Day 2421: Together again for the first time

Here are most of my photos from yesterday, together again for the first time:

Five years ago (but who’s counting?), Joshua Ladgrove a/k/a Neal Portenza invited my then 16-year-old son Aaron up on the stage with him during his brilliant Fringe show. Last night, they were together again for the first time.

Tomorrow, I’ll be together again for the first time with ?? people (perhaps including some of the people in my photos above)  in my first Fringe show ever.

Because it’s a one-time only show, I have only one chance to get it right.   Will it be a catastrophe, like a boat hitting an iceberg?

Will I lose my head?

Will I maintain my balance?

Will the audience like my music?

Will they use my mindfulness exercise to be in the here and now?

Will anybody mispronounce my name or be a dickhead?

Will people want to see a show from a “new employee” of the Edinburgh Free Fringe?

Here and here are two songs that are “Together Again For the First Time.”

Which reminds me, I want to see Manual Cinema again.

All your comments on this post will be together again for the first time, below.

And today’s expressions of gratitude are together again for the first time!

Day 2398: I have the right

I have the right to share these opening lines from an email I got from the Edinburgh Free Fringe organizers:

Some of you think you are woefully under-prepared. Some of you think you’ve got it in the bag. Some of you might be right, but I can’t say which.

I have the right to  think I am woefully under-prepared for my Free Fringe Show  (Group “Therapy” with Ann) AND that I’ve got it in the bag,  all in the space of one day.

I have the right to be thinking about rights, here and now, since in yesterday’s two Coping and Healing groups we took turns choosing from The Bowl of Rights:

I have the right to appreciate all the personal rights that were chosen in yesterday’s group, including the two pictured above.  I don’t know if it’s right to use The Bowl of Rights in my Edinburgh Fringe show, but if I do, it’s only right that I use a better bowl.

I have the right to share my other photos from yesterday.

I had the right yesterday to dub the white board in the group room “B.O.I”. — which stands for Board Of Importance. I’m not going to have a Board of Importance in Edinburgh to list the important themes that get shared during my show, which may or may not contribute to whether my show will fail or succeed.

I have the right to share these other important words from that Free Fringe email:

We all get different things out of the fringe, but if you’re looking to get rich or famous you will be disappointed. The best way to approach it is as an experience. If you treat your co-performers and your venue with respect, you will have it returned, and consequently enjoy that experience more.

I have the right to all my feelings (including excitement, disappointment, fear,  hope, and joy) and so do you.

I have the right to share this Fight for Your Right song by the Beastie Boys.

Coincidentally, Michael and I danced to this righteous Beastie Boys song last night:

You have the right to express your thoughts and feelings in a comment, below.

I have the right to express my gratitude for all who help me create these daily posts and — of course! — for YOU.

Day 2385: I Need Your Help.

Yesterday, in a therapy group, we talked about how difficult it is to ask others for help.  I wrote this up on the white board to remind people about how to ask for help:

Today, I need your help.  I have to submit a 340-character blurb and a photo about  my Edinburgh Free Fringe show — Group “Therapy” with Ann — tomorrow at the latest, so it can be included in the published version of the Wee Blue Book, listing all the Free Fringe shows. (Here‘s a link to the current listings in that book.)

Here’s what I’ve got, so far, for my blurb:

If you want a taste of group therapy with a trained professional who writes songs like “Everybody’s Somebody’s A**hole,” don’t miss this ONE TIME ONLY show. Find out just enough about yourself and others to feel better. “This could work.” – Scottish comedian Raymond Mearns. “That’s my mother.” – award-winning comedian Aaron Fairbanks.

If you saw that amongst hundreds of other show descriptions, might you attend that show?

The accompanying photo has to be small and square, and I’m considering one of these, taken last year during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by my son Aaron’s friend Camilla:

Photo 1:

Photo 2:

Photo 3:

Photo 4:

Photo 5:

I need your help in deciding which of those photos might be best.

When I have lots of choices and am under a deadline, sometimes I feel like this:

Here‘s an appropriate song for today:

Many thanks to all those who help others, here, there and everywhere, including YOU!

Day 2384: Expect the unexpected

Yesterday, I got this unexpected email:

Dear Ann Koplow

We have been looking at the database of shows who still want something, either runs or infills.

We would like to offer you the slot(s) below:

Show number 306 provisional title Group “Therapy” with Ann

Mo 19 13:00-14:00 Natural Food Kafe Basement Room

If you accept, please email this address immediately.

If these are extra performances, you will already have sent a picture and blurb. If you have not sent a picture and blurb, please immediately send one via the form. Full instructions are attached.

If you don’t want what’s offered but want something else, please email back saying what. Be as precise as you can.

If you don’t want this at all, please email back and say so. Make things as clear as possible. For example, if you’ve asked for extras but now don’t want extras, but want to keep your main run, say that. We don’t want any mistakes.

All offers are immediately void if you have breached the Ethos and Rules by applying to any other free-admission promoter, including pay-what-you-want and pay-for-priority-admission-otherwise-free. Or breached them in any other way.

Please reply as soon as you can so that we can fill the spaces as well as we can, and get your show in the Wee Blue Book.

Thank you

Free Fringe Team

I didn’t expect that!  I expect that email means that I will have a show at the Free Fringe in Edinburgh on August 19 at 1 PM, unless my responding back six hours later wasn’t immediately enough.  I expect it was, but I never seem to expect anything for sure.

With my life (see as many posts in this blog as possible), I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. I expect good things will come my way and they often do! I also expect I’ll have trouble sleeping trying to anticipate and plan for the unexpected.

