In the House of Crumbles

In the house of crumbles, I tapped at my computer. All the gilt had peeled off the walls, leaving the frescoes looking guilty at their naked partners across the room. Not that I noticed, engaged as I was in this ancient piece of machinery. I barely noticed when a sheet of plaster dropped from the ceiling and shattered on the floor mere inches from my shoulder. I tapped. And tapped. Eventually the lights went out. Eventually a pipe burst. Eventually the water slowed, dried and the pipe rotted away. When my chair collapsed, I sat on the floor. When the floor caved in, I held the monitor tightly and tapped, tapped, tapped. Eventually, the vines came. Then the bugs. Then the beasts. The house of crumbles was neither house nor crumbled. And still, I sat and tapped. When my computer was nothing but dust, I looked up at the heavens and read the stars. I’m there still, if you can find me. Staring and reading about you.

 

A momentary break

Yesterday I surfaced in what felt like the first time in months. 

Gasping for air, I floated on the surface of my life and breathed. I can't tell you how long I'd been under there, and I refuse to look, because I can see them, still swimming dangerously close to where I am.

The swim is not over. Hell, the adventure hasn't really begun.

But, so far, I have survived. That is no small feat.

I awoke feeling the sun on my face for the first time in what felt like ages. The water is cold, but I appreciate the light. It makes me lazy this morning and I hurry through the day to make up for my lost time. 

Around noon, I take a deep breath. It's time to return to below the waves, in the home of these dangerous fish. If I can make it to the boat before the fish eat me, my adventure will be well and truly off. 

I submerge myself and know no more.

Owen, Sound Off.

Like the Maple Leaf's season, my two adventure week is complete.

Some highlights of my second adventure.. in Owen Sound Ontario.

I became the resident expert of the town, as I was the only one who had ever been there. This was a useful fact once my fellows started to realize that i knew what I was talking about, but unfortunately came to late in the adventure to truly be useful.

Owen Sound-abouts are obsessed with solar panels! I suspect they have an effective salesman in the parts.

In the wide world of westerns, which western is the best? This hamlet's Best Western is probably the best.

The weather in Toronto during these days was 12-18 Celsius. Owen sound was between 4-13... Did not pack warmly enough.

Fish men fight salmon on the waters. The season opened over the weekend. Boats are loud.

Hockey is like the national sport of the city. They even had their own team. On Saturday, we watched them on tv in Erie, PA. on Sunday, we spotted the Erie, PA team in our hotel... the Kids had dyed their hair blond.

There's a lot of young adults living in Owen Sound. The average age of everybody we interacted with was about 25. This is baffling because there doesn't seem to be any major university in the area. Young people means that this is not a crappy place to live.

The city is charming. It reminded me of Cedar Falls, if Cedar Falls was on the bank of one of the great lakes.

So this adventure was by and large less adventurous than the previous. This is because we mostly moved in crew fashion, and that I'm not allowed to speak online about the reason I was in the area.

In two days, there will be a day trip to my favorite little Ontario Town, St. Catherines. perhaps we can have better stories then.

Until then... I have a show to make!

On the Road Again

Adventure #2 is upon me!

While things are happening, I found myself reflecting… in the past five years, I have visited every major city in Canada excluding Halifax… and visited all the provinces except the Arctic - Hold on. I totally forgot about the Maritimes. Never mind about the provinces. Still… In a short amount of time, I’ve seen a lot of this huge country.

Why? Theatre.

Me, my wife and my car have traveled up and down these Canadian roads (I’d like to say Canadian tires but they’re still American) performing here, exploring there. We’ll do a show in Morinville, AB, a Stilting Workshop in Owen Sound, ON and take part of a dance residency in Fredericton, NB.  Yes, we spend 75% of our life in the city of Toronto… but that other 25%? That’s all art.

Actually, this year is looking to be roughly 40% outside Toronto. Most of it is due to the summer Theatre Festivals. Giant fair-like affairs where we peddle our wares… and by that I mean convince people to pay to watch us dance. How well does it pay? Really, it all depends on how good you are at convincing people. Last summer, we did well enough to equal what we would have made if we stayed in Toronto. Fingers crossed for this year.

What I find most interesting about going places in Canada is that you start to meet and understand what It is to be Canadian. What does that mean? Well it’s complicated. I might try to blog about it later, but suffice it to say that the better you are able to appeal to the local culture, the better you are able to convince those same people to watch you dance… so because of art, I’m understanding the places I find myself.

