i'm actually ok

Feb 16, 2006 00:41

i came home from the gym feeling grumpy. not sure why.
probably because while i'm gone ayu and her posse use my computer, which is fine, except they turn it off and restart it.
which pisses me off. because i don't always save the things i'm working on, and i lose pages and links and conversations i wanted to read thru once or twice more.
ugh. whatever.
to make up for it, she invited me to join them at dinner, and cooked me soy sauce sauteed broccoli (how did i never realize how appetizing it is with soy sauce?), lightly sour bokchoi and white rice - along with the meat they prepared for themselves.

also, why should i be grumpy coming home from the gym? i mean, my weight room has become infest with tall, attractive, very muscular wight room jockies. they are all sorts of eye candy. i have to check myself just to make sure i'm getting my reps in and not staring so as to be obvious. makes me wonder why i waste time with the running and stretching when i can just spend 2 hours loafing around with tastey morsels like that ;)
side note: stupid chinese girl who came into the weight room to do her yoga stretches - yes, we do have A mat in the weight room, but when everyone knows there are two empty yoga/pilates rooms right across the hallway, we all know you're just trying to show the pretty boys how flexible you are. why not find a legitimate reason to be in the room?

also, i'm really happy with the baby steps i've been making with theatre. the comedy group withered and died, but the radio drama podcast came of it. apparently it's available thru i-tunes. craziness. plus, the whole "getting paid" thing rocked. then the vagina monologues reading came right out of left field and landed in my lap. it was REALLY well recieved last night, and i had bunches of people come up to me (up to me, i was just standing there on my own, talking to other folk, and they sought me out) to compliment me on my performance.
yay!
and it wasn't that spectacular (i did have less than 36 hours to prepare 3 monologues!)
plus, eriko and fran have said they'd be very interested in doing another show in the very near future (not the vm's, of course, something new) and a person said they'd try to get us into the performance space at dashanzi (the independent artists community of beijing) if we wanted to.
so, i'm going to introduce them to Savage/Love by Sam Shepard, which is a play i've only ever read, never read anything about. for this reason i think i want to do it, because it's unknown to almost everyone and i can create something completely from myself, only being supplied the words with no direction as to how it should go.

another sweet thing: lana at that's beijing actually wrangled with mike (the boss man) to get me a ski ticket just to ensure i came along as an assistant this weekend. like, there was cajoling, and everyone with a say having to agree that i was a really useful person, and they did all like me last time, and it would be worthwhile ensuring i could come along again.
talk about a boost of confidence!
especially considering how pisspoorly my last skijam ended (x-mas day barf fest)
they still think super super highly of me! (i can only assume they didn't notice)
and, i spent an extra 30 minutes after going thru the logistics of my job just talking with lana, which was just great.

yesterday was just great, even tho i had to wake up at 7am (see, i can do it for theatre without batting an eye). the weather was beautiful - the intensity of the sky awed me. i had gnocchi for lunch, romped around with julia for a lesson, and actually got her using english. came home to that happiness in my mailbox, and then had kittens and joygasms for hours because of the show (i really HAVE been fiending). plus, dom let himself be talked into going to kai afterwards, which is good. and he got all sorts of hit on by this american girl who connected to us for the night, which was interesting/entertaining. and there is a cute new norwegian boy in the group, and that's all i'm saying on that. and cigdem and inga came to show their support, which made it that much nicer. and when i got home, i found myself declared schmitty's AND jenna's valentines. i was popular ;)
today i was compared to enara from firefly, and that is a high compliment in my book.
see? good things?

one downfall: my skin. oh, the peeling has gotten so much worse. i've been scratching like mad for a few days now, and then suddenly this evening all the skin on my shins, calves and back decided to start peeling off in the most gruesomely unnatractive of ways. it reminds me of that terrible terrible dream i had this time last year, where i had big scaly cancers on my legs, and they were really wet, but flaky and dry at the same time, and i kept trying to peel them off but they wouldn't go away. just really....yuck.

vanity aside, life is looking hopeful. i'm keeping my fingers crossed for good things yet to come.


