Be Proud

Look. As of late I've been writing about current things happening to me as an individual, but there is something bigger going on right now with the Equality Vote looming over our heads at the NYC Senate, and with the beginning of NYC Pride officially starting tonight, I find myself wanting to discuss "coming out."

Now for all my bleeder folk out there, don't turn away just yet. This isn't only about being a Homo, it's actually more about being a Hemo. I had a harder time coming out as a Hemophiliac than I did as a Homosexual. I'm sure your face is doing some weird scrunched up "huh?" thing right now, so read on my friends, and see what I mean...

Throughout past blog posts I have discussed growing up with Hemophilia. Wearing a helmet, covered in pads, and although most people were accepting, some were not. It's hard not to tease the kid who looks like he just stepped out of some weird science fiction movie where helmets are used to access parts of the brain so I can communicate telepathically! (or most people just thought I had a mental disability, but I'm trying to keep it light).

So going to Penn State was like a breath of fresh air! I didn't have a cell phone, there was no The Facebook, and I had never jumped into the myspace or livejournal craze, so there was nothing linking me to my old life. I mean, come on, my nickname in high school was Bleeder. I decided I wasn't going to tell anyone that I had hemophilia. It's my business and nobody else's. Of course, I told my dance professor, but other than that... No one.



Freshman Year of College!
With the fabulous Carol Angeli Dillard

At some point I let Melissa know, and a couple other of my classmates, but I wanted to keep it hush-hush. Not the smartest thing in the world going out at PSU with no Medic Alert, nobody knowing, just plain old me, but it was a liberating experience, to be in the closet about my disability.

And then Theatre 100 happened. So I can save my face professionally, I am not mentioning any names here, but I am going to tell this story. Theatre 100 was a general arts credit that ALL theatre majors at PSU are required to take, but is open to anyone at the university. So needless to say, that was one of the 200+ people lecture classes. The premise was that we learned the background of the time period a play was written in, read the play, grad students performed scenes, and then we took a test. One of those plays was Angels in America.

For those of you not familiar with Angels in America, aka the hemos, it is a story about the AIDS epidemic in the 80's, mostly following the homosexual life style, but makes references to hemophilia and drug use.

So it's the section of the class where we are learning about the time period and we start off discussing the GMHC and drug use, and then my professor begins to discuss Ryan White.

For those of you not familiar with Ryan White, aka the homos, Ryan White was a hemophiliac who received Factor VIII infusions and received AIDS from this. He was diagnosed in 1984, and when schools forbade him to come back, they started a campaign, and Ryan White became the new face of AIDS...

Well in class, the professor started talking about how horrible and crippling Hemophilia is. How Ryan White, as an active child, was the anomaly. How most Hemophiliacs sit at home and do nothing because their disease has crippled them so...

Now my blood is starting to boil, and I look around at the few people I have actually told, and they are just staring at me with this look of "seriously?" so I had a choice. To come out or not. To go back to being Bleeder, or Helmet Head, or any other fine choice of words, or I could just let everyone think these lies about a disease that I have lived with my entire life... It really wasn't a choice, I only had one true option... I raised my hand...

My professor stopped in mid-sentence and tried to chastise me by saying, "I'm sorry, is there something you have the say that is so important that you will interrupt me while I'm giving a lecture?" and then she sips ever-so-nastily on her Diet Coke...

I stood up. "Yes," I replied. "I do." And began to talk about what it was like growing up in the 80's with Hemophilia. I know I was right at the cusp of when all this happened, but my brother was in the thick of it. And NEITHER of us were inactive couch potatoes. My brother played Little League and was a cheerleader in HS. I was a dancer and ran X-C. This was not some illness that caused us to be invalids. As hemophiliacs, we live. We are active, and we do the same things other kids do, just with a little extra cushioning...

I looked around and saw everyone in this 200 seat lecture hall staring at me, my fellow MT's grinning from ear to ear. My professor, after a moment to collect her thoughts, went through her overhead transparencies and with nothing more than a "thank you for that," she moved on to discussing Rock Hudson.

