Gregory G. Allen's Blog, page 2

The Life of a Background Actor

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Years ago I moved from Texas to New York to be an actor. That effort got me work on Saturday Night Live, doing background work on TV shows, and touring the country as a ninja turtle (among others). I ended up leaving all of that for Corporate America, but found my way back to the arts over 15 years ago in numerous capacities. Now in 2023, I thought it might be interesting to see what it’s like doing background work again as an older person who isn’t a young eager actor. 

So I did. 

(Spoiler alert - I won’t be giving the name of the show I worked on until after it airs.) 

As the song goes, you take the good you take the bad…let’s just say there are lots of pros and cons to doing this kind of work in and around NYC. 

As a filmmaker, I loved watching the director and the camera team work. Such an interesting dance in working on a multi-camera show. Very impressed with how the director oversees such an enormous shoot. I loved watching how many scenes are happening within the same location…at the same time…all being shot from different angles. So in that respect, I used this endeavor as a tool for my own film work. 

As a fan, there is some fun to see characters you love from a favorite binge on set and hanging out with them…sometimes getting into small conversations in the bathroom line or over the craft services table.

Speaking of that, craft services is the food people graze on all day. Not the best way to spend your time. Not the best choices. Better to take your own healthy snacks to set. Plus (depending on the size of the shoot) these lines get very very long.

Chatting with others there, I learned that people do these long 10 hour days for many different reasons. Lots of retired people do it as a way to make a few bucks, get some free food, and socialize with other people. I noticed some of them making plans to hit a bar together after we would wrap for the day.

However, some of that socializing is problematic on set. They beg you to stay quiet in between takes, but when the director says “cut” - it’s almost as if people can’t help but talk. The director in me wishes all would be quiet…especially when you have 100s of people, but I also get people’s “need” to discuss what they felt they just did on that take. Mind you…these background scenes are far away from the main action at times and not important to the plot, but to these performers…it’s an Emmy winning role.

You have all types on set, from camera hogs (those racing to where they believe they’ll get in the scene) to those mentoring newbies by telling them where to look for their next gig. I will admit at times I wanted to help some out by simply telling them you don’t move on ROLLING, you wait until you hear BACKGROUND, but I bit my tongue. 

As far as the cons of it all, you feel like cattle being moved around or a tourist on a vacation excursion when bused from holding to set. Non union performers are treated like steerage on the Titanic while union get breaks and food & water (when non union could go hours without being given anything). As a matter of fact, we didn’t even get a proper lunch break…it was easier for them to pay the overtime and not stop the action to feed all these people. When there is food given at the end of the lengthy day, lines are so long and adults act like animals or lord of the flies attacking the table. I just wanted to sign out and run. (For someone living outside the city, tack on your travel and these days can become 14 hour days.) There is also an entire class system happening (see steerage comment above) which extends to how the second second ADs treat the background performers. They are in charge of you on set. They tell you what to do, where to sit, when to speak, when to eat and in doing so…well lets just say power can go to people’s heads. They do a lot of talking to the background performers as children…but I suppose the adults act like kids so the workers treat us as such. 

In the end, the director and assistant director can make you feel a real part of what occurred as they thank you for your time. At least that’s how it was where I worked. The entire room feels as if we really helped those scenes in some strange way and in theory: we did. I’m sure every set is different and if you’re dealing with fewer background extras, the feel of the day is probably different as well. Would I do it again? I’m sure I would. (The money made can go towards my Broadway ticket buying addiction.)

Would I make a career out of it? 

I don’t see that happening.

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The Jukebox Musical

The jukebox musical has been around for decades. Sometimes it’s a collection of songs and sometimes it tells a story about the artist who made those songs popular. Other times it’s an original story set to music already found on the radio. I’ve had a love/hate relationship for years with these types of Broadway shows. Yes I had a great time at Mamma Mia! and Rock of Ages, but for every The Cher Show there is also a Summer. I even loved The Boy From Oz which is essentially a jukebox of Peter Allen tunes. Yet I wasn’t a fan of Head Over Heels (included an original story using songs from The Go-Go’s).

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The past two weeks I’ve seen the two newest jukebox shows to hit Broadway this season…both very different.

