The Dailt {W}Rite April 24, 2o16 WK o4

Sunday, April 24, 2o16

Last Friday, Michael dragged me and David to Waiting for Godot at the Lab Theatre on campus. Honestly, I wasn't all that interested in going. Really didn't want to "run into" a few people. Worry was for naught. I ran into them anyway. It wasn't really bad to see them. They were pleasant enough. Did give me a compliment or two on a show I directed when an adjunct at the School of Drama. Anyway, the show was . . . just wonderful. Production was right on, on all counts. The directing, the acting . . . I've directed this show while at New Mexico Highland University and, as I said

above, directed another Beckett play, Endgame, while at OU and nothing I've done with a Beckett script, whether directing or acting, has even come close to the perfection I saw last Friday night with this group of undergraduate actors. So, since my "depression" over being belittled by ex-friends was waylaid by smiling faces and compliments, I'm happy to report that this excellent rendition of Beckett's masterpiece really did drive my mental health to a bleak and private hell. Yes, these actors, this director put me to shame! Nothing I've ever done in theatre matches up to even one moment in this production! Damn, it was good. So, I wallowed around in self-pity for the night, going on about how terrible I am and was when it comes to theatre. I wasted a whole life dedicated to an art form that four young actors totally destroyed with one wonderful performance last Friday night. {not smile}

But that was Friday night. Now, of course, I have things back into a perspective that is more conducive to me getting a good nights sleep. It did wake me up a bit, this show did. There are still things for me to learn about art. And I plan to do just that. Maybe see if I can pick up an acting class, get back to the basics. But cost of classes may hold me up a bit. Well, I figure something out. {back to smiles}

Tuesday, April 26, 2o16
All day long the newscasters, the weather people were going on and on about the "dangerous" storm that was headed our way! And it did arrive not at 3 p.m. as promised but it did arrive a few hours past that and it rained, rained hard! And then it was gone. Sort of disappointing considering how worried all my friends were for me. "Do you have a plan incase a tornado touches down?" "Make sure your windows are closed, and if it hails!" I noticed the neighbor had covered his car with a heavy, fluffy blue tarp. I suppose it was there to stop hail damage to his hood, the roof of his brand new car. And that disturbed me a bit. I was wondering why I hadn't thought of getting a tarpaulin sheet to protect my bicycle from "dangerous" weather . . . but then realized I always park my bike inside the house. Anyway, a lot of fuss, a lot of worry  . . . for no reason. Okay, Maybe somewhere in Oklahoma there was some scary weather . . . but not here in sweet Norman-town. It got wet, for sure, but didn't amount to much more than a flash or two of lightning and some extra water for the almost dried up Duck Pond.

Wednesday, April 27, 2o16
The sky is blue. I read an article today that said that the color blue is a relatively new description for the sky. No kidding. Supposedly, that the sky is recognized as being blue only started about 4,000 years ago! What color was it? Well, it wasn't a color. This weird hypothesis is based on the fact that all the writings up until that time never mentioned the color of the sky. So, they believe that the sky wasn't blue until someone said that it was. Mind blowing? Yeah. Hard to believe that the color didn't exist until someone named it. How did they do that? Hell I don't know. All I know is I'm glad that they discovered the color blue when they did so I can sing the blues and not the greens or plaids or some other despicable color arrangement.

Another thing crossed my mind today, "The Why" of things. There's a frivolous debate going on, on the Dancing With The Stars page I visit. There's a Celeb dancer on there named Nyle who started a little controversy by saying that he didn't think any of the other Celebs were  his competition, the only competition he has is one of the Pros, Val. Well, this caused a firestorm! Some fans started posting hate comments saying stuff like Nyle is "an arrogant . . . Blah, blah, blah! He should be disqualified and kicked off the show!" And of course those who like Nyle fired back saying stuff like, "He was only kidding! He's a deaf guy and his interpreter translated what he said badly." Oh, yeah! Nyle is deaf . . .and on a dance show! AND he's pretty damn good! Anyway, the battle lines were drawn and the fighting went back and forth until one of the site's mangers told everybody to stop . . . which they didn't. So? What the hell does this have to do with "The Why" of things? I don't find what the people are saying about Nyle very interesting. I mean, it's all clichés. What is interesting is "The Why." Why do people defend or brutalize a person who's a contestant on a damn TV show? And again there are plenty of cliché reasons why people do things like that. But I think that people react the way they do for more personal reasons, reasons that are specific to themselves and the experiences they've had in life. Hmmm, just something to think about.

Thursday, April 28, 2o16

Finally, I got David out of bed before noon . . . or after! Totally honest, we both were feeling the lull of our late night philandering on Facebook. But we DID get up and out before noon and that's a start. Hopefully we'll build on it. Who knows. We may be able to get out of our hovels BEFORE 10 a.m.!

There's a carnival of memories twirling around in my mind tonight. Each popping up into my consciousness for a moment or two then slowly slipping back into the muddy bog where 68 years of "life lived" sleeps. Very few or them are good memories. I wonder why that is with me? I tend to remember the bad experiences and can barely recall the good things, the pleasant, loving moments. Surely after 68 years you'd think there'd be at least two or maybe three "fond memories." But they don't come out by their own accord. I always have to dig them out of my memory basement. Can't toss the bad memories away, though. You know how it is with things! You just don't have the heart or the desire to throw them out even if they appear to be of no use to you anymore.

Friday, April 29, 2o16

Sirens went off around four or so. I looked out the window and already cars were lining up on Trout Avenue trying to get into the Energy Center parking lot. A stream of people were scurrying down the sidewalk. Like the occupants of the cars, they were hurrying to the tornado shelter in the lower depths of the Energy Center.

"I don't care what happens to these people, I just hope my lab survives." The taller science geek said with a girlish giggle. He's friend, another science dick, joined in. They were frustrated, I'm guessing, with all the people in "their" building. And to make a stormy day even worse, these "refugees" brought their pets with them. Most of the dogs, German Shepherds, Labradors, and a mixture of big, silly looking mutts were having a fit. Lots of dog whining going on. I'm guessing that the

combination of being underground, around a bunch of strange people (and strange dogs) made the domestic beasts a little worried. The funniest thing was that it was mostly bigs dog causing a fuss. One couple had their Chihuahua stuffed inside a backpack, he/she was calm and cool taking it all with somber look and a shrug of its shoulders.

About five-thirty, it was over for Norman-town. Lots of rain and hail but no tornadoes. Slowly, the people started to leave the shelter. I waited long enough for the rain to drop to a drizzle so I wouldn't get my camera wet. Oklahoma takes its weather seriously. Me? Well, I could have stayed home . . . but why take chances. Besides, the shelter is just across the street and I do like to watch people. If I hadn't have gone I never would have heard the bad joke by the science geek.

Saturday, April 3o, 2o16

The last day of the month. "The Last Day." It makes me sad somehow, the ending of the month. Not sure why. Maybe it's because I feel like I haven't done enough with my art. Damn, a whole month's gone by and I've hardly created anything! AND what little I have created . . . well, it was just so hard to get anything done! And it seems to be getting harder every single day!

But the good news about this end of the month is that the NEXT month, May, is my birthday month! What?! You take the whole month to celebrate your birthday?! Hell, yeah I do! And if I thought I could get away with it I'd make every month in the year, every day in the month my B-day! {smiles}

So, since May is my B-day month, I plan to write EVEN MORE than I have in the last month. But I never know how much I'll honor my own word. Well, see you next month!