So, I survived the Thursday Physical. I was fully expecting to get bad news but, apparently, I am doing pretty well as I near 47. The doc was pleased with my weight loss and my blood pressure/cholesterol/blood sugar and all that jazz were in acceptable ranges. My balls checked out as well. Yay! I was informed that at 50, I will start getting prostate checks and colonoscopies. It’s such fun getting older.

Saturday was pretty damn busy. We went to Asheville to one the many Halloween stores. I actually bought my costume for this year … though I am still feeling a bit freaked out about the cost of it.

Appropriate … no?

Afterwards, we hit up Blue Ridge Pride since one our friends bands was playing the main stage.

Modern Strangers rocked the crowd.

Meanwhile, the obligatory religious nuts told everyone they were going to hell.

It’s interesting to see how big this pride festival has gotten. I went one of the first years this was organized (back in 2006) and it was pretty underwhelming. The festival was so small it was in an empty storefront at the Westgate Shopping Center. This year it was huge with three stages, a ton of vendors and a lot of homos and homo supporters hanging out and having a great time. It’s cool to see Pride going strong here in the mountains.

After putting in that appearance at Pride, we rushed back to Cullowhee to catch the WCU School of Stage and Screen‘s production of Cabaret. The show was pretty good and the orchestra (under the direction of Kristen Hedberg) really rocked. I must confess I was worried about being hyper-critical since I directed a production of Cabaret 11 years ago.

Yesterday, I was stupidly lazy … though PT and I did manage a walk around Lake J. I did also manage to finally watch Robert Altman’s Images (a really sweet film). And … I ate too much bacon. And … I also snagged blackberry cobbler from my dad. Now I just need to do 2 more hours a day on the treadmill to work all that off.

And in sad news, we found out yesterday that Reta Scribner passed away on Saturday (after not being in great health for quite a while). She did a crap ton of shows with us at the theater (starting in 1994) and was seriously one of the sweetest people you could ever hope to meet.

Here we are at a New Year’s Eve party back in 2008.

So long, Reta. You will be missed!