Party of One

As a child, I often tended to sit alone, away from all of the other kids. I wasn’t the most social of children. It wasn’t that I didn’t like people or enjoy the company of others, but I just never really liked dealing with groups and group behavior. I somehow seemed to learn early that people act differently when you are talking with them one on one than when they are hanging out with a group of people. I grew up surrounded by a gaggle of loud, boisterous cousins and I wasn’t a fan of the noise and the ruckus and the mess.

You could always find me off to the side – sitting quietly in the corner or tucked away at my desk – with a book. I loved to read, and I read everything I could get my little hands on. The world was full of interesting things, and since as a child I wasn’t going anywhere, the easiest way to escape was to read. It was a comfort and a crutch. Books don’t hurt your feelings the way people do sometimes, and they tend not to disappoint.

So as my life went on, I found that I wasn’t exactly comfortable in most social situations. One on one, yes, I can be myself, but in groups I tend to just sit back and be an observer. I never knew what to say anyway, and I didn’t want to sound stupid. That’s a recurring theme in my life – not wanting to let people down and not wanting to appear stupid.

Even today, at lunchtime I don’t seek out people to eat with – I always eat lunch at my desk and then go for a walk. When Mr. Random and I worked together, we would always eat lunch together and then go for a walk. For five years, it was quite a blessing to have that time and that give and take in the middle of the day. But now that he’s gone, I’ve reverted to my natural state. Now, folks in the office peek in on me from time to time – they were all so used to me and Mr. Random hanging out in a collective unit – and making sure that I’m OK. I’ve never been a social person at work – I tend focus on the tasks I have to do, although I am sociable and am always there to help folks with their projects and offer advice – both professional and personal (I’ve always been kind of an informal life coach/resume consultant to all of my friends.)

I guess what got me thinking about it was that in a group conversation while waiting for a meeting to begin (because meetings at the Random Non-profit always start late), someone was talking about remembering the weird kid that sat off by himself at lunchtime in school – and I thought, “hey, I was a weird kid!” I was happy being the weird kid – I didn’t notice otherwise – but I guess other people don’t see it that way.

One day I was home watching a Gilmore Girls rerun, the episode where the principal makes Rory act more social at school and so she starts eating lunch with a group of girls who eventually end up getting her almost suspended in her efforts to fit in. The story ends with Rory standing up for herself by saying that she has a pretty full life outside of school – lots of friends and activities and even a steady boyfriend – and so the principal really didn’t need to be worried about her being anti-social . . .

I guess I can say the same thing – I have a lot of very awesome people in my life, and many fun and exciting things to do outside of work, so I don’t feel compelled to hang out at work – I just want to get my work done and go out and get to do my fun stuff. Now, I do “work and play well with others,” but not as much as one does when one is say, 23 and going to happy hours all the time.

Did this post make any sort of sense? It’s just been on my brain for the past few days because I guess it’s been bothering me somehow. I do miss having Mr. Random with me at work, but I also like my quiet lunch hours too . . . I just don’t like feeling like I’m being a pariah on top of all of my other issues going on right now . . . Oy!

Happy Friday, everyone . . .

Feeling in the Raw

I’ve been rather quiet for this past week, both out of being busy but also out of not knowing what to say. I have not been responding to your great comments, but they have been read in snatches of time here and there.

I don’t want to sound whiny or miserable, so I’m just trying to get through each day as I best can. My boss was out in the field this week, which left me to have to handle some things in the office alone which turned out to be way over my head. It has been a very discouraging time and I am very happy that this week is almost over.

To go to happier topics, I am going to the theater on Saturday and am really looking forward to being out with a friend and having lunch and generally doing things that I adore doing, and wish I could do more of, more often.

In Friday’s Washington Post, there was a review of the version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth that my friend J and I are planning to see sometime in the next month . . . it’s going to be “Costume Free”! If that link doesn’t work, there’s more information about it here.

At first, I was wondering if I could really handle watching something like that live – this theater is really small and intimate, so you are pretty close to the action on stage no matter where you are. But I figure, after 15 20 minutes or so you’ll get used to it and won’t even notice anymore, really . . . AND you’ll definitely be paying attention to the words, since you won’t have costume cues to let you know who is who. I’ve taken several drawing classes with live models, both male and female. Once you get over your initial 12 year old kid reaction, you move on and pay attention to the details . . .

