Deep Within My Heart

[mrdreamjeans]

... lies a melody, a song of Old San Antone. It’s been a terrific week in San Antonio. The sense of history, both Texan and Hispanic, the graceful Spanish architecture, the mystery and romance of The Riverwalk with towering cypress trees dripping with Christmas lights, stone walkways lined with luminarias; the Majestic Theater filled nightly with enthusiastic audiences. Curtain down and two blocks, two minutes from the stage door, down a short flight of stairs and you’re walking or dining along the river. Magical ...

It’s been a family week for several people. My sister and niece saw the show Thursday. Halden Michaels' mother, sister, brother-in-law and nephew from Fort Worth ... Laurie Mitchell’s mother from Atlanta ... Sarah Litzsinger’s mom from Indianapolis ... all saw the Saturday night show. It was a very special time with Sis. I reserved two rooms for Colleen at the St Anthony Wyndham; she shared the room with my niece Caitlin; Cait’s boyfriend, Dusty, had the adjoining room. A unique feature of the double room (besides two four-poster beds) is that a room with two beds has two baths. Pretty convenient and perfect for my sister and niece in terms of prep and mirror time:)

After the trio saw the show, I took them backstage, downstairs to the dressing rooms, to the Riverwalk where we ate at a restaurant called The Republic of Texas. (Colleen twisted my arm and I sang one song in Karaoke:) We were really cold, but still took time to take midnight photos at The Alamo. The really special part of the evening for me was that I was meeting Cait’s boyfriend for the first time. It’s her first serious relationship and she wanted my blessing. She’s got it!! Dusty’s a keeper ... handsome, smart, studying to be a doctor, taller than her 5’9” ( a first for Cait:) and most importantly, he treats her really well! Uncle Neil approves!!

My visitors left by 1:00pm on Friday , but I stayed busy. Since I’m celebrating Christmas with my loved ones early (the week of December 12-18), I’ve been shopping, buying, wrapping, readying Christmas cards and shipping out-of-state gifts. But not too busy to buy myself a Christmas gift. I’ve taken a great interest in photography in the past year, inspired by many of the amazing pictures I’ve seen here on live journal and my unique opportunity for travel. Every time I sign on, I am astounded by the photographic talents, of chrisglass, peppabear, gotmoof and others. I want to get better myself.

Today I bought a new camera. It’s a Panasonic Lumix ... lightweight, 5 megapixels, 12X optical zoom and an anti-shaking stabilizer feature. It came with a free Epson photo printer ($179 value and a $179 rebate); a free 512MB card (after rebate), a rebate on the 256MB card that I purchased and a series of nine lessons in the use of the camera courtesy of Ritz/ Wolf Camera. I also purchased the extended warranty. If something happens to the camera, if I damage it in anyway, they replace the camera at no cost. The camera is high on the “way cool” factor:) Merry Christmas to me! LOL!

We close out the San Antonio run tomorrow night. It was 83 degrees today and humid. By Sunday night, it’s to be cold again. “Texas in December” weather. I’m fighting allergies (or a cold) as is most of the cast with all of the weather and location changes, but it’s easy to deal with the inconvenience when I know I have a week off coming up. We head to Tempe (Phoenix) on Monday. Eight shows and I’m strolling back home to Texas! I may not be singing, “I’ll be Home for Christmas”, but I’m going to do my best to have myself a merry little Christmas.

Comments

[poohbearjim.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great time so far. Congratulations on the purchase!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've caught the company cold, but as long as it stays in my head and doesn't move down, I'm fine with singing. Regardless, I cherished my time with my family. It gave me that balance that is so often missing as I travel for months at a time without a break. Where are you spending the holidays?

[poohbearjim.livejournal.com]

I hope your cold isn't as bad as mine has been. This is the worst I've had in quite a while. It's one of those that has made me cough so hard I've pulled a muscle in my abdomen, making it hurt every time I cough.

