Blackotter  ::  Journal

June 27, 2002 And another 7 days pass by. Well I find in imperative to say that it's fucking hot in DC right now and I'm dying. I can't take the heat. I think I still have the warm San Diego blood in me, yes I know I've been in D.C. for like 12 years but that doesn't matter. Anyway, to recap the week(s): 

Last Friday my friend Kelley and I went to see a friends play in Virginia. It was a play called Pigmaleon. No it's not spelled wrong, its a gay version on the old story. At first I was wondering if they could actually do something and make it work. The has it's problems but they are slight and most likely due to the fact that the man who was writing it passed away before it was finished. The first act is a little rough at times and I am unsure about all the direct reference to D.C., I mean they made sense but some things seemed to be a little out of place. Specifically a reference to Enron. Felt a little forced. But the cast was fantastic. Basically they play starts in a bar in DuPont Circle, JR's, where these two people, Professor Henry Higgins and his cohort who I cant remember who is now a transsexual, are talking about nothing. In walks this scruffy looking homeless guy and wants a beer...yada yada eventually the bet is to make this West Virginia Pohick into a dashing your man who would be erudite enough to meet the president at the annual HRC dinner. Already you can see it's a stretch as I will get wings before the President goes to an HRC dinner. But anyway, the play progresses along the route, feeling a little sluggish in the first act but still very funny. I wish I had the program in front of me to give people credit but the website lists the three leads at least. Louis Cupp and Jennifer Phillips do a great job as Professor Henry Higgins and Kate something-or-other. The standout is Carlos Bustamante. He is Elijah Dolittle, chosen be cleaned up and turned into a gentle man and by the end of the play he has certainly undergone a transformation. He is also incredibly beautiful. If you listened carefully you could hear everyone's jaw drop and their pants bulge. The second half is hysterical and the guy playing Henry's mother (and also the butler) made me laugh so damn hard I thought I was going to pee. The entire show is worth seeing but he pushed it over the top. The one dry performance, though still passable, was the guy who played Fred. He just didn't seem to be on that night but I also heard he was the understudy so it was still ok. So if you are in the DC area and want a good show, Pigmaleon will be around at least until July 14. Go see it. 

Also in theatre going, a bunch of us went to the Shakespeare Free for All at the Carter Barren theatre in DC. Its an open are bowl and the first time I tried to go it rained and they had to cancel. I was annoyed. The second time I went it rained as well but there was no lightning and it wasn't that bad so they kept going. The show was Two Gentlemen of Verona and it was awesome. The setting was the 50's and the locals were a hair salon, pizza place with dancing in there and music. The show was fun from start to finish. And the good thing was that it was a thousand times better than the Romeo and Juliet I had seen downtown. And of course the star of any show at the Shakespeare Theatre is Floyd King. The bits in this play with the dog are hysterical. The cast was all amazing, the sets were top drawer and overall it was a great show. More reasons why I love theatre...

June 20, 2002 Wow, it feels like forever since I did an entry. Hmm, that sounds kinda dirty. Anyway, got back from New Hampshire and on Tuesday went with my friend Kelley to these one act auditions at this Unitarian Church. They aren't religious plays, thankfully, or else I wouldn't do them but they are local one acts ranging between 10 min and a half hour and after thinking that I sucked majorly, I got a call the next day and got the lead in one called The Dictionary Guy. I'd describe it but I haven't read the whole thing yet. Hehe. Much to my surprise Kelley wasn't called back cause I would cast her in anything I ever did. And I'm not saying that cause I know she's reads this, it's true. So we have our first meeting this Monday and I'll see how it goes. 

Had a get together at my house this past weekend of all the people from Romeo and Juliet. It was a blast to see all them again. Kevin and Mike couldn't make it and I see Mike once in a while but I know Kevin is leaving to go back to New Mexico..he's just a great guy and will be missed. 

Other than that nothing much going on. Will share more when I think of it. 

June 10, 2002 Ah what a weekend. I have taken car trips before but nothing like this past weekend. My friend Joe (Sarah) came in town for the wedding of her friend Melissa (and my friend too) but the wedding wasn't quite in town, or in the state, or in a five state radius. Instead the wedding was in New Hampshire and somewhere along the planning for this endeavor, we had agreed that we would drive up, to save money and all that jazz. Well as fun as the drive was, and it actually was a lot of fun, sanity is worth a few extra dollars. But like I said the drive was a blast cause Joe and I laughed pretty much the entire way up there. And once the mind set was in place that we were going a long way past New York then it wasn't all that awful. 'Course the drive up there was 12 hours due to traffic and pee breaks and stuff. That was a little sucky. We headed up at 8:30 on Friday morning and got there about 8:30 that night. New Hampshire was the most annoying state for the general reasons, not traffic and stuff, but that the exits on I93 are like 10 to 20 miles apart. Which wouldn't be that bad if I knew that but I kept going around corners and hoping that there would be an exit sign. 

Anyway, once there everything was fine. The lake that the wedding took place on, I can't remember the name of it but it's the same lake that On Golden Pond was filmed, was beautiful. I have photos to put up soon. There was a bar-b-que that night and then we all slept, tried to. I apparently snore, dammit, and the nights were soooo cold. We were staying in this wood house that had no insulation, I mean NONE, and the nights were unbelievably cold! But the next day the weather was awesome. There is a non-denominational church in the middle of the lake and we took pontoon boats out and watched the ceremony. It was so pretty. I cried. The we headed back to the mainland, had drinks and photos and broke for dinner. At 6:30 that night we skipped out of dinner and had to get on the road and head back to D.C. This part was the scariest cause I really didn't think I was going to make it. I obviously did but there were times where my body was so tired I was unsure if I could do it. 