& Juliet tells us the original story written by David West Read (one of the writers of Schitt’s Creek) of what would have happened to Juliet (of Romeo fame) had she not died. The characters of William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway are on hand writing this feminist story in real time as it unfolds. The musical utilizes the songbook of Max Martin (who has written so many hits for several singers). I loved it! While the songs aren’t specifically written to move the story forward, they are all used in such a clever way that I didn’t mind I was listening to pop songs sung by Britney, Pink, Backstreet Boys, and Celine Dion. This cast (many making Broadway debuts) is incredible and talented. The show has wonderful designs from sound to lights to set to projections. Fun choreography (even though I feel ensembles are getting less and less to do the past few season on Broadway). It’s a fresh idea that will bring in an audience simply because some people love to go in knowing the songs to a show. (Much like Moulin Rouge.) This musical jumps to the top of my list so far this season along with Some Like it Hot.

Then on the other end of that spectrum is the “let’s hear about the life of a famous person” musical. Everyone wants to be the next Jersey Boys or Beautiful (the Carole King musical). Tina made it past the pandemic and reopened as did Ain’t to Proud, but both left New York and took it on the road. A Beautiful Noise (the musical of Neil Diamond) shares the word ‘beautiful’ with Carole King…as well as some of the locations, but it’s definitely its own type of show. It does something unique. It sets up the story with older Neil in therapy dissecting his lyrics and his life. Very interesting concept that pulled me right in. However, I wish the creative team would have studied those lyrics more to have each song fit the moments better and used more as book songs instead of presentational. Too much of this show is a Neil Diamond concert with a younger Neil taking the audience on that journey. Will Swenson sounds just like Neil. It’s amazing. But it doesn’t feel like a book musical. I honestly think there are two shows happening on stage. This amazing play with Mark Jacoby playing older Neil is thoughtful and heartbreaking and I would love this entire play. The fact he gets the 11 o’clock number illustrates it’s truly older Neil’s story. I personally wish they could have bridged these two shows together more for a coherent piece of theater. I still enjoyed myself and kept singing Sweet Caroline on the way home…even though I’m more a “depressing Neil Diamond song” type of guy.

Broadway can’t stay alive with just local New Yorkers attending; it needs tourists. Both of these shows cater to that crowd. At A Beautiful Noise, many in the audience felt and acted like they were at an actual concert. (Including the very loud man behind us who went out for more alcohol during Act 2 and fell on the people in his row). After missing Broadway greatly during the pandemic, I applaud producers for trying anything right now to see what will work and can stay open on Broadway. I can see that the Broadway musical is shifting and changing as it pulls from Vegas and cruise ships to bring in audiences. The jukebox musical will always fill that niche that smaller, original musicals can’t. There are so many new shows announcing openings and yet also many announcing closings. Only time will tell what this season will hold and what will stand the test of time. Being a lover of theatre, I continue to go see as much as I possibly can and will expand my mind to allow jukebox musicals to entertain me (in a different way from what this former BMI Musical Theater Workshop member believed a musical should be).

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Musical Theater as Social Commentary

It’s really a wonderful thing when theater can comment on the world we live in. Even more remarkable when that piece is based on actual events and originally ran on Broadway back in the late 90s. Wednesday night I saw the New York City Center production of Parade by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown. The show only runs Nov 1-6, but what an impressive production director Michael Arden has mounted. I’ve known this show for years. When it originally came out, I’ll admit I was jealous of then 28 year old Jason Robert Brown as I was spending the 90s in the BMI Musical Theater Workshop as a composer/lyricist and had written my own Georgia musical with my writing partner…hoping I’d make it big on Broadway and here was this guy one year younger than me doing it. All of that jealousy quickly left as I became enamored by everything he wrote and played this CD over and over. The show only lasted a few months back in 1998/99 and no one has brought it back to New York since. Until now.

The great thing about the City Center productions are you are usually getting a concert version of a show that for whatever reason has been left behind or forgotten. They bring in incredible Broadway performers who learn the show in two weeks and put it up on its feet. What we witnessed this week felt like a full on show. Costumes, sets, lights, everything memorized…it’s as if they created this piece to try and move it back to Broadway after it’s run at City Center. Which wouldn’t be such a bad thing: the show deserves to be seen…as does this production.

