These Are The Voyages of the Stress-ship Enterprise

Weasel Erotica opens in a week and, although I think the show is shaping up quite nicely, personally I’m a wreck. This always happens as I lead into a show and I wish I knew how to prevent it. It’s part and parcel being a low-budget off-off Broadway producer I guess … especially when it’s such a gamble that you’ll draw an audience and make at least a portion of the money back. It’s also part and parcel of being an actor with a day job, preventing you from getting the little tiny things done in your personal life that should be done. My house is a wreck, my kitchen sink is overflowing with dirty dishes, the laundry needs to get done at some point in time, I haven’t even so much as carried on a conversation with anybody not directly involved in either the play or work. I’m running low on sleep and high on anxiety.

And, as fate would have it, the one good thing that was going on in my personal life turns out to be a sham. A lie. A deception. Y'know, dishonesty is a terrible foundation for any relationship. Nothing quite like finding out the beauty in your life was all a facade ... a mirage that you thought was your oasis. It's even worse when you stumble upon the truth unknowingly. Ah well, a little betrayal builds character, right?

I deserved better than that!

Don’t get me wrong … I was fully aware of what I was getting myself into with this show. I was fully aware of the sacrifices that would have to be made. I was fully aware of the big ball of stress that was going to run over me. And still I pushed forward … slightly ill-prepared and praying for the best. A month from now the show will be winding down and the process of recovery will begin. Hopefully the personal recovery will be well on it's way as well. And once fully recovered, I’ll probably dive right back into this ocean of uncertainty. Makes you wonder if I have psychological issues that need to be addressed.

Addictive Personality

As much as it pains me to admit it, I have an addictive personality. I hate using labels to describe anyone, much less myself, but I can kind of see where this one might be accurate. Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, fried food … love ‘em all. In fact, I truly believe that there is nothing quite as special as sitting at the IHOP eating fried eggs and bacon, guzzling coffee and chain-smoking after a night of heavy drinking. All addictions being addressed at once … glorious! Luckily I’ve never really had any interest in becoming a junkie or anything … but hey, how could I possibly afford it? The caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and fried food are already driving me into bankruptcy.

Now, I realize this may not be the most healthy behavior I could subject myself to. And true, I don’t really do it all that often. But man … it’s great! Maybe it’s just that I like breakfast …

Some have even commented on the amount I work (I have been called a workaholic on more than one occasion) and said that was a sign of an addiction … I’m addicted to work. Addicted to work? You’ve got to be kidding.

Some addictions smack you in the face (the cigarettes give you cancer, the bottle gives you alcohol poisoning, the girl had another guy on the side the entire time) and make you want to give them up for good. My problem has always been that I need more smacking than the average guy.

Baby Hippos in the News

Found this online today and had to share it:

Love of hippo comes full cycle

Thursday, July 27, 2006

By GEORGE GRAHAM, The Republican, MA

RUSSELL - When Geoff L. Stevens spotted Tiny Bubbles' picture on the Internet this summer, he stared in recognition.

That jaunty pose and toothy grin were virtually unchanged from their first encounter 16 years ago in a Boston art gallery.

Unchanged because Tiny is a life-sized baby hippopotamus made out of paper mache.

Stevens longed to buy the hippo in 1990 but was living in a small Springfield apartment and didn't have the space.

"When I saw him in the gallery I said, 'This is it,'" Stevens said, recounting that long-ago day.

Stevens periodically visited Pavo Real gallery to check in on the hippo, once he even took a picture of his sister posing with it.

"But one time I stopped in and he was gone," Stevens said. "I thought that was the end of it, and I would never come across him again."

Sixteen years later, Stevens, now married and living in Russell, ran a search of "life-sized" items on eBay last month and rediscovered his long-lost hippo.

Stevens collects life-sized human and animal caricatures, and they can be seen throughout the home he shares with his wife, Michelle.

Stevens cast a last-minute bid of $500 on the online auction Web site. It turned out to be the only bid, and the hippo's New Hampshire owner, who had dubbed it Tiny Bubbles, delivered it to Russell the very next day.

The lifelike hippo now stands on a table in the foyer of the Stevens home, offering its toothy grin to all who enter.

At least three giraffes and a half-dozen or so life-sized human caricatures seemingly look on with approval from the living room and upper heights of the foyer.

Michelle Stevens was most diplomatic when asked about her husband's unusual collection.

"It's nice I guess," she said. "We definitely have different tastes in art."

Oddly enough, Russell has been a hotbed of life-sized animal sculpture news this summer.

Artist E. Gayle Shanley-Fitzsimmons recently decorated a life-sized fiberglass cow, which is currently on display, with about 100 others, along the Freedom Trail in Boston.

Psst, Geoff ... All those cows are slated to be auctioned off in October, half at live auction and rest on eBay, to benefit the Jimmy Fund and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.