A play by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin; Copyright © 1981 Sam Shepard
Taken from Sam Shepard, Seven Plays, April 1986, Bantam Books, Inc., New York
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First Moment
The first moment
I saw you in the Post Office
You saw me
And I didn't know.
The first moment
I saw you
I knew I could love you
If you could love me

You had sort of a flavor
The way you looked
And you looked at me
And I didn't know if you saw me
And there wasn't any question to ask

I was standing with some papers
I started shuffling the papers
But I didn't know what order to put them in

But I figured I wanted to do it in such a way
That it looked like I had some purpose

But I really just wanted to look at your eyes all the time

And you said
Look at me with your eyes
Look at me with your eyes

In that first moment
Your face burned into my dream
And right away I had this feeling
Maybe you're lost
Until now

Maybe I'm lost
Until now

And I thought
Maybe I'm just making this up

But your eyes
Looked like they were saying
Look at me more

I would shuffle the papers
Look at you
My breathing changed

Then I felt something dissolve
I felt there might be a danger
That anything could happen in the next moment
Maybe you would turn away from me

Or you could say
Let's go together
Forever

Listening Faces
When we sat across from each other
In the place where we met
You talked about your days by the water

face listens
You talked about yourself as a child

face listens
When we were lying next to each other
You told me your fear of the night
Of every night

face listens
You imagined moving to your ideal country

face listens
You told me secrets about people in your life
Strangers

face listens
You showed me their pictures

face
You played me your favorite music
I couldn't hear the music in it

Tangled Up
When we're tangled up in love
Is it me you're whispering to
Or some other
When we're tangled up in sleep
It is my leg you feel your legs against
Or is it Paul Newman's leg

When I move my eyes like this
Is it causing you to think of Marlon Brando

When we're tangled up in meeting other people
Is it me you're introducing
Or is it Warren Beatty

When I stand with my body facing in one direction
And my head in the other
Do you think of Mick Jagger

If you could only give me a few clues
I could invent the one you'd have me be

Babble (I)
I
Uh
I wanna' show
Um
Some thing
SSSomething
That uh
Some
Something tender
That
Comes from you
Uh
I Can't
My words
Won't
Find
I wanna'
Bring something out
That
Some
But
Uh
It doesn't fit this time

Terms of Endearment
What can I call you
Can I call you "Honey"
Or "Sweetie Pie"
Can I call you "My Treasure"
Or "Precious One"

Or can I call you "Babe"
Or maybe I could call you "Darling"
Can I call you "Darling"

I heard someone else call someone "Angel" once
Can I try "Angel"

Can I call you "Sweetheart"
Or "Sugar"

Or maybe I could call you "Love"
Just "Love"

Killing
It was in one moment
When we looked
When we saw each other
That I killed you
I saw you lying there
Unmourned

You didn't know
I didn't say I saw you dead

I saw you thinking of something else
You couldn't see
The thing I'd done to you

How I Look to You
When I sit like this
Do you see me brave
Do I make a mystery to you
When I put on a gaze

When I stretch my arms like this
Do you see me sensual

When I look releaxed
Do you believe me

When I'm acting interested in your words
Do you believe I'm completely interested

Which presentation of myself
Would make you want to touch
What would make you cross the border

Beggar
Could you give me a small part of yourself
I'm only asking for the tiniest part
Just enough to get me from here to there
Could you give me something
Anything at all
I'll accept whatever it is

Could you just put your hand on my head
Could you brush against my arm
Could you just come near enough
So I could feel as though you might be able to hold me

Could you touch me with your voice
Blow your breath in my direction

Is it all right if I look straight into your face

Could I just walk behind you for a little while
Would you let me follow you at a distance

If I had anything of value I'd gladly give it to you
If there's anything of me you want just take it

But don't think I'm this way with everybody
I almost never come to this
In fact usually it's the other way around

There's lots of people
Who would love to even have a conversation with me
Who even ask me if they can walk behind me

So don't get any ideas that I'm completely alone
Because I'm not

In fact you're the one who looks like you could use a little company

Where do you get off thinking you have anything to give me anyway

I have everything I need
And what I don't have I know where to get it
Any time I want

In the middle of the night
In the middle of the afternoon
Five o'clock in the morning

In fact I'm wasting my time right now
Just talking to you

Hums
A capella, melody line only
no words
"I'm in the mood for love"

Haunted
I'm haunted by your scent
When I'm talking to someone else
I'm haunted by your eyes
In the middle of brushing my teeth

