Brit Talk

Today at food research, I'm calling doctors all over England. Things sure are different there. Phone numbers are quite long, and their addresses are confusing and frightening.

In other news, I was set to music direct a reading of a new musical at NYU. However, the musical was cancelled and the composer is moving back to Korea. I just can't get a break.

Where am I?

Where have I been, you ask. I'm posting on a brand new reality TV blog, http://blogtvhunter.blogspot.com/ Check it out. You won't regret it.

Marathon Madness

I went to the NYC marathon last week. No, not as a runner, but as a spectator. I actually had a good time, even though I can hardly think of anything less pleasant than running the marathon. At least no one died on Marathon day, that only happened the day before.

One of the reasons that I would never ever attempt to run the marathon, in addition the obvious reasons, is that when someone starts walking, everyone on the side starts cheering for them to start running again. That would probably drive me insane.

Some runners would put there names on their clothes so that the spectators would cheer for them all along the way. A woman beside me was cheering for everyone, and if someone didn't have their name on their outfit, she'd identify them by their clothes. "Go woman with the blue shorts and a red top!!!" The runners started getting annoyed. It seems that really everything about the race is unpleasant.

Jamaican me uncomfortable: Part deux

When I have a voicemail that I don't want to listen to, all subsequent voicemails get backed up while I avoid listening to my messages.

Last night, I had Beta listen to the Jamaican's message, since things were getting out of hand. She said that introduced him self as [name], from New York, which was funny. He had seen my number in his phone, and was thinking about me. The whole thing was very sad. Unfortunately for him, I'm not going to be responding. If I get another call in eleven months, I'll be okay with that.

Predictions for the day

On my way to food research this morning, I picked up the AM New York, as I do every day I'm up early. There's no better way to begin my day than with updates about the Yankees and people who've died in outer boroughs. Anyway, today's horoscope seemed strange to me.

Words said in anger can cut like a knife, but sometimes they also reveal
stuff the speaker's holding back. This skill will serve you well.

What skill is that? Being able to say hurtful things? This day is not looking good for me. Incidentally, my day was rated an 8 on the ten-point scale on difficulty. Things are really looking bad.

Jamaican me uncomfortable

Earlier tonight I got an unexpected phone call. I told three people that they would never guess who called. Beta got it on the second guess, and Craitzy and Dickmutt guessed it immediately. If you're reading this, I imagine you've also already figured it out, since it's apparently quite obvious. It was the Jamaican, of course.

A bit of background: we went on a few dates in the spring of 2006, and haven't communicated since November of 2006.

At 6:25 I noticed a missed call from him, but I think it was a one-ring hangup. I assumed that he accidentally called me and hung up upon realizing what happened. Surprising, but not too horrible. Six minutes later, I received another call, this time leading to a voice mail. I still haven't listened to it; I get anxious about that kind of stuff. I'll probably make someone I know listen to it for me and relay the information. Any volunteers?

Why would he call me after all this time? Am I that irresistible?

Cripod

I got a lot of cast recordings this summer at camp/my coma, and am slowly making my way through them. If I can listen to them all, I'll feel a true sense of gay accomplishment.

Anyway, today, I was listening to a really gay show. It's all about AIDS. However, one of the songs made me cry. Isn't that crazy? I was sitting on the train, minding my own business, and crying. To a song from an AIDS-related musical. I won't have to have sex for months now, since my afternoon was so gay today.

The Return

I'm back at Food Research. I'm screening calls for a non-urgent study so that the normal recruiters can focus on more important things. I get about one call every forty minutes. That's all I'm doing.

My day with the young

Yesterday was quite a day for me and the children that are a part of my life.

I taught my second class at the JCC on the upper west side. For this class, I get to spend an hour and a half with about fifteen 7 year olds, playing games and singing songs. What could be better than that? Last week, we sang "Do-Re-Mi," or "Do, a Deer." The best way to get kids to sing with you is to sing really loudly at them. Unfortunately, I had a sore throat last week, sounded sounded like Harvey Fierstein, and not even Torch Song Trilogy Harvey Fierstein, but Hairspray Harvey Fierstein. The kids came up with motions for the various solfege syllables. The whole thing was very cute, except for my singing.

By the way, the class is all girls, except for one guy. Since the class has Broadway in the name, I was hoping that any boy who signed up would be awkward and shy, like I would have been. This kid is hyperactive and can't pay attention to anything. I know kids are overmedicated these days, but I can understand the impulse to drug the energy out of loud kids. They're just really hard to deal with.

One of my biggest fears with the class stems from the fact that the guy I'm subbing for is better looking than I am, and kids like good looking people better then non-good looking people. I saw a story about it on 20/20 years ago so I know it's true. I'm afraid that the kids are not ever going to like me as much because I'm not as cute as the original pianist for the class.

After working with the kids in the afternoon, I spent my night with the 38 young pioneers of Bonanza City. I love kid nation so much. That's all there is to say about that. My only concern right now is that Zach isn't going to get a gold star because he's now the leader of the yellow district. In related news, according to entertainment weekly, Randi was the one girl who voted for Zach, dethroning Taylor. I was thrilled that one of the kids I initially profiled ended up being so important this episode, even though I thought some other girl was the swing vote.

Best-show-of-all-time? Nation

Kid Nation truly is shaping up to be one of the best shows of all time.

I haven't written much about Kid Nation since I did a "where are they now"-type profile on the four kids I featured in my Kid Nation preview post. Let's forget about those kids and talk about the girl that we all love: Sophia!

Sophia is the hardest worker of Bonanza City. She cooks when the evil yellow team won't, and she dances in the street to earn money. She doesn't even believe in G-d. That's how incredible she is. Kid's who believe in G-d make me sick. Especially Christian sisters Olivia and Mallory. I hope they leave bonanza city soon, because I can not stand hearing them talk about their religion, or about how hard they're working, or anything else for that matter. The point is, Sophia is fantastic.

I'll be writing more posts in the near future about Kid Nation, so stay tuned. In the mean time, let's all just think about some of the great moments so far, like when Taylor cried, or when Greg and Blair were up to their patented Greg/Blair style mischief, or when Anjay prayed to his 30 million g-ds. That kid's a savage.