People Got Talent!

Oh, man: this is great. Ladies! Don't you hate it when you're lying around in your newest pair of purple panties, considering the state of your Bikini Area, and a tiny man with a lawnmower, uh...

Hm. Well, that's what happens when you're doing a Google Images search for "Burns, Oregon". You will also find images of chemical burns, C. Montgomery "Monty" Burns, owner and proprietor of Springfield's nuclear power plant, and several shots of rusted-out farm equipment that is for sale in the Burns area. Also: Brooke Burns.

Where have we been? Well, in the time since last a-postin', we moved into the new house. This was in the midst of a dramatic uptick in work for me, and there was the especially interesting moment in there where I ran up to Seattle, worked the Beyonce show, went back to Disco Boy's and slept two hours, drove three hours back to Portland to work the Li'l Wayne show. Not long after, the load out of 'Grease', which ran until five in the morning. On top of all this, we packed, and got our asses out of the old place.
Thence into the new. I called upon a couple of stagehand buddies of mine to assist in the moving of large things, causing Bee to opine that there should be a stagehand moving company, for those long intervals between better-paying gigs. As we raced closer to the day that we absolutely had to be out of the old house, I was frantically trying to get the new one habitable while she was on the other end, cleaning like hell.

It all worked out. We even got the cleaning deposit back, which never happens. Now we are ensconced in the much smaller -but cozy- place. I don't mean 'cozy' in the real estate sense of the term ("so tiny that you'd never ever want to live in it") ; I mean it's actually comfortable in its compacted-ness.
She's dug a flower garden, I've built a planter box for herbs and veg. She temps for the bastards that laid her off, I work just enough. Most recently my stuff has been weird corporate gigs, but there was the journey to Tacoma for what turned out to be a filming of "America's Got Talent".

Since that was a teevee gig, I was paid obscene amounts, which was nice. Since the load out ran past midnight, and I had done some rigging and building as well, I was paid insanely obscene amounts. Getting that check on Friday; looking forward to same.
Best moment I witnessed in the show itself: a tranny (M2F) who had done a not-especially-great impression of Britney Spears explaining that, "I used to be a boy, and am now one-hundred per cent a girl. I deserve credit for that." This piece of classic American reasoning (i-am-special-so-therefore-you-should-reward-me-in-areas-not-associated-with-my-specialness) was given an epilogue by David Hasselhoff, who asked -after the performer left the stage- "Did they fly that person in from New York?"

Whatever that means. In any case, I continue to work in Washington more than Oregon. On union gigs, anyway. Just a moment ago, I was interrupted by Seattle calling me to work the Taylor Swift gig at the Key Arena. The problem with this being that the same day here there is the Allman Bros./Doobie Bros. show, followed up with Taylor Swift the very next day. I can reasonably assume that I will be called to work one or both of those shows, but haven't yet been called.
Whereas I have been called by Seattle. This would entail many things, and some output of money, but they also pay better. It's one definite gig versus two potential gigs. These are the choices I often find myself making.


Burns, Oregon is where we're going at the end of this month, for a water law symposium. This is Bee's area of interest, but it's also an elaborate excuse for us to get out of the Willamette Valley, and go see the rest of the state.
Yup, I long for the desert. And I long, more to the point, to go on an epically pointless, very long drive that more or less describes a loop* through much of Oregon. I will be bringing along McArthur's Oregon Geographic Names.



I haven't been writing on this blog for a while because I haven't felt like writing as myself. I've commented on other people's things a lot, and have blogged as various other people, but haven't had dick to say here, really.
Except I've had plenty, and to be sure there's plenty of things to note. Just haven't felt like it. I'll be back, though.




*The loop, for those who know Oregon's terrain: Portland to Salem, across the North Santiam Pass to Bend, east on 20 to Burns, north on 395 to John Day, over 7 to Baker City, I-84 back west through Pendleton and ultimately back to Portland. A feast o' places.