T - MINUS: 36 hours and counting
T - MINUS: 36 hours and counting
Well tomorrow is the big day when I leave for Chicago. I was reading the chorus bulletin and I read that Joe Nadeau wants chorus members to write about their childhood experiences. and I really wanted to write about my GALA experience, meeting Richard, and then performing with HMC.In the meantime, Leila keeps on trying to annoy me by pretending like she doesn't know which airport she is supposed to pick me up at.
Is it O'hare? at 10 pm?
GEEK. Midway, southwest, 8:10pm, flight 217 or 271 whatever the flight coming in from kansas city.
and then my reply:
n a message dated Thu, 12 Apr 2001 11:24:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time, "William Rosen" KCSEC16@shb.com writes:
The flight number is 168.
and then she replies:
yeah because there will be an abundance of flights coming into midway from kansas city all at the same time so I really need to be concerned aboutthis.
and then I reply:
NOW we're going to take it outside. We'll probably be arrested in the Midway parking lot for causing a domestic disturbance.
I can just hear Ron Majors telling the story on the news "And tonight, an odd story from Midway Airport. Midway Airport Police have reported to CBS news tonight that two youths, a Kansas City male and a Naperville female, were arrested for apparently staging a.....wait a second....am I reading that right? a World Wrestling Federation fight outside the terminal. They were promptly taken into custody and booked for disorderly conduct."
So I've been working on that essay for the chorus, and here is what I have come up with so far:
SAN JOSE - THE FINAL FRONTIER
I have had many experiences as a singer, but none has surpassed the GALA 2000 experience last summer. I had been singing with the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus for about three years when the chorus announced that there was going to be a festival in San Jose, California in July of 2000. I was not traveling with the chorus as a group; I had my own Southwest flight reservations. The flight, from Chicago to California stopped over in Kansas City, and I noticed that during the stop-over there was a group of homosexual men who got on the plane, some who sat in the row right in front of mine. We started talking at some point, and we found out that we were going to the same place. I also inquired about the cute, blond man who was sitting up in the front of the plane, fiddling with his briefcase. Stephen Sanders promptly told me that he was "the piano player for the chorus", so I asked if he was single, and at first he said no, but then he corrected himself and said "single and available" The next day (Sunday) was the reason that we had come there, it was SHOWTIME! C.G.M.C. was first on the list (at least in that specific auditorium) and we had the privilege of singing first. The crowd was buzzing, and the auditorium was packed to the rafters. The announcer said "The Chicago Gay Men's Chorus" and we walked on the stage. From the moment we sang the first note, the audience was completely silent, and when we came to the final notes of the first medley of songs that ended with the triumphant melody from "Les Miserables", you could literally hear the audience's feet hit the floor, the seats flipping up, as the people were jumping out of their seats giving us a standing ovation that seemingly never ended. I was weeping. The feeling of singing for your peers, and the immediate reward of that thunderous applause was nothing short of phenomenal. We got through the performance and I can remember leaving the stage, and looking at my fellow chorus members, and there was not a dry eye on the stage. After we congratulated each other on the performance, we wanted to get out of our chorus dress, so we left the hall, and changed our clothes and made our way back to the performance halls. After seeing some other choruses perform, my roommate and I were hanging out in front of one of the halls, and I heard (who I now know as Keith Grahl) this voice yell from across the 'light rail station' to me standing in front of the hall "Hey YOU, this one over here wants you!" and he was pointing to the cute, blond man who was on the plane! I couldn't believe it. My roommate said one word "go". I made my way across the road, and down the train station walkway, and I don't remember what I said, but they invited me to come along with them on the train, so I bought a ticket and the cute blond guy and I have been inseparable ever since that day. I moved to Kansas City, and now am singing with the Heartland Mens Chorus. Richard Held and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary in July of 2001.
I think that is such a beautiful story. I often think about how my life has changed since then, and how wonderfully everything has turned out. I believe that I will stay with Richard for years, and we will grow old together. The only thing that I could say without getting hysterical about this, is that the song "The One" by Elton John really says it all. 'All I ever needed was the one, like freedom feels when wild horses run, when stars collide, like you and I, no shadows block the sun, you're all I ever needed, oh baby, you're the one." There's a million songs that I could quote now that I think about it, but that very specifically states what I am trying to say. Okay, stop Bill, before you get hysterical! My friend Terese used to say "you're such a GIRL!" because I cry so easily.
Richard sent this and I really didn't know what to make of it:
I just had a conversation with Margaret. You remember her - she was Carrie's Mom in the movie "Carrie" which is based upon Steven King's book by the same name. She lives across the street and showered me with her prophetical doom and gloom view of society. I expected her to throw her hands into the air and shout, "Eve was weak! Eve was weak!" But she didn't. I guess I can be grateful for that.
