#5: No time for pain

What a busy fuckin' weekend!

What a week.

What a lifetime.

No, yeah, just this week. Sorry.

And so, we did our final show of "Earnest" last night. I'm still buzzing. It's gonna be hard to get out of that world. And by "that world," I don't mean the world Oscar Wilde paints with his witty tale of deception and romance. I mean the world Rosser created by having us stay until 7 every night for rehearsal, and after 10 every show. Let me bring you up to speed, though.

I already told you about Thursday's show. Friday's was different. It was huge. The audience was diggin' it, laughing at every available opportunity. I caught the book. The energy was just unbelievable. Unfortunately, there was a huge mishap. I made the mistake of drinking some ominous-tasting iced tea backstage, which was in the metal decanter. And I basically got poisoned. After the show, I rushed outside and threw up in a well-placed pile of leaves. Good thing it's autumn. About time that good-for-nothing season started pulling its weight. I went home that night feeling so ill, I wondered if I might die in my sleep that night.

Well, I clearly didn't. I got up, went bowling, got comics, and went to the call for the matinee show. That was at 2. It wasn't as successful as the night before. I think, because it was in the middle of a Saturday afternoon and really, who wants to go see a play on a Saturday afternoon? There was, actually, a critic there from the Oakville Today newspaper, who seemed to enjoy the show thoroughly. In particular, he seems to have enjoyed Lady Bracknell, which gave Emma a much-needed shot in the arm. I caught the book again. We celebrated. I talked to Angela & Jess after, and they whined about how I wasn't writing about them in my blog these days. Well, here you go, girls. Are you happy?

Alyssa, Ryan, Becky, Alex, Doug and I went out to the mall for late-lunch-early-supper (or as someone called it, "Tea.") That's a fun bunch of people to be hanging out with. Then we came back and watched Gremlins in preparation for the next show that night. Our last. It was a very emotional Circle-time where everyone said nice things about everyone else. I got a little choked up while delivering my spiel. I was complimenting Doug, and I seguéd into a thing about how I was glad just to be a butler to such a fine group of folks, and I admit I got a little misty-eyed. But I didn't cry. I'm a man, dammit.

And we went out, and we had a hell of a show. I caught the book one last time, effectively going 4 for 4. This time, it seriously looked like it was going to hit Vanessa's head, but like a professional, she didn't flinch. At the curtain call, Doug and I went up and did our bow, and then someone fucked up and the lights went out, but that was quickly fixed.

Then we got back to the drama room, and found something waiting for us. A display of posters and programs, each enscrawled with a personal message to each member of the cast and crew. With the posters and programs were pink roses and Lindor chocolates. It was so nice I was angry. So I spent the better part of the next day writing a long, sappy letter of appreciation to Rosser.

We all trekked over to Cary's for the cast party. A bunch of his friends were there, too. It wasn't really a "party," more like a reception. Nobody was falling-on-the-floor drunk I am glad (or sad?) to say. It was mostly just all of us sitting around Cary's basement, some drinking, watching SNL's Best of Tom Hanks. At one point, after Janessa left and Doug and Cary were upstairs, it was just me, Ryan & Becky, Alyssa & Nick, and Emma & her boyfriend. It was pretty awkward, but that ended quickly. I had only a bit to drink before it was time to go. I walked to the corner of McCraney & Sixth with Becky and Ryan and said my fond goodbye-for-nows as I walked home.

I spent last night tossing and turning. My back was killing me. I wanted to die. Dad came to the rescue, though, by giving me what was left in a bottle of extra-strength generic Acetametophin, which certainly has helped. Also, I'm listening to Aerosmith, the lack of which over the past few days may have done damage to my back, but I can't prove it. i'm also trying to eat more, get more niutrition, you know... trying to take good care of myself, since nobody else will. That's my resolution for now.

Woosh. Shooting got cancelled for today so I've got nothing. Unfortunately, in the name of shooting, I called off a work session with Alyssa for our Drama project, which was pretty dumb, since we need time to work on it. It's such a huge stressor, and the presentation won't even last more than a few minutes. It's just a lot of content jam-packed in there.

I'm gonna go relax for a bit. Because remember, as Frankie says: Relax.

And as I say: keep on rockin'
-Scott