When I study a new script for a theatrical production, my thoughts are driven in three directions.  I enjoy sitting on the empty stage... imagining.

1. What do I imagine this world looks like from an audience point of view? Begin seeing images for a set evolving.
2. What do I imagine the actors engage in this world?  Begin understanding what characters see, hear and understand in relationships.
3. How do the actors engage with the set? How does this world function for and with the actors on stage? Begin renderings and stage design concepts.

When I consider my view as a filmmaker or photographer, my thoughts are driven in three different directions.

1. What does my eye see? Why is this point of view important to my eye? Begin understanding context and counterpoint. 
2. What is the character's point of view? Begin understanding motivation and consciousness.
3. When does my view conflict with a character's point of view? Begin thinking about interactive context between my eye and the reactive context of an individual character or subject.

When an actor breaks the fourth wall in a theatrical production, an invitation as been offered and then in turn accepted by an audience. For just a moment, time stands still in the world created on stage.  The stillness granted... the time lapse offered... is a private moment between the actor and the audience. 

Don't take too much time that the world onstage is left behind.  For that moment, actors you are an aside from the theatrical world.  Living for a moment in the world of your audience.  Don't lose your way back to the rich world created on the stage and your audience will trust your journey.  Take too much time with your audience and your contract is broken.  The stillness becomes a sever... the moment becomes eternity... the time lapse is infinite. 

Relationships are tough. They are what you put into them. Sometimes it is all fun and sometimes it is not. The latter is the hardest... that is the test. You find yourself asking questions, wondering... Sometimes it is just being there for the other person... Listening.... actively, not uh huh... yeah... oh wow.... uhm... but paying real attention. Not giving opinions not judging, but supporting.

Relationships come in all shapes... friends, co-workers, chums, blokes, dudes, shopping partners, party cohorts, and lovers. They are all different. But they are also very similar. They take time and nurturing and kindness and love. The rewards can be overwhelming and life fulfilling.

But on the other had, if you do not "feed" the relationship or the other person fails to "feed" the relationship, the relationship withers away sometimes slowly at first. At times, you don't even see it until it is too late. Sometimes, so quickly you weren't even paying attention... But always know this, you can save it... but it must be before you let it whither away. Once it has died. It may be far too late.

But when, and if it gets turn around, and the relationship is feed and nurtured and loved and respected, it can truly begin to bloom again. Not as before, never as before, but maybe better… even stronger. Like a bitter cold winter and the plant that comes fighting back in the spring within inches of its life. Those are the ones that last... endure... survive. It is up to you sometimes.

Other times it is completely out of your control. Don't fight it if it is not to be though. If it has died... bury it... find closure... you have to, or it will eat away at you. There will always be new people in your life. Learn from your past, be in the moment... and build for your future. Don't check out... check in... be there... and there will always be someone there for you.

Peace

So sometimes, no matter how much you think you need to do, or how many projects have to be finished, or how many errands you need to run, life puts on its breaks for you. Hold it..... stop! I just finished another show on Sunday...... on Monday I was sick..... Not kind of sick, but fever, runny nose, sore throat..... then came loss of voice and fever blisters..... ok, yeah.... fun times. So I took basically Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off as my body had said to slow it down, and spent most of the time drink plenty of fluids and reclined with my head on a pillow.

Thursday, have to work! I got up, did the email check...... this one takes awhile after three days of not checking the account. Then, I finished preparation for a home schooled class I teach on music. Got in my car, and left for Lake County (where the class is held)... Plenty of time... No traffic... Feeling better... Not great, but better... Got to Volusia County now it is raining... Got to DeLand now it is pouring... Pulled into a convenience store for a drink… turned off the car… shut the windows… locked the doors… closed the door...... BOOM!

My keys are in the ignition!

Ok, so I go in the store and ask to use the phone. She directs me to an outside pay phone, across the parking lot. Here is the picture. Pouring rain! Me on the phone, make that on hold, waiting from AAA to answer. Waiting... Getting wetter... Waiting... Get really wet... They do finally get to my call... Hour and a half wait time for road service.

Life stopped me again. Ok so my cell phone was locked in the car with my keys. No way to call the home schooled class. Phone number stored in the phone. Augh!! So there I wait stranded at a Handy Way. Real handy! I visit with the cashier... Browse at everything in the store at least twice. Waiting... Well I do manage to get into the car when the motor club locksmith arrives. Make the phone call to the class that I am running late. The mother had also been running late, airport delays, traffic, and family stuff.

Guess we were all put on hold. All forced to stop. Life had made us stop. They say to stop and smell roses. There were no roses at the store parking lot. Ok so it is a metaphor. Appreciate life. I try I really do, but it is hard when responsibilities do not stop. I know everyone understands deep down resting and pausing is important, but do we. Yeah maybe sometimes, or maybe just we life puts on the red light. Life can be quite a ride, but be careful you might be heading to a wall!

