Soon Unbound

The Prometheus Myth closes this weekend. Anyone in the Chicago area who wants to come see it should do so. Really, it's a great show and it represents the last five months of my life pretty well.

I've been involved in this project so long, it's hard to imagine not having rehearsal or a show every night. There's going to come something of a postpartum depression following all of it. It's been a beast of a process, and I'm going to miss it and the folks who've been on this crazy ride with me. So come see us move with our whole bodies and listen with our eyes and play with puppets. Then drink with us afterward. There's a closing night party on Saturday night for all those interested and willing to drop an extra couple of bucks.

After this, it's time to study for the GRE and get cracking on grad school. In addition to my writing workshops, I've recently decided to also apply to several viticulture and oenology programs in and around the country. More on that later.

Holy Exquisite Corpse

The wheels to get me to grad school are officially in motion as of this week. I registered for my GRE and have begun researching schools, tuitions, etc. Which means I need to start studying, writing critical essays, revising my writing portfolio, etc. The hardest part about all of this, I think, is simply beginning to do it. I'm frankly a little afraid to start moving forward. But it must be done and fear has to be put aside and self actualization and so on and so so forth.

So.

Here we go.

Luckily, it's the summer, which, since I work for a university print shop, means I have fuck all to do with my day but sit and research grad schools on the Internet.

Wine...
I've been promising/threatening to post something about ferments and wine making and so forth on here one of these days. This weekend might be the time to do it. I meant to start a batch of white wine to turn into base absinthe alcohol last night, but was waylaid at the grocery store by Jess and Glen, who whisked me off to a friend's birthday party, where they forced me to drink delicious champagne and eat delicious cheese. Oh, the agony.

It occured to me as I was paying for the grapes to make white wine that, with grapes costing 3.99/lb, I might have actually paid less to buy five gallons of cheap wine than I did to make my own. That's a good life lesson to learn.

C'est la vie.

Finally...
Erin sent me a link to Zoom Quilt today. Play with it...do...my only complaint is that it doesn't last longer.

Small bit of news...
Last week, I got an e-mail from my friend, John Crea, who I knew in high school. He now teaches English classes at a school near where I used to live and he was teaching a course on Thoreau and transcendentalism and asked his students if they knew anyone who, whether they knew it or not, was a transcendentalist. The kids answered and then turned the question on him. He told them that he felt that I was a transcendentalist and then told them a bit of what he remembered of me in high school and so on and so forth. So apparently the kids were really fascinated by me and had a bunch of questions for me.

Anyway, as I was considering my answers to some very well thought out questions about my life philosophies, I started wondering how I was manifesting those beliefs in my daily life and kept finding that I really wasn't. I purport to be a person who wants to live in harmony with nature, someone who loves animals and believes in their rights, someone who is moral and ethical and considerate of my choices, etc., but too often, I think, I've come to take the easy road--to essentially say, "Well, I believe these things, but you know, it's really difficult to actually act on those beliefs." And for me, that's not an acceptable response.

So I've decided to become a vegetarian. My hope is that, by forcing myself to make a conscious decision about one major aspect of my life, I'll also start making more conscious choices about other areas of my life. Hopefully I'll be a better person for it. So don't feed me any steak.

Edit:
I should clarify that I'm still allowing fish in my diet. So technically, I'm a pescetarian. But the basic idea is the same.

Web Business

With The Prometheus Myth up and running, my attention can now turn to other matters, like applying to grad school, writing, and more immediately my next show, The Strange Dreams of Nobody in Particular. Shiny has been rehearsing these past couple of weeks and I can finally come and see what's being made. From what I've seen, it's going to be a great show.

Alex Willan, the graphic designer for Strange Dreams... has sent us some sketches of the poster art. It's beautiful.

And Ian Knox has update the Tantalus Web site to include these designs.

Opening Night

The Prometheus Myth officially opened last night to a good audience and much applause. I brought some absinthe with me afterward to share with the cast, and it was met with much curiosity and interest. Its possibly my favorite thing about my hobby--sharing absinthe with people who haven't ever had a chance to try it before.

Maybe it's the fact that today is rainy and grey and I'm a bit hungover from last night's cast party, but there's a twinge of melancholy that comes with the opening of a show like this. A bit of advanced nostalgia. I've gotten attached to this group of people, which tends to happen with a long and intense rehearsal process. I've sweat with them, moved with them, literally carried all of them at one point or another on my back. And they've done the same for me. I'll miss this crew. Hopefully I'll see them all frequently when all this is over.

In the meantime, there's twelve more shows to do. Come see an amazingly talented group of people nail Prometheus to the wall. Or rock, as the case may be.

• May 12 - May 28, 2006
• Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays 8:00PM
• Sundays 5:00PM

• RiverFront Work Lofts
• 2147 S. Lumber St.
• Chicago, Illinois 60616

• $12 suggested donation
• $10 students and seniors

News and Updates...

With The Prometheus Myth going into tech, I decided now would be a good time to take a little time off from work to, well, avoid going crazy with stress. Which gives me a chance to update all of you with my life. I'll be glad when we open. Six months is a long time to rehearse a show. Come see it if you get a chance. The space is a bit out in the middle of nowhere, but it's really cool, and the trek will help you get into the show. Trust me.

Strange Dreams... rehearsals are off and running nicely. The space is a community garden in Lincoln Square. It's the kind of space that has no business anywhere in this city. It's like something I'd find back in Asheville. I love it.

Finally, NY Tyrant should be out by the middle of the summer. If any of you want to buy a copy (and you know you do), you can buy individual copies from their Web site through a Paypal account.

And that's that. Now I'm going to go back to the big important things I've got to do today. Like napping. Happy Cinco de Mayo.