Back in the Saddle
by acdickson
Am I the only one whose body just KNOWS when it can afford to take a few days off? Sure as spitfire, everytime ole AC gets a few days with a clean slate, his body just plum shuts down. This week is one of those times.
But I tell you, the earthquake this afternoon might just have shook me out of my flu. There I was at the computer, working on eBay listings when the apartment started a shaking. Now either a garbage truck hit us or that's the second earthquake I've felt down in here in Los Angeles inside of a week! Funny thing about the internet, no more waiting until the next day's newspaper to find out what the fuss was apout, you just hop to google news and confirmation is yours. 5.3 they say.
And it's a good things I'm getting my land legs back, because I'm coming back to Portland to do some auctioneering this weekend. That's right, I'm swooping into town for 24 hours to help the good folks over at Disjecta auction off 30 pieces of art. My future friend and city commissioner Sam Adams will be joining me. If you're free come and by and say hi. Libations and bidding paddles will be provided. Just don't think AC is above calling out his friends if the bidding gets slow.
How about some eBay lore to tide you over till then?
People often ask me if there's a dark side to eBay. Sadly, I must confess there is. Susan, who you all got good and aquainted with last post, scouted out these two very different but equally dastardly eye sores on the eBay way.
If you've come to my seminar you know what Vultures are and what they do. These are the bad apples in the bunch who aren't content to do the work and find their own stuff to sell on eBay. No sir. They prey on the those of us who occasionally misspell a word and scoop it up for nothing (cause no one can find it), then resale it spelled correctly. See they search for the misspellings! You might say clever, I say despicable. This here Vulture not only has the gall to make his methods public, but the nerve to convert others to his henious ways. Snappy user name though, eh?
Next, please click on this link! Did you do it? You did right? Then you'll agree with me about that being insane? I like eBay shoppers as much as anyone on the planet, but there is a point where you got to say, whoa Nellie. Slow down. I do believe that woman hit that point several moons ago. Now I've been known to check my auctions upwards of a dozen times a day, but I'm happy to say eBay hasn't taken over my life to that degree... yet.
Posted on June 16, 2005 | Comments (3)
Jolly Old England Recap (from a feminine perspective)
by acdickson
Well, AC has finally settled back in after our whirlwind trip to Europe. Fixing to get some eBay listings up in the next few days.
Wanted to give you all a recap on our trip, but I thought you all might be sick of hearing AC flap his jaw. So... I'm turning things over to the fiancee Susan (susanstars on eBay). She's even included pictures! A first for this here blog. So with no further ado, I'll turn it over to my better half.
AC and PC
Our trip was amazing. Our shows were great and we got lots of enthusiastic audience response.
We flew into Heathrow and immediately took a train to Nottingham where we met Janice from the Nottdance arts festival, who brought us to our hotel. The first few days we were on an insane jet lag schedule--waking up at 4 am, never being able to fall asleep... not so fun. But we walked everywhere and got to check the city out a lot. Our tech rehearsal went well. (As the tech director I appreciate the little things on tour!)
Though food in Nottingham is expensive and not very good, we did find a few great places with help from the festival organizers. I will admit that we ended up at Starbucks most mornings out of desperation. AC and I are coffee addicts.
Then... the British premiere of our show!
AC explains it all
We performed in a huge, amazing corporate atrium in Capital One's UK headquarters. It was pretty surreal. We did two shows and about 100 people showed up each night. The second night was super fun, more young people, and tons of cheering and clapping while the auctions ended.
Despite being put on the spot, our naming victim weallscream4shakespeare seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit!
We auctioned off first lunch and then a pub crawl with AC and Susan. This was the pub we went to with the lucky winner, Jo--it's the oldest pub in England, and the Crusaders drank there in the 12th century before they headed off to the Holy Land.
This was the pub crawl! It was a blast. Jo (second from left) brought along ten of her friends. Everyone was so cool to hang out with. Super fun. One of my favorite auctions ever, and Jo has a great handle--imgonnawwinu. In a unique twist, the bidder who came in second (c-kalista) joined us for a few rounds as well. Good times.
Sadly, the next morning we had to take the train to Glasgow. I really liked Nottingham and I hope we get to return one day! Thanks to everyone at Dance 4 for their marvelous hospitality.
Glasgow!
This was my second time visiting and I liked it a lot. We got in and spent most of the first full day doing tech stuff for our shows at our gorgeous venue, Tramway, which moved slowly but ultimately resulted in super pro lights, sound and video. It was luxurious, thanks to Graham, Chris & the guys. /tech nerdiness aside
Also, we saw Star Wars at midnight on opening night! Our friend Steve came to Glasgow to film the shows and hang out with us, which was awesome. We got 2nd row seats in the theater.
AC and Susan excitedly awaiting Revenge of the Sith!
Our PowerSeller shows went well. Our audience seemed to like the first show a lot, and afterwards we ended up talking to lots of cool people, including Iain, who wants to do a pop art painting of Andrew/AC!
Second show went super smooth. I was a little sad because it was our last one. The audience was great. Went out for drinks with the festival organizer, Steve, after which was really fun.
We went out to lunch at a pub on the last day and got SO much food. A delightful afternoon.
AC with our friend and videographer Steve by the river Clyde!
Next we flew to Brussels! We spent the first evening in the city at a big arts festival. We saw the most beautiful installation I've ever seen, which William Forsythe created, and of course I didn't have the camera. Bummer. Then we went out with our friend Wouter (our marvelous host) for drinks and people-watching. Brussels has good fashion--very interesting/unexpected combinations... awesome. We got a train pass for Belgian Rail and burned through it.
We got to see tons of performance (Sara Wookey, Ted Stouffer) at the Kunsten Festival in Brussels and at the Body/Stroke in Brugge. I had to drag AC to the first few but then he seemed to get into the shows more. Even if he likes to grumble about the lack of ESPN and the plethora of modern dance, I think he enjoyed himself. Plus we always went out for beers after, which probably helped his attitude. Still, he's been glued to the playoffs since we got home.
It was so much fun to be on vacation after our four shows, and going on long walks, going out for coffee or beer in the afternoon, going to performances or galleries.
AC in front of the Holy Grail of eBay selling in Antwerp...
The next day we headed back to Los Angeles... two trains to Brussels International Airport, then a flight to London. Heathrow was a zoo. We spent 2 hours in line for no apparent reason. Our flight to LA was jammed full and 2 hours late, but British Airways is so much better than any of the other international airlines--great vegetarian food, red wine or drinks with dinner, your choice of 12 movies to watch. AC was unhappy with the lack of leg room for those of us who are 6'6", but that's our only complaint.
We sailed through customs, got back home, and collapsed. No eBay for 24 hours even!
Posted on June 2, 2005 | Comments (5)