Houses - This is the third time I'm house-sitting in barely a month! This house is definitely cosy, and I love Guiness the big cute old dog, Zo the cat-that-won't-let-you-pet-it-but-pets-itself-on-you, the fishes, and the plants!


Although I thought Jason and I had come up with the band name Placebo, they already exist, and make pretty decent music (the chorus currently playing on "my" computer says "protect me from what I want"...


Expressions of the Spirit is going well. We've had three workshops, all great, and two more will follow in September.


Brent is gone. We role-played a lot, did some free-styling, played video games, and most importantly went to the mountains, in Shenandoah, and had the grandest time. On the weekend we play ghosts, trying to figure out why we're still around - kind of...

Kings --- Brent, Orion, Peter, Robbie... the whole crew is here, and we're acting like a bunch of (near-) geeks! Video games, role-playing games, freestylin', poetry-ing, and eating festively every day, with Midge's perpetually stupendous cooking! I have an awesome friend that turns out to live just an hour away or so, so maybe I'll be able to catch-up with him soon. I'm realizing that things have slowed down a little. They should pick up again soon, I expect, but I'm enjoying the near-downtime... I've started up recording a couple of dreams last week - I'm gonna try and stick with it! Wish me luck! Love around the world.

Wrought --- I got the "Mother Book" of Performance Studies, namely "Performance Studies: an Introduction." It may sound obvious, but for a field that's barely 30 years old, and ultimately complex, this year-old book is quite the gem, in that it brings everything together (by compromising and unifying different standards of terminology, gathering a multitude of concepts brought forth by a variety of authoritative figures, and presenting invaluable models of approach), as well as opens up innumerable questions and potential directions (by asking some of the prominent unanswered dilemmas, and providing various very to slightly relevant references). I also bought the "Performance Studies Reader", which collects important essays in the field. I am oh-so-psyched!


On Sat. I role-played a ghost who awakens 7 years after his death and finds his family destitute and aimless. His brother (played by Peter) and he embark on a mission to make their life better again - only they will soon find that it is not by forcefully imposing one's own understanding of "better" that anything gets better. It was a great game, and next week, we may have up to 4 extra players.


The Watermellon festival is just about the biggest thing in Richmond, and was definitely lots of fun (open-air market-style with dollar-bowls of watermellon, various food stands, major sales in several great local stores, etc.)


The Dead Can Dance

Greed --- just finished another week of house/baby-sitting, where the children didn't allow me much access to a computer.
So many wonderful things!!!
I'm reestablishing contact with a couple of best friends; we've got a grand ol' reunion coming up with the Richmond "guys"; I've started my research on a new paper in Performance Studies, partly inspired by my upcoming application to grad schools for 2005; our Ruhi Book 3 study circle should end tonight, and we should be starting a book 4 in the Fall; I am now "cluster coordinator"; I got a fat bonus from my job; the long-awaited Reflections of the Spirit workshop will begin this Sunday (Sunday! Sunday!); I'm getting spiritually much closer to a couple of friends at work; I have a lovely friend that will be visiting soon from NC, and another lovely friend moving to Baltimore; I'm now playing music and singing not only with my friend Sherry, but also with my aunt Kim; and to top it off, I'm expecting a double-CD of the Dead Can Dance any day now!!!