As for my plans, I'm driving down to LA on Thursday the 22nd, flying back up to SF late Monday night, the 26th, working Tues through Thurs and then flying back down to LA on the 29th where I'll stay until the 2nd when I drive back. The only thing on our docket is to go to the Rose Parade on NY Day. Since Ray lives just off of Colorado Blvd, and Pasadena is the next town over, it shouldn't be too difficult to get to!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

No cough as yet! Fingers crossed! It's also possible that it's just a really bad case of allergies, since the weather's been all over the place in the seven days we've been here. Tomorrow will be another story as we head to the Greater Phoenix area and play the Gammage Theater on the ASU campus in Tempe.

Sounds like you've got your holidays nicely planned out. A quick round trip between holidays and lots of time to be with your honey! I'm in Newark through early evening of the 24th and train down to DC after the final show in NJ. I check into my hotel on Xmas Eve and then will spend most of the next three days with my friends Henry and Geoffrey in Arlington. The rest of the cast arrives on the 26th. We open in DC on the 27th. It looks like I'll be on stage once again for New Years Eve... tho there is rumor of a party after for the casts of Wicked, Les Miserables and Evita. Since New Years day is a two show day, I'll probably just go to bed:)

Enjoy the Rose Bowl Parade. I've always wanted to see it. My Dad went when he was in the Navy in 1950 and still talks about it like it was yesterday.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Yay for self-Santafication!

As much of a Scrooge I have become in recent years, I still manage to maintain the gift-giving spirit with myself. Naughty, nice, it's all the same on my list. lol

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I thought about putting on my Christmas card .... "Naughty or Nice? It's a choice."

I like the word, "self-santification" ... has a ring to it:)

[rifesterich.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had such an excellent time with family! I always like to hear about such things because I have such a horrible family - as little contact as possible.
Congratulations on your camera purchase - sounds like you got a really great deal... and a great camera! I'm a Nikon snob, myself, but the Panasonic was one I looked at before I bought.
Merry happy!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Thanks! My family is pretty special and I understand just how special when I read the posts of my live journal friends and have conversations with non-blogging friends. I'm really lucky!

The camera was a great deal. I've got the rebates ready to send in and look forward to learning to use the new Panasonic to its full capacity. I looked at the Nikons over and over and I like them. However, the Limux was lighter in weight and had better features for the money. (I particularly like the stabilization feature.)

[peppabear.livejournal.com]

Which model Lumix did you get? Just curious. Thanks for the compliment! Can't wait to see your photo blogs!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

According to my paperwork, it's a Panasonic F2-5. (Whatever that means:) I'll be working on taking terrific photos. Course, I'm hoping Tim will continue to help me post them. *grin*

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

Enjoy your new cam -- sounds like a good deal. You have many more opportunities for good people photos than most of us! As for getting it for yourself, in this modern world of affluence and enormous choice, letting someone else buy you gifts often means getting something you wouldn't have chosen. I'm encouraging my incorrigible gift-givers to think small (handcrafted artsy stuff) or flexible (Amazon gift certificates.) If I could just stop my mother form buying me clothes and magazines that are destined for the wastebin unread (Prevention, ack!)....

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I didn't put the camera on a list because I knew there were too many deciding factors for anyone else to purchase one for me. I'm like you in the kinds of gifts ... something thoughtful, personal, handcrafted, artistic or flexible like the gift cards, works best for me, especially since I'm still touring.

Having said that ... My family demands that I create some kind of Christmas Wish List every year, saying that I'm hard to buy for. I made one this year .... It's called Neil's Incredibly Optimistic Christmas Wish List:) I have everything on there from "free", as in spend time with me, to an iPod and pre-paid gas cards for the drive to Seattle:) No clothes!!! LOL!

Hugs to Paul and you! I look forward to taking your pictures with my new camera!

[carharttmo.livejournal.com]

My mom is the same way - I need your list by October 1st!! LOL Family - gotta love them. Glad you had a nice time with yours.

Enjoy the cam - let us know how the pics turn out. We too are on the hunt for a new one - my current one is over 5 years old - so it is time!

Hope you get to feeling better.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying the camera, but mostly still circling it like I do most new technology. I'm so used to my older camera ... 2.8 megapixels and 3.0X zoom ... with 5 and 12X, I've got losts of new features to learn:) I'll show some of my efforts when I get down to serious using! LOL!