Full Circle

I just finished casting West Haven Summer Youth Theatre of which I am the co-director with a dear friend. The friend has been doing this forever and is an accomplished music teacher, so I was honored to have been asked to do direct with him. I am also very grateful to have his guidance as I find my way as a director of teens and tweens since I am used to working mostly with adults.

Some of my readers may not know this, but before I was an author or writer, I was a professional singer. I was headed to Broadway and did lots of professional work in and around New York. I studied at AADA in New York and with many voice teachers and dialect coaches. As a result, I had an excellent career that I gave up for foolish reasons, though I did not think they were foolish then. Nevertheless, before I moved to New York, I did tons of theatre and one of my first shows was Godspell with West Haven Summer Theatre. It was actually my second show ever! A couple of years later, I had a director there named Anthony Amato. He was a high school English teacher who also loved the theatre and worked hard to inspire us as actors. I very clearly remember thinking I wanted to be just like him, and this thought came back to me a few days before we started production on this show. Unfortunately, Mr. Amato will never know my thoughts. He passed away last fall, rather suddenly to all of us who knew him. I had the pleasure of serving on our local arts council with him and always enjoyed his presence. He had one of those faces that always looked as if it was smiling.

Since I believe everything happens for a reason, I have no regrets. In fact, I much prefer THIS side of the curtain right now and writing my books. I don’t want the stress of getting up on a stage and simply do not enjoy that part of things anymore. Where I used to jump up and sing, I stand back now and let someone else do it. That is why I am so very excited to pass on my skills to a new generation. They can jump onstage with as much of my knowledge as I can pass on to them.

Our show is Godspell Junior. It will be performed at Carrigan Middle School in West Haven, CT, on August 6th and 7th. Some of the racier parts have been removed in this version, but it is just as fun. Now that casting is over, I can get to work shaping the show and leading our cast to self-discovery. Above all, I hope it will be a fun summer – for them and for me.

West Haven Summer Theatre is back and I am very happy to be a part of it. I only hope I can make Tony proud as he stands in the wings and watches our show.

It seems as if things have come full circle.

Conjuring the Ghost of Antoinette Perry

Every year during the Tony Awards, I get the urge to write that play. Well, not a play, actually, but a Broadway musical. Not some splashy color-soaked monstrosity with no real depth, but the “Gone With The Wind” of Broadway for our time. You know, a language-sanitized Rent or a post-911 A Chorus Line.

My ideas for my novels, non-fiction books and musical theatre productions are safe and sound on index cards in what my students know as the “Idea Box,” but I have yet to jot a word of that musical. I know who will write the music and help with the lyrics, though I will write the majority of the lyrics myself. I just don’t know how to fund such a venture without losing my house and neglecting my family. And what about those agents who are looking at my next novel or that ghostwriting gig I may have soon (from my mouth to God’s Ears!)?

Yes, every year I watch the Tonies and dream of seeing my musical as one of the featured performances because it is up for Best Musical that year. I watch, dream and hope I figure out a way to add about 10 more hours to my days.

Writing Military Mom’s First Contest!

Well, second if you count the “Name My Business” contest that no one won. (My husband came up with the name and he already had my book.)

This contest is for military spouses, active duty or retired. Write some of the special things you do to survive a deployment. Do you put something special in the care package? Maybe a get-together with the other families to do something different? Make homemade cards and send them each week or each day?

Whatever it is, tell me about it by leaving a comment here with a link back to your blog, if you have one. If not, just tell five friends about the contest so they can enter, too! Your entry does not have to be poetic. If you do not want to write much, just list your ideas for all of us to view.

Deadline for entries is July 1, 2009 by 5pm Eastern. This gives everyone enough time to think of their favorite deployment diversions. The winner of the best idea will receive a copy of Marc CB Maxwell’s book, SURVIVING MILITARY SEPARATION: A 365-Day Activity Guide for the Families of Deployed Personnel. It is a book filled with 365-days worth of fun activities to complete that makes separation during a deployment a little easier. It also includes space to write your thoughts and information you may want to share with your spouse when he or she comes home.