Sunday we took the rental car back, got coffee and hugged Joe bye and she was getting ready to head back to Portland. Sad to see her go. Then I got a small boost of energy, at this point it was like the 32nd wind, and headed down to D.C. Pride. I immediately ran into my friend Jen, Matt, and one of Matt's friends. We looked at the boys and all the booths and relaxed in a sea of gayness. It was fun, a nice way to end the weekend. And now back to the usual grind. Blah.

June 06, 2002 So I think I'll leave the trip report on Las Vegas up for June since it took place so late in May. I'm going to lunch now but I thought I would leave a pic of the man of the day. Seann William Scott, soooo hooooot:

May 28, 2002 Wow, where do I start. It has been a great mini-vacation to be sure. Back in March for my birthday, my best friend DJ, called me and said that he had my Birthday present but that it would involve some traveling, I asked where and was told Las Vegas, why I asked, because we have second row tickets, to whom I asked getting giddy by the minute, Britney Spears was the answer. At this point, thankfully I was alone in my car at the time, I screamed like a squad of cheerleaders. Even I didn't know I could make that noise. So then for two months I had to stew and the excitement ebbed and flowed but by the time the it was time to leave it I couldn't wait. I was so happy to be able to hang with my friend DJ as we always have a good time and invariably end up laughing until one of us can't breathe. DJ's boyfriend and I also get along very well, considering. (Just had to stick that in there David. LOL ) 

Anyway, so I packed and all and zoomed to the airport and got there early like I was told, zoomed through the ticketing an security and waiting for two and a half hours. I may have been a little early. So I did laps around the airport and drank lots and lots of coffee and finally boarded the plane bound for Denver, as there are no direct flights from DC to Las Vegas. Had a two hour lay over in Denver and finally made it to Las Vegas. Looking out the window at the desert and then seeing this city appear out of nowhere is amazing. It was really good to be back in the west too as the air was different, much less oppressive without the humidity, heat the disappeared when you walked into the shade, it was just so nice. If I weren't a fair skinned red head, are there really any other kind, I would go back west in a heartbeat. So I got my baggage while standing right next to a row of slot machines. Every where you went there were slot machines, in the gas station even! So I got in my cab and took it to the Mandalay Bay. Now the fucked up thing is that I the hotel is actually on the edge of the Airport but it still took me $12 to get there. It was insane. The hotel was beautiful on the outside and the inside. The trimming of this place was perfect. So I got to the hotel and met up with DJ and David and then looked around and gambled and drank and let the fun begin. 

Thursday night we basically stayed in the hotel and gambled and drank and had a blast. As expected there were tons of people in the hotel and the strange phenomenon was all the boys. Ok that's not all that odd but they were all straight and build like brick shithouses and they all seemed to be dressing very ...gay. That's not describing it very well but there is a seeming way that gay men dress and straight men dress and kind of like when the gay guys took over the frat look these guys seemed to be taking over the gay club look. Maybe I just don't hangout with drunk, loud, obnoxious straight guys anymore to have seen this coming. But my god they were loud and stupid, yelling things for no reason and thinking that everything was a frat party. I want to banish them far away and bring in other hot guys with class and decorum. 

Friday we left the hotel and went scouting other casinos. We looked at Luxor, Excalibur, Monte Carlo, Paris, Aladdin, New York and others. The most intriguing thing about all these places was their exterior. Once inside everything was the same as all the other casinos. The one that really stood out was New York New York. This casino seemed to be as busy as the real New York. The place was packed with so many things to do. They had the usual game floor but also had this huge video game area, a roller coaster and tons of shops. This seemed like a very cool place to stay and was going more for fun then it was for class and style which made it unique as all the other places were going for snootiness.  And they had an actual Cigar/Cigarette girl walking around. Points for coolness. And the coaster was very nice too. 

Friday night: Britney. We got back from looking around and found out that DJ's meet and greet with Britney was cancelled. He was heart broken and I was for him. He was really looking forward to it. But nevertheless we still went to the show and had a really good time. The crowd was very interesting. There were people there that I would never had guessed would have been there. Biker looking guys and straight frat guys and lots of girls trying to emulate the Britney look. There was also this group of like 50+ folks in suits and dresses that were there. They had no kids around them so I think they were there to actually see the show. That was cool. So we  checked out seats and they were awesome. Second row! Second fucking row! When the sow began she was no more than 10 feet away from us, singing and dancing and looking so good. It was also the first show that I had been too with choreography and pyrotechnics and the works. It was sweet. All the dancing and set and effects were great. At one point, cause DJ and I were the only ones dancing and being crazy, she looked over and smiled at us. Made my day. She looked awesome too, ever than up close you don't really expect 'stars' to look that good and she did. After the show we gambled a bit and drank a bit and then just headed to bed. 

Saturday DJ and David went to the pool and spa and I went out to look at the city more. I don't tan so the beach is no place for me. So I walked around and took pictures of MGM Grand, Paris, got to watch the fountains at Bellagio, took the tram from Bellagio to Monte Carlo and looked around. All in all it was a fun day. I'll put pictures up soon. Then we ate, watched tv and then began out excursion to find a gay bar. We walked like 2 1/2 miles to this place called IKON which turned out to be much like any other in the world, nothing special. If we had time we would have hit some of the other dance clubs but we didn't so that will be next time. LOL. 

Sunday was time to get on the plane. We hit McDonalds for breakfast and then I grabbed a taxi to the airport, got through ticketing and security way too early and had like an hour and a half to wait. Same in Denver I had two hours to kill but I was beginning to get a cold then. By Denver it stated and when I got back in BWI I was a huge ball of snot. Not Fun. 

But the trip over all was a blast. DJ was such a sweetie to arrange everything and get the tickets and all. I had the best time.