And another week for the history books with another at the doorstep. The grind keeps on going.

But, what a week! If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that the Solar Eclipse happened this past week on Monday (August 21) … and chunk of WNC was in the path of totality. My house was so close to being in the zone at 99.982%.

In a fun bit of coincidence, David is now working at Western Carolina University, which was in the path of totality in Cullowhee. So, the opportunity to view a full on total solar eclipse was too great to pass up. I took the day off work and traveled over to campus with him. There was a lot of time to kill until the event, but it was worth it. We got about 1 minute and 54 seconds of totality and it was so awesome. As a bonus, we somehow missed all the eclipse traffic and beat it back home before all the highways gridlocked. Score!

I am so ready to see another one.

The rest of the week was me working 10 hour days to make up for taking Monday off.
Such fun.

I was bad on Tuesday and went on a bit of a Marvel Cinematic Universe spending spree. I grabbed Daredevil Season One and Two, Jessica Jones Season One, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol: 2 (in 3D!). Someone need to take my credit card away!

Wednesday, I pissed some bees off while trying to get the mower out from under the shed. Two stings later (right index finger and the back of my head) and I was in quite a bit of pain. The sting on the back of my head seemed to (eventually) do fine, but the sting on my finger caused it to swell and hurt for several days. Needless to say, the nest felt my wrath later that evening. I am generally a “live and let live” kind of guy when it comes to bees … unless they fuck with me.

Thursday, I got bad news that the ailing oven is actually now the DEAD oven and I have to buy one (and I got to pay $50 to find that information out). This has led to days of indecision and worry about what brand to buy and how to buy it (10% Off/Pay for it Immediately OR 0% OFF/18 Months with No Interest). Bad thing too is that wall ovens are apparently all special order and it will take at least one month to get one here. It’s times like these that I HATE being and adult. Grrrrrrrrr.

Friday evening I went to my first WCU faculty function as a faculty spouse. Fun times with free wine and tasty munchies! Though not too much free wine. We were warned that it was bad form to get drunk at the Chancellor’s house. The really nice thing about the evening was I got to see/chat with the Chancellor’s Wife again. I directed her in The Light in the Piazza back in the fall of 2012.

Saturday ended up being a trip to Asheville. I got to stop at Harvest Records for their 13th Anniversary sale. I found the motherlode of old X albums (even though I didn’t find Los Angeles, their debut album) AND Madonna’s Erotica (a favorite of mine) on vinyl as well. So, that was my second spending spree of the week. We eventually ended up at Pastimes (the big comic shop) and David found himself a cool Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter NECA figurine. So, there were goodies for both of us yesterday. Yay!

It sucks when life gets in the way of blogging. Ha, ha. Just kidding. This past week+ has been a little too busy and distracting.

The memorial service for Frances was this past Saturday. It was not quite as upsetting as I was expecting it to be and I suspect that is because there had been some time already to process her loss.

Sunday I went to Biltmore to re-center (it’s a happy place for me), but I ended up in a funk about how pointless and futile life can be. Fun, huh?

The rest of the week has been distracting to the Nth degree. Caught up with Charlie C. on Monday. Went and saw Dunkirk with Jack on Tuesday and it was not as good as I hoped it would be. Hung out with Kiki on Wednesday. And all the while I have been rearranging and packing parts of the house on top of working on the theater’s season brochure for next year.

And … now here I am at the MOVING WEEKEND. David (the boyfriend) has finished his internship. So, he and all his belongings are traveling here from Charleston, SC on Sunday. So, that tells you what kind of fun I am into this weekend … lifting heavy things and getting super sweaty. Fun times, indeed.

So, yeah. I have been missing in action the past week as my mood has been totally up and down with the passing of Franke. The memorial service is going to be next weekend (July 22) at the theater. I am not looking forward to it … but, then again, who does look forward to that kind of thing.

What’s been going on otherwise?
– Tripped to Charleston the weekend before the 4th of July. Had fun with food (the 450), movies (Baby Driver), beaching, and record shopping. I felt totally inadequate on the beach as all of David’s friends are young and in shape. I was a beached whale out there.
– We did the annual 4th of July festivities at Judy’s. Lots of cool folks were there and we had a great time. I didn’t get black-out drunk which is an improvement over last year.
– This past weekend I lazed around the house in a depressed stupor. I had plans to do some things but I just couldn’t get myself out of the house. Not good.
– This week has been freelance work, yard work, rearranging the storage shed (pitch and toss), and finding dead rats in the yard (not fun).

And here we are at the weekend again. Bee good out there!

Yesterday, Frances Davis (known in the pages of this blog as Franke) passed away after a short but intense battle with cancer. It’s only been a little over two months since we found out she had been diagnosed with Stage IV Melanoma that had metastasized in her brain.

Needless to say, it’s been a rough week.

Frances started doing shows at the theater in 2004. We became fast friends after I cast her in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. We had lots of fun times in those first ten years. We pretty much hung out every weekend and saw lots of movies, went on art walks, attended lots of parties, and worked on a lot of shows at the theater.

Some Random Memories (Because There are Just Too Many):
– She would go to horror movies with me even though she didn’t like them all that much. Eventually, she refused to go to any more after seeing the remake of The Hills Have Eyes.
– She fell asleep during David Lynch’s INLAND EMPIRE and I had to wake her up because she was snoring so loudly the rest of the theater could hear it.
– She loved Pedro Almodóvar’s films.
– She hated Tori Amos’ music but loved Joni Mitchell.
– We went and saw Amiee Mann in concert.
– She scored us very hard to get tickets to a Laurie Anderson show at Diana Wortham.
– She had a knack for picking out really awesome birthday presents.
– We all barely survived her when she quit smoking in 2010. She was on the patch and became a raging bitch to be around for a few months.
– She got really mad at me when I pranked her about having to wear a wig for Floyd Collins.
– I am pretty sure she (and the rest of the cast) saw me naked when I stepped into that last performance of The Full Monty.

I could go on and on.

Our friendship faltered when I started dating David. I think it was jealously and insecurity on her part. I tried to make time for her as I have hated it when friends ditch me for their boyfriends/girlfriends. It didn’t seem to matter. I eventually got to the point where it was easier not to deal with it. The last show I worked on with her (Urinetown: The Musical in 2013), we ended up in a screaming match after a rehearsal because she was being bitchy and I just couldn’t take it any more. After that, I pretty much would only speak to her if I ran into her at the theater or another gathering. Again, it just seemed easier not to be stressed out about our friendship. I just let the friendship go.

And here we are, nearly two years later, and she’s gone.

I can’t help but feel a little guilty now about ditching her for the last two years. Maybe things would have gotten better with our friendship and maybe not. I’ll never know now .. and I feel bad that we missed going to the movies or on the Studio Stroll to enjoy the art.

Christy, Sherry, and I did get to see Frances right after her diagnosis. She seemed pretty upbeat and didn’t seemed overly bothered that life had thrown her this massive curve ball that she was going to strike out on. We’ve discussed whether she was really that calm about the how thing or just being willfully ignorant to the situation. Who knows.

What I do know is that I wish I could have seen her one last time before she went into hospice care. Life is short and we need to appreciate the friendships we have.

Frances Davis
1953-2017