Good luck to everyone who enters. At the very least, you may get some great ideas about how to make a deployment a little easier by employing some of the creative ways my readers come up with from time to time. I look forward to reading all of your posts.

(Thank you to Marc CB Maxwell for letting me uses his book for this contest.)

By the way, did anyone notice the new button in the upper left corner? Yes! I won another blog award! Thank you to DeAnna of Write Moms for bestowing this button on my website. I'd like to thank all of the little people...my mother...God...well, you know the speech. :)

OF NOTE:

GI Pictures

A film development company completely staffed by active duty, retired military and their families. You can apply for jobs or pitch your story ideas. Hey, you never know!

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2009 Military Spouse of the Year, Tanya Queiro!

Courtesy of Military Spouse Magazine:

Tanya Queiro, the 2009 Military Spouse of the Year National Winner will appear on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight on Memorial Day, Monday May 25th, 7-8 PM EDT. Don't miss it!

Visit msoy.milspouse.com for pictures from the 2009 Military Spouse of the Year Awards Luncheon.

Additional Links:
Video Full Article from Military Spouse magazine Press Release
Victory Media, Inc. 1005 5th Avenue Coraopolis, PA 15108

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To all of those who serve and have served our country,

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Rosemary

Embarassing Business Flubs

I just interviewed Debra Benton, author of CEO Material: How to Be a Leader in Any Organization (McGraw-Hill, April 10, 2009). I enjoyed her stories so much, that I got her permission to share one with you. It’s a funny thing that happened to the author while speaking in front of a group of people.

Debra Benton was not returning to work, but doing a new kind of work. She was very nervous and was going to be in front of a group of people. Afraid there would be perspiration stains on her blouse, she had idea of having panty liners on her underarms to contain the sweat. As she was speaking in front of people who were about three feet away, she had a little problem.

“All of a sudden, I see a pantiliner coming out of my sleeve! I balled it up, thought I dealt with it and then saw one of them was lying on the floor!”

Benton stopped and decided to explain to the group before here. She was mortified, but explained what was going on. After she did, she asked, “Did anybody see this?” A man at the back of the room confessed that he thought she was doing a magic act.

The point of this story is that humor can take care of any social faux pas, even one as embarrassing as having a pantyliner fall out of your sleeve while speaking in front of a group!

Do you have a funny story to tell about a workplace flub? If you do, drop a comment here so we can all enjoy it!

I found some military deals

I had to make a correction on the deadline date for the KFC entry (sorry!), so I thought I would re-post the most recent deals and add a few more I found recently. Enjoy!

Thanks USA scholarship deadline approaching.

ThanksUSA scholarships are for the spouses and dependents of uniformed military personnel. Apply by May 15th to be considered for one of 500 scholarships of $3,000 each. They can be used for college, vocational or technical schools. To apply for and/or learn more about the scholarship, go to http://www.thanksusa.org/ and click on Scholarships.
Deadline is 5/15/09

KFC coupon for free meal!

May 5th through 5/19th only, so hurry. http://www.unthinkfc.com/

BuildaSign.com offering free signs to military.

I have not ordered on of these yet, but I have heard good things about this company. They are offering free signs for welcoming home your active duty member and any other sign idea you can come up with. If you have any questions, just email them. If you use them, I would love it if you sent me a photograph of the sign in action and what the person thought about it. Was it a surprise? Did they get all choked up? Send me your comments.

http://www.buildasign.com/Troops

Cruise Hound offering deals for military members.

Applies to both active duty and retired military members AND their guests.

http://www.thecruisehound.com/cgi-bin/links/page.cgi?p=cruise_search_military

If you want to find tons of deals especially for military families (and sometimes their friends), check out Military.com's discount page.

http://www.military.com/DC/DealCoupon.jsp?deal_id=25134

Swine Flu or Just A Stomach Bug?

