Through the dark, passively...

This entire week has gone by in something of a fog--everything moving so fast, and me just trying to keep up without straining something. At last, it's over! For now...

Wow, I've been a bad, bad blogger! I was in the middle of writing an entry last Saturday, but my mom called to let me know she was a few blocks away from my house, so I went down to let her in. Of course I forgot to save my draft...

My mom and Pam, a friend of ours, had come to see the Hell In A Handbag Productions Fall show, "The Twilight Gallery," which ran during October. The episodes (3 on Friday, 3 on Saturday) were send-ups of the Rod Serling shows of the '60s and early '70s. Everybody whose script was accepted picked really fun episodes to adapt.

Except me.

I chose a "Night Gallery" episode called "The Escape Route," which starred Richard Kiley as a former Nazi who was hiding in Buenos Aires, and Norma Crane as a German ex-pat hooker living next door to him in a flophouse. I realized that Nazis just aren't that funny, and this was a dark episode, so instead I made him a nasty New York theatre critic who wore out his welcome and ended up living on a Caribbean island. By chance, a few of his "victims" happened to be living on the same island, and of course, he ends up getting his comeuppance in a very unusual fashion. I called it "A Critical Juncture." I should have called it "A Complete Fucking Pain in the Ass."

The script was not a bad one, but it really needed lots of sight gags and "ha ha" moments to be entertaining. It was the Handbag talent that kept it from sinking like a lead balloon. I give them lots of credit--they are truly talented. This experience taught me that if and when I do this again, I shouldn't try to write something in 3 days without a good editor! I'm grateful to Handbag for the opportunity, though. And I'm grateful to James, Hilary, Ingrid, Rus and Trish (the cast) for making it as funny as it ended up being. Mom and Pam loved it, as did my friend Vivian from work, who came with her husband Rick and one of our colleagues, Nancy, who works as a freelance writer for some of our conference reports. I was sure it would offend people, but everyone seemed to like it. So maybe I was too hard on myself...

"Twilight Gallery" closed on Halloween night, and I decided to dress up (for the first time in 3 years). Of course, I was the only person in the theatre (except for the actors) who did so. I was sort of proud of my ingenuity, though (see picture--I'm afraid I blinked).

The rest of the week was hellish. I had a work conference out in Wheaton from Tuesday through Thursday, and came back to the office on Friday to play catch-up (which means answering people's questions so they can ignore me, forget and ask again next week).

I finally got back to the gym today. I haven't been in weeks. And it showed! I was shorter of breath than Bette Davis on oxygen...I feel better now, though. Now if I can just keep it up on a regular basis...