What's kind of bizarre, is that I closed Broadway Bound a week ago, and I don't have another show going on. All I have is dance class, and job hunting...it's actually really nice. I was just telling Carolyn: making progress on my top priority (getting a job) has made all the other stuff in my life so much more enjoyable. Because I can't ever really relax unless I know that I've done my work for the day...and if I feel like I have accomplished enough, the fun stuff I do is that much more fun.
I went and saw The Light in the Piazza at the Willows in Concord on Friday night. Brought back great memories from when I was in Chess in that theater. Also lots of good memories of seeing plays there with family, which we did each Christmas for a while when I was younger. Saw a lot of old friends. I enjoyed the play immensely.
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| Cast info: willowstheatre.org. Directed by Eric Inman. Excellent Lighting Design by Danny Maher, Props by Shaun Carroll, Costume Design by Sharon Bell. I couldn't find a Set Design/Construction credit in the program!! WTF? |
With me, if the play is good, I get way into it, there's no looking back. Once I get past the first ten, fifteen minutes, I'm hooked, and even when I know the performers, I see them only as their characters. I start to fill in the cracks in the set with my own experiences and sensory memories— kind of like what you do when you're reading a book. It's really like nothing else. I'm glad I get to see plays every once in a while, and I remember how much I love them. Seeing plays also helps remind me what the audience's experience is like, and how forgiving they can be, especially if the costumes and set and lights are seamless. That's a good thing to remind myself of, considering how self-critical I can be when I'm onstage.
Odie's been staying at my place for the past couple weeks while he found some new jobs, and it's been quite fun having him around. Not to say it's been all smooth, I've been living by myself for almost two years, and I'd gotten very used to it. We've butted heads some, I've annoyed him, and he's teaching me pro wrestling moves. We even ran around Lake Merrit with duffel bags full of clothes, cause he and I wanted to get in shape to do the Tough Mudder in Septemeber. Then Odie had a full schedule because of job hunting, then he got sick, but we may get back into working out pretty soon here.
Whatever, now I have a TV in my living room! We watched movies! It was great. Also Odie brought his Xbox, and we played WWF '12. Did I mention Odie likes Pro Wrestling? He even made me a custom character in the game. Here is a picture:
Hahaha. yeah.
We also made a little video entry to a contest for "Broski of the Week," part of the publicity for Zack Ryder, one of the wrestlers Odie likes. We didn't win the contest, but it was still fun.
Another great thing: went to Dr. Comics in Piedmont, got a Red Lantern ring and a little Star Trek Heroclix figure. I don't play the game, I just like Star Trek spaceships. It was a great store though, I'll definitely be back for more cool swag.
In other news, I had lunch a couple weeks ago with the friend I mentioned earlier who works for Ubisoft. It was interesting. We chatted a little about video games, he asked me what my career goals were... he told me about his artistic aspirations, and how he tries to pursue them in the little free time he has, between his intense job and his girlfriend. He is trained as a painter, and he paints and sculpts designer toys. I would share his online store, if I knew where it was. Looks like we might meet up again this month.
He's really passionate about art, but he also likes having a job that pays the bills... it's a conflict that I'm somewhat familiar with, but I've always been on the flip side of his situation: whereas he's trying to squeeze in artistically enriching activities around his good job, I've been trying to squeeze in a good job around my artistically enriching activities.
I had a really emotional session with my therapist last Wednesday... about a month ago, he told me that he's going on an open-ended sabbatical on April 1, so I may not see him at all after that. I was kind of upset when he told me, but I didn't really realize how much it hit me until weeks later. It was a whole mix of things: sad that he was leaving, feeling a little betrayed that he was leaving, worrying that it was something I did wrong, or that he was tired of me, all sorts of stuff that you'd think would happen when a really close friend or a significant other was parting... I guess I didn't realize how much our work together meant to me...I've seen him for almost a year and a half now, and we've worked really well together...it's absolutely AMAZING how far I've come since I first started seeing him. I really got used to having his support every week or so...and now he's leaving...
I'll miss him. I may find someone else, and he even suggested a couple people he knows that he thinks would be good. Therapists are a funny thing: you tell them things you wouldn't tell your closest friends, and yet they are still detached from you in a sense, as a doctor is...
He reminded me that therapy is not like a college course: you don't work on it for a while, then suddenly have it all down and never go back to it again. People come and go from therapy as their life requires. I guess I'll always have that option. Unless of course I run out of money, lol.
...
I've noticed lately that I'm not reading any books, and it kind of bothers me. I started reading one of the numerous paperbacks I have on my shelves that was a gift, that I've never opened. I read the first chapter, and now it's back on the shelf, with a bookmark in it.
We'll see if I go back to it.
...
Friday night I had a "Cigars and Scotch" get-together with my friend Christine, and my friend Zac, who I performed with in Chess and Broadway Bound, (and with whom I will perform in Vaudeville at the Willows in June). Zac brought 12 year old Macallen, and a cigar he had, and I smoked one of the cigars I bought in 2009 in the Duty Free store in the Shanghai airport. It was great.
I wouldn't even be a cigar smoker, but one of my very good friends in college, Brad, once sat with me and drank whiskey and showed me how to smoke a cigar...and then I had a cigar at a cast party for a great show I was in, in 2010, and then my friend Greg smokes cigars and I've smoked with him... I guess I've gotten into it like I got into beer: I associate it with celebration and good company. Hopefully these little indulgences won't come back to haunt my respiratory health later in life.
Well there you go. Talk to you later!
~Chris
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