On the Stage

A woman was shopping at her local supermarket where she selected:
- half-gallon of 2% milk,
- carton of eggs,
- quart of orange juice,
- head of romaine lettuce,
- 2 lb. can of coffee,
- 1 lb. package of bacon.
As she was unloading her items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind her watched as she placed the items in front of the cashier. While the cashier was ringing up her purchases, the drunk calmly stated, "You must be single." The woman was a bit startled by this proclamation, but she was intrigued by the derelict's intuition, since she was indeed single. She looked at her six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about her selections that could have tipped off the drunk to her marital status.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she said "Well, you know what, you're absolutely correct. But how on earth did you know that?" The drunk replied, "'Cause you're ugly."


I actually need to get groceries, but I suck SOOOOOO bad at grocery shopping. I spend money on all this stuff and then I get home and that very same day I seem to still have nothing to make for supper. So we have the same 'ol over and over and I hate it!!! I hate the kitchen.

This was one of the hardest things I've done for blogger -- 1.) To actually complete it and 2.) to try and narrow my favorite stuff to 5

Tagged
I was tagged by Momma So, here it goes.

Let me preface this with saying I have a HORRIBLE memory. Anyone who knows me personally knows how horrible of a memory I have. So, there we go :-)

Ten Years Ago: September 1995 14 years old

I had just started my freshman year of high school...scared, of course, I was a little shy loser boy :-) Honestly...I need to show you a picture, I was! All went well in the year though and I had a blast all through high school doing theatre and choir and band and little to no homework :-D

Five Years Ago: September 2000

Wow, let's see. Starting second year of college now...Waldorf College. I had already met Veronica the previous year and had been talking to her all summer, waiting for her to come to Waldorf, which she did. I would have met her in her dorm room for the first time since meeting her the previous year for a weekend when she was up (from Washington State -- if you want ot know how I met her I'll tell you, it kinda fun I guess). Instantly fell in love and were pretty much dating from day one on. This year at college rocked, maybe not as awesome as freshman year, but in different ways. Nothing much to report, just giving it my all with classes, theatre, choir, band still :-) LOVED college. One month away, October, Veronica and I both lost our virginity to each other and well...if you want to go to January 16, 2001 when Veronica got pregnant, then THAT is something. June 23, 2001 when we got married and then October 23, 2001 when Kaia was born then that's also something! LOL.


One Year Ago: September 2004

Eh, working where I am now. Kaia turned 3 in October. Veronica is full-time student. Life hasn't changed much in the last couple of years. I'm sure I was doing a show, probably Murder at Cafe Noir, but that's about it.


Yesterday: Wednesday

I woke up late, that's not unusual, practically flew to work, worked all day, picked up Kaia and headed home. Decided to move the kitchen table into the kitchen from the shed. It's not convenient, because now there's really no place for my cats litter box, no place for the roll away dishwasher and barely any room to sit. Played with Kaia, watched some TV, went to bed. How exciting...

Five Songs I Know All The Words To: Ok, this is rediculous, I know the words to hundreds and hundreds (literaly) of songs, my passion is musical theatre people! So, I now dub this category Five Musicals I Know All The Words To:

RENT
tick, tick...BOOM!
Les Miserables
Phantom of the Opera
The Full Monty
and many, many more

Five Snacks:

Donuts
Ice Cream
Oreos (double stuffed)
E.L. Fudge Sandwich Cookies (double stuffed)
Cereal
and most anything chocolate...I cheated and did six

Five things I'd do with 100 million dollars:

Pay off all my and my families debts
Buy a bigger, better house and cars
Put some away for college for kids
Spend some frivolously (including a luxurious honeymoon in NYC goign to 2 shows a day and staying in a kick ass hotel for at least a week) :-)
Find someone smart who I trust to invest my money wisely


Five places I'd run away to:

NYC
Boston
Rhode Island
Washington
Norway

Five things I would never wear:

oh come on, you know me, there is nothing I wouldn't wear if the opportunity presented itself. I've played a female for various skits in college and I was a drag queen for a whole show 3 years ago -- dress/bra/wig/long nails and all.

