Abbey, the 9 year old Border Collie mix that Gary and I shared our life with (along with Lucy, our 10 year old Cocker spaniel mix) passed away suddenly on Friday night.  Gary, a master or words, wrote these two entries this weekend.  It has been a very difficult weekend for both of us.  We loved her very much and will miss her terribly.  She brought joy to our lives when things were sometimes at the worst.

I haven't been able to write a tribute to Abbey and definitely not better than what Gary wrote here.

http://grgardner.livejournal.com/35816.html


http://grgardner.livejournal.com/36032.html

I left Salt Lake City, Utah on the evening of Tuesday, July 30th, 1996 in a one-way car rental packed with everything that I owned stuffed inside.  I drove as far as Boise, Idaho and spent the night at the home of my friend Rich.   The next morning Rich left for work, I showered and then grabbed my things and locked the door behind me.

I drove the rest of the way, listening to a cassette that Gary had made for me to keep me company.  Around 5pm on July 31st, 1996 I crossed into Western Washington and arrived shortly there after at 3740 99th Street SW, Seattle, WA 98126.

Thirteen years later, I am still in Seattle.  Though life is much more different today, it is okay now as I know where I stand.

Here's where I stand,
Here's who I am
Love me, but don't tell me who I have to be
Here's who I am,
I'm what you see.

Saturday was spent on the boat (like so many past weekends) owned by Joe and Chris. This weekend was special because it was Joe's "40-something" birthday, so several of us spent a warm day at the usual hangout in the cove near Seward Park (affectionately called "Gay Bay").



The day started with a surprise when my friend Matthew from Portland showed up. He spent last weekend on the boat, but didn't think he could make it this week. He and Chris conspired to get him up here for Joe's birthday.

Ty joined us around 5pm after finishing up with his classes. He brought Dave and Margarita mix as we had run out and everyone (except me) had switched to beer or hard lemonade. Those that know me well, know that I am VERY allergic to alcohol, so I just spend my time watching (and taking pictures) of everyone as the progress from sober to pleasantly tipsy.

We were tied up to Larry and Wayne's boat and once everyone was on the boat, the grills were fired up and we had a meal that couldn't be beat. There were 12 people between the two boats and we had food for 20. Frank cooked up Pork Ribs and Corn on the Cob (courtesy of the Martha cookbook), Alex brought an Asian Chicken Salad, plus we had chicken breast, hamburgers and foot long hot dogs. We all had a great meal and then Joe opened his presents. I brought Cupcakes from Cupcake Royale for everyone and we sat there watching the sun begin to set.

We noticed the clouds were moving in, making a beautiful sunset so I turned and snapped a picture of Joe with Wayne on the back of the boat before we started gathering our things to leave.

I so appreciate the open invitation that Joe and Chris have made to me. I have spent just about one day each weekend since the middle of May on the boat with them (except when I was out of town) and it has been such a great time.



Happy Birthday Joe!

The BEARatones minus Mike on 1st Tenor and our accompanist Chris went into the studio to start laying tracks for 'TAP THAT SECRET CODE'.







More secrets will be revealed...

This would probably have been me and my sister 20 years ago if we tried to take a picture for our mom for Mother's Day. You'll have to guess which one would have been me...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!



The Gilkinson's in 1989 (L to R: Me, Jack, Shu Min, Debbie)


The Gilkinson's more recently (with Gary and his parents Ron and Carol on the left | And Debbie's husband Dave and their three kids Olivia, Shelby and Megan)

I was surprised to learn that McDonalds has moved away from a number system when you order food there. Instead, they mark your food by ethnicity and just call out "You, Asian guy!"



What actually happened was that I stopped in to have dinner before BEARatones rehearsal and Mike and Clair were there. So I ordered a Big Mac no cheese (special order) and went and sat down with Mike and Clair. I was watching the counter and saw the guy scan the area and when he caught my eye he nodded. Didn't call out a number or anything.

I walked up and looked at the Big Mac and noticed immediately that it said "ASIAN". I jokingly commented to him "So is this how you know who gets which meal?". At first he didn't know what I was talking about until he looked at me and then back down at the box and a look of horror crossed his face. He was VERY apologetic and said "No, no, we ran out of stickers and I just used this sticker from the Asian Chicken Salad..." - I laughed and said I understood and walked away giggling.

He was mortified.

I told Mike and Clair when I sat down and we had a good laugh about it.

Today is my 39th Birthday and I am thankful for the friends that I have and those that have wished me a happy birthday today. I am missing my boyfriend Lyle as he could not make it up to Seattle to visit this weekend due to work. Instead, it has been a pretty quiet weekend so far. The weather stayed nice until today when I woke up to a rainy day (it was nice while it lasted though).

