2008 is here at last. I can certainly say I am not sad to see 2007 go. I had such high hopes for 2007 after a bad 2006, but 2007 was literally a nightmare from day one. Within a month, 2006 was looking like a banner year as the wheels came off 2007.

2007 wasn't completey bad... I made a couple of wonderful new friends, I had a great run of "The Odd Couple" (after a disastrous start), and I found a new job that is far less stressful. As far as the bad... well, there's no point in bringing it up because it is all behind me now and I would prefer to keep it there. Somehow I know that 2008 is going to be a fantastic year. (Uh oh, do I have any wood to knock on?)

Wishing you all a wonderful 2008!

This is a Williams Fan-Tas-Tic; all of the guides call it a 1973 model but all of the art copyrights are 1972. It's in pretty good shape for a 35 year old pinball machine; mechanically everything is fine except for the player 2 score sticks at 8,000 points occasionally. (Note to self: When playing against someone else, always be player 1.) It needs a really good cleaning and a little woodwork on the backbox where the plywood is delaminating.

You can see a bunch of photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/celamantia/sets/72157602156258082/ where I'm documenting the condition it's in and potential portions that need restoration work.

I just stood there looking at the shaft in disbelief as my mind raced to find the appropriate expletives for such a situation. What's more, I could see through to the bottom of the shaft, and right where I dropped them there's a small grate on the floor of the shaft, and of course no sign of the keys. They'll probably never be seen again.

I did get lucky, though. My niece has been borrowing my car a lot lately so I had my car keys separate from all my other keys and the flash drive on my keychain, so all I lost was the key and the car remote. Of course it'll be about $50 to replace the remote, but better than losing all my keys! Then again, if it was all my keys they probably wouldn't have fit into the gap in the first place.

So my regular doc will probably put me on yet another round of drugs... like I'm not a walking pharmacy already.

So for a few days I'll have to be on soft foods or liquids only: mashed potatoes, bananas, applesauce, ice cream, pasta... in other words, high calorie stuff, everything I shouldn't be eating. I'm going to get myself some protein shakes and such, but I need ideas for other things I can eat that are soft... presuming I even want to eat at all.

In other news, tomorrow night is the annual banquet for the Auggie Awards. The Auggie Awards are the local equivalent of the Tony's; they are awarded within the Augusta Players for the four productions that take place in any given season. I got my first nomination for an award this year, for Best Supporting Actor, which is a real honor because I know every person on the stage in "The Odd Couple" alone was incredibly talented and deserved an award, let alone the other three shows ("My Fair Lady", "A Christmas Carol", and "South Pacific", allof which were excellent shows). Time to drag my tux out of the closet.. I hope it still fits!

I had more forms to sign, including my own knee. I was actually asked to write "YES" with a magic marker on the knee to be worked on; they wouldn't do it for me. These people are seriously allergic to liability. After waiting an hour I was wheeled into the OR. I laid there for a few minutes when I suddenly started coughing and pushing a mask away from my face. I thought they were starting to give me anesthesia, and was surprised to be told that it was all over. It was a really strange experience. I don't know if I was given the anesthesia through my IV or if I inhaled it and just don't remember it.

So I've been laying in bed for three days, getting out of bed mostly just to go to the bathroom, which is happening very frequently. My mouth is also getting so dry as I sleep that I think I'm going to choke

Tomorrow I start physical therapy; I can't imagine how I'm going to be ready to go back to work by Monday.

Thank you all for your kind wishes and support!

It'll be the first time I've been under anesthesia, which is making me nervous for reasons I can't quite explain.

Anyway, if I post something barely coherent around noon, I'm probably still under the effects of the anesthesia.

(And yes, that is an X-ray of my knee, not just a random X-ray image from the Net.)

The normal solution to this is to use a ring light or a ring flash; this is a light that goes around the barrel to illuminate the subject. Here's an example:

This is an inexpensive ring light at $109; I've seen them for twice that.

At the grocery store today, I saw a very similar light; this one, however, is sold as an umbrella light. It's meant to clamp onto the pole of an outdoor umbrella. Its price? $7.99.

As you can guess, it is not on my umbrella.

This is my Sony CyberShot with a barrel adapter and a Bower close up lens, with my new ring light attached. I'm sure the light isn't as "pure" as a photographic ring lamp would be and I'm sure it's not as bright as a real one would be... but for a hobbyist like me who's not doing professional work, it's a pretty darn good accessory at $7.99.

And I can still use it on my umbrella.

Paula was also involved in the Augusta Players' production of Evita. When the show was short a couple of men, she encouraged me to go try out for it. Encouraged isn't the right word... insisted is. She overrode my objections that I wasn't good enough for the Players, and I finally went down and tried out and got into the show. Since then I've done four other shows with the Players that I would have never done if not for Paula.

This past weekend, as I was preparing to go on stage for The Odd Couple, I was talking to a couple of cast and crew that were in shows with Paula and her name came up. I hadn't talked to her in about a year at that point, but I suddenly felt the need to call her and catch up. But it was time to go on stage and do the show, and it was the best one we've done in this run. Got home to check my E-mail and looked up Paula in my phone book, but by now it was after 11 and too late to call. Oddly enough I had an E-mail from a castmate in Rocky Horror that I hadn't heard from in a couple of years to call him, but that call would also have to wait.

I returned the call Monday evening to receive the news that Paula had passed away over the weekend.

Goodbye, Paula; you will be missed. I'm sorry I missed my chance to catch up with you, but I have wonderful memories of times spent with you. You have a new stage to conquer; break a leg.

Is there someone you've been meaning to call, or a loved one that you haven't said "I love you" to in a while? Don't wait until tomorrow to show someone that you care because tomorrow may never come.

“Do not fear death... only the unlived life.
You don't have to live forever;
You just have to live.”

~ Natalie Babbitt

As previously mentioned, I was set to perform in the Augusta Players' production of "The Odd Couple" back in February. For various reasons, however, the show just didn't come together and it was canceled in the middle of our final dress rehearsal. we were told it may go on again in June, but I really didn't have high hopes that it would work out.

Well, if I had made any recent blog entries, I would have noted that the show has indeed been revived. The theatre we normally perform in, the Imperial Theatre in downtown Augusta, is booked with an interesting show called "Nipples to the Wind", so we will instead be performing a a tiny off-Broad Street theatre called Le Chat Noir (The Black Cat). The Cat could not be a more different environment from the Imperial; it's a cocktail lounge and experimental "black box" theatre that is known for much edgier fare than Neil Simon. The tiny theatre only has four rows of seats, and from the front row you could literally reach out and trip the actors if you wanted to (please don't). However, "The Odd Couple" works much better in this intimate environment than the cavernous space of the Imperial, which is better suited to the huge musicals that the Augusta Players are usually known for.

This time there will be no last minute cancellations... We open tonight! The show runs Thursday nights at 7pm, Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm, and Sunday afternoons at 3pm until July 1. Things have really come together nicely and I think it's going to be a great show.

If you're in the Augusta, GA area and are looking for some entertainment, come see the show! Tickets are $32 and can be purchased at the Augusta Players' website. For driving directions to Le Chat Noir, see their website. The only parking at the Cat is what's available on the street, so come early to get a good parking spot and enjoy the cocktail lounge before the show!