Return to the centre of the universe!

I am in Toronto. Wheeeee!

Okay, their website says nothing so I am planning to be at the Victory on Friday around 6pm. If I don't see you before then, or if I do and you aren't sick of me, stop by :-)

Merry Ho Ho

I am currently in the other nation's capital so normal posts will resume in the new year.
For those of you in Toronto, I'm hoping of course to see you all individually, but if that doesn't happen, I'm planning on going to The Victory on Friday, January 1 at around say 6 or 7pm. I'm assuming they will be open that night...I should look into it. Anyway, I'll look that up somehow but put that in your calendars if you haven't had enough of me during the week...
Merry Christmas all y'all.

This made me really happy

As seen outside a coffee shop in Eastern Market this afternoon...

Snowballs in DC

You may have heard of the snowball fight at 14th and U, 2 blocks from me. I actually wish I'd heard about it while it was still on. It sounds like it was just some spontaneous fun for a bunch of people (around 200 ) who really never get to see much snow. That is until a snowball hit the car of an off-duty police officer. He then got out of his car with his gun drawn. He was in his personal vehicle and not in uniform. So of course someone calls in that there's a guy on the street with a gun and more police show up (the station is just next door to me). So yeah, it was all fun until the stupid DC cop behaved like a moron. Really, only in America would this happen...

Winter in Dupont Circle

16 inches fell in DC by 7pm tonight...

There and back again...

It was actually very beautiful out. Not at all cold and the snow falling constantly but not in an aggressive way. If you had snow tires I don't think driving would even be a problem. The metro was slow, but honestly not much worse than it is on a normal weekend. Anyway, made it out to Alison's and ate a lot. Her parents had the party catered (with waiters in tuxedos...) and had expected over 100 guests. About 30 made it - not bad considering. It seems to be a DC thing, catered parties in private homes (it is a different way of life here for sure). They served (among other things..) these butternut squash quesadillas - yummy!!!

In the "my life in DC is weird" vein, one of the other guests at this party was a former Toronto Argonaut. Nice guy - played with them in the 1999 - 2002 period. But seriously small world and I do wonder why this sort of thing happens to me all the time here...

Metro closing...

So with 10 inches on the ground in DC, the metro is closing the above ground stations at 1pm - so no Old Town party for me this evening. I should still be able to get to Alison's as that stretch is all underground - and it's not actually cold out, just snowing, so I see it as a bit of an adventure. Plus she has more food there than I do here since I've been using stuff up in preparation for being away. :-) And I bet I'd whip all these guys at a snowball fight!

Everything is shut down - the non-Smithsonian Museums, some entire banking chains. I guess getting in from the suburbs would be next to impossible. Though you'll be happy to hear that many of the malls remain open. There was a run on them last night from what I understand - the anticipated storm driving people out after work. You wouldn't think that this country is still deep in a recession...

Still snowing...

DC declared a "snow state of emergency" this morning. Virginia did it last night before it had even started to snow. Apparently this is so they can tow your car if you are parked on a snow route (otherwise they might be violating someone's civil liberties by requesting that you move your car! Americans are weird). I'm impressed that it's still actively snowing out though...

I am still planning to attempt at least one of the Christmas parties today. Alison is just in Cleveland Park, so 3 or 4 metro stops away (all underground stops too). Tonight's shindig in Old Town is more questionable... I'm assuming at some point the metro will get stuck and stop moving in which case Alison's family has tonnes of space or it is conceivably walking distance, less likely to want to camp out at the VP of Theatre Programming's place..

Storm of the Century!

Well that's what they are saying DC is in for - up to 20 inches of snow between now and Sunday morning. This apparently would be the most snowfall for a December in DC since 1932 and if it happens, is actually a significant amount of snow for a place with no snow removal budget left.

Everyone here was freaking out about it all afternoon. All flights for tomorrow had been cancelled by 4pm this afternoon (that would be before any snow actually hit). It started around 9pm and there is accumulation on cars and things now. So it's a real snowfall anyway. Apparently the fact that this storm is coming up at us from the south makes it bad. Something to do with the ocean temperatures being cold.

