The 21st Century Pocket-watch

That's what I call my cell phone.  They have clocks on them and go in pockets.  But I left mine at my apartment on Monday morning.  I felt a little lost all day.  I didn't know if the job for which I interviewed would call me back.  More importantly, I wouldn't know what time it was after I left work.  I'd have to guess.

 

So, I went to class at IO West and put my stuff on the table, where I usually do.  I usually eat dinner at Mongol King and get to Hollywood early, around six and wait for class to begin.  i put my stuff on my table at the usual spot and pulled out a book.  It was a book I borrowed from the teacher the previous week, Improvise by Mick Napier, founder of the Annoyance Theater in Chicago.  I think the book may be intended for slightly more advanced improvisers because its philosophy was to reject a lot of the specific rules involved in typical improv.  He explains the reasoning behind the creation of the rules without endorsing them.  There are some great exercises in the book though, and you have to love a book that makes an improv analogy using the first two laws of thermodynamics.

 

I walked back outside to see if anyone else was around.  When I turned around there was a sign saying class was canceled.

 

Now, my last class for Level 2 is scheduled for Monday, April 16th.  The sign on the door promised that it would be rescheduled at a later date.  What worried me was that later date would be when I was home, between the 18th and 25th.

 

All the Level 2 classes teach the same thing on the same week, so the dilemma was that I didn't know if the next week they'd teach week six stuff in my class or if I could take the class with the other teacher on Wednesday instead.  I decided to give it a try.

 

I didn't do my laundry on Sunday, so I had to do it on Tuesday.  I decided to check the basement door to see if the laundry room was open again.  It was.  But there was a sign that said not to attempt starting a load after 7pm as they closed at exactly 9pm.  I checked my 21st-century pocket-watch and saw that it was 7:20.  I would be cutting it close, so I decided to stay in there in case someone came in to lock the door.

 

To pass the time, I brought my Emerson alumni magazine, Expressions, and played with the broken piano in the corner.  For years I knew about a bar of "The Addams Family" theme, but this night I found the first couple of bars to the song, so I was pleased that I had a couple of extra pieces to that puzzle.  I wonder when I'll get to play that song, a wedding?  A funeral?

 

So, I went to class on Wednesday.  They said they'd probably reschedule the missing class for before the last class, so it probably wouldn't conflict with my schedule, but that it'd be okay if I ended up taking an extra class.

 

I saw some kids I remembered from my Level 1, so it was good to see them again, and the teacher seemed to like my work in the games in the first half.  He announced before the break that the class would be doing their first Harold.  That included all of us.

 

I don't know if it was through applying what I read, or the past few weeks of classes, but I felt pretty comfortable up there, moving the plot forward in my own scenes.  I even initiating the group games.  I think it was to the point where the time flew by quickly.  Well, though it's a half-hour, you're only participating in the opening, the group games, and each of your own scenes.  Each person is probably in about twelve minutes of it.  That's not much for a stand-up, so I guess it meant it wasn't that big a deal for me.

 

Friday I went to my internship, and the Andy Dick Theater is growing on me.  The Friday shows are sometimes like a Harold, sometimes just long-form improv, and sometimes something completely different.  But it's something that the people that work there clearly care about in a different way from the mainstage stuff.  It's there baby.

 

Yesterday, I bought a lamp.

 

Happy Easter.

 

Thank you, I'm Eric Cheung.  I'm on MySpace and Live Journal.

 

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