Monday... Monday

Well, Robin is off on her yearly trip to Yosemite. So I am left to my own devices to be fruitful in the office.

I had an interview today with Janice Steinberg from the San Diego Union Tribune. A follow up to the move to our new space. Its been six months so the paper is doing a sort of progress report. As usual, I probably said too much.

I think the epitath on my gravestone will be, "Do you want to know what I really think?"

I always take people at their word when they ask my opinion on something. And if they ask my opinion, then the least that I can do is makes sure that I give it in as clear and honest a way as possible.

I don't like playing games, particularly with people. So the whole game of seducing patrons or trying to influence people is not something that I do.

Ah,
I just got an e-mail asking me if i want to go to Disneyland tomorrow! So I am off to the House of Mouse!



On with the summer reading! If you haven't already become acquainted with the king of the modern biographical essays say hello to David Sedaris.



Mr. Sedaris is well known for his sharply written essays about his family, childhood years, life working in New York. The most well known of his stories deals with one particular Christmas when he decided to take a job as one of Santa's elves at Macy's. We learn the ins and outs of "elfdom" from the viewpoint of Crumpet (all the elves need to take on elf names). From his flirtations with Snowball ( the tramp elf) to his ministering to the African American mother who felt that the black Santa wasn't "black enough." The Santaland Diaries can all be found in...



The highpoint of the next collection is also the title of the book. The final chapter entitled "Naked" deals with Sedaris' visit to a nudist colony for the purposes of writing a story. Rather than have any sort of titilating content or quality, the chapter is an interesting essay on comfort, discomfort and just how much "hiding" is ingrained in us by our society.



Finally, Me Talk Pretty One Day is broken up into two sections. The first section is a series of essays much like those found in Naked (or Barrel Fever or Dress Your Family in Denim and Corduroy, two books not discussed here). The second section is all about Sedaris' escapades while living as an expatriate in France. The title refers to a translation of his halting response to what he wished to get out of a french class for non-french speakers in Paris.



Named "humorist of the year" in 2001, by Time and a Thurber Prize winner, Sedaris is a frequent contributor to NPR's This American Life, as well as Esquire and The New Yorker.

Whenever I "hear' his voice when I read his essays, the timber, speed, connections all sound like my "generation' talking. A smart version of my generation, but my generation none the less.

Hiding Out

I am actually a pretty anti-social being.

Given my druthers, if I won the lottery, I would probably go live in a cave somewhere. A well appointed cave with a nice swimming pool and library, but a cave nonetheless. Of course, I would do lots of social good with my millions, but from afar.

Although the blogs haven't quite reflected it, the past few days have been a bit intense as far as meetings and greetings, so I had to escape. So today I just kind of hid out.

When I go visit my brother or stay with other people, I don't need fancy pillows or bedding (or even pillows or beds), I just need a room (or closet) with a lock. Anyplace where I can go "click" and know that I can "choose" to not let people in. If I can't have that, then I manufacture reasons to go out alone or to come back early.

Now, I don't want people to think that I don't enjoy being with people. I do. But I need to balance it out. To "clean the slate," as it were, of other people's energies.

So no real business to report today, since I was in my bunker mode.



Have you ever heard the old adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover." well...



One of the best things about this summer reading classic is the look you get from every passerby that sees you reading it. Or carrying it for that matter. The first disclaimer here is that it is NOT really about the sex lives of cannibals. That is simply the catchy title the author gave it. But admit it, it DID catch your eye.

There is a particular brand of writing that is perfectly suited to summer reading... the humorous travelogue. That is what this is. The writer and his girlfriend go off to live on a tropical atoll for two years. But it is a tropical atoll unlike any you can imagine (and not in a good way.)

One of the great things about the book is that no matter where you are reading it, you are bound to be in a better place than the writer at any given moment. It is pretty much 2 years of unbearable heat (the surrounding water is actually hotter than the equatorial island), canned food (usually fish), shark infested waters (whenever a shark is spotted the native islanders all jump INTO the water to catch it for dinner), and a "natural" sewage system favored by the natives involving going to the nearest body of water (even if you are swimming in it.)

Good times! Maybe not, but the writer is so gosh darned funny in recounting the tale that you can't help but go along for the ride.

Phone Tag and Really Big Teeth

The Balloon is hanging in there.