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Parade is based on the true story of Leo Frank. A NY Jewish man who moved to Georgia to be with his wife, put on trial for the death of a young girl and convicted in 1913..and lynched by a mob in 1915. So much of this hit me harder 24 years after it initially ran on Broadway. Not simply because there is so much anti-Semitism happening in America now, but because America is so divided. The show starts with the beautiful anthem “The Old Red Hills of Home” which encapsulates the souths love for…well…the south. They were/are passionate about their feelings for America and the values they hold. They were/are driven by the Civil War and what they truly believed they were fighting for. The RED HILLS jumped out at me as we are divided between Red & Blue states (as we march towards midterm elections). The mob mentality of what happened to Leo Frank is played out again and again in real time and on social media in 2022. So much of this show feels true to day even though the story took place over 100 years ago. I feel it’s such an important piece of theater that directly relates to what is happening in the world now.

The other reason this production works so well is the casting. I need to be honest and say I was a huge fan of Ben Platt from his movies and then Dear Evan Hansen. Somewhere after that…my feeling shifted and I was in a different camp on how I felt about him. I was nervous going to see this as I was worried what he and his vibrato would do with the role of Leo Frank. I can’t believe I even questioned it. He is absolutely wonderful in the role. He has matured over the years and is totally believable and heartbreaking in this role. He sings the songs gloriously and that vibrato has never sounded so sweet. Micaela Diamond (who I’ve only seen as young Cher in The Cher Show on Broadway) is stunning. I said last spring she should have been cast as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and after seeing this…I know she could have done all the comedy, drama, and singing in that show. She sounds amazing on this score and her portrayal of Leo’s wife is “southern strong” and incredible. The entire cast is full of Broadway’s “who’s who” and each of them are remarkable.

My one complaint of the evening is the darn set. Dane Laffrey has worked with director Michael Arden many times. Arden is actually listed under set design also. For some reason, they chose to put everything up on a platform and then in the middle of that platform, another raised playing area like a boxing ring with the cast watching from the side. The entire show is done up in the air. For those sitting down front, I’m sure they had strained necks. I was 7 rows back so it was a little better. Still it was a very odd choice. The worst part was, we missed out seeing the amazing orchestra lead by the composer himself. One of the highlights of the City Center shows is seeing the large orchestras they usually hire. They were hidden so far upstage behind this monstrosity of a set that the only way I knew the conductor had entered was when the balcony started to applaud.

It wasn’t enough to keep me from enjoying this beautiful piece, shedding a few tears, and uncomfortably loving the evening of this very heartbreaking show. I hope that this production can bring more attention to a musical that takes a chance by telling a factual story from 1915 and holding up a mirror to the America of 2022.

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Spirit Day has me thinking back to being a gay teen in the 80s.

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As a playwright, author, and a screenwriter, I often can’t help but allow real life situations to seep into my writing. We write what we know so it’s only natural I would often write about things going on in my life. Back in 2019, I was interviewed by Passport Magazine and called The Accidental Activist. I spoke of how I go to schools with my autism kids books talking about “it’s ok to be different”. At one point I realized I’ve been sharing that story since 1984 when I wrote a Halloween musical about monsters who are sad that they can only come out one night a year otherwise they are bullied (which I guess I wasn’t really using that word back then). That was a big Oprah Ah-Ha moment when I realized I was writing about being in the closet as a freshman in high school.

Jump ahead all these years and I’ve written several gay themed novels, but my most important work (I feel) was the short film Hiding in Daylight which played festivals around the world to shine light on a dystopian future after a gay purge had occurred in America. I’ve watched anti-LGBTQ stories appear since gay marriage became legal and felt all the small chinks against that community are leading up to larger ones. This film dealt with two gay couples pretending to be straight in order to survive. I really hope that congress can make marriage equality legal in all states so that I don’t have to worry about my marriage being taken away from me…especially after being together with my husband for 22 years.

The pandemic took my creative juices away, but recently I had mentioned to my mom that I wanted to locate the script from that 1984 musical that I had written to see if there is anything in it to turn it into a kid’s book. I thought maybe I could create a Halloween themed book with the underpinnings of a message of acceptance: something I tend to write about frequently.

I don’t want to get too political on my Substack newsletter, but yesterday a friend sent me a message that House Republicans have introduced a bill that would ban any discussion of LGBTQ people in events with kids 10 or younger for any federally funded programs. I already knew I was “different” by 10 years old and in 2022…kids have a word for that difference. But just like my short film mentioned above, here goes a group of people trying to erase ME and others like me simply because they may not agree with who I am. It’s as if the bullying doesn’t stop after you’re a youth - the bullies just get older too. I also realize this isn’t political for me…it’s simply my life.

