However, being the boss and all means I can’t just give it all away. There is a little fine print…We (I, Howard, Bay City Blues) won’t necessarily tell you who, if anyone, is having a Bonus Week. It is the individual girl’s responsibility to get the word out. You may also only indulge in ONE Hot List Special per caller per week, regardless of how many different girls may be having a bonus week. All you have to do is call dispatch and ask for the “Hot List Special” with your chosen girl. It’s that easy.

So, in case you’ve been considering calling me, now is a good time…I’m on sale!!! Lol. I do tend to make the Hot List and earn Bonus Weeks regularly, but I rarely tell anyone. However, I find myself extremely horny, due in part I think to the role I’m currently working on, and I want to play, dammit! Need to blow off a little steam? You have until midnight Thursday to get 25 minutes for the price of 20 with yours truly and my deviant mind…

That was an absolutely perfect weekend. Well, minus the slightly ginormous hangover. Lol. My dear friend Bonnie and her hubby Johnny came up from L.A. for a few days. Bonnie and our other friend Barb and I have known each other since we were sixteen. They are my two oldest girlfriends, and we only get to all see each other once or twice a year if we’re lucky. So it was a treat getting to spend most of the weekend together…

Friday night, Howard, Bonnie, Johnny, Bonnie’s brother David, and I went to Tabla for dinner. We managed to stay close to our dietary restrictions (thanks to starving ourselves for a day. LOL!), and I even got a new chef crush! Then we went to see Barb’s band (The Freemartins) play at a club downtown. Been a long time since I went to see a local band willingly of my own volition. Lol. But they are actually pretty good, which is definitely a relief since it’s really not fun to have to tell your friends their band sucks. Hehehe. The drummer/singer was my prom date. That always cracks me up when I see them, which is twice now so I guess I’m officially a Freemartins groupie. Lol. Anyway, here are two pictures of Barb, me, and Bonnie afterwards…

Do we look drunk? Because I only had a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, and then ONE drink at the club, but lordy the hangover I had on Saturday morning. Ouch. Apparently, I’m not 20 years-old anymore and can’t mix wine with liquor without paying a steep price. Heh. Saturday afternoon, the three of us went for manicures and pedicures, which was so very girly of us I know. Lol. Hey, these are my two oldest, dearest female friends- if I can’t go ultra-femme with them, then who? *smile* That night we went for dinner at Apizza Scholls. Totally and completely blew the dietary restrictions out of the water. We actually thought we’d be able to limit ourselves there. Hah. To our credit, we felt so appropriately guilty afterward, we will probably never eat pizza again. Or at least for the rest of ’08.

Poor Howard, he’s new to the whole dieting thing, unaccustomed to the food rules and restrictions, the cravings, the guilt, the self-loathing…Of course, as a female, I know these things well. Lol but true. I always heard people say it, but now I finally ~get~ it…One of the few good things about getting older is learning to accept and love yourself more. The dieting that was unbearable when I was doing it to “fix” myself is somehow much easier when I’m doing it to help someone I love. Hmmm. Let that be a lesson to me: working from a place of love and caring for others is much easier and more productive than working from a place of self-hatred and doubt. I’m struggling with that right now, because there is a friend I’m missing. I hurt him and didn’t mean to, and I’m trying to respect his need for space. But I miss his taste for food and for life. He knows who he is, and hopefully he’ll read this and know I feel his absence profoundly. Or maybe I just need to know I’ve said it somewhere…

We had our first real rehearsal for Prelude to a Kiss yesterday, and it was wonderful to get back on my acting feet, so to speak. My role is mid-sized, so I’m only called once or twice a week for the next couple weeks. But things are going to pick up come Sunday the 24th- I only have four days off from then until we open on September 12th. I’m also producing a show in Spokane, WA for Monqui on the 21st- fly in on the 20th, do the show on the 21st, and fly home on the 22nd. So I am going to be a very busy girl for a while. But I don’t feel under the gun, I feel inspired, invigorated, and excited. Life is good. Not always, but mostly.

