partial logistics

Sometimes I impress even myself, but I could just be getting better through practice.

I stayed in Michigan through Friday night working on my piece for the funeral. I was building momentum throughout the week, and just as the end was in sight, I heard a noise. I have long since had a sensitive ear to random noises at the house in Michigan. I think that, since most noises in Chicago are made by humans, I assume the same out there. But in Michigan, most noises are just random, caused by the way the wind or tree branches hit the house, caused by the furnace or hot water heater doing whatever it is they do, caused by pots of rice on the stove burning over. But this noise was different, and I was sure it was someone coming into the house. It was. I hastily extracted myself from whatever distant planet my mind visits to be musical and went out front, calling out hello. It was Carl, one of the people with whom my parents share ownership of the house. Apparently, he was headed up to Kalamazoo the next day (yes, home of Bell's) and stopped off at the cottage for the night. I felt guilty and awkward about the dishes left in the sink, but I was right in the middle of writing and had put it off. I finished up the music for the night, did some cleaning and went to bed.

But between going to bed and falling asleep, I fell into a French movie that I had actually seen before. On Netflix, they called it Happenstance, with Audrey Tattoo, who is one of the most pleasing people to watch on screen. But, the French title is "Le Battement d'ailes de Papillon"--the beating of butterfly wings. Same idea different words. Fortunately, it's one of those movies that I could probably watch several times since the plot is really a thick web of activity. A bit like Lost. A bit like my life. And it had been a long while since I'd seen it, and I probably saw it without subtitles, causing me to miss a few things. Either way, I love that ilk of movie, showing how our random actions today cause all sorts of unintended consequences.

Another good one is "Adieu plancher des vaches", but I don't know what it is in English.

Then sleep. For only a few hours. Woke up on Saturday morning at 6:30 (Michigan time)--Carl was up around then too to head to Michigan--cleaned up (in haste), packed, put my bike on the back of the car, and drove to Chicago. I got into the city about 8:20 local time and allowed my complicated logistical scheme unfold. I parked where I knew I could find free parking--just off Milwaukee, south of Chicago. (Milwaukee and Chicago are playing streets in this scenario, not cities.) Biked to Bobby's for a tour guide open house. Did stuff. Had to help out in the shop a bit because we were so busy. Went through some paralyzing indecision most likely caused by an extreme fatigue, lack of sleep, lack of food. Ended up biking to my car, threw my bike in the back, drove to Darick's in Andersonville to drop off my computers (so I wouldn't have to bike with them), and then biked to Nicole's where I would be staying later. Took a shower and then headed back to Darick's neighborhood to celebrate his birthday. Went to Hama Matzu, the restaurant with the bidet toilets again. The crowd of 12 people included Darick's parents, brother, sister-in-law, friend Tim and his boyfriend, and a couple other people. He claimed it was his best birthday ever, especially comparing it to the last one which was the exact day he and his then wife decided to split. Rather, when she decided. A lot can change in a year. Or a day.

As I'm writing this, I can't believe it's just one day.

After Hama Matzu, went to Konak's, which is next to the Hopleaf but worlds away. Darick prefers Konak's because you can usually find a seat and you don't have to push your way to the bar--much less crowded, less cool, more divey. I do love the Hopleaf, but I can appreciate his reasons for disliking it. One day, he should try eating there.

Konak's was just to kill time before one of my favorite theatrical performances in the city. I started going in high school when it was the cool thing to do: drive in from the burbs, head up LSD, get in line at 10:30 for the 11:30 show, and experience 30 plays in 60 minutes, getting home at 2 or so. Apparently, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind has been around for 22 years. I realized I have been going for 13 of those years. I've seen so many different casts come through but, before last night, hadn't been for a couple years--maybe since I went with Laura (back when we were dating, on our second date). That time, she got called up on stage and they made her dance around. She seemed somewhat embarrassed by the whole thing. It was cute. Last night, we got involved again.

You get what you pay for.

To enter TML, you pay $9 plus whatever you roll on a die. I rolled a 6, which seemed less of a big deal now that I'm an adult than when I was a broke teenager. So I paid the $15 and went to get my name tag. They ask you what your name is, but they don't write down what you say, so I have always had a hard time answering the question honestly. So, being very (underscored) witty, I said "I don't have a name." Which is a lot like how I don't have a home. I don't really know if they listen to what you say, but, in this case, I think she might have, because she wrote down "Someone Else". Which is also the name of one of my songs from a couple years ago. I took it off the internet because I couldn't sing yet. Odd.

Then the play. Greg Allen, the founder, claimed in one of the plays that he keeps getting older and the audience stays the same age. Mostly true. He's almost 50, the audience is a diverse range from 16 to mid-30s. What do you expect when you have a show at 11:30 on a Saturday? I guess I can mark my age by comparing myself to the crowd at TML. When I started going, we were certainly among the youngest there and felt cool hanging out with the hip urbanites. Now, I'm supposedly playing the role of hip urbanite and wondering if the kids are thinking of me as such. Meh. Whatever.

I mentioned that it was Darick's birthday? One of the plays was called Surprise Birthday Party. One of the actors came up to Selena, Darick's girlfriend, sitting right next to Darick, and said "Did you know that it was your birthday?" And then proceeded to throw her a surprise party in her seat, ending with us singing her Happy Birthday. I thought it so almost coincidental that they almost picked Darick, which would have been perfect, but ended up picking Selena which was almost more perfect. That is, Darick already knew it was his birthday; it wouldn't have been a surprise.

To signal the end of one play (and to invite the audience to pick the next play) the actors yell "Curtain!" One of the plays was called something like "Curtains, the neo-futurist mascot". The play starts, one of the actors, the girl who had just been topless on stage throwing herself against a canvas in the name of art, brought me out of the audience and up on stage. It was a tryout to be the mascot. We had to: scream, dance, and shout cheers at the audience. I won, of course, because, I mean, well, there is no because. I just did. And they dressed me up in cardboard box hat and a cape. And a tail. I had to sit on stage during the plays and then play halftime mascot between plays. It's a lot like performing, but it's more like earning people's affections for being absolutely ridiculous. Which is something that I am very practiced in. Darick got some pictures and a movie. I'll post it once he sends it to me.

Absolutely ridiculous.

Then I rode my bike back to Lakeview and fell into a dreamless sleep.