So on this Spirit Day (October 20th)…a day to support LGBTQ youth and all the scrutiny and bullying they endure…I’m writing this article to hold myself accountable. I do want to return to that story from 1984…that first musical I wrote…and turn it into a kid’s book about being different and even perhaps putting a name to what I was feeling as that 14 year old kid writing it. If there are those in our government who want to silence voices that believe children should hear about difference, acceptance, diversity - that propels me even more to be a louder voice and create art to address these issues. Let’s hope by Spirit Day 2023, I’m ready to share the story with the world.

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It's Been The Summer of Reading Memoirs

2022 has been the year of the memoir for me. I can’t get enough of reading about other people’s lives: James Burrows, Katie Couric, Jason Kander, Josh Peck, Selma Blair, Chasten Buttigieg, Katy Tur, Evan Handler. This past week, I finished the talented and out-spoken Mary Rodgers’ Shy. Mary was a composer for the Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress and many other children’s shows and books such as Freaky Friday which she penned the screenplay for as well. I often find myself somewhere between the pages when I read about creative people’s journeys. I too have spent many years deep in children’s theater (as well as books) and yet have also written adult novels and musicals.

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One of the things that really jumped out to me reading this book (other than the great way in which Jesse Green wrote it) was how the universe crazily works…hitting me over the head from different places all at the same time. Rodgers relays a story about the 1960 Tony awards and I had only recently attended a reading in New York of a new play set in 1964 where a story from that same awards show is used. That new show also discusses Funny Girl being on Broadway, which now has finally returned to New York (and inspired me to post my first Substack article).

I also finished Prepare for Departure by Mark Chestnut, a travel writer who penned a memoir about his wonderful relationship with his dying mother. His story shares how he came to find his love of travel through his mom as he weaves in the daily happenings of preparing for her last days on earth. Naturally, I related to the son in that story, but found myself turning my attention to the older life planning her last trip. Being in my 50s now and reading all these memoirs about other people’s lives really makes me think hard about mine…especially since so many of them write about decades of their own. I look at someone like Mary Rodgers, who in my mind was always this older woman of a certain era of theatre royalty and completely forget all of them were young, hungry artists in their days. Sondheim, Prince, Harnick, Marshall…all colleagues that she hung around with…all young 20s and 30s making art.

Going back to that reading I attended in NYC, the room was full of old NY theatre types. I won’t name names, but so many names that I knew…yet faces I couldn’t recognize. Many, so prominent during their younger days (and many still making art in one way or another). One can’t help but think of their own life and what you have or haven’t accomplished. I feel there is so much I’ve done with theater, film, writing and so much more I long to do. Yet I already feel the march of time as I watch younger people in the field making huge splashes.

I’m also unable to escape younger generations' attitudes towards theatre (Broadway and other) - how they sound off on social media - and I feel the hair on my neck start to stand at times. Then I remember, we thought we knew it all in our 20s and 30s and didn’t want to hear from other generations. The group of people in the memoir Shy are all that age and changing the theatre landscape. She even calls out the older generation including her composer father Richard Rodgers (of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Rodgers and Hart) who was in his late 50s when she was coming into her own as well as director George Abbott who directed Once Upon a Mattress) as being like a grandpa in his 70s to her youthful generation.

So what I call “attitude” above has actually always been there in every generation. I served on a theatre board once in my early 30s and the older board members hated the changes that I proposed. The battle between younger and older, fresh ideas and experience…it’s a battle that’s been waged for centuries. I’m just now seeing it from a different perspective as I pass that midlife marker. Today’s younger generation is changing the landscape in their own way…social media is just one of the platforms where they can be heard. Since I’ve passed that point in my life, it’s smart to acknowledge this is all a rite of passage in life and encourage and support wherever I can.

That’s not to say as we get older we still don’t have much to contribute. I’m not done yet. My creative endeavors may shift and change, but in my brain I’m still that 20 year old writing a musical to a property that I’ve yet to obtain the rights. Or that 40 year old who decides to write his first novel loosely based on his early days in New York City. Who knows what comes next. I do think I’m learning there is plenty of room in the sandbox as long as you create your own space. I really appreciate all these memoirs for teaching me from all generations and making me see how much more I have to give…before I write my own.

