The Twisted Gypsy

Within minutes of throwing our things in the hotel room, we were off to consume schnitzel number one: 

How many more schnitzels will be eaten in this 48 hour trip to Prague is yet to be seen.

I am headed back to the Land of Oz in a week and a half.  The candy covered dreams of Target, my iPhone, real Mexican food and the people I am missing in the pit of my stomach, have begun. However, in the waking hours, I am soaking up the last days of the Swedish transition into fall and thinking about how kind it is of nature to provide such a clear transition for us to follow.  

Tomorrow morning, we are headed to Prague for a few days for a recording project. I am mostly tagging along to bum around the city and sit in weird Czech bars with my computer in tow and possibly drum up some inspired verbiage for some grants that I am writing, or perhaps open up old documents that are titled “ideas” and go from there.  An adventure is an adventure, whatever comes of it.

Here begins a new series on my blog.  It is silly that the songs in the shows we are working on are not being shared with the world.  So, now I start sharing them.  This song “I Love My Job“ is from Let There Be Balloons, the show that we wrote with the professional company last May. Luke, sort of bored, sort of content in his normal everyday life at the unemployment office, gives us an idea of his current state of mind…of course, right before it is to be blown to pieces.  Here you have it (a computer recorded demo):

I love my job

This article struck such a weird chord inside of me.  I find it appalling, that as a culture, these men have agreed that it is okay to act like heathens.  It is hard to banish the thought that perhaps they are a little less evolved. Thank goodness for progressive action of the government.

Click Here To View Article

The look on the man’s face, in the photo, outside of the train window pretty much sums it up.

I met this dude at a Thespian conference last April. Doesn’t he just stink of someone you would meet at a Thespian conference?

This is just so cool:

I can’t help but having felt slightly disheartened by all the 9/11 talk.  Wait. Wait. Wait…before you judge, just wait.  My point is saying that is this is, yes, this was a tragedy that happened to our country, but more importantly, it happened to specific families in our country that suffered great loss.  It happened to the people of NYC who lived through it, experienced it, who breathed in that foul air and felt the devastation around them for days, weeks, months and still.  It happened to the people and the families that have been ‘fighting for our freedom.’ It happened because of judgment calls, because of disagreements, because of intolerance, because of small-mindedness, because of misunderstandings, because of ignorance, because of…the list goes on and on.  I guess my point is that, well, just looking at Facebook yesterday, I felt a little sick.  I felt sick that people took it upon themselves to make 9/11 into some super personal journey where they were so effected and so distraught that they had to share it with the world, their personal story about where they were, what they were doing, how they felt.  Yes.  Everyone was somewhere.  Everyone remembers.  No one will forget unless you are a completely insensitive moron with your head in hole or with a big black piece of coal for a heart. We get it.  I get it.  Everyone gets it.  It was terrible.  It was awful.  We never want it to happen again.  Understood.  So now what?  What?  Now revenge?  For real?  Is that what we want?  Is that what we teach our children?  Is that the world you want to live in?  One where we simply seek revenge?  Oh my.  It makes my heart beat faster just thinking about it.

Have you heard the song by Darryl Worley?  Here are some of the lyrics:
—————–

I hear people sayin’. We Don’t need this war.
I say there’s some things worth fightin’ for.
What about our freedom, and this piece of ground?
We didn’t get to keep ‘em by backin’ down.
They say we don’t realize the mess we’re gettin’ in
Before you start preachin’ let me ask you this my friend.

Chorus
Have you forgotten, how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten, when those towers fell
We had neighbors still inside goin through a livin hell
And you say we shouldn’t worry bout Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

You took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it’s too disturbin for you and me
It’ll just breed anger is what the experts say
If it was up to me I’d show it everyday
Some say this country just out lookin’ for a fight
Well after 9/11 man I’d have to say right.
—————–

Rhyming Bin Laden with forgotten?  Wow.  Wow.  Wow.  People love this song.  People think that this song stands for justice and they believe that it poetically lays out how “most Americans” feel about this tragedy.  People are not looking for the answer of ‘why did this happen and how can we prevent this from happening again in the future’ they are looking for revenge: an eye for an eye, a life for a life, you punch me and I will punch you back.  Do you want your children to behave that way?  Do you?  Is that what you want to teach them?  I don’t.  I just can’t.  America is NOT the be all end all.  We are just people.  ‘They’ are just people.  This isn’t about countries, religion or freedom, it is about what is right and wrong. It is about humanity.  It is about forgiveness.  It is about doing what is right and continuing to do what is right even when some one else is not.  No, we have not ‘forgotten.’  How could we?

———————
I am back in ‘grant writing land.’ For some reason, after the wild summer that just happened, it just doesn’t seem so bad.  Also, I think now that I am kind of getting the hang of it, it is, dare is say, a little fun at times. 

However, there is something inside of me that is jonesin’ for a big creative challenge.  I have been cooking up ideas about which steps to take and where to focus my energies.  So far, I can’t stop thinking about simply producing a show on a big scale and just taking that risk.  The feelers are out there, so we will see where that goes. Also, lately I have been tempted to write a book, a children’s book, just to do it.  I am a creative jumping bean, not able to stay in one area for very long, being enticed by what I see going on around me.  That used to be a very bad thing, because I could not stick with something for very long.  Thus, forcing me to work on projects that could be finished before I got interested in something else. Now, I have something steady happening on a daily basis and just look for things to season my palette.  
——————–
There was a request to see the ‘hole’ that goes into the bedroom at the current place. Here you have it, the hole:

 
——————
Maria is allergic to more weird things than just about anyone else I know. Behold: Maria holding many (not all) of the things she cannot eat…