Kristin Von Claret is performing as a dancer at McCall Hall as part of Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris, a Seattle Opera presentation and co-production with the Metropolitan Opera of New York. Kristin is also the choreographer my company Social Living Productions partnered with for my three productions: Tokyo 2025, Revenge of Tokyo 2025, and 4 Seasons.

Yesterday, Kristin arranged for me to watch their first rehearsal in McCall hall. The first time that all the teams (dance, voice, set design, lighting, etc.) came together on the McCall stage. There was marking, adjustments to sets, surprises as to the floor material, and stage direction from Stephen Wadsworth. Here’s a sneak picture of her about to leap into action; she’s center in black. Erin, one of the dancers from my Revenge of Tokyo 2025 production, is also a dancer in this production.

I was able to watch until about 8:30pm but needed to leave to go shower and meet other friends out for a drink. We met at Cha-Cha’s new location on Pike St. between 10th and 11th Ave. Vinita, Bruce, Nima, Gary, and Bud all came by. We started upstairs but later moved to a primo corner table downstairs where we held court. I shared stories of New York and one time was kidded about my changing accent when they heard me say, “Long Island.”

I’ve got my new jellyfish tattoo. Its on my left arm, elbow, shoulder, scapula, and chest. Yes…its large. Its a jellyfish designed and inked by Jeff Cornell of Hidden Hand Tattoo on MySpace (or Hidden Hand Tattoo website) in Seattle, Washington.

Jeff did my first tattoo, the tree on my right arm. I knew I wanted a tattoo and thought about what it would be for years. Long time ago I wanted a musical note but it evolved into a tree and then into a specific symbol of a tree and not a specific tree. I had scoured Seattle, looking at dozens of portfolios until I found Jeff. We consulted, I brought in pictures, he sketched, I tweaked, he sketched, then inked. I love it; the tree not the six hours of pain.

So then came the thought, “Do I get another?” Yes! So what would it be? I wanted to have another tree but not a tree. So I though about the ocean. Trees are in forests. There are forests of seaweed. So I decided to get seaweed on my arm. Again I researched online and in the Seattle library. In the library, I found a 20th century scientific book that was specifically on Pacific Northwest seaweed. I found a couple of images in there that were good. Then, I found two books from the 19th and 18th century.

Albertus Seba’s Cabinet of Natural Curiosities: The Complete Plates in Colour, 1734-1765 is filled with illustrations of plants, sea shells, insects, coral, and more. He was an Amsterdam pharmacist and collected all kinds of curiosities from around the world. So much that his collection and later the book he published from illustrations he commissioned of his collection became world known and is one of the 18th century’s greatest natural history achievements. Some of the animals illustrated are now extinct. I was in illustration wonderland. I particularly love the coral.

Then I found Ernst Haeckel’s “Kunstformen der Natur” aka Art Forms in Nature published in sections from 1899 to 1904. Its a stellar book filled with sea creatures, microscopic animals, plants, and a few land animals. There is so much in this book that I like, its hard to not want the book printed all over my body.

But one image stuck with me. The Discomedusae. The jellyfish. I decided that I wanted a jellyfish inspired by these illustrations but for it to be Jeff Cornell’s original artwork. Jeff’s extremely talented and I trust in him. When I was in Seattle earlier this year, I consulted with him, left references for him to noodle on and sketch, and made an appointment for October 4th. An all day appointment.

I grabbed another cup of Vivace coffee, a bagel, and hopped a taxi to his Fremont studio. We tweaked his sketch some and he made a transfer to a stencil. The first, second, and third transfer of the stencil to my arm weren’t quiet right. Number four was the magic one. And then the pain began.

We went for about eight hours with a lunch break and a few shorter ones. A combination of pain and the length of time in pain was a lot; more than the tree tattoo he put on my left arm. He’s a very skilled artist; the pain is just a temporary pain and part of the experience. I could see that we wouldn’t finish it all in one day. There’s a lot of detail and its just big. I’ve got another 6-8 hours of work to go and have made an appointment for his first available full day which is in Jan. I’m extremely happy with how it looks, how it is healing, and the whole experience. Jeff is good and in demand!

I landed in Seattle Tuesday October 2nd for a brief trip to get a tattoo. My friend Maryam picked me up at the airport in her love-filled Beetle. She immediately jumped out of the car, we hugged, she tossed me the car keys, and dashed inside for the loo. So I circled the airport a few times and picked her back up. I drove into Seattle (I love driving) while we gabbed and called Kelly to join us for dinner. Kelly, my ex, was tired from an early day at work and passed. So, Maryam and I headed to go get some pizza at Maryam’s fav new pizza joint.

Its right next to Baltic Room on Pine St. We put in our order and walked over to see Jeff, the owner of the bar The Chapel. Maryam and I both know Jeff and all three of us had a good time sitting and catching up. Oops, we forgot the pizza and ran over. Its was GOOOD! Maryam dropped me off at Kelly’s who was still up. He was the fantastic host he always is and gave me the good bed. We chatted a bit but both of us were tired and we went to bed.

On Wednesday, I rented a pickup truck, did some errands, had my first of many cups of Vivace coffee (the best coffee in the world), and worked some more on my home. Its on the market to sell. Anyone want my amazing home in Madison Heights with 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, an urban grotto, high ceilings, big bedrooms, and next to a city park?

