Saturday, March 31, 2001
They say time flys when you're having fun. I suppose that's the only way i can explain how this week seemed to fly by. Our last three shows went relatively smoothly despite the fact that there were some small glitches. The most disappointing thing was that the girl playing Casey for Casey at the Bat bolted at the bell even though the majority of the audience was going to remain seated to watch the rest of the poem. We just got crunched for time at the end of the day on Friday, and i guess there were more interesting things for a 6th grader to do than finish playing with us. It has been such a great week that this was a real down note for us at the end. Mercedes treated us to lunch today though and sent us away with arm-loads of neato things including blue soda because she was blue to see us go. I wish i had at least a gold star to give her for being such a marvelous host this week.
Now, it's the weekend and i plan to rest. Today i got my first good dose of humidity for the year and i feel sapped. My batteries need recharging before i go forging ahead into the next week of schools. Even the energizer bunny runs out eventually.
I swear this morning that big yellow ball of fire was reflecting light off all the little water particles hanging in the air. It was a strange scene of diffused brilliance. It left me dazzled and i think that's the best way to describe how i feel now (or maybe i'm just dazed and confused).~w
wendi's 1:08 AM ravings
Friday, March 30, 2001
Blogger was down last night when i tried to post. So, this is what i would have posted last night if i could have.
What do you do when nothing is ready for you when you arrive for a performance? Take charge of course. Mercedes led us through a rocky afternoon helping to make sure the kids got the most poetry for their buck (so to speak, the kids actually don't pay for the performance). Twice this afternoon that meant moving cafeteria tables and setting up 200-300 chairs for students to be able to hear the show in less than ideal acoustic circumstances. I can be loud, but there's a limit to what my voice can handle for a whole show. The shows ended up short because the students arrived late, but somehow ciro and i managed (with help from Mercedes) to put on wiz bang shows for them anyway. I felt like i'd run a marathon when it was all done though. Ah, how nice to have a hotel to go home to where i could take a shower and relax.
I feel a bit lazy, like i should be getting more done in my "free" time, but all i can do is rest. I think i've been seriously lacking quality sleep time the past few months. Maybe next week i'll actually manage to get some extra work done.~w
wendi's 2:17 PM ravings
Wednesday, March 28, 2001
Highlights for the day include: a middle school girl sharing a poem she wrote called "Don't Blow in my Ear" with us; the overwhelming applause ciro got for doing Luis Roderiguez's "The Calling" at M.R. Wood (a school where student's are sent when principals in the district have run out of disciplinary options); and the new mics at First Colony Middle School that actually worked and saved my voice in an acoustical nightmare of a space. Then to top it off Ms. Bonner, the ringleader for our performances in this district, took us out to a lovely dinner. I think everyone needs a cheerleader in their life like her. She just makes us feel so wonderful for being who we are and doing what we do.
PBS here is Houston is showing La Bohème live from the NYC opera house tonight. I'm just catching act 4. As long as i don't read the translations it's quite lovely. I only hope the words aren't as trite in Italian as they are in English. The music is too gorgeous for such silly words when someone is dying.
I'm exhausted after pouring all my energy into the shows today. They were all a lot of fun, but now i'm completely drained. I guess that's the sign of a good day's work.~w
wendi's 11:04 PM ravings
Tuesday, March 27, 2001
Today went much better. I had a lot of fun doing the shows today. The students at Willowridge High were a riot. Even though the show was cut a bit short due to time constraints i think it was the most fun i've had performing in quite some time. We had one heckler, but the rest of the audience was quick to shut him up every time he opened his mouth. When we got to the reprise at the end of Jabberwocky (which ciro sings calypso style) the entire audience joined in clapping and drumming to the rhythm on the desks. By the time we were done i could do nothing more than come back to my room and nap on the couch (ah, so nice to have a couch, and one big enough to stretch out and nap on to boot). A rather fitting thing to do on a thunderstormy afternoon. Then for dinner we made a trip to our favorite sushi restaurant in Houston, Miyako, because our boss said he was buying everybody dinner this week. Mmm, mmmm good. Sushi make my mouth and tummy both dance for joy. We had the Miyako "special" roll that has spicy tuna inside and salmon and avocado on the outside, as well as the evening special that included tuna, anago, squid, and two rolls full of yummy tasty fishes. The texture and flavor is like a party in my mouth. Not to mention the fact that wasabi is zestier than taco bell could ever hope to be.
