Dreams of Snakes and Rabbits and Music

Dreams of last night (very vivid):

I was in some kind of Survivor show, but it seemed like a goofy one. There was something British about it (no offense to the Brits, it just wasn't gung-ho Americana machoism). We had to climb past or kind or go through a next of baby snakes. They were all pinkisn and had very big teeth. The word Cobra went through my mind.

I picked one up, a pink-ish one, and it bit me on the wrist and arm and it hurt like hell.

I left there and somehow joined a group of amateur musicians. We all played recorders, and I was first chair, and my recorder was shaped like a soft, stuffed rabbit. Another musician, a man, had one that looked like it was made of wooden blocks, and they kept kind of coming apart. I couldn't play at at all - really, not at all - so I was worried that I was in the leading chair, but no one seemed to care. We all tried to make a note or two for about an hour, then called it quits for the day and they all said 'See you Tomorrow!' - it was all very jolly.




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Two - No. Three. Three Plays. One Week. The Future.

Somewhere, sometime, somehow in the last few years I must have said to myself:

"I want to act again."

Because I have noticed, when I say things like that, they eventually happen.

Tomorrow - Monday - and Tuesday, I rehearse See Me Naked. For the first time in three years.

On Wednesday, I rehearse Belle of Amherst. Thursday, I perform Belle, at the beautiful Womens' University Club in downtown Seattle.

Friday, I tech and dress See Me Naked, at the funky and awesome Open Space for Arts & Community on Vashon Island.

Then, on Saturday, I perform See Me Naked.

Oh - and I forgot something - tomorrow night I actually have a rehearsal for another play - B4, by Kathy Hsieh - for a reading that will go up November 7 and 8.

This is my week.

And sometime in between all of that, I'll write one or two grants and start the fundraising letter for one of my places.

So Kenny and Finn are leaving me alone right now, blessedly. I am hoping for 4 hours, but will likely get 2. See Me Naked is far from my memory, which is odd - for years, that show was one I could pick up in 15 minutes or less.

I'm scattered, internally. Abuzz.

I am acting again. Like, really. The Belle performance on Thursday will be number 36 or 37 or something like that - and may be my last full one. I have a gig to perform a short section of it at a fundraiser November 14, and who knows after that.

See Me Naked? Here's the thing - UMO has started working with a new booking agent. He books a very successful show all around North America - Defending the Caveman. The creator of that show retired to a ranch he bought in Montana. He doesn't have to work anymore. When I heard about that, I thought about See Me Naked, and I said, out loud, "I wanna be the lady caveman."

And Elizabeth said, "You have to do that show again." And I said, "Yeah."

And 10 minutes later I walked across the field to Open Space, and the wonderful director there Karen said,
"Hey - we want you to do See Me Naked here!"

10 minutes.

Life is... afoot, it seems.

I'll have made about 30% of my very tiny income this year from ACTING. On stage. In Seattle. That is mildly astonishing. I'd like to make 60% of a much healthier income next year from acting.

Next year, and beyond. I do. I want it. I wanna be the lady caveman. I wanna do See Me Naked enough more times to have some fun, earn lots of money, and then have other ladies take it over and perform it all over the world. I wanna sit and talk to Oprah at some point. I wanna retire to my own ranch somewhere and think about what kind of work I really want to do next, and not have to worry for a moment about scraping out a living.

Today. This Week. Next Year. The Future.


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New Trees

A Summer of such busy-ness draws to a close... much producing, some teaching, lovely weeks of family time in Ohio - including a big family "withunion" as my son named it, a baptism, Cedar Point fun, the Henry County Fair, and more food than I probably should have eaten...

and a Fall full of challenges peeks at me from around the cooling corner...

The view from my window is sunny at the moment, trees still green, front yard browned from a summer of some blasting heat here in Seattle. There's a new tree with two trunks growing up and obscuring the mailbox, coming out of an old stump that we took for dead.

I am feeling some creative stirrings that I hope will become a new tree, or two even.

My son starts kindergarten one week from today. After a spring of research and worry and conviction that we'd wait a year, wait 'til 6, for kindergarten, he went and had a big old growth spurt this summer - not just physically, of course, but more essentially emotionally and psychically. No more fear on the playground at the park, but rather quiet confidence. Interest in other kids and openness to playing with them. Full sentences to adults, "Please may I have that, Mommy?" - "No, I don't like that, Mommy." Processing complex thoughts and questions and possible solutions. And then, after witnessing all that, a call from Leschi Elementary, that he'd leapt off the waiting list and into their Montessori program - so, one week from today, we're going to give a go. See what happens. Hope for the best.

My husband looks ahead to a new hip sometime this fall. More on that later.

Me - I hope for a new laptop, so that I can write anywhere in the world again. I look at the UW Extension Writing Certificate Programs, and I think I might just dive into a year of Popular Fiction... two years ago, I was all set to take the year-long Non Fiction courses when the job and move to San Diego kicked that idea out of commission. And now I think I have another chance - but I'm less drawn to Non Fiction these days. I want to write a novel. One that sells a gazillion copies. And makes me lots and lots and lots of money. So I can buy a house and take care of my family.

It's nice to be clear on that.

And yes, I will apply for some jobs so that I can earn money while I work on that big dream. I'm having a little trouble motivating towards those shorter term steps, but I promise I'll settle down and get to it, tomorrow. And do some grant writing, too.

But now it's time for lunch. Reading a play this afternoon. Maybe one I'll act in this winter...

I'm growing a new tree, or two maybe, I think.



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