i'm flying high on bubbles of diet coke, erin mckeown, and excellent interactions w/ people. first i had my final For Colored Girls ... rehearsal. only three of the actors turned up. one injured her ankle during the dance concert last nite; another is AWOL. but the three who came were beyond words. wow. i can't articulate it. that rehearsal -- mostly two scenes -- was the best college theater i've seen. it was emotionally real, honest, and unpretentious in a way that makes theater the most personal invasive medium there is. i often forget that; i get discouraged b/c i see so much that leaves me bored or unmoved. partly i think because this material is so beautiful and so direct. it can't help but get to you. and the actors are wonderful. i started crying twice -- maria had to give me a hug. she has the abortion monologue and she's comforting me.
definitely one of the things i've done here that i'm most proud of. i only wish i could see the actual show (february 22 - 23, people. miss it at your peril.)

i arrived back at the barn in time to grab something quick to eat and meet the swattie webloggers minus jackie (we missed you jackie). first cathy, who went immediately to the corner she inhabited during our last party, followed by jesse, fresh from a vietnamese lunch, and someone i assumed was rabi. ben traipsed in last and we tried to figure out what to do. the idea of Chuck-E-Cheese got everyone excited; then of course we remembered none of us has a car. someone suggested a board game and ross disappeared to dig up Taboo. jesse produced two bags of candy from Chinatown, we settled in a circle on the floor, divided into two teams (jesse rabi me vs. ben cathy ross) and started to play.
it never got competitive as we didn't keep score. but damn was it hilarious. for people who'd never spoken substantially before -- at least in my case -- we found a similar wavelength really quickly. at one point rabi said "chuck-e-cheese ..." and in unison jesse and i shouted out, "tickets! toys! prizes!" and then the right answer, "pizza!" as near a miracle as we get in these godless times.
after we exhausted both sides of nearly all the cards (creatively too. for your information, the irish eat corned beef hash; rocking chairs are really frightening; and the stuff you put on your chin before you apply a blade to it is shaving cream) an hour and a half later, we took so many pictures you'd think it was the end of a family reunion. i was ecstatic with the success of the venture. when i get the pictures developed i'll post them. but yay! more people who aren't intimidating after all. oh-so-good to know.

co|mo tonite at 8 for the first round of hints for Secret Beacons of Light, our nondemoninational nonoffensive answer to Secret Santa. before that, time w/ liz. and i came up with an idea for my history story! oh mercy. pinch me please.