This morning I woke up at 7 to call New York. I had to call at 10 am New York time. I was calling the director of the Most Wanted project. Unfortunately the number that was given to me wasn't quite right. Meanwhile he called me at the office, while I wasn't at home.

Never managed to connect. Drat! I hate it when that happens. Ah wait! Phone.

Half an hour has just passed. I just spoke with him. All done. Found out that a friend of a friend is in the show, so that should be fun.

Thats about it for now...



More summer reading faves. Close to Shore is a fascinating book that looks at a series of shark attacks in the early 20th century that probably served as the inspiration for Jaws. The book goes back and forth from a fictional narrative of actual persons involved in one chapter, to a historical observation of the society at the time, to a fictional viewpoint of the shark, to what they thought of sharks back then, to what we know about sharks now, etc.



The interesting thing about the story is that at one point the shark get disoriented and swims up a river. While he is there he attacks and kills some boys who are swimming. Which reminds me of the most irrational fear I have.

When I was a kid I went to see a James Bond movie called Thunderball.



Along with a beautiful (dubbed) heroine named Domino, a beautiful red haired villaness and much underwater scenery, there is one particular scene which has always stayed with me. At one point our hero is fighting with a villainous henchman. They fall into a regular old swimming pool. At which point, the evil genius mastermind opens a side gate in the pool and releases some sharks into it. Of course, grisly carnage ensues

The scene took place at night and the pool lights gave a very specific glow in the scene. So to this day I can not get into a swimming pool at night alone... for fear that a side gate is going to open up and release some sharks into it.

More Summer Reading

Nothing much to report on today, so we will head right to...



Don't let the cover put you off. This is one great book!



Stiff is all about dead bodies. Not the act of death, but what we as a society do (and have done) with that which is left over once our spirit leaves the mortal plane (if you believe in that sort of thing.)

Now, let me repeat, this book is not about dying or souls or afterlives or anything like that. It is a humorous, intelligent, thoughtful examination of what we do and how we treat this fleshy thing that has carried us through our life... once we are done with it.

Note to the squeemish. There are NO pictures in this book. NONE. So you don't have to fear turning a page and being traumatized for years to come. Each chapter deals with a different road well travelled. So you can read a chapter, put it down, pick it up a few days later.

Burial.
Cremation.
Donating your body to science.
Organ donation.
Freeze drying yourself.
Even old fashioned things like mummification, grinding up bodies for use in medicine and... a little side trip to cannibalism. The book is covers it all. But no pictures!

But the writer, Mary Roach is so engaging and all her journeys come from an infectious curiousity that you can't help but go along on the journey.

Some of the chapters (like the organ donor and the crash test dummy) stay with you long after, because of their eloquence. Others (like the trip to a mortuary) make you think twice about your plans for the future :)

Final word... Stiff is a funny, throught provoking, book unlike anything else you have ever read.

My Other Life

The balloon is hanging in there.

Before I started doing the "ballet" thing full time, I used to do much more musical theatre. I still do it as much as possible, when the stars align and the project is interesting. I have two shows coming up in the next couple few months. Both are about young men who captured America's imagination and died young, but in vastly different ways.

First is a production of The Buddy Holly Story that I am co-directing and choreographing with a friend.



All Buddy Holly music! All the time!

There is a lot of music here, but not too much drama. So the show has to kind of create some. It was actually written by some guys in England (where it was a HUGE hit). So it kind of feels like an English idea of what America was like back in 1957. There is even an English reporter who drops in at some point. Although I am not a huge rock fan, I do have a personal attachment to the show. My mom went to high school in Texas at the same time that Buddy (another Texan) was starting his career. I remember looking through her yearbooks with her when I was a kid. A world of Future Farmers of America, Future Homemakers of America, Y-Teens, and proms that happen in the high school gym.



Buddy married a girl from Puerto Rico. For those of you who don't know, Texas was a segregated state back then. But it was segregated betweeen "whites" and Mexicans. So for Buddy to marry a Latin American girl was a big thing in Texas. Something I'll talk about in later blogs.

The show finishes with a big concert featuring Buddy, Ritchie Valens (La Bamba) and the Big Bopper (Chantilly Lace). After which we are reminded that they promptly got into a plane and died "the day the music died."

My second project is shaping up to be Most Wanted, a workshop of a show that is being put on by the La Jolla Playhouse.



