Holiday Newsletter 2014 from David and Pat Westbay

Greetings, friends! Another year is drawing to an end, and another holiday season is upon us. It must be time to send out our news for the past 12 months or so. Read on if you want to know what we have been up to.

Back in January, we left our home of the past 23+ years in Grapevine TX to move back to Thousand Oaks CA, into the townhouse where we lived before moving to Texas and which we had been renting out. The relocation went smoothly and we got settled back into our townhouse fairly quickly. We reacquainted ourselves with Thousand Oaks and the surrounding area, discovering how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. Pat found some classes to take through the local adult school and senior center. David connected with the Los Angeles branch of a murder-mystery company that he worked with in Texas, and has performed with them a number of times this year. He also registered with a couple of companies that cast extras for films and TV shows, and he has worked as a “background” actor a couple of times. He hopes to do more acting work in the coming year. He is also volunteering on the marketing committee for Sci-Fest LA, a one-act science fiction play festival which will be produced in May of next year. Go to www.sci-fest.com for more information about that.

We also took a few trips this year. We went back to Grapevine to visit Ben, who is still living in our old house in Grapevine. He got a job as a contractor with Fidelity Investment Services back in February, and that led to a full-time permanent position with them which started in the summer. He is doing very well there and enjoying it. Our big trip was a cruise of the British Isles area in July. We had wanted to sail this itinerary for several years, and the opportunity came up for us to go with our friends from Cruise Trek, a group we have sailed with before. We visited Paris, France; the Channel islands; Cobh and Dublin, Ireland; Glasgow, Scotland; Holyhead, Wales; and Liverpool and London, England. It was a fabulous trip that lived up to or exceeded our hopes.

Another large part of our lives is visiting with and helping Pat’s dad in Culver City. We drive to his place frequently, take him out to eat, drive him to doctor’s appointments, and generally lend him a hand when he needs it. Being closer to him was one of the main reasons we moved out here, and we are glad to have the chance to spend time with him and offer him any assistance we can. We had a very nice Thanksgiving with him and Pat’s brother Bill.

We will be flying back to Grapevine near the end of the year to spend some holiday time with Ben. We don’t know everything that 2015 holds for us, but we will make it the best year we can.

We wish you peace, harmony and joy this holiday season and in the new year! Please keep in touch!

David and Pat Westbay

texas [dot] westbay [at] verizon [dot] net

We are both on Facebook too!

Sci-Fest 2014, “Evening A” – Science Fiction Lives On Stage

As some of you may have noticed, I have posted a number of items on my Facebook page and Twitter account promoting a one-act play festival called “Sci-Fest” here in Los Angeles. I first heard about the festival back in February; I think it was from one of those “Suggested Page” ads on Facebook that mentioned the Kickstarter campaign for the festival.

I have been a fan of both science fiction and live theater since I was young enough to be a junior Starfleet cadet. The idea that someone wanted to mount a festival combining two of my favorite things, and in the Los Angeles area where I had just returned after 23+ years away, was too appealing to pass up. I pledged some money to the campaign and said that I would be willing to help if the producers needed volunteers. David Dean Bottrell, one of those producers, contacted me and then put me in touch with their marketing director, Greg Hignight. Since then I have been trying to help spread the word about Sci-Fest with some Facebook and Twitter posts.

I don’t have any personal stake in the festival. I don’t have any friends involved; I’m not an “investor” since my Kickstarter pledge will not be repaid to me (nor did I expect it to be). I am just a lover of theater and science fiction, and I wanted to support this effort to bring those branches of the arts to area audiences. I honestly was not sure whether the festival, if it happened, would meet the expectations that I had for it. Last night, I had the opportunity to attend the second performance of “Evening A” of the festival (Evening B will premiere next week) to see the results of the producers’ efforts, and judge for myself.

I am very pleased to report that my expectations were exceeded, by several parsecs. Evening A consists of four short plays: “Forwarding Address” by John-Paul Nickel; “Freedom of Speech” by Adam Esquenazi Douglas; “The Ringer” by Minnesota Plates; and “Kaleidoscope” by Ray Bradbury. All four plays came off very well in every way. “Forwarding Address” is a serio-comic piece about two engaged couples and a disturbing message for them that might come from the future. “Freedom of Speech” is a twist on the one-character-on-stage device; it concerns a day-after-tomorrow criminal justice issue which might not be far from today’s reality. “The Ringer” is right out of the “Twilight Zone” with its unseen horrors lurking just outside and our characters slowly revealing the predicament they are in. “Kaleidoscope” is vintage Bradbury; a group of astronauts must face their destinies after their spaceship suffers a catastrophic accident.

