for your VINformation

This bag was one of the many projects on my mile-long, magical, mystery, to-do list of things to do when there’s nothing else to do list.

A little background: when I went to South America with 5 Takes: Latin America, I wanted to bring a little piece of each country back home with me, but because the trip was almost ten weeks long and I’d have to carry my own bags, I didn’t want to buy anything big, bulky or heavy that would, in any way, weigh me down. I figured patches would be the best way to go, and technically, if I sewed them on, I thought, I really wouldn’t be carrying them.

The “plan” was to one day find a plain, simple messenger bag with good guts, to create a “travel-memory-bag” using all the patches from that trip and any other patches I may’ve acquired along the way. Full disclosure, I did go to a website to buy the flag patches required to complete my collection…

On the front of the bag, (shown) are the patches from all the places I’ve been including, Easter Island, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Amsterdam, The Bahamas and even Vatican City – the yellow and white one with the Pope-Hat on it. I tried to keep it international, as I’m going to start collecting national patches from here on out to sew to the back (not shown.)

It is a great conversation starter, I’ve been engaged on the subway and the bus many times about it – people like to discuss their travels and I’m usually ready with a story or two myself.

You’d be surprised, gentle reader, at how hard it was to sew all the patches on. I used invisible thread as to have none of the stitches show and not have to have thread to match each patch, even though most of them were iron-on; I believed it would be a mistake to take a hot iron to the bag as it’s lined with a acetate water-proof lining.

And, you may not notice, but there’s still plenty of room for more…

Vinnie’s Top-Fives of 2009 (in no particular order)

Broadway/Off-Broadway Shows

• 33 Variations
• Toxic Avenger
• West Side Story
• The Little Mermaid – I avoided it until just before it closed, I regret that.
• Next To Normal

TV Shows (New)

• Glee
• Leverage
• Warehouse 13
• V
• Modern Family

Music

• Who are we kidding? I haven’t bought new music in YEARS!

Books (not necessarily published in 2009)

• Was Superman A Spy, Brian Cronin
• Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?, Thomas Kohnstamm
• Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher
• The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs
• Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever, Joel Derfner

Movies

• Up
• Up
• Up
• Up
• Up

“Acting Moments”

• The Last Piece Of Cake
• Family Comes First
• Bartender Wars
• Hung Jury
• There’s No Zombies…/The Mission

“Moments”

• The Equality March on Washington
• Tom’s Proposal to Brian
• Finding $120.00 on the floor when I really needed it – thank you God.
• Finding out I’m being published
• Losing 50 Lbs

I got a phone call yesterday from a number I didn’t recognize, I wasn’t going to answer but decided in a split second, it would be best if I did.

“Hello, Vinnie speaking.” I said.
“Is this Vinnie?” A husky woman’s voice asked.
“Yes it is.” I answered.

Click

What the…?!?

I called the number back and it went to voice mail; I couldn’t understand the outgoing message.

I left a message.

“Hi this is Vinnie. I think we were disconnected. I didn’t catch your name. If you need to reach me, please call back.”

I guess it wasn’t important. I never got a call back…

Juggling three shows, two jobs and an active social life – (ha!) – my days and nights have been filled to the rim.

• I’ve got three weeks worth of TV shows to watch on my DVR.
• My body is just about ready to revolt…
• The days are all running into one another, I have no idea if it’s Wednesday or Thursday…
• I’m eating poorly, which in turn makes me sad, which in turn makes me eat poorly, which in turn makes me sad and so on and so on and so on.

If I were sitting at home, doing nothing – I’d be complaining as well, but the fact of the matter is, I’m not complaining, I’m just stating the obvious.

I’m busy doing the things I love and I would have it any other way – I just wich there were more hours in the day!

About 15 years ago, when I started making regular trips into and out of Union City, NJ, I’d see this nasty, old man – he couldn’t have been much older than I am now – on the bus all the time, it seemed as if we were always on the same schedule. He was bald with a halo of stringy gray hair when gave him an angelic quality that contradicted the permanent scowl he wore on his face. Even his thick, round, comical, Mr. Magoo-like glasses couldn’t cover up the disdain for humanity this man wore like a badge for all the world to see.

I remember, he was a very angry man and every little thing he did irked me…

There was this one time I was sitting across from him on a crowded bus and was sitting there ripping pages out of a magazine, for no reason, I don’t know why but this image just stuck with me, he caught me staring and just glared back as if to say, “What the fuck are you looking at?”