Most Wanted is based on the story of Andrew Cunanan. Cunanan was a club kid in San Diego and later became infamous for a killing spree across the USA which culminated in the murder of Gianni Versace and a violent ending on a boat. I had my first preliminary meeting today with the composer, Mark Bennett, to pick his brain about musical influences and structure. I think it went well. Later this week I'll be speaking with Michael Greif, the director, about where he sees the movement of the piece heading.

I also have a personal attachment to this piece. I took dance class with Andrew's sister Elena when I started dancing. So I saw her everyday for two years in high school. I haven't kept in contact with her, but I always remembered her as an attractive, talanted dancer. Her cousin, Lori Morin, was someone who I actually did perform with in productions at San Diego Civic Light Opera. So I might have met Andrew when he was just a little kid. But I would be lying if I said that I remembered him.

It is too early yet, but there are alot of intriguing issues about the sense of entitlement, racism and sex that the show can deal with. I do plenty of "kids" shows, it is nice to do shows that try to speak to and challenge mature minds.



Its summer! And one of my favorite things is summer reading.

Don't know why I suddenly get the reading urge when June rolls around, but I do. So i'll be giving a list my faves.

First up is a book that I just read. In one day.



Fun Home is a graphic novel. For the uninitiated, that means a comic BOOK.

Written by Alison Bechdel, it is a memoir of her relationship with her father. In the course of the story, we learn that Alison identified at an early age as being a lesbian. She later finds out that her father (high school english teacher and mortician) was a closeted gay man. Shortly after she learns this, he is killed by a truck in a roadside accident. Throughout the book, she continues returning and reviewing events leading up to the accident.

While this may seem as "not your everyday family" story, the way that it is told and the universal truths of children who try to find some sense of connection with their parents is ultimately very human and touching.



Bechdel's story telling (both literaly and pictorialy) is detailed and humorous. And although the art may seem a bit odd and "not pretty" at first, it quickly draws you into its world of acceptance of that which we view as "imperfect."



Fun Home, which was named as one of the:

100 notable books of the year by the New York Times
Top 10 memoirs of 2006 by The Times of London
The best comic book of 2006 by Publisher's Weekly
The best non-fiction debut of 2006 by Salon
Top ten books of the year and one of the best memoirs of the decade by New York Magazine
Best non-fiction book of the year by Entertainment Weekly
Best book of the year by Time Magazine

was banned by the public library of Marshall, Missouri. Supporters of the book's removal called it "pornography." After 6 months, the library's board of trustees voted to return the book to the library's shelves.

Just Another Day...

Nothing new happened today.

Had a meeting with our grant writer and then went to listen to a panel on diversity about two doors down given by the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. Diversity isn't a huge issue within our company simply because there is alot of it. When you have dancers from Japan, Mexico, Kazakstan, Hungary, et al, you tend to deal with it every day.

The balloon is still inflated.



For those who don't know... I love doggies. Crazy for them. When I go into people's homes I have sometimes totally ignored the two legged residents in favor of the four legged ones. Even if the two legged ones are wealthy patrons.

Can't help it. Must... Pet... Dog! Of course, I always observe proper dog etiquette. Never acknowledge a dog unless the owner gives you permission.

So, of course, one of my favorite movies is Old Yeller.



Yes, Disney's tearjerker gets me everytime. Nice to know that the "real" Old Yeller (Spike) was a rescue dog and every bit as loyal, smart and trustworthy as his film persona.

If you haven't seen the movie, its just a "boy and his dog" movie. But if you don't shed a tear for Old Yeller when the climax of the movie occurs, you don't have a heart. Just like if you don't tear up in Dumbo when Dumbo's Mom sings Baby Mine. Truth be told, the first half of the movie is a bit dull, but the end makes up for it.

Oh and who wouldn't want Fess Parker and Dorothy McGuire as parents!



"Here Yeller, come back Yeller. Best doggone dog in the west!"

Aargh!

Today, I had my back worked on.

People always say that dancers are masochists. I totally... disagree.

There is a certain amount of effort and pushing that you need to do to make your body become a beautiful, expressive instrument. But that effort should always be enjoyable.

The one time I can remember being in a show and just shutting off was when an (idiot) director/choreographer made the stupidest statement I ever heard. He said, "I once danced for Martha Graham and she said that If it doesn't hurt, you aren't doing it right."

What a load of crap!

Dance should always feel wonderful!



Sublime!



Ecstatic!



Like all of the dancers above, who are coincedentally from... the Martha Graham Dance Company. That's Martha in the middle pic. I much prefer a Martha Graham quote that she gave when she was being critiqued for having her dancers fall to the ground so often. "My dancers fall so that they may rise again."

