Friday, March 23, 2001
In the middle school today i met an eighth grade girl crying in the bathroom. I couldn't help but ask what was wrong. She'd just found out that her friend's grandmother (and sort of adopted grandmother to her) had died today. Ack! I'm in over my head 15 minutes before our last show of the day is supposed to start. I asked her if she was going home, she said no. I suddenly flash back to myself trying to keep working the day i found out my grandmother died. My boss sent me home at lunch time though, and i'm glad she did. Since i didn't have the authority to send this girl home, i just let her know what i did to grieve that first day. Paint. Now i'm usually a writer not a painter, but throwing color on paper was about the only way i could express myself. The poetry came later. It's how i brought to life all the pieces of her that had touched me. I babbled a bit, tried not to sound too "know-it-all" and somehow even had her giggling a bit through the tears. I figure laughing and crying at the same time while talking to someone is better than hiding in the bathroom crying by yourself if you have to get through two more hours of public life before retreating to the sanctuary of your own private space. I hated to rush off on her, but i had a show to do. She thanked me, but i sensed that she's just scratched the surface of her grief. "oh life, is bigger, is bigger than you and you are not me..." as Stipe would say.
Shows went well today, and we ate some tasty school pizza before the teachers found us to let us know they had a lunch spread. I'm kinda glad i got to eat pizza rather than deli slices though. Their cookies were good though. Six hours later we found ourselved sharing a hotel with a bunch of porshe racing folks with their kids in Winchester, VA. They're pretty quiet now though, it must be bedtime. Tomorrow we do the long haul and drive to Baton Rouge, LA some 16 hours or so of time in the car (ciro's counting, but i'm trying to ignore how long it actually is). Wheeee!~w
wendi's 11:10 PM ravings
It's been a long day. We started with a show at 9:45am at Needham High School, had a break and did a show at 1:00pm at Fuller Middle School, then had another break, dinner with the contact person and finally a show at 7:30pm. The students, staff, and library patrons of Needham were all wonderful to us. They made a long day very enjoyable. I even had a chance to pick up some poetry books from the remainder room (big discounts on new books) at the New England Mobile Book Fair (a must visit for book lovers in the Boston area).
But wait, that's not all, we had to then drive to Connecticut. Fortunately the snow and sleet didn't stick to the roads for the most part, and we weren't the SUV that crashed and caught fire or the other SUV that rear-ended a cop who was helping with the clean-up. Warning to all SUV drivers...just because your bigger doesn't mean that your tires won't slide on a slushy highway. Anyway i caught a bit of a nap in the car, but we only have 6 hours of sleeping time at this gorgeous hotel. Figures, luxury rooms for one of our shortest hotel stays. Ciro actually has a whole separate parlor area. We did a little dance in his room just to feel like he enjoyed it a bit. If you're ever in Trumbull, CT check Roomsaver for a coupon for the Hilton Garden Inn. It's well worth the $59 discount! We find a lot of hotels through Roomsaver. They're not always as nice as this one, but they usually have some really good discounts.
Tomorrow we do middle school shows and then start our drive to Texas. Did i mention i'm really looking forward to spending 7 whole nights in one hotel? The problem is getting there first.~w
wendi's 12:43 AM ravings
Wednesday, March 21, 2001
Fuller Middle School is opening "The Wiz" tomorrow night. The whole school was abuzz with the news. When we walked into the office the entire staff seemed to be wearing T-shirts advertising the show. But that didn't slow us down at all. In fact it seemed to work to our advantage today. The crowning point was when the young lady playing Dorothy thanked us for all we did today. She said the workshop was really helpful to her. That compliment did amazing things for my spirit. It was very reassuring that even though we only cover the "basics" of performance we are still able to provide useful information to students who have some performance experience. We only worked with 8th graders today, who can be sometimes difficult to get excited about anything an adult has to offer, but i felt like we were able to communicate really well today and have some fun in the process.
Speaking of fun, i had Brazilian food for dinner tonight at Cafe Belo in Farmingdale, MA. Oooooh it was yummy! Roast pork, chicken with okra, rice, polenta, greens, squash, passion fruit drink and flan for dessert. Served buffet style and charged by the pound. I like that. Only $4.50/pound and it gets you a lot of food for your money!
Nothing much else is new. The nor-eastern finally started to hit us this evening, but it's all rain so far. I suppose the only worry would be flooding since the rain will probably help to melt the snow still on the ground here that the warmer weather hasn't removed yet. Still, it's better than messing with slushy snow in the morning.~w
wendi's 9:18 PM ravings
Tuesday, March 20, 2001
Okay, i know i decided a while back that i really don't need a Handspring Visor, but i just saw the eBookman and fell in love. I admit it, i'm a tech gizmo geek. Still, it's not something i really need. But in my humble opinion it's cooler and cheaper than a Visor and given the choice, i'd go for the eBookman.