My little boy woke up hurling today. Needless to say, he did not go to preschool. It made me wonder, though. Until this swine flu thing has run its course, I am going to think everything they have that has even one flu symptom (such as tossing his cookies) has the potential of closing down the schools in West Haven.

‘Not really. I send them to school unless they have a fever or if they…ride the porcelain Honda. Of course, this always happens when I have deadlines and work up the wazoo, but that’s why I work at home, right? I just have to keep remembering that .

Now that I write this, let’s have some fun. (I need it after the 8th time going over the floors with the Swiffer and changing my little guy’s clothing.)

What are other names for, well, throwing up? (Yes, eww, but this could be funny.) And please get as funny and irreverent as you’d like, just don’t be vulgar or I’ll have to delete you.

I’ll start with the three I’ve mentioned.

1. hurling
2. riding the porcelain Honda
3. tossing your cookies

NOTES:

Thanks USA scholarship deadline approaching.

ThanksUSA scholarships are for the spouses and dependents of uniformed military personnel. Apply by May 15th to be considered for one of 500 scholarships of $3,000 each. They can be used for college, vocational or technical schools.

To apply for and/or learn more about the scholarship, go to http://www.thanksusa.org/ and click on Scholarships.

Deadline is 5/15/09

KFC coupon for free meal! May 5th through 6th only, so hurry.

http://www.unthinkfc.com/

Swine Flu Alert Raised

Reprinted from the Centers for Disease Control website.

In response to an intensifying outbreak in the United States and internationally caused by a new influenza virus of swine origin, the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 5 on April 29, 2009. A Phase 5 alert is a “strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.”

The United States Government has declared a public health emergency in the United States. CDC’s response goals are to reduce transmission and illness severity, and provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by this emergency.

For updated information about Swine Flu, go to the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/. It is updated at least daily.

How to Reduce Your Risk of Contracting Swine Flu

For the past week or so, we have been hearing about Swine Flu. I figured it was time to write about how to keep yourself safe.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Swine Flu is a respiratory disease which is found in pigs. People don’t normally get this type of flu, but human infections do happen. Symptoms are similar to those brought on by the regular human flu including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Sometimes diarrhea and vomiting have also been reported. It can cause pneumonia and respiratory failure, and may worsen underlying chronic medical conditions.

In late March through early April 2009, cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, TX. The first clusters of the virus appeared in Mexico where the disease has taken many lives. This may be because of the number of people who came down with the virus there and the speed in which it spread. Swine flu is now in many countries including the U.S. In fact, at least 10 states in the U.S. have confirmed states with many more suspected cases waiting for confirmation from the CDC. As of the date of this post, one child has died in Texas. The child was from Mexico being treated in a Texas hospital.

Here are some ways to help avoid contracting the disease.

• Stay home if you have flu symptoms and to keep children home from school and daycare if they show symptoms. At today’s CDC press briefing, Richard Besser, MD, Acting Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggested other members of a family with a confirmed case of swine flu should also stay home “because there's a chance that they could be brewing the infection.”
• One of the most important preventive measures is washing your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be used if water is unavailable. Gels and hand wipes work well, too, as long as they contain at least 60% alcohol.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Cough into the crook of your arm if you do not have a tissue.
• Keep your hands away from your face and teach children to do the same. Avoid touching your mouth, nose or eyes where the virus can be passed through mucus membranes (just like a cold or the regular human flu).
• Do not share drinking cups or food with anyone even if you do not suspect illness.

Schools and other public places are working with health officials to maintain infection control practices, but if several cases of swine flu are confirmed or suspected, schools and public events may be cancelled in the interest of protecting public health and limiting the spread of this virus.

Keep an eye on the spread of the disease and other updates provided by the CDC by visiting http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm. It is updated regularly. While we should not be alarmed, we should remain alert and follow the guidelines listed above in order to prevent the spread of swine flu.

Be alert, but not alarmed.