I know that the argument of the LGBT community getting married is extremely politically charged and steeped in religious battles that don't really need to be there, but what I ask for is for everyone to just come out. Be proud of who you are!



NYC Pride March - 2009

Whether you have HIV, or diabetes. Whether you're gay or you had that one experience at Boy Scout Camp (come on... You know you did). Or even if you have been dying your hair blonde because you don't want the world to know you're a ginger (which I wouldn't understand cause gingers are hot), just come out of the closet! Be you! And be proud. Pride Week isn't just for gay people anymore... It's for all of us.


Till we meet again...

Location:E 73rd St,,United States

Bleeding Across the Country - Day 8

I made it home! After 14 hours in a Sprinter van, we arrived in New York City at around 2am.

So the start of the day...

We wake up and like 9:30 and I go downstairs to get some free hotel breakfast when I find out it ended at 9. Great. So THIS is how my day is going to go.

FINALLY we get a call from the garage that the new seat belts have been installed. Jeff and I get our stuff packed and head to the Dodge dealership to get the van so we can drive home....





We see our van and get so excited... But not too excited. We don't want to jinx ourselves again. So after a lengthly test drive we drop off the rental car and get on the road.

I wish I could regale you with fabulous tales, but there aren't any. We drove straight to NYC in 14 hours and then went to sleep. Pretty boring, but I had to complete this monstrosity of a road trip. Pride is coming up. Expect a pretentious post soon... :-)


Till we meet again...

Location:E 73rd St,New York,United States

Bleeding Across the Country - Day 7

When the skies are brighter canary yellow
I forget ev'ry cloud I've ever seen,
So they called me a cockeyed optimist
Immature and incurably green....

Yeah. I felt like quoting South Pacific was exactly what I needed after this day. This terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, day... (Where is Alexander when you need him)... Although it started off AWESOME.

So after passing out at like 4am after chit-chatting with Mel, I woke up at like 7 and walked back to the hotel to get ready for breakfast with Michael Schultz (@michaelschultz). Not only is he the creator of Hemalog, but he is also just a straight up cool dude. He picked me up and we went to this awesome restaurant aptly titled The Cafe. I had this amazing Hash and Eggs and he had Twice Baked French Toast. The food was amazing, and the conversation was even better. We discussed everything from the new iPhone OS to the way we were raised involving protective head gear (that lucky duck didn't wear a helmet. I'm totes jeals).







He's heading to TX, so let's wish him a much better #HemoRoadTrip than I've been having... Segue to...

THE GARAGE.

OMG. So we were told that the van would be ready today by 10, 11 at the latest. By 12 we still have not heard from the garage, so... We decided to just drive to the garage and wait there. We hop in our adorable Chevy HHR rental, and drive into downtown Louisville.

When we get there, we discover that they have JUST started to run the diagnostic. AT 12:30!!!!!!! They have had this van for over 2 months. We are pissed. So we now know we probably aren't getting home now until Tuesday afternoon... At least there was a Purple Pegasus...







Turns out, we needed new seat belts. And guess what. None in stock. So Patrick decided to fly home while Jeff and I stayed behind, again, to hope that the van will actually be fixed Tuesday morning. So please... PLEASE keep me in your thoughts because I would really like to get back to NYC and some point before I turn 30... Fingers crossed...

Side note? Um... Louisville has Mello Yellow Zero. Yes, please...





Till we meet again...

Location:Alliant Ave,Jeffersontown,United States

Bleeding Across the Country - Night 5 & Day 6

Wow. I'm actually going to have a positive blog post for once! Who knew?!

So my friend Melissa was super tired when we arrived, and we were HUNGRY, so we left Melissa at Derby Dinner and went to the Smokin' on the River Festival. It was this AMAZING BBQ festival with Blues music. It was awesome.










