QUESTIONS FROM JENN

1. What play do you most want to direct? Is that your favorite play of all time?

It's really kind of tough. I really want to do street/guerrilla theatre which is not really a play, though they are shows. It's essentially free theatre done during lunch time on busy streets such as those in the heart of downtown LA. Often they are political but can hit a huge range of subjects. My pet ideas are take offs/perversions of Greek classics.

On a real stage with a real budget and real effects I'm not sure whether I'd rather do Hamlet or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. They've both been done a lot, obviously, and I've seen them both done quite well. For that reason alone I'm scared of them, but they make such good theatre that I think it would take one of those two plays to make me see the kind of director I can be.

Hamlet is a fucking great story and is one that can be told over and over without a stage or cast and crew. But I actually consider R&G to be the better play purely because it pulls out all the stops on what *is* theatre and is such juicy metafiction that it always gives me a thrill when I read or watch a rendition of it. }:D

2. Why did you pick the name "Nobody"?

This poem:
I am Nobody! Who Are You?
by Emily Dickenson

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

and the pasage Don Nadie from Octavio Paz's "Mascaras Mexicanas" (I don't have access to ASCII characters at the moment, I'll edit this in a couple days):
....Si el gesticulador acude al disfraz, los demas queremos pasar inadvertidos. En amobos casos ocultamos nuestro ser. Y a veces lo negamos. Recuerdo que una tarde, como oyera un leve ruido en el cuarto vecino al mio, pregunte en voz alta: "Quien anda por ahi"?" Y la voz de una criada recien llegada de su pueblo contesto: "No es nadie, senor, soy yo."

The essay continues for three paragraphs after this to explain how the Spanish "Don Nadie" has created a world to melt easily into and is welcome throughout that world whereas Don Nadie's child, Ninguno (the Mexican version of Nadie), is awkward and constantly negates his own existence, to his chagrin.

I read these in high school and at the time I had moments when I really, truly and fully wished I didn't exist, at least not as anything solid. I very much just wanted to be an intelligence that floated around in the ether and observed people do their thing without taking up any space and without any concern for having to live my own life. I kind of still do.

But also there was and has been episodes where I wish there were ideas out there in the world that were discussed more and I wish that I didn't have to put forth the effort to get the stuff out there. I wished there were things I could publish or just get done, just for the sake of getting them done. It isn't humility exactly, but I know the attention that comes with getting just about anything done and I don't want it.

This journal is a tiny aspect of that. There's tons more, but I think I ought to move on for now. }:>

If you're still confused and/or want a translation (or more from the essay - which can be found in the second chapter of El laberinto de la soledad) feel free to ask.

3. Who is your least favorite musician or band? How much money would They have to pay you to sit through an entire concert of that person or group?

I suspect that I just don't know who would be my least favorites without actually listening. I've heard something about "Insane Clown Posse" that makes me think I don't like them as people, but I've never heard their music.

As for amount...*shrug* I'll sit through most things for money. The same rate or more as what I make at work would be fine, I just need to know how long the show would actually take. The only bands this would be different for would be the ones that are socially/politically disagreeable. You can pretty much count on not ever getting me to willingly sit for the Aryan Youth Choir or whatever. Mostly because I'd be afraid for my life.

4. What's your favorite personality trait to role-play? What trait will you never role-play, no matter what?

The wiseass. }:> It's not exactly role play, but I like getting to be goofy and getting other folks to laugh. I'm not much of a comedian, but it's still pretty fun.

Hm. The thing that I wouldn't play no matter would have to be more of a role than a trait. There are some people who I can't stand and therefore I can't get myself to try to play someone who would start from and be determined to stay in their corner. There are just some things that start up offstage that I'm no good at keeping from getting onstage.

Otherwise there's lots of traits I'm not much good at playing. It has most to do with not being any good at improv. RP is all improv, and yet I still suck at it. I don't have anything against playing up a backstabbing trait, but I frequently just forget to look for ways to do that or out of character try to give people a way out.

5. If there was a pill that let you safely change your gender (and change it back again later), would you take it? What's the first thing you'd do if you did?

heh. Of course I would. All the stuff that comes to mind is long term. I want to know how I would get treated in nearly all aspects of life.

but in the immediate sense, I'm pretty sure the first thing I would do is fairloy obvious: Lock myself in a bathroom and play with the male thingie. Duh. There's a set of sensations I currently know zilch about. And while I generally like to stick my tongue out at Freud, I'm damned curious about it.


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And in completely different news:

After a hectic first month of the quarter I finally met with my new(ish) manager as I missed the team meeting on Wed.


Found out earlier Friday that I had a deposit from the company of a few hundred dollars which surprised me since the pay snafu earlier in the month had me sure I wouldn't get anything.

She clarified that it was likely bonus money.

If you've been playing along you'd remember that I haven't been expecting bonus money for a while now. There was a retention thingie that I got screwed out of cause I happened to make a rather big mistake at the same time that I have been working for some vindictive SOBs.

So I totally forgot that Q4 still had to be reviewed independent of the retention bonus to see if we hit our numbers for the incentive comp.

As it so happens my manager from Q4 was supposed to meet with me Thursday to tell me about my numbers and/or to meet with my current manager to hand her my file and tell her about my numbers (numbers = quality + productivity). Not only did he not meet with me, he didn't tell me he was supposed to, and cancelled the meeting with my manager.

And then he slunk(ed?) off for the weekend and my manager had to dig up the numbers herself to let me know that I had, indeed, met them and earned the incentive comp.

This let her know (I hope) that the previous manager is a slimy jerk and eventhough I may veer off course, it doesn't take much effort to not only get back on track but to start beating expectations.


*grin*GRIN*grin*


'course there is still much that irritates me about this place and I need something different to do with my time so I may still put feelers out there for something else.... But for now, I'm going to savor this. }:D

Victory is mine!