Shadow Puppets

The gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present.
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley

Saturday, February 13, 1999

I found out why Jack was so curious about whether I'd go to work Friday, after I stayed home sick on Thursday. He sent me some flowers, with a very nice note, for Valentine's Day! I'd ducked out of an extremely tedious meeting and found the receptionist's email that announced their arrival. I was so pleased that I ducked back in to the meeting to show them off! I was going to take a picture today (I worked, trying to get caught up on things) but I forgot my camera at home, so I'll do it tomorrow.

It's because I knew that I'd be doing all this work this weekend that I left the flowers here. I'll be spending enough hours in my office that I'll want to see them here.

I wanted to go dancing, but I just didn't feel well enough. I came home Friday afternoon and went early to bed.

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I was back at work, after a stop at the grocery store for provisions, before noon today. There were lots of other team members there, too, since we are close to being done. I had a chance to speak to my manager about what I might be doing next, but there are still so many unknown factors, that we'll have to talk again, probably several times. I didn't really need to bring so much food with me today, since they did bring in lunch (Thai food, and good!), but I'll need it tomorrow. I just feel isolated, being on campus when the cafeterias aren't open, so I like to bring muffins, a sandwich, hard candy, and stuff like that, when I work on a weekend.

Plugging through these bugs! I get the fun of talking to external websites that have problem HTML. As we go through different browser versions, we get stricter, so sites that might have looked fine before can now have problems. But it's not a browser bug, it's bad HTML! Webmasters aren't thrilled to hear this (and I put it more diplomatically, of course) but when they consider that it's their users who will be inconvenienced, they usually fix the pages.

I'm also trying to get caught up on the other part of my job, but I wasn't able to get as far as I'd wanted. Turns out I really did need some other team members there, after all.

It's tough keeping up my concentration when I have a cold, though! (Begin the pity party now!) I feel OK for a while, then the virus starts kicking my ass again. It's probably the worst when I wake up, with my sinuses all clogged up. I was in the bathroom this morning, about to brush my teeth or something, when I gave forth with a huge sneeze, that blew the contents of my sinuses right out my nose. Ewww, gross! and it takes a lot to gross me out, but I had to share. Luckily, the extra-expensive cough supressant that I bought at dance camp does a good job at keeping the coughing at bay for a good number of hours.

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Tonight was the third time we've performed "Lincoln Sees His Shadow and Falls in Love," a shadow puppet play that combines all the February holidays. It gets easier every year. The first time, in 1996, was an all-day affair. We had to write the play, construct the puppets, construct a screen to project the shadows on, then go to the planned site and perform (to a very tiny audience, although one man did offer us a dollar). The second time (last year) was easier, since we didn't have to write the play, but we had to reconstruct the puppets.

This year, the puppets and screen apparatus had been saved by my friend Tom Lawrence, so all we had to do was print out some copies of the script. Nick went to the store and bought a powerful utility light for us to use. He'd also discovered a good place to perform: the corner by Wallingford Center. This is a beautiful old elementary school that's been turned into an artsy shopping mall. There's a vaugely pole-shaped sculpture right on the corner, with live power outlets nearby.

I decided it was better if I didn't try a speaking part, since I knew I'd go into coughing fits, so for the first performance Nick and I operated most of the puppets, with David Volk and Katie holding up the screen at either end and doing the voices of Lincoln and the Groundhog. Nick did the other voices, including the narrator (portrayed by George Washington's Wooden Teeth). We actually had a number of folks stop and watch, including this couple that were there before the beginning and still there at the end!

In this picture, you can see all the performers, plus some of the puppets. Note the halo on St. Valentine, the groundhog that I'm holding, and the wooden teeth being held by Nick. We did a second show, switching parts such that David was behind the screen with me. I think what we need is body mikes or a few bullhorns! It's not easy to project strongly enough on these open-air performances. Jayson had missed the optimum bus from his new place and I was thinking he might need a ride home when he joined us, but what if he'd decided not to come after all? I was debating whether to wait for him or not, when he arrived. It was too bad that he'd missed the show, but he was going to continue on into the U-district, now that he was out of the house. I decided the better part of valor was to go home and rest. I think I was asleep before eleven!