Ah, yes – the sacrifices one makes to become a sophisticated theatergoer!

Also, the show schedule is out for this year’s DC Fringe Festival – July 19-29. Lots of interesting choices there, lots of really odd stuff, too – it wouldn’t be called “fringe” if it didn’t have shows like this or this.

Today’s Audience Participation Question is:

Looking at the Fringe schedule, what shows do you think I should go see? Include any shows that you’d personally want to see, or shows that you think look SO ridiculous that I should go to just to see how they turn out.

Feelin' Groovy

Just wanted to highlight two really great musical posts today:

• One can be found in today’s Jefitoblog: the Chartburn post for this week highlights music and videos from, David Lee Roth, Marcy Playground, Nicolette Larson, and the Zombies. If you aren’t reading this series regularly, you totally should, if only for the memories and the snark value. Also, check out his Idiot’s Guides . . . I learn SO much from them . . .

• The other great post is Jason Hare’s weekly Chart Attack: This week features the top ten songs from the week of June 26, 1982. I remember those songs much too well, being the Top 40 junky that I (and my whole family, actually) was back then. Come for the Chart Attacks and stay for the weekly Adventures from the Mines of Mellow Gold. My favorite one so far featured Seals and Croft’s Summer Breeze. I like trying to sing it, but I know I maul it terribly . . . This also serves as a shout out to my good friend, J – Re-live your prom theme!

Other thoughts:

***Is it just me, or does Rhianna pronounce “Umbrella” really strangely in that new song of hers? By the way, I heard that song THREE TIMES yesterday afternoon in the space of two hours. That and the new Maroon 5 song, which totally sounds like it needs to be played at a roller rink. (Insert mental image of people grooving along to the songs while skating in circles and doing splits-like moves.) Once each when I got into the car to drive to the doctor’s office. Once each when I drove from the doctor’s office home. And then again, a half hour later, when I drove to pick up Mr. Random from work. Jeez, talk about heavy rotation . . .

***Whenever I think of the Marcy Playground song, “Sex and Candy,” I always only remember the words to the parody song that came out around the same time, having to do with the whole Bill and Monica thing. It was played often on WHFS that summer, and I think one of the DJ’s (Wes Johnson?) did the Bill Clinton voice that sang it.

Ok, I just typed out the words to the parody, but I don’t think I’ll put them up – suffice to say, they aren’t family friendly, but did fit the whole Ken Starr investigation vibe to a tee. How I long for the days when THAT was the biggest problem we had going on . . . good grief!

***Mr. Random recently downloaded a couple of Cake albums and they are rather growing on me. The lead singer has such an interesting voice – well, not really melodious, but it does stay with you. And I love the horns and the bass guitar (at least I think it’s the bass guitar . . .)

Just felt like sharing . . .

Spring 2007 Culture Post Mortem

Summer’s finally here!

While at this time of year most people tend to put up a reading list of what they want to read for the upcoming Summer season, I’m going to be a wuss and just note what I finished reading this past Spring:

• Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
• Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
• Sons and Lovers – D. H. Lawrence
• Good in Bed – Jennifer Weiner
• 2 Noam Chomsky books (One was 9-11, the other title escapes me at the moment)

. . . And the following Shakespeare plays (along with the accompanying overview chapters in the Marjorie Garber book):

• The Tempest
• Coriolanus
• Love’s Labors Lost
• Titus Andronicus
• Twelfth Night

Gee, that doesn’t seem like a lot, does it? But if we add in all of the newspapers, magazines and blogs that I read on a daily basis, that pushes the reading count up quite a bit!

However, I can quite happily say that I have seen the following plays performed live: Edward III, Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, Love’s Labors Lost, and The Tempest.

I carry around Adam Gopnik’s Paris to the Moon in my purse to read while I’m waiting for stuff, so that should be finished soon. I know that I will be reading Hamlet and Macbeth pretty soon, since I’m going to see those plays within the next month or two.

I hope that my end of summer list will be a bit fuller and have a bit more variety, but I also am really excited that I will also get to see some more live performances.