Suffice it to say, Mr. (idiot) director/choreographer could say nothing to me after that to regain my respect.

Dance IS hard work.

But if you don't feel transported and more alive when you are dancing, THEN you are doing it wrong. And if you can't get that feeling after years of trying, then quite honestly, dance is not for you. Or at least not the kind of dance that you are practising. Go study something else, Flamenco. Swing. Capoera. Tae Chi. Square Dancing.

Whatever. But find something that feeds your soul AND delights your body EVERYDAY that you are in class.

I bring this up because that is why I had my back worked on today. I had gone to take a yoga class a few years back. I thought I would enjoy it. Bikram. Where they heat the room. I even went in early to stretch.

Well, for whatever reason. I messed up my back in the class. I had always had a flexible back and loved the feeling of twisting and bending. But since that class, I have had sporadic back pain and have been afraid to move fully. So I figured I would finally do something about it.

We have a wondeful physical therapist, Katy Ewalt, in the new building who specializes in dance injuries.

www.paartssandiego.com

So I am hopefully on the road to recovery. I shall keep you updated.

The balloon is still upright. I put it on a shelf so that it when it does deflate it won't end up flattened on the floor. That would be sad.

Free at Last... Free at Last

Yes, I can take a little breather now.

The San Diego Performing Arts League STAR Awards happened last night



... and apart from a couple of very minor glitches, everything went off as planned.

I had 4 artistic directors speaking as part of the program and they all spoke wonderfully. Thank you Delicia, Jung-Ho, Scott and Seema for giving us the right blend of integrity and levity.

I had dancers from 4 different dance companies dancing. Thank you Abby, Andrea, Bernadette, Danica, Greg, Kirsten, Kristy, Meghan, Michael, Rachel and Sadie. And thank you John and Jean for greasing the wheels to make it happen.

And another thank you to Andrea Feier and the San Diego Civic Dance Company for being "living art" at the opening of the show and for the gentlemen of the organization who performed the bottle dance from Fiddler on the Roof.

Thanks to Lindsey, Nick, Rebecca and Steve for coming on down to the show and singing our send-off.

Thank you to Dr. Annjenette McFarlain of Black Storytellers and Uma Suresh for your wonderful performance of the poem to honor Gold Star honoree Dolly Woo.

A special thanks to Frank and Donna for making the event happen as smoothly as it did.

Thank you Ferdie, Joey, Eve, Dawn, and everyone else who gave so much time and effort.

Oh and thank you Jung - Ho and Beverly for the delightful conversation after the show with our view of "Fantasy Island."

And last. but not least, a big thanks to Dea for service above and beyond the call of duty.

So today, allthough I am free... I still have to go do a site visit at East County Performing Arts Center for a perfomance that we will be doing there in October. Then I have a meeting with Steve Gunderson regarding a production of The Buddy Holly Story that we are co-directing at the end of June. And then there is a board meeting tonight for the ballet company.

So I am really only free of the having to be responsible for the "production" end of life. The other stuff never really goes away.

Well, except for the balloon, its still inflated, but it is kind of rolling around on the floor now.



The Little Prince.



Written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
It is a very easy read. But it shouldn't be read fast. Take your time and ponder the pictures for a moment. Make sure you get an edition with the original drawings. And don't read the book if you are all tense and agitated. Calm down, get relaxed, find a cozy corner and settle in. It's better to read it at night as well.



It is in the children's section at bookstores, and it is a great book to read to children, but it really doesn't resonate with you until you are an adult.

If you are going to read it to your kids, I suggest that you read it yourself beforehand. There are many important issues, like love, loss, friendship and death, that are touched upon. Your kids WILL have lots of questions (even as you are reading) so you should be prepared as to how you will answer them.



I hope you read the book, so that then you can look into the starlit sky and ask yourself the question that the narrator does at the end of the book.

And for those of you who have, here is a little thing that will make a huge difference in how you see the world.

Ready?
______

Thank God It's Friday !

Set two more dances for the STAR Awards today.

One for Andrea Feier (who will personify "action") and one for Rachel Sebastian (who will be portraying "labor.") Both dances were set fairly quickly, I love it when that happens.

The balloon shows no signs of failing.
You know, we did a show in Amarillo, Texas, "Helium Capital of the World." While we were there some of us took a trip to see the Cadillac Ranch. It's just outside of the town, but we went at 12 at night.