Five Favourite TV Shows (this is incredibly unfair, once again you all know I watch way too much TV! but I have TiVo so it's TV when I have time for it :-):

Lost
Desparate Housewives
Las Vegas
ER
Medium

Those are five NOT REALITY TV shows that I love to watch...but there's SOOO many more (numbers, two and half men, How I met your mother, king of queens, still standing, Yes Dear, Joey, Will & Grace, Big Brother, Amazing Race, The Apprentice, So You Think You Can Dance, Law & Order, Ghost Whisperer, Mind of Mencia, Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, etc etc etc)

Five greatest joys

Kaia
Veronica
My Friends
Music (specifically singing)
Theatre

Five favourite toys:

TiVo!
Lap Top
Digital Camera
Mini-Disc Recorder/Player
TV/VCR player/DVD player

Current Reads:

Lemony Snicket Series
Son of A Witch -- Gregory MaGuire
Broadway: An American Musical
Big Book of Musicals
Playboy

Five People I am tagging to do this:

* Doug AND Jody! - not just one of you
* Little Miss
* Matt - Thoughts from the oasis...
* YankeeBob
* Yoj - though I think she already did it

I just realized this is exactly one year after I started my blog! Who's making me a cake?!

Thanks to Doug for showing me what a blog is and telling me I ought to do it, which I did, and helping me get all situated!

The rest of you are just icing on the cake from starting my blog...you guys rock!

Seeing as I have a phobia of, basically, the ocean and specifically everything in it. Or being out on a ship, especially a large cruise ship, in the middle of the ocean. Just scares me silly! Sharks, whales, octopus, etc.

I love Titanic, love the story and learning about it...but my stomach just turns looking at pictures and stuff. Not enough that I can't look at it or watch the movies and stuff...but just thinking about it gives me the major heebeejeebees.

So...this about makes me want to puke, just looking at this picture!

Click here

Let me tell you, we didn't have it out, I don't know if that would accomplish anything more than pissing each other off more, but we forgot about the couple of bad nights and that's always how it ends and it's good. We're back to loving each other :-)

Kaia isn't any better in the bed time/potty department...don't want to talk about that though, just makes me feel like a giant loser.

The house is getting cleaner, she helped me with the dishes and kitchen and I clean up the living room all the time (they just have a habit of getting messy FAST) and she's doing laundry. We got our piano tuned. We need to go through boxes galore still, but probably wont happen until her show is done.

You know, life is improving in good ways. I had reached the end of my rope last week, it was culminating from a looooong time of the same stuff.

Thanks for understanding :-)

I told Veronica last night that I'm having a breakdown and I feel like getting in my car and driving off the bridge (by the way, there is no way I would EVER kill myself). I was crying, I don't know what more I can do. I can't handle all of it, I can't, I just can't seem to do it right now. I DON"T CRY. And even last night I couldn't cry like I wanted to, I want the fucking flood gates to open...to let it all out, but I can't. It won't happen, god, maybe I've trained myself to not even let it happen anymore. But I was crying, can't that show Veronica SOMETHING, that I'm serious about this.

I am so incredibly unhappy with my home life, with my relationship, and with my parenting and housekeeping skills right now. I must be doing something horribly wrong in every one of those mother fucking department or I Wouldn't be feeling this way.

No, this is not a fucking plea for attention, I'm just letting something out somehow or I'm going to crack. Please don't comment and tell me to buck up, or suck it up, or it's not as bad as it seems, or it'll get better, because it is as bad as it seems and sometimes I don't think it'll get better. Don't say "oh here we go again" or "what is it now?"

I just want to shut down and not go to work, not go to choir, not blog, not run, not do anything.

I hate that I have to pretend to be happy here at work. I don't feel like talking to anyone today. I don't feel like eating. But one major thing, I don't want medical help, I don't need that. I"m not clinically depressed, I'm having a low moment, it'll come back up. I don't want to go to a psychologist or a counselor, I don't need that. I just need to take a break, and I need some support from my wife...which I'm not getting.

I would delete my blog, but I don't want to lose everything happy and fun from the past, so I'm just going to leave it, but for now I'm stopping. Please don't feel sorry for me, I don't want that, just leave me alone for a while.

Fucking blogger wouldn't let me post last night!

As soon as MiG was voted off I didn't give a FLYING FUCK.

As far as I'm concerned, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, INXS just lost money for a CD sale. I wont buy a CD with JD and INXS, no friggin' way.