Then Wednesday night, I got together with most of my card playing friends to play games. I’ve missed them and the fun we have together since moving to NYC so I really appreciate it and value that time that we have together when I visit. We invited a few more people and decided to play A-Z rather than cards. In one corner, Kelle and Trinity were getting liquor questions and doing pretty well. In another corner, Brian and I got sports questions and just muttered. Brian and I know a whole lot about liquor and barely know the Chicago Bears are in Chicago. Trinity is a coach for multiple sports and Kelle was a tomboy. Luckily, Kelly didn’t get the literature and stage oriented questions because he has been an actor and writer for years. Somewhere along the way, Jessica said we shouldn’t razz the players. The heck with that I said. “He canna he canna he canna he cannot swiiing batta” and from then on it was heckling and lots of fun!

As I was trying to fly home from my grandmother’s 80th birthday, Delta turned me away from my flight with little information. The gate was in disarray with no information coming from the gate agent other than which people DO get on the plane. While waiting in a very long line I called Delta; who knew nothing…they thought the flight was fine and taking off. Once I got to the front, I put on a little southern drawl, a big smile, and used sugar rather than vinegar because I could see she was frazzled. She said the airport decided to make repairs without telling Delta so they have to use a shorter runway. This doesn’t allow the plane to accelerate to a speed great enough to liftoff with a full load of passengers.

She sent me to the ticketing/check-in area to get rebooked on a flight. Once there, I overheard other passengers fuming but I decided to take the sugar route again. While standing in line, I called Delta on the telephone to try to get on another airline. Unfortunately, all the flights which could have gotten me to Seattle had left for the day. One of them about an hour before my original flight.

When I was talking, with sugar, to the ticketing agent, she explained again the reason…but this time in more detail. They said this situation was the airports fault because the Birmingham airport decided to do some repairs on the long runway. Delta staff didn’t have any notice and found this out early in the morning. She rebooked me on a flight the next morning, provided me a hotel voucher, and threw in some frequent flyer miles for my inconvenience.

I’m not upset. But, there was no reason that I had to be inconvenienced. Delta admitted they knew about this work in the morning. They had at least 10 hours to contact me and rebook me on an earlier flight. They have my email and cell phone. They have automated systems to alert passengers of flight problems; I signed up for them. I could have easily made that flight which was an hour earlier. Delta did none of this. So instead, they don’t accept responsibility and irritate customers. Seems pretty dumb to me. All they needed to do was send me an automated page saying something vague like “somethings wrong with your flight, please call us.”

I decided to enjoy myself with my night. I stayed in Birmingham, had sushi, and watched The Bourne Ultimatum at a theater.

My grandmother, Mama, recently had her 80th birthday. The family decided to surprise her by bringing in many of her immediate and extended family, elementary school friends, church family, and many of the other people that she has welcomed into her life.

She’s a very smart woman. I think she figured out something was up. I came in Friday night and drove over to my father’s home. She was to come over for dinner there. When she arrived, she found my Uncle Larry and me in the living room. Of course, she and I immediately began gabbing about anything and everything. The “gift of the gab”…I got it from her. We had dinner and I caught up with some of the family.

She headed back to her house with my Aunt Carol shortly after then. My step-mother, Lynn, and I went out in the back yard with the fireflies and the dogs. It was nice to have some time alone with her. We took the dogs back in and I decided to stay over at my Mama’s home; sort of a slumber party that night.

We woke up and had breakfast with real grits. YUM! Carol had to go run some errands (decorate the church). Mama and I hung around and gabbed more. I love my Mama! My job was to get her to the church on time; I did. Once there, she found dozens there and more to come over the afternoon. So many people with smiles and hugs. Mama seemed truly happy and glad that people came, as she might say, “just for her.” You can click on any of these pictures to see more of them.

I got to visit with my aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, and friends of the family. It was good to spend some time with Shaun and Jeff. They are both my cousins and we’re closest in age to each other. Shaun has a great family with kids and is good with technology. Jeff and I had a chance to talk about music; we both have that love.

By luck, my Aunt Ann and Uncle Cecil were in town. They came to the party and I made plans to see them at their home later that night. We caught up, sat in their huge empty home (selling it), and spent some quality time together. They love where they are living now in Florida.

The next day was full of goodbyes. Most of the out-of-town family left before I did. I was the straggler and I was quite happy being that. Mama and I looked through some of my pictures of New York City and I told the story behind them. You can find some of those same pictures in the blog you are reading. Later in the afternoon, I too said “goodbye” and “I love you, Mama.” Then off to the airport and back to New York City for me.

Or not. Read my rant on mistakes by Delta and the Birmingham airport.

Yahoo! I got a picture just the other day from my friend, Kelle. She’s pregers with her…wait…wait…son Mason. In her words, “It was hard to get a good picture of the profile but the baby was not shy about letting us know that I am having a…BOY!”

Kelle is going to be a kick-ass mother. She’s caring, smart, driven, athletic, attractive, healthy, inquisitive; loves outdoors, dogs, traveling, and walks on the beach at sunset. Haha. I’ve known Kelle for about 8 years now and I know Mason is going to have a great mom!

You just watch. Mason will be the next pro football quarterback turned brain surgeon and part time model.