I noticed other people posting songs that were number one on the day they were born, so I thought it was only fitting for me to do it on my birthday.

Funny thing is that in the US, the Beatles "Let It Be" was number one, while in the UK it was Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Having to choose between the two it would be hands down...

Yesterday I had lunch with a co-worker at Racha Thai Restaurant at the Southcenter Mall and no sooner than we sat down this guy sat down with full butt crack poking out of the back of the chair. Wouldn't you think he would feel a draft? </p>

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

He sat there the WHOLE lunch and never thought to pull his pants up. How could you NOT know your butt was exposed??

This past weekend the Seattle Men's Chorus performed with Debbie Reynolds in a show appropriately called "Singing...In The Rain". The concept was to celebrate the great songs from classic movie musicals which we performed this show to sold out audiences and it really turned out to be a great show. I say that because I was worried as there was a lot of choralography (choreography for choruses) and those of us featured in the various dance teams had a lot to learn for the show. It all came together as it always does and adding the wonderful stories and songs from Ms Reynolds just took the show to another level.



We opened the show with a song from Hit The Deck called "Hallelujah". In the movie which featured Debbie Reynolds, Jane Powell and Ann Miller, there is a closing number that we recreated on stage. Kathryn Van Meter put together a tap corp of 24 dancers from the chorus and we really tapped up a storm. The audience had no idea what was going to happen as we marched out to a cadence. But when we started tapping, they went nuts! An incredible wave of energy swept over us from the audience.



Then in the 2nd act, I had the opportunity to choreograph a number for the show as I was asked to restage "The Trolley Song" from our Judy Garland show a couple of years ago. This was a different arrangement so I reimagined the number and selected 26 dancers for it. I heard a lot of great feedback and I am really proud of how the number looked by the time we reached the main stage.



The last song before the encore was "Singing In The Rain", so the tap corp returned with raincoats, fedoras and umbrellas for one more dance for the audience.



It was truly a great experience and I am a little sad to see it over so quickly. But I gotta say it was an exhausting experience...

Since I was tagged by erstexman , I thought I would do this.

Three Names I go by:

1. Tony
2. Panda (my friend Scott is really the only person who calls me that)
3. Toshiba (Long Story)

Three Jobs I have had in my life:

1. Busch Gardens: Serengeti Monorail Operator and Narrator
2. Pier 1 Imports:  Assistant Manager
3. Sunmakers Travel Group:  National Sales Coordinator (working with Sales Managers on the West Coast)

Three Places I have lived:

1. Tampa, FL
2. Ft Lauderdale, FL
3. Salt Lake City, UT

Three TV Shows that I watch:

1. Desperate Housewives
2. Heroes
3. Brother's and Sisters

Three places I have been:

1. Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
2. Edinburgh. Scotland
3. Across the United States from Key West to Seattle on my Harley

Three of my favorite foods:

1. Pepperoni Pizza
2. Kung Pao Chicken
3. Mashed Potatoes

Three songs you love:

1. 45 Years - Stan Rogers
2. Paul and Gene - Shannon Grady
3. Old Blue Chair - Kenny Chesney

Three books you would read more than once:

1. Lord of the Rings:  JRR Tolkein
2. Harry Potter Series: JK Rowling
3. Watchman:  Alan Moore

Three movies you love:

1. Love, Valour, Compassion
2. The Ritz
3. Titanic

Three friends I think will (NOT) re-post:

1.  Gary Gardner
2.  Steve Wolf
3.  Mike Krake


Things I am looking forward to:

1. Seeing Lyle in two weeks
2. Going to see my family (possibly in June)
3. Getting out on the Harley for a ride

Three drinks:

1. Vanilla Latte
2. Diet Pepsi
3. Vitamin D Milk

Three people you miss:

1. My Uncle Phil
2. Carol Mumford
3. Ron Mumford

After 10 weeks of rehearsing, Seattle Men's Chorus is now in full swing production mode for "Singing...In The Rain!" with special guest star Debbie Reynolds. Some of you youngins' out there may only know her as Grace Adler's mother on 'Will & Grace', while others know her simply as Carrie Fisher's (Princess Leia) mother. But those that know Hollywood Musical's and classic movies itself know Debbie from Singing In The Rain and many other films.

After the dancers spent Wednesday evening teching our dance numbers, last night was our full chorus Tech Rehearsal where we had a chance to meet Ms Reynolds and spend about a half hour asking questions and learning a lot about her.



She is a very funny woman and is so comfortable on stage in front of 250 guys although she said this would be her first time ever singing with a chorus... like us at least. :-)

It has been a hard week and I think I haven't been doing enough to take care of myself as I am not feeling 100% this morning. It may be mostly to working all day, dancing at night and not eating well. Tonight is Full Dress Rehearsal and I need be in tip-top shape for lots of tapping.