I'm haunted by your hair
By your skin
When you're not around

Are you visiting me

Am I dreaming you up

Savage
YOU
Who makes me believe that we're lovers
YOU
Who lets me pretent
YOU
Who reminds me of myself
YOU
Who controls me
YOU
My accomplice
YOU
Who tells me to lie
YOU
Who is acting as though we're still in the first moment
YOU
Who makes me believe that we're lovers
Forever in love

Acting
Now we're acting the partners in love
Now we're acting the estrangement
Now we're acting the reconciliation
Now we're acting that the reconciliation was a success
Now we're acting that our love has been deepened by the crises
Now we're acting that we're both in endless harmony
Now we're acting that one of us has been injured
But we're not saying which one
Now one of us is acting the pain of premonition
Now we are acting the leaving
Now I see you in anguish
Now I watch you leaving
Now I feel nothing

Sings:
"The thrill is gone
The thrill is gone
I can see it in your eyes
I can hear it in your sighs
Feel your touch and realize
The thrill is gone"

Absence
You who are not here
You who are missing in my body
Holes in my body
Places like holes
Like bullets made
Patches of agony
Swimming
From my feet
To my hands
You who are gone
Missing from the place you lived in me
Instead of blood
Hallow veins
The groin is locked
You
The missing part of me
You
That disappeared

The Hunt
I've lost 15 pounds for you
I've dyed my hair brown for you
I've designed a special smile for you
But I haven't met you yet
I've bought a flashy shirt for you
I've plucked my eyebrows out for you
I've covered myself in Musk Oil for you
I'm still hunting around for you

I've changed my walk for you
I've even changed my talk for you
I've changed my entire point of view for you
I hope we'll find each other soon

Killing
It was in a moment we were together
The murder took place
Without any weapon
It took place
Between two moments
In no time
It was in a moment
Between two thoughts
When the murder took place
Without any weapons

I wasn't sure which one of us was killed

Watching the Sleeping Lover
I wake up
Only a little ways
Out of sleep
You look like my child
Breathe
Helpless sleeper
Frightened of your dreams
Separation of sleep

I breathe with you
Breathe the same way
See how it is to be you
Sleeping

I feel like a detective
Spying
Your sleeping body

I'm not very far from sleep
Your dream changes
Your lips move

Talking to it
In words I've never heard

Then comes a longing
That I don't understand
Because it feels like it's towards you
But here you are
So I don't understand
What this longing's for

I embrace you in sleep
My arm moves with your breathing
Your breath makes my arm rise and fall

For one moment I think of the killing
Still
Frozen

I'm confused by the yearning
I want to have your dreams inside me
I want to strangle your dreams
Inside me

As the light comes through
And the night is turning into day
I want to know I'll die before you
I want to know I'll die before
We aren't lovers anymore

Salvation
Now that I'm with you I'm saved
From all grief
Now that I'm with you I'm saved
From being in parts

Now that I'm with you I'm saved
From hoping for anything else

Now that I'm with you I'm saved
From all other wanting

Babble (2)
I
Can't
Uh
What
I want
What
The
The thing of it is
I
Some
Kind
Some kind of
Something
Won't
Come
Out
The
Way
I
Uh
Nothing
Seems
To
Uh
Fit
The
Expression
That
I
Uh
Um
Want
Won't
Uh
Come

Hoax
Even though you see it's a hoax
We continue as though it isn't
Even though we're duped
We agree to continue

Opening
Sometimes I would want to reach
My arm would start
Something in my arm would start
Sometimes I would almost reach
Something near my neck would move
And then come back

I wanted something on my face to show
Some sign
Unlock my face
Instead I lock my arms

The head would nod
While you spoke
I wasn't sure about the head
Wasn't sure what it was saying
While I listened
Wasn't sure what you saw it saying
Agreeing or denying

I wanted my mouth to move
To carry something across
Some sign
One eye was going with it

Is this the face that shows me

It was a moment I wanted to be strong
Through the chest
It fell
You saw it falling
I went on as though you didn't
I brought it back

I was wanting to be clear through the hands
While the voice kept talking
I held my face together
My mouth on my hand
Then it dropped
My hands held each other

All the time you saw me

My whole body began to shudder
Everything began to shudder
Nothing would hold still

You tried to show me you didn't see me shaking

You took my hand away from me
And everything stopped
From my fingers I returned
You
You
You
You
repeats

(Light fades to black)
-END-

ayu, acting, happy, gym, savage/love, radio, valentines

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