On the 20th DaY of TiZmas

On the 20th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

20 things I'm throwing out from junk drawer...

chinese takeout menus (I NEVER get delivery)

gum (ancient)

Epi Pen (pesky bees but it's time for a new one)

dog poop bag little fire hydrant carrier (without the dog poop bags)

Pet Check technology card (haven't used in three years and it was expensive but three years is long enough and the technology is probably old...as of 2 1/2 years ago)

NYSC regional passport (haven't been a member in two years and I DO know and they'd give me a new card anyway)

lint roller (1)

off-the-wall punch card (1) (1 punch...I shouldn't be going there anyway)

an ancient eraser from high school that i wrote TIZ on in pen

my Beauty and the Beast front of house name plaque

tip money ($9 in singles...to balance out what i owe the dogwalker

important business cards I'll never reference (50+)

a bag full of keys  (what are they for? I don't know.)

detritus

flotasam 

jetsam (honestly...I don't know what this shite is.)

coupons (past due and multiples)

some pills (vitamins? unknown specification and unknown origin and filthy...GAH!)

pencils (3...broken)

pens (2...all done run outta ink)

On the 19th DaY of TiZmas

On the 19th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

19 things that are in my junk drawer (obviously not EVERYTHING in my junk drawer)...


chinese takeout menus (I NEVER get delivery)

gum (ancient)

Epi Pen (pesky bees...it's not bee season so it's living here)

dog poop bag little fire hydrant carrier (without the dog poop bags)

Pet Check technology card (haven't used in three years but it was expensive so I'm saving it)

NYSC regional passport (haven't been a member in two years but you never know)

lint roller (2)

off-the-wall punch card (1) (1 punch)

an ancient eraser from high school that i wrote TIZ on in pen

my Beauty and the Beast front of house name plaque

tip money ($11 in singles)

kazoo

clothes pin (2)

wrench (to some Ikea product) (2)

Contingent Sea beverage cozy

NaNa's mass card (6)

Wood finish stain marker

important business cards I'll never reference (50+)

Baxter's first NYC dog license receipt

kazoo

eyeglass repair kit

billions of aa batteries

wite out

On the 18th DaY of TiZmas

On the 18th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

18 things that leave her (me...its ME!!!) stumped / mystified / bamboozled

Anyone willing to put their trust in Ronald Rump

How Rand Paul could possibly seem sanest of the Republican candidates

Colleagues bashing one another on social media

Why I have to go in search of my SAG screeners every year even though I pay my damned dues on time

Being hired for a job and not doing it

Complaining about a dream coming true

That the study of history still does not relieve us from recreating mistakes of the past

The need to document every experience

Creating an experience so you can document it on social media

Why kids enjoy the crap out of and trust me so

Not helping yourself when given the opportunity

Relief in victimization

Being offered tools to help yourself and putting them away in the toolbox and putting the toolbox in a closet under a mess of out of season coats

Complaining to someone who can't help you when the person who can is just around the riverbend

Earnest racist remarks

Political correctness

Why Phryne Fisher (of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries) would live in a place so riddled with murder.  And how they can all be so mysterious. MOVE!!!!

How I can love a fluffball in a cone of shame so ferociously and how that little fluffball can try so much harder and adapt so much more stylishly than most people

On the 17th DaY of TiZmas

On the 17th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

17 amazeball things about HAMILTON


I can't say it lived up to the hype.  It is in no way, shape or form, HYPE. It's the real deal...redefined.

That a 3 1/2 month wait was worth it.

Classic form storytelling filled with chewy, gooey goodness.

Different popular song styles telling different people's stories...but with the same, extraordinary composer thread tying it together.

One of the best "I want" songs ever.

LMM - thank you thank you thank you, you scrappy angel.

Brit pop...where is Davey Jones when you don't need him because you got Groff.

Choreography that offered place, emotion, battles, scene shifts...kinda everything.

100% completely committed performances...including one of the best dancer/storytellers I've ever seen -- Betsy Struxness.  I don't know her and I don't know dance but I know I want to see her do it some more.

Stillness.

Time warps and stops and travels.

Beautifully thought out shadow casting.  (Shadow casting is what I call one person playing two different parts...and when the second part bears some relevance to the earlier, especially in this case, it's yummy.)

Diction. In a show (and a character) greatly about language, I didn't miss a drop...or even a mic drop.

Universal themes and emotions that are so specific but not specific to the time...like discovering that FOMO has seemingly always been around and perhaps the internet and social media just slapped a different moniker on it.

Rap debates.

Earnestness is cool. I'm not sure if it's for the first time or again.  But it is cool.

It exists.

(There's more...but here are the eponymous 17.)

On the 16th DaY of TiZmas

On the 16th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!
I'm seeing HAMILTON today!!!

and doing some other stuff...