So we kept driving past it because it is pitch black out there. We finally found it, after much driving on the backroads of Texas and made our pilgramidge. You have to walk past a cow pasture to get there. It was FREEZING!



It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman.



Yes, count me in as a geek, but I love Superman, just like Jerry Seinfield. One of my favorite movies of all time is the Christopher Reeve version. Although there was much talk about the sequel (Superman 2) being better than the original, I have to disagree.



This movie really delivered on every promise that it made. And Reeve was the perfect vision of a boy scout in blue underwear.



Special effects weren't as advanced back then so it was really special to actually see someone flying in a movie. Everytime Reeve zoomed into the air, the audience was in awe. The movie itself struck the perfect balance between comic book and believable action flick.



But my favorite part of the movie is the Superman's first date with Lois Lane. Superman saving Lois for the first time is a close second. Compare the Superman Saving Lois scene with the first saving Lois scene in Superman Returns, and you will notice how much movies have lost when it comes to action sequences. They have become a blur.

Anyhow, back to the first date. This sequence takes 14 minutes. Can you imagine a movie today taking 14 minutes with only two characters on the screen? Let alone the fact that the they only speak for the first 6 minutes. While they are flying, they are silent.

So we have just two people smiling at each other and falling in love. Now that is a risk. In an action movie.



Given the tragedy of what happened to Christopher Reeve and how he decided to use it to shape his life (Sure, the whole"Now he really is a Superman" thing was overused, but it doesn't take away from what he did), everytime I watch the movie I get to ruminate not just on heroism, but the transitory nature of things... AND the joy of believing in a big blue smiling boy scout with a curl who will swoop in and solve all your problems.

Girls in White Dresses... And the Man

The ballloon is still going strong.

Today, I set the opening number for the SDPAL STAR Awards. Just a little something to get the audience in the right frame of mind. Its tricky because the League represents a lot of different types of organizations. Some commercial, some not. Some classical, some not.

These events should also be enjoyable and fun, but they must honor the excellence of the organizations. So you have to strike a balance between a party and a serious occasion.

And the event is really about honoring the awardees. Nobody ever talks about the great opening number at the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes.

So anyway, I have the San Diego Ballet girls in long white ruffled dresses swirling, turning and leaping about joyously for about a minute. Just enough time to build the energy and not so long that it becomes a "number." They are dancing to a Vivaldi piece that reminds me of the Main Street Electrical Light Parade. Much bounce and verve.

Tomorrow, I will start work on some of the interlocking pieces. Some of the stuff is being set by other choreographers, so as many people as possible get a chance to be represented.

I guess that is it for today.



Okay, the favoite thing of the day is Matt Mattox. Matt is THE MAN.

When I began dancing I was lucky enough to study with a teacher named Jack Tygett. Jack and his wife, Marge, had been dancers in Hollywood during the end of the big Hey Day of the musical era. Listening to Jack and Marge talk about dancing in movies choreographed by Agnes De Mille, Jack Cole, Nick Castle, Eugene Loring, Bob Fosse, Hermes Pan, et al. stirred my dance imagination.

But as much fun as it was to hear about the choreographers, it was even better to hear about the dancers. And when Jack would talk about the male dancers of the time, there were always two that stood above the rest. Roy Fitzell and Matt Mattox. Roy and Matt could do anything. Ballet. Jazz. Spanish, etc. etc. Roy danced for Eugene Loring. Matt danced for Jack Cole. Other dancers like James Mitchell worked for De Mille, etc. Choreographers all had their favorite dancers to work with.

We all know about the movie, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Choreographed by Michael Kidd, it is always mentioned as containing some of the best male dancing in cinema. This is a black and white still from that movie.



Although we think of all of the brothers as dancing, this is not the case. Howard Keel (Brother #1) doesn't move at all. He just sings. Brother #2 is a matinee idol that was being promoted. he basically gets in line at the end of numbers, so that Julie Newmar (yes, Catwoman from the later Batman series) can jump in his arms. The youngest brother, Russ Tamblyn (later to be seen as Riff in West Side Story) does alot of gymnastics, but not much dancing. Which leaves most of the heavy lifting when it comes to dancing to Jacques D'Amboise, Marc Platt, Tommy Rall, and Matt Mattox.