Peace out!

Naturally, we all seek harmony, understanding, and justice, right? Hardly, we all find our way, meandering through time and space, locating a few friends, realizing things we have in common, engaging our lives in some sort of vocation, and for the lucky ones, settling down with the one.... you know, the one that completes you. Isn't that what they say? I will expand on that thought another day. Today, I am going to focus on the disrupters.

You know who they are... we find kindred spirits.. those who we have things in common with.... those we work well together with... those who we can be create with... those we can work with... those we can play with... those we enjoy being around... and those other people come... the disrupters.

They come in to your life, your workplace, your social scene, your little bit of this great big world, and cause contrary motion. Sometimes a little rattling is fun, exciting, purposeful for growth, but I am not talking of those people. I am speaking of those who destroy the peace, the space, the situation. They come in and bit by bit break down the enjoyment of the moment. They turn people against each other. They distract you and others from the issues they are causing. They are truly manipulators of any situation. They try, and usually succeed, to disrupt the flow the natural motion and create contrary motion.

When things seem to be in transition that is when they arrive. It is like they know when they can cause chaos, and then they attack. I have dealt with those kinds, we all do, right? Well sometimes you have to rattle back. You can’t let them take over. Once you have spotted their evil plan you must put them asunder. They must not gain control. They are like weeds; it will get completely out of control if you let it go that far. Tend your garden. Plant goodness and you will reap a bounty of fragrances, beautiful colors and pure delight. But they will try to break down your flow with contrary motion.

If you find yourself, on the other side of this battle, you are causing the contrary motion. Stop! Reevaluate your purpose, your situation, and your motives. Are you trying to fit yourself into the wrong moment, the wrong space, the wrong wrong, don’t! You will only find the misery you will cause for others in yourself. Turn away, find another way, take time to play, enjoy the flowers of May, and surely do not delay.

Ok so my Birthday (yesterday) marked the 25th anniversary of the "Twinkie". So here is a little information on that sponge cake delight.

52,000 Twinkies can be filled with creme in one hour at a Twinkie bakery. It takes 10 minutes to bake a Twinkie. Twinkies got their name from a St. Louis billboard advertisement for the Twinkle Toe shoe. The Twinkie was chosen to be included in the White House millennium time capsule, representing "an object of enduring American symbolism." More than 1½ million hens are needed to lay the 160 million Grade A large eggs used to make Twinkies each year. Hostess bakeries can produce up to 1,000 Twinkies in a minute. 500 million Twinkies are baked each year. If you laid one billion Twinkies end to end, they would circle the Earth at the Equator twice, with enough left over to go from LA to New York three abreast. Chicago is the city that consumes more Twinkies per capita than any other city in the United States followed by Los Angeles. Super hero Superman celebrated his 50th birthday with a Twinkie birthday cake. It takes 45 seconds for a Twinkie to explode in the microwave. Twinkies have a shelf life of 14 days. Twinkies filling switched from banana to vanilla during World War II. It takes 39,672 miles of cellophane wrapping to cover Twinkies each year. Two students at Rice University conducted the "T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project," a series of "scientific tests" on Twinkies. The tests included the "Rapid Oxidation Test," the "Gravitational Response Test" as well as the "Turing Test."

Ok here is something interesting, "deep fried twinkies" http://www.sptimes.com/2002/06/26/Taste/The_Twinkie_transform.shtml

Wanna get apparel..... all kinds of stuff can be found at: http://www.twinkieshop.com/

Send a FREE twinkie post card to a friend by going to: http://www.twinkies.com/planet_postcard/

Anyway, buy a freaking twinkie you know you want to, who can resist. Life is a lot like a twinkie. So many of us hold are sweetness inside, sheltering it from the rest of the world. The world finds a chance to... to take a bite, changing us, exposing our vulnerability, showing our transparent inner self to... to the world. Knowing that we are probably only a passing fancy, one of immediate satisfaction. Twinkies are moments. Each is a short commitment, quick satisfaction, a delightful sugar high. But all things must and do come to an end. And you will finish the twinkie, everyone does. You may eat it in sections. You may lick out the sweet innocencee of its center. You may dive in and enjoy all its riches from end to end. But you will finish it all. You will take your moment, your chance, your pleasure, your delight. Enjoy your days, moment to moment, like a twinkie excursion. Remember the tastes, remember the feel, and remember the moments. Life is rich with moments, how ever you choose to devour its sensations.

Just a thought on this purely American, pre-packaged, fully manufactured, taste sensation. Wanna Twinkie? Enjoy each moment in your life! There will never be another like it!