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Celebrating with Crunch Gym

Last month, the gym that I've spent so much time in the last 10 months ran a contest for their upcoming first year anniversary. They wanted inspiring stories of their clients' journey and then the staff would choose one male and one female to win a year membership. Today they announced the winners on social media and to say that I'm extremely proud that my story won would be an understatement. I absolutely love going to this gym, working with my trainer, the instructors and the staff. This fitness journey (as everyone knows) has become a huge part of my life. I feel like I won an Oscar on something I've been working so hard on and couldn't be more proud. So thank you, Crunch Midland Park Gym. 

Here is the story I sent them at the start of April.

When my dad was 49, he had his first heart attack. So last January, knowing I would be turning 49 in 2018, I decided it was time to change my life. I didn't set foot into Crunch gym until the end of June...after I had lost almost 35 pounds and could feel slightly comfortable walking in the place. I still was very uncomfortable, but Jeanine assured me I was in a no judgement zone as she showed me around. 

I hadn't been in a gym since the early 90s (which was around the time my dad had his heart attack) so the sheer anxiety of being in one was overwhelming. But I knew I wanted to make a change in my body...my health, so I tried Nancy's spin class, had a training session with Rob Klein and signed a contract with the gym right after I finished that first session. I was sold! 

My life has changed dramatically since joining Crunch 9 months ago. I would never have thought I'd be a person who would make going to the gym a priority in my life, but fitness has become "my thing" and all my friends have taken notice. I spin at least twice a week and train with Rob Klein 3 times a week (who also guides me with my nutrition). I use social media as a way to motivate others and I'm amazed by friends and strangers who have told me they've returned to working out because they've been watching my journey. 

I've now lost over 60 pounds since last January with the goal to see how fit I could be by 50 years old: that dreaded number! Well, I turn 50 on April 15th and couldn't be more proud of what I've accomplished and how grateful I am to the welcoming family I have at Crunch with the staff and instructors. Jill has named our Friday spin class her #FitFam and I couldn't agree more. The support I get from people is amazing. I did all of this because I didn't want to go down the same path as my dad (who passed away when he was 59 from heart disease) and I know he'd be so proud of how I've taken control of my health and fitness. 

Thank you, Crunch, for making me see what I was missing all those years and now I totally understand the society of gym people who can't get enough of it! 

So This Is Fifty

I am one lucky guy this 50th birthday. I've never cared much about age...I don't mind getting older. Yet I'm still one that sets out to achieve things by certain milestones. I am blessed in riches. A husband who loves and supports me (and knows me well enough to know I'd love a surprise party, which happened last night). Family and friends who would do anything for me. A job that I love. A career doing what I enjoy. This year alone has been an incredible year with my current project of Hiding in Daylight . I could not be more excited by how it has flourished in under two years.
The other large thing I wanted to achieve by 50 was my health. 16 months ago I started a journey which is still going strong. It centered around trying to be in my best shape by 50 and I do feel I accomplished that - at least the best I've been in for well over 15 years. So now, I just keep going. I make it part of my lifestyle and not just something I'm looking to attain. Fitness, nutrition, health - it can all be a part of a daily life if someone wants it bad enough to make it important and a priority. I've struggled for years (and know it will be a daily challenge/choice). However, I turned into a guy I never knew I'd become. And I love it. Yes, it's about my health, but it doesn't hurt that I have more confidence and feel better about myself too.
I'm definitely not done yet. Fifty is just the beginning for this guy who has more in store. But I'm grateful for those around me who encourage me to go for it, who enjoy my accomplishments and understand my disappointments, and who believe I can do anything I put my mind to.
So I say a huge thank you to all those in my life and a big happy birthday to ME! ;-) 

Did He or Didn't He?

