Happy Halloween

I would like to wear this mask for halloween but I don't think its sold in any stores.


Creepy, right?

Nobody here but me and my...masochistic compulsion...

I recently read a short essay which mentioned Dr. Edmund Bergler, who basically says that writers write because of “psychic masochism”. He also coined the phrase “writer’s block”. So, according to him, we're either all crazy or we're completely repressed.

Thanks, doc. You're a big help.

(Psst, that was sarcasm, by the way...)

Although, I do have to say...sometimes the act of writing can feel manic or masochistic. But I don't think that means that writers are crazy. Okay, some writers are crazy.

But some normal people, or maybe just the ones who ride the bus here, are crazy, too.

At any rate, for me, writing is usually compulsive.

For instance, although I told myself to take a break for the month of October, I sort of cheated. For one, you may have noticed a couple of blog entries. Okay, that’s not a big deal. No diatribes. Nothing of serious content, but still. I could’ve left it alone, right?

Also, during my break, I wrote two songs. One of them was a blues song for a co-worker who is leaving the department. The other is a song for Lisa (I write a song for her every year for her birthday—I’m a little early this time around).

I’ve also started jamming out ideas for the Holiday Play. Yes, our department does its own sketches and whatnot—I’m now like the “creative consultant” on the project, which means I’m not quite head writer but not quite a peon, either.

And I have to write my Dramatists Guild report for the region for The Dramatist magazine. That’s due in…oh, a day…

For some people, writing is “fun”. I don’t know them or maybe I don’t want to hang out with them. Writing is not like flying a kite or going to Disneyland. It can be rewarding, joyous, and sometimes exciting, but it’s not “fun”. It’s like describing running a marathon as “fun”. Too much hard work and concentration goes into it to be “fun”.

Writing is hard work but it’s also a painful necessity. It’s an urgent need to express emotions, thoughts, and connect to another human being.

It’s hard to turn that off.

Mamet + Dogs = Funny

I was in a very good mood yesterday after sitting through the rehearsal of DOG PARK (which by the way debuts next Friday, Nov. 2nd, so go ahead and get your tickets now at brownpaper tickets. Okay, enough of the plug...).

The director has done a lot of lovely work and the three actors are just brilliant and @#king funny!

And that's all for now.

I have to go call my mom soon--it's her birthday! Happy Bday mom!

What the… ?!?

It’s been cloudy and/or rainy for over two weeks.

Two days ago it hailed.

Today its 70 degrees and sunny.

But don’t worry.

Forecast for tomorrow

Is rain.

And then rain the next day, etc., etc…

Days like this just make me think that any sunny day in Seattle outta be a forced holiday. Businesses should close. Schools should shut down. Everyone should be forced to picnic in the park or go boating or hiking or have a cocktail on the front porch.

Something.

(By the way, any academics or Lit majors want to guess why this particular monkey photo?)

THE RITZ OPENS!

Terry, my friend (and former best man) is in this little show on Broadway and it opened last night!

Congratulations to him and to the cast!

You can read about it here.

Judging by the picture--that's him in the towel-- and seeing as he also did the show Take Me Out, I now have to ask him if it’s in his contract to be slightly naked for all his acting roles.

To see a picture of him taking his Broadway bow, go here…I got a little weepy with pride seeing it m’self.

You rock Terry!

Feelin' a lil' bit Irish today

The indie movie ONCE looks pretty inspiring...Made in Dublin, it's a musical about love and music, or is it music about love? Here's a clip of a live performance...

If you listen to this song while looking out the window at a rainy sky you will become a deep thinker.

Try it.

Actually, I really just wanted to see if I could put video on this blog.

I feel like after that accomplishment I should call it a day.



For the trailer of ONCE, go here.

Darkness Approaches

There is a new movie coming out called 30 Days of Night.

At first I thought it was about January in Seattle, but no, it’s about Vampires in Alaska. I guess there are worse places to live, especially if you’re not keen on those vicious blood-suckers.

I thought of this because this morning at 6:30 am I walked the dog in pitch black darkness. I started to remember last Spring when Lisa and I were looking at the calendar at when the sunrise would be back to 8:30 am or 7:30 am or even 7:00 am.

Hint: it’s a really, really long time.

After surviving the first winter in Seattle last year, I can now sympathize with those astronauts who orbited the moon, huddled in their little space capsule as they creeped over to the dark side, waiting to emerge to see the sun again and make contact with Houston.

Because it’s not that it rains so much here—in fact it doesn’t really “rain” at all here, which I’ll explain in a moment. It’s really the fact that it gets so dark in the winter. Going to work at 9 am in darkness and then leaving work at 5:00 pm in darkness really starts to get to you after doing it for weeks and weeks.

And during the day its mostly cloud cover, so it’s perpetually gray outside. All day long.

It’s a wonder so many people jump off the Aurora Bridge—look it up, its second in suicides only to the Golden Gate.

This is why I need to get one of those special sun lamps. Or take some “happy pills”.

As for the weather…

For those of you who don’t live in Seattle but would like to experience a typical day, please try this fun exercise.

Get a spray bottle.

Fill it with water.

Set the spray to “mist”.

Spray it above your head.

Repeat.

That’s what the weather is like today. It will be like that until December or so. Then it might snow. Then it will actually rain, the kind of rain that is recognizable as actual raindrops falling from the sky in force. Then it will go back to this mist. Then, sometime in May perhaps, we will see the sunshine again, peeking through the clouds.

On another note—I used to worry about my hair getting messy and looking all scruffy but not anymore. Now I just remember…I’m in Seattle. Everyone here has scraggly hair. Most men just tie it up in a scraggly pony tail and call it good. It matches their scraggly beards.

And I think to myself...somewhere in the world people actually care what they look like when they leave the house…

And there’s sunshine, even in the winter months.

I’d like to live in that place again some day.

Okay, so I know this blog has become a personal tirade and has steered off course from the original intent of musings on, well, the muse, so in the future I aim to stay away from the random diary entries about my mundane daily existence.

But the next few weeks I’m taking a break from all writing. It’s not that I’m blocked or giving up, just need a vacation to rest the mind. Also, I’m extremely busy at work and its sucking all my energy. On top of that, I’m organizing the Drama Guild Regional Meeting.

So I’ll see you in a few weeks.