213.June 2

Nottingham, England

Instead of going straight in to work on the Guide to Peter Brook's "The Man Who", I finished my essay and schedule to turn in for the performance part of my project at the flat. Then, in the afternoon I went in hurriedly to work, but forgot my Oliver Sacks book. I returned to the flat and got it, and put some stuff on the computer program, but it wasn't working well. At 18:00, I got kicked out, so I went to visit Anne Catherine in Cavendish Hall. I ran into Eva in the hallway, so I sat with her and Patricia while they ate dinner in the cafeteria. It had been a long time before spring break since I'd seen Eva. They went to go work on finals, and I sat with Anne Catherine outside on the lawn and talked for a bit. Patricia asked me if I would like to go to a movie called Orlando with her. I thought it was on campus, and so I decided I would go for a bit before I went home. We met two of her Spanish girlfriends and headed for the bus stop. I decided to go after all, because I had nothing planned for the night except trial packing a few times. The movie "Orlando" was brilliant. It was about a woman Virginia Wolf was in love with. She thought that she was a timeless woman, and placed her in different places in history, both as an effeminate man and a masculine woman. I was supposed to meet Illiana at the Irish Student Night Club, but I was too tired to do it.

1994

Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 14:57:41 -0600

St. Paul, MN

I am now on my sister's front porch on a wonderful cloudy day in St. Paul, MN. We have just been to Grand Old Day, a festival for a very cool street in St. Paul. I lived on it in 1996, and had a wonderful time. It is the perfect street to live a perfect life, but I moved away because I was always on the road travelling with a theatre, and the rent was just too high for me not to enjoy my apartment.

I have come here for the weekend, and will leave tomorrow. I went to a party for an Australian friend of mine whom is moving away from Minneapolis, and I had originally planned to move into her house after she had left, but I bought the trailer, which changed my plans. Jills friend from college, Kathy, is just leaving here. This porch, or the house rather, is in the oldest part of St. Paul. It was built in 1853, and is one of the oldest houses in town. There is a beautiful park in the center of the square, with a very nice fountain. It is the most fun place to be in the summer, or at least the most peaceful I can think of in any city. I have always enjoyed taking her dogs for walks here, but more than that just sitting here on the porch with all the waters gently echoing around me.

I've also come here with my big truck to pick up a bunch of furniture that she wanted to get rid of. I've had too much wine today, and beer, I suppose, at the festival, but not too much of that because it was all bad, but at the different bands and stages it was hard to resist.

I did get hit on by some woman, whom I think I recognized from a swing dance lesson from four or five years ago. "What do you think about older women?" was part of the question. First she sent a friend to figure out how old I was. I avoided the questions. I think I was a bit scared, but wasn't interested. She was about forty something, I forget, and that sounds fine to me, but she didn't please my eyes, and had an unusual name, which I've now forgotten, so I didn't have much problem turning her down. I've never really been hit on so obviously before, and so it was exciting, and that is why mention it.

I am on my laptop. I don't know when I'll send this, but haven't been typing for a while, so this is kind of fun.

I should go visit my friend Keith in Minneapolis. He had a biking accident yesterday, had to go to the emergency room and get 8 stitches, so I should go see him tonight. I would like to pick up a table from him as well, but now that he is injured, it would seem a bit callous to go collecting from him.

The candles are burning out here on the porch, it is starting to darken, the sky that is. The candles are very lovely, and the old fashioned street lights make their old fashioned impressions.

2002

I had a nice walk to Phelps park at lunch and a bag of fruit from the weekend. I dropped my cheery pits on the way, and found a bridge and a bench in the woods to look at the script and write checks. Rachel and I went to Doc's before rehearsal for dinner. When we finished rehearsal, we wrote the schedule for rehearsals until June 18th.

2010

I slept in, though Rachel was playing organ officially for the first time at church this morning, but we'd had a dinner party the night before, and I stayed up late to clean the dishes. Jacob was there as well, and stayed up talking to him. In the morning, I made the best scrambled eggs I've ever made, and since no one else came back from church in time to share them while warm, Jacob and I ate them covered in gravy from the meatball supper at church. It was amazing. We watched QI, the Stephen Fry quiz show on YouTube while I worked to clean up after last nights impromptu pizza party. Inger and Rachel came back from intervues with the Myrah's about Norwegian music passed on from their ancestors. Inger went off to Decorah to do more research at a church outside of Waukon during a Luhren concert, and spent the night at Chris and Rhonda's house. Jacob left to play a concert in La Crosse, and Rachel and I moved the 1963 Airstream over to our new house. We also cleaned the basement of the old house. I tried to start the Winnebago, but the starter is not turning over, despite the solenoid clicking well. Rachel, Jacob and I watched the movie "Safety Not Guaranteed", which I've seen nearly three times in its entirety. I love it, and decided it is my favourite movie of the year.

2013