Record high

Went to this birthday party last night: it was fun.  I left early-ish (after 10), but it took over an hour-and-a-half to get home, so I kinda' wish I'd stayed longer.  When I left people had started to either to do a trick, a roast of the birthday lady, or both, and it sounds like a lot more people finally got up.  Initially, people were holding back.  And it was cold waiting for the bus(es), it had been almost 70 degrees in the morning, but had gotten considerably windier and colder by 11 pm.  The first bus, I barely missed and ended up waiting 25 minutes for the next one, which was late and so I missed the second connection and had to wait another 30 minutes for that one.  Went into the all-night grocery store to see if they had coffee or something warm, had to settle for a deep-fried burrito sitting under a heat lamp, for $1, but it killed time.  It's an interesting scene, I haven't hung out in a grocery store late at night in a long time.  Years ago, I kept applying for Denny's waitressing jobs because I wanted to work the graveyard shifts there, because I was interested in the life that happens when everyone else is asleep.  Now, I like sleeping too much.

Anyway...the invitation had asked people to dress up in costume, and normally I have a really hard time with that (coming up with something.)  But I did come up with an idea, and when I thought about it, and also when I was putting it together at home, there was a definite personality to it: a way of speaking, moving, acting.  And while I didn't end up putting the whole thing on at the party, nor pulling off the personality, it did dawn on me how much those choices matter for character.  Also that part of my confusion with my clown is the clothes.  I need more inspiring clothes.  The ones I have don't do anything for me.  They inform nothing.  I just like them, but that's milquetoast.  This is why rehearsal clothes matter, and suddenly I understand that.

Also, someone I was dancing with mentioned that years ago when he had studied clown, they'd "ranked" them, and that had helped with figuring out personality as well.  We didn't do that.  And I tend to run at a lower energy level emotionally, but the character I found last night was probably a five or a six.  (Out of a scale 0-7.)

Enlightening.  Funny what triggers understanding.

Doing work that matters

Oh, and it did record. I couldn't see the files earlier, good thing I recharged the battery and deleted the files before returning the camera. Shoulda' listened first, I suppose, to see if the mic worked.

Trudged around SODO last night to go to a party celebrating Co-ops. It was at a really cool warehouse that re-sells building materials. Need to go wander around there again with a camera. There are a lot of art spaces down there, they are easier to get to by transit than I had imagined, so also good to know. (I wouldn't want to wander around alone after dark though.) Another night to get fired-up and inspired about all the great work people are doing in the city and around the world. These ideas and actions so rarely make the news (same with the art) that unless you end up at an event where people talk about it, you'd never know. Meanwhile, we get to hear about some celebrity's clothing options, or if their baby bump is showing...you know, hooray for them, but in the big scheme of things, who cares? I realize it's a distraction, but there are real issues in the world, it would be helpful if people could see something being done to address them, and therefore have some hope, or at least a little less pessimism. We are not all alone in this world. (Off my highhorse now.)

I have a note about Jim Jarmusch on my desk, regarding what the connection is to Finland. (Night on Earth.)

Incidently, more than half of the people I mentioned the vertigo to have had it; most think it's the ear-rock/crystal thing.