Does anyone have any Spring accomplishments they want to boast about?

It's So Hard Admittin' When It's Quittin' Time

My boss, seeing my frazzled, exhausted state the past few days, told me to take the rest of the week off. That was awfully kind of her, and I eagerly took her up on her offer.

However, I’ve spent most of today checking my e-mail waiting for a coworker to finish editing a document so I can post it to the field, and writing up a few things that someone else asked me to help them with. Well, at least I’m at home on my couch . . .

The Random Cat spent the morning glued to the balcony window, watching all of the birds flying around and perching in the trees that are left standing near out condo. She sat hunched and ready to pounce, probably ardently hoping that I would open the screen door and let her prowl. There’s no chance of that – I can just see the Random Cat leaping off of the balcony, in a very ill-advised attempt to capture a bird, and while it would provide a moment of comic relief, having to go downstairs and pick up a splattered kitty does not appeal to me at all . . .

So, I’m still on edge . . . tomorrow I have a doctor’s appointment for a yearly check-up, which means I will have to drop Mr. Random off downtown and pick him up from work so I can use the car. I will also have to go into the office briefly to do something – I hope I can get there early enough to avoid people! So I’m thinking tomorrow won’t yield much rest either . . .

Maybe Friday? Fingers and toes crossed . . .

Tuesday Random Lunchtime Tunes

Today’s random song sampling:

Pick Yourself Up – Anita O’Day
No Pain, No Problem – Eddie From Ohio
Sisters – The Puppini Sisters
Satin Doll – Duke Ellington
Let Me – Sergio Mendes
Hey Eugene! – Pink Martini
Tango Suite: Allegro – Yo-Yo Ma
Doce de Coco – Yo-Yo Ma (different album)
A Mi Manera – Gipsy Kings
Brandenburg Concerto #2 in F: 3. Allegro Assai – J.S. Bach

Started off peppy, then went to mellow and stayed there. I really need more peppy music - the heat today is bringing me down, big time!

UPDATE: The little earbuds are hurting my ears - they hurt when I'm trying to take them out. Note to self: need to buy little felt things to put over the earbuds. Why wouldn't Apple have little felt things on their earbuds already installed? That's just being cheap . . . and people have to pay enough money for these things as it is? Things are never as simple as they seem . . .

The Past is Prologue

Thanks to everyone for the lovely responses to my post about my Grandpa. I am glad I was able to convey my feelings about him to the world. There are many people we meet in this life who are cool people, but who never get the recognition that we think that they should . . .

***
In my quest to continue to become a member of the 21st century, this weekend I finally got an iPod. Mr. Random had been encouraging me to get one for months, and yesterday – needing a bit of retail therapy – we went on down to the Apple Store and got one. I was filled with much anxiety about it, though – that’s a lot of money for what’s basically just a fancy gadget. (Gee, do I sound like a cranky old man?) I spent a good chunk of yesterday evening uploading half of my CDs and now have 499 songs at my fingertips.

It may just have been the luck of what I uploaded, but I seem to own a lot of really mellow music – a lot of folky stuff, a lot of classical, a lot of jazz, a lot of old standards. I like good voices, good stripped-down instrumentation and good lyrics. I do have a lot of upbeat, pop stuff . . . but, it is all on cassettes! Because my formative music-buying years were in the late 80’s/early 90’s, I have a lot of really cool music that I would love to have uploaded to my iPod so I can channel my inner 18 year old again, but doing so would be quite a pain . . . unless anyone knows of a cheap way convert them?

***
The reason I finally bought the iPod, was that I needed a bit of retail therapy. Mr. Random and I were supposed to take my parents to dinner at a local barbeque place in honor of Father’s Day, and we were going to give my dad a present of 4 tickets to a Washington Nationals game in really excellent seats. (We were giving him the tickets because we can’t use them on that date, but he doesn’t need to know that.) My Dad cancelled at the last minute, since had had to go out of town to a funeral a few days last week and wanted to help my mom get ready for her business trip to Florida for two weeks. Which, I guess is valid, but it did hurt my feelings. I actually had been looking forward to the dinner, since I hadn’t seen my folks since Mother’s Day. Also, my dad cancelled another time we had invited him to dinner while Mr. Random’s Mom was here – so there was a bit of a history. I’m probably making too much of this and I’ll get over it . . . I’m still debating whether to still give him the tickets, though . . .

