Was feeling pretty unwell yesterday…I’m taking in a little too much of the bad, not enough of the good these days, and my body was feeling it.  Bit of a mild panic/heart attack or something a few hours before class, so I napped it a bit, and then to Bridgehead where a nice pot of Rooibos fixed me up a treat, for the time being.  I wandered over the the OSSD for class the seventh, and this time it was ‘Bring a friend to class’ week at the school!  Three of our gang partook, and I would have myself, but I completely forgot that I don’t HAVE any friends, so that really was a bit of a non-starter.  Ah well.  Class ahoy!

Before we started I got my print sheet back from the Alan Dean headshots I sat for the week previous.  They look as good as pictures of me can realistically look, and now I have the option of shelling out cash (it’s a fundraiser for the school, so I dinna mind) to get some prints or digital copies.  I likely will…what the hey, at least my folks would probably want a copy.

We got underway the usual style, with warmups and our by now familiar excercizes.  This time, tho, we were told by Boss Karp to do them with an eye towards the approaching final class, where we will be doing a solo routine of five of them mashed together, an Enchainement as he calls it.  I’m looking forward, and wow, I sure hope I pass, or I’ll be spending all this money on headshots for nothing!  (seriously, tho, I really, really hope I pass)  I was sweating it a little bit…but mostly because I hadn’t really eaten well that day (remember?) and my body was reminding me of that rather loudly.  I tend to get a little woozy/crashy when I have these weird hunger attacks.  I was hoping the usual adrenalin buzz the class provides would carry me through.  It would.

After warmup we made a circle and got walking.   Just walking, one at a time, and someone else following that person with mimicry on their mind.  It was fun, especially since I’d been doing exactly that at the Rideau Centre a few days previous.  It was a little weird, tho…you certainly do feel just a little bit like a piece of meat, parading around solo for the gang.  I found that my folowee this class, Rachel I believe, was a little tricky to get right.  And apparently, as the running commentary from behind ME had it, I tend to slump.  It’s a fair cop.

We split into some of the quickie improv one-on-ones from last week then, before splitting into bigger teams to improv some machinery, growing more interconnected and mobile as the challenge went on.  As a Transformers fan of old, this was clearly no problem for me.

No break after that, and we split into yet another team to tackle a bigger challenge.   We were given a 3-tiered montage to take on…victory, challenge, and defeat, in that order, and had to make a rhyming storyline to act out in not too long a time.  Being the so-called ‘writer’ of my little group, I got the task of scribbling our little masterpiece down, as well as the role of narrator.  One of the guests to class this week, a gent named Ryan, had a lot of good ideas for our piece, and along with Denise, Julia and Stefan I’d say we pretty much nailed the tale of the Democrats rise to power, and recent fall in the House.  Although there was another piece about a competitive dance troupe that was a fuckin’ hoot and a half, so kudos there.

That pretty much ate up the rest of class.  Barry gave us each a simple little script to memorize for the next time we see him, which will be in two weeks time.  He’s off next week to produce KISAGEETIN: A CREE CABARET at NAC’s 4th Stage.  It plays next tuesday/wednesday, the 9th and 10th, and I’m seriously considering checking it out on the 9th.  But next wednesday, we’ll be getting Mary, our fill-in instructor from way back at the 1st class, once again, which I’m kinda tickled about.  I mean, I loves me some Boss Karp, but I’m glad to getting the chance to interact with Mary one more time, so she can see how we’re coming along.  Hope she remembers us!

Oh, and as I picked the wrong bar to haunt after class (Carleton instead of the Oak), I missed out on being able to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the loverly Nadine Thornhill in person yesterday.  So keep on keeping on, Ms T.  See the rest of ya soon,

The Visitor (and Winston)