4-1: From whence there is no return!

Sometimes, a cold shower can do some good.

See, a few months ago, we had had enough with the loose hot water faucet in our shower, which was probably costing mom big bucks in heating and water, or something. So she had Tim go at it and he basically fixed it. I say basically, because he left us with a much less noticeable but infinitely more frustrating problem in its place... the hot and cold taps are now way out of whack and we can't get a good comfortable medium anymore. It's either too hot or too cold. No just right for this goldilocks. But in my ongoing quest for inner peace via caffeine I generally go out and do stuff first, then come home and shower. The logic there is that when I go out in the mornings, I come back sweaty, so a shower would be advantageous, as opposed to wasted (getting clean then getting dirty.) There's a metaphor in there, but lord knows I can't find it.

Last night was actually a good example of how things can actually surprise you with how well they go. How smoothly, that is. I had made arrangements to go see Cary's play in Hamilton on Thursday with Lauren. That fell through, perhaps not surprisingly, as she's at this very busy summative/exam study time of Grade 12. So she's all stressed out and tells me she can't make it, and for unrelated reasons, neither can Chrisbrown, my usual ride. He was apparently at the dentist thursday and had to work Friday. But Chris F., Pat and Sonya were definitely going on Friday with Cassie driving, so it was suggested I try to get in on that. A quick MSN convo with Chris later and it's set up. That must've been Wednesday night.

We had made arrangements to go grocery-shopping with dad this week. Mom usually drives (and naturally does hers at the same time,) but was busy. Thinking I was going to a play on Thursday (the night we typically grocery-shop,) I suggested we go on Friday. When it was finalized that I was in fact going on Friday, I had to re-arrange it for Thursday, last-minute. A minor inconvenience I suppose, and nothing bad came from it - in fact, for an inconvenience, it was actually quite convenient. Pardon me, I'm not used to things going ok for me.

So last night rolls around and it's basically understood although not really confirmed that I'm going. We ate a quick dinner at dad's so I could be back home in good time for a pickup. Shortly after 6, Chris comes on and says "Okay, we'll be by in like 10 minutes." After significantly more than 10 minutes, they roll up and I hope in. Cassie narrowly avoided hitting my dog with her car (which surely would have put a damper on the evening,) and we were rollin' on.

We got to the theatre more than an hour early, so we bought our tickets (which were, in fact, just S's scribbled on the backs of our hands) and went off in search of food, as the other 4 hadn't eaten yet. So we sought out a McDonald's at Jackson Square, a nearby mall I described to Pat as "a wretched hive of scum and villainy" (a Star Wars reference for which he high-fived me.) We split off, as the McD's was apart from the regular food court. I went to a newsstand or something and bought a coke (being in the words of Forrest Gump, "Not hungry but thirsty.") Then I wandered the halls looking for the food court, in generally the wrong places, before turning back and finding Pat. Pat's actually a great navigator as we got our bearings in the labyrinthine mall, and Pat mused "I wonder if Chris will find us," some snarky passerby replied, "Oh, he will." we got to the court and, after finding a table with some spare change on it, sat and waited for him to catch back up with us. He did, as did the girls. There wasn't too much time for eating, though, as we had to book it back to the theatre for the show.

It's worth mentioning at this point that I felt I desperately needed to appear at the show. This is because a few weeks ago I told Cary that if he hadn't come to my place (the first weekend of June) I would not have come to his show. It was partly in jest, but I really am that petty. It would hardly be sporting of me to go and not appear anyway.

Cary, at one point, was going to do Half-Past Eight PM, but as these things usually go, the show was quatsched when nobody really auditioned. I still think it would be cool to see him do it, but the play's got a big cast to it.

So we went in and the show eventually began. Cary was in a show called "The Devil's Parole," which consists of a lengthy pun-filled conversation between Beelzebub and Yaweh, on the Devil convincing the Lord that he deserves to be let out of hell. It was pretty funny, I laughed plenty. Cary's still a natural performer, although watching him brought back far too many memories of Grade 12. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe it isn't. But there's like a 50/50 chance he's reading this, so I might as well re-iterate that I thought it was a very funny play, although some of the gags most notably, the "Ben Affleck" bit, were underdeveloped. Great last line, though. All in all, a 4/5.

After a brief intermission and some mingling with Cary's family as well as Rosser, we headed back in for the second show, which was called "Never Swim Alone." I thought it was excellent. With all due respect to Cary and his show, "Never Swim Alone" was by and large a better play, even if some of the themes were very rapidly brought up and blown off, as well as some mixing of metaphors in the writing. It was generally higher-level stuff, though, with ace performances, a good grasp of emotion, and a tonne of big laughs. At one point, this dude in the front row was in hysterics - for no great reason mind you, and the actor onstage interrupted his monologue by noting, "That man may have a kitten." (The whole play was addressing the audience anyway.) I'd like to write a play like that, which combines various themes and deeper connectivity of emotions with some good dialogue. I'm not saying I'd like to have written that play, but I'd like to write one that is more like "Never Swim Alone" than like "Half-Past Eight PM," which I still love but would like to go beyond someday. It was a 4.5/5.

We said goodbye and, after getting a little lost on our way out of Hamilton, headed back to Oakville for an impromptu Risk game at Pat's place. Well we did stop off at dominion for snacks, which were more sugar based than carb-based than I would have liked, so I ended up having a major crash by the end of the night. Cassie joined us, as she wanted to learn how to play, so we taught her and it ended up being a good night. We tried to get ahold of Chrisbrown but he eluded us.

The thing with Risk, why we do it, is not really to play Risk per se. Risk is just the uniting factor. It just happens to be more interesting and competitive than any other board game, as well as being about merciless slaughter. It's just good to have a guys' night. A regular gathering of dudes you can chill with and not talk about anything with beyond what movies suck, and how you're going to attempt to take over a continent. We mentinoed Risk to Rosser and he got this glaze of nostolgia in his eyes for the days when he and his theatre friends used to play regularly, with costumes and roleplaying. Pat and I chuckled, it hasn't gotten to that yet.

So it was guys' night, disregarding the fact that Cassie was there. And we played Risk until 3:00, when it was just Chris and Pat, and Chris reluctantly agreed it was a draw. I got to bed at 3:30.

That's my story. It's not all that interesting, but it's what happened and I never claimed this blog to be interesting or consistently entertaining, at least not deliberately. I don't think there's anyone out there by now who's bitchy enough to wonder why the fuck I bothered to type all that shit out. It's just how it works, and has worked, for almost 800 posts by now. Fuck.

So that's life, I guess. I'm not feeling all that deep today, but that's not such a bad thing. A little lighter of spirit, aside from a little of the ole shadow of loneliness. Nothing I can't handle. I just gotta keep out of the sun.

Cut through the water to the point. Cut through the water to the point.

Keep on rockin'
-Scotto