I took a standing shower for the first time in a long while.
I crutch-walked all the way to the Addison station for the first time since my blow out.
I walked into Starbucks.
I found out I had the day off.
YESTERDAY
I crutched over to my doc's office. 45 minute wait. Hunter S. Thompson's HELL'S ANGELS couldn't allay my impatience, but chatting with the nurses who remembered me passed the time. They were happy the Playground's liability insurance would cover mah knee. When they weren't talking to me, they would gossip in Spanglish. I pretended they were talking about what they read on perezhilton.com.
The doc checked me out and made it official: ACL and MCL torn. MRI and surgery are next. As I was getting on the elevator afterwards, the doc grabbed me and had another doc, doc2, look at me. After tugging, palpating, rotating and generally making my knee miserable he agreed about the ACL and MCL and worried about the status of my PCL...not to mention the bugaboo of the Meniscus.
On the plus side, they want to work on me as soon as possible...and get me in a brace to limber (or unstiffify) my knee up as opposed to the immobilizer before then. The only thing slowing down the process of getting me gear and operated on is working through the insurance process.
No big deal, it's not like I'm running da marathon soon.
OR AM I?
no.
no I'm not. TWO DAYS AGO
text to my friend
gray skies, orange leaves rude chill winds force faces down chicago autumn
her text back
yeah. do you think we can trust it not to turn back into summer this time?
my response
goodby stolen kisses on a neighborhood promenade and hello comfortably tangled limbs under threadbare flannel blankets. THREE DAYS AGO
Femme Squad met for their first rehearsal. Funtimes ensued. Even though their first show won't be until February, I'm already worried there isn't enough time. Then again, with every group I direct, I never I feel I have enough time. Never. It always works out well in the end, but I know I'll still be thinking and plotting and planning and considering and reconsidering and pondering and unpondering then googling "unpondering" then thinking some more until the moment they take the stage.
TODAY
Laundry. I need to do it. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. But first I will nap. Well, maybe surf the internet. Then nap. Then laundry.
YESTERDAY
Doc reminds of Al. Doc2 reminds me of Ed.
Ed was my high school tennis coach. Al was the in-town rival school's coach, who I ended Assistant Coaching for many years.
Ed was, well, not technical, but a very drill-centered, very organized coach who really loved his job. Practices were tight. Discipline was solid. While you had fun, you never forgot this was a Varsity team and you earned your letter.
Al was, well, not casual, but a very amiable, laid-back coach who really loved his job. Practices were loose. Discipline was relaxed. You had more fun than you should have and it didn't take too much to earn your letter.
But both got results in their own unique way: League titles, tournament wins, dominating players and cultures of success.
I brought a lot of Ed with me when I started working for Al. I was a student of the game. I knew the Whats and Whys and Hows of strategy and tactics and practices. I ran tight drills and pushed people. From Al, I learned the hard part, how to read people: when to push and when to lay off, what to ask for softly and what to demand for loudly, how to deal with cliques and broken hearts and failed tests and ohmygodthelimotothedanceisatmyhouse! When I finally became head coach, I was a blend of the two: work hard, play harder, laugh hardest.
Doc is Al. He jokes, he makes me comfortable and you feel he's really on your side through the whole process...but the entire time, you kinda wonder if he really knows as much as he should.
Doc2 is Ed. He's obviously knows his stuff, and that's reassuring, but the competence is clinical and you never forget that he's the Doctor and your the Patient.
I hope Doc is there when I'm going under and Doc2 does the kneeball operation.
TWO DAYS AGO
I sidelined myself...even though Bella had a show, I had the Doctor's appointment the next day. I sucked it up and stayed at home.
It used to be the end of the world if I missed a show. I came to Chicago to PERFORM! I need to PERFORM! I must get on stage and PEFORM!
After 7 years and 400+ shows, the urge and desire to get on stage is still there, but the need is not so overwhelming.
That said, even now, I feel a twinge of regret I didn't play. I should have been there.
While my brain knows I did the right thing, my heart aches a bit.
THREE DAYS AGO
Joe Canale. Jim Carlson. TJ Jagadowski. Abby Sher. Karen Graci. Jeff Griggs. Angela Forfia. Kevin Fleming. Bill Arnett. Ross White. Dan Telfer. And many, many others.
Just as Al and Ed influenced my tennis coaching, all my improv coaches influence my improv coaching. I've stolen so much and tweaked so much more from them that I should be paying a tithe from any rehearsal fees I've earned.
But more than exercises and concepts, I try to bring their love for the art to every rehearsal and show. Sure, some directors were more about the ART and others more about the BITS, but in the end, it's about us enjoying playing with each other and doing silly and fun and sometimes mindboggingly cool things that make us laugh our asses off. Some rehearsals are better than others, but the love of what we do and who we do it with is always there.
ALL THESE DAYS
I'm sure I could tie all of these together with some awesome insight, but I'll let you do the work. I've been up since 5 am. Time for a nap.
Well, it's been a long week. I have no illusions of a literary masterpiece today.
DA KNEE The knee things still sucks, but folks have been great; from offering rides to and from rehearsals and shows, to helping out when I'm house managing or just giving moral support, a lot of people have made my situation tolerable.
Rene D. helped organize a fundraiser at the Playground. God bless him. Peeps showed up at the PG to hang out and have beer and chill to some music. Those who couldn't make it, sent money along with folks who could be there. Not only that, I'm still getting some folks telling me they'd like to donate some cash. Every lil bit helps and I was truly humbled by all the well wishers. I think that night's total came out to $750 plus some more as folks dropped in later.
Thanks everyone. Thanks very much.
DA INTERNET One hour on hold. Latency issue not resolved by them, but seems to be clearing up. We'll see... DA AUDITION The Playground held it's all-female improv ensemble audition this weekend. I was hyped for this all week as I pushed for creating this audition and Incubator Liason Melissa Cathcart was awesome in getting it going and running it come audition time. About 50 ladies auditioned, many of whom we've never seen before, which was awesome for the Playground and the Incubator program in general. After two days of auditing, we narrowed it down to 10 lovely and talented ladies who I am very excited to work with.
Congrats to: Sarah Beckman Colleen Breen Mel Evans Jessica Farmer Lauren Glass Molly Henderson Kyna Lenhof Carrie Long Mary Beth White Molly Willbanks
DA SANDBOX Two weeks in and it's going fine. The Sandbox is my little idea of renting the PG for the night and splitting the rent evenly across all three groups, so everyone shares the burden of covering rent and, once their individual portion of rent is covered by ticket sales, the ensemble can actually make $$. While the houses haven't been huge, or even moderately mediocre yet, the fact that I'm *still* getting inquiries for slots and folks asking about *next* year's slots means I've hit on something. The big bonus for all this is that Bella headlines every show, so it's a nice way for us to play once a week and mess around with forms--with my bum knee, we are gonna have to get creative as the weeks wear on :)
DA WINGNIGHT They're good. Come check them out. Sadly, I missed two weeks of rehearsal for the Incubator Audition and the Second City Instructor Workshop, but I'm pumped to get back into rehearsals with them. My one year anniversary with them is at the end of this month and, honestly, I can't believe how the time has flown.
DA MOVE I moved. Yep, with a bum knee. Hilariously, I moved in right across the hall with the subletter who stayed with us this summer. So, instead of 3F, I'm 3R now. Piero, Mike (my new roomie), John and Kara were the awesomesauce folks who helped my gimp ass out. Thanks, all.
Well, that's enough for now. In upcoming days, the life of a gimp, the life of an improvisor, the life of an uninsured person desperately scratching for some sort of coverage...
