2009 in Review

Well, seeing as how I'm going to spend the majority of New Year's Eve and Day at the Broadway Music Theatre, very far from the lights of Broadway (and for 14 hours, a decade ahead!), I've decided I'm going to get my year-end list in before 2010 races across the start line.

Side note: When did we leave the decade with no name (the aughts? the zeros?) behind? How did that happen? And is it just me, or is the next decade even weirder to write and envision?

Let's see... Here's what happened in 2009.

January started yet another audition season in New York, during which I spent the first 5 months of the year unemployed collecting a meager $140/week from the state. Countless auditions, Thursday Night Pizza Parties and outings with the bestie ruled my first 6 months as part of Actor's Equity Association.

In February, I set down roots in Astoria and bought furniture as a companion to my 1/3 of the lease, and watched that set-up change drastically by October. But there were countless weekday pancake brunches to cheer up the mood!

March saw many callbacks, and even a few final callbacks that raised expectations of job offers, only to find myself fighting off actor disappointment weeks later when phone calls never came.

April saw a visit from Lauren, me visiting my old town, DC, and a special event at the Bronx Zoo (my first time there!).

May was the month when fresh air blew in on my life and shook everything up! My best friend got engaged, and planned to move to Vegas for 2 years. I travelled home to see my little sister graduate nursing school, one of my proudest moments in recent memory. And best of all, I found out I would not only be working upstate for the summer, but I would then be moving to Japan for 8 months come fall.

In June I took my first East Coast camping trip with friends and found out just how beautiful upstate New York really is. I moved to Auburn to play a high school jock, and found out I had more school spirit for the Wildcats than I ever did for the Cardinals and the Mustangs. Well, maybe not the Mustangs. I lost a family member on my birthday, and re-learned the roughest, toughest lesson of all: That life, and this business will never cut you a break for your personal life.

In July, I ventured across the Canadian border on a whim to ride the Maid of the Mist into Niagara Falls, and I saw a triple feature at my first old-school drive-in movie theatre. I won a shop game of dodgeball on the 4th of July, and prepared myself to move overseas with only a 3 day window between contracts. And at the end of the month, I embarked upon the most life-changing adventure yet: I moved to Japan!

August was a gloriously hot month of adventure, learning a new language, becoming an official alien, embracing a new culture, making Japanese friends, learning 2 brand-new shows, watching the sunrise from the top of Mt. Fuji, traveling all over the Kanto Prefecture, and turning a hopital-like sterilized room into a home.

September brought cooler (and cloudier) weather, typhoons that cancelled trains and shows, an adventure to Japan's Cedar Point, the ONSEN, and great friends from the Diamond Horseshoe.

I returned to rehearsals (for Christmas) in October, spent time exploring the Chiba area around me, caught up with friends on tours from the States, found out that I will once again be an uncle come late March, and began my "bromance" with Evan.

November meant it was time for my first visitor to Japan, the scariest vocal problems I've ever experienced, an exploration into a health care system that puts the patient first (rather than profit), Thanksgiving dinner at 10:30 PM, and my first real Christmas show for the holidays!

And in December, I was blessed to ride my first shinkansen to Hiroshima/Miyajima, "bonzai" the Emperor on his birthday, work on Christmas Day for the first time ever, and use Skype to share the holidays with family and stave off homesickness.

It's been a long year since I returned to New York jobless and penniless. One that has brought many blessings, and also many trials that have fortified my character. Life has changed me this year in probably the most significant ways since I lost my father in 2002. And in a mere 3 months, I once again will be in New York jobless and penniless. Who knows what 2010 will bring?

I hope you enjoyed the ride. I know I have.

Inspiration

So yesterday, according to Beck, I sang

"The Longest Growl in the History of Show Business"!

I mean, that's pretty awesome. And she wasn't kidding. I watched it on the playback, and there's this moment when you, as an audience member, think, uh oh, he's held it too long, but then it keeps going through the end of the phrase and it's actually rather awesome.

