JUMPING FOR JOY!

MEMO 62 #memo #webcomic #cartoon #angie #comicstrip #artist

The Saturday in April

Good morning and Happy Saturday!

I know some of you have been sniffling and sneezing this week due catching a cold in the 'fake spring' of Wednesday when I, like many people, got caught up in the joy of a warmish day and wore a lighter jacket instead of bundling up like an adult. What can I say? I had taken the day off of to enjoy a kind of day of nothing and found myself in Riverside Park mid afternoon listening to music from "Game of Thrones" and "The Lego Movie 2" (no one can accuse me of not having range) while sitting on my favorite park bench overlooking empty baseball fields.

All around me spring was making itself known and I got in some good photos. I freely admit that I could have allergies rather than a cold, but the end result is the same - I'm a kind of slobbery mess. I did do the smart thing and avoided an event planner networking thing Thursday night. I'm pretty sure everyone appreciated not having to shake a germy hand and listen to me, the serial sniffler, all night long. I missed seeing my pals from NYC & Co and others from the biz, but, as we all know, there are always other events (that's kind of what an event planner DOES).  I ended up going to bed early and having a recurring, ongoing dream that I was a campaign event organizer for Presidential hopeful, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Up until this week I hadn't really paid that much attention to him, but the other day I watched a short video and was very impressed. He's definitely someone to watch out for (and I look forward to creating a lot of his events lol).  

As for the rest of the weekend, I'm going to hydrate, rest, and let my sinuses drain. Have a great weekend everyone! 

 

 

 

Monday Morning in New York City

So, yesterday afternoon I was buzzing around the apartment with the Mister. I was mutli-tasking - cleaning the apartment, purging things from the apartment, trying to get inspired to draw, and, of course, ditzing around on the Facebook. 

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm kind of starting to move off of the Facebook anyway and looking to spend more time writing here and/or doing well, just about anything else. I love yakking with my friends from various places/eras in my life, but I've become kind of addicted to it. And the best way to fight that is to ween oneself off. And, by 'addicted', I mean it in the sense of it being the default thing that I do when I'm bored. You know, rather than read or draw or do about anything else. I know that I'm not alone in this which is why I can be fairly blase about it. It's a thing that I know a lot of people are going through. I'm sure this has something to do with the fact that the Facebook has turned into the cold Civil War where people are just pitted against each other, locked in an eternal 'well the libturds said this' and 'the republiturds said that'. This country of ours has real problems - a fundamental difference of ideologies of how a society should be run. There are, unfortunately, no easy answers and, more unfortunately, there seems to be this very strange thing where two people view the exact same event and have literally opposite interpretation of it. I know this situation from my childhood, but seeing it happen out in the wider world as an adult is really freaking me out (and, in this, I know I'm not alone either). 

Anyway, I made a comment on a friend's comment and some person (I can't believe it's an actual friend, but who knows) let out their rage at me calling me a 'dumbass' and immediately after, a 'homo'. I went to the person's page to figure out what kind of creep this would write this kind of thing and found this: 

I decided that the irony was too delicious, so I posted it to him as a response. Then I reported the hate speech. The Facebook doesn't always get everything right but the post vanished minutes later and I went on about my day. 

It occurred to me that I'm always fascinated by the slurs that people use. For a gay person, calling them a "homo" is supposed to, I suppose, be derogatory, but I am, in fact, a homosexual. Shorting the word doesn't make it any more or less true.

I've been out for 30 years. I assume it's cost me a job here and there (it definitely cost me my family) but, well, it is what it is. I could have stayed in the closet but other people could have been more accepting and not such puritanical slugs. So there's that. As it is, I've found that most people either don't care or find it interesting for a hot minute because they have a cousin or a brother or a next door neighbor who is gay, and by the way, do I know them? (I say that for a little comic effect, but the sad reality is that after fundraising within the LGBT community for the past 20/25 years, there have been times when it has felt as though yes I do know everyone). 

Anyway, when I then mentioned this on the Facebook, someone posted that I must be offended. I guess I am. Sort of. But, really, how can I be? I don't know the guy, and it doesn't really sound like I would want to.  I survived a childhood of taunts and jeers and an adulthood of trying to be there for people who had been marginalized as I had. I didn't get famous or rich doing it, but there is some measure of satisfaction in a life lived well in this way. 

Here on this blog, as in life, like many people, I'm always striving to be kind, fair, passionate, and honest. I don't always succeed. But then, I don't know anyone who succeeds 100% of the time. 

This is a new week. Go out and make it an awesome one and let's see if we can change the world for the better in our own small way. 

Thursday Morning - Bluebird Opening Reception @bluebirdlondon_nyc

One of the perks of being involved in the event planning world is that I'm on a lot of lists for various things and thus get invited to go do cool stuff.

Case in point - a couple weeks ago I was invited to the opening of the London restaurant, Bluebird, located in the Columbus Circle center here in NYC. A gorgeous space and a varied group of invitees mixing and mingling, drinking and eating.

Like many people, I find being thrown into a new situation without knowing anyone is a little anxiety generating ... but I have a networking rule - it's OK to feel out of sorts - and if you want to leave, that's OK too... but the rule is that I must get/give three business cards before I allow myself to vanish.

