Dan Posluns

The past couple of weeks have been a little more relaxed but I still feel tired on the whole. My quest for the ideal barbecue has been going poorly… it just seems that infrared rotisserie burners are incredibly uncommon in this year’s models, and the only ones that have them tend to be really low-quality brands that are still way overpriced for what you are getting. As the season winds down my options are only getting slimmer and slimmer as well, and my belly hungrier for the kinds of foods I would prepare on it.

Rehearsals for Cannibal start up next week, and I’m pretty jazzed about it. Last year was so much fun, and about 80% of the same cast is returning. I hope it’s received as well and with the same high level of attendance as it was last year, although I don’t know if that’s how these things work, seeing as it won’t have the novelty it did then. I hope so, though, as it’s the kind of show I could easily do for a month pretty much every year, kind of like going to summer camp.

Improv has been going pretty well, and while I’m still not as strong as I’d like to be I’m content overall with how I’m doing. My storytelling is still a bit ho-hum, I think, but I’ve had a number of pretty clever moments these past few shows that have helped make up for it. (I felt particularly jazzed by a gag I contributed last night to a scene in the style of a spaghetti western. I was desperately hunting for a prop that I could roll across the stage to simulate a tumbleweed, but all I could find were the large black stage blocks we use to simulate things like chairs and tables. It was admittedly cheap, but the audience found it hysterical when I clunkily rolled that block across the stage like a big square wheel in front of the performers, and while I can’t claim it a big win in terms of my improv skill or anything I was proud that I had the guts to take a chance on it.)

We’ve been playing King of the Hill for the past year or so, where winning teams come back the following week to defend their title against new competition. In addition to this, we’ve been encouraged to form teams and submit them to compete rather than just teaming up randomly with whoever is available. I haven’t really been a fan of it, because there’s a competitive edge to it that I find jarring with the ensemble mentality and operation, and because frankly I’m not very good at it… there are people in the ensemble who are very adept at actively pursuing teams, designing them to win, and finding ways to come back every week, and I simply am not one of them… I’m neither good at promoting myself nor comfortable with imposing on others to be on a team with me. It’s been frustrating to feel like I have to win in order to keep playing, and knowing that if I lose I might very well not get put on a team the following week just by sending in my availability, especially since priority had been given to new apprentice ensemble members. Well, this week it was announced rather unceremoniously that we are reverting back to random teams based on whoever is available, and while I don’t know what the impetus for the change was (I’m guessing that it’s in response to a dip in availability from ensemble members) I’m rather happy for it, and am hoping it lasts a while.

Everyone’s mood is improving as the light at the end of the tunnel of construction on our condo complex grows nearer. Our building is pretty much complete minus a few touch-ups; it’s nice and painted and we have new numbers on our door and everything. I finally got new blinds installed to replace the fairly cheap ones I had before. I didn’t go whole-hog but the three main ones in my living room are now cellular, top-down-bottom-up blinds, and while I didn’t spring for the cordless kind I did get them professionally installed, so I wouldn’t be voiding the warranty on my new windows or anything. It’s a real improvement having these blinds that can close from the bottom, since you can let in some light and foliage up top while still keeping your privacy down below – nice to have when you’re on the ground floor of a busy condo complex with windows that face a walking trail.

Today is (well, at this hour, more like was) Labo(u)r Day, and a welcome holiday off for me. Between improv, weddings (one last weekend, and one this weekend coming up!), social engagements, shopping for barbecues and the like there’s not a lot of “chill” time. Things are pretty good in my life right now, but I could use a few more quiet days like this.

Dan.