Has Solo Show, Will Travel

I booked another show for October 30th in……..NAPA!

Details to come, but to be fair, it’s at a church service in the morning, so um, yeah. I guess you can say I rock the flock.

I felt a strange void after my final show this summer. I was so exhausted and yet grateful for the break but then after maybe two weeks I was like, uh oh, I need another deadline, another goal. Or I just sort of wither away with the autumn leaves….

Speaking of goals, I am taking a writing class at a nearby adult school on Tuesday nights. It’s only an hour and a half and it’s super close by. I am in it for the convenience of it all and maybe I will get some inspiration. I do have another idea for another story and tomorrow I will go to SF to visit the Sales Force Tower seeking that inspiration. It will make sense later, I promise.

Here are some pics of my show from September 2nd in Redwood City from photographer Lili Muntean. Which ones are your favorites?

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Checking the Mic

I haven’t blogged in a couple of weeks because I wanted to get away from nightly “pandemic blogging”. However, I did want to keep this site current, so I will continue to post blogs every couple of weeks.

While I don’t have any future performances of my solo show, “Born Again in Berkeley” scheduled at this time, I am meeting up with a friend tomorrow to go over the artwork of my poster. She has some thoughts. And some photoshop ideas. And hey she works for free. Can you guess what the number one problem with my poster is?

Two of my performer friends don’t like that the tower is directly behind me and feel that it should be to my left or right. In the bigger posters it doesn’t really bother me but on postcards it does look kinda weird- like something is sticking out of the top of my head. Ugh, marketing! Not my strong suit.

I am taking a break from my solo performance classes because I want to make room in my brain for other thoughts. However, I did sign up for a writing class at a nearby adult school because I just can’t help myself. It doesn’t start for a couple of weeks. That gives me time to thaw out. I was just so tired after my last show.

In other news, we are supposed to get rain, real rain, this Sunday and I am looking forward to it! You know you are from California when the thought of precipitation excites you.

And last but not least, this past Monday I saw an epic sunset while geocaching in Alameda:

Day 906 – Winding Down

I did NOT want to leave the coast today. I could have stayed there for another week.

After I checked out of my AirBnb, I did a little geocaching in El Granada before meeting up with some friends who were driving up the coast from Santa Cruz.

FOUND IT

Look at the one on the left! It wasn’t the actual cache, it’s just a doll was guarding a coffin-like cache that was below it.

Then I met my friends for lunch in Half Moon Bay. They decided to follow me to my final cache destination in Montara, just north of HMB.

FOUND IT

It’s a piece of wood with a hole in it, where the cache is stashed – very clever!

Can I just say that I love Montara? I mean, yeah, they got a cool beach and all, but they have trees for days and it’s nice and shady and I am definitely going back. Too bad they don’t have a restaurant that’s open past 4pm, but the locals probably like it that way.

My friends headed back to SF and I headed to Pacifica to catch the sunset. I was not about to drive back to Oakland when the sun was still up. When I got home my apartment was like a sauna. I kicked on my portable a/c (that works much better at night) and I have a swamp cooler blowing on me as well.

I started blogging daily in mid-March 2020 to document what it was like to live through a pandemic. I said I would stop as soon as I was performing live on a stage in front of an audience without masks. That has now come to pass, and I will be winding down the daily blogging. But I will still continue to write topical stories on here like I used to do. Just not every night.

It’s been real. Thanks to the few regulars who read my blog almost every night. You know who you are. I mainly wrote this blog for me so I could look back and remember history, but I appreciate the readers as well. Good night.

Monday, September 5, 2022 – Labor Day:

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Day 905 – Beach Town

I am not ready to leave the coast tomorrow. I am just beginning to relax, and the east bay is having a heatwave all this week.

After my morning walk, I met up with an old childhood friend who now lives on the coast. We hung out in Downtown Half Moon Bay where her daughter scoops gelato all day for tourists. Christine and I strolled up and down main street window shopping, shopping-shopping, and eating a late lunch. Today I was trying to avoid afternoon sun since I walked around all day yesterday and it wiped me out. Indoor air-conditioned shops were just what I needed.

For dinner I was going to head over to a nearby restaurant, but the parking lot was packed with tourists, and it was all a bit overwhelming, so I headed north to the next town over- Moss Beach, to try the very popular “Moss Beach Distillery“. I knew it would be busy as well, but not as crazy. Also, there was a geocache hidden there (that I did not find). But look at the view from their outdoor patio:

Granted, I was sitting at the bar because all the tables were taken, but I snapped this pic on my way to the bathroom.

These little beach towns are so relaxing. I wish I could have a “second home” here.

Sunday, September 4, 2022:

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Days 903/904 – “2 for 1!”

I had a show Friday night:

First of all, let me say, I have a hard time looking at myself- especially when I am performing. Everything feels so exaggerated to me. It’s like looking at yourself in one of those fun house mirrors at the amusement park:

But as a performer, I gotta get over it, because there is this necessary evil called publicity. And when others post pictures of you at your event on Instagram, you have to be grateful for it, even though people catch you in not the most flattering angles:

I am so late to the Instagram party and I am not very good at promoting myself on it. My posts on there are mostly of cats, squirrels and sunsets. I take nature pictures. It doesn’t occur to me to turn the camera on myself – I would rather someone else do that part.

Solo performance is a juggling act. We have to be in charge of everything- our acting, writing, wardrobe, sound cues, light cues, emails, social media. It really is a one-person-show. So after Friday’s performance, I drove straight to my Airbnb on the coast and crawled into bed:

Time to Decompress

Then this morning I went for a walk to the closest coffee shop/hardware store. That’s right- it’s a “2 for 1” in El Granada!

So, buy yourself a latte and a good-sized wrench while you’re at it!

Later on, in search of geocaches, I walked along the coast and then ran into this friendly fella:

My first seal sighting! I really do need to get out more. The only wildlife I get in Oakland are squirrels.

Alright, it’s almost midnight. That’s a wrap for Saturday.

Saturday, September 3, 2022:

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Day 902 – Final Push

Today I worked a half-day and then put my “out of office” message on my work email so I could get ready for the final date on the little summer mini tour of my one woman show, “Born Again in Berkeley“.

I am looking forward to taking a break. I think if I didn’t have a day job, I wouldn’t feel the need to conserve my energy so much. Performing uses so much of my adrenaline and I seriously don’t know how rock n roll bands put on concerts night after night. Granted they are not doing solo shows all by themselves, but still. That much traveling and performing can take its toll. But whatever you do fellow performers, as Frances McDormand’s character in the movie “Almost Famous” says:

Can you tell this is one of my favorite movies ever?

It heated up today, but it wasn’t too bad in Oakland. Saturday is supposed to be the beginning of the real heatwave and by then I will be out at the coast.

Alright, here’s my show info one last time:

Friday, September 2, 2022 – Redwood City – (entire 63-minute show) BUY TICKETS

Sequoia Church/BraveMaker HQ – show at 7:00pm

233 Topaz St.

Redwood City, CA 94062

Thursday, September 1, 2022:

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