I’m off to see what’s going on over at BCB. Probably a whole bunch of hot phone sex. Goody! *grin*

Love,
Tonya

Oooh, the interview I did for Chef Crush is up now at Desperate Chefs’ Wives! I’m a geek, I admit it- I think it’s pretty cool that people like the site enough to want to interview us. I just hope I’m able to keep up the pace- it will be more difficult now that we’re not eating out very much…

I alluded to it in a previous entry, but there are some major things going on in my life right now. Howard was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, so we have made a lot of changes over the past couple weeks. In the end, they will mean a vast improvement in our general health and well-being. But right now? It sucks. Try telling a 50-year-old man who has never been on a diet before in his life that he now has to eat his fruits and vegetables and can’t have 32 ounces of red meat every day. This is someone who considered ketchup a vegetable and ate meat at almost every single meal. Lol, but true. Having struggled with eating disorders much of my life, I know how to diet…It’s not fun when one person does it, and it’s doubly not fun when two people are doing it. It ~does~ make it easier to behave, knowing that it literally is a matter of life and death, but finding new chef crushes has become a daunting prospect due to dietary restrictions. Dining out must be done less frequently and less expansively. *sigh*

The good news is that I’m cooking a lot more and rediscovering my talent for tasty, healthy food. Just the other day I made a turkey chili with tons of veggies that came out great. I’m actually shocked by what a trooper Howard is being about this. I’ve seen him try foods in the past week that he had never eaten in his life, nor ever wanted to. He’s not thrilled, but he’s taking it like a man. And oh yeah…He went from smoking three packs a day to NOTHING in less than a week! I’m happy he finally quit, but I could have done without the diabetes to make it happen. *shrug* What can we do? Just make the necessary changes and keep a positive attitude. We’re trying to focus on the opportunities this will eventually create, rather than the sacrifices we have to make now.

And it comes at as good a time as any, because nerves always wreak havoc on my appetite during rehearsals for a show. Upon multiple readings of the script, I am more convinced than ever that I ended up in the correct role for me. Funny how these things go, isn’t it? I also signed up for an acting class with a well-respected local teacher and actor. I’ve really been missing being in an ongoing scene study workshop like the one in NYC I participated in, so I finally got off my ass and found one here. The session runs Saturday mornings from September 27 to December 6, and I’m really looking forward to being back in a constructive, learning environment. I wasn’t sure I wanted to sign up for this session, since it overlaps the play performances by two weeks and I didn’t want to overcommit myself. But I figure by the time we’re running, I should have it together enough to be in class on show days. Lol.

I’m also currently obsessed with making graphics.  I’m using GIMP, which is a free program and so far pretty easy to get the hang of, but I plan on buying Photoshop soon.  I’m just holding off because I know once I do purchase it, I’ll feel pressured to really buckle down and LEARN it.  That probably means using a tutorial, rather than just stumbling around until I get something close to what I want, like I’m doing now.  Lol.  In the meantime, I’ve been practicing on graphics of the BCB girls for them to use on the Bay City Blues phone sex blog.  Like this one I made for me…

Hehehe…Doesn’t that whet your appetite for a phone sex fairy tale? *winks*

Now I just sort of thought it was cute, but then I ran into another little horsey. It was tethered to the cash register (or tip jar maybe?) at some coffeehouse in town, but for the life of me I can’t remember where. It makes me think there MUST be others around the city, and I wonder if it’s an art project of some sort or just somebody having a little horse fun. Literally. Lol. I don’t know why I like them so much, maybe because I used to collect horse figurines when I was young. When we lived on the farm and I had my ponies, I was totally horse-obsessed. But back to the present…I really need to get to the bottom of the Mystery Horse. Huh. That didn’t quite come out right. Lol.

