OLD DAWG....NEW TRICKS - Success!

SUCCESS. . . WERE THERE ANY DOUBTS?



SrMeetUp! is delighted to applaud Stuart Aion on his successful entry into the competitive and challenging field of "acting". . . . and that just isn't our opinion. Check out the reviews written by Nicole Higgins for Midtown International Theatre Festival.


Boomers take note - Find your passion - Put doubts aside - And GO FOR IT!

Stuart -- fulfilling a life's ambition is amazing in itself, but enjoying the praise of others while doing it is the icing on the cake. (carrot cake - my personal preference). - Elaine

CONGRATULATIONS FROM ELAINE AND DOUGLAS AND YOUR FRIENDS AT SRMEETUP!

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Midtown International Theatre Festival
-reviewed by Nicole Higgins
Jul 25, 2009
Christmas Guest, by James O'Connor, directed by Leigh Hile, takes us to a Christmas Party doomed by cheerful denial, drunken revelations, and the return of an unwelcome visitor. In one of the opening scenes Carmen (Jessica Rendon) tells her boyfriend, Michael (Rick Cekovsky), "It's going to be the best Christmas ever." For those of you unfamiliar, this is (I believe) a reference to Ordinary People. It's a movie (maybe THE movie) about a dysfunctional family unraveling over the holidays. It's also a signal to prepare to be unsettled. What follows is perhaps a very accurate depiction of what would happen if your nemesis, your one fear, THE person in the world about whom you are the most ambivalent, shows up on your doorstep on Christmas Eve.

The play takes place in Michael's apartment. A nervous perfectionist, somewhat proud of his domain, we see him alone on stage whistling as he puts the finishing touches on his tree. We learn as he practices his delivery (mimed) that he intends to propose on bended knee this very evening. Everything is going just swell. Mrs. McCaffrey ( winningly performed by Kelly Taylor), a cheerful older neighbor who is perhaps in the early stages of Alzheimer's, is invited to what would have been a very intimate family gathering, including upstairs neighbor and sister to Michael, Faith (Anna Winthrop).

Cue disaster. Have you been unable to explain your bad behavior? Have you ever behaved badly in front of the one person you most want to impress? Have you ever had your power suddenly subverted in your own home, surrounded by people who just don't or won't understand the situation from your point of view? Well, poor Michael is in just such a pickle. His Kryptonite arrives at his door, and without a beat is carelessly invited in by his girlfriend. What follows is a nightmare of tension as Thomas, the guest (Stuart Aion—compelling in a tough role), delivers racial epithet after racial epithet, at first reminding me of the harmless Archie Bunker, but then with repetition becoming more and more disconcerting. Heightening the effect was the audience's easy laughter at his statements, probably because of the skill of the delivery, but it left me hoping that the laughter I heard left others uncomfortable too.

Tension careens to a drunken dinner, at which Mrs. McCaffrey's cheerfulness is revealed as massive denial, Carmen the caretaker (the character is a nurse) deals out pop psychology with the delicacy of a sledgehammer, and the siblings Michael and Faith fall back into the roles they've played since birth of anxious control and passivity. Finally the evening ends as abruptly and tragically as it began with hope and cheer.

The aftermath of the night, some three days later in the timeline of the play, left me with a question. Is the decision Michael and Carmen come to born of eye-opened hope, or a tangled mess of desperate willing blindness?

Author: James V. O'ConnorDirector: Leigh Hile
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Sex After 50: Fire Sale or Barn Burner?

Happy End of Summer - N O T! I can't think of anything better to make you smile on a rainy day (or just about any day you simply want to smile) than hearing from our Boomer Extraordinaire

and hearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs Stuart.





OLD DAWG...NEW TRICKS
-by Stu Aion
. . . and the wagging "tale" continues...

Sex After 50: Fire Sale or Barn Burner?

Sex is such a "hot" topic and one I could ponder on ad nauseum. When my son at 13 asked me "Do I think about girls all the time?" and I answered "every minute" and he said "oh good...I thought it was just me", I realized what a driving force sex is: The need for, the lack of, the variety of, the fantasy of, the good, the bad...and unfortunately sometimes the ugly. I can't speak for the women of the world but having grown up with sisters and enjoyed the friendship, camaraderie and closeness of many women, I have come to realize that sex is just as vital to them. The difference being: men are more than happy to discuss it with anyone at anytime.

The constant, as I see it, is that sex is really all about the mental (mind) and the physical (body) will follow! When you are in your 20s, 30s, and 40s...it has more to do with the body...it has a mind of its own. Snow White used to give me erotic dreams...and what the hell was she doing with all those dwarfs (and why do you think Happy is so darn happy). When you get older, the mental plays a much bigger part. You need to have that cerebral spark to light an ember in your member.

