EIGHT

We are down to the final eight. After working on over 1000 performances of HAIR it is quite the...something to approach the actual end. The final performance of this production of HAIR. I think I am ready. I am sure I will be surprised by the feelings that arise on Sunday. Then surprised again in a week or two by the aftershocks of emotion. This journey has been long, weird, difficult, essential. I would not change a thing. I hope to squirrel away some time over the next 6 days to send some gratitude out into the Internet-ether. To share some thanks for this life-changing journey. Beginning with Macdermot/Ragni/Rado: without your willingness to embrace the times and morph them into a musically powerful, lyrically trippy story, none of this would have been possible. So much gratitude to Galt, Jim and the late Mr. Ragni, for joining hands and hearts and minds to create HAIR. LoVe.

CLEVELAND

Cleveland has not exactly lit me up with inspiration. It's very cold & the downtown area that we are occupying is bleak. Empty, crumbling, gray.

But, my oh my, the food scene lights up this city.

I can only officially speak to The Greenhouse Tavern so far (and I can only speak highly of that!), but tonight I'm venturing to B-Spot Burger with the pals.  I'm psyched to compare Chef Jonathan Sawyer's lamb burger with Chef Michael Symon's B-Spot burgers.

Monday night will see us indulging at Lola, Chef Symon's downtown restaurant. The menu is spectacular & I am giddy with food excitement to taste this Iron Chef's goodies.

Can't wait to talk up the deliciousness of Cleveland. It will help me avoid talking about the rest of it...

I'LL MISS YOU MOST OF ALL

This HAIR.

This play that takes audience members from across our continent on a journey through joy and pain.

This music that lives in your head and your heart and your soul.

This production that turned 75 strangers into a family that lives together & loves together & moves together.

Most of all, I'll miss being a part of this HAIR.

LoVe.

FOOD

Dinner last night at Morimoto

I'm skipping the paragraphs and just going with a list, because who needs extra words. Drool on, friends.

Mandarin-ginger soda - no alcohol needed...this food made me high.

Omakase (tasting menu):

Toro tartar topped with osetra caviar in a soy-plum sauce.

Palate cleanser: Japanese mountain peach.

Kumamoto oysters, three sauces: Japanese salsa w/ chives, ceviche w/ cilantro leaf, Thai fish sauce w/ jalapeno.

Seared red snapper in a yuzu-sesame oil puddle.

Amber jack sashimi over micro-greens dressed in yuzu-creme vinaigrette.

Palate cleanser: Guava passionfruit soda.

Half Maine lobster rubbed in Morimoto's 8-Spice Blend, side of yuzu creme fraiche & buttered veg.

Kobe beef short rib over greens in wasabi creme and red wine reduction.

Sushi Tasting: toro, jack, tile fish, sweet shrimp, needle fish.

White chocolate mousse on dark chocolate cookie crust, topped with peppemint gelee.


 I was happy.

2.15, RIGHT?

10 days to go...

This morning on the treadmill I walked a tenth of a mile, ran 2.15 miles and walked another two-tenths to cool down.

That 2.15 miles is the most distance I've run yet in this training. I felt successful...but I have a confession make...


I was watching cartoons the whole time.


Does that invalidate the experience as much as my guilt seems to imply it does???

The obvious issue is that there will be no cartoons to watch while running the actual 5K in West Palm Beach. Or will there?! Oh...no, definitely not? Hmph. That's what I thought...

The real thing to focus on here is the state of mind that I was able to acheive while running/watching.  Which is basically No Mind. I was zoned out. I was moving but not thinking. I was out of my pain centers. My brain had found another, more enticing way to occupy itself.

Maybe on my next run I'll try to substitute breath for cartoons and see how it goes.

Yu-gi-oh!

CIAO TORONTO

This is my last night in Toronto. It’s been a weird and somewhat wonderful 3 weeks, but I am very happy to return to the States tomorrow.

I will miss Second Cup. Canada’s version of Starbucks…it blows Starbucks out of the water.

I will miss the view of the CN Tower out of my hotel window. It’s a pretty spectacular thing to stare at every day. Testament to the human genius. And to the human need to prove how big our dicks are.

I will also miss the Loonie, the best and most appropriate name for a monetary device ever.

I sincerely hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve. I had to kiss my boss at midnight, and, though he is absolutely adorable, it's just nowhere near as fun as kissing my husband.

I am also pretty sure I watched a girl stuffed into a shiny dress puke her way right out of a threesome last night. In the hotel hallway. Awkward.

NYE Rule #1: Do not vomit in an enclosed public space. Especially when you're tryin' to mack. (did I use that term appropriately?)

It’s going to be windy tomorrow at both airports – please send good travel thoughts our way.

Arms and heart open wide, I walk into 2012.