On the 15th DaY of TiZmas

On the 15th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

15 Kryptonites - 

Milk Duds (share size...all for me)
Chewy Lemonhead Fruit Mix (12% more free...all for mee)
Domino's Sausage and Pepperoni GF crust (yup...tout pour moi)
Baxter crying
Any canine crying
Cones of shame
Stinky meats and cheeses
Frosting from a can
Male english accents (I think they're lovely even when they say terrible rude things to me.)
Social media
Intelligent men (I think they're lovely even when they say terrible rude things to me.)
5 star vodka
Home decorating/real estate mags and websites and all the things--SHELTER PORN
Tootsie Rolls from the candy lady at work
TaB...it's a beautiful drink

On the 14th DaY of TiZmas

On the 14th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

I skipped the 13th DaY on purpose.

My DaYs of TiZmas, my rules.

I am adept at fashioning slings and splints and appendage stabilizers.

I am quite adept at picking the right container to just perfectly fit the right content.

Company management mentioned it as a joke but yes I used to be really great at biting my toe nails.

I could still do it...I'm still that bendy...but I'm no longer that gross.

I love to run and jump and turn cartwheels.

When I wrote I was working hard at "seeing and hearing what I want to believe" I meant the opposite.

I am working hard on seeing and hearing things as they are...not as I wish them to be.

I can be quite proud of people I do not know for taking even baby steps in the direction of peace.

I can no longer say I have only broken two bones in my life.  I have broken three.

I went to a delicious grief counselor this year who -- after years of my trying not to label -- gave me a very useful label maker that made my life and death easier to swallow.

I think the Ronald Rump has done enough damage to become ISIS's Man of the Year.

I might as well call him Voldemoort.

On the 12th DaY of TiZmas

On the 12th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

I'm disappointed because I didn't seem to create anything this year.

I start projects and can't finish them.

I did create two new roles.

One in an "I Can't Name It But It Was Very Exciting" Project.

The second was my first Mrs. Lovett (fifth Sweeney).

Both of these were creations I guess so I should cut myself a big-ass break and be less disappointed in myself. I will leave that to someone else.

The first was while I was full time at the MiZ.

I will take suggestions for what I can self-start create this year.

I did lose ten pounds.

I did gain back three.

I was sicker than I've ever been in my entire career.

I missed as many shows as I had in my entire career.

On the 11th DaY of TiZmas

On the 11th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

Although I have never heard a gun shot, within a mile of my house there have been 10 shootings in the last year, six fatal.

GAH!

I also live rather close to some scary hoods but there are physical buffers between.

I quite often see what I would like to believe.

I quite often hear what I would like to believe.

I am working on it quite hard.

I am working on it quite heartily.

I heard a car backfire last night.  (Hint: It wasn't a car backfiring.)

I am adept at breaking electronics.

Last year while in the midst of a steroid delirium I dropped my iPhone in my brother's toilet.

I even looked before I flushed and though, "What an interesting new toilet with a chic, black escape hatch."

On the 10th DaY of TiZmas

On the 10th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

I finished furnishing my apartment this year.

I am not allowed to furnish anymore.  There is a finish to the furnish.

The little dog's eyes look better.

I wonder what frightens people to the point of racism.

I think there are a couple of ways fear can go...

Fear - anger - hatred

Fear - breath - understanding 

I know there are more and longer journeys, but I try to stick with the "understanding" one.

I wonder if there is a "racist" gene?

I think questions are a marvelous thing. Don't you?

On the 9th DaY of TiZmas

On the 9th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

I have escape and hiding plans for most every contingency at my theater in case there is a shooter.

I don't know WHY there would ever be a shooter at my theater, but what the hell...the times they are a changing.

I know what OODA means and how to implement it...in theory.

I have always been reactive when under any kind of attack.  

Cops frown on this.

Cops then look at me and say something along the lines of, "But you are who you are and you are making it work."

I take so many supplements a day I barely have room for food.

Considering the above,  I should be thinner.

Racism freaks me the fuck out.

On the 8th DaY of TiZmas

On the 8th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

My old alma mater is going through some growing pains.

I am going through some growing pains.

I think growing pains are good.  

Words and phrases like "stasis," "I'm not changing," "I'm set in my ways," all send me running.

I'm getting better at not running away...aka staying.

My show is closing in nine months.

It will have been 32 months door to door for me.

Since Yale, this will be my longest commitment (other than a couple of romantic relationships).  OTHER THAN BAXTER!!!!

On the 7th DaY of TiZmas

On the 7th DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

Baxter has an infection under his eyes.

Baxter has had this infection for over a month.

We have no idea why it won't heal.

One more week and then we start testing for some gnarly stuff.

He sports the cone of shaaaaaame like a champ.

He can catch things in it and then fling them across the room with great force and velocity.

I have started a series along the lines of "Shit I Say to My Dog that Someone Should Be Saying to Me."

On the Sixth DaY of TiZmas

On the Sixth DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

I love my home passionately.

I love my dog passionately...but like a normal person...I think.

I think my neighborhood is the most naturally beautiful one in the city.

I've never heard a gun shot in my neighborhood...knock on wood.

I carry pepper spray.