In fact, we got into an altercation once while in line at the Port Authority – he was trying to cut the line and I wasn’t having it or maybe I was trying to cut the line – what’s good about memories?  you can change them to make yourself the hero even if you were actually the villain, but I digress…

I so rarely see him any more, my schedule is so erratic, I’m in and out of the city sometimes twice a day or not at all – what sparked the story of this bitter little man is simply this: I think I’m becoming him!

Exhibit 1:

The other day I’d gotten a few magazines in the mail – new month and all – and I found myself sitting, ripping all the ads out of my Details magazine to make it thinner and lighter to carry. I flashed-back to the image of the angry man doing it on the bus and realized, wow, that was kinda smart…look at how much thinner the magazine is…

Exhibit 2:

I was standing outside the Port Authority, making my way inside when a homeless man acosts me with,  “Dude, why you so angry? It can’t be that bad…” and walks away.

And, in conclusion:

A homeless man, telling me it’s not ‘that bad’ it felt like a slap in the face, a wake-up call. I don’t want to turn into the angry old man who does weird – but smart – things on the bus. The man who no one wants to talk to because he’ll just glare at you with a mushu pork face.

I don’t want to end up old and alone.

I’m afeared, alas, that is my destiny.

I dropped an orange. It rolled under a counter.

I didn’t know I had dropped an orange and it had rolled under the counter.

It wasn’t until I walked into a swarm of fruit flies in my kitchen, I learned I’d dropped an orange and it had rolled under the counter.

They were everywhere!

I’d read some where, that if you have a fruit fly infestation you simply pour a little vinegar and dish soap into a bowl, the mixture both attracts and kills them. What could I lose, a splash of vinegar?

I set out the bowl and went to work.

I checked the bowl when I returned and it was filled with dead fruit flies! There were so many floaters I couldn’t count – who know a bowl of dish soap and vinegar could be a weapon of mass destruction?

A Day Off: Any day Vinnie doesn’t have to wear big-boy shoes.

…the simplest thing can make a difference.

While I don’t seek validation on a regular basis, when I get it, it does feels good.

A phone message letting me know I’m an asset; makes me want to work harder: an email thanking me for a job well done; gives me reason to try harder.

Sometimes, just being appreciated is all one needs…

• Summer scarves.
• Florescent spandex.
• Ed Hardy worn unironically.
• Gnarly summer toes.
• Tourists.
• People who yell at fast food workers.
• Men who look like they’re trying to look like they’re not trying.
• My credit card bills.

I’ve lived in my apartment in Union City now for 13 years.

13 years!

It is certainly my home, but one thing it has always lacked was a kitchen drawer. That’s right, my kitchen do not have a single drawer. I’ve had to keep my flatware in a basket, taking up my very limited counter space.

But as of today, I have a drawer.

Who Hoo!

Wow, I’m freakin’ out a little bit. My apartment, my mind, my life — it’s.. it’s not cluttered.

• There are no piles of priority mail boxes in every shape and size or used bubble wrap or packing tape all over the kitchen floor.
• All the eBay items have been shipped.
• There aren’t dishes in the sink.
• There aren’t dirty clothes on the floor.
• All the bills are paid and the banking’s done.
• The cats are fed, watered and have clean litter.
• All the in-boxes – electric and otherwise – are cleaned out.
• Important appointments have been made.
• Monthly lessons have paid for.

I don’t know what to do with myself!

I need to take a moment and vent, I need to get all of this negativity out of my head so I can move on, unless you are really into what makes vinnie tick, feel free to skip this post:

• I still don’t know any more about the Fine Living Bartender show; it’s driving me crazy because I keep imagining what it could be like and each time in my head, it becomes worse and less important. BUT, it feels so wonderful just to be wanted and thought of as “good enough.”
• I have no money – what the fuck I’m I thinking buying a sax and starting lessons!
• Am I getting fired from my current survival job? Do I need to start looking for something to replace it before the axe falls? I’ve gotten no tangible clues that this is about to happen, just a gut feeling of doom – and I never ignore my gut!
• Speaking of my ample gut, I’ve gained six pounds in three weeks! What the fuck!?! It’s become harder and harder to lose and maintain my 40 pound weight loss now that the honeymoon phase of Weight Watchers is over. Before, just changing my eating habits caused the weight to fall off me, now I’m actually working at it and nothing is happening. I’m working-out – not enough apparently – so I’m losing inches but not pounds – can you say FRUSTRATING?
• I’m smoking far too much – every time I buy a pack of smokes it kills me a little on the inside, literally.
• As a big gay, I’m very happy that we’re quickly getting equal marriage rights state by state but I’d be even more excited if I didn’t know for a fact I’ll be alone for the rest of my life – the confirmed, eccentric bachelor uncle – that’s me! So to all my gays getting married – more power to you but I couldn’t give two shits!
• Without new headshots, which I’m having taken next month, I can’t submit myself for anything – it makes me feel as if I’m in a holding patten circling and circling NYC, never able to land – which is a very bad feeling to be having at this moment in time because on top of everything else, it’s making me question my dedication.

Ugh!

Here’s the thing, writing this all out, it’s makes me think, things aren’t really too bad, I’ve go my health, good friends, a wonderful family, two cats who need me – to feed them – and a host of other good things.

I’m not in a wheelchair, I don’t have a chronic debilitating decease, my cable is still turned on, I can currently afford to feed the cats, so what, you may ask is my damage?

My problems are mine, they’re all I have.

They may not big, huge issues in the whole scheme of things, but they’re mine and they’re real, and they take up a lot of space in my brain – poking and poking me until they only healthy thing for me to do is scream at the top of my lungs in the middle of Times Square!

I’ve turned off the comments for this post, I didn’t write this to get smoke blown up my ass or get told, “deal with it” I wrote it for me.

Sorry to take up your time with my stupidity, but sometimes, I really need it to be all about me…

It’s been a week and I hate my new glasses!

Correction: I love the frames – it’s the lenses I’m not crazy about. I’m still not used to them, I’ve fallen down twice. Once getting off the bus at Port Authority and once off a curb – with my recent ankle issues, the last thing I need is another fall, twist or sprain to sideline me again. It’s all about lowering your head and not just your eyes, but I just can’t seem to get the hang of it – coy I’m not.

I felt I needed bifocals or progressive lenses, as my near-sightedness has made friends with my far-sightedness and I was starting to get headaches while reading or working at the computer.

The eye doctor’s exact words, “Well, you are getting older…”

On a side note, if one more person in the medical profession says that to me again, I’m cuttin’ ‘em!

During the exam, it was discovered my left eye needed a little boost in prescription as well and now I’m thinking that may’ve been why I was getting the headaches – I haven’t had an eye-strain dull headache since getting the new glasses – maybe they weren’t caused the blurry reading. My reading glasses prescription is so low, it’s stupid to have spent so much money on the progressive lenses, when I could’ve stopped into any Duane Reade and picked up a pair for pennies.

Luckily, Lens Crafters offers an unconditional 30 day money back guarantee, I’ll keep the frames and get single vision lenses put in.

When I returned them, the gentleman, Jerome, who helped me, seemed so disappointed in me for not getting used to the new way of looking at life, when he processed my $90.00 refund he just kept shaking his head and sighing. When he originally helped me and then the first time I picked them up he was wonderful to me, I wonder if they work on commission and I just took a bit of his back?

There’s something to be said for customer satisfaction…I’ve been to the Manhattan Mall so many times this past two weeks, I should just get a job there!

The 2009 Tony Nominations were dominated by Billy Elliot, the Musical, which grabbed 15. Next to Normal had the second-highest with 11, followed by Hair & Shrek with eight each and Mary Stuart & The Norman Conquests with seven apiece.

What follows are a list of the major categories, highlighted in bold blue are who I think should win, this was the first year in a long while where I’ve actually seen most of the nominated productions (except for the big two, Billy and NTN) so I feel I can predict – of course, these are strictly personal choices – who I’d love to win – not necessarily who will win…

Best Play

Dividing the Estate
God of Carnage
Reasons to Be Pretty
33 Variations

Best Musical

Billy Elliot, The Musical
Next to Normal
Rock of Ages
Shrek The Musical

Best Book of a Musical

Billy Elliot, The Musical
Next to Normal
Shrek The Musical
[Title of Show]

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Billy Elliot, The Musical
Music: Elton John
Lyrics: Lee Hall