***
Went to see The Tempest on Thursday. It was a good production, but I was thrown off by some of this company’s interpretations of the plot. They left out a few of the not-so-minor characters, who actually added some important elements to the plot, and portrayed Caliban as mentally disturbed and hearing voices in his head to replace the characters. I wasn’t real thrilled with that . . .

Next play up for me to see: Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Wooohooo!

***
I’m doing more ESL subbing this week, this time for a drop-in conversation class. I’m used to having a set bunch of people to educate for 10 to 12 weeks, so this is a new experience for me – I don’t need to do as much lesson planning and the key is to just have everyone talk and practice their English in a non-threatening environment. Very low key . . . perfect for me to do during the summer . . .

***
The weather is going to be DC summer hot this week. I’ve already received more mosquito bites this season than I’ve received in the past 5 years: This past week brought seven mosquito bites on my legs and thighs. I now have a bottle of OFF tucked away in my purse, along with a tube of sunscreen. I will not be caught off guard again!

OK, the last few songs on my iPod have been by: Allison Krauss, Fiona Apple, Paul Simon, Eddie From Ohio, and Diana Krall. Yes, I really need to finish uploading some other albums on here or this machine is going to put me to sleep . . .

The last two CDs I bought were The Puppini Sisters’ Betcha Bottom Dollar and Pink Martini’s Hey Eugene! What does this say about me?

What are you all listening to these days? I’m looking for ideas . . .

Ode to My Grandfather

I just wanted to share this with everyone. It is neither a meme nor a Scribblings Challenge, but a short essay I had to write for an application I submitted this week. You all probably heard this story before, but this time I actually had to make it coherent. With Father's Day coming up, it just seemed to fit . . .

The Topic: Describe an event or individual that has been instrumental in shaping who you are. Tell us why this event/person has been significant in your life. (In less than 500 words)

***********

Grandpa Henry was a big man. Not only big in relation to an adoring granddaughter, but at over six feet tall and roughly 300 pounds, he always made a big impression when he walked into a room with his charisma and booming infectious laugh.

Whenever he was around, I felt special. On both sides of the family, I was one of many grandchildren and tended to get lost in the hustle and bustle at large family gatherings in my hometown of Philadelphia. However, Grandpa would always take time to try to play with me and talk to me. Every so often, he would give my mother money to buy books that she thought that I would enjoy. He was proud of my schoolwork and always encouraged me to do my best.

After my family moved to Virginia in my junior year of high school, I did not get to see him very often. Occasionally, I spoke with him on the phone, but long-distance phone calls were expensive. During this time, unbeknownst to me, Grandpa became sick with an aggressive form of cancer. The last time I spoke to him was during a phone call in February 1987. He sounded very tired, but wanted to hear how I was doing. My high school graduation was coming up and I wanted to make sure he would be there. “You’re coming to my graduation, right Grandpa?” I asked. I did not notice at the time, but now I will never forget, he hesitated a bit before answering. “Of course, Kitty, I will be there.”

My mother received a call on St. Patrick’s Day that Grandpa died in his sleep. He was only 62 years old. I was devastated and sleep-walked through the funeral. I finished the school year but cried bitterly on graduation day because he was not there.

Later, it came out that Grandpa had been functionally illiterate. My grandmother and mother had covered up that fact from everyone for many years. Growing up as an African American in rural Alabama in the 1920s did not afford him the opportunity for a good education. He wanted to make sure that I took advantage of the opportunities that he did not have growing up. As an adult, I realize what a gift he gave me, and I wanted to honor his memory by sharing his gift with others.

A few years ago, I started volunteering with the [local volunteer group] as an English as a Second Language teacher. In my classes are people from all walks of life who are trying to learn to read, write and speak English to secure a better life for themselves and their families. I enjoy teaching these classes and seeing the triumph in students’ eyes when they figure out some difficult grammar or turn of phrase. In my teaching, I hope Grandpa Henry would be proud of me for helping to give others chances that he did not have.