They dissed MiG big time, in my opinion.

They just shoved him away at the beginning of the show, gave it to fucking JD and then told Marty how much they still loved him and how they'd love him to possibly open for them...WHAT ABOUT FUCKING MiG?!

Sorry INXS, but since America CONSTANTLY VOTED FOR MIG TO STAY...OBVIOUSLY THEY WANTED HIM TO WIN AND FRONT THE BAND...yes, I know it's your decision, it's your band so ultimately it's what you want, but...you just lost a bunch of money that MiG fans would have poured into you and your CDs and tours.

A friend of mine from theatre in Story City just moved out of his fiance's house and into his store that he owns in Story City and I saw him Sunday night at our theatre meeting. So then I went over to his store to hear some music from the production he's going to be directing this winter, he has a part in mind for me, and we got to talking and I asked him if he ever did any running. He tells me he's a tri-athelete...running/biking/swimming...and that he hadn't run in a month or so but had done some races this summer and needed to get back into it.

So we set up a 9:30 run last night. We did 3 miles in 34 minutes, I dind't feel bad about that after a 2 day break from running. Also, we ran on the roads of Story City where he knew it was 3 miles, he had done it before, and he drove it just to make sure. So, I think running on the roads and going up and down some hills may have done a bit of a difference since I usually run on the track, and sometimes by lap 12 I forget if I've done 11 or 12 laps ;-)

We're going out again tonight. My left leg has been a little achy all day, but I think I'm up for it! He's definately more conditioned than me, but he's a great guy so he just runs with me and we talk and get a good workout.

We're going to push ourselves and try to get better times, so that'll be good for me too.

Season 2 spoiler is found on ABC's own web site

I love the tv show Lost. Who doesn't? I'm eagerly awaiting 2 more days for the season premiere. In fact, I bought Season One on DVD and I've never bought a TV show on DVD before (not that I didn't want to...just too expensive). I, for one, am not going to read the spoiler to this one, I also like to be surprised with Lost, like the author of that article also says.

Another failed Hollywood Marriage

Can't you figure this shit out BEFORE YOU GET MARRIED?! Good lord, it's only been FOUR MONTHS.

I know it happens all over, not just Hollywood...but good lord.

And some people say it's gay people that are making a mockery of marriage, plenty of straight people are taking care of that.

I ran 3 miles again last night. Boy did it feel good! I started getting into a groove between mile 2 and 3. I know I'm not ready to go much past 3 miles yet, so I stopped, which was good because you know, I can feel it when I stop that my legs are telling me to take it easy. Breathing was nice and relaxed tonight. Pace was good. I finished in 31 minutes. My mind and most of my body are just rearin' to go longer and faster, but my legs, I think, are still telling me to take it easy, you've only been doing this for a week, it takes time to get into shape. I bought some mesh shorts at Target. I've never owned a pair of mesh shorts before. I also bought some Powerade, that's suppose to help to drink before and after...so I did that. It says it's a power drink with energy boosting and Vitamin B...sure, whatever you say Powerade. Oh, and it was such a nice night! It was too cool for shorts even, so I had on my sort of windbreaker style pants, it was great. The cool air felt so good in my lungs and after a couple laps when I started sweating it felt like the perfect temperature. It was bliss, folks.

I think I will run again tonight, maybe then take off Friday night and go Saturday and Sunday...who knows. Oops, wont be Saturday night, going to Miss Saigon!!!!! Oh, there will be a separate post on Miss Saigon, you know there always is for the musicals I go see or are in :-)

NOW...I just want to be able to work out my stomach and my upper body too. I have no place to do that though. There's a fitness room here at work, but I always have to leave right after work to go get the little one, so no after work. Then I'm not free until 9-ish when V get's home, so then I run and then I watch soem TV and go to bed at around midnight, so no evening work outs. No morning work outs because I'm up so late! I'm a night owl by nature, that can't change. No work out during lunch, it's only a half hour and you know how much I love eating...and I need to eat with all the running I'm doing!

No time for any other training, unfortuantely.

I went into the 7-11 gas station the other day and asked for five dollars
worth of gas.

The clerk farted and gave me a receipt.

