John Travolta.
- The inside of Ghost Manor at the country fair ($4? No, thanks- I can see a real ghost for free).
- Any groundhogs.

Getting to Gnome Me II

The pants don't work. In fact, I'm gonna return them. They're just too baggy - you can fit both Sarah and myself in them - they're like hobo clown pants.

I should've known better, they're designed with a drawstring waist (28"-50"), and I'm on the much lower end of that spectrum. And I keep forgetting that a lot of Renaissance wear is made for folks bigger than myself.

I'm probably just gonna wear brown corduroys, instead. That way I also have the luxury of pockets.

So pants = fail.


Last night I tried on the shirt with the hat, and I feel better about the coloring. When paired together, they definitely look gnome-y.

Heather suggested I dye it a deeper color, and since it's 100% cotton, it shouldn't be too hard. Trouble is, I have zero skillz when it comes to this kind of thing, and since I'll be spending the next several days in Maine, time isn't on my side.

So we'll see about that.

If I had more time, I kind of wish I could do sort of a Tinker Gnome costume (actually, I could incorporate the Ghostbuster goggles, but I'd need a whole new outfit, really), or better yet, a Gnome of Zurich. Maybe next year.

2009 = the Year of Gnomes!

Getting to Gnome Me

(Out of all the gnome puns out there - and believe me, there are a lot - this was the one I chose for my entry title.)

Dragon*Con is a week and a half away, and my suitcase is pretty packed. In addition to bringing along Cakey, I've got a priest uniform (not a costume, an actual outfit bought from a Catholic supplier), a Ghostbusters uniform (courtesy of my friend Adam), and the Slytherin uniform I haven't worn since that glorious night when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released.

Wow, that paragraph makes me seem like a really cool dude. Who am I? A really cool dude, that's who.

Last night, I got my final costume, a blue shirt/brown pants ensemble from Museum Replicas Limited that's intended for a gnome costume (I already have a red conical hat that my friend Heather knitted me last Christmas).

Now I love costumes. This should be clear. I love 'em! Any show that lets me wear a costume immediately has my interest, and my closet boasts quite a collection from all the shoots and shows I've done over the years.

But this gnome costume... it's pretty dorky. And yes, I am aware of how ridiculous that sounds, considering I think a Ghostbusters uniform to be totally awesome and appropriate. But for the first time in my life, I'm thinking, "Is this too much?"

I don't know, maybe it's the fact that it's a bit too baggy, or that the shirt is a bit too sky blue (I was hoping for something a little deeper), but it doesn't look right. Or maybe I just need to wash it to get that "new costume" crispness out, try it on with the hat, belt and satchel, and then see.

Oh, but I have no intention of wearing a beard. That's DEFINITELY too much.

Tooth or Consequences

My parents were never very concerned with dental health, and they only took my brother and me to the dentist a few times. And that only got started when my brother chipped his tooth in the swimming pool. He ended up getting a root canal, we both got a bunch of fillings, and that was that. I was probably in 3rd grade at the time. We never went again.

Flash forward to post-college, and I'm about to go off my parents' insurance. I decide to see a dentist, but only end up getting a cleaning and x-rays. They tell me I have wisdom teeth, and although I don't need to get them removed right away, I should probably do it within the next ten years. "Plenty of time," I think.

Six years later, I'm working for a paparazzi company in New York City and finally have health insurance of my own. I see a dentist, get a cleaning and x-rays, get two white fillings that were supposed to be cheap, but ended up being really expensive, get pissed off and never go back.

And now, the Year of Yes. With my current employment set to end in October, I decided I better take advantage of this health insurance and do what I gotta do. That includes the dentist. After just a handful of visits in my entire life, this week I'm going three times. Three times?!

On Monday I got a cleaning and some x-rays (and was told that one of my wisdom teeth is "one unhappy tooth"), and the cleaning was actually more painful than any I remember. But I stoically made it through.

Yesterday I got four fillings (four fillings?!), and it was much more pleasant than the cleaning. I actually don't mind the dentist, unlike the doctor. I don't find the Novocaine injections to be painful or scary, and I think it's interesting to have so many foreign objects in my mouth. Plus, Dr. Handler has one of the best demeanors I've ever encountered. It was like a challenge, she said it might be hard to keep my mouth open for that long, but I did it.

Anyway, tomorrow I go back for the wisdom teeth consultation, and I'll probably set up a date for surgery. This is the big one, the scary one. Everyone with a wisdom teeth story says it's a bad experience, and requires recuperation and angst. But I want to get them removed before I lose my insurance, so hopefully it'll get done in September.

And that's the story of my teeth. I'll end with a famous proverb and then a joke, because I like wordplay.

"Be true to your teeth, or they will be false to you."

That is the proverb.

Q. What time do you go to the dentist?
A. Tooth-hurty (2:30).

That is the joke.

Terry Jinn's Enormous Television 7

This isn't really something I can take credit for as a Year of Yes moment, but it's incredibly awesome and I'm somewhat involved, so it deserves blogging.

Previously-mentioned friend and incredible guitarist Terry Jinn celebrates his birthday the old-fashioned way: with a covers concert.

And I don't mean he goes to see one - he makes one. In the ultimate act of Yes, for the past several years, Terry's organized and set up a "rock and roll music revue" known as Terry Jinn's Enormous Television, and asks his friends to sing a cover song.

The amount of work that goes into this is ridonk, as the ETV band has to learn a good 20 songs a year for 20 singers of various talent, let alone organizing and scheduling everything, but Terry wants to rock, so rock we shall.

And it's happening this Friday.

It is no exaggeration when I say ETV is one of my favorite nights of the year, and I am super, super psyched.

And yes, one of the bands covered is Yes.


Terry Jinn's Enormous Television 7
Friday, August 8, 2008 at 10 p.m.
Kenny's Castaways, 157 Bleecker Street (b/w Sullivan and Thompson)
No Cover

Starring: Jessica Allen, Tony Carnevale, Tara Copeland, Kirk Damato, James Eason, Brian Fountain, Dan Goodman, Kate Hess, Will Hines, Mark Lee, Marc Liepis, Jen MacNeil, Maddy Mako, Shannon Manning, Ernie Privetera, Ari Scott, Andrew Secunda, Ptolemy Slocum, Shelly Slocum

The ETV Band:
Dan Goodman - Bass
Ernie Privetera - Keyboards
Lou Iacobelli - Drums
Terry Jinn - Electric Guitar

Featuring the songs of:
The Buggles, Prince, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, The Who, The Kinks, Faith No More, Bon Jovi, Jefferson Airplane, Aerosmith, The Gin Blossoms, Yes, Cream, Kathleen Edwards, Bruce Springsteen, Journey, Night Ranger, Rush, and more...


Year of Yes! You gotta be in it to Jinn it!