04/07/2006: "Vacation, vows and vexation"

Back to business here after two weeks and really two months of crazy. It occurs to me that the relationship to work and vacation should be more of cutting then bunching. If 52 weeks of work were 52 inches of string (string theory here) vacation of two weeks should be cutting 2 inches of that out the middle. It should not be bunching two inches or THREE even into one inch. There was a lot of bunching at the last minute, and then catching up this week there has been some bunching too. Effective cross-training and a slightly lower compulsive work ethic might cure this, but it’s me, and it didn’t. Bunch, bunch. It is good to be back in control of things, I do love my job. The comfort of structure and tangible accomplishment is a welcome entity in my life.

Here’s the recap, believe me this IS the short version, buy me a late birthday beer for more hilarious specifics:

Hawaii: As some of you may have heard, the phrase “ I don’t want to talk about it” has come up in regards to my 5 days of “get away”. I being a positive person (stop your snickering) try to focus on the first 36 hours which were plesant, but undone by the last 3 days. I should have known when we arrived in Hawaii, having not slept the night before, having not slept on the plane that when the “employee card for the electronic jetway” wasn’t working, and we were stalled 25 minutes before even going to another gate, things were going to be…well..an adventure in a special way. It was in this wait, just wanting to GET OFF THE PLANE and start said vacation, that I heard the Hawaiian word for thank you, “Mahalo” about 30 times. Mahoalo for your patience, mahalo for waiting, maholo for your understanding, etc. I thought this was odd. I mean, I live in San Jose, and I don’t speak in all English except for Gracias. Maybe I should. ANWAY, it was during this wait that the phrase “no, mahaLO” was uttered from my mouth several times to the amusement of my fellow prisoners. This became a thematic routine for the remainder of the trip. When all was said and done, I met up oh an our and 15 minutes later with Andrew and his friend Chris from his home town of Parkersburg West Virginia, to pick up the car (not a jeep, sad) and grab some food… There are an inordinate amount of Andrew’s and Chris’s in my life. This was further complicated by “Brett” also my sisters name who joined us on Tuesday. Sunday was passing quickly so we headed to Dave and Busters in Honolulu to shoot up zombies (house of the dead), be crapped on by a large brontosaurus in the Jurassic Park Lost work video game, and have a couple of beers. I caught up with Andrew and his life as a resident at an emergency hospital in the Bronx.

The weather report was supposed to be 78 and raining all week, I of course, would have none of that. I allowed it to rain for only when we were inside, in the car or at night. We hooked up in Waikiki with Andrew’s brother Lee who is an explosives expert with the Navy Seals. His Salvage crew was getting ready to head to South Korea for a dive to retrieve a US armed services plane somewhere in the ocean. The guy has an armory. An entire room dedicated to guns and such. He sleeps with a LOADED gun, not just one but TWO by his bedside. Needless to say I was on the couch the whole time wondering if ninjas were going to bust through and I was going to have to pull out my moves. I did not. Waikiki was beautiful, if you like 1,000 people taking pictures of the same sunset on the beach and hording chairs at the beachside cantina before some other spring break skanks try and take your seats/tables. It was warm and dry and relaxing in a way, but I was ready to explore the less touristy bits and do things I COULDN’T do in California. I would be somewhat disappointed as the week wore on.

Hawaii is a great place if you are a guy, you can see a lot of skin and strangely enough everyone is pretty good looking. NOT a place to go if you are not secure with your body. The humidity is great for your skin, but you are constantly swollen from the heat, which I don’t mind to be honest. The food is great, the sun, sand, and saltwater cleansing, but seriously, where are all the ugly people? They are not on this island of Oahu. Now I understand lost a little more.