I expect I’ll have to market the hell out of this Edinburgh Fringe Festival opportunity, especially because of the time and location of my show.  Expect to read more about this, here, in the month ahead.

I just posted this unexpected news on my Facebook page:

I GOT A SHOW AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE! August 19th, 1 PM, The Natural Food Kafe. Consider making this part of your vacation plans.

Unexpectedly, somebody already has replied that they’ll be going.

Expect the unexpected photos.

 

Expect an explanation of at least one unexpected photo.  That little fishing dude, directly above, reminds me of the old saying “Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.”  I expect you’ve heard that one before.

Expect the unexpected video:

I expect that no one will watch or listen to that whole thing.

I expect the unexpected comment, below.

Expect gratitude here, every day, for all who help me live each unexpected day, including YOU!

 

 

Day 2274: It’s never what you expect

“Ir’s never what you expect” is what I expect my boyfriend Michael to say, along with these other expected sayings from Michael:

“It’s all coming together.”

“Everybody loves you.”

“But do you love …… OSCAR?” (whenever I tell Michael I love him).

“Has he shaved off his filthy beard?” (when I tell Michael that I’ve FaceTimed with my son, Aaron).

It’s never what I expect whenever I do my taxes, including yesterday, when I discovered that all that time and effort I had spent keeping track of  the usual job-related education expenses was for nought, because of changes to the U.S. tax laws.  After my tax software had prompted me to calculate and enter these expenses (like conferences, air travel, hotels,  meals) yesterday morning, it unexpectedly flashed a screen that said,

Because of tax reform, job-related expenses are no longer deductible, unless you are

• A qualified performing artist .
• A fee-basis state or local government official
• A member of the National Guard or Military Reserve who had unreimbursed travel expenses for guard or reserve duties more than 100 miles from home
• Disabled and claiming expenses related to the impairment
• Provided with a minister housing allowance

I would have expected my tax software to tell me that BEFORE it prompted me, for about two hours, to enter all those expenses, but it’s never what you expect, is it?

I wonder if I’m a qualified performing artist because of the songs I’ve been writing, like this one:

I expect not.

My son Aaron told me yesterday not to expect to perform at the Edinburgh  Festival Fringe this August, because neither of us have received notice of an assigned show venue yet. Aaron expects that if you lower your expectations, you won’t be disappointed. I still expect to perform, somehow.

You probably expect me to post photos from yesterday, but these photos might not be what you expect.

You might expect to see photos of other cats here (namely Oscar and Harley), but it’s never what you expect.

You might expect me to express gratitude at the end of my daily blog posts. but did you expect all this?

 

 

 

 

Day 2193: For now

For now, there’s only one other post I’ve written with the same title as today’s post. (For now, I believe that 2017 post has some useful information in it. For now, you can click on that link to read it.)

For now, today’s post is the only one which also has a photo of “For now.”

For now, I’m not sure what a “retail incubator” is, but I can show you my other New Year’s Day photos of the Seaport District  of Boston (and, for now, this is the best article I’ve found online about “the hottest neighborhood in town“).

 

For now, I have more must-dos for today’s blog.   For now,

• somebody I’ve known for years is not speaking to me,
• I’m President of a local professional organization of group psychotherapists,
• with great power comes great responsibility (I saw the new Spider-Man movie at the Seaport District theater yesterday),
• I haven’t experienced the full glory of the new Spider-Man movie yet, because a fire alarm screwed up the theater’s computer system and the house lights stayed on for most of the film,
• I’m  writing a new original song every month,
• I haven’t made any high quality recordings of any of my songs,
• I’m still waiting to hear back from the Edinburgh Free Fringe about my show proposal, even though their last email to me three weeks ago said somebody would get back to me “in a few days” and I’ve written them again asking for a response,
• I’m feeing better about not hearing back now that I’ve read that Edinburgh Free Fringe link, above, and seen that  “our main programming decisions [will be] taking place from the end of January and through February and March”,
• my son is in Boston on Christmas vacation from University,
• I haven’t started packing for our Disney World trip this weekend,
• I feel tired when I walk up stairs, and
• I have more pictures to share from yesterday.

For now, there is still plenty left of the best tuna noodle casserole I’ve ever had in my life. For now, I can assume that Michael meets the two criteria I had established for a future boyfriend when I was 10 years old: That my boyfriend love cats and tuna noodle casserole. For now, I’m actually not sure that Michael loves tuna noodle casserole, but he certainly helps me to keep my tuna casserole love alive.

For now, this the best “For Now” song I can find, from the musical Avenue Q.

For now,

and see you tomorrow.  And for all those who helped me create today’s blog post and for all those who are reading this, thanks for now and beyond!

Day 2172: I hate myself for _______.

I used to hate myself for this and that, but no more.  Now, I hate it when I hear people say “I hate myself” for anything.

Yesterday, in my office, somebody said they hated themselves for not being what they used to be.

Have you ever said, “I hate myself” for anything?  I won’t hate you if you share that, below.

I’d hate it if my other photos had any hate in them.

Hate disrupts the immune system. How can we boost it?  Let’s start with kind words towards ourselves and others.

During this season, I do not hate myself for

• being done with my holiday shopping,
• eating more sweets than usual,
• applying to do a show at the  2019 Edinburgh Free Fringe,
• starting two new songs, “Don’t Call Me” and “How Much Time Do We Have with Each Other,”
• not being able to get back to sleep in the middle of the night, last night, or
• anything else.

Joan Jett hates herself for loving you:

I might hate myself if I forgot to thank all those who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — YOU, but I doubt it.