Take-aways are coming soon… I’m sorry if this one got a bit self congratulatory.

Highlights from the Highlands

Hi Friends, It’s adventure week for me!

Up first an early-morning flight to Edmonton, to perform a problematic puppet show. Here are some highlights:

Westjet is amazing. They’re an airline that actually seems to care about its customer service. In the wake of the United fiasco, it’s even more refreshing. Also, free snacks. If you like gingersnaps at all, request the cookies.

Edmonton’s airport is leagues above most I’ve flown through. Plush seating, lots of dining options and plenty of non-beige color let me enjoy visiting it.

Rental cars will accept temporary driver’s licences! Hooray!

Stopping by a circus gym to see old friends. Had I been wiser, I would have researched and joined their daytime open gym. As it was, the look on their faces was more than worth it. Can’t wait to see them again this summer!

The quest for pants: due to Adventure #2 (starting today) I need black pants. I spent most of the afternoon and evening searching for a pair. Side quests are what makes adventures worth wile, and usually provide all the nostalgic stories, later. This quest resulted in not only a pair of good adventure slacks, but also a cheap pair of clown pants. Long-legged skinny jeans with a dropped crotch pulled up high enough so the crotch is no longer dropped? Comedy gold. (also a clearance item)

Visiting a local landmark, in this case the West Edmonton Mall. The West Edmonton Edmonton Mall. In the central ice arena, children were taking Ice skating lessons. Ain’t nothing cuter than an cluster of clumsy kiddies on ice.

Hockey. After 11 years, Edmonton is finally back in the NHL playoffs. The city was bananas for their team. Signs of the “Orange Crush” were everywhere. As there was a game that night, I sat in my hotel room and turned it on. Bad Idea. Over the course of this adventure I witnessed Nine goals scored against any hockey team I was rooting for, and 2 scored for. Please note that this time period only resulting in watching about 4 periods of hockey. Sorry Edmonton and Toronto. I promise, like the cubbies in the World series last fall, I will actively not watch so that you might win. I’d really like a Canadian Stanley cup this year. *Update* RIP Calgary.

Dining. Do you ever know when you’ve entered a restaurant and made a terrible mistake? Such was the case during this trip. I idly wondered if the meal would make me sick when i realized that I was the only one in the place with a half hour to close. It totally did! Woo! Adventure!

I don’t yet have the liberty to discuss the problematic nature of the puppet show. Le’t just say that it hasn’t aged well, and choices are made to emphasize this. Due to this, I also am reluctant to say where I performed… except to say that it was awesome. The space itself was amazing, and the people who ran the venue were top-notch. We bonded immediately. The show? The show was great. The kids reacted viscerally to every piece, laughing at the funny parts and losing their minds at the creepy bits. I actually wrapped up one section early because I could hear a child weeping in the audience. When It was question time, the children asked really in depth questions. I love it when it happens.!

Finally, I found out the difference between an Airport Limo and an Airport Taxi is $10. Service was equally good. Cars were no different. Travel times were equal. So now you know.

Alright friends and neighbors. Adventure #2 begins in 2 hours. I gotta go pack!

Until then…. Keep your stick on the ice.

Sympathy for the Cactus

Have you ever fought a cactus?

They’re easy things to hate, all prickly spines and weird green flesh. They’ll sting you hard, but only if you’re dumb enough to let it.

It’s not the cacti’s fault. The outside world is scary to is, and it values its flesh. So, spines. If you understand the cacti’s view of the world, you probably won’t get stung, and you’ll probably love it a little more. You’ll appreciate how hardy it is, how little water it consumes, you’ll even find it beautiful, in its harsh green light.

Problem is, eventually the cactus will want a hug. It will want a hug, but will immediately suspect that any person willing to hug is, is probably planning on eating it.  Hugs almost always lead to pain.

In an eat or be eaten world, it’s hard to be a cactus.

In a world where vulnerability is a valued trait, it’s even harder to be a cactus.

Hello.

This is the end of a time, but it also the beginning.

The world did not end yesterday.

Or it did, to some. Not me, but some.

I can not promise that I will write more, because life has shown that I might not.

But I’m feeling like i’m in fertile soil for this writing practice.

I don’t know if the flower has pushed the soil, but it’s growing.

Find me on the other side?

See you there.