Hey, Hi, Remember Me?

I may have to port this blog over to my other email address, given I never really use the one it's linked to anymore. It's been a while, hasn't it? What have you been doing? Have you gotten married? Had kids? Stopped eating animal products? Started? Moved to a new city or state or even country? Hey, maybe you moved to another planet or won the lottery, had a car crash, or joined a cult. Possibly maybe, probably though.

So much has happened! My loving home at The Speakeasy SF closed down, so I took one of my bestie's offer to move to Kona on the Big Island of Hawai'i. We have a pandemic that's going on year two due to a novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, which if you're reading this when it's published and don't know, I have a condo on Mars I'd love to sell ya. I've gone back to school to finish my degree in performing arts. I never completed it because I bought into the "a degree in theatre is a waste of money" bullshit I was always spoon fed in my youth. I'm not one to feel much regret about my life choices, but the level of naive gullibility I always had (read: blind trust) in people most of my life has definitely led to some paths I would have otherwise followed being a bit delayed, if the door hadn't closed already by the time I arrived. My sweet kitten Copernicus is alive and well, and has taken up the position of "island cat" like it was his dream role. I still work in theatre, which is a blessing amidst this pandemic. I'm aching to buy a house. The market is bonkers right now, but it will happen, probably in Hilo. That's a feeling I've never experienced before - a desire to own a home. I think I finally found where I'd like to be for at least a good while. Life in paradise is pretty... well... pretty much like living in paradise. I've been spending a lot of time and energy learning about the indigenous heritage here out of respect for Hawaiian 'Oiwi culture. The last thing I want to do is be another mainlander who doesn't know anything about the history of this place, even if it's humiliating to read how awful some of my ancestors have been in their time here (and everywhere really). It's led me to some interesting thoughts that I'm still exploring with the help of some amazing Hawaiian History classes at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo.

Oy! I have meandered off my path again, and was brought back by the call of the local pueo (owl) that flies by my window every night and calls out with the backdrop of the waves crashing. Why am I here today, you might ask. Well, one of the things about being a university student is we have a little thing called homework. And when you're a theatre major said homework involves things like dancing in your bedroom for a video to post to your class, or running through scenes with your fellow classmates on Zoom (the new staple in remote communication), or writing a monologue. Today involved dancing, and now it's monologue writing time. So just what does the quintessential wandering butterfly spirit that I am write about? Um, obviously it's about a little thing called L-O-V-E. Or Halloween. Ok, ok I get two choices. Love or Halloween. Given who I am, it's a toss-up which one is of more importance in my over-embellished, poetical, costume-ridden and hopelessly romantic existence. Why not both? I figured I'd have some inspiration here on my blog. Can confirm, inspiration sought is inspiration found.

I'm hoping the playwriting class I'm currently enrolled in will add some artistic direction to the poetical proserific writing I've been doing in the form of journal keeping for 3 decades. It seems the only time I write anything is when I'm dealing with emotion that is making me feel (more) insane. So you guessed it - it's almost always about love. Misguided or unrequited or ridiculous as it is. That's the thing that I am the most impacted by: that romantic passion that is being in love with another human being. Even if I don't think I've been in love with anyone since 2015, except maybe a ghost or two. I think I'll always be in love with a ghost though, thanks Elijah. Just trying to rid myself of a couple others this year, which is proving harder than one might think. Nostalgia is a hell of a haunter.

So... let's give it a Halloween twist, and set the scene at a seance, and it's an actual ghost the character is talking to. Or ooo! Better yet, it's a ghost talking through a medium, and the character for the monologue is the medium. Saying all the things they always wanted to say, and perhaps had said at some point (I have source material), but perhaps some things that they always wished they'd said (where I can get creative). Sounds like a good setting for a Valentine's performance or a Halloween performance. And that is where you might find it in the coming semesters should you visit the University of Hawai'i at Hilo's Performing Arts department either online or even in person around those two holidays. Who knows! Maybe someone will perform it next semester. Hell, maybe I will.

See you on the flipside. Cheers my dears!