50 Ways XII

42. Go see a play or musical.
In this entry of the U.S. News & World Report list, "50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2008," Sara Dabney Tisdale waxes eloquent on the magic of theatre and how live performances are special in a way a trip to the local cineplex could never be. Reminds me of some of the special moments I've had as a performer in live theatre:

• Forgetting the words to "You Can Go, But Be Back Soon," as Fagin in Oliver! and making some up on the spot, like Wayne Brady.


• Being told, after the first weekend of performances, that the seat of my costume--which had been in prominent display to the audience--had a sizable hole in it.


• Having a free-range cow almost do an unplanned cameo in the chautauqua tent show at the Dakota County Fair.


• In rehearsals for a high school production of Dracula, having my kiss of Lucy reacted to with revulsion and "You don't have to slobber all over me!"

43. Visit Shea Stadium or Yankee Stadium before they're gone.
Please stand by while I muster up an ounce of interest in this...nope...can't do it...sorry.

44. Avoid air travel delays.
The idea expressed by Christopher Elliott's piece is to use the tools available through the Internet to know ahead of time whether your flight is going to be late...even to the point of researching how often--say--American Airline Flight 123 from Dallas to Honolulu arrives on time. (88%) What Our Man Chris fails to mention is that you will never...NEVER have to deal with flight delays if you simply do what I do: drive.

Granted, that drastically increases the total time it takes to get to Honolulu from Dallas.

45. Try wines from unexpected places.
England and Canada are producing fine wines now. It used to be that locales so far north (or south) of the equator just didn't have a long enough growing season to produce wine-grapes. But now--thank heaven for Al Gore!--global climatic changes are making the miracle of producing wine in Slovenia possible. Kind of makes you want to go out and drive a badly-tuned SUV, eh?