God bless the service industry

An after work drink often turns into 8 shots at a nearby bar which can also turn into the fun experience of dining out with chefs. You honestly never know what is going to happen next.

You could end up at a Shish Taouk palace where one chef decides that the tabouleh is the best he has ever had. This chef is next spotted walking out of the greasy establishment carrying 40$ worth of the stuff in a takeout container.

Or, you could end up in Chinatown, eating snake soup and oysters at 4 in the morning. Incidentally, this is my favourite option - nothing beats being the token white girl in a Chinese restaurant where the servers mock me and tell me that the snake soup I'm scarfing down (and incidentally, burning the inside of my mouth) is chicken.

"Ohhhh don't worry - it Chicken. Hahaha, it chicken!!"
"Uhm, you don't worry, I know it's snake. And I love it. Thanks."
"Ohhhh you brave! Hahaha it not chicken!! Very good!"

I should think about stealing some of their serving practices. I think I would love pointing and laughing at the foolish Westmounters who don't know the difference between tartar and salsa.

Once a day

According to my numerologist, I should be working on my "career" for an hour per day.

According to my doctor, I should be "thinking" about quitting smoking once per day.

According to my parents, I should be planning my "life" each and every day.

According to my prof, I should be reading "theatre" once per day.

According to me.... well, I think I need to take a break. Once a day.

So, that adds up to 3 hours of work and 2 hours of break per day. 5 hours a day of scheduled "me time" ontop of the average 5 hours of bartending per day. Not to mention rehearsals, beer and sleep.

Being an adult sucks. I hate every second of it.

The dishes, the taxes, the sweeping, the litter box cleaning, the appointment making... they should all do themselves.

Where's my time to finish that song I've been creating? Where's the time to stare at the sunset? Where's the time?

Where's the time to actually BE an adult?

In this?

If so, I want out.

the sky fell down exactly 3 weeks ago

when the sky falls
you tend to fall with it
the horizon dips away
and with it goes your fears

i realized that when the sky falls
you end up standing on clouds
wanting to sing and dance cheek to cheek

the only thing that is wrong
is that i think it shouldn't be happening
that i didn't know i wanted this

but the sky did fall
and what's behind me
can't be changed or compromised
i just hope that when i look back
i will know i'm on the right track

it's simple and honest and awkward
it's making me feel small
so small i want to crawl inside
and make that last bit of space disappear

it's silly and it makes me want to be a star
for a one-man audience

And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was and how much was mine to keep.

Thank you Mr. Vonnegut. You will be missed.

The jury is still out on this one...

God bless YouTube.

Not only should I be writing a paper that is really late, or maybe the one that is just a little late, or maybe the one that is due tomorrow... I should be at least doing my taxes. From last year.

Instead, I found myself finding 'gems' on YouTube.

The first is relatively amazing. However there is something terrifying about Alanis doing the Fergie thing in the woeful songstress fashion while wearing hoochie clothing.

The second is, well, terrifying. Just because you happen to film cop cars just driving by does not make you "street". But if you sang along like I did, it's okay, because the entire video is hilarious. Not to mention the fact that the chorus is "Where you from? DG!"

Lieutenant Kleenex and the Token Survivor

Jung really hit the nail on the head with his theories about archetypes - they are absolutely everywhere. From Greco-Roman dramas to Prison Break, archetypes and stock characters seem to be at the essence of it all. Now that I have chosen to write a play of my own, I'm starting to analyze my own life in terms of archetypes.

I know where my wounded healer is, who to call when I need a mother and who whisks me away when I have an urge for a magical day. But it is the inconsequential people we meet that tend to show us the way.

From action movies and sci-fi shows, a term was coined for the poor guy that dies to show the impending doom of a situation. "Red Shirt" or "Lieutenant Kleenex" is that man who comes in to die in order for the hero to fight the baddies and ultimately survive.

There are also the token survivors, the ones who magically survive a tragedy of incomprehensible depths in order to allow us to understand a smidgen of the horrible catastrophe.

If I can look at the people in my life and pinpoint most archetypal and stock characters, where is Lieutenant Kleenex to warn me about how horrible it all is? How can I possibly save myself if there is no one here to specify the dangers? What about the token survivor? How can I understand the gravity of my life if there is no one here to tell me about it?

And more importantly... if I can find nearly all the archetypal characters other than the Red Shirt, what does that mean? By process of elimination, am I the disposable soldier? Am I serving as the warning for what not to do? Or, am I crawling from a wreckage dusting off shrapnel screaming about the ferocious force that is life?

These inconsequential characters that are full of consequence could be everywhere - maybe we just have to open our eyes in order to catch these warnings and be all the wiser for it. Or on a scarier level, I could very well be that inconsequential character. If so, who warns me?