Ginger's follies, foibles and fixations.
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| You Listen to Me, Mr. Kick-Ass Ginger's follies, foibles and fixations. |
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Saturday, August 24, 2002 A "Making Up for Lack of Blogging" Blog Now that it is officially Saturday, it's time for The Friday Five!: 1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not? I am the Managing Director of a children's theater company in Manhattan. At least that's what my new business cards say. "Is that what I chose to be doing?" That's a funny question. Well yeah, nobody, like, forced me to do it. Did I seek out or plan to manage a children's theater company? No. But it does make a certain kind of sense. I've always enjoyed working on the "business" side of the arts, and I've done it off and on since college. And in more recent years I've discovered that I am a pretty good manager. And I have always had an interest in supporting artists by doing the things they don't like to do (ie. all the "managerial," organizational, paper-based mucky-muck work). So in this job they all sort of converge. Of course it would be nice if I got paid a living wage to do it, but hopefully that will come in time. 2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be? I hate this question because I've never really had an answer. I believe that no matter how much you love something, once it becomes a job that automatically makes it a drag. The most recent answer I've had for this was "authorized celebrity biographer," but now I think I'll just go for broke and say "international superstar." Why not? 3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices? My mom had a lot of odd jobs (it's hard to forge a career when you have a baby your freshman year of college--by the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!) until she finally just gave up working some years ago. Now she's an artist and actress. My dad has worked for the University for a billion years, but really he's an experimental musician/performance artist. My stepfather did the classic American Dream of starting in the mail room and working his way up to some executive or director or something or other. But really he's a musician, playwright and actor. What this all means is that I grew up with the notion that your work is something you do for other people while you do what you love outside of work. Although I still want to believe I can find work that I'm passionate about, I have always pretty much followed this pattern in my life. 4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family? Uh, no. So why don't I have either? 5. In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world? What is the hardest? Why? According to David Cross, being a film actor is the easiest job in the world, so I'll go with that (by the way, David was the best thing about Men in Black II). Hmmm, maybe I should change my answer to question #2. The hardest? Anything which involves heavy lifting in non-air-conditioned warehouses, or cleaning up the NYC Subway system. Why? Because those jobs suck and they are the worst-paying too. In other news... I have had a busy, busy week. There's been plenty to do at work, but mainly it's been my own stuff. I am in full-on home-improvement mode for some reason. All week long I've been going to various stores getting either stuff for my apartment or components of a fall wardrobe. Whereas most people do "spring cleaning," I get motivated to spruce things up (my space and my self) as fall approaches. Maybe it's because I hate summer and I get excited about the prospect of cooler weather approaching. Anyway, today I finally painted that one wall of my studio and it looks fantastic--it's a peachy-orange color similar to the links on this page. And I pulled up the ugly rug that I bought when I first moved in and replaced it with two huge cotton bath-mats which look (and feel) much more neat-o. Tomorrow I'm planning an IKEA trip for a few odds and ends. And then soon will be time to think about getting a drill and putting up some shelves...it never ends. Last night I had a another Obscure Celebrity EncounterTM, of sorts. I went to a show at the New York Fringe Festival called The Bizarro Bologna show. If you get the cartoon Bizarro in your local paper, you know how funny--or at least how weird--it usually is (if you don't, click the link and find out!). The guy who does the cartoon, Dan Piraro, apparently got sick of sixteen years of relative anonymity and decided to create a one-man show which he tours around to cities where his cartoon runs. The funny thing is that Bizarro doesn't run in New York! But since he recently moved here (after a quickie romance/marriage to a New York gal), he decided to do the show at the Fringe, and apparently it's a big hit--it was a packed house last night. The show was pretty funny, if uneven. My favorite moment was when he showed a cartoon of his making light of male-pattern baldness and told us that someone had chastised him for possibly making bald people feel bad. "First of all, I don't care," he said--and that sold me right there. The whole show is really pretty self-indulgent. I mean, it takes a hell of an ego to go on stage and just dick around for a couple of hours and expect people to be entertained, but for the most part it works. It helps that Piraro seems genuinely as smart, funny and weird as his cartoon, and he's a personable guy. After the show he came out and signed books. I broke my "no autographs" rule and got a book signed for a number of reasons not interesting enough to go into here, and we chatted a little bit. When I mentioned that I worked in the production office for 21 Dog Years his eyes lit up. "I would love to do something like that!" he crowed. Apparently he loved 21DY (yay, he has taste!). I told him I had no idea if Mr. Boss would want to take him on but I would put in a good word for him, and he said he'd much appreciate it. I thought it was cool to have a good excuse to give him my card. By the way, after a very respectable run 21 Dog Years is officially closing at the end of the month. But never fear, it may be coming to a town near you! Check out Mike's site for details! Good show, Mike! posted by Ginger | 12:37 AM Thursday, August 22, 2002 From the Television Without Pity American Idol message boards Bottom line. This show stinks. The judges stink. The audience stinks. Yet, I still watch it. I want to see what disaster will take place next... I would too...if I had a TV. Just so ya know, I didn't blow up. Later that day (Tuesday) I went out and the cops were gone, the traffic was flowing smoothly, and nobody said a word about bombs. It wasn't even in the paper. I'm sure we'll have more such hysterical non-events as Sept. 11 approaches again. Now, back to work! posted by Ginger | 12:05 PM Tuesday, August 20, 2002 Just Another Day in New York Bomb scare on 8th Avenue, around 55th Street. Note this is about three blocks from where I work. Sigh. posted by Ginger | 12:18 PM Monday, August 19, 2002 A Little Break Not much blogging this week. I think I'll be leaving my computer at work most of this week as I have errands to run after work, so sorry if I'm somewhat more out of touch than usual. But the good news is that my Outlook should be revived in the next couple of weeks so I can be better about responding to email. Right now I need to use the web reader, which is too annoying for me to deal with very much, so as a result I'm not answering emails as quickly or thoroughly as usual (some might say this is a good thing...) Anyway, a couple things before I take off. 1. I am almost free of the Roach Motel! My neighbor returns tomorrow, after nearly three weeks, hooray. No more sweeping up bug carcasses, dodging the cat that likes to bite me on the ankles, or mopping up cat puke. Also, no more watching American Idol or (sigh) The Simpsons. It's a fair trade-off, and it might motivate me to finally get a new TV or something. 2. Loud Bob is moving to China! My other neighbor, who routinely entertains me with his constant TV-watching and frequent random yelping, told me the other day he was moving this week. But get this--he's keeping the apartment! He's not even subletting, he's just going to pay for it and have various family members stop by and look in. Considering the NYC rental market, I don't blame him, but it seems a shame to let a perfectly good (one assumes...but after the Roach Motel, it's best not to make assumptions about rooms in my building) apartment go to waste for an untold number of months. I've considered asking him if my visiting guests can use it--the NYC version of a guest house--but I don't really know him well enough for that. Also, I would feel weird owing Loud Bob a favor. 3. I'm going to paint. For months I've been wanting to paint one wall of my apartment, but haven't made any moves towards getting what I need to do it. Finally I bought the paint and various accoutrements last weekend, and hope to have the job done this coming weekend. The key is to do the taping around the borders in steps during the week, rather than trying to do everything in one day. After that do I dare put up bookshelves? Buy a drill? The possibilities are endless. Must go; Bed, Bath & Beyond is waiting! posted by Ginger | 7:32 PM |
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