Each play was impeccably performed by its respective cast. I hesitate to point out individual performances, because each play, and the production as a whole, is a true ensemble piece. The design elements, from the sets to the lighting to the sound to everything else, were right on target. There are several video screens above and around the stage which are used before the show begins, during the interludes between plays, and occasionally during the plays; the integration of these video effects truly enhanced the production rather than distracting from it. The videos were especially useful during the unavoidably lengthy set changes, providing a way to keep the audience engaged.

Science fiction and its related genres have been huge players in film and television for many years. They have not had nearly the foothold in live theater. Production challenges have probably contributed to the lack of theatrical presentations of science fiction material. But I believe that this inaugural edition of Sci-Fest proves that high-quality, thought-provoking, enjoyable productions of genre plays are indeed possible and deserve our support. I recommend that anyone who is able to do so should make the effort to attend Sci-Fest, to help make it the success it should be, and to demonstrate that science fiction belongs on the stage just as surely as any other type of production. I, for one, can’t wait until I get to see the plays in the Evening B program.

Get your tickets now before they are gone: http://www.sci-fest.com/

New chapter

Considering that I have just gone through one of the major “life events” that people experience, i.e. moving to a new home, I thought it would be a good time to begin writing something on a semi-regular basis. I don’t know how frequent these entries will be, or how substantial, or what they will be about, but I know that I have wanted to put things on virtual paper for some time now. Maybe this fresh start in a new location will give me some inspiration.

If you are unaware of the reason for our move, Pat and I wanted to be closer to her dad and brother. We both took early retirement from our jobs within the past couple of years, and our son Ben graduated from college (University of Oklahoma) last August, so we decided last year that the time was right to make the move. Ben decided to stay in our house in Grapevine, to take advantage of the job opportunities in the area and the lower cost of living than here in California. Having a girlfriend there also factored into his decision. We will miss him, but will be in touch with him often and will be back for visits.

We arrived in California January 18, having driven from our former home in Grapevine TX starting Jan. 16. It feels strange referring to Grapevine as my “former” home, and I know it will take some time to get accustomed to saying and hearing that. The drive out here was the longest trip that I have ever taken by car where I was behind the wheel the whole way. Fortunately, we had very nice weather the whole trip. The scenery was mega-boring in west Texas, but got more interesting in New Mexico and Arizona with hills and the occasional fascinating rock formation to break up the monotony. We even had time to take a short side trip through Saguaro National Park outside of Tucson AZ. That was a beautiful place, and we wished we had had more time to spend there. 

Saguaro National Park, Arizona

When we finally got to CA, we were several days ahead of the moving truck’s scheduled delivery, so we stayed with Pat’s dad until the truck got to our home in Thousand Oaks Jan. 23. Since that day, our lives have consisted almost entirely of unpacking, shopping, more unpacking, and meeting various technicians whom we engaged to install phone service, satellite TV, etc. And then, some more unpacking. As of today, just over a week after the truck made its delivery, we have cleared the boxes out of almost every room, have most of the furniture where we want it, and are getting an idea of what everyday life here might be like. It will be an ongoing process as we adjust to the house, the neighborhood, our neighbors, and the community. I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all, but the stress of the moving experience is dissipating more with each new day. Pat suggested that we start looking at all of the opportunities that the Southern California area offers, figure out which of them we want to take advantage of, and make plans to do so. I signed on to that course of action immediately. We are both excited to jump in and enjoy ourselves in this wonderful region in which to live.

Besides all the things there are to see and do, there are also people here for us to catch up with. Some are friends and relatives that we have kept in touch with since we moved to Texas, and some are friends and relatives that we are hoping to renew ties with. That process will begin very soon. If you are reading this and would like to reach out to us, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment (without including any personal information, you know, to be safe), or better yet send an email to the address you will find in the left sidebar to let us know how to get in touch with you.

We are excited about this new chapter in our lives. I will try to record some of my thoughts and impressions as time goes on. With luck, it won’t be too boring.