So, there was a small problem, not really a problem, but a little bump with my check.. I emailed Michael Sullivan to see if I could pick up my check at Spherion like I do every week, and then he emailed me back and says that he put my check in the mail, and he was sorry. So I emailed him back and I said, well, I wouldn't have cared any other week, but I'm going to Chicago tomorrow and I need that cash, and what happens if I don't get that check in the mail tomorrow, I just don't trust the Post Office. So he said that he would hand-write me another check, and I could just bring that to rehearsal on Tuesday, and he would void that out. So like I said, it wasn't a big deal, but a possible catastrophe averted. Another thing; I got a letter from the Community Blood Center yesterday, and it was sort of, not shocking, but dissapointing rather. They said that they do a bunch of tests on the blood that they took, and one of the tests resulted in a positive result for Hepatitis B antigens. So that's no big deal, because the doctor told me years ago, that I had it, but then my immune system fought it off, so I'll always have it, but I can't pass it on to anyone. So needless to say the letter outlined all of that, but it added that I will be disqualified from any blood donations in the future, which was disappointing to me, because it always makes me feel good to give blood. So now, I can't give blood anymore, ever, in the future. I will be updating this page later tonight at Susan's, so that when I go to Chicago, I'll have it updated up to Thursday - May 12, 2001. Brilliant. Oh another thing is that Heidi Mattingly emailed me and asked if I wanted to apply for one of these jobs that she had, and I said sure, what does it pay, what's the hours, all of that jazz. So she emailed me back and said that it was by Ward Parkway, and that it was less money that I was making, but the benefits are all paid for, and it's permanent. So, I said no, I refuse to take a pay cut to leave a job, it's just not going on. So I haven't heard anything from her since, so that either means that she's trying to negotiate with the people, or she's just scratched the whole thing altogether. Whatever! I forwarded the email that I sent Heidi to Richard, and I said "this is an exercise in asking for what you want" because he and I have been talking a lot about that concept, about how people don't ask for what they want, they subvert their needs for other people and they ask for either what they think they can get, or what they think that the other person wants, so that's what I wanted in terms of the Heidi Mattingly situation, and if I get it, that's cool, but if I don't, then I'm no worse off than I was before. I just sent Joe Nadeau andRick Fisher my submission (the story of GALA) for the Our Family Album concert. If they use it, brilliant, if not, like I said in the previous statement, I am no worse off. I feel good about myself, sticking up for myself. It just feels good. That's all for today kids, please mail me, to ask me about the grand adventure in Chicago! BWAH!
Well tomorrow is the big day when I leave for Chicago. I was reading the chorus bulletin and I read that Joe Nadeau wants chorus members to write about their childhood experiences. and I really wanted to write about my GALA experience, meeting Richard, and then performing with HMC.In the meantime, Leila keeps on trying to annoy me by pretending like she doesn't know which airport she is supposed to pick me up at.
Is it O'hare? at 10 pm?
GEEK. Midway, southwest, 8:10pm, flight 217 or 271 whatever the flight coming in from kansas city.
and then my reply:
n a message dated Thu, 12 Apr 2001 11:24:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time, "William Rosen" KCSEC16@shb.com writes:
The flight number is 168.
and then she replies:
yeah because there will be an abundance of flights coming into midway from kansas city all at the same time so I really need to be concerned aboutthis.
and then I reply:
NOW we're going to take it outside. We'll probably be arrested in the Midway parking lot for causing a domestic disturbance.
I can just hear Ron Majors telling the story on the news "And tonight, an odd story from Midway Airport. Midway Airport Police have reported to CBS news tonight that two youths, a Kansas City male and a Naperville female, were arrested for apparently staging a.....wait a second....am I reading that right? a World Wrestling Federation fight outside the terminal. They were promptly taken into custody and booked for disorderly conduct."