Jacques was on loan from New York City Ballet and, truth be told, he doesn't really have much film presence. Marc and Tommy had actually been pushed as secondary leading men by various studios. In the above pic, Marc's face is partially obsured, to his right is Tommy and to his right, at the edge of the pic is Matt Mattox.

The only brother who really looks like he could be a lumberjack AND a dancer is Matt Mattox.

Now, don't get me wrong, Tommy Rall and Marc Platt are amazing dancers (Mark has a breathtaking number in a horrible movie called Tonight and Every Night and Tommy could do triple air tours), but in this movie, its all about Matt Mattox. Matt is featured in a number called Lonesome Polecat. Slow. Simple. He dances and swings an axe in long clean arcs. As clean and crisp and simple as his dance style. His dance is very brief. But it is my favorite part of the movie.



After his career in the movies, Matt became a major exponent and teacher of jazz (he called the technique Freestyle) in Europe. He took his strong, precise, no-nonsense style into a world that valued the "latest thing," and he stuck to his guns. Always known for his integriy as a dancer, he brought that respect into the academic arena.

For Mattox, jazz was (is) not about "flash." It is a serious art form, that deserves serious study. And it was in the class, as a mentor, where he seemed to have found himself.

But I'll always remember those long sweeping arcs...

All Done

I guess its time to retrain my blogging muscles.

Well, we had our big auction.

We usually have it off-site, but since we just moved here, we felt we needed to introduce our patrons to Dance Place as much as possible this year. So in addition to in-studio performances and open houses, we had our auction here.

So the hallways were filled with auction baskets and items and services genrously donated by local merchants. We also had a Progressive Performance where the patrons traveled from one studio to another. The dancers in the studios got to speak to audiences one on one about the dances that they were doing. To keep it intimate, we kept the groups to about 25 per studio, so that each group of dancers had to repeat their dances 5 times.

5 dances were shown (well 6, but we will talk about that in a sec).

First was the previously discussed Swan.

Second was a dance choreographed for Shannon Hunter. Shannon hurt her foot right before our Sonnets show, so she was unable to perform in it. But I enjoy watching Shannon dance. She has a womanly quality (as opposed to a girl-ish quality) that a lot of dancers lack. So I choreographed a dance for her where she never gets up off the floor. It will be part of a ballet set to early jazz recordings that we will do next season.

Third was a reconstruction of a piece set to Scott Joplin music. It was first choreographed as a trio for a series of performances with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra. It is now going into a Joplin ballet next year and has been redone as a quartet.

Fourth up was a pas de deux from La Bayadere. It was performed by Bernadette Torres and Askar Alimbetov. She was originally rehearsing it for a competition, but has decided to do two solos instead. Since she had put in the rehearsal time on the dance and had no place to show it, we decided to give her the chance to perform it at the auction.

Fifth was a showing by the Junior Company, a group associated with our school. They performed 2 dances from La Bayadere as well.

We then had a live auction where many things were bid upon, including having me go cook at someones home. And that was followed by a dance on the green... in front of Dance Place... under afull moon... by students from the school and SDB company dancer, Abby Avery.

So a good time was had by all and we raised alot of money. Never enough, but a help. And at least all of the auction baskets that had over run the office are almost out of here. There is still a lone star shaped hellium filled balloon floating by me. I'll see how long it lasts.

There is still some vanilla-lemon cake in the freezer as well, I am guessing it won't last as long as the balloon.

Now I just have to finish the San Diego Performing Arts League STAR AWARDS and I will be free for a couple of weeks.

Well, not free. Lots of administration, but no production.



Okay, I have started to turn my desk into more of a personal environment. To that end, I have started adding a few things. Here you see...



Eternal happiness or Perpetual Happiness or some kind of Long Lasting Happiness. My older brother (who I have always had a curious relationship with to say the least) has on occasion given me a gift that resonates with me. To put it simply, we do not see eye to eye on many a thing. I actually feel a bit sorry for him, as I am sure that he was anticipating having a vibrant playmate when he was told that he was getting a baby brother. And instead he ended up with a serious, solitude-loving slug. It is this realization that has allowed me to excuse his poking, jabbing and general harassment of me as a child. I was simply no fun, since I was wrapped up in my little dreamworld.

Anyhow, he once gave me this little guy. There is a solar cell, so as long as he has light, his head rocks back and forth contendedly. There is a little green thing with a bunny tail hugging him. So when I come into the office, I have this smiling head bobbing movement thingy that welcomes me.

Eternaly.