I hate when a show comes to an end. Perhaps because I don't do them that often (every year or longer in between). Maybe it's the friendships you make during the process. Or maybe it's letting go of the character you are playing. Most people know I'm picky about what I do as I need it to be something I can really sink my teeth into and that's what happened while playing Father Flynn in the Pulitzer Prize winning play Doubt by John Patrick Shanley.  For those that haven't seen the play or the film with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, a nun in 1964 makes it her quest to bring down a priest she believes is having (or has had) inappropriate relationships with a young male student. The fascinating thing about this play is that the playwright does not give you the answers - he wants an audience to decide for themselves.
When I started on this journey, people would say to me "oh, you're playing the creepy priest" and in a way, I got that. After seeing the film in 2008, I thought Hoffman played him pretty creepy and I didn't see much doubt in the film. I also assumed that people bring their own past to the theater and see what they want through their own filter.  The director told me I needed to decide my own truth and not share it with the actresses in the play. Only the director would know my decision. I wrote back stories for Father Flynn from every different angle. I started out deciding he was guilty as that would be more of a challenge for me as an actor to portray a heinous person, yet show some sort of humanity. That was a huge word with our director: the humanity of these characters. Each believing their own truth. Often emotions winning out over fact. A few weeks into the process, something kept nagging at me about the character. What if he is truly innocent and has been railroaded by the nun. There are lines in the play which lead one to believe he is hiding a secret. What was it? I decided my father Flynn was innocent. 
The easy way for me to handle his 'strange behavior' would be to say he was secretly gay and he didn't want that coming out. That felt too easy...I don't like easy OR what would be expected by many as cliche. I kept going back to the fact that Father Flynn has long fingernails. Why was this so important to playwright Shanley? What does it mean? The nun brings it up a few times as a dig against the priest. There had to be something around that.
Now, I mentioned we bring our own past to the theater and lately in the news there has been much about transgender, plus my own younger sibling came out to us two years ago that she was transitioning. It all hit me. Father Flynn in 1964 is dealing with being a woman trapped in a man's body. That was his secret. He entered the priesthood in the 40s and would not even conceive of knowing how to deal with the thought of actually being a woman. So he wore his fingernails long (one of the few things he could do and make it ok), he was able to wear robes in the priesthood (which was closest to a dress he could get), and he was able to tap into his maternal instincts with his love of children. Something he mocks the nun for not having. It's subtle. It's not in the text. But it was my backstory playing the character. When he denied on stage, he denied the wrongdoings he was accused of, but knew he was hiding a secret that this nun would surely uncover as  someone had come close before and he had to leave a previous church. He will never get to be his truly authentic self, which often broke my heart on stage. He wanted desperately to tell her when he says "I can't say everything, do you understand?" and I would say the line thinking of all those living a lie who can't live their truth. In one of his final moments, the nun tells him to cut his nails....this got a laugh from the audience every night. They had just witnessed a huge fight between the two characters and needed something to relieve their tension so they would laugh. That laugh was a punch in the gut of my Father Flynn as was the line Sister Aloysius would say to him. She was telling him to deny who he truly was and with that - he decided it was time to move on. Not as a confession: as a protective barrier.
With Carla Kendall: All photos Joe Gigli Now, I did not change one word of the text nor did this change the audience experience. I just tapped into this subtext I created to bring out the humanity of the character. There's that word again. Thank you to Mr. Shanley for writing such an incredible play. Thank you to my director for going on the journey with me when I told him (what I'm sure he thought was an odd choice). Thank you to the audiences who would debate after seeing the same performance, showing that we can take away different things from seeing the same thing. 
Perhaps another actor has gone there with this character, but I just needed a reason to justify why those damn nails were so important in this script. Here's hoping all the Father Flynns out there wrongly accused, yet hiding their true selves, can someday find peace.

