WARNING!

Reading this blog has made people want to kill themselves, so if you are easily depressed, perhaps you should find something more uplifting to do, like watch a Holocaust documentary or read a Cormac McCarthy novel.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

mistress

sleep beckons and i must go
she comes so rarely any more
i dare not turn her aside
lest she leave me forever
i pray tonight we'll lie locked
in a night time's embrace
where i will lose myself in her
restful ecstasy
and watch her disappear far too soon
with the coming dawn
Æ

Tunes: eisley - brightly wound

Friday, April 28, 2006

gather ye thoughts, while ye may

how i am still conscious, i have no idea.

L-O-N-G day. and not the last over the next couple of weeks. time for my life to spiral near the edge of control and threaten to topple over. while, hopefully, never quite falling. we'll see.

final rehearsal before we load into the aronoff. couldn't have been more chaotic. first, we get news sarah erwin had fallen down the stairs, twisted an ankle. ended up in urgent care. then, two scenes in, matt was moving one of our behemoth set pieces and got tangled in a dangling fluorescent light, which proceeded to swing down, strike him on the head and shatter. he had to go to the hospital (we later found out he had a minor concussion). so not a great start. lots of little weird things happened - odd scenes, actors disappearing, musicians walking out, dropped lines (myself included - how can i only have three lines and screw up? weak weak weak). but we muddled on through. and in about ten hours we'll be back to load the truck up. here's hoping we get a good crowd so it doesn't take all day....

we've been reading "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov in class this week. wow. i love this story. my short story unit is all about choice, but i had to make sure they all read this one (or at least were required to read it - i can't force them to read). if you've never read it, take the time. amazing piece of work. and the great thing is, i think my students get it. at least some of them. actually enjoyed reading their homework - how often does that happen?

23 days.

vernon, my neighbor, came by to point out some work i needed to do on my house. at first i got a little defensive. why do we (i) do that? most of it was stuff i knew - dead limbs are dangerous, gutters really need to be cleaned out. but how wonderful to have neighbors that actually talk to you. and want to help. and watch out for you. it's one of the reasons i live here, in this neighborhood. my heart yearns for community. glad to see there are still places where it exists.

i so want to be tired. but i'm not. trying to decide which will put me into sleep mode faster - lying in bed reading or sitting in my comfy chair watching seinfeld. decisions decisions. too bad i'm not The Decider like our beloved leader.

seriously, could this administration get any more ridiculous? oh wait, they just hired someone from fox news. never mind.

at least it makes for great television - on the daily show/colbert report anyway.

enough for now. think i'm going to go with the seinfeld. almost to the end of the season. need to finish so i can move on to x-files. or maybe nx. again with the decisions.
Æ

Tunes: over the rhine - my love is a fever (live cornerstone 2000)

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

and the days slide on by

less than ten days until CHESS opens. hence my absence.

just returned from a rehearsal at the warehouse. always tricky - tough to hear, no where to hang during down time. i did find a little corner and a table so i could do some grading, which, given the conditions, i was glad to get done what i got done. this class has been better than the one before - actually had some A papers, unlike the first class. yikes. so many problems, i wouldn't know where to start. wish i could spend more time with them, but unfortunately, the schedule doesn't allow for that.

and i don't want to spend my time talking about that.

let's see....weekend went well. got to see everyone, albeit for far shorter than i would like. didn't end up getting out of rehearsal until 9:45 PM - so much for the hope that i'd get on the road by 8:30. so didn't hit fredericktown until around midnight. and then ended up staying up and talking to steve and angela until nearly 3AM. probably not the wisest of decisions, but was great to see them again. be good to see them in about a week - their coming down for the show and to finally see my house. guess that means i should do some cleaning. when that might happen is anyone's guess.

found out lauri's moving to NJ this summer - was hired at monmouth university. great news for her - sounds like a perfect position. plus, i'll have another friend in the nyc area for those occasional trips there - won't have to abuse anne's hospitality. speaking of which, i need to begin looking into a trip there in june to see doug's reading. been a while since i was there - will be good to go back.

good to catch up with everyone. jenna was a bit stressed, naturally, what with the play and her grandmother having to go into the hospital (who knew a urinary tract infection could wreak havoc on one's ability to form coherent sentences?). the play was...well, let's just say it was an off night for the cast. 2/3 of them definitely had talent - and they certainly covered their error well for high school students. only noticeable in the drop in energy and focus. you could tell they felt bad afterwards - think all of us who have done theatre have been there.

you know, i knew the story of steel magnolias, so i should have been prepared for the final scene, but it still caught me off guard. couldn't help thinking about chad and the echoes of my own thoughts voiced through m'lynn. left me a bit out of sorts. can't imagine how jenna dealt with it with all that's going on with her grandmother (wow, a lot of withs in that sentence).

did get in touch with jen, so drove down and spent part of saturday afternoon seeing her and seeing her house. much different than the picture in my head. lovely house. and she has a pool, which sounds great, but i imagine the upkeep is a bit on the annoying side. made me see how much work i actually need to do on my house. but good to know it can be done...

back at school. i've got nothing to share at this point.

great night at house church last night. lots of new friends there and a great discussion of the story in mark where Jesus calms the storm. i'm sure Jesus would chastise me, too, but i can't help feeling for the disciples. i probably would have been a bit frustrated if i thought the boat was about to go down and the person i trusted just seemed to be sleeping and not caring. i know it's perspective and it's hard to see the big picture when you're worried about the water rising above your head. but it's so hard to reach that place of trust. especially when the rains are blinding you. and you're trying to solve the problem on your own....

gina hits the 'wood on friday. will try and help her tomorrow, since we have a respite from rehearsal. need to mow my lawn, but with film club tomorrow (lords of dogtown), i may not have time. i'm such a bad neighbor.

25 more days of school. not that i'm counting....

i imagine my updating will be sporadic at best for a while, with CHESS and the end of school and grading yada yada yada. but i'll try to stop in every now and then, let you know i haven't gone off the deep end (though some might argue that's already happened...).

night.
Æ

Tunes: suzanne vega - left of center