Work was the usual this week. Nothing too out of the ordinary. I had another work meeting after a shift one night – things are still developing. More later.
On Wednesday, life took a definite down turn, made all the more intense by my present mood (see previous post if you are adventurous). I learned my friend and former colleague, James Gattuso, had a heart attack and passed away on Monday – he was 41. I learned a great deal from him in our shared years at Disney. We traded books, laughs, and a desire to travel more (which we never did together). Thursday after work, a few of us gathered at a mutual friend’s house to talk and remember James.
And on Tuesday, I’ll be having my own honorary memorial at the Resort. His official memorial will be March 20th. The world truly lost a good man and he will be missed. He will always be remembered on Fantasmic as the guy who said we should “pray for spiders on the stage right path”! He meant to type spray but missed and sent out the “prayer” out to all involved with Fantasmic! It was definitely a reminder to not put off seeing friends and telling loved ones what they mean in my life. I’d spoken to him in August and we said we should get together soon. And suddenly it’s March and I’ve missed my chance.
Friday I got to spend an evening out with Mom. Rock of Ages the Musical was in town and I’d gotten us tickets. She and I used to go to our classic rock concerts at least once a year. Unfortunately tickets are just too expensive these days – we liked it when they hadn’t had a resurgence in popularity! The show is set in the mid-to-late 80’s and features songs from all our favorites (Journey, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Styx) and my beloved Hair Metal bands (Warrant, Damn Yankees, Whitesnake, Poison, etc). We had such a fantastic time!
Before the show we met at South Coast Plaza and did some shopping at Crate & Barrel. Mom had a gift certificate/credit to use. It was fun wandering and figuring out what she could use and/or want. She ended up with a bowl, a serving casserole & stand, a couple of pastry tools, a pepper grinder, and a few crème Brule bowls. Not a bad score at all! Then we moseyed next door to Pottery Barn to look at the sofa I’m considering purchasing and the fabric choices.
After shopping it was time for dinner. We choose TGIFriday’s because it was close & neither of us had been there too recently. Of course we completely forgot it was a Friday night – needless to say the 90 minutes we thought we had to enjoy a leisurely meal and walk to the theater didn’t quite pan out. We got our food with about 15 minutes to eat it before we had to dash out. We arrived at the theater as they were ringing the 5 minute bell and sat in the seats just minutes before curtain. But oh, what laughs we enjoyed. It was one of those “leave the theater at the end of the night with your cheeks hurting because you’ve been smiling & laughing so much” shows.
I was fairly unproductive on Saturday – just hung around the house reading (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – finished it too!) & vegging in front of the television. That evening I drove out to Corona for Ashna & Preston Horman’s housewarming/Carter’s 1st birthday celebration. It was lovely and their home is quite nice – it’ll definitely be a place they can grow their family. On my way home I stopped at Target and picked up some cheap furniture – a side table, a small coffee table, a small storage ottoman, and 2 throw pillows (plus groceries the bill was still under $100). They’ll do until I can afford to purchase the good stuff! I ended my week putting together my newly acquired furniture.