What a difference a day makes (hmm, that's from a song isn't it...) in my mood. I guess the goal of having fun was a good one. I'll keep it for tomorrow...~w
wendi's 11:31 PM ravings
Somedays i try so hard i just foul everything up. A classic over-achiever blunder. I wanted so much for today's shows to be perfect that i couldn't do anything right and kept getting more and more frustrated at all the little things going wrong. Could the audience tell i was making mistakes? Probably not, but they could probably feel the frustration i was radiating by the end of our third show. I was envisioning myself trapped in a chasm between mountains of mistakes that in reality were mere mole hills. Mercedes Bonner is a gem of a person to work for as a performer. She makes you want to do your best. She's just one of those people that inspires hard work. I guess why she was named teacher of the year for the state of Texas a few years back. We have a whole week of shows that she's booked for us and two more weeks probably thanks to her talking us up. This is the third time we've been to her district and i wish it just got better and better. I get so excited though that i've lost my perspective though. I felt awful at the end of today. So, what do i do? I start tearing ciro apart...not a good idea. You see, he also wants to impress Mercedes and between the two of us we're a mess. So, i took a break and went to the mall. My excuse was that i needed to mail something and i've been checking out prices on getting new glasses. Many hours later after food and time to think and looking at the world through brand new lenses i think i can see clearer now. Tomorrow i plan to have fun. That's what this is suppose to be about after all. I'm suppose to share my joy of performing and love of poetry with students to get them excited about it. I can only do that if i'm having fun and relishing in the time i have with them on stage. So, relax, breathe and start over tomorrow (it's a brand new day after all) with the goal of having fun, not trying to be perfect. I can't be perfect, because i'm not. I can have fun though, and am usually pretty good at it.
By the way, Lenscrafters gives a 30% discount to AAA members and has a much friendlier and helpful staff than any i encountered in my grumpy mood today. Even with my blind as a bat prescription (though it seems to have stablized, and apparently i'm a good candidate for lasik surgery if i ever get the money) they lived up to their promise of "quality lenses in about an hour." Ah, it's nice to be able to see clearly again.~w
wendi's 12:41 AM ravings
Sunday, March 25, 2001
Texas at last. I'm all settled in with clean clothes and a full belly from the Happy Panda buffet. Tomorrow we go shopping for groceries cuz we actually have kitchens in our rooms. Whoo hoo! It's almost like home. Only problem is that we start at 6:50am tomorrow. Yikes!
My Dad and step-mom just started their first real road trip in their new RV and complained that California roads are the worst. Hmm, i hate to tell them that Louisiana highways could rattle apart an RV worse than those in California anyday. And then there's cities like St. Louis and New York who's pot-holed roads with narrow lanes are some of the most hazardous we've had to navigate. Oh well, i guess California is a good dose of bad roads for them to start with for now.
Hmm, other than that...uhmmm. I'll have to let you know once i've had some sleep. I think i had another dream last night, but it has faded. I had Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (or however you spell it) stuck in my head today, but i washed it out with some other lyrics that i enjoy. I guess i'm feeling a bit childish and silly. I suppose i could just be giddy to finally be out of the car.~w
wendi's 11:59 PM ravings
I spent 16 hours in the car today, but we made it safely to Baton Rouge, LA. Strangely enough that is the last entry point for Big Poppa E's LiveJournal (BPE is a slam poet ciro and i met in Chico, CA who now lives in Seattle when he's not running around the country performing his poetry at slams and other poetry venues. You might find his journal a little more, um, racey than mine).
Anyway, let's see today i finished reading Akenaten out loud to ciro. Ciro started reading some of Hannibal to me (that's right, i actually drove for several hours of this trip). We listened to music and sang along when we knew the words. We got a phone call from Roger who wanted to tell us about his wild night with his new show opening and a gig for his band and reggae dancing to settle him down afterwards. We watched the seasons changed before our eyes as we went from the dead trees and grass of winter into the green grass blooming and leaf sprouting of spring. We ate bad fast food lunch at McD's. We found dinner in Laurel at Hardee's. Didn't think much about the relation between the name of the town and the name of the restaurant until it was already done, but then it seemed highly amusing to two people stuck in a car for too many hours.
Other than that...i slept on and off, and tried to recall a dream from last night that involved Chuck Harper (who i haven't seen since i visited Chicago in 1993) and Ted Vaca (who i haven't seen since ciro and i performed at his slam in Denver in 1999). Chuck was in Summer Stock with me at WWU in 1992 and Ted used to live in Seattle for a bit and was a regular at the slam during that time. As far as i know they've never met, but in my dream they were sitting together at a coffee shop when i joined them. I can't remember what we talked about except the fact that it's been 2 years since i've been kissed (i think) and we had to go wake up some friends by knocking on a door next to a window with a big splotch of blue paint on it. I think we were going to go bowling. I got in the car with Chuck, but sat in the back seat for some reason...perhaps i thought Ted was coming with us, but he had disappeared. I suppose the dream itself wasn't very interesting. I just thought it was weird that my brain dredged up two old friends who i haven't seen or heard from in a long time.
I kept meaning to pull out pen and paper and do some writing in the car, but for some reason i never did. Avoiding it? Maybe. Afraid i wouldn't think of anything worth putting down? Probably. I want to write something precise and beautiful. I just haven't had the patience to order my thoughts that well. They keep spilling out in random patches running from one topic to the next in no particular order.
Tomorrow we drive to Houston, and then i get to settle into "home" in a hotel room for 7 whole nights. whoo hoo!! ~w
wendi's 3:19 AM ravings
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