Forty Years Ago Today . . .

Today, I want to honor the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that 31 years later allowed Mr. Random and me to be married in the State of Virginia:

LOVING ET UX. v. VIRGINIA

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

388 U.S. 1

June 12, 1967, Decided

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN delivered the opinion of the Court.

. . .

Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival. To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discriminations. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.

. . .

Read the full decision here

It is so hard to find someone to love in this world . . . May the next few years bring the end of ALL discrimination in marriage, and may our LGBT brothers and sisters be able to exercise one of the basic civil rights of man, according to the requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Here is a picture of me and Mr. Random (having some serious bad-hair days.) We don’t have a better picture yet – so it’ll only be up for a day or so . . .

[Addendum: Today on NPR there was a segment about this: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10889047]

I'm No Virginia Woolf, That's for Sure

Other Random reflections:

• I’ve never watched the Sopranos. I’m always behind the curve on those sorts of things. Or rather, I hate watching overly-hyped stuff. Besides, I can always read the recaps in the paper and be just as informed without having to sit through the show.

• However, I do like some types of purposefully cheesy TV. I love “The Starter Wife” and I’m actually glad it is only 6 episodes long – kind of like a British series. It’s fun, it’s frothy, and it will be over soon.

• The Random Cat is now down to 8 pounds, which is her ideal weight! She lost 4 pounds over the course of the year. The “cat-kins” diet worked! The vet was very happy and very surprised. However, now she feels free to try to grab food directly out of your plate if you aren’t paying attention closely enough. She’s getting pretty sneaky . . .

• Thought while watching MTV today: No one should wear bright yellow stretch pants, no matter how skinny you are. They are just hideous looking. They’re YELLOW for goodness sake!

• I broke down and created a MySpace page. My sister is Iraq kept insisting I should do it, so I did it. I guess now I am fully a part of the 21^st century. It just seems like another thing I have to check and keep semi-updated, and I’m already falling down on the job with the blog here . . . and I actually LIKE doing the blog (and keeping up with you guys, of course!)

• I really want to travel somewhere this summer, but won’t be able to unless I go by myself. Mr. Random can’t take much time off this year, with grad school and the new job and all. I, on the other hand, am going stir-crazy. I feel really bad about it too, but I hate staying still. I HAVE to explore . . . for some odd reason, it is in my blood and won’t go away . . .

• Mr. Random is itching to look for a new house right now. I am too, but I don’t think we can really afford to move right now and there is much too much going on in our lives to throw another jumble of uncertainty into the pot. I would like a bigger place with a small yard and room to entertain – we can’t really invite many of our friends over now and it is killing me – but now is just not the right time. Mr. Random is calling the mortgage guy anyway to see what we possibly might be able to afford nowadays, but I’m thinking that it wouldn’t be much more than what we have right now . . . spring certainly brings house envy, though . . .

• The good thing about being at the conference for most of the week is that I didn’t have to see or read any of the Paris Hilton nonsense, although many people were commenting in disgust asking why it had to appear on the front page of the Washington Post AND on the first page of the Style section. That’s just really sad . . .

• I wish I had better hair. It’s just slightly too short to do anything fun with, and it isn’t growing fast enough. I want Beyonce hair – but then, Beyonce doesn’t even have Beyonce hair . . . I do believe that she pays good money for such nice pieces . . .

• I can’t wait to see The Tempest at the Folger Theater this week . . . yay!

• I love watching the Tony awards every year, but I’m always sad because I never get to see any of the cool plays or musicals. It takes forever for anything to come to DC, and even then it really isn’t the same show – it has an all new cast, which may or may not do it justice . . .

. . . Just wanted to share my random thoughts today – feel free to share your own!

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

I had a dream last night/this morning that kind of disturbed me:

I was in what seemed like an old house or old building of some sort, and I was trying to take a shower, but for some reason I had to do it in the middle of the room where people where coming in and out and just sitting around. I was trying to find a closet to shower in, but there were no closets. So I was standing in the middle of the room, with all of my stuff around me but far enough away so that they didn’t get wet from the showerhead in the ceiling, trying to take a shower while wearing a bathing suit. Of course this was not working well, but I was really frustrated because all these people were walking in and out. I was trying to suds up while wearing the bathing suit, feeling stupid wearing a bathing suit, and feeling so embarrassed just for being there . . .

