For All State Insurance no less, and bloody brilliant.

(Yes, I teared up, as I tend to do these days.)

The song is by singer-songwriter Eli Lieb, who will no doubt be featured quite a bit more here – in a couple of short hours in fact…

Can we talk about dance recitals for a moment? Not in a politically-correct and kind way, but in a blunt, honest, hard-truth kind of way? I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but some things need to be said. I just attended my first, and very possibly last, dance recital for my four-year-old niece. Let me say upfront that she was great – I have to say that as her Uncle, and as someone who loves her dearly. She executed her dances well – all two that were in the early part of the program – and finished in relative unison in the finale. It was the intervening couple of hours that had me questioning my sanity, and the very existence of humanity.

First of all, two and a half hours is a long time for any production – but I’ve been told that this is relatively short for this sort of thing. All I can say to that is that if I have to sit through a recital longer than this, I’m taking a hostage or calling in a bomb threat. Either way, there will be people thanking me for it.

Second, there’s a rule against leaving once the kids you are there to see are finished, right? I’m certain that this is a rule, or at least polite protocol. I’m also guessing that this is why every single person, no matter how briefly or how early they appear in the program, is in the final number. As Madonna once remarked, “That’s one of life’s little fuck-overs.”

By the time we reached the Justin Bieber medley, my patience was tried, my brain was fried, but I still hadn’t died. FaceBook friends had told me to pray for death at the start but I didn’t listen. Now it was too late, and no one was going to smite me.

And yet… and yet… watching my little niece doing her toe taps and singing the final song of the evening, I was almost moved to forgive all that came before. Almost.

It’s been a whirlwind of non-stop fun, and work, for the past few weeks, especially this last one, and a bit of exhaustion has finally caught up with me. Let me try to catch my breath and recap some of the events, before we slow down a bit.

Suzie celebrated her birthday – I won’t name which one, even if she wouldn’t mind, as mine is just a couple months away. Her Mom also got some well-deserved accolades with a New York State Liberty Medal.

I got behind the wheel of a Pontiac GTO, but didn’t really go anywhere. These two, however, did.

There were a few evenings of family fun, including this one celebrating a pre-school graduation.

It was a week of Pride, and all the accompanying outfits, highlights of which included the GLSEN Formal Affaire with its ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ theme.

A return trip to NYC was made for this amazing production of ‘Here Lies Love’ – a musical about Imelda Marcos and the Philippines – and a reunion with Suzie and Chris.

The Hunks were on display as always, including Ryan Phillippe, Malachi Marx, Ayden Callaghan, Jose Llana and several DILFs.