Whew!

WELL. I gotta tell ya, folks; what a week!

Oy vey's mir. That's yiddish for HAVE MERCY. Here's the deal: I run a small photography studio where I get to take care of clients that I love, love, love. I truly do enjoy my work and 99% of my clients. Natch, there is always that 1%...it's that way with every job, ain't it? And my latest clients have been heavenly, simply heavenly. Now...when I am not busy doing photos for money, I am busy doing photos for my life as an artist. And speaking of my life as an artist, I spend a certain amount of time writing--on my blogs but also on my personal writing projects. This is the artistic part of my life.

BUT. A girl's gotta eat. And art don't always pay the bills. So I have a day job. I am the personal assistant to an author. He lives a block away. He is not just an author, though; he is a show business historian and archivist. He also produces and distributes cds. He also produces productions and directs productions and...sigh...he is just the busiest person, except for me, that I know! I spend a fair amount of time doing work for him (which includes the housework because...as I say all the time... I am the assistant!) and I love it. I love the job, I love the work and I love him.

BUT. Aside from being an artist and an assistant, I am the CEO of Two-A. Inside of this apartment I do the cleaning and the cooking (except for breakfast, which is Pat's specialty) and everything else that goes with the day to day operation of a household. I am a Househusband.

I also run an Ebay auction business. It is time consuming. Nuff said.

So let's see what we have here: Photography, artwork, personal assisting, housework. Now. I am also a gym rat. There can be anywhere from one to three hours a day spent pursuing health and fitness for me. Cardio first thing in the morning; maybe pilates around noon; weightlifting in the evening. It is an essential part of my daily life. Without it I cannot function.

All of these tasks must be scheduled into each day. And then there are the little unexpected pleasures like impromtu photo shoots in the park with Donna Murphy, Shawn Elliot and their 18 month old daughter. And then there are the surprise gigs like doing photos for Bobby McGuire (of BC/EFA) and Chris Davis (Of D.R.A.--Dancers Responding to AIDS) at events where I get to photograph dancers like Desmond Richardson (heavenly!) and stars like Hugh Jackman (WHAT a treasure of a human being he is!). And then there are surprise half hours spent completing tasks with people I run into like Annalisa, Bobby, Tommy Foster and other dear friends who drop into my day and week to brighten things up. And this week there were also many preparations for Hallowe'en.

My girlfriend LGG, of whom I speak often, and I communicate often but we could not get on the phone this week! I was always on the run. Instant Message chats with Brady were quick, quick, quick, as I typed a sentence and then ran to the other room to 'Git R Done!' Everyone sort of fell by the wayside as I attacked this week and accomplished just about everything there was to do and I must say that, when my head hit the pillow each night, I have felt the most peaceful feeling of satisfaction with my busy life, my work load and the way I live. I happened to catch twenty minutes of the old interview Dick Cavett did with my beloved, my favourite, Katharine Hepburn. It was on TCM and I missed the first half, much to my dismay, but I caught the last half, which was important. It was therein that I heard that famed quote--I have always read it and, indeed, use it in my MySpace profile--"..cold sober, I find myself absolutely fascinating". YAY! I finally got to hear it! I adored and adore her. It was also, though, in this interview that I heard Hepburn talk about how great it is to work. How good it is for the soul to be active, to not just do her work as an actress but to do the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, all the things that normal people do. I have such great satisfaction at hearing this woman whom I adolize say things that showed me that her philosophies on life and work were the same as mine. Yee Haw.

Today, I begin a new task. Well, it's an old one that I take up in the fall and put down in the spring. Pat and I are judges (along with Marci and AJ and some other friends) in the New Jersey Forensics League. We go to High Schools on the weekends and judge Drama Tournaments. I love doing. I love being a part of the education of these wonderful young people and using the knowledge that I earned in show business all these years to do something good that is about more than standing on a stage and being looked at. It is a true treat in my life, even though the travel to and from can be a struggle at times (the New Jersey Transit Authority is not run as well as I would hope). We begin our first tournament today, then rush back to the city to pump up so we will look good in our Hallowe'en costumes at The Roxy tonight. (Why I am putting on a costume is beyond me, since I will just end up dancing half naked on a box...)

Tomorrow Annalisa and I have a date to cheat on our diets. We always do after a night at the Roxy, since we just put in six to eight hours of cardio with our dancing. So we get to go to "crack-ho brunch" around one or two. I used to get eggs benedict or pancakes; always french fries with ranch dressing. Tomorrow I intend to have some fun but not go haywire. We are going to the newly opened Galaxy Cafe (best burgers in Manhattan, for my money--DEFINATELY the best onion rings; and I don't eat onions but I eat these onion rings) where I will have a cheeseburger deluxe (with jalapeno jack cheese) and onion rings. But I will not eat the bread. It's a good compromise. Then we will be going to Queens to go to La Guli, the amazing bakery I am love with, for maybe ONE pastry and definately TWO pieces of fresh, homemade, hand made marzipan. That will be enough for me.

Yes, it's been quite a week and I am extremely happy. There are few things that get me, personally, excited as much as productivity. I say 'personally excited' because I am talking about my personal life; I am, naturally, more excited about something great that has happened to a loved one--but in my day to day life, productivity rules. AND I got to go to the theater this week! I should probably blog about it. I saw one of my all time favourite actresses, Jill Clayburgh, and three other actors whom I LOVE --Blair Brown, John Dossett and Concetta Tomei--in a play with an actress I have never seen before but, now, love--Vanessa Aspillaga--in a play that I loved but that many people are saying the do not get: THE CLEAN HOUSE.

And with all that, I still feel like I haven't worked enough, that I could still get more done. Perhaps I can get something written on my book, titled Two-A, on the train on the way to Summit to judge the drama tournament.

Maybe I will sleep on the train....

please note: in the photos you see the headshot of Anita Gillette I worked on this week, a photo of Alan Cumming I printed for THE BOOK OF LAUGHS, a photo of Desmond Richardson taken at an event for D.R.A. and a photo (the I wish I had had better lighting for) at the same event of Mr Hugh Jackman with his lovely wife and the photographer James Houston.