I woke up feeling very . . . unsettled . . .

So here I am. Lots of things going on in my life and I guess I am feeling kind of exposed (as my amateur dream analysis tells me) and embarrassed and naked . . .

Reflections from the past week:

The conference came off all right – a lot of things could have been done better, and there were two days straight when my entire food intake for breakfast and lunch was a bottle of water and a handful of cheddar cheese Combos. It was non-stop meetings and talking to people and being “on” and two days later, I am just SO exhausted . . .

It was not as weird as I thought without Mr. Random there, if only because I was so busy from the time I got there until the time I left. The only thing I missed was the ability to leave right away – Mr. Random had to come and pick me up each evening. I tried to get some rides home, but no one ever was able to go my way . . . even the woman who lives a few blocks over from me, usually had to go somewhere else after work. Luckily, I brought a book with me, but sitting in a hotel lobby is never fun when all you want to do is go home . . .

Next year, if they are going to cut back on anything, it definitely should not be the meals. The one meal a day thing was horrible, and most days it was just the “continental breakfast” – which is basically just some rolls and coffee. I don’t do well with just carbs in the morning – it makes me very cranky, and some folks have dietary restrictions in which they can’t eat that stuff. Restaurants are also really expensive in the area we were in, and we weren’t reimbursing folks – and a lot of our constituents come from struggling organizations and states and the cost of the hotel was about $250 a night alone. You would think that being in the field we are in we would know better, but nope, being cheap trumps all . . .

The high point of the conference was the last evening, which is our organization’s closing night dinner. Here we give out awards to several inspiring young people, ages 13-26, who are doing amazing things in our field. Listening to them tell their stories always energizes me for a little bit – they, and others like them, are exactly the reason I put up with all of the crap at the Random Non-profit. The fact that they things we do are helping to improve their lives, it makes it all worthwhile. If we could just get our acts together, stop the internal dysfunction and fulfill our movement’s TRUE potential, just think of the change we could make in the world!

Now after those four days of pure adrenaline, I need a long, long nap . . .

Counting Down to Four Days of Fun

Conference starts tomorrow. Nervous upon nervous. Still fighting writer’s block for this other project I have to finish this week. It’s just stress city today . . .

The Random Non-profit got rid of its meeting planner, so we are all flying by the seat of our pants. We have much less staff now, trying to put on a conference over four days. Not that many people are coming either, in comparison to years past, since DC is extremely expensive. We are also cutting back on the number of meals that we will be providing, which kind of sucks – food is rather expensive near the hotel and there aren’t that many alternatives . . .

It’s also a big bummer that Mr. Random won’t be at the conference with me this year – he helps calm me down when I go too stressed out or too annoyed by random staff members who feel they are too good or too high up to help out. That drives me crazy – if something needs doing, I just roll up my sleeves and do it. We are down more than 10% of an already small staff – every little bit helps. Someone higher up once told me that if I wanted to advance seriously, I needed to stop helping out on administrative tasks. I can’t bring myself to do that. I remember how worn and tired and angry I felt when I had to assemble or collate some large project that was dumped on me at the last minute and then no one would help me. They would just sit there and read or go get coffee as I was sprawled on the floor trying to get everything straight. I know how it feels much too well – it was not too long ago. Also, I know quite a bit about event planning and conferences, so it seems silly to have people reinvent the wheel . . .

Anyway, I know I should have some interesting stories when this is all over. I hope everyone is having a good week . . . Wish me luck . . .

Article: Revisiting Fahrenheit 451

Found in today's ArtsJournal: Interesting article about Ray Bradbury and how his novel, Fahrenheit 451, has been misinterpreted all of these years:

http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted/16524/

It's not really about government censorship - it's more about censorship by groups coupled with the rise of television.

Do give the article a read and let me know what you think . . . I'll have to re-read this book this week - it must be about 20 years since I last read it . . .

Monday Morning Kvetch and Moan

I’m dragging my feet on something that I really need to finish in the next two days. Once I finish it, I can let the chips fall where they may – however, I am petrified of finishing it because if I finish it, it means I may be rejected, and I hate rejection . . .