I had some amazing BBQ, and a beer and some FUNNEL CAKE... I totally forgot how much I LOVE funnel cake.









After the festival (the festival? The KING'S festival?!?!) we went back to the hotel and I grabbed some clothes and then went to the actor's house where Melissa lives.

And then, I met Schmatthew. Amazingly fabulous in every sense of the word. And then i met Schmlexi, who was equally as fabulous... And then we went to bed.

*cue birds chirping*

As I awaken refreshed and renewed with baby birds tying ribbons in my hair, we head to Toast in downtown Louisville. It was an amazing brunch. Not as good as Belcourt (of course), but still DELICIOUS!








After brunch we all just shot the breeze and went for a Target run, before I returned to the hotel for a refreshing shower and got all dolled up to go see a play at Derby called "Life After Dad." We shared a couple bottles of wine and had some delicious food, and then we returned home for a bit. I caught up with another old friend, Schmelly (Not smelly. She actually smells quite nice), which was much needed. :-)

We then decided to go to The Connection so Melissa decides to be the DD and Schmatthew and I are going to be the passengers. After we park the car, we head into Tryangles, which is a cool, low key gay bar where a kinda creepy "straight" guy decided to latch onto us and follow us to The Connection, which is the top Drag Club in the country.



We paid our cover, grabbed some beers, (and by beer I mean Maker's) and grabbed a table. What followed was one of the greatest drag shows I have ever seen (Sorry Lauren Ordeir... Love you!). After the fierce show, we danced for a while and then headed home, after some White Castle, of course...

It was amazing to get to see Melissa and meet her dear friends that I have heard so many amazing things about. Here is that silver lining. Keep posted for some amazing revelations, because it goes back down hill after this... Ugh.....


Till we meet again...

Location:Forest Dr,Louisville,United States

Bleeding Across the Country - Day 5

So, I always try to keep a positive mindset when it comes to tragedy. So this entire trip I have been cracking jokes and trying to keep things light, and yesterday, I snapped. Well, got really upset...

So we get up at the crack of dawn and get some coffee. We then take the surprisingly clean shuttle to the LAS airport where we start our trip to Louisville, KY, where the second van has been repaired.

In case you haven't been reading the past posts, here is a very brief summary:

I was asked by my old theatre company to fly to LA to pick up a van that had broken down and was left because the tour needed to continue. On the way home we were to swing by Louisville, KY and pick up ANOTHER van that had broken down and drive them both back to their destination in NYC. The LA van broke down in Vegas and after three days of trying to get it fixed, we ultimately gave up and are now on our way to Louisville to pick up the second van.

Okay. So the flight went well. I took a bit of a nap anodyne enjoyed a delicious Quiznos breakfast sandwich that was amazing (Who knew?).



We land in Memphis during a layover, and head to Popeye's for some lunch. Yes, I dunno how I'm going to get naked this thursday, but I'm going to have to. Anywho, Jeff called the garage in Louisville where the van is being repaired to let them know when we are arriving because they are sending someone to pick us up.

The van isn't ready and won't be until Monday.

I lose it. I start laughing and crying all at the same time. So here we are about to board this ghetto little plane and head to Louisville, KY to pick up a van that has not yet been fixed, but has been sitting at this garage for 2 months, and we are going to be stuck in Louisville for 2 days. I lost it...

So we get to Louisville in one piece and start looking for hotels and stuff. Jeff books one in Clarksville, IN which happens to be next door to the Derby Dinner Playhouse where my best friend of all time, We shall call her Schmelissa, is working on The Sound of Music... Hey... Every cloud has a silver lining.




Schmelissa and I in 2006.
See how close we are?!?! ;-)

So hold on tight... Tomorrow I will post about the rest of the evening and the fun day off in Louisville... At least I get to see a friend huh?

Till we meet again...

Location:Marriott Dr,Clarksville,United States

Bleeding Across the Country - Day 4

So guess where I am... VEGAS... UGGGGHHHHH.