I'm hoping that all the craziness will be cleared up by Monday morning when I'm due to fly out. Also I'm really hoping Eastern Market will be open on Sunday when I was planning to pick up the last of my Christmas shopping - if not I'll have to move to plan B, which involves coming up with a plan B rather quickly...

Parties, parties, parties

Today was the KC's Christmas party. I was actually very impressed with it - it was a middle of the afternoon affair but it had catered food (not much veggie but still), an open bar (hic!) and a 12+ piece brass band playing - they were awesome. They were actually playing the concert on the Millennium Stage tonight so it was a bit of a two for one deal. Anyway, people actually sang along and danced. It was good fun.

Tonight we had our very merry Fellow Xmas gathering along with our Secret Slightly Over-Weight Jolly Seasonal Character gift exchange - also lots of fun. I got Joel, our new program coordinator, and so made him a "how to be Canadian" kit complete with maple fudge, Canada flag and pin and other assorted Canadiana. He's from Michigan so basically wants to be Canadian anyway (who doesn't!). Oh, I also made him an official "fan" page on Facebook, which he took in the spirit that it was intended :-)

Last night I went to see Young Frankenstein (same tour that will be in Toronto in March). I have to admit that I'm not really a Mel Brooks fan. I found this to basically have the same characters of The Producers, without such good songs. So I didn't love it. However, "the people" did (standing ovation) so hopefully it will sell well - sales have been slow. And I have to admit that even I laughed out loud at a number of occasions..

I can't believe tomorrow is my last work day before I fly home - lots still to do and coordinate. And oh yeah, at some point I have to pack! Ack! Saturday I have two more Christmas parties - crazy considering how few people I know in this city. One of them is back in Old Town, about 3 blocks from where I used to live - naturally! But that's okay, one night of commuting is better than five nights a week.

Entries may be sporadic over the holidays, please bare with me!

Official Fellows Honors Picture

As promised. Some of us are missing as this was a bit impromptu. However here we are at table 42...

More maple

I'm not sure what it is about DC that has made me want to bake things that I've never baked before. You will remember the runny buttertarts of Canadian Thanksgiving. This week I've been attempting maple fudge - to be Canadian - for our fellows Christmas gathering on Thursday.

Wisely I did a test run last night to allow myself room for error. Once again, the recipe did not set! Argh. So after consulting the Christensen-Torrs of Oakville who are much finer bakers than I could ever be, I tried again this evening. Success! I bought a thermometer on my way home and it made all the difference. Last night I think I had it boiling about 10 degrees to low and that clearly was enough to prevent whatever reaction needed to happen from happening. It is cooling now, but it certainly looks like fudge and the batter tasted like fudge so I think we're a go. Yay me!

Night of 200 Tubas

The much anticipated all Tuba Christmas Concert was held today on Millennium Stage. And yes, that was just as awesome as it sounds. I'm not sure how you come up with the idea of inviting EVERYONE who plays tuba to all come and play it at the same time, but it's a tradition around these parts. Video and photographic evidence attached. I should specify that this was taken at the rehearsal this afternoon, so don't judge too harshly - there was such enthusiasm. And it doesn't really do how loud it was justice. This is from 3 levels above.

Downtown grocery shopping is expensive...No wonder there are line ups out the door for the Trader Joe's near work...

Slugs

Washington tidbit #578

Slugs is the term that is used for this very grassroots system they have here for commuters coming in from Virginia (forgive me if I've already spoken about slugs...it's raining and gloomy here today so my brain is not fully functioning. Sluggish! I think I may have as Donna at work picks up Slugs every day...)

There are huge park 'n' ride lots in the Virginian suburbs. There are buses that pick up from these lots and head into several main transfer terminals (Pentagon, Rosslyn etc) however I'm told that these buses can take up to an hour and half to drop you at a metro station. Because of this, the Slug system emerged. A Slug is a person who needs a ride. Slugs will form lines depending on where they want to be dropped off (there are no signs or anything, the slugs all just know...). Drivers will pick up a certain number of Slugs and drop them off at one point in DC. No money is exchanged, the benefit to the driver is that they get to use the HOV lanes and therefore get in to town faster.

But there are rules. In fact there are websites devoted to the Slug rules. A Slug does not have to accept a ride and can wave a car off and get in the next one. Slugs are not to touch the radio. Slugs are not to speak unless the driver initiates conversation. And on and on. I admire it on one hand as it seems to be so efficient, but on the other, it's all a bit weird.