Wait. As I was writing that sentence, I realized how stupid and silly that was – if I get rejected, I’ll just move on to something else. I may feel a bit ashamed that others may know about my failure, but in the grand scheme of things, that is really not important. I mean, this step will allow me to move forward and if I don’t do it, I’ll NEVER move forward.

I have to finish by tomorrow night. I’m writing this for all and sundry to see.

Yes, this is horribly vague – all will be revealed in time, I promise!

I am really dreading this week – I’m really dreading this conference and being “on” all the time and being exhausted at the end of 14 hour days. I will be so happy when Sunday is here. What happens after the conference? Well that’s another kettle of fish I’ll have to deal with then . . .

I had a very busy, but cranky, weekend. I needed to do some shopping on Saturday, but Mr. Random had the car all day due to some miscommunication about scheduling on our parts. Went out on Sunday and got a few things, but I’m just going to have to cobble some outfits together for the conference and hope I don’t look too worn and haggard . . .

Man, I’m just a bundle of joy today. This waking up earlier thing has thrown off my whole internal body clock . . . I’ll just have to get used to it . . .

I did a trial run of walking to work and back on Saturday afternoon. Wearing t-shirt, shorts, sneakers, and only carrying a small bottle of water, it was a very hilly path and I was hot and worn out by the time I got to the office. If I do this during the workweek, it will probably be to just walk home, because walking to work on these humid DC summer mornings will just mean Random Kath gets to work a sweaty, smelly mess. There is also a bus route along the way that only costs $1 each way, so if worse comes to worse I could do that. Mr. Random also said I could drive him into town and drop him off and just come get him in the evenings, which would save on the parking costs (his new office is not near the metro at all). That is also an option . . .

I’ll try to have a more upbeat post later this evening, when I’m procrastinating horribly . . .

What’s So Funny about Peace, Love and Misunderstanding?

Last Friday night, Mr. Random, my friend J, and I went to see Love’s Labors Lost at the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Northwest DC. The play is this year’s Shakespeare Theater’s “Free for All” performance.

It is a re-performance of the play they did last year on the main stage, where the twist was that this was set in 1960’s India, with the King of Navarre being an enlightenment guru and the “noblemen” are staged as a rock band coming to study at the feet of the master – kind of like the Beatles did.

It is a very fun and accessible play that made good use of the new setting. Instead of the noblemen dryly reading the sonnets they had written to each of their fair ladies, they sang the words while playing whatever instrument they play in the band. (Those actors could really sing and play too – especially the drummer!) The part of Costard was played as a burned out hippie guy, which lent a lot of comic relief to many of the scenes – especially one scene where the main characters were talking (and it was a boring exchange), in the background you could see the Costard character quietly and slowly taking out a baggie and carefully and slowly rolling a joint on stage . . .

The amphitheater is in Rock Creek Park, in an area I never even knew existed before – it’s like you aren’t even in the city, everything was so lush and green. It was a beautiful evening for a play outside – not too hot or humid with clear, starry skies. There were lots of families there and several middle school groups came as a class trip. For an introduction to Shakespeare, this play was an excellent choice, since it had music and frames a reference that most kids and parents could relate to. Although there was one part of the play where the guys were supposed to be disguised as Muscovites – so in the version, they were in space suits with “CCCP” across the front and carried the flag of the USSR. Several little kids around us asked what that stuff meant. I began to feel really, really old . . .

Another notable event: I received my first mosquito bite of the season! I forgot it was getting to be that time of year and while I sensibly wore a sweater and capris, I forgot to spray insect repellent around my ankles . . .

The “Season of Shakespeare” will continue in a couple of weeks when we go see The Tempest at the Folger Shakespeare Theater. The Folger is set up similarly to the old Globe Theater, so I can’t wait to see it. Have to start reading the play very soon, so I will know what’s going on . . .

This weekend will be low key, since next week is going to be brutal. It’s conference time, which means I will be working from 7 in the morning through 9 or 10 at night for four days straight – ugh! I get weary just thinking about it . . .

Any good plans for the upcoming weekend?