Holidays 2006

Well, this has definitely been a YEAR OF CHANGE. First, the sad news (if you hadn’t heard already) is that my beautiful and wonderful Mom passed away in June. She had colon cancer in 2004, was in remission, but it came back full force. She was fine one day and next she was in the hospital, hallucinating on pain meds. Her cancer became Stage 4 as it had spread to her small intestines, liver, etc. She had one treatment of chemo and was too weak to withstand the dosage. She died with a smile on her face, literally. I was more than sad to see her go. As many of you know, my Mom was my best friend. I could tell her anything and everything and we had some good times, like we were girlfriends. She was the best, I shall miss her. My Mom said she had lived a great life and had two wonderful children that she couldn’t be more proud of, so she was happy. I can’t say enough for the wonderful people at Hospice in Lake County, Florida. That isn’t an easy job and I can’t imagine doing it for a living. May she rest in peace... November 1938 – June 2006.

My friend and fellow writer (but she does it for a living!), Paula Hendrickson wrote a nice little article about what Mom and I did to pass our time during her many days at Waterman Hospital. Have a looksie here.

Most of you know, I left Disney at the end of last year (it might be a small world, but not the happiest place on Earth). I went on to freelance for my friend, Ashley (hardest working woman in showbiz – seriously!), who did the clearances on Hollywoodland, Crank, The Wicker Man, etc. but when I came back from Florida in August after Mom passed, I totally lucked out and got a job with Warner Bros. Animation! Ash sent me the job posting, I e-mailed my résumé on a Friday, went to an interview the next

Wednesday and Thursday and started work on Friday of the same week! How’s that for an efficient HR Department? I’m doing the clearances for all the Warner Bros. animated series Legion of Superheroes, The Batman, Shaggy & Scooby Doo Get a Clue, Loonatics – most of which can be seen on the new network, The CW – as well as many of their direct-to-video feature length films based on those animated series. Is it a coincidence that the new WB/UPN merged network is called The “CW” network? As in The “Connie Wang” network? Hah, I think not... It’s actually pretty cool as my boss is in another building about 15 miles away and I’m basically a Department of One. Also, I get to watch cartoons and get paid for it. How sweet is that?! Warner Bros. is way cooler than Disney and I already saw George Clooney and at least one Gilmore Girl... :o) That or it was their stunt doubles! I did literally walk into Clint Eastwood! He’s shorter than I thought.

Let’s see... I also started writing a blog for a website called tvfodder.com. I write weekly blogs for HEROES and BONES.
Please check it out! The guy that owns the site writes a hysterical blog for LOST. I’ll be writing one for Eureka when that comes back from its fall hiatus in January. The URL for that will probably be at the following: www.tvfodder.com/eureka.

One cool thing I did get to do this year: I went to the opening of the Buddhist Temple in Orlando and the Venerable Master Hsing Yun who heads up the Hsi Lai Buddhist temple in Taiwan (think the Buddhist equivalent of the Pope) came to the opening and I was one of a handful of people that got to meet him. He founded this sect of Buddhism. He’s up there with the Dalai Lama, but they are different sects of Buddhism. My Dharma name is Xing-Fu, which I’m told is a good dharma name to have. It’s hard to explain what it means in English, but just know it’s all good! :D

My friend Jay surprised me with tix to Wicked when I came back from Florida. He figured with all the crap I had gone through this year that I deserved a nice day out. If you haven't seen the show, it's great. It follows Gregory Maguire's book of the same name and tells the tale of The Wizard of Oz, but from the witch's point of view. Thanks, Jay!

Oh yeah, Jay donated some money to a charity years ago and won a private concert with SHeDAISY. I don't like country music so much, but it was cool. Their band had a couple of cute guys in it.

My other friend, Paula - Paula Potter, invited me to go with her this year to the taping of Oprah's post-Oscar show. It was interesting, but I had hoped to see more stars. It was 30 minutes of Oprah's best friend Gayle talking. She did interview Reese Witherspoon. The Oscar stage looks so grand on TV, but it was actually really small. We had to line up at the crack of dawn to go see this taping (taping was at 9am, I think). A lot of work for one hour of show!

That’s about it. My love life is still non-existent, as I write every year. Doesn’t help living in the Land of Fruits and Nuts over here. My cats are doing fine (MAJOR THANKS go to Elisa, Heather, Jenny, and Nora - all of who were kind enough to watch my cats for the four months I was gone! Props, girls!).

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday 2006 and that 2007 brings with it much joy and contentment.

Love and laughs,

-Connie Wang
Careful, or you'll end up in my novel...
"I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart." - e e cummings
YIM: DragonflyRivers AIM: BeTheBuddha
Alternate Email: BeTheBuddha@aol.com