One snowman turns to another snowman and says, “Hey… do you smell carrots?”

I just flew in from England and, man, are my arms tired!

But seriously, folks. I’m back in Barcelona and damn, it’s cold! I left here last week in the middle of a beautiful Spanish autumn and I think the bitter British winter must have stowed away in my lugagge because it’s here now. Five days in England was lovely, relaxing, and just what the doctor ordered. Sure, it was cold there, too. Colder, in fact. But houses in England have these strange inventions called “heating” and “insulation”. We, on the other hand, are apparently stuck somewhere in the 18th century. Thank goodnes the really cold bits only last for a couple months here. To make the most of it, Jan and I are planning our first ski trip of the year. Next week, Jan, myself, and six friends will be driving up to Andorra for a breath-taking four day ski holiday! It’s good to be king.

It was one week ago today that I sent out my last message to the world informing everyone of my intentions to wed one Ms. Jan Clayton. I then swiftly went to England to spend Christmas with the Clayton Clan. So it wasn’t until today that I was able to finally check my email and see who (if anyone) had written back. I was blown away. I had over 20 emails waiting for me from both friends and family; from Americans, Spaniards, English, Germans, and Argentinians; from people who I had just seen a couple weeks ago and from people who I hadn’t seen for over five years! I feel truly blessed. Now I have to convince myself not to dwell over the other 30-some-odd people who I haven’t heard from yet. They’re probably very busy, what with it being the holiday season and all. I mean, hey, it’s just an engagement, right?

I couldn’t think of a nicer way than to let Jan explain this to you in her own words:

———————–

A funny thing happened to me on Sunday night, right after taking bows onstage on the last night of our latest theatrical production. For those of you who saw the plays, you may remember the “Philip Glass Buys A loaf Of Bread” number. Well, having thanked the audience for coming etc… suddenly three of the actors from that piece started up again with different lines and Josh mysteriously disappeared to reappear brandishing a loaf of bread while launching into some prepared lines A La Philip. Of course confusion reigned not only in the audience but also on stage (having been in this piece myself I started trying to ad lib thinking that someone had forgotten to tell me that there was a surprise ending to the show.) When suddenly, the words the few in-the-know were saying started to filter through my addled brain, and I could hear a repetitious “please say yes” and suddenly the bread grasped in Josh’s hand is under my nose as he goes down on one knee, pops the question, turns the bread over to reveal a diamond ring!!!!!! Well, it was quite a stunning last night (one I’ll never forget) and I’m sure I mumbled a yes at the time (amongst many expletives in his shell-like) but everyone got the general idea. So, we’re hoping to perform again (just for one day) some time this summer – preferably July we think! We’ll keep you posted! And all is happy and blissful.

Love,
Janxxx (and Josh!!)

…and not a drop to drink. Well, they were sure drinking a lot. Non-stop, I’d say!

Jan and I were invited to Jocelyn’s house for what I thought was a Christmas “Mom and Pop’s night”. In actuality, it was a “Mom and Tot’s night”. I guess I heard wrong on the telephone. Out of the 19 people there, 9 were moms, 9 were tots, and then there was me. Not a “Pop”, but I thought I would at least have one other Pop to talk to. No such luck.

So I hung out with the tots. Average age of our group (excluding me): 3

I was right: there was no sleep to be had on Friday night. Jan and I went to the Audio Projects Christmas party (one of the dubbing studios I work for) and then we raced over to Razzmatazz to have Fatboy Slim lay down some intensely dancable beats.

Continue reading No Sleep For The Weary →

It may have started with our flying back from the United States (Jan says all problems can be traced back to Jet-Lag), but my sleep schedule is officially fuc*ed up.

Continue reading Nocturnal Transformation →

We’re back in Barcelona and not a minute too soon! The US was all well and good, but one week of my family is usually my limit. They’re all beautiful people, but they’re very much “full on” and require a lot of energy and attention (especially my parents).

My one week here in Spain before we head off to England for Christmas is destined to be full of work – both dubbing work and web site stuff. I spent all day yesterday (10 hours!) up in La Garriga dubbing two Italian films into English. And today I start the many web updates that piled up while we were in the US. Fun fun fun.

As I travel from mom’s house in Coconut Creek to dad’s house in Lutz (rhymes with “boots”), so does Chanukah fade into Christmas. Not only is my mom Jewish and my dad Catholic, but mom lives in very Jewish southern Florida while dad lives in very Christian central Florida. The change is palpable. Where there was once synagogues, there are now churches. Where there was once highrise condominiums with swimming pools and tennis courts, there are now run-down trailer homes with pickup trucks and gun shops. Where there was once menorahs in every window, there are now Christmas lights on every house. And dad was eager to take us on a tour of the town’s festive decorations.

Continue reading Christmas in Lutz →

As you all know, last night was the first night of Chanukah and, boy-o-boy, did we ring in the Festival of Lights in style! Chanukah is not a high holy day, but somewhere along the way it has become one of the most popular Jewish holidays of the year. It’s gotta be the presents. The holiday has absolutely nothing to do with presents, but its close proximity to Christmas has sucked it down to the same commercial depths. If you can’t beat em, join em! Let the gift giving begin…

Continue reading Eight Crazy Nights →