I witnessed a guy abusing his girlfriend.  I wasn't shy about my feelings.  I was smart about how I handled it but fear I will run into him and he will remember me.

On the Fifth DaY of TiZmas

On the Fifth DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

I'm exhausted by the tragedy of people being killed by guns.

I'm exhausted by the NRA and our government and loopholes. Yay gun shows!!

I think it's strange that people have so many guns that they need more than a single case to secure.

Gun cabinets frighten me.

I once saw a boyfriend's child pick up his key ring and walk towards the cabinet.

On the Fourth DaY of TiZmas

On the Fourth DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

What if gun reform meant firearm licenses that meant something?

What if you couldn't get your firearm license without at least a day long mandatory class in gun safety?

What if gun reform also meant you couldn't get your license without a nice person taking you and your new gun out for a test drive?

What if gun reform meant all the data banks were linked so dealers could truly see if someone was a potential threat or already had an assload of guns?

On the Third DaY of TiZmas

On the Third DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

What if gun reform meant taking out "fire-arm insurance?"

What if gun reform meant a "smart gun" that you couldn't fire unless it was your thumbprint...like an iPhone?

What if gun reform meant no semi-automatic or automatic weapons could be sold to a civilian ever again?

On the Second DaY of TiZmas

On the Second DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

I call bullies, "baby terrorists."

I call terrorists, "hyper bullies."

ON THE FIRST DAY OF TiZMAS

On the First DaY of TiZmas, TiZ reveals to you...

Bullies are my very own personal Public Enemy Number 1.

On Growing Up

I'm not going to delve into why it's taking me so long.  But I will offer a little example of how it's sneaking up on me...in a third times the charm epistolary manner.

Sometimes I do work for off-stage groups that show muggles what it's like to be or hang with or learn from onstage professionals.  Sometimes the off-stage group and I are a bad match.  Actually only one off-stage group.  The rest of them and I get along swimmingly because we are pros and care.


TAKE 1 on RESIGNING.

Hi guys...

TiZ here.  I don't think we should work together anymore.  And I believe I would be doing us all a disservice if I didn't explain exactly why.  

After exchanging 25 texts with J where I had to ask for terms (pay, address...there are a couple of Heartland Breweries) to be summarily dismissed (after I had done all the work and secured the actors you needed) because I brought to light that a dinner had gone awry before, was rude.  And unbusinesslike.  And I would actually like to be paid my fee as I upheld my end of the bargain and coordinated for you.

There have been bigger problems in the past.  Not only weren't my colleagues fed the aforementioned dinner and I had to doggy bag them and deliver them after half hour where many were inedible, it took a month for my colleagues to be paid. That made me look bad.  And made a number of them not want to work for you again.

I was paid the wrong amount for that event.  The difference came three months later as part of another payment that was two months late.  

Regarding what ended up being a smashing event at the Blue Fin,  terms of contract were changed on your part when all of a sudden I was asked for a group number 4 days before the event. This was after I'd secured a Tony nominee and a TV star for you. Of course you finally went with our flow, but it's something that could have/should have been stated up front as I was working my butt off to keep everyone happy.

I already work a 40 hour week.  In the past, I have worked for heads of state, aribtrageurs, tiny non-profs, law firms, mental hospitals and as a singing waiter.  I have never seen "employees" treated as haphazardly as you do.  And I believe if you started to treat artists compassionately and as the intelligent human beings of value that we are, everyone, including your employer, would be happier and wealthier.

Thanks.

TiZ

I didn't send it.  Not only is it not particularly well-written, I'm finally learning not to help people who

a) don't want to be helped.

b) are dumb.

c) are rude.

and/or

d) are potential future competition.

TAKE 2 on RESIGNING

So I wrote a sassy text that I checked with my friend Kieran...who liked it.

J - If by high expectations you mean being fed and possibly paid in a timely manner, yes, my expectations are possibly too high for you.  Please let's do each other a favor and not attempt to do business together again. It's not worth the trouble.  Thanks.

But I didn't send it. It's pretty well-written and has a level of snark that I find quite attractive but I felt it was somehow going to come back and bite me in the ass.  I hate doing business via text but it is the only way some people seem to know how to do business so...I finally came up with this.

TAKE 3 on RESIGNING

J - As I already have a 40 hour week plus charitable works, it would be best if you found another liaison at the MiZ.  I'm sure you understand.  Please inform L as well.  Thanks. - T

Third times the charm. Everything resides in the "I'm sure you understand."  I sent it. But it was grown up and gracious and gave her the opportunity to be attempt to be so in response...and go on her puerile, haphazard way of pissing off artists and not fulfilling the expectations of her clients. What she doesn't know WILL hurt her. Bad business WILL bite you in the butt...deservedly

Another reason why I'm happy?  I immediately got another artist-in-residence job that paid twice as much.  And the potential for one that pays about 10x as much.

Although "Yes" is a grand word, sometimes "No" and "Enough" are the grownup tools you need to crack yourself open to bigger opportunities.

La la la la la.