So Vegas is a lot of fun, but not when you spend most of your day chilling at a Freightliner hoping you're gonna get on the road... And then you don't.. I'm bleeding across Nevada at this point, not the county. Let me fill you in..




So we wake up early to go back to the Freightliner place and break out the Phase 10 cards again... 8am... 9am.... 10am... When 11am rolls around we realize something must be up, then one of the technicians comes in and asks, "Who is in charge of the Sprinter?" Jeff responds. And the technician then says, "Come with me and I'll show you what's wrong..." Uh-oh. That's never good.

After a little bit, Jeff comes back, with this look on his face that just breathes negative things. Yes. The van is broken. Its some turbo something or other that my little "gactor" (not to be confused with factor. Ha! The gactor needs factor. Might be my new tagline...) mind just cant understand, but it has something to do with a flap or valve that gets stuck... (That's what she said...) And we cannot get the part until Monday. It is Friday. You have got to be kidding me. We were supposed to be back in NY by Monday. Okay. Breathe deep. We will figure it out.

Jeff gets on the phone with Theatreworks and talks to them for a while. Here is the resolution. We will now be flying to Louisville where we are going to pick up the other van we were supposed to pick up, then drive to Dayton, OH. After staying overnight in Dayton, we are then driving straight back to NYC, and after the van gets fixed, someone is going to go back out and get it...

So we got a hotel near the airport and just kinda chilled out. I went to bed super early because our flight is at 8:25am. Keep checking back to see how the rest of these adventures play out!

Till we meet again...

*PS- My elbow is fine :-) In case you were worried...

Also, tell me your bad road trip/travel stories! Mention me on twitter and add the hashtag #hemoroadtrip

Location:Who knows...

Bleeding Across the Country -Day 3

Oh man. It has been a trip of all trips. So we wake up bright and early to head out on the road. Van fixed. Donuts in hand (Yummm. Krispy Kream). And we begin the trip across the Rocky Mountains to Denver, Co.



Krispy Kreams for Breakfast

We start out driving on I-15 towards Utah and cross through the Virgin River Gorge. It was STUNNING. I couldn't believe how breathtaking the scenery was. For a Pennsylvania boy like me, the barren mountains are beautiful.








So I'm playing games on my iPad when the van starts to slow down. I look up to see us going 40 mph up a hill and realize that the unthinkable has happened. The van was not fixed. So we coast into St. George, Utah and try to find someone who will service a Sprinter Van. We find a Dodge dealership and hope for the best.



Oh no... not again!!
St. George, Utah

After waiting around for about an hour, we find out that they can't help us. They don't service Sprinter Vans, so off we go to a Ghetto Diesel garage hoping that they can help us. Unfortunately, they can not. They are booked solid for two days, so we can either wait and see if they get a no-show, or head to a different city.

Now here is the thing. Three companies make Sprinter Vans... Mercedes, Dodge, and Freightliner. Trying to find someone who can actually service a Sprinter van is like trying to find an out homosexual Mormon in Utah... You know they are there, just not sure where...

So anywho, we have two options, drive 4 hours out of our way to go to Salt Lake City, or turn around and head to... You guessed it... Las Vegas.




So... Back down I-15 we head towards Vegas... By the time we make it to the Garage it is now 4:25 and they close at 4:30 so they tell us to come back in the morning.... Sooooo.... We call up Excalibur and book another room.

The rest of the night consisted of drinking and just living it up in Vegas. I went to Coyote Ugly, rode the New York, New York roller coaster, and had 2-4-1 beers at Rok Nightclub...


Um.. ROK OUT!!!!
(please remember to drink responsibly and only over the age of 21)

After Rok, I met up with Jeff and we went to Charlie's, which is a FABULOUS country bar with lots of Line Dancing... We had sooo much fun.

CHARLIE'S
(I am not in this video)

After that I ended up at Krave, which is apparently THE rainbow bar to go to on The Strip. I had so much fun going out, meeting new people, and seeing Vegas.