From a personal standpoint, this was a hard place for me to be initially. I had reserved Hawaii in my mind for a long time to be a place I go with someone I loved. Of the 5 continents I’ve traveled to, the islands of Hawaii were for no apparent reason, one of those places I was holding off on. It’s a romantic place, but then again, I can make Carl’s Jr romantic I suppose. I don’t know what made me say fuck it actually, but I did and I got fucked….and not in a good way. It wasn’t THAT bad…just…well you know. Glad I had this reaction as a single gal and didn’t ruin the honeymoon =] Given my jealousy, I don’t imagine I’d cope too terribly well with all the bodies floating around despite my perfectly intact ego were I to come back and have my companion oogling. The numbers aren’t even, far less male ooglability. There were a few moments of pining, but I was on vacation, so I got over it. As it turns out, I saw much less then I wanted to and could come back under different circumstances.

The majority of the few days I did have were spent picking up people from the airport, “discussing” what we were going to do but not doing it, passing up something because it was too expensive, only to spend that much on something else that was less then stellar, and arriving at places 15 minutes before they closed. I had 1, count it 1 fruity drink the whole time and 2 layouts on beaches. I got to go swimming in the ocean once, which was VERY therapeutic, but over all the combination of “talk” and no action in regards to sightseeing was frustrating.

I travel two ways usually, 1) everything set up on a tour with “free days” to explore on my own, a nice balance but not a lot of thinking needed, or 2) NOTHING planned but plenty of research. I decided to not do ANY research this time around so I would be less disappointed with things I didn’t get to see( if I didn’t know what I was missing). This plan did not work. I wanted a break from being in charge, from directing, from control. I very much needed to not make decisions and be led. And I didn’t. And I paid for it. There was no MOTIVATOR in our group (nurses I guess do run the hospitals), and I refused to step up. I won’t make this mistake again. That and I had few disturbing phone calls that stressed me out unnecessarily while I was supposed to be away from reality. I don’t want to seem like a brat here, I am glad I went if only to catch up with Andrew and meet some new fun people. WE made it to a LUAU at the polynesian cultural center which is run by the mormons. Not only were there no alcoholic bes at this luau, the drinks were decaffineted. Boo hiss. I barely stayed awake though the 5th hour of hula dancing. Ultimately I came back as stressed as I was when I left. Not a vacation. Not all bad, but not what I needed. I’ll try again at Julie’s (friend from college) wedding in Floirda which will be my 26th state to visit. It’s a whirlwind 72 hours with a red eye flights, botanical gardens, resort hotels, fiestas and college friends, but I’ll try to get this one right and relax a bit. Or cut loose….or both.

Magician’s Nephew: after a huge struggle to get the tech working, we ended up with a solid show. Not my best, but one of the most challenging in a lot of ways. I have a list of “demands” ready for the next project at Tabard. The review we got in the Metro was very Director centric…I like when the things I truly have the most control over and passion for get noticed. Though I only saw, 4 shows of the run, I think it improved during the run and I saw one show that was nearly flawless. Some new good friends and actors I would hire again. And a few I would not. But good stuff.

Wedding: My brothers wedding was lovely. Spending time with Sandy and Espe and the rest of the family was great for the most part and I liked San Diego and La Jolla. There was a huge Texas contingency which was great for Sandy and my dad. Uncle Jim an his wife, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Mary Grace and Uncle Harris all represented plus several of the older cousins that knew Sandy from when he was in DC. And being a small world of course when I walked off the plane in San Diego and went to the hotel shuttle, my Aunt Nancy was sitting in the passenger seat. No one else was there yet so we took the #34 bus (she had printed out the schedule before hand) to downtown La Jolla and we walked to the galleries, beach and then I was treated to a KILLER meal (including happy hour drinks and appetizers) with a sunset view of the coast to die for at Azul. I didn’t even have room for dessert if you can believe it. At least she motivated. Maybe a tad over zealous, but better than under-zealous at this point.