Consider the fact that older woman still have needs but less need to play head games; PLEASURE is the endgame. Most of the games have been won, lost or tied (that costs extra) years before. Younger men tend to perform like it's a race without taking the time to enjoy the countryside. Although the road is more traveled at an older age...the scenery can truly be beautiful, appreciated and cultivated...because the ground is more seasoned and thankfully less fertile. ;-)

I understand that performance anxiety can rear its ugly head (or not…ha) at any age but when you are older you have physiological issues to deal with on top of the mental. There are performance enhancers and ED medication available to provide you with a safety net; and that doesn't ake you a bad person. Peace of mind is a terrific turn on and once you take the fear factor away you can just go on “cruise control”. With or without “enhancers”, relaxation and the joy of being invited to the party (BYOB) is enough to start the party.

Let me leave with a few comforting thoughts…

BOOMERS can still “BOOM BOOM POW”

What you used to do all night…doesn’t necessarily have to take you all night to do…but what’s the hurry? ;-)

Find someone that you are truly comfortable with and just enjoy every minute…there is no race…no fire (only from within)…and certainly no time limit.

Sex is still a gift and the unwrapping is in many cases…the best part.

…and for those of you who had erector sets as a child: erect it and they will “come”.

Stu Dawg
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Commentary:



Stu: very few things leave me at a loss for words, or better yet, makes me blush. It's a good thing my kids are too young to subscribe. They have no idea . . . silly kids. Without giving too much of me away I will simply say - hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... life is good.

--Elaine.

SIMPLY BEING FRANK - Getting The Most Out of Your Time and Your Life

SIMPLY BEING FRANK -
Getting The Most Out Of Your Time and Your Life

A BEDTIME STORY

There are several anecdotes, i.e., Early to Bed Early to Rise Makes a Man Healthy, Wealthy, And Wise. Not sure about the wealthy, but the healthy & wise part I can attest to.. You would be pleasantly surprised by how the situations & issues currently confronting you can be seen more clearly in the AM, by yourself, with a cup of coffee. Now, when I say early, for me it means before sunrise. I thought I was truly a genius to finally discover what works, so you can imagine my surprise when my formula was met with snide comments and eye rolls (how does one do that anyhow?) Please note that I thoroughly understand the counter part of an early riser -- an early go to bedder. (is that a word?. . is now!) Which leads me to my next anecdote: The Early Bird Catches the Worm . . . (bet you understand now).The amount of business contacts you can make in the early AM will astound you. Seems that some extremely successful business people are also early risers!

HOW TO BE SEMI-RETIRED AND STILL RUN A BUSINESS

Now that you understand your “office hours” it is easier than you think to continue being productive while still having plenty of time to fit in 18 holes on the golf course. You simply have to take your business experiences and put them to work for you. If you were in sales; find a product you can sell from home. If you were in management; do consulting. etc. etc.

It really is as simple as it sounds. No need to stop and think about it – no hidden message to be found.

However there may be a lifestyle change involved – You Need To Become A Techy Nerd. Computers, Internet, Fax Machines, Scanners, Printers, iPhones, Blackberry's, Face Book, Twitter, Etc. Etc. You could be on a mountain in Utah and still run a business (which is where I am off to – closing a big deal on top of a big mountain).

Couple the BEDTIME STORY with HOW TO BE SEMI-RETIRED AND STILL RUN A BUSINESS and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish and still have the time to do whatever, whenever you want to do it.

By the way, my wife tells me there is a down side to going to bed early… but that’s a whole other story...

--Frank

Editor's Note: Time is so precious. The more of it we spend, the less of it we have left... and to further complicate the issue, every Boomer has witnessed enough of the tenuous nature of life (with friends in life transitions, or becoming ill, or dying too damned young) to know that precisely how much time we have left is uncertain, and unknowable. Every second of time spent is either an investment or an irretrievable waste.

Each of us is an adult, responsible for his or her own time. This is a great responsibility. What we accumulate through our investment of time is our portfolio -- a portfolio comprised of friends, lovers*, business associates and unforgettable experiences. Each of us, as Human Beings first, and as Boomers second, has a sacred duty to to himself or herself to get the most out of time and the most out of life.

SrMeetUp! was designed to be a vehicle for getting the most out of your time and the most out of your life. Life has so much to offer! Waiting for life to come visit you is not an option -- we must run after life (often like that school bus that you just missed while you were having that second glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast or waiting for your Sugar-Cinnamon PopUp to cool off after its fragrant emergence from the toaster), embrace it, and squeeze it for all it's worth. Turn it upside-down, shake it, and see what falls out of its deep pockets.

If you are a Boomer, we offer you a whole bunch of great things under one roof. Join us, and enrich your life's experience. As they say on television, "You got people!"

--Elaine Ingis and Douglas Castle

*By the way, Frank..."Early to bed" is NOT always wise. Your wife has a valid point. Every so often, there's something (or someone) worth staying up for.

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