Mary Poppins Live at Ahmanson Theatre

I grew up with Julie Andrews’s magical English nanny and have been looking forward to see Disney and Cameron Macintosh’s stage adaptation and now blockbuster musical hit Mary Poppins.

The set was a work of genius. The Banks family’s house seemed like it came out of a pop-up book.

The audience is first oriented to the front of the house. The humongous set turns around to reveal the inside replete with a living room, a kitchen, and a stairway to the bedroom which is another set altogether that sets the stage for the rooftop sequences.

The audience couldn’t help but give a rousing applause in amazement and appreciation as each section literally unfolds.

It was an absolute joy to listen and sing-along (in silence, of course) to familiar tunes and to hear new original songs created for the musical.

“A Spoonful Of Sugar” had a hilarious twist. The hymnal “Feed The Birds” still resonated with reverence. For the uber-popular “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, the ensemble spelled out each letter using their bodies.

“Step In Time” is the musical’s highlight with show-stopping tap dancing from the floor to the walls and even up to the ceiling. Bert (Gavin Lee) was literally upside-down singing and dancing.

The adage “They saved the best for last” couldn’t have been truer in the finale. Mary Poppins floated from one side of the stage towards the center waving at the audience.

From there she bids the audience farewell as she flies over the entire auditorium from the orchestra section to the mezzanine and up to the balcony. The audience’s cheers grew louder and louder as Mary Poppins flew higher and higher.

I could see people with bugged eyes and slacked jaws clapping in disbelief. Shouts of praise resonated along with Mary Poppins’ flight and climaxed when she finally disappears onto the rooftop of Ahmanson Theatre.

Now that’s a finale!

The photo below is a link to an online album where my friend, Summer, and I had our pre-show supper.

The Boiling Crab

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Photos in this post and the online album are author's property

iPhone I Found

I apologize for this belated post.

My thanks to all those who felt for me when I lost the item in reference which, for those who own one, is like a lifeline to family and friends, and an infinite window to the world beyond their immediate space.

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Whenever I come in for work, I leave my bag in a small room where most of my colleagues leave theirs. It has two numerically-coded doors where every single employee who has access to it can go in and out.

Several hours before discovering my iPhone was lost, I went inside the room. I find a co-worker who was startled as I entered. He went out of the room hurriedly, a tad anxious. I wondered what was the matter for a brief second then went on with my busy day.

And then several hours later, as the story goes, I discovered I lost my iPhone. I kept searching for clues, retracing my steps, asking around. I found only consolation and an empty hand.

I continued working despite being constantly bothered by the incident. At the end of my shift, I called my family about it since I don’t have landline at home.

I also sent a message to my iPhone to alert whoever has it, tried to locate it through a special tracking feature, and reported the incident to our security.

At home, I kept replaying events prior to my discovery and envisioning several possible versions of the incident so as to acquire an insight into the situation.

It was not until several summoned flashbacks did I acquire an intuition into how I lost my iPhone along with its charger. I had the epiphany right before I went to bed the next night.

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I chanced upon my suspect in a neutral hallway. I came up to him and said, “Are you going to my unit by any chance?”

“Yeah, later in the afternoon. Why?”

“I need to talk to you about something.”

“Oh, sure.”

“What time are you going there?”

“Uhmn... probably around... 03:45PM.”

“Good. It’s 3 o’clock. I have half an hour lunch break. I’ll be in my unit by the time you’re there. See you then.”

“Alright.”

I finish lunch @ 3:30PM and walked towards my unit. I enter the room where I last saw my iPhone.

Lo and behold - my iPhone sans charger was lying face down on a personal size fridge inside the very same room where I lost it - about 10 minutes before my suspect said he’d be there.

Few minutes before our scheduled rendezvous he calls. “Hi, Peter. I’m gonna be there in a short while.”

“Okay. I’ll be right here, buddy.”

When he came, he enters the room where I lost - and just found - my iPhone, and I follow. I calmly tell him that I lost my iPhone along with the charger. His brows meet to emanate a look of concern.

I gave him detailed description of the item and asked him to be on the lookout for it, emphasizing that the charger was attached to the phone. He said he will.

I waited some more days for the $30 charger to appear but it never came.

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I don’t know why my iPhone was returned.

Maybe the culprit knew about the tracking feature. Maybe my sister’s voicemail about divine admonition convinced the culprit to do so.

Or perhaps my mother’s total of 8 voicemails, each plea becoming more heartbreaking than the previous, afforded the culprit a change of heart.

But it’s good enough I got my iPhone back. The only thing is, if my suspect really was the one who did it, he happens to be my co-worker.

And that’s very sad.

Looking Forward to 2010

Most of the plans I will draft for this year are in alignment with last year's, with a little rearrangment and some additions.

1 Health & fitness is my top priority this year. Whatever I was doing the last 365 days didn't do much to change the way I feel about my body so there must be something I was missing or not doing right.

This year there's not to be a day without exercise. It has to be part of my life, part of my being; Like breathing, you can't do without it.

2 There's always room for improvement and there's always something new to learn. Education is incessant in the university of life.

I will always strive to be a better nurse whatever specialty I'm practicing. I want to be a better team member to my colleagues and a better care provider to my patients.

3 Who doesn't love to travel? Each year there has to be one new place, be it a US city or another country, that I will explore.