Highlights of the ceremony and rehearsal were my older sister almost losing her footing after her scripture reading and muttering “Jesus Christ” under her breath as she caught herself. Only the first three rows heard her. She’s going to hell.=] I got many compliments on my Book of Ruth reading. All 45 seconds of it. Espe looked lovely, the bridesmaids were straight off the model runway and I had a blast with all my brothers friends. The 4 grooms men have been Greenwood favorites for almost 30 years. And none of them had changed one iota, except they talked about their kids a lot. My Brother and MRS Greenwood (weird) were introduced at the reception to the U2’s Beautiful Day, which was classic, and their first dance was Frank Sinatra’s fly me to the moon. There were tears of happiness and dancing until late into the night. It was super to see Rebecca and Mark let loose together as well as Brette and Jason smiling.

It was nice to have some alone time though in the Hotel after brunch after gathering and dinners. I never realized just how much I need that hermit time. I guess it’s all the last 4 years of extremes that have set me off kilter a bit. Being starved for activity and stimulation with two years of stress and unemployment, then unsettling loneliness of moving around for a year and then the over indulgence of social activity of having theatre opportunities consistently for the next year. A few hours of no one talking or being around was probably more relaxing than most of Hawaii. It is apparent that I need three things. 1) a house of my own. 2) a dog 3) a larger income. This triumvirate will give me more consistent peace of mind. Laughter comes more easily with these things I think.

Next: Just when I think I have 5 weeks of no theatre and thus time for personal projects, I realize I will still have a box office job for April and May, I have loose ends for the consulting I have been doing for the new dragon theatre, and we have a encore performance in Danville for Pear Slices, of which I am doing a play I did not do in the original run. It’s amazing when you aren’t in rehearsals 5-7 days a week how quickly you find things to do to fill up the time, and you wonder how you got it all done before. Maybe the reason I can’t “relax” on vacation is I need to be moving more. I judge a 7 minute play contest tonight in San Carlos, why, cause I can. I am “qualified” as an actor, director and technically a playwright. And no sooner do I try to give myself some down time, then I take on an extra 10-12 hours a week to do data entry for our sister site in Arizona. Since I already knew how to use the site and work the backend of the admin, it made sense. I could use the extra cash to be sure. Since I will be needing another vacation in 6 months.

Next auditions are in early may, and next directing project starts in late June. I just signed a contract for RTE’s very adult production of Bill of (W)Rights which contains a lot of challenging directing I haven’t gotten to use in a long time (or ever). This will be a moving production (as in several different locations for the 10 scenes within the same building, ie lobby, stage, courtyard) as well as a show that contains much colorful language, nudity, and controversial politically charged content. Should be a great experience with a group I have admired and worked with before but not in this capacity. It will be a nice breath of air to be able to be less conscience of what I say and how I elicit a performance. I don’t mind PG, but every now and then I like the rated R. Oh let’s face it, I like the NC 17 at times too. Shh don’t tell or my lawyers will be all over your ass and not in the good way.

MUSIC: Love the new all American reject song Move Along.

Movies: Ballad of Jack and Rose gets a solid 3 ½ for a great Daniel day Lewis performance, plus some great supporting “no names”. I subtracted a ½ for a CREEPY father daughter kiss. Very wrong.

Saved, was preachy even when it was supposed to be funny, but a good no brainer and a great sound track. 2 2/4 Rutger/Rockwell. D’onafrios.

Rent: I realized whie watching this and then doing research that I saw Taye Diggs on Broadway. In general I thought the broadway musical, entire original tony award winning cast, front row center in 1996 was MUCH better live. I appreciate what they did and can do with film, but some of the spoken instead of sung was weak. If you hadn’t seen the musical, you would probably like this better. I sang along. 3RRD’s

Just like Heaven. I like the soundtrack a lot, and the performances and concept were lovely. Cheesy, and romantic, but I can see this sort of thing happening to me. Reese Witherspoon is fun to watch. I think I would be friends with her if I were in Hollywood. 4 RRD’s

Tigerland: GREAT. Loved it, and not just for the nakedness of Colin Farrell which was a surprise. Creative and a SUPER ensemble. Tigerland is the new platoon. 4 ½ RRD’s.


Maholo and Gracias for your loyal following.

And…..scene.