You MUST come back and read tomorrow's post because you will not believe what happened today... All I have to say is, Leaving Las Vegas is a lot harder that it seems...





Till we meet again...

Location:N Green Valley Pkwy,Henderson,United States

Bleeding Across the Country - Day 2

Craziest. Day. Ever. Okay, where to begin.

So we get up early in the morning and check out so that we can get the van to Freightliner so we can get it fixed and get on the road. Well, we assumed that we would be able to get some kind of breakfast nearby. Nope. Not at all. Thank God they had a coffee pot.

So after a rousing two hours of Phase 10 (I love Phase 10. Brilliant game.), we got the word we could leave. Yeah! So we hop in the van, stop at a 7-11 so we could grab some Slurpies because it was over 100 degrees by 11. And out on the road we went.

Well I started my blog post and was totally unobservant when the following happened...



The van just died. Straight up died. We were going 30 mph up a hill. So I was like, AHHHHHHHH! We had only been driving for an hour. So off to the side of the road we go. And wait. For an hour. And there was NOTHING around.



Omg. So we had two options. Try to make it to a Freightliner further down our route over 200 miles, or turn around and head back to Vegas. Since we were heading into the Rocky Mountains with no acceleration or pickup, we decided to turn back. In making this decision it meant that we would NOT make it to Denver until like 3am, so we decided to just spend another night in Vegas. Oh darn.

So we drive back to the Freightliner and wait to see why the van is still not working. I decided to take this opportunity to call up my Uncle Joey, who I haven't seen in years. Why not? He came and picked me up and we went to In-And-Out burger. YUMMMMM! Come on In-And-Out! Get to the east coast already!

Anywho, after catching up with my Uncle for a bit, I went back to the hotel to check in with the boys.

I'm still getting used to my iPad. And I wrote yesterday's blog post on the iPad. I didn't think it would be a big deal. I would email myself the pictures and then just post when I had wifi. All hotels have wifi... Right? WRONG. Our hotel didn't have wifi and I freaked out. I had to pay $10 for wireless that some outside company has up around Las Vegas, but it was so slow and kept coming in and out. After an hour I finally got the blog up and decided I write on my phone from now on. Hahaha.

After that we decided to go to the pool. So beautiful. It was a gorgeous day outside and Patrick and I had an amazing time in the pool! I was trying to be a little gentle because my elbow was still bothering me. A little ice when no one is looking never hurt anyone.

After swimming for a bit in my FABULOUS new bathing suit, which makes it's first, and last, appearance in this video (I left it at the hotel), we all showered and decided to hit the casino for some food.




We went to New York, New York and decided to get Chineese food at Chin-Chin and it was fantastic. A Sapporo and Philly roll. Just what I needed.


After ALL that happened this day I was so exhausted I cancelled my plan to go to Krave (where they apparently have cute go-go boys), and decided to go to bed because I felt completely...



USED!

The beds were comfy and I drifted straight off into dreamland.

Check back tomorrow for my Rocky Mountain High. (Gotta love John Denver...)

Till we meet again...

Location:W Pioneer Blvd,Mesquite,United States

Bleeding Across the Country - Day One

So I already posted about the fun flight yesterday, but I don't think I told everyone WHY I was flying. I am making a Cross Country road trip from Los Angeles to New York and I've brought my video camera with me! I don't know if any hemophilia stuff will happen*, and only God knows if I'll end up in some seedy gay bar singing Rebecca Black's Friday in Iowa somewhere... But I can guarantee this is going to be full of laughs, and maybe some tears.

So here's what's up. I have mentioned TheatreworksUSA in previous posts as a company I respect and love to work for. I toured with them in the 2007 Fall touring company of Seussical the Musical, and performed three more contracts with them up until 2010. The kind of productions that they put on are well produced and really help make a difference in arts education across the country. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2012 so if you saw a show in a field trip when you were in elementary school, there is a good chance it was produced by TheatreworksUSA.

