sometimes more feet than shoes.
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| concrete trenches sometimes more feet than shoes. |
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Monday, August 30, 2004 Packing it all in Monday is my day off. It's the entire weekend for me, and for my cast, and for most Equity theatres anywhere. The whole weekend thing has to be compressed into this one day. So today, I golfed 18 holes; went to Chez Targ?t for a beard trimmer, mouthwash, and picked up a cheap hoodie because the nights are starting to get chilly; then many of us went to Outback (which was utterly appalling, foodwise, but was apparently a big deal to many, and frankly, my chicken parm last Monday night was a thousand times better); and then went bowling. Golf was fine, but the whole evening was covered by a nasty, cloudy pall. I was grumpy, but hiding it. Mostly. My humor tends to skew towards the cruel when I'm feeling out of sorts, but I think I kept out of the realm of the offensive. Things have begun to get a little funny out here. I am surrounded by people who like me, people who I like. We get along, we have fun, we work well together. The show is going gangbusters and I feel very good about the job. Yet... I'm feeling lonely. I feel a little isolated. I like these people, but they don't know me the way BG does, the way my friends back home do. I don't really feel I can talk to any of these acquaintances on a particularly deep level. And because I'm lonely, or out of sorts, or whatever, conversations with BG have been less than steallar. She's got her own plate of lonely back home, with some sides of career and crappy city life, and our phone communication more often than not ends with one of us hurt or upset or pissed off. I'm isolated here, and I'm isolated from there, and it's not cool. Not to mention the insomnia. Really, thought, the gig is great. | posted by christopher | 12:08 PM Sunday, August 29, 2004 There's free, and then there's Free I would like to thank my friends at St. Louis Bread Company for the free Wi-Fi. When I have a spare moment from rehearsing I can schlep up here to do a little high speed surfing. I would ALSO like to thank them for employing the "SonicWALL Filtering Service," which has decided that some of my favorite blogs, including Pippa, Fish, and concrete trenches are Pornography! Who are the morons who decided the definition of pornography includes dirty words or people talking about sex? I mean, pictures of people enjoying their baguettes is probably considered a turn-on somewhere, and they don't block their own site. | posted by christopher | 1:56 PM Saturday, August 21, 2004 Up to date Update I want to tell all about the Great Midwestern Theatre Gig, and my new theatre buddies and our Olympic viewing, and the strains of being away from your Best Girl for an extended period of time. But I can't. I can't because I'm so tired I'm shaking. I can't, because I slept about two hours last night, awoken by a throbbing arm so asleep I had to pick it up with my other arm to put it someplace comfy. Then, the songs from my show were playing on endless loop in my head. And the cricket outside my window wouldn't shut the fuck up. Apparently I can sleep soundly in Queens, but Jimminy Cricket will keep me counting the flecks in the stucco ceiling all night long. | posted by christopher | 10:04 PM Monday, August 09, 2004 Back of my neck, dirt and sweaty Back in Queens after a three and a half week working vacation in the woods. The city doesn't smell nearly as bad as I was expecting, but it sure is hot today. While I was a way in the woods the weather was mostly crappy; rain and humidity and clouds. Back in the city, sunny and hot. Just the kind of weather I'd want while having a working vacation in the woods. It sure is good to be home, with the noisy A/C and the dying radio. And my stuff. And my girl's stuff. If only BG were here - she arrives tomorrow morning. The experience of the Forest Summer Stock Gig was mixed. I met some good people. Some of them will be in my life for a while, I think. And some of them are going to be good professional contacts. The show itself was a notch above community theatre, although in some places it was a notch below - somewhere around a high school play. But it broke box office records at the theatre. That's either really great of really scary, depending on your point of view. Well, today begins the preparations for the Great Midwestern Theatre Gig. My bike is already on it's way, and I'll be packing another box today full of stuff I want but don't want to haul through LaGuardia. And of course, preparations for the big Sly/BG Summer Reunion will begin in earnest this evening. Cleaning, shopping, and anxiously awaiting her touchdown tomorrow morning. I can hardly friggin' wait. | posted by christopher | 11:44 AM Thursday, August 05, 2004 Grumpy old man Yesterday was full of my complaining. First off, the tea used in the show tasted a little "off" during the matinee. I found the pitcher where they make the tea and found mold growing on the tea bags. I have very specific issues with mold. Don't like it on my food, unless it's cheese that is SUPPOSED to have mold. In my tea, not so much. The stage manager says props is making fresh tea every day, it must be a bad bag. I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure that is not the right answer. During the evening show, one of the Paid Slaves of the resident company is playing a fun little game to keep himself occupied. The chorus of the show has very, very little to do, and appear on stage for only two scenes. This particular Slave is entertaining himself by making eyes, winking, and blowing kisses to another Slave. My problem with it is HE'S DOING IT ONSTAGE! He's facing upstage, so the audience can't see him, and the other kid is not breaking, so no one in the audience is the wiser. However, between Kissy Face and his upstage brethren are six (fairly untalented) children trying to do a number. And they can see Kissy Face. And they aren't able to filter it out. And I can see it. And I go quietly apeshit. There are two reasons for my apeshittedness. One: while I believe it's okay to have a limited amount of pranksterish fun on stage, one has to be responsible about it, and appropriate about it. If there are kids around, you don't do it, because the kids aren't so able to distinguish between acceptable and not. Two: Kissy Face has been complaining about his lot in life here at the Summer Theatre Gig. He works long hours, he's not paid much, he has to take out the garbage. He shows his contempt for his job by saying how easy the Equity actors have it. he shows up late for his call and slowly saunters into the theatre, and he doesn't apologize to the stage manager when she tells him to show up on time. He generally acts like a spoiled little shithead. The scene ends and I take my apeshitting self backstage and right into his Kissy little Face. Please, I ask him, for the sake of those of us who are not up to his level of talent, fucking be serious on stage. He sputtered a little bit as I walked away, and the Artistic Director, who's also in the show, was right behind me telling Kissy Face what's appropriate and what isn't. | posted by christopher | 10:30 AM |
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