Reality says i should spend the money on an eye exam and new glasses so i can see clearly again. Granted i wear contacts when i leave the house (or hotel room), but i find my eyes are happier when i put glasses on to tinker on the computer, and these are oh, many years old now, older than my contact prescription, old enough that the plasticoat is bubbling and peeling off and hard to see through. Besides i haven't been to an eye doctor since...hmmm when was it? 5 years ago maybe. Speaking of which, i suppose the doctor and dentist should be on my list of things to pay for too. But a chiropractor could probably do me a lot more good than anyone right now. However, without insurance when you add up all their bills for "check-ups" it comes to much more than an eBookman (which is a lot more fun than getting a checkup). Plus with all the travel, it's hard to find someone to see me on short notice. I did try to make an appointment with a dentist when i first moved to Asheville. They couldn't see me until 3 months later though, long after i would have hit the road again. I didn't even try the doctors. Basically unless it's an emergency (which is of course more expensive to take care of) they just don't have time to see me in my schedule. I suppose if i called now i could find a dentist to see me this summer...maybe. Hmm, i wonder if you can find a good dentist or doctor online. Mostly, i figure if i'm taking care of myself i shouldn't need them. If it's not broke don't fix it, right?
Ah, as for today, not as smooth as we would have liked, but no big deal. We just found that the school had a slightly different schedule set up, with different groupings of age groups than we were told we'd be performing for today. We're flexible, so it worked out and we ended up done earlier anyway. That turned out to be really beneficial for getting out of NYC and up to Boston before rush hour hit. Whew! The drive was beautiful, spring is definitely in the air! Oh, yeah that's right, it official begins today. Unless, of course you happened to be in Asheville. Our office was closed today due to 5-10 inches of snow. I won't see it until May though when spring should be in full swing.~w
wendi's 10:41 PM ravings
Monday, March 19, 2001
A strange little connection happened today. Yesterday we went to the laundromat to do laundry after finding the middle school where we would perform where we met a young man who complimented my necklace and then proceeded to entertain himself (and us) by singing while his mom did laundry. Well today as students were filing into the gym for our afternoon show at an elementary school this bright eyed little face caught my eye and he started waving at me. Well, i wandered over his way and said "Hey, didn't i meet you yesterday?" and whaddya know...it was him! He helped us out during the show by playing a crocodile that bites off ciro's head. Later we found out that he was the showman of the school who'd played Frosty the Snowman in their winter musical. It reminded us that it's truely a small world after all. I have a feeling that in 10 to 20 years everyone will recognize his face as the hot new star on the scene. I must say his joy was infectious!
Today went smoothly, hurrah! And the scheduling seems to be going well for the days to come. Hopefully we'll continue on an easier path this week. Of course, we have a drive through NYC rush hour tomorrow to get to Boston after we finish our shows on Long Island. Ah well, such is the life of touring poets.~w
wendi's 11:02 PM ravings
Sunday, March 18, 2001
I had a dream last night that i was sleeping in a mobile home and some guy came and towed it away in the middle of the night. In the dream i woke up and was screaming out the back window for somebody to stop him, but nobody came to help. He finally stopped at his place where he planned to swap the section of mobile home he had taken for a piece of his mother's because he thought the one i was sleeping in was bigger. He had no idea i was sleeping in the one he took and was embarrassed to discover that it was the same size at the one he intended to swap. I don't know what he did next because my back and head woke me up with their aching (they are much better now due to lots of fluids and stretching). I don't know if the dream was more about my fear of waking up and not knowing where i am, or going to extreme lengths to change something of material value only to discover that there is nothing to be gained by the exchange. Maybe both.
We're on Long Island again now for a couple of days (although in different hotels). I'm looking forward to next week when we'll actually be in a hotel for a whole week again. I'm not looking forward to the 30 hour drive to Texas from Connecticut though. Perhaps that's what i need to kick my imagination into gear again. I'm feeling rather empty headed right now. Or maybe sponge-like, just absorbing everything, but not really able to process anything right now. Maybe that's what the crazy dream was about last night...processing.~w
wendi's 11:19 PM ravings
Ack, I'm late i know. I got back to the hotel in time to crawl into bed exhausted last night. After puttering around the hotel room yesterday (and not even doing my laundry) ciro and i drove down into the city to meet up with my friend Andy. It was a fun evening of sushi at Jeollado, conversation and the wacky song stylings of Gilligan Stump and Tha Perfesser. Oh, and a coupla drinks for St. Paddy's day, just because. Only problem was that my back started bugging me and by the time we got back to the hotel i had a splitting headache.
I shocked ciro by showing up downstairs this morning for breakfast. He shouldn't have been surprised though. I'm not usually a breakfast eater, but it's hard to resist free biscuits and gravy. Ciro kept raving about the breakfast and said it lasted until 10am, so i figured i could make myself presentable enough to go down and check it out. It was pretty darn good. It's not that i dislike breakfast food, i just am not usually hungry until i've been up and mobile for several hours. I know, i know, breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day, but for me it's usually lunch or lunner (that late afternoonish kinda meal) when i've worked up a real appetite.
Well, i should go pack up to move to the next hotel.~w
wendi's 10:20 AM ravings
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