Anywho, since I have maintained a great working (and personal) relationship with TWUSA, I was asked to help them out. A van of theirs was involved in an accident in Los Angeles and the cast had to leave the state before the van could be fixed, so my old Stage Manager, Jeff, the most recent assistant stage manager of Seussical, Patrick, and myself flew out to Los Angeles to drive the van back to NYC in one piece. And in a timely manner.




So yesterday, after landing safely at LAX, we took a cab to the Dodge Dealership that fixed the van, hopped in, and started the trek back. Our first stop on the tour... VEGAS!

We are driving down I-15 when all of a sudden, the van begins to slow down. Like, no pickup.

So we pull over on the side of the road and wait a bit. Maybe it's over heating in the 105 degree sun? Maybe it's the Turbo Injector which is a constant problem in Sprinter vans. Who knows? But we waited a bit and hopped back in the van to try and complete our trip to Sin City. After about another 20 minutes, it happened again, so we waited for over an hour this time.

We found a little bar/restaurant/gas station/mini-mart/social club off the side of the road (Welcome to the desert). We went in, sat at a table, and played some chess. I dunno what the deal was, but the proprietor of the place HAD to take our picture playing chess and post it on the Facebook page. Then they gave us these delicious Blue Cream sodas to thank us. After getting my butt kicked in chess (and you would think that a no-impact sport like chess would be my thing, not so much. Right bleeders?), we climbed back into the van and shuffled off to Vegas.

After checking in to the Excalibur Hotel and Casino, we hit the room to shower and grab some food.


We ended up walking to the Luxor and eating at T & T, which stood for Tacos and Tequila. I had an AMAZING Acái-Pomegranate Margarita and an appetizer sampler which I couldn't finish.




Jeff went and hit the hay while Patrick and I hit the floor for just a little gambling. We had to get the van to the garage by 8am and with the time change and all, we had been up for almost 24 hours, so I didn't do very much.

I went to the slots first and lost $20 in like 2 min. So.... Of course I threw in another 20. After almost loosing it all, I ended up winning it back so I decided to leave the slots up $2. Yes. $2. I went looking for video Roulette, which was closed, but video BlackJack was open, so I took a seat. I started doing really well and was up $50 at one point before plummeting into a deficit. I had $.80 left of my original $40. I'm not a huge gambler so I took my voucher and went to head back to the room.

As I'm walking back to the room I realize, what the hell am I going to do with an $.80 voucher? So I threw it in a Houdini slot machine. Harry Houdini. Master Escapist. (THE PEOPLE CALLED IT RAGTIME!) I threw in the voucher and hit max bet, and won $1.50. Same thing. I won $3. So I sat down and decided to play out this voucher. 10 min later, I get two rotating wilds and the machine goes CRAZY! I won $127!!!!! That put me $80 over my initial $40! I was thrilled! Needless to say I decided to call it quits and went up to my room, where I passed out with visions of Houdini dancing in my head.

And guys, WAIT until tomorrow when I tell you what I'm going through at this exact moment, but that's Day 2. We were supposed to drive to Denver.... Uh-oh...


Till we meet again...

*Since starting this post, my left elbow has started to hurt, but no swelling or loss of mobility, so I shall keep you all posted!

Location:Las Vegas,United States

Up, up, and Away

So I'm flying. Literally. On board wifi is the best invention man has ever had. I can be on Grindr AND write a blog post at the same time. AWESOME!




Anywho, as I sit here on this plane I think back on a very scary story, although now I find it funny. I know that I have discussed my mother multiple times on this blog. And how she can be a little, over-protective.

Well. Every year around winter holidays, my mom and I would fly to Florida to spend Christmas with my aunt, cousins, and Grandmother. It was a tradition I always looked forward to because not only would I get to see my family, we usually got to go to Disney and see Figment. Yes. Figment is my favorite Disney character. Big surprise, the lavender dragon.