So I've been working on that essay for the chorus, and here is what I have come up with so far:
SAN JOSE - THE FINAL FRONTIER
I have had many experiences as a singer, but none has surpassed the GALA 2000 experience last summer. I had been singing with the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus for about three years when the chorus announced that there was going to be a festival in San Jose, California in July of 2000. I was not traveling with the chorus as a group; I had my own Southwest flight reservations. The flight, from Chicago to California stopped over in Kansas City, and I noticed that during the stop-over there was a group of homosexual men who got on the plane, some who sat in the row right in front of mine. We started talking at some point, and we found out that we were going to the same place. I also inquired about the cute, blond man who was sitting up in the front of the plane, fiddling with his briefcase. Stephen Sanders promptly told me that he was "the piano player for the chorus", so I asked if he was single, and at first he said no, but then he corrected himself and said "single and available" The next day (Sunday) was the reason that we had come there, it was SHOWTIME! C.G.M.C. was first on the list (at least in that specific auditorium) and we had the privilege of singing first. The crowd was buzzing, and the auditorium was packed to the rafters. The announcer said "The Chicago Gay Men's Chorus" and we walked on the stage. From the moment we sang the first note, the audience was completely silent, and when we came to the final notes of the first medley of songs that ended with the triumphant melody from "Les Miserables", you could literally hear the audience's feet hit the floor, the seats flipping up, as the people were jumping out of their seats giving us a standing ovation that seemingly never ended. I was weeping. The feeling of singing for your peers, and the immediate reward of that thunderous applause was nothing short of phenomenal. We got through the performance and I can remember leaving the stage, and looking at my fellow chorus members, and there was not a dry eye on the stage. After we congratulated each other on the performance, we wanted to get out of our chorus dress, so we left the hall, and changed our clothes and made our way back to the performance halls. After seeing some other choruses perform, my roommate and I were hanging out in front of one of the halls, and I heard (who I now know as Keith Grahl) this voice yell from across the 'light rail station' to me standing in front of the hall "Hey YOU, this one over here wants you!" and he was pointing to the cute, blond man who was on the plane! I couldn't believe it. My roommate said one word "go". I made my way across the road, and down the train station walkway, and I don't remember what I said, but they invited me to come along with them on the train, so I bought a ticket and the cute blond guy and I have been inseparable ever since that day. I moved to Kansas City, and now am singing with the Heartland Mens Chorus. Richard Held and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary in July of 2001.
I think that is such a beautiful story. I often think about how my life has changed since then, and how wonderfully everything has turned out. I believe that I will stay with Richard for years, and we will grow old together. The only thing that I could say without getting hysterical about this, is that the song "The One" by Elton John really says it all. 'All I ever needed was the one, like freedom feels when wild horses run, when stars collide, like you and I, no shadows block the sun, you're all I ever needed, oh baby, you're the one." There's a million songs that I could quote now that I think about it, but that very specifically states what I am trying to say. Okay, stop Bill, before you get hysterical! My friend Terese used to say "you're such a GIRL!" because I cry so easily.
Richard sent this and I really didn't know what to make of it:
I just had a conversation with Margaret. You remember her - she was Carrie's Mom in the movie "Carrie" which is based upon Steven King's book by the same name. She lives across the street and showered me with her prophetical doom and gloom view of society. I expected her to throw her hands into the air and shout, "Eve was weak! Eve was weak!" But she didn't. I guess I can be grateful for that.
So, there was a small problem, not really a problem, but a little bump with my check.. I emailed Michael Sullivan to see if I could pick up my check at Spherion like I do every week, and then he emailed me back and says that he put my check in the mail, and he was sorry. So I emailed him back and I said, well, I wouldn't have cared any other week, but I'm going to Chicago tomorrow and I need that cash, and what happens if I don't get that check in the mail tomorrow, I just don't trust the Post Office. So he said that he would hand-write me another check, and I could just bring that to rehearsal on Tuesday, and he would void that out. So like I said, it wasn't a big deal, but a possible catastrophe averted. Another thing; I got a letter from the Community Blood Center yesterday, and it was sort of, not shocking, but dissapointing rather. They said that they do a bunch of tests on the blood that they took, and one of the tests resulted in a positive result for Hepatitis B antigens. So that's no big deal, because the doctor told me years ago, that I had it, but then my immune system fought it off, so I'll always have it, but I can't pass it on to anyone. So needless to say the letter outlined all of that, but it added that I will be disqualified from any blood donations in the future, which was disappointing to me, because it always makes me feel good to give blood. So now, I can't give blood anymore, ever, in the future. I will be updating this page later tonight at Susan's, so that when I go to Chicago, I'll have it updated up to Thursday - May 12, 2001. Brilliant. Oh another thing is that Heidi Mattingly emailed me and asked if I wanted to apply for one of these jobs that she had, and I said sure, what does it pay, what's the hours, all of that jazz. So she emailed me back and said that it was by Ward Parkway, and that it was less money that I was making, but the benefits are all paid for, and it's permanent. So, I said no, I refuse to take a pay cut to leave a job, it's just not going on. So I haven't heard anything from her since, so that either means that she's trying to negotiate with the people, or she's just scratched the whole thing altogether. Whatever! I forwarded the email that I sent Heidi to Richard, and I said "this is an exercise in asking for what you want" because he and I have been talking a lot about that concept, about how people don't ask for what they want, they subvert their needs for other people and they ask for either what they think they can get, or what they think that the other person wants, so that's what I wanted in terms of the Heidi Mattingly situation, and if I get it, that's cool, but if I don't, then I'm no worse off than I was before. I just sent Joe Nadeau andRick Fisher my submission (the story of GALA) for the Our Family Album concert. If they use it, brilliant, if not, like I said in the previous statement, I am no worse off. I feel good about myself, sticking up for myself. It just feels good. That's all for today kids, please mail me, to ask me about the grand adventure in Chicago! BWAH!
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