Because it was inspired.

Seriously, I was crazy slap-happy and in the zone, unlike Britney's album of the same name. I just was. For some reason, after sleeping through A-shift and almost every break of the day, I was in the ether during the last show of the day. I think it probably had something to do with Okada's INSANE trumpet solo, Yohsuke's fake out on the drums that pumped my adrenaline because I thought, for just a split second, that I had cued him wrong, and Tamaki's awesome bass riff. And the fact that it was the last show before my Saturday off. Somehow I just went to the magical place.

I didn't care.

I embraced the music, I trusted it, I made choices and didn't worry about what they looked or sounded like, only what they FELT like.

I performed, kind of selfishly, for me. For the star in me. From pure inspiration.

And the critic in me that saw the tape kinda liked it. I think that's what they were trying to pull out of me all through rehearsals. Just sheer star power and tearing up the stage.

I really liked my performance because it still had all the awkward, quirky, long-legged, special Topher things, but they were so organic and natural that they just fit perfectly. And suddenly they weren't quirky or awkward, only right.

So... I'm guessing for that audience, they knew something special was happening onstage because it was inspired. That magic that only live theatre can give. And what a blessing that I got to share that with 1500 people.

All because of a growl.

That literally covered the entire phrase "Why..... not take all of?" instead of the normal growled "Why".

Oh, and the fact that I managed to squeeze in "Don't forget our tap-dancing, drum-playing superstar, Mickey Mouse!" in the bows and made everyone grin.

Pretty frickin' cool.

Now if only I could get that inspired to clean my floors!

In other inspirational news, I had a really wonderful conversation with Destiny tonight about being positive and life's constant battles and remaining inspired through it all.

And I bought some fierce new yellow suede boater shoes at Gap and super fun clothes at Uniqlo (all on extra-inspirational SALE, of course).

And despite Japan's disbelief in muffin pans, I managed enjoy today's rainy day off by baking some deliciously inspired blueberry muffins. I also now know that I'm definitely the son of a baketastic housewife/hygienist and an engineer since I managed to create delicious muffins out of our teeny tiny ovens sans muffin pans, remember to brush my teeth after I chowed down, and McGuyver a way to keep the second half of the batter fresh for tomorrow morning by cutting open 2 ziploc bags and creating my own freshness encasing around the bake pan since I didn't have any foil or plastic wrap. They should be so proud.

In addition, The Fountainhead is continuing to prove to be a great source of philosophical inspiration for this artist, and fall TV is once again inspiring my love of good storytelling and acting.

The only real battle I've had this week is with my own emotions and stress level about moving out of my apartment so suddenly, but as usual, my favorite source of inspiration, Bestie, came to the rescue. She kindly has offered to take and use my furniture until I am able to move in with her after Tokyo, and Chad is taking care of all the moving logistics. Which means that the major knot in my back might finally give way so I can feel relaxed again.

AND, MIKA just came out with his new album. Which I'm sure will be just as inspiring as his first.

Next challenge? To hold onto and find more inspiration in our long rehearsal process for Christmas show that starts tomorrow. But, I mean, hopefully "White Christmas" and "Let It Snow" will be inspiring without having to work that hard. I mean, wow. They do half the work for me!

What inspires you?

Nihon-jin Majide desu!

So I need to get right to bed since Blair and I are leaving at 7:15 AM for Nikko, but I absolutely have to talk about my crazy day instead. So here are my thoughts in a time-saving, sleep-saving manner.

First, there is this Christina Aguilera version of "Car Wash" that I, for some strange reason, have not heard before. I have one reply. I do not like it. Girl can sing but the original is much better. Please leave it be.