Saw this movie last night...I LOVED it! I thought it was great. It had everything. Unlikely people meet, they're both so nice loveable characters. They fall in love, work with each other and their obsessions (his red sox/hers work) then it, of course, doesn't work. They split up, you're heartbroken even though you know it'll work out in the end, then it does work out and life is beautiful. I was smiling and laughing throughout the whole thing. I got into it (as if I ever DONT in a movie) and I loved the happy ending. And I love Jimmy Fallon and I love the Red Sox...it was a great movie! Drew Barrymore is great in it, and I don't like her that much, so that was good!

Now I want to buy the movie...

OH! I just went on Amazon and there is a special Red Sox fan collectors edition! SWEET!

I took Brad's advice and ran for distance, not time. I was going to run 20-30 minutes straight, or until I couldn't run anymore. Well, it ended up being 3 miles and 35 minutes. I think that's ok, I mean, I am sore today and I was last night, but I don't think it's necessarily bad to push myself. I know I wont be running tonight, taking the night off, and I didn't feel but maybe a couple times like I should stop and I pushed through those feelings, knowing I could go farther. At that 3 miles/35 minute mark I knew I was done though. Time to cool down. My legs last night and today are telling me I went to far, but they were telling me that the first night I ran too, they'll just have to buck up and take it!

I figure, another week or less and I'll be a good 5k-er. Just need to get up to a 26.2 miler :-) I think it'd be nice to try my luck on a 5K or two, and also try a half marathon before a full one.

I'm going to start going for stamina and endurance, rather than speed. I want to know I can run distances, and I want to know I can run it fairly easily. Right now I still feel to winded and worn out while I run, it needs to feel easier...but then again I started this less than a week ago, I just need to be patient! I definately know the first lap or two feels easier than when I started.

I feels so good to run, to know I'm doing something healthy for myself, to know I'm not taking the couch potato way out and I'm actually exerting myself. And it feels good to be getting better, which I think I am.

I just need to keep pushing myself on stamina and endurance. Last night I didn't run for speed, I ran for distance. I ran the first mile in probably 12 minutes...but I was ok with that, I was trying to go slower on purpose. Those sometimes it felt harder to go slower because I wasn't spreading out my legs as much and so it seemed they were working harder to go slower. I don't know, does that make sense?

Nothing but smiles over here though, I'm loving it! :-)

Hehehe, this was fun :-) Thanks Jarod and Yankeebob

I went to see Chicago at the Playhouse and I was pleasently surprised! Chicago is a hard one for a community theatre to pull off if you ask me and I thought it was pretty good. Some strong leads and some strong chorus members and all in all, there wasn't anyone who was BAD. I was impressed acutally. Especially in the orchestra, wow, they sounded great!

I didn't run Saturday night because my dad and my uncle, who both did marathons back in the day, said not to run 7 days a week. I did run last night, another mile, and cool downs and warm ups and got the soreness/pain in the rigt calf muscle area, darn thing, but not near as bad as I was getting, so I think it's going good.

I woke up Saturday morning and nothing hurt. For having a constant soreness from Wednesday I was happy to have no soreness. I'm barely sore at all right now.

I think tonight I'm going to do another mile, and then Wednesday do a mile and a half. Or perhaps not run tonight, run Tuesday in preparation for the mile and a half on Wednesday, or perhaps run tonight 1 mile, Tuesday 1 mile and Wednesday do the mile and a half. I'm having friends over Tuesday night, so that might be a good night to not run.

My goal is to run in a marathon. For sure. I'm pumped about it. I'm totally pumped about this whole running thing in general, but I want to run a marathon. I want to do it for myself, first and foremost, most definately. I want to feel SO good inside and outside. Feel good about myself and my accomplishments and to know I'm doing something so healthy for myself (since I eat such not healthy food!). But then I want to do it for my dad and my uncle and for Veronica and the rest of my family. I want them to be proud of me, not that they arent already, but I've only done accomplished things on stage and in singing and band, and I want to do this. Running a marathon is, to me, beyond amazing. If I actually do it, which my goals are to do it, then I will be so amazed that I actually did something like that.

ah! just gets me all pumped up right now.

That's the hardest thing...to have to WAIT to be good at running. I just want to beat this running thing right away, but I can't. It takes time...and sometimes I'm not very patient.

I don't feel like I've gotten much better since Wednesday, though I know things don't hurt as much, but I feel like I'm running about the same at 10 minutes for a mile and then I know if I push myself I can go on, not for long, but I probably could...but I know I shouldn't right away, so I stop at 1 mile.

