Another rainy Saturday and now I'm hibernating

The rain is pounding on the roof again.  Dodging obligations, watching movies on YouTube.  Went to a show at On the Boards last night, "Predator Songstress" by Degenerate Art Ensemble.  As someone else pointed out, it was a performance with a narrative, I guess I'm not the only one that notices.  A dystopian fairy tale, of a totalitarian world where all words are controlled (by a group of men), and individuality (voice) is removed (mostly from women) like dust, bottled and sealed up for some future use, probably by the State.  A woman wanders collecting stories and songs, she is arrested, tried, sentenced, and silenced.  She escapes and joins a rebellion, her brother is captured by the State and sentenced to die for aiding her.  She gets her voice back in screams.  There were only six performers on stage, two dancers, and four musicians.  All the other characters and imprisonment were projected on a screen at the back of the stage and on panels.  Stories were gathered from audience members and included in song and projection after the intermission.  It was good.  I'm not sure what I have to say about it, I'm running on fumes at the moment, except that here again is the idea of "who controls the narrative?"  Who shapes the conversation?  Who ultimately decides the future course by how they frame the message, how much fear (or not) is doled out on the masses?  Who won here in the end?  She got her voice back, but did the rebellion conquer the State or was it a momentary victory in a longer battle?  The narrative ended there, so it's in our imagination to decide.

Anyway, didn't get much sleep.  Got up early to meet a friend (and another of her friends) to work on a screenplay for a short film.  Was there until almost 1 pm, by which point I was running solely on caffeine and a donut, as I hadn't eaten since 6 pm last night, and that wasn't much.  I finally left to run an errand, a gift for a baby shower (for the parents.)  It was cold.  And pouring.  Cold in the coffee shop, colder outside.  On the bus, a woman sitting slightly above me, in a side-facing seat, crunched on something just above my head.  It was slightly louder than the raindrops hitting the roof; I kept wondering if crumbs would cover my head in the end.  Never did figure out what she was eating.

At the market, hardly anyone shopped, it was close to closing.  The odd deluge from the tents poured down one after another as I walked down between the vendors.  I bought some bread and asked about whether the vendor would have any stollen next week, he explained he would be on vacation for the next three weeks.  As I started to walk away (I didn't have any cash) he stopped me and handed me a loaf (for free.)  I was trying to stuff it down my jacket to keep it dry and another vendor waved me under their tent and out of the rain.  Got soaked (and really cold feet) walking home.  I could pretty much see through my jacket.  I guess I hadn't expected it to rain so much, it wasn't raining when I left my house.  The streets near my house have turned into ponds, waves wash over the sidewalks and back onto the pavement with every passing car.  Soon ducks will be swimming there.

I tried to warm up with a shower, but the hot water made one of my feet start to burn unbearably, so that was as non-starter.  Guess it was cold.  Walked down to do laundry, dressed enough for housemates, not enough for guests, and ran into my landlord, who told me a new person was moving in.  I swear there is some trickster element in my relations with him. (I also recently sent him an inappropriate text on accident late at night, when I read it after I was appalled.  Somehow the word "physical" got into a text about a smoke detector, I have no idea how), and now I'm running into him half-dressed, although, in my defense, it is my house, and he's supposed to give fair warning.  But still, chalk it up to another clown moment.

I hope the concept for the film works.  There were a couple moments in the middle we hadn't quite worked out.