I am so over the snow this winter in Seattle. It is NOT supposed to snow this much. Since I moved here in July of 1996, I have never seen a winter where it snowed this much. Hell, we had two years in a row where we never saw any snow. But today, a week before Spring, I woke up to the sight of snow falling outside my window...

One morning



The Next morning

The internet service at the hotel was pretty crappy and the only place I could get any real service was in the lobby. I guess that was a good thing as it kept me from being on the computer too much and just enjoy the weekend for what it was.

Anyway, the weekend at International Bear Rendezvous was a lot of fun and I met many new friends and reconnected with friends from last year. Once again, Sunday morning was the Dim Sum Gobble with a gaggle of bears. The group goes here every year, but you have to wonder if the restaurant is ever truly prepared for 100 plus guys swarming into their restaurant. We loaded the lazy susan up with a ton of food and dug in. This was repeated for the hour we were there before getting back on the bus with tummies full to head back to the hotel. Since the skies decided to open up and pour, a lot of us decided to stay at the hotel and relax in the lobby or downstairs in the Vendor Mall.
(L to R: Larry, Jack and Vince)

After a nice nap, I met up with Steve and Allan along with Lyle and we went to a nice dinner at a Greek Restaurant. We had a great time before Steve and I headed off to the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus concert "Seasons of Love". We were surprised that the show itself was an hour and 15 minutes long with a 30 minute intermission between the two acts, so we were back at the hotel shortly after 10pm.

Since it was still raining a lot of us decided to stay in versus going out to the dance parties that were going on at a couple of the local bars. We got pretty silly to the point of Larry and I deciding to swap shirts. Larry is from Dallas and was wearing a Seattle Seahawks shirt, while I was wearing a Texas shirt. The problem of course, was that my shirt didn't fit Larry. So we switched back, but not before I got a chance to snap this picture!

Even though we stayed in the hotel, we were able to have a good time just hanging out together. It was a great time and before long it was once again 1:30am. So I said good night to several people, including Lyle (see picture below) and headed to bed.

This morning, I met a lot of the guys for breakfast, while Steve and Allan headed to the Haight Ashbury area for some shopping. By 2pm, we headed to the airport and this is where we remain as our 4:45p departure has been delayed (we assume due to weather)...

I have never been on Virgin America, and I must say I was surprised when I turned the corner on the jetway and saw purple and pink illumination on the interior of the plane. I was half expecting for a Rave Party to start up once we were at a cruising altitude.



But alas, it didn't. Instead it was an enjoyable flight where Steve, Allan and I shared one row of seats. The in-seat entertainment is pretty cool with a lot of options, including the ability to order (and pay for) food and drinks from the seat, swipe your card and then everything is delivered to your seat.



It was a quick two hour flight and after taking a cab to hotel, I checked in and unpacked in my top floor floor with a nice view of the city and Coit Tower. I relaxed for a while before heading downstairs for the cocktail party in the hotel ballroom. This is where the BEARatones performed last year, so it was nice to just be a participant this time around.



Later, I went to dinner with Jay and Larry, who are old friends from Seattle who now live in Oakland. Ron, from Virginia, joined us for dinner as well. After dinner, I took the bus to the Eagle for the Opening Party.

Fat Bottom Girls were performing at the Eagle and they were a lot of fun. 5 bearish guys dressed in Gender Bending Women's clothing while covering a lot of songs including Queen (whom they were named after). They put on a rocking show and I hung out with some friends and really enjoying it (the earplugs helped).



I met up with a lot of friends and made a few new ones as well. One, is this guy Kevin, who Clair and Mike are friends with. He is an actor who splits his time between some stage work in New York and episodic and movie roles in LA. I was talking with him and he suggested we take a picture so I can email it to Clair and Mike. I did and that is the picture below.



By 1:40am, it was time to head back to the hotel, so a bunch of guys jumped on the bus and I was back and in bed and asleep by 2am. It was a good, yet tiring, first day.

I am just about to turn off the laptop and put it in my backpack. With that I will be ready to leave for the airport and head to San Francisco for the Bears of San Francisco's International Bear Rendezvous. This year, the theme is Mechanics: Bears Under the Hood - so it should be good to see the greased up bears around the hotel all weekend.



The BEARatones were there last year and debuted several songs that we eventually took with us to GALA Festival Miami.

It was a great weekend, and I am looking forward to a great time once again.

Gary stopped by this evening to drop off Abbey and Lucy off and to have dinner before heading to Olympia for the work week. After dinner, while standing in the dining room, he made the comparison that my new light fixture over my dining room table looks a lot like the Sunshine Skyway Bridge that crosses Tampa Bay in Florida.

What do you think?