As predicted, the first read-through of the play went great, and I am officially over my role-envy. My fellow actors all seem very dedicated and talented, and I think this director is going to be fun to work with. Our next rehearsal is on Tuesday, but we have character homework in the meantime. I’m excited to jump back into things! It feels like it has been too long, although in reality two, maybe three shows a year is about my limit I think. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to go to Adult Summer Camp, because it conflicts with our performance run. Opening night is September 12th, and we run through October 3rd. I will post more information (and a ticket purchase link) on my Events & Appearances page as it becomes available.

I’m off to do my Chef Crush interview…

The Bad News:  It’s not the one I wanted.  *sigh*

Now the truth is that it’s a great supporting character, a real scene stealer.  And they cast against gender to put me in the role, so I know that means they saw something special.  It’s the whole “no small parts, only small actors” thing.  But then that’s what people tell the actor they give the small part to, and that’s what the person who gets the small part tells himself to feel better.  ROFL!  I was pretty bummed out, but I’m slowly getting over it.  Of course I’d rather have the lead.  Duh.  But this is a good play, the theater company’s productions seem to get reviewed by the major press in town, and it looks like the people I’ll be working with are very talented and passionate.  Plus, it’s another PAID acting job, although if it’s more than a couple hundred bucks for the whole run, I’d be shocked.  It’s better than not getting paid anything.  There were plenty of folks at the callback who didn’t get any role at all, so as soon as my ego is done sulking, I’ll be more excited.  Our first read-through is supposed to be tomorrow night, which signifies that rehearsals have officially started.  Seems fast, but I forget we had months and months to work on Tales of Ordinary Madness and that’s not exactly common.  Anyway, the play is called Prelude to a Kiss, and yes it’s the same story they turned into a movie with Meg Ryan and Alec Balwin.  I get to be Taylor, the character played by Stanley Tucci in the movie.  Hey, I guess there are worse character actors to compare myself to.  Lol.  I’m curious what my rehearsal schedule is going to look like since I’m only in a few scenes.  I’m pretty sure we open on September 12th, but I’ll pass along more details when I get them.

In other news, Chef Crush got discovered by a Desperate Chef’s Wife, and I’m going to be interviewed for her blog!  I’ll make sure I link you when the article is published.  Isn’t that cool?  I wish I had more time, money, and calories to spend on my chef crushes, but I figure if I can get two up a week that’s pretty good.  I’m more or less out of the habit of posting detailed reviews on PortlandFood.org, mostly because they take me forever to write and seem to get little response.  I have more fun chefcrushing anyway.  Lol!

And have I mentioned how much I love the new Bay City Blues phone sex website?  Hehehe.  It’s super easy to post new girls, like sexy hottie Michelle, so we can get them working faster.  And when, for example, we have technical difficulties like we did over the weekend, we can let clients and girls know what’s going on.  Hopefully, there will be GOOD news to share soon…We’ve been told we may FINALLY get automatic call extensions back shortly, and there is actually evidence to support the promise this time.  Yay, but I’m not holding my breath.  I know better.  Lol.

So there you have it.  Mostly good, I guess.  There’s more going on in my life, but I’m not quite ready to write about it yet…

Oooh, did I mention that we bought a quarter-season ticket package to the Blazers?  I am so totally psyched!  I’ve never had season tickets before, and I’m a long-time basketball fan.  Plus, I want to see if Oden really can mesh with this team and take us into the playoffs.  I know Howard has his doubts, but for all his assimilation, he’s still not a true Portlander…Which is to say, he forgets they are his only local professional sports franchise so he might as well be unrealistically optimistic like the rest of us co-dependant Blazers fans have learned to be.  Lol.

I’m very happy with the feedback I’ve been getting on the new Bay City Blues phone sex website too.  It invites the girls to blog more and interact with our clients off the phone, which I’ve always thought makes for a better experience on the phone.  And people seem to like the design and format, which makes all those hours of nitpicking seem worth it now.  Heh.  We’ve also been getting a ton of applications and welcomed a new girl, Michelle, this week.  I hope to add even more sexy ladies to the BCB family soon…

Ok, I’m off to run lines…Have a lovely weekend!