Second Night and Cool People

Second night is over. It was also pretty good, and there were 59 reservations. I kind of fucked things up a little, playing a bear growl before the thunder, but it worked out okay.

We went to dinner at a restaurant on the corner right next to the theater. It used to be The Tortilla Factory, but it is now called Smooch's. There was a somewhat large group of us. To emulate Sunil, the seating order, clockwise starting from my left: Gabrielle, Anna, Alanna, Hilly, Alex, a couple friends of hers who came to see the show, Patrick, and me.

I again gave Alanna a ride to the theater and dinner, and while I was walking up to her door, I realized that I was still wearing a pink shirt because I'd forgotten to change into my black one. So I borrowed a black tank top from Lan. I think I need to own more such shirts, and by "more" I mean "any."

Afterwards, I went to the Flying Star with Lan, Ian, Hilly, and Jack. I got a ride with Ian and Lan, after going with them and his parents to their house to drop things off and work out the car situation, because it was easier than taking my car and parking in that parking lot and waiting for everyone else to show up. And hey! another seating order, going left to right, from my perspective: Ian, Lan, Hilly, and Jack all on one side of the table and me on the other side, almost in the middle. Jack ended up moving and sitting to my right to even things out a little. After Jack and Hilly left, Ian's friend John sat with us for a while. It was quite fun. A good time was had by all, except perhaps the chocolate eclair, which had indecent things done to it.

It's hitting me how soon this will be over, and how much I'm going to miss some people, because they're awesome people. Some of them I don't really know, so it would be kind of hard to miss them. Like Heather, who is just there, and Frank, Ewan, Ravenna and Elise, to a certain extent. I will definitely miss Dan, Anna, Gabrielle, Caitlin, Patrick, and others. (Memory being stubborn. I could get up and get my copy of the program, but that would require effort.) Some I haven't hung out with much but still strike me as very cool people. There will have to be exchanges of contact information made.

Just When You're in the Swing of Things...

There was a review of The Winter's Tale in the paper today. The review is not fit to use for toilet paper.

( The bitch don't know her shit... )

"But what talk we of these traitorly rascals? We that are gently considered..." know that Anne Ryan (the heretofore anonymous reviewer) is full of shit. We had two audience members tonight who came precisely because they read the review and know Ryan for the fool she is. One of them even told Brian (Ian's dad, who's been doing a lot for the show) that it was one of the most professional shows he's seen in Albuquerque. As my own assessment, I will say this: Watching Alanna and Ian (and the others, but particularly those two) onstage reminds me of why I got into theater in the first place. The whole show reminds me of why I love theater.

And hanging out afterwards reminds me of why I love theater people. From being unsure of my place in this thing and feeling like an outsider just three weeks ago, I am now comfortably part of this group and hate to think of our days of hanging out all together as numbered. But the looming end of the show, and my subsequent return to Portland does not hinder enjoyment of our time together now.

After the show, Alanna, Ian, Anna, Patrick, Jack and I went to the Frontier. And damn what a good time that was. It's been a while since I've laughed so hard. Patrick and Jack quite possibly have the strangest senses of humor of anyone I know.

Dammit, why can't my friends all be in one city?