Is this thing on?

A haiku regarding my absence...

Long-distance road trip...
Great for thinking and planning.
Not so great for butt.

Wow... I had no idea it had been so long since my last post! Loyal readers, I am so sorry! The past week or so must have been a desolate and lonely time. :)

So, what have I been doing? hmm...

1. Finishing up the season at Central City Opera, or as I like to call it "Misogyny 2008." hehe. Three shows featuring sexual predation of women.... The Rape of Lucretia, West Side Story, and Susannah. All kidding aside, there was some powerful (if depressing) work going on this summer, and I was happy to be a part of it. Also, my cast of Susannah (Amanda Hall, David Govertson, Daniel Shirley and Josh Whitener), rocked the house. Not to mention the kick-buttock singers in the scenes program. Yay.
2. Gathering up all my stuff, packing it tightly into my small car. (see #1 above)
3. Visiting Santa Fe. Seeing the shows and my dashing baritone pal. Taking in the art galleries on Canyon Road and getting inspired.
4. Visiting Amarillo. Seeing the opera camp production of Brundibar and catching up (ever so briefly) with Amarillo pals.
5. Driving, driving, driving to Houston... (see haiku, above)
   
6. Unpacking my stuff into pal Susan's living room, in prep for our upcoming move into a two-bedroom, hopefully the first of the month.
7. Painting up some cute little canvases for the newborn baby of some good friends. I will scan them in when they are done. SUPER CUTE if I do say so myself.
8. Beginning my CRUSADE OF PRODUCTIVITY. Brace yourselves. I have dedicated myself to a plan of "regular" working hours during the times that I am not on a gig... when the idea of "regular" hours gets shot to hell in favor of working basically all waking hours. So today, I got up around 8am-ish, went for a jog, made some oatmeal, then hit the library for a solid 4 hours. It is incredible what you can accomplish when you focus yourself. I knocked some major points off of my "to do" list! More on this to follow...

So there you have it. So nice to be back in Houston, though I always feel displaced and out-of-whack for the first few days. How have YOU been?