Sic Transit Gloria Seami

Theatre

I'm mildly obsessed... And I don't really know why. I like the idea of getting inside a story and enacting it, and of bringing it to life with my body and voice, either within strict conventions (like in musicals) or in a bizzare free-form way (like Helen's Seneca workshops).

I think I like people watching me - in essence it's just a form of exhibitionism. I also like the idea, taking someone's life/experiences/imagination and then layering yourself on top of it and turning it into something unique that can never, and will never, be recreated. Not even when you do the same scene the next night.

I also like theatre because it forces you to practice what you preach, to elaborate on your thoughts with your entire being. You have to deliver, you have to do, you have to act and you have to make choices. Often what the choices actually are is completely irrelevant, but you have to make them clearly, and you have to commit to them. And then you have to re-create that moment again and again. It challenges me more than anything else in life.

Balancing following your passion with earning a living

I'm fairly blaze about life.... I figure I'll always be able to make a living doing something. What it actually is doesn't really bother me, so long as I keep on performing.

So the balance is reached by asking myself the simple question: What is the minimum amount of paid work I can do to get by comfortably, and still give myself 3 nights a week to rehearse?

At the moment I've got that balance (or close to it, a bit more money would be nice, but I'm not starving). So all is well.

Intense relationships

I think it all goes back to my exposure as a youngin' to a relationship that was not working with mum and dad. I think that either I was going to be cynical, or over-compensate and put "love" up on a pedestal. You can guess what happened...

All this combined with my distinct lack of romance early on in life, and brought me to the conclusion that love is this bizzare, over-reaching, fatalistic thing. That relationships must be saved at all costs. And that you should do anything asked of you in a relationship. It meant that my commitment was absolute and my passion was unwavering. And that first moment when I realised someone showed some genuine romantic interest in me, well, I was besotted.

Living together after about 6 weeks, of course it will work! Marriage! Yeah sure! In the end I'm glad that it ended when it did. If it had gone on any longer we probably would have damaged each other.

But even that experience did not curb my enthusiasm. And we all know how that ended up...

And today. Have I learned my lesson? Hell no! And I never will! But for the first time in my life, I think I'm the one overwhelmed by the love someone else shows me...

Greek

I founded it you know.... I'm going to assume this is about the language.

I like the language because its mechanics are a billion times more interesting than that of our own. It's flexible, it's malleable, it gives you lots of ways to say the same thing (at least in English). Often by using the same words, but different inflections and grammar. So I'm pretty sure our language is inadequate when it comes to translating ancient Greek, but it's all we got!

I'm also an etymology geek. So it makes sense. And this is what I like about the modern language - it allows me get my etymology geek on in a whole knew way.

Oh, and inadvertently, my knowledge of modern Greek helped me to communicate to a Spanish speaker today who spoke very little English - because the Greek word for stairs is skala, and the Spanish word is scalides - so she understood!.

Post break up bonding

Interesting...
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Do you still have that brick?