I mentioned a high degree of panic over the fact that I had accepted my first live speaking role in a play (without a puppet above or in front of me) in fifteen years. I am still a little panicked because my short term memory is still not worth a damn. ( When I was acting on a consistent basis, I hardly ever had to study lines. If we did it three or four times in rehearsal I pretty well had it -- Well, there were some Sheridan, some Shakespeare and some some absurdist plays where the lines seemed unrelated that took more serious study) . Any way this is a pretty cheesy script where I have to play both Dickens (thirty some years my junior), and Scrooge ( almost as old as me), but I am getting a fairly firm grip on the two characterizations. (They, sort of, blended for a while) and I have decided that, if I ever can remember the damned words, I probably will not embarrass either myself or the director. Who knows, if it gets a review, I may post it. (Ego strokes, Ego strokes, Ego all the way- I won't finish the parody poem I wrote for Jingle bells. You can probably guess the ending when I tell you that Mr. Punch's wife Jucy sang the song, accompanied by a swinging broom that was NOT aimed at the floor.)

Bah Humbug to you all!!!!

This is a sort of a P.S. I went off to Newberry S.C. last week to watch the Salzburg Marionettes who are touring the U.S. They are doing Mozart's The Magic Flute, and you may not be impressed if you don't like Opera, but the marionette work is just exquisite. If they come to your community, go see them. I am going to try to put a link in to one of my favorite blogs. It may or may not work, and the blog may provide some language difficulties, though, in its way it is a really political blog.http://www.livejournal.com/community/_puppets_/