Eh...it's just me blabbing now, so I'll stop.

I ran again last night! I'm determined now by golly.

I went out around 9:45 pm and ran at the track. I did some stretching then walked around the track once and then I was ready to go.

I am just going to do a mile for a week and then see if I can bump it up a bit or see if it gets easier and go from there.

So, I did a mile, 4 times around the track. It sure was sore the whole run. I keep thinking, as soon as I get going the muscles will relax and do what they're suppose to, and they kind of do. It does get a little easier. I still breath pretty hard and I don't run fast and I'm not sure it's a straight even pace the whole time, but I did seem to get into some sort of rhythm on the 4th lap. Just a week more or so and I should be doing a mile fairly simple I think.

This time I did the mile in right around 10 minutes.

Then I actually walked around the track twice after my run for a cool down. Stopped after the first lap to stretch it out then did the second lap. Then I walked the long way home and that was it.

The area between my calves and my achilles tendons was sore quite a bit all week since I starting running and it sure hurt afterwards still, but I can handle that.

One good news is, though, that this Saturday morning now they don't hurt for some reason!!! I woke up, swung my legs out of bed, stood up and walked and they didn't hurt like a sonofabitch like they had been. Wow! I didn't expect that. And they still don't hurt, I can tell the muscle is a bit tender, but it doesn't hurt like it did! We'll see what happens when I run tonight!

The other good news is I went out and bought new shoes last evening!!

They are Adidas Ozweego's and I got them on sale :-) I went in there and tried those clearance shoes on first, and they were SO comfortable. Made for high arches. So then I left one of those on and tried on the other shoe of about 7 other shoes in my price range and ran around in them and this one was the most comfortable, so I bought them. I asked and they said that I can try them out and if they aren't working for me as long as I have the box and receipt I can return them. There was no time limit, so that was nice.

Here's a picture:



Mine are almost those colors, but they are white/black/red :-)

Still sore :-) Even more sore today, but I'm a tough cookie, I can take it!

I did it though, I went for it again last night...I'm so proud of myself! I'm taking yankeebob's advice he gave me today in previous comments and not giving up! I know it'll be really hard to start again if I quit, so I'm just not going to. I've wanted to do this for so long that now is the time.

I want to get in shape, I want to be proud of myself and I want to stay a beanpole like I have always been.

So like I said I ran again last night. This time I stretched (a little bit) before hand. I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to stretching, just trying to stretch my calves and thighs. I know some stretches, just ones I'm sure everyone knows. Maybe Brad can help me out with this. I was doing a little stretch and it hurt, because I'm still sore from my first run last night and so I stopped and then I though, "Wait, you need to hold this pose and let it stretch for a couple more seconds straight" am I right in this thinking?

So, then I got out on the track and went for it. I thought I was going to DIE again on the first lap then my calves said "ok, I'll run if you want me to" and so they weren't bad, then my thighs kicked in and said "don't do this to us!" and I consider myself to have pretty strong thighs for as skinny as I am (I used to work them out a bit (and by a bit I mean a couple months probably) in college, along with all my other muscles of course, and I used to rollerblade none stop in high school and college).

But I told myself that this is what's going to happen when I first start and damned if I'm going to stop, so I didn't stop. Now, I'm sure it was just as embarassing as last night. I am pretty sure I was not going a normal pace and I'm sure I look like a lanky bastard when I run, but I run at 11 pm so no one can see me (hey, it's the only time I HAVE to run).

I finished a mile in roughly 12 minutes and then said, well shit, push Lars, PUSH. SO I ran one more lap, 5 laps around the track in all. Then I walked another lap to cool down and did some final stretching and went home. Took my shit off, dried myself off and crashed in bed.

I'm going to do this and I'm going to be a good runner!

I know you will all think I'm crazy but I run in my Converse All-Stars because that's all I have and I'm not going out to buy shoes, I can't afford to do that.

I have those Nike Shox shoes I got for my birthday but they are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO uncomfortable and HURT just to walk in that I have never used them and am SO pissed my parents had to waste $100 on them. I am thinking of calling Nike and seeing if I can still return them as they HURT and I have worn them maybe 5 times. Think I can when my parents bought them in January? If I"m not happy with their product and have never used them, then why not? That wasting of money on what should be totally awesome shoes is just gnawing away at me.