Secondly, I had the privilege of chatting with the bestie this morning and it cheered me up so much, the Japanese were all like, why so genki (happy)? It made me very delighted and I miss her so much. Reminds me that I need to call Kate and Lauren too. The bestie has also ruined me. See, Yuki brought in his dance video to show us all his choreography and I haven't been quite able to place my finger on what it is about the Japanese dance style that feels weird. And after seeing a few numbers I realized that it's not the 80's jazz influence everywhere, but their inability to let go of their CENTER! They do all these crazy arms movements with lots of turning and ballet technique which suits their perfect posture, but it drives me nuts that all the movement originates from the shoulder or wrist! As bestie would say... USE YOUR BACK! And so now, as usual, her brilliance as a dancer has spoiled and ruined me. And she's probably loving that as she reads this.

Third, I never realized what was missing at MGR until like the last week of the run. Can I just say how nice it is to have a green room/common area again? They really need to fix that there...

Fourth, my band friend Yosuke has written this delightful "Kitty" ditty for ukelele and violin (played by Misuzu). I am OBSESSED. It is so charming and wonderful and it amazes me how talented everyone is. Just you know, jam sessions between shows with brilliant violin and uke players. You know... and they are characters for the mouse. WOW. I caught some video of it but I promised not to share it for copyright reasons...

Fifth, I am obsessed with Blair for booking our trip to Nikko via travel agent today while I was at work. New adventures to come!

Sixth, Jor and I are talking every day and it's like clockwork. The best thing about his cruddy situation right now is that we have reconnected and are finally back where we belong. Which also makes me genki.

Seventh, I basically spit coffee out my nose today because the Japanese are so CRAZY funny. They taught me to say three things that I absolutely do not understand that just tickle their fancies, and I truly haven't laughed that hard in ages. Genki again. They are: Kin-nikku-man wa onara de Tobundatte. Which has something do with a cartoon character flying off his farts. (think puzzlefarter.com). Also: Anatana no oraga meimas. Which has something to do with colors but I really don't understand. And finally, the sing-song: Kitakaze... gazo... o CANTALO. Which is some children's character name and they DIE. To the extent I have a new nickname. Cantalo. All because someone offered me "melon" today and I said, oh yummy! Cantaloupe. And you can fill in the rest. Those baka nihon-jin.

Finally, I had the joy of participating in a 4 person birthday celebration extravaganza complete with men in drag lip-synching "One Night Only" and Tophs in drag giving you Marilyn Monroe Happy Birthday to 4 Japanese women. I WOULDN'T EVER take pictures backstage because it's not allowed, but I'm so glad I have my tangible memories. Basically, I had a crazy day full of fun and laughter with a culture I can't even begin to understand but am completely in love with.

And on that note... time for bed to explore more tomorrow!

why I feel so blessed...

you know, it's the little things in life that make it so exciting and also so hard to leave....

Today, it's all about the friendskies... They Rock!

Bestie Branks, Joe, and Joshua and I had a most incredible lunch at the Olive Garden in Times Square today. "Now, Tophs," I hear you say, "are you SERIOUSLY telling me you ate at the Olive Garden in TIMES SQUARE? Don't you know any better?" Well, duh, naive reader, OF COURSE I snark at tourists who can't figure out that if you just walk 5 minutes to 9th Avenue there's amazingly cheap and authentic and DELICIOUS food at many of my favorite places! (Shout out to Amarone). But, I mean, who can deny the amazing-ness of free breadsticks, unlimited soup and salad for 6.95 on an actor's budget. Eat me, I mean Olive Garden.

But this not be the point. The point be... (yes, I'm well aware of that insanely heinous grammar, that point will be discussed at another time), I am so blessed to have friends who are delightful, successful, snarky, sarcastic, charming, and wonderful. They make it possible for me to leave, and also impossible because I can't imagine 9 months without them. I have made my family here in New York from various contracts and experiences and my life is so ENRICHED by each one's presence. And for that, I am eternally indebted.

So much so, that now I must run to my Goodbye Party. I only hope I can add to my basket of family in Japan with wonderful new co-workers and friends. If Tokyo is anything like NYC, I'm in for an incredible 9 months.

Tomorrow... to TOKYO!