Our First River Cruise

My husband and I love to travel. We realize we're lucky that we get to enjoy so much of the world and we know that some of our social media friends get annoyed by the constant photos. Sorry, not sorry. :-) We really enjoy cruise ships and decided over a year ago to plan our first river cruise. One of the things we know about ourselves is that we use cruises to get to see many places in one vacation. IF we were rich, it would be a chartered yacht because we really don't get into all of the onboard events that are offered. That said - I actually found myself enjoying the strangers on the Viking river cruise as it was a much more intimate setting.
Knowing we probably would never return to these places again, we also booked an extended vacation on the front end with two days in Munch and two in Salzburg. I absolutely loved both places and felt that was a full vacation by the time we arrived at the boat in Passau on Wednesday. We had already seen and experienced so many things (including an afternoon at Dachau as I believe vacations can still be educational).
One of the things I looked forward to on this Viking cruise was all the incredible photos on their site where your boat sails down the middle of a river watching the world go by. Larger cruise ships sail at night so you spend all your time on land doing excursions. I assumed part of the allure of smaller boats is the cruising/sightseeing. Well, we had that for one morning during two hours (and it was beautiful), but there simply wasn't enough of that for me. Now, I think it may be because of the low river waters and we ended up sitting on a boat in Vienna and not moving for two days. So perhaps the stunning part would have been floating into Budapest, but alas - we drove 4 hours by bus into Budapest. 
Look...I realize there is nothing one can do about mother nature. It's all part of the gamble. Plus we were VERY lucky compared to other cruisers who had lived night by night in a hotel (after spending lots of money on a river cruise). I had lived out of a suitcase from Sat-Wed so getting on the boat and unpacking was a joy for me. However, they told us right away we'd be switching boats some time around Friday or Saturday. Instead they created another work around by just keeping us in Vienna and driving people that still wanted to do the Bratislava excursion to that location. (We opted to spend a 2nd day in Vienna.) 
You do sort of forget you're on a boat as they dock them 3 or 4 next to each other so you must keep your blinds in your room closed as there is a balcony right next to your window from another boat. By the time they told us to pack Monday night and we'd be bused to Budapest Tuesday morning, I was sort of done and wished to leave. But we went and I'm so glad I saw Budapest as it was incredible. Just wish we had more time there and that we didn't have such an odd experience with one night on another boat with another crew.
So - for those who have asked if I'd do it again...probably I would. But I'd think long and hard as the water levels play such an important part in it. I've also been asked if we felt too young and the answer is no. On our boat is was 50s-70s and I enjoyed all the people we met. I also think the crew was wonderful and the food was always top-notch on this cruise. 

Done With Dieting

I wanted to share what's been happening in my life the past 8 weeks.

I'm no longer dieting.

Wait right there...I will explain.

I am so grateful that I started 2018 doing NutriSystem...again. It set me on this journey, helped me lose 40 pounds, and gave me the courage to walk into a gym for the first time since the late 80s. At the end of June, I did just that: full of dread and fear of being judged as the fat guy who didn't know what he was doing. Luckily, Crunch Gym in Midland Park made me feel so easy...no pressure. The first day, I simply walked around and got to know the place. I was invited to try a spin class two days later. Then they set me up with a session with a personal trainer - ALL before I ever signed anything to join. That personal trainer sent me paperwork to fill out so he would know who he was dealing with (and what a hand-full I can be)! The moment after that Friday morning with Rob Klein...I signed on the dotted line. I knew I had found what I was looking for on this next leg of the journey.

I had made my last Nutrisystem order in April and was only ordering their bars and shakes while working in regular food again. But the fear was there...I always fall back the moment I go off of their eating plan.

The fear of the gym is GONEWell...since the end of April, I've lost about another 5 pounds...but I'm absolutely ok with how it slowed down. The reason I'm no longer being a slave to the scale...my trainer introduced me to Precision Nutrition 6 weeks ago. (Coaching for Men | Coaching for Women)  I'm learning there are other ways to measure success. It's not a diet...it's a way to retrain my thinking. Now, I realize this may not be for everyone: though I believe everyone could benefit. It's a slow moving process, but there is a method to that madness - and after 8 weeks I can see it working. When friends ask me about it, I say it's changing me from the inside out using daily lessons (almost like doing an affirmation), measuring progress (yes, you actually take those full body photos every 4 weeks), and lots of feedback from my coach. My coach happens to also be my trainer at the gym, but he works with people all over on PN without ever seeing them. (So IF you look at the website and think of joining, reach out to me as I'll hook you up with Rob. He can get you signed up without waiting for the open enrollment period next January.) 


I've taken this on for the next year. A huge commitment, but one I was ready to make: I was mentally ready. It costs me MUCH less than what I was paying for NutriSystem. I'm eating regular food. I'm working out five times a week. I love learning about fitness and nutrition and re-programming a lifetime of how I view food.

A few things I've noticed in just a few weeks:

Went to Texas and never felt the desire to chomp down a chicken friend steak or something smothered in cheese. And never ONCE felt I was dieting.I go on a weekend trip and I plan ahead taking my own snacks with me.I go out and eat slower than anyone else at the table and end up leaving food on my plate.The program (new habit) is taught for two weeks with different lessons to get you used to that habit and then it changes to a new one...and I can see it working.I feel happier and healthier than ever before...and yes - I will still share a dessert at times and I haven't given up my martinis. Workout with RobAs my coach says, just 1% per day. If I can do something better/different that amounts to 1% more than the previous day...I'm already winning. Love this new outlook and can't wait to see what else PN and coach Rob has in store for me in the coming months.