Holidays...

It occurs to me that I should mention when I'll be in Canada over the holiday weeks. This way hopefully I won't forget to tell anyone...

Ottawa - Dec. 21 to 26

Toronto - Dec. 27 to Jan 2

and then back to Ottawa for one night, flying out on the 3rd.

I'm a bit in denial that this is coming up so quickly and with Honors and the move am wishing I'd bought myself a bit more time to get organized. However, I'm sure it will all get sorted out. I have a low key weekend planned so maybe I'll begin to feel more on top of things shortly...

Random Fellow moment

Last night at the bar after the advocacy event, Damion, on of my fellow fellows was interviewed by a French TV news crew. This was very odd. Damion is the most sincere and earnest of our group - and a DC native so it seemed most fitting that they spoke to him. Their first question? Has Obama being President changed the night life in the DC area? Now that is cutting edge journalism. They were speaking English with very thick French accents so I was having to translate a bit so that everyone was understood. It does seem to be the sort of surreal thing that keeps happening to us on our bizarre journey...

Nights of arts advocacy

It seems the nights I'm not at performances I'm at DC arts networking and advocacy events. Last two nights in a row. What's interesting is that it seems that the idea of arts advocacy is very much in its infancy here. A similar event in Toronto would be packed or at least decently attended, in DC the fellows are often half the room.

Last night the event was to raise awareness of the arts budget cuts at the DC city council level. DC city politics are strange because ultimately Congress can overturn any decision that they make. I wonder why anyone bothers under these conditions. Seriously. There is very little support for an active arts movement here, I'm sure partly because the population is so transient and so much of the art comes from out of town - I don't know how large the live-in arts community here really is. Anyway, the event was at an art gallery - small, independent type so that was cool and a sharp contrast to the Smithsonian level galleries I've been frequenting since landing here. It was attended mostly by visual artists which makes sense, but there was a tiny turn out. The most fun of the night was going for dinner at a soul food restaurant across the street. It was just a very relaxing time.

Tonight's event was at a jazz club two blocks from my new apartment (fabulous! - I'm actually in a total jazz hood here I think there are half a dozen jazz clubs within 3 blocks of me). I'm not even sure what the point of the night was (the event itself was terribly organized - 40 minutes of speeches and a room laid out in such a way that it was impossible to "mingle" and yet the organizers kept trying to get people to stand up and mingle - not possible when the room is packed with tables and the servers can't even get by). However, I met the woman who does the jazz programming for the Smithsonian. Who knew they did jazz programming? Well I sort of did as there is a summer concert series in one of the sculpture gardens, but apparently there is a whole Smithsonian Jazz Ensemble. The woman was very cool (as you'd imagine) and for the first time I took someone's card who I'd be interested in talking more to. The Smithsonian used to do a whole range of performing arts and in fact, the KC model was based on what the Smithsonian did. After the KC opened, the Smithsonian stopped doing most of its live programming but the jazz somehow survived.

Anyway, it feels like it's been a long week, which I guess with the whole moving and Honors it really has. One more day and then I'll get to my groceries...

Honors pics

Yes here are some pictures - finally I know! They took an "official" fellows shot too which I'll put up once I get a copy of it.

Top is my Honors ID :-). Middle is the Grand Foyer from the balcony of the Eisenhower Theatre. 1800 people for dinner after the ceremony - something like 150 tables. And then me, at Table 42 :-) And for the observant amongst you, yes this is the same dress I wore to the Lion King opening, thus making it worth the ridiculous amount of money I spent on it at the time! It has now been in the same room as the President...

Am very tired and my go to be ridiculously early tonight. Have been unpacking and am settling in to the new place. I have too much stuff.

I walked to work this morning and it only took half an hour - this is actually a little faster than it will take me on the metro. Very exciting.

Anyway, I know you all don't care about that and want to hear more Honors stories.

For act two I was moved around a bit and for one segment was in a very prime location which will likely end up on the television broadcast. So if you are watching on December 29 on CBS, during the speech by Stephen Schwarzman (our chairman) and Aretha Franklin, I'm sitting dead centre of the orchestra about...ten rows back. People watching backstage said I was on the monitors which means I was taped. Of course I may end up edited out (shameful!) but we'll see. It's hard looking interested and engaged for extended periods of time.