And that's what I did - I first met a great guy who works at the retail company Perch and his "oh my God how incredibly beautiful is she?" girlfriend. Then I met a woman who works for a restaurant magazine (thank you for letting me share your table so I could eat my incredibly delicious "oh my God how incredibly awesome is this?" chicken curry). I finally chatted with a young model who welcomed people into the space - she was way out away from the restaurant and looked a little lonely - so I thanked her for being a delightful welcoming committee for the party. 

Ok so I didn't give the last one my business card (because that seemed creepy) but I did meet my quota. I then took a few pics for my Instagram account (@jacobandrewaltenburg) and then I was off with another party under my belt.

I generally prefer managing these types of parties than going TO them to be honest but during this time in between major gigs, I've enjoyed getting the chance to perfect my guest attending skills again. :) 

Have a great Thursday! 

 

Everybody Needs a Dance Break Now and Then

Facebook's "On This Day"/"Memories" feature is a godsend for those of us that like to keep track of what's happened in our lives.

Last Thursday, July 12th, Facebook reminded me that on that day in 2013, I had posted the following: 

I was feeling fatigued by a kind of tough week. I got into the elevator to go outside to get some air and, when the door opened, the woman inside looked startled. She said "You didn't see that" and when I tilted my head slightly, she said, somewhat sheepishly,  "I was dancing."

And I said, "I get it, sometimes you just need to dance." And I smiled and it broke my mood for the better.. then we boogied all the way from the 43rd floor to the lobby. Everybody needs a dance break now and then. 

**

So, today, it being Monday, and the start to a brand spankin' new week (one that promises to be filled with lots twists and turns!), make sure you find a little time for a little dance break - even if it's in an empty (or not) elevator. :) 

MEMO 43 #nannynoodlelegs #memo

Good Morning and Happy Saturday! @ronstadtlinda @ZederSuz

Hi all and hope you're having a happy Saturday. In many parts of the country (especially here in NYC) there's a heat wave starting up. For those of you who have neighbors/parents who are getting up there in years, please do me a favor and find a few minutes throughout the next few days to check in on them.

Sometimes lower income elders don't turn on the AC because they can't afford it (and they think that they can "tough it out") or simply don't have it at all. It's a good thing to check in on these people and make sure they know someone cares and, if you know of a local library that's open or a senior center, offer to help them get there. I look at it like investing in the future - treat the elderly like you'd like to be treated when you get to that age. :) 

Here's Linda jamming about a Heatwave. Yeah, it's a predictable choice, but I don't think you mind, right? After all, it IS Linda Ronstadt and you can't go wrong with Linda. 

It seems like a good day to re-post an Angie strip from April. I kind of love the absurdity of this particular strip (I know that sounds a bit narcissistic since I created her with Woody, but .... there are times when I feel like children's theater author Suzan Zeder who famously (well, famously, in the realm of children's theater, anyway! lol) said that she didn't write her works, she merely transcribed them as they came from someplace and were on their way to someplace else. I tried to find the exact quote but, alas, she said it 25 years ago and while looking through her book of plays "Wish in One Hand, Spit in the Other" I could not locate it (I did, however, remind myself how much I love children's theater and how passionate I'd been about it during graduate school at Northwestern. Alas, my life took some different twists and turns - although, spending 20 years working within the LGBT community on activism and fundraising yielded other rewards that I could never have imagined, so, thankfully, there are no regrets.)

In any event, enjoy today's strip and tomorrow, be sure to check back here for the debut of a new character. :)  And, as always, comments are ON (and moderated) so please let me know your thoughts. Thanks and have a great Saturday! 

 

 

 

MEMO 39 #memo #angie #revandrew #comicstrip #webcomic

Busy Day at Casa Altenburg #ello

Good morning, friends - hope your week is starting out well and HAPPY MAY! 

A few bits that I wanted to share with you today, notably that my Ello profile has reached 10,000 views this morning! Last summer I created a profile at Ello and started posting my comic strip. I didn't really understand that site that well and in the midst of job hunting and everything else, I kind of put it aside. During the past few weeks, I've been working a PT job which has afforded me a little extra time to 'move the needle' on a number of projects, including the comic strip. 

So, two or three weeks ago I returned to my Ello profile, added the more recent strips, and added hash tags. Maybe it was the hash tags but traffic zoomed. You know, for an artist of any kind, there's nothing better than the feeling that at least someone is paying attention to your work. It's certainly encouraged me (and don't we all need that from time to time, no matter what our field is?)

As May starts out, I'm home today managing some workers coming in from the super's office to figure out where the entry point is for a mouse I saw a couple weeks ago. Our frig is also being replaced. I moved in to my apartment in 2004 and by 2005 the frig was making such grinding noises that a guy I was dating at the time who was renovating his place in BedStuy commented that the frig would need to be replaced soon. It wasn't. Fast forward to two years ago when the frig started to drip and I hoped that would be enough to replace it. Nope. Flash forward to a couple weeks ago when the cooling system decided to falter and things started to go bad. And today will be the day that it finally gets replaced. Thankful for this happening at long last! 

Now, before you can say "SpAAHHngeBob Squarepants", I have to get back to resumes, drawing, moving furniture out of the way, etc. I'm kind of not sure how they are going to get the frig through my narrow down and down a narrow entryway... but they got the last one in some years in the past (way before I moved in) so although it may be like Pooh in the rabbit hole, it'll happen. Will report on this tomorrowish. 

Have a fab day all! 

 

MEMO 34 #comicstrip #memo