Okay, so one year I'm on the southbound plane, and as we begin the decent into the Jacksonville Airport, I feel a pop behind my right eye followed by the second most intense pain I have ever experienced in my life, right behind the root canal I had without a nerve block (another story). I start screaming my head off. At like age 13. Everyone starts staring at me, and I'm sure I've popped a blood vessel and I'm dying. Like I said, I have never experienced pain like this before, especially when it was so unexpected. The airline calls for an ambulance to meet us at the gate and they rush us into the ambulance and off we go....

Now here's the thing. A lot of the next part of this story is only partially true because I don't remember much of it due to the pain being so bad it was blinding. I don't really remember much until like 12 hours later, but this is how the story has been passed down to me, so take what you will. (Plus I'm sure I'm gonna embellish a little like the good gay I am.)

This was back when I used to actually carry my factor with me (Kids, always carry factor with you on trips. Do as I say, not as I do). So when we get to the emergency room my mom's cooler is open and factor boxes are all over my bed. The ER doctor couldn't get ahold of my hematologist from Hershey Medical Center, and he didn't feel comfortable infusing until after the CT scan. My mother on the other hand felt it was EXTREMELY important to infuse first because we could be wasting valuable time because, apparently, there was like a 2 hour wait for the CT machine. And she let him know... loudly. When Momma Bear comes out, she will do EVERYTHING she can to protect her cub.

In the meantime, my family doesn't know where I am. Here they are, at the airport, when they get paged to go to the information counter. You have to realize how different of a time this was. This was pre-cellphones and pre 9/11, so my family was actually at the gate like you see in older movies. There were two hospitals I could have gone to, and they didn't know which one...

All I know, is that when they got to the ER, they walk-in to me, clutching my face and crying my eyes out on a hospital bed because I am in so much pain AFTER they gave me codeine while my mother is screaming at the ER doctor and nurses and throwing my medication at them telling them to infuse me NOW!

You can imagine what a sight this was. I feel so bad for everyone else in this emergency room.

I still can't believe they didn't call security on my mother, but before the hospital could escort her away, they get in contact with my coordinating nurse from Hershey and she insisted that they infuse. I finally get my medication, and then they end up taking me for CT scan later.

Of course they found nothing... And released me. But who knows if they hadn't infused what could have happened. I had blurred vision for almost 2 days after that and we still never knew what actually happened, but I must say it was the most exciting flight I have EVER taken.

And that year, we DEFINITELY went to Disney. Yes......

Till we meet again...

Location:3,000 Feet Above Lincoln, Nebraska

Hi-Dee-Dle-Ee Dee...

An actor's life for me...

We always do side jobs to get us through the rough patches. One I really enjoy (and look forward to) is monitoring auditions for TheatreworksUSA. I have worked for this company since 2007 and they hold a dear, dear place in my heart.

So as I sit here and hand people sides for an open call, I think back on my life as an actor and the crazy audition stories that I have and thought this might be a good time for one of the many that will appear in this blog over the course of it's digital life.

I have a couple good ones, but I feel like this is a fun one to start off with.

I hadn't had my equity card for very long. For those of you not familiar with Equity... The Actors Equity Association is the Stage Actors and Stage Managers Union. It's how we get health insurance and stuff, and they're there to make sure a tour doesn't decide to close in Spokane with no one having a way to get home. Trust me. It's happened.

Anywho, like I said, I hadn't been in the union for very long when I saw a call for some off-bway show that I don't remember the name of. The auditions were down near Union Square, so off I go.

I thought the audition posting was looking for 2 male understudies. One that would play 45-55 years old. The other teens-20's. So I'm like ready. And I get there. And there are only 8 people there for an EPA.

Okay. Definition time again. An EPA is and Equity Principal Audition. Basically, they cast leads and understudies at calls like these. You show up, get an appointment time, and then come back for your appointment. For big shows, like Wicked, EPA's are EXTREMELY crowded and everyone who comes doesn't get seen, but for only 8 people to be at a call like this is a little odd.