For act one I had a terrific view of the Presidential box with the Obamas, Joe Biden and the Honorees. I was just below them, slightly to house right, two rows in front of the balcony overhang. When they first all came in, I was surprised that I actually felt chills seeing Bruce Springsteen next to Michelle Obama. It was really quite a remarkable experience.

Michelle was in purple and so was I! Look at me being all trendy. I had a pink wrap on though all the better to be spotted on TV :-)

We started our new rotations today. And of course because bureaucracy runs slowly, I had no computer. Apparently a computer had been requested, but IT believed that there was a computer at my work station and so did nothing. When being told that there wasn't one, they didn't believe it, but didn't come look until 2pm either. Supposedly I'll have one tomorrow. I left at 4 and went to Target.

Quick recap

Am just now home for the Honors extravaganza - it ran long so dinner was served at midnight - weeee!! Anyway, pretty remarkable event. I was a seat filler for the ceremony itself. In act one I sat next to jazz musician Christian McBride's wife while he played in the Dave Brubeck (apologies for spelling, it's 2am...) tribute (amazing by the way). His wife was lovely. When I explained to her that I was there to fill in for her husband she took me literally and talked to me throughout like we were old friends. To her left was the head of national counter terrorism. Yup, top guy looking for terrorists. I told him that in a movie he'd be played by Harrison Ford. He asked me if I meant young Harrison. I said yes, but I hadn't meant it! He actually was remarkably young for such a demanding job.

Celebs spotted up close: JON STEWART (yay!!!), Melissa Etheridge, Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone, Christian McBride (when he returned to his seat - jazz celeb), Herbie Hancock among others.

Best moment of the night, during the Bruce Springsteen tribute, seeing President Obama groove away while Melissa Etheridge played. He looks so tired, I think he could use a night off.

Bruce Springsteen is hot - something I'd never noticed before. Must now try to go see him in concert....

Good night, more tomorrow...

Honors here we come

I've moved!!! yay! Officially a resident of the District. Haven't unpacked, though made the bed. Hair = check

Nails = check

Now must hope the dress still fits and that I can find the appropriate undergarments to wear...and must leave in an hour. Wish me luck...

And so the crazy begins!

First I apologize to everyone who called me today that I could not speak with or have not called back. And it seemed that everyone I know called me! (which is lovely - but it's Honors weekend people! did you not read the last few posts?)

Adding to the crazy of Honors today was SNOW. Yes, it snowed in DC. I think a couple of inches in total, though none of it has lasted. It started this morning as I was on my way in to work and it sure did make people cranky. It was that pretty fluffy snow which in Canada we'd all just look out the window and say "awww pretty" and then go about our business. Here people can't drive and things shut down. Now it's just raining which is worse in my mind.

Today's major event was the Chairman's luncheon for the Honorees. Lots of big wigs in attendance. As well as all the Honorees of course- except Bruce Springsteen, not sure where he was. Anyway, so I got my first sighting of Robert De Niro and Dave Brubeck. I've met Mel Brooks of course because of The Producers in Toronto, and the fifth honoree, Grace Bumbry I'm sure is a lovely woman, but really no one is there looking for her autograph if you catch my drift.

Carol Burnett was at lunch as well as a couple of the folk from Criminal Minds (don't know their actual names). Senators and Congressmen were everywhere. I gave Michael York directions which was pretty much the hi-light of my afternoon.

The other big news this weekend is that tonight is my last night in Virginia. Tomorrow I officially live in the District. Yay!! It's very cool. I picked up my keys this afternoon and took a few bags over there tonight to ease the move in the morning. It's only a cab ride, but I thought if I didn't have to lug 4 cases all at once, that would be best. The place is bigger than I remember and my new roommate still seems very sweet. My own bathroom has a small tub - I had thought it was just a shower stall so this is really amazing news. Anyway, I'm feeling very positive about the change and all that it will bring. Tomorrow will be a crazy day, but will definitely be worth it.