SORE!


I finally went through with what I've wanted to do for years...I went running last night. :-D

I went out at 10:30 and ran 4 times around the track (a mile) and then walked 1 time around and then ran one more lap and definately called it a night!

Man, I'm glad it was really dark and no one was looking because it had to have been embarassing for me. But I did it, and that's the important thing.

I am going to KEEP doing it too, I'm going to get my ass in shape (and by ass I mean whole body).

There was only ONE thing I forgot to do...warm up! I realized that when I stopped after the mile and went "oh shit!" I keep walking to cool down you know and then did some cool down stretches during my walking...but oops!

Mental note: warm up before running tonight.

How long should one wait to have a housewarming party? Is there a standard time to wait or time you can't go over before it's no longer a new house? I gotta be pushing it...but there's so many boxes still!!!

Isn't there some standard book called "Ms. Manners" or something that everyone is suppose to follow for etiquette rules (i.e. when to send thank you cards, etc.)?

From my SIL's wedding last month



I don't know what she's doing in this picture, lol


whatchoo talkin' 'about Willis?

Someone said today at lunch "Opinions are like assholes, we all have them, and they all stink"

I thought it was funny. We all have opinion, I love my opinions :-D

By the way...HI DOUG AND JODY!! I wish I could have seen you guys when you stopped by, but I couldn't stay for the open house, I had to pick up the little one. :-)

Went and saw Madagascar with V and Kaia yesterday. It was cute, I liked it a lot. Definately one to buy when it comes out on DVD.

Didn't do much else this weekend which was nice. We didn't drive ANYWHERE, except to the movie that once, but we made up for it by eating out 2 meals and a dessert...whatever, we had friends over and caved in. I still feel good about not driving. LOL.

Should be interesting to see how this season comes out. I'd like to get up to see all of these actually. There's just not much talent left in that theatre. My directors Jay and Janice left with me when I graduated, and who they brought in to replace them isn't the greatest...which is unfortunate. The talent in the students doesn't seem to be near as strong as who was there when I was and maybe a year after I left, then we all left and now they're left with these new students who somehow just don't seem to be as high calibre as we once were. It's all probably in my head because I know who I was with and I don't know these new kids, but that's my opinion.

---

WALDORF COLLEGE THEATRE ANNOUNCES 2005-06 SEASON
August 12, 2005
I Remember Mama, a slice of life play about a Norwegian family in 1910 San Francisco, will open the 2005-06 Waldorf College Theatre Department’s theatrical season in October. Under the direction of Dr. Robert AuFrance, Director of Theatre at Waldorf, the play will be presented October 4-8 in coordination with Homecoming/Family Weekend Festivities. Show times are October 4-6 at 7:30 p.m. and October 7 and 8 at 8:00 p.m. All of the performances will be held in the Smith Theatre, located in Thorson Hall on the Waldorf campus in Forest City.

Other productions by the Waldorf College Theatre Department for the 2005-2006 season include:

Damian Ernest, assistant professor of theatre at Waldorf, will direct Titus Andronicus, written by William Shakespeare. The play is Shakespeare’s epic tale of revenge, responsibility, and duty to self and country. Performance dates and times are Nov. 15-19 at 7:30 pm in Smith Theatre.

Little Shop of Horrors, a musical spoof of 1950’s sci-fi movies and doo-wop music with a man-eating plant, will be presented February 14-18 at 7:30 pm in Smith Theatre. Written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, Dr. AuFrance will direct the production, assisted by Dr. Bradley Creswell, who will serve as the music director.

The 2005-06 season concludes with the production, The Nerd written by Larry Shue and directed by Damian Ernest. The play is a satire on the price of friendship. Production dates will be April 5-8 at 7:30 pm in Smith Theatre.

He has been hand selected by producer Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber and director Harold Prince to BE the Phantom that is performing when Phantom of the Opera breaks the record for longest running production in Broadway history on January 9, 2006 when it performs #7,486 beating the current record holder Cats.

He has played Phantom the most of anyone with over 1200 performances under his "mask" shall we say? ;-) I'm so witty, lol :-)



Here is the http://www.broadwayworld.com's article, including a breakdown of the Phantom's on Broadway.




