Winter

I think it was Jon that said it standing in front of the Lickety Splitz in Bellflower. Pair of girls walked into a liquor store, near our age but classier in the starting winter chill of Southern California. Warm day turned into cool night so the long coats over mini skirts more fashion than function.
‘I like girls that swish’ he said as they piled into the car and drove into the night. Both of us left to wait and wonder. Nothing for us but to stand around with no plan or goal for the evening, give up and head our separate ways to repeat the night a few more times before I left. Stellar end to a stellar week.

Hurrying to my bus in Seattle I’m reminded of that saying. Almost midnight on a Friday near Downtown, a long day at two jobs, covered in glitter, grim and grief. Waiting to get home and put the last 14 hours of various bosses, double standards and box pushing behind me. Drink a beer, watch some cable and try to make a weekend out of it. Ignore the cabs dropping off well dressed sophistos, hipsters and the past 30 set trying to hold onto the illusion of youth. Dressed to the nines in either too much or too little, stumbling down uneven streets to some poorly lit bar that traded in more ambiance than alcohol. Dark but never dank which is what I wanted at that moment a place to lose the past day.

Past a young man too gone with exhaustion to care wanting to be home, peel off his workman blacks and get to bed.

I envied them. But had that vague feeling I couldn’t go into their world. Something kept me out of it.

Maybe it was the faded blacks, the tool bag or the glitter that looked like I lost a fight with an elf. Either way they passed by with only dirty looks as I waited for my bus.

‘Does this bus go to Ballard?’ it was soft and sweet breaking me out of the funk that was brewing. I looked over. She was even less prepared for the winter than me. Wearing shorts and chucks, shivering under a long crocheted (or knitted) sweater, ‘Yeah should be here soon I think… not sure really’ she asks if I had a long day and I laugh admitting it didn’t seem that way at first. She smiles looking somehow out of place from the Friday crowd just a little detail betraying the whole. I ask what brought her to Seattle and she tells me about her friends and family. Mentioned a brief description of places far away as I waver between awake and asleep nearly forgetting her name as the 15 pulls up.

She climbs up, hesitates, pays and sits down. The bus is half a block away before I realize it was yet another chance I missed.

2HT Weekly Update 6

There was a time I was in one of those complete or have it cut moments before a show. We did our damnest to get all the kinks out but some just kept happening. Not even those little livable ones but sometimes it just wouldn’t work. We were tired, overworked and had tunnel vision. In other words the thing just wasn’t gonna happen. The guy who was in charge of finishing this looks at me and the other fellow with and says, ‘Failure is not an option’ and one of us says, ‘Failure is always an option’. Who said that became a point of contention.

Traffic-ters this week I failed at coming up with a weekly update that is up to the standards of my previous ones. Next week should be better… or I’ll fail then too. After all failure is always an option.

-Sal

2HT Weekly Update 3

(Note: I'm part of a theater company and it was decided we should do weekly updates. I haven't been taking it seriously. I'm usually the first one to post.)

Spent a good chunk of my week thinking about Artaud's 'Theatre and its Double'. There's a section where Artaud describes the spreading of the Plague in Europe and uses this as an analogy for the spread of theater. Didn't quite see what he was saying at the time but I often thought about that while doing this show 'One Flea Spare' which I thought was called 'Wonderfully Spare' until 3 weeks into the rehearsal process when I finally realized I wasn't doing a show that was a light heart romp through the Plague years but a serious show about people descending into madness under horrible circumstances.

That show had an illness that spread, like the Plague, through the cast and crew and enhanced the show by giving people this horrible cough. But sucked when you were in the booth trying to stay quiet.

Still waiting on a letter to mail with my envelopes. Other than that nothing to report.

-Sal

2HT Weekly Update 2

(Note: I'm part of a theater company and it was decided we should do weekly updates. I haven't been taking it seriously. I'm usually the first one to post.)

Spent much of the previous week in Issaquah operating a spot light. Gave me perspective on single point perspective. After all in a proscenium house you can create multiple vanishing points but when you get right down to it there is only one that you can exploit to the greatest effect. Beside that I looked over the hardware I had and attempted to sort some of it. Didn't complete this task, perhaps next week.

Other than that I have very little to report beside the fact that working in theater is so much easier when the weather sucks and much harder when it is nice.
Here's to another week,
Sal

2HT Weekly Update 1

(Note: I'm part of a theater company and it was decided we should do weekly updates. I haven't been taking it seriously. I'm usually the first one to post.)

I spent the last week or so contemplating lime lighters. The old style ones that often died in an explosion as the mixture of gas was sparked and brought a brilliant end to a career on the Victorian stage.

Other than that nothing to report because I'm still waiting for a letter to be set out so I can beg my folks for some green.
-Sal