Merry Solo Christmas - Welcome To My Usual!

 Hello, gentle readers!

Happy Holidays!!  THIS YEAR SUCKED!  ...And because this year sucked and we're still going through the Covid-19 shitstorm, experts and officials are insisting we stay home and not gather with people outside of our households.  As a household of one, that means I'll be spending the holidays alone.  It also means BUSINESS AS USUAL!  Come on people, stop your whining, put on a mask and sit alone for a little while!  I do it every year!

Okay, to be honest, I usually fly home to El Paso, Texas, stay with my besty, Ted, visit family and enjoy the holiday for a few days.  Then, I fly back to my West Hollywood apartment and sit alone again.  As you know from previous years, usually I'm the only one to see my Christmas tree in person.  I usually entertain myself with holiday music, food and movies.  I look forward to annual parties & gatherings with different groups, but this year that won't happen.  If it does, it'll be via Zoom.  I'm okay. I'm used to that.  All I'm saying is that if I can do this every year, YOU CAN DO IT FOR ONE.  Please, stay in, avoid gatherings of people and wear a mask when you go out.  Certainly, it's easier to preach it, than do it, so if you do go against recommended behavior, do it carefully. 

Now, the actual reason I'm here...

Does my tree look gay to you?

This year I went a little nutso supporting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and bought a few Broadway themed ornaments by Glen Hanson...

I got the Grand Dame, Angela Landsbury
as Mame riding the moon

Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad

from HAIRSPRAY

Carol Burnett as Princess Winnifred
from ONCE UPON A MATTRESS

And

Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice
in FUNNY GIRL

I'm saving Glenn Close in SUNSET BOULEVARD for next year...
Is that gay?

How about these new ones?

It all started last year with the blue merman I got to commemorate our Halloween picture

Then, next thing I know, this year, there's a bunch of shirtless hunky guys in my tree!

Then, there's this...

Jackie Beat has been a tree treat since 2018, or earlier

Yeah, Broadway, shirtless hunks & drag queens...  I think my tree is sufficiently gay this year.

Here's my favorite ornament

a Mark Ryden Snow Yak

I was so excited to get this, because, usually, when I try to buy something by Mark Ryden, it sells out in 30 seconds and then can instantly be found on ebay at a $300, or more, mark up.  Assholes.

So, here are a few other "new to the tree" ornaments to fill out the Christmas tree, which I bought as souvenirs from travel or to support local artists...

Of course, you saw the cover photo for this post - Santa wearing a mask and if you look at his hat, you'll see that the ball is broken.  I was disappointed when it arrived at my home broken, but then I thought, "No, that's about right."   So up it went AS IS.

Thank you for taking the time time to see my tree and make me feel a little less alone

Getting Out - Fancy Eats

It occurred to me that I neglected to tell you about one of my adventures in New York!

Now, I've been going to New York regularly, every year since 2007 or so, and in between SUNSET BLVD and THE LITTLE FOXES this last visit, I realized that I had never eaten at Sardi's!

I popped right on over and with no problem, got a nice table in the main dining room.  The thing is, since this restaurant is famous for being a celebrity hang out, everyone turned to look to see who was being escorted to a table.  I'm sure they were trying to figure out if I was famous or not, but it started to feel like they were staring at me because I was being seated ALONE.  Being single for most of my adult life, I have no problem with dining solo, but this is the first time I ever felt like people were watching me do it.

Seated among and beneath the world famous caricatures of Broadway's biggest stars, and seemingly in a spotlight, I wondered why I had never been there before.   I shook out the old noodle and found ideas that it was "too fancy" and probably "too expensive" for the likes of me.  I am amazed at how sometimes I will have little revelations about why I have never done some things.  It is because I have in the back of my head the idea that I can't afford it or don't deserve it.  I'm even more amazed because, when I realize it about one thing, I assume that ALL of those thoughts are banished, until I find myself seated somewhere like Sardi's.   With those thoughts firmly out of my mind, I ordered my favorite drink, Campari and Soda.

Then, after making sure it is all Gluten-Free, I go with a prix frixe mesclun salad 

and a chicken dish,

followed by a delightful Tahitian Vanilla Bean Crème Bruleè.

It was a lovely meal! So lovely I didn't feel singled out anymore.  As a matter of fact, I realized that single gay men must be a very common clientele.  I mean, this is a New York, Broadway centered restaurant.  Of course, there's always single gay men eating alone here.  If there weren't, would they even have these cute little tables, clearly sized to accommodate one person.  I mean look at the gay sitting next to me...

...Obviously gay and clearly single. 

(No, I didn't try to hook up.  I had a THE LITTLE FOXES ticket!)

All in all, it was a nice time and I'm glad I got out and didn't end up somewhere like Sbarro's (...as if) since my favorite in-between shows haunt, Angus McIndoe, went away.

I couldn't help wondering if I would ever have my own caricature up on the wall there someday (at 49 years old, unlikely, but not impossible!) and until then, I'd just have to be happy with eating in my dining room, alone, gazing at my caricature (quick sketch actually), of me as Frieda Laye, drawn by fabulous artists Glen Hanson!