On the cusp of a new chapter...

[thehefner]

Karaoke tomorrow, anyone?

If I go, it'll be your last chance to say goodbye to me.

Y'know, a thought occurred to me last Friday, mere hours after receiving notice that I was accepted into five Fringe Festivals (with one to three more possibly to come). As of today, I have one more day of my life as I pretty much know it. Come Thursday, I'm packing up the minivan and beginning my year on the road.

That's not to say I won't be back for a year. No, I've got half of March and all of April back here between NYC Fringe and Orlando Fringe. But that time will likely be spent working on deadlines for all the other Fringes, plus rehearsing my hour-long version of THE HEFNER MONOLOGUES: HOW HEFNERIAN (yet to be written). The rest of my time from Thursday to the Fall of 2009 will be spent on the road, and most of it expressly for to perform in Fringe Festivals.

Still stunned, I told Mom this epiphany, and she just replied, "You've got a job."

Yes. Yes I do, don't I? It's not a high-paying job, and hell, I'll be grateful if I can just break even this first year. But it's work. And more to the point--a point I must remind myself of frequently as I hyperventilate and stress out--it's what I want to be doing. I must never lose sight of that.

It's what I've been thinking of doing ever since Dad died. Some part of me wonders why it took a year and a half to get to this point, while another part is fucking stunned that it's actually happening at all. Because it so easily might not have happened, even though it needed to happen.

Let's just hope I don't blow it. No, that's not right. Let's just hope I come out of all this wiser, stronger, happier, and with a ton of awesome stories out of the deal.

So. Remingtons. Karaoke. Wednesday night. Who's in?

Comments

I still recall the taste of your beeeeeer...

[suburbfabulous.livejournal.com]

You realize that I will need a half-dozen front-row seats for NYC, right?
Have to intro you to capnredbeard, among others.
We'll work out the date later.
Mad love,
G.

Re: I still recall the taste of your beeeeeer...

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Dude, I will be so grateful not just to have you there, but for anyone you can drag along with you. I've heard over and over again of how I'm gonna lose money at Frigid, but it's worth doing purely for the press and contacts to be made. If you could do that, I would be much beholden unto you. We'll definitely keep in touch.

Re: I still recall the taste of your beeeeeer...

[suburbfabulous.livejournal.com]

Of course we will. Bon vivants must stick together; it's simply what one does.
And know that I will be summoning as many folks as I can to Frigid.
I told you, and I wasn't kidding:
You bring a show to The City, I'll be there.

[little-dinosaur.livejournal.com]

Damn right you've got a job. You're on tour. You've got somewhere to live from June 11-21, at least! I can't promise groupies, at least in the classical sense, but I can promise poutine!

[pokeyburro.livejournal.com]

I have volleyball playoffs; if I didn't, I'd track the place down... :-(

In case I don't see you some other day: knock em dead! I'm rootin' for you!

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Sadness. Ah well, kick some ass! And thanks, pally!

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

Karaoke doesn't even really get going until 10. It runs until 1 or so, and you can show up at midnight with no fear of missing out.

It's trivially easy to get to. Get off the Parkway on 198 going towards Fort Meade, and it's a half-mile down the road on the left. You can't conceivably miss it. If you get to 32 you've gone way, way too far.

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, it looks like we're going to the Austin Grill in Silver Spring instead...

[pokeyburro.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, 8-9pm is the first playoff, and if we win, I think that means a 9-10pm playoff follows. This is in Elkridge, which is at least a half hour or so from Silver Spring. So, as long as everyone hangs out as late as they would at karaoke, this seems doable.

I could even roll the windows down and dry off partially in the freezing autumn air....

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

Different story. The AG gig goes until 12:30, I think, but unlike karaoke it's not something you make a full evening of most of the time. thehefner would have to tell you how late he'll be there. I'd just be dropping in for a bit, for example.

[gnort.livejournal.com]

Via con dios dude. Just make sure you don't end up down by the river.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Via con queso, amigo. I promise I won't pick up anybody who looks like Rutger Hauer.

[gnort.livejournal.com]

Go with cheese? Yes, I believe I shall.

I was going for the Chris Farley reference; still not picking up anybody who looks like Rutger Hauer is sound advice regardless so it works on many levels.

[dame-ratcliffe.livejournal.com]

Are you still thinking of coming by LA??? I actually never knew why you're traveling as I hadn't gone back through LJ when you put your comment on my entry. This sounds awesome and I really want to hear more about it! I'll try to read backwards, but better would be hanging out and chatting about it if you come crash with us here!

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I'll be there in a week or two! I'm heading to Chicago this weekend, leaving Monday and taking old Route 66 straight down to L.A. Should take a week, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less, depending on how much I'm able to see and do.

Thanks for the offer! Thankfully, I have crash space, but we simply MUST hang out!

[dame-ratcliffe.livejournal.com]

So I see you're probably leaving Chicago right about now. Yay! Keep me posted. My current cell phone # is 323-839-5975. As you get a sense of when you'll be here (and for how long) lemme know so I can make sure we make time to see you!!!

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I'll totally call you when I hit LA in a few days! A week, more or less! I'm in OK right now, but should I call you when I hit the Grand Canyon, just to give you a better gauge?

[dame-ratcliffe.livejournal.com]

Cool beans. Yeah, give me a call when you get a little closer so we know when to set aside Heffy time.

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

I'm there if anybody else is.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Let's see how folks feel. I'm kinda leaning more towards just going to Austin Grill, seeing Mo, and having nachos if that's where folks are gonna be.

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, right, Mo at Austin Grill. Yeah, do that instead.