Well, dear readers, this long weekend has ended too quickly. Today is the last day I’ll have to get any relaxation in for at least two weeks, and I won’t have all that much of it today. But I’ve certainly relaxed over the last few days, rested my voice, although it doesn’t feel like it’s rested, but that’s just my insanity, but basically it was a lovelier than lovely Thanksgiving holiday.
Of course, the most unbelievable thing is that November is almost over now and then we’re in the final month of the year – I tell you, this year has flown by, like a gazelle eating Yorkshire pudding. Soon I will be a brand spanking new age, and soon it will be a brand spanking new year, 2012, which means I will start work on a brand spanking new book, and yes, Virginia, I know what that new book is. But that’s all in the future, and we are, for now, in the present, although as each minute passes we are in the past. These are metaphysical things of which I speak. These are profoundly profound metaphysical things, this play of time. For I type this sentence in the present and once I hit the end of it this sentence is in the past. This new sentence was just in the future prior to my beginning it and now it is in the present as I write it and as soon as I end it it will be in the past. One thing I absolutely know about the past, present, and future is that I haven’t a clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about.
Yesterday, which is now in the past, wasn’t a bad day. I got up a little earlier than I wanted to, but still got eight and a half hours of sleep. However, I just stayed in bed for two more hours as I was feeling very lazy and was reinstalling all my lost apps on my iPad. I finally got up, answered e-mails, and then did the four-mile jog, after a brief visit with our very own Mr. Jason Graae. After the jog, I had a sandwich and a cup of chicken soup. Then I picked up no packages and no important envelope (hopefully tomorrow for both), came back home, and sat on my couch like so much fish, where I promptly dozed off for forty-five minutes.
Then I watched another Maigret movie – this one was really excellent, had, as always, great performances, and I realized that one of the things that’s so unique about these Simenon stories is that despite there being murder and mayhem, you really come to care about them and so there is a certain bittersweet quality to all of them, which is pretty unique in detective fiction and film.
After that, it was time to be on my way to see a play. I met our very own Barry Pearl and our friend Kenny Morse at the Raven Theater in North Hollywood. Barry’s ever-lovin’ Cindy was in the play and I always enjoy watching her do her stuff. The play was a mystery play adapted from a TV movie by the masters Levinson and Link – called Murder By Natural Causes. I’d never seen the TV movie and don’t know how it played. I found the mechanics of the play version a bit creaky and guessed all of its surprises along the way, which is probably a by-product of having written six mysteries. On the other hand, there’s something oddly comforting about seeing an old-fashioned mystery with old-fashioned dialogue (it’s what I tried to do in Deceit – do a throwback to that sort of thing) and so I enjoyed myself very much. This group doesn’t have huge amounts of money to spend on production values, so their shows are never about that – they just choose things they like and that they feel their company can do, and they do a very nice job in that regard. And Cindy, as always, did a very nice job herself.
After the performance (their closing night) they had a little food donated by, I think, Chevy’s, so I had a couple of teeny-tiny flautas (I think they were flautas), and one little piece of a quesadilla, and one bit of Caesar salad. I didn’t hang around long, because I wanted to get back to my warm and cozy home environment. Once there, I answered some more e-mails, and began gathering the elements for our new release announcement for Tuesday.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because this section, which is now in the present, will, in a mere moment, be in the past, whilst the next section, until that mere moment, is in the future.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a wonderful night’s beauty sleep. I will do the four-mile jog come hell or high or even low water, then we have a short rehearsal for the Christmas Gardenia show, then I’ll eat, then I’ll watch more Maigret, and get to bed early.
Tomorrow, it’s back to Lost and Unsung, and I’m truly hoping our wonderful company of players has done as I asked and drilled their stuff, so that they arrive at performance level, which is where they need to be. I’ll arrive an hour before rehearsal, to work with the sound and lighting folk, just to make sure we’re all where we need to be, and by that time our beautiful new rental piano will be there, which I’m sure will delight dear reader and MD Jose. Tuesday is our dress/tech with audience and Wednesday we open, come hell or high or even low water. Then we do our whirlwind run – I have tried to keep those days clear, although we have our second Gardenia rehearsal on Friday. I really need a haircut but I’m not sure I’ll have time to get in to see Teddy – I’ll call on Tuesday morning to see what his schedule is, but the only time would be is if he has an open slot on Tuesday before two or Wednesday morning. If he does, I shall definitely see him.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the four-mile jog, rehearse, eat, do two tiny fixes for the LACC script, which is then locked and will not change, and watch Maigret. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall dream of past, present, and future things, not necessarily in that order.