I actually already have three places in contention for this year which were planned last year.

Peru to Machu Picchu with my eldest sister; New Mexico to visit a HS friend and experience the state's hot air balloon festival; or Kenya where a graduate school classmate who is based there encouraged me to catch the wildebeest migration.

4 Michael Jackson passed away last year without me seeing him perform live. From then on I vowed to watch every artist that I like as much as possible.

But even before the king of pop bid farewell, there is one musical genius whose concerts I pledged never to miss.

I'm looking forward to another magical night of movie music with maestro John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl.

5 I am responsible for all aspects of my life, and that includes love & romance. I need to go out more as there is much to explore in the vast ocean of single gay men.

Wanting to see me finally get hitched, or at least laid (LOL!), a friend's encouraging rant went from "Go. Go. Go." to "D8! D8! D8!"

7 In line with getting fit, my spirit of adventure wants to experience a thrilling adrenaline rush. I hope to do indoor skydiving again in preparation for the real thing.

If not that, then maybe whitewater rafting. If life gets too busy, there's always Magic Mountain which I've never been to. :)

8 And who doesn't love to eat? As long as my bloodworks are still in the norm and my fitness regimen is on track, I shall pursue my gastronomic adventure with relentless pleasure.

All the best of 2010 to all & sundry!

Glancing Back at 2009

At the beginning of 2009, I wrote Glancing Backward, Looking Forward to have a vantage point of the path I've taken thus far, and a mapping of the course I wanted to take for the brand new days ahead.

This time, I am going to write two different posts. The first, a brief recap of the events of the past year. Hopes for 2010 will be in the next.

2009 has been very good to me. Some of the plans I drafted at the start of the year were actually realized.

1 I spent the first light of the new year with my mom and two sisters in Seattle. We explored the Emerald City of the Evergreen State as we rekindled the ties that bind us. I summarized our discoveries in Seattle Sights.

2 I adjusted pretty well in my new work area, PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit). While there, my hospital and the Daisy Foundation recognized my two years of hard work in Telemetry with the Daisy Award.

3 I had hoped to discover L.A. and its neighboring cities with Angelino. Not only did that happen, but I also had my Mom and youngest sister in tow. Images of our adventures in LA-LA-LAnd and its outskirts are posted in April 2009.

4 There were exactly 13 live performances I attended last year.

One circus: Cirque Du Soleil's Kooza;

Three musicals: Rent, Mamma Mia! and Dirty Dancing;

And nine concerts: Divas 4 Divas, Hollywood Bowl Opening Night, Beyonce, John Williams, P!NK, Martin & Gary, U2, Andrea Bocelli, and Lady Gaga.

Wow! :)

5 I dated again after so many years of not being in the scene. And I committed my very first formal declination of affection in Hard To Say It's Over.

I attended a gay speed dating event for the first time. They weren't kidding about the speed. Daters had to get to know each other in 3 minutes and then it's off to the next table. It felt like dancing Rigodon in lightning-fast tempo. Fun but exhausting.

There were also dating mishaps during the last quarter all summarized in Something for November.

So, I did give dating a chance (several, actually) as per my resolution and welcomed a little bit of romance in my life, but to see the end of my single-since-birth existence has yet to be checked-off.

6 I had my freshman orientation to West Hollywood. I also attended my very first gay pride festival - in Palm Springs. :)

7 Traveling to another city or country was one of my goals. I realized that in my seven days of Chicago.

8 I have been blessed to celebrate another birthday and I did so in the happiest place on Earth.

9 Angelino turned one year in November. Yup, my little boy is growing up. And there have been changes to his look throughout the year.

But true to my minimalist inclination, I didn't pimp him up too much so he only got the accessories I deemed useful. The link below is an online album of his latest photos.

G is 1

10 By the way, I "found" my iPhone. I believe it was returned by the person who I suspect took it from my bag. Details in a later post.

11 Perhaps the highlight of my 2009 is Big Bear Adventure Weekend where I Met Someone. I gained new friends and a broader perspective of the gay scene.

Most potently, I met "Andy", the man who knocked on my door and then shut it right back at me in a confounding plot twist.

Nevertheless, it was the most magical moment of my life thus far. It was also the most out-of-control I have ever been in my entire life. I do not regret any second of it.

If I could do it all over again, I would change nothing, except perhaps the part that we didn't consummate.

If I could do it all over again, I will take him; I will possess him; I will alter the very fabric of his being, even for just one fleeting moment, or two. And in so doing, I would have also altered mine.

But, of course, that's mere illusion by now. You can't turn back time and do something undone in that same space-time continuum.

My friends ask, "What'll you do if you see him again?"

"I think I'll say 'Hi'".

"After what he did to you?"

I didn't answer. I kept silent. But deep inside I said, "Why not? It's over. It's all water under the bridge now. It was what it was. At least I had something that I saw as beautiful. It's a precious piece of memory no one can take away."

12 Finally, although I submitted myself to public humiliation by posting a not very flattering topless picture, I haven't really gone far in terms of losing weight and building up.

There were ups and downs in my struggle to achieve an ideal weight and build up muscle but I always end up on square one. Time to "move it" in 2010. :)

All in all, 2009 was a great year. Many thanks to the many people who were part of my life in 2009.