Believe in Grace

I moved into a new desk today, my fifth move with this company. It took me very little time to pack up the old desk or settle into this new one because I believe in packing fairly light and moving about rather efficiently.

I was plastering my gray cubicle walls with pics of some of my favorite girls and guys, trying to get everything to fit on these new walls pretty much like they had done before. I got my areas just right—Madonna, Gwen, Audrey Hepburn, John Mayer, U2, Pete Wentz. I laughed on my lunch break when I saw a girl with a license plate holder that read, "I ♥ Pete Wentz". Good to know I'm not the only one.

But today, it's not Pete Wentz, The Edge or even John Mayer that I'm majorly ♥-ing, it's the glorious Eddie Izzard. A dear friend was kind enough to join me at the Nokia Theater on Saturday for Mr. Izzard's "Stripped, Too: Big Intimacy" show and we both laughed ourselves sore.

If you don't know who Eddie Izzard is or have never seen one of his comedy specials, get thee to Netflix!! He is so smart, so clever, so odd, so amazingly, superbly, fantastically funny with the way he blends together history, science, linguistics, philosophy, religion, politics and pop culture. His sets are so brilliant and quirky and divine and hilarious.

Eddie Izzard may be best known by some as an "action transvestite." He sometimes wears woman's clothing (and knows how to work a pair of pointy-toed, stiletto boots like no one's business), nail polish, eye makeup or lipstick, but lately he's been in "boy mode" and looks damn good doing that, too (although even in boy mode he wears eye makeup, but I'm a fan of guyliner—witness my love of Pete Wentz—and with his stunning blue eyes, it works).

In his recent documentary "Believe," there's a section about Eddie Izzard being a sex symbol in boy and girl mode. One man said his wife was quite "besotted" with the comedian. I know I am, as were the many women at the show this weekend who were posting suggestive Tweets to his Twitter page during intermission. He is pretty much the total package—super smart, totally funny, fairly dorky, a bit odd, generally lovely—so can you blame us?

Here's a picture of Eddie in boy mode for the current tour:



And live a few years back from the "Dressed to Kill" tour, available on DVD and regularly shown on BBC America:



Eddie Izzard doesn't believe in God, but he does believe in the potential of people and he believes in grace. I believe in all three, which was furthered by the arrival this weekend of my new nephew. In honor of his birth, I made him his first mix CD (I did the same when his sister was born). Here's the tracklist:

John Lennon "Beautiful Boy"
Madonna "Little Star"
REM "Everybody Hurts"
The Beatles "Here Comes the Sun"
Madonna "Imagine"
U2 "I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
The Beatles "All You Need Is Love"
John Mayer "Wheel"
Mariah Carey "I'll Be There"
John Lennon "Stand By Me"
U2 "Fourth of July"
Brian Setzer Orchestra "Sleepwalk"
The Beatles "Good Night"

Welcome to the world my new little love! I can't wait to take you to your first concert, your first museum, your first Eddie Izzard show. There's so much to see and explore, and I'm happy to be beside you on your journey through this amazing world.