Hmmm...this is my first posting from work and the site is coming up all funky, so I hope the end result is normal...
Honors madness has begun so I may not be able to post again until Monday - please be patient! That and the move makes for one very busy weekend.
I have very little to do actually - much less busy than I had anticipated. Tomorrow I'm at the Honorees luncheon - probably at a table in a different room from them! (but that's okay) and Sunday itself I don't have to be around until about 5pm. I'm a seat filler for the awards show itself, which means I'm likely to be on camera at some point as I sit next to a presenter's wife - bit stressful really, but should be fun. We have also just found out that we will be seated for the dinner afterwards as well - which is very unexpected. And kinda cool.
Preparations have already begun with areas of the building off limits and the front plaza being powerwashed. I have my Honors badge! (I took a picture, will post it next week :-) )
And I am very glad I don't drive in as the list of restrictions on the parking garage this weekend was about 3 pages long. The sniffer dogs will be in full force. However, the gift store remains open, so if Robert De Niro wants to pop in and buy a KC mug, he'll be able to do so....

Next rotations

So Monday, yes the day after the Honors, we start in our new rotations. As I may have mentioned, I'll be in marketing for half a rotation and then switching to theatre programming for the remainder. I met with the theatre boys here (yes, three of them, all boys) and think that all is going to be just fine. My supervisor John is worried that I'll be bored because it's all work I've done before, but as I said to him, I've not done it for the KC. And it's going to be busy, busy, busy as I'll be working on our McNally 3 play festival so lots of actors and creative types stressing about the place. Love it.

Marketing typically only gets two fellows per rotation and I am a bit of an add on because of my weird situation. So I won't actually be sitting in the marketing department (no room), I will actually take up residence in the theatre department right away but do marketing work - this is actually on an entirely different floor, but okay by me.

There is really very poor communication between departments - which I suppose is not unusual for large organizations. So John calls me today and asks when my marketing rotation starts (and therefore when I'll be joining them downstairs). "Monday", I say. "Hmmmm. There might be a logistical problem with that", he says. "Oh?" "Yes, that's where Max (VP of theatre programming) likes to put the Christmas tree. Looks like you are going to kill Christmas, I hope you're okay with that..." Imagine this completely deadpan.

I love it already. My plan tomorrow is to show up with some sort of Christmas tree thing (perhaps a hat if I can find one...) and present it to Max in order to save Christmas.

A typical Tuesday

Today was a very bizarre day. I ended up at three events, none of which I was attending when the day started.

In the afternoon I went to the dress rehearsal for our next TYA show Teddy Roosevelt and the Ghostly Mistletoe. A significant portion of our children's programming seems to focus on tales about presidents. The stories are fiction, but they give little educational tidbits throughout - helpful for me, because I know very little about American Presidents. This one was about the President not wanting a Christmas tree but his kids trying to persuade him to get one. It was quite cute, with some fun slap-stick bits which I'm sure the kids in particular would enjoy, but I didn't find the writing overly strong.

I then attended a panel discussion with four of the actors from August Osage County. Why did I do this??? I was kicking myself about 2 minutes in. Actors, when given the opportunity to speak in public, talk about themselves. Endlessly. And they aren't very interesting or articulate (with rare exceptions of course). This was mind-numbing. My Toronto friends will be pleased to know that they loved the audiences in TO (though they slammed the Canon Theatre itself - which is hard to fault them for...). One of the actresses kept saying "hilar", because of course saying the full word "hilarious" is just too much work. How many ways can I say annoying??Anyway, in addition the event was poorly moderated and so the hour felt much, much longer.

And lastly I went to a lecture by these folk:

http://www.nysocialdiary.com/node/281959

It was on:

“A World of Trouble: The White House & the Middle East--from the Cold War to the War on Terror”

I felt a bit like there should have been a secret handshake or something to get in. It was a room full of retired journalists and high up Capitol Hill folk (who I'm sure I should likely have recognized). It was interesting, but far too broad a topic to be covered in an hour and the speaker basically summed it all up with "it's complicated", which wasn't really anything we didn't know going in. It was like a DC lefty version of some of the political groups some of my Canadian relatives have been known to attend :-) It was that high functioning, retired but still engaged demographic. It was however, a pleasant change from talking about arts management in these troubled economic times! Which is what I spend all day talking about and debating...