Beginning Monday, October 3, Howard McGillin, Broadway’s longest-running Phantom, will return to the title role in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at The Majestic Theatre (247 West 44th Street). He’s been specially selected by producer Cameron Mackintosh, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and director Harold Prince to be the “man behind the mask” when the musical becomes the longest-running production in Broadway history on January 9, 2006. On that date, PHANTOM will play performance #7,486 and break the record set by current champ, Cats.

Mr. McGillin has played over 1,200 performances as The Phantom, more than any other actor in the New York production. He succeeds current star Hugh Panaro, who is leaving the production to play the title role in the new Elton John musical Lestat. Mr. Panaro’s final performance will be October 1.

Howard McGillin has worked extensively in the theatre, as well as in film and television. He is currently starring as Captain Hook opposite Cathy Rigby in the national tour of Peter Pan. On Broadway and in London’s West End, his starring roles include his record-setting performance in The Phantom of the Opera, Mack Sennett in Mack and Mabel, Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman, Kodaly in She Loves Me, Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden, Billy Crocker in Anything Goes (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), John Jasper in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Tony and Drama Desk nominations, Theatre World Award) and Sunday in the Park with George He starred in the world premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Bounce at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and the Kennedy Center in D.C., where he was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for his performance. He was nominated for Drama Desk Award for his New York Theatrical debut in the NYSF production of La Boheme. He last appeared Off-Broadway in the Moss Hart-Irving Berlin review As Thousands Cheer with the Drama Department. He has appeared in numerous movies, miniseries and movies for television and can be heard on numerous books on tape. His solo CD, Howard McGillin: Where Time Stands Still, is available online.

Presented by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Company, Inc., THE PHANTOPM OF THE OPERA is the most successful stage musical of all time, with worldwide ticket sales exceeding $3.2 billion. The Broadway production opened on January 26, 1988 and went on to win seven 1988 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It’s been seen by almost 11 million people and grossed over $585 million, making it the highest-grossing show in Broadway history.

Base on the classic novel Le Fantôme de L’Opéra by Gaston Leroux, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA tells the story of a masked figure who lurks beneath the catacombs of the Paris Opera House, exercising a reign of terror over all who inhabit it. He falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine, and devotes himself to creating a new star by nurturing her extraordinary talents and by employing all of the devious methods at his command.

The current cast of PHANTOM also stars Sandra Joseph as Christine and Tim Martin Gleason as Raoul and co-stars Jeff Keller (Firmin), George Lee Andrews (André), Anne Runolfsson (Carlotta), Marilyn Caskey (Madame Giry), Larry Wayne Morbitt (Piangi) and Kara Klein (Meg Giry). At certain performances, Rebecca Pitcher plays Christine.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is directed by Harold Prince. Lyrics are by Charles Hart (with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe) and the book is by Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has production design by the late Maria Bjornson, lighting by Andrew Bridge and sound by Martin Levan. Musical staging and choreography is by Gillian Lynne. Orchestrations are by David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The performance schedule for THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is Monday and Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8PM and Tuesday evenings at 7PM with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2PM For tickets, call Tele-charge at (212) 239-6200, visit www.telecharge.com or visit The Majestic Theatre box office (247 West 44th Street).

www.thephantomoftheopera.com

THE ELEVEN BROADWAY PHANTOMS

Phantom - First Broadway Performance
Michael Crawford - January 9, 1988
Timothy Nolen - October 10, 1988
Cris Groenendaal - March 20, 1989
Steve Barton - March 19, 1990
Kevin Gray - December 3, 1990
Mark Jacoby - February 22, 1991
Marcus Lovett - May 24, 1993
Davis Gaines - July 4, 1994
Thomas James O’Leary - October 11, 1996
Hugh Panaro - February 1, 1999
Howard McGillin - August 23, 1999 Hugh Panaro (return) - April 14, 2003 Howard McGillin (return) - October 3, 2005

Yup, I've had it since Monday and I was hoping it would go away today, but no.

2 other poeple in our department have it. We all got it at separate times in separate places. Kaia had it last week.

Does anyone else have it?

Ugh, I hate being sick. I had to cancel singing at church this Sunday and I don't think I'll be much of a contributor at our first choir rehearsal tonight. Sucks!