Okay. I should also state that of these 8 people, there was one older gentleman, and 7 African-American actresses. Yes. Actresses. So I go up to the man checking us in, the monitor, and I ask to look at the call again. Not only was the call for a male understudy that would play 45-55 years old, but it was also for a NON-CAUCASIAN female understudy. I. Was. Mortified.

I thanked the monitor and was getting ready to leave when he stoped me and told me I should go in anyway. With so few people there, the casting director would rather see somebody rather than nobody. I agreed. I signed up for a time slot and sat to wait.

Okay, so the call was looking for contemporary musical theatre. I don't even remember what I had prepared, but when I walked in the theatre where the audition was, the casting director just started laughing because not only am I not a non-Caucasian female, I look like I just hit puberty, so we both just lost it. After we composed ourselves I explained the story. After more laughing I finally asked her what she wanted to hear. She told me since I wasn't right for this to just sing something pop-rock, so I went into my Jonas Brothers. Yes. Jonas Brothers. "When You Look Me In The Eyes" is my pop-rock ballad.

ANYWHO, to make this audition any MORE awkward, when I finished, the casting director asked me if I had "Strongest Suit" in my binder.

For those of you who are not overly into musical theatre, "Strongest Suit" is from the musical AIDA. And is a female song about fashion. So, I have to say, for the first time I had the use the "No, but I can learn it!" line. She laughed and said "Thank you anyway. Have a great day." And back I went to Queens to laugh and feel mortified about the ridiculous adventure I had been on.

So there we are... The first of many an audition story you shall hear, some even include bleeding, but you'll have to wait for those... Alright...

Till we meet again...

Location:W 26th St,New York,United States

I got a new way to walk...

So this morning was the NYC Hemophilia Walk. I took off work this morning serving Bloody Mary's to go walk for Bleeders. And I had a blast.




The only experience I have had with a big event like this was the AIDS Walk last year. A bunch of us from Seussical Past and Present got a team together and walked. I have always, fortunately and unfortunately been touring during the Hemophilia Walk since I've been living in NYC and this was the first year I could attend.

My good friend from twitterdom, Matt (@StiNgeMa) asked me if I wanted to walk with the Affinity Biotech team, and I was like, "Heck Yeah." (I think I actually said heck too. It felt like a heck moment). And I'm so glad he did because I was a little overwhelmed today.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it was not the amount of people who were there today. Strolling into Riverside Park this morning at like 9:15 (who am I kidding. I pranced in), it seemed like almost everyone there was a volunteer. I registered and then took a stroll to call the boy (yes. A REAL stroll this time). When I got a call from Matt asking where I was, I made my way back, and what I saw floored me. Unknowing to those around me, it took every ounce of me to not be overcome with emotion. (Yeah. I'm that good of an actor. Duh. I'm in an Off-Bway show that runs twice a week while wearing nothing.... Okay. Not the best argument.)

There were SOOO many people. And I dunno why, but I wasn't expecting so many kids! AND NO HELMETS! I didn't see one helmet, but there were kids in strollers, walking, being carried, and even kids on T-shirts! It was amazing to me to see the amount of people turn out, and most of the people weren't Hemophiliacs. In the LGBT world, we call them allies. And that's what they are, allies to the Hemophiliacs. To help us find a cure. To help us find a more comfortable way of life.

Being there with Matt and David and the rest of the Affinity team was amazing. I met some great new people who I hope to get to know better, and I even had someone recognize the blog, which was pretty cool.

And I'm not naive. This is a newish blog. If you're reading this you are probably a Hemo, a Homo, or know me... But if you're not (or even if you are), find a cause and help it out. It doesn't even mean monetarily. Volunteer, write a blog, or just tell someone you know who feels different that they are loved. You would be surprised how a little unexpected support can really make a difference.

Till we meet again...

Location:Great Jones St,New York,United States