Alan Ilagan

This weekend Andy and I are heading to one of our favorite spots in the world – Ogunquit, Maine. It will be my first time in Ogunquit during the high summer season since I was a kid. I think I’m most looking forward to what the flowers will look like – usually we only get to see them at the start and tail-end of the season. Of course, I’m also excited to see the first Regional Theater run of Sunset Boulevard, one of my favorite musicals of all-time. It will also mark my first time attending a show at the Ogunquit Playhouse – about which I’ve only heard great things. In other words, it’s an Ogunquit trip filled with firsts – the best kind of trip.

Being that we were behind the vacation-planning schedule, we couldn’t get a room at our usual haunt, the Ogunquit Beach Inn, so we’ll be at the Anchorage, which is central and convenient, if lacking in the personal touches of Greg and Mike. Even so, we’re looking forward to the trip, especially the show, as it’s Andy’s first time seeing it on stage, and the last time I saw it was over ten years ago, before I even met Andy. (A more detailed look at Sunset will be coming up a bit later.)

As for now, I am packing up some sunblock and searching out some coconut-scented hair care products. It’s going to be a summer trip by the beach, rain or shine.

It was in some Victorian literature class at Brandeis, I think, when the professor made the pronouncement: all novels of the time either began or ended with a wedding. The same could be said of sweeps-week for the television networks, or romantic motion picture dramedies. So the lingering question of whether one’s wedding is the end or beginning of something has not gone unnoticed by this newlywed’s eyes.

Luckily for me, and for Andy, not all that much has changed, and aside from a brief bit of relief that I don’t have to make any paper cranes or organza roses, I’m already looking forward to what’s next. Up first is the rest of the summer, where I would love to simply sit by the pool and read (which is what I did most of the weekend, and it was grand). Then there is the second leg of ‘A 21^st Century Renaissance: The Resurrection Tour 2010’ which will start back up in Ogunquit, Maine next weekend. Andy and I will be in town to catch my former favorite musical Sunset Boulevard. Following that, we’re heading back to Boston for a birthday weekend, for which I’m already mapping out a restaurant odyssey (and a nostalgic trip to the aquarium).

To occupy the mind, I’ve begun work on my next project, due for release sometime in 2011. (And if you think that’s planning ahead, you should know that I have tentative projects on the backburner for 2013 and 2015. Yes, I’m that kind of Virgo.)

For now though, it’s all about the pool lounger, the enjoyment of which, far more than an impending 35^th birthday this very month, is the true sign of adulthood.