Next to Normal
Music: Tom Kitt
Lyrics: Brian Yorkey

9 to 5: The Musical
Music & Lyrics: Dolly Parton

Shrek The Musical
Music: Jeanine Tesori
Lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire

Best Revival of a Play

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Mary Stuart
The Norman Conquests
Waiting for Godot

Best Revival of a Musical

Guys and Dolls
Hair
Pal Joey
West Side Story

Best Special Theatrical Event

Liza’s at The Palace
Slava’s Snowshow
Soul of Shaolin
You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Jeff Daniels, God of Carnage
Raúl Esparza, Speed-the-Plow
James Gandolfini, God of Carnage
Geoffrey Rush, Exit the King
Thomas Sadoski, Reasons to Be Pretty

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Hope Davis, God of Carnage
Jane Fonda, 33 Variations
Marcia Gay Harden, God of Carnage
Janet McTeer, Mary Stuart
Harriet Walter, Mary Stuart

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish – Billy Elliot, The Musical
Gavin Creel, Hair
Brian d’Arcy James, Shrek The Musical
Constantine Maroulis, Rock of Ages
J. Robert Spencer, Next to Normal

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Stockard Channing, Pal Joey
Sutton Foster, Shrek The Musical
Allison Janney, 9 to 5: The Musical
Alice Ripley, Next to Normal
Josefina Scaglione, West Side Story

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

John Glover, Waiting for Godot
Zach Grenier, 33 Variations
Stephen Mangan, The Norman Conquests
Paul Ritter, The Norman Conquests
Roger Robinson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Hallie Foote, Dividing the Estate
Jessica Hynes, The Norman Conquests
Marin Ireland, Reasons to Be Pretty
Angela Lansbury, Blithe Spirit
Amanda Root, The Norman Conquests

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

David Bologna, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Gregory Jbara, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Marc Kudisch, 9 to 5: The Musical
Christopher Sieber, Shrek The Musical
Will Swenson, Hair

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

Jennifer Damiano, Next to Normal
Haydn Gwynne, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Karen Olivo, West Side Story
Martha Plimpton, Pal Joey
Carole Shelley, Billy Elliot, The Musical

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Dale Ferguson, Exit the King
Rob Howell, The Norman Conquests
Derek McLane, 33 Variations
Michael Yeargan, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Robert Brill, Guys and Dolls
Ian MacNeil, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Scott Pask, Pal Joey
Mark Wendland, Next to Normal

Best Costume Design of a Play

Dale Ferguson, Exit the King
Jane Greenwood, Waiting for Godot
Martin Pakledinaz, Blithe Spirit
Anthony Ward, Mary Stuart

Best Direction of a Play

Phyllida Lloyd, Mary Stuart
Bartlett Sher, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Matthew Warchus, God of Carnage
Matthew Warchus, The Norman Conquests

Best Direction of a Musical

Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Michael Greif, Next to Normal
Kristin Hanggi, Rock of Ages
Diane Paulus, Hair

Best Choreography

Karole Armitage, Hair
Andy Blankenbuehler, 9 to 5: The Musical
Peter Darling, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Randy Skinner, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas

For a full list of nominees click here.

As I thought, my comic books and related crap wasn’t worth that much.

The gentleman from Neat Stuff Collectibles was supposed to get to my apartment at 10:30 PM, he showed up at 11:00 PM – 11:00 PM on a Tuesday night I’m in usually in bed, because I’m up at 6:00 AM on Wednesdays for work – in the half hour he was late, I started having second thoughts – luckily, I had someone here to lean on and tell me I was making the correct decision and watch my back so I wasn’t taken for a ride, Jimmy, with his 40,000 comic books would never give up his collection, he would be homeless first – after building a lovely bungalow out of long boxes – his quiet support was much appreciated.

I got $700.00 for everything, not a bad amount, but not what I was hoping for.

When I walked into my apartment the next day and saw the dozen or so short boxes were gone from the kitchen, the cylinders of posters were no longer gathered up next to the dresser and the empty Rubbermaid bin which was filled with items that didn’t sell on eBay was next to the front door awaiting it’s trip back down to the basement, I admit I was a little sad; but when I looked at my walls and saw what was left, I smiled.

And really, the sale of my childhood will pay for my new headshots; the extraneous junk is gone from my house & my mind and what I have left makes me smile – isn’t that what it’s all supposed to be about?

Here’s what’s left – a small but meaningful collection: