Journal de la Semaine, 9-15 Octobre

9me – 15me

Su           Weston, Connecticut: beautiful trees make beautiful landscapes. 

M            Weston, Connecticut: spending time with Robert driving is just like times at home.

T              Weston, Connecticut: Robert has gotten very involved in finding new music, very pleasing to watch.

               

W            Today was boring and tiresome. Ballet was the most inspiring and yet I simply could not muster the spirit to dance. After work, I returned to my room and Matt cheered me up without knowing it. He was just being himself and in doing so inspired me to dance. Jill and Kevin’s wedding entrance helped, too.

Th            Day 1 of 3: Had a very pleasant time talking with and learning about Catherine Katz. The students in Lerman’s class met Kate and Dave today, of room 404 media. They are both very bright individuals.

F              Day 2 of 3: Woke up at noon, which was too late in the day.

Sa           Day 3 of 3: Jun Shepard and I performed our duet for an audience soaked by the rain on a stage covered in a layer of water. Just before we went on stage, the two of us talked through the piece and agreed to make the entire thing more gentle and therefore more safe to perform. It went very well, I would say. The rain was very enjoyable at first. Everything about the schedule of performances and preparation for them was utter chaos and the rain made it all ridiculously amusing. I left for a time with a very bad attitude because I got what I call “wet cat syndrome”. Basically, I got too wet and got very unhappy, so I left for a while. Kyle and I grabbed a bite at Zoe’s diner before coming back to my room to change into dry clothes. Eventually, we went back to the Yard to a live band, a lot of dancing, and a lot of bare feet in soft mud. When I woke up today, the air was so clean and the sun was out with large white clouds floating in the sky. It was quite perfect. Thinking about all that happened on Friday, I feel that I have experienced an emotional deluge after which I feel capable of starting over again with new breath.

                

Journal de la Semaine, 2-8 Octobre

2^me-8^me

Su           Second rehearsal for Don Quixote: my memory is serving me well. I love transforming myself into a dancer. Today was largely spent, however, loading walls and props into the Adams Pool Theater for Andy Boyd’s original play Affordable Rates and Color T.V. All things were properly set up and the run-throughs went very well, I think.

M            The welcome party for Jill Johnson went off without a hitch. It was superb. I had just come from ballet class into a dark room with a video exhibit by David Michalek that was displayed on three large vertical screens which were elevated a few feet from the ground. David Michalek is the husband of the principal dancer at New York City Ballet, Wendy Whelan, whom I met and spoke with for a time.

T              I updated my Facebook status to: “+2papers in <24hours. -1 three hour. +3 meals. +1 two-hour nap. Lifestyle efficiency.” It’s true. Before I skipped class to finish my paper, I napped on a pillow and blanket on the middle of three benches placed in the courtyard outside of my window. The sun was gentle enough through the leaves of the large tree so as to warm me but not overheat me. I slept for an hour and a half and woke up from a dream in which I was an old man thinking about his death. Images of my roommate’s face, smiling, and my own face, crying, came to mind. Contrary to what these two visualizations juxtaposed may insinuate, I felt very much at peace with my death, so much so that I woke up feeling renewed and fresh. Deciding against class and work for the hour afterward was not difficult. I walked to the river and wrote some sort of poetry, then burned it, and then wrote freely again.

W            I was very hungry in the afternoon and in the evening Andy Boyd’s Affordable Rates had a very successful run. Show goes up tomorrow night at 8pm.

Th           First showing of Affordable Rates and Colored T.V. Successful. First day at the Quincy Grille. Despite the spilled oil, which was not my doing, fortunately, the first day went comfortably. 

F              Today I cleaned the house at 17 Putnam for the brothers who will there and use the space.

Sa           Today’s rehearsal with Jun went very well and my rehearsing her steps last night paid off. We finished creating and learning the choreography today. When I asked, she said that since the last rehearsal to this one her level of security about this piece had increased from 4 to 7 on a scale of 10. Very good. 

Journal de la Semaine, 25-1 Octobre

25^me-1^re

Su           First rehearsal for Don Quixote: challenging and fantastic.

M            Regarding ballet, my balance is getting better. I can land somewhat securely after a pirouette and transfers of weight are done with more facility than before.

T              Today a very pertinent series of questions and thoughts arose while in discussion with Liz Lerman and architectural designer Michael Singer, among which were the notions of a “centralized thoroughfare” and sustainable food consumption at Harvard University. In the late evening with Lauren Simpson and gentlemen from the Lerman course, I participated in a first-stage collaborative effort to conjure moving ideas for Lerman’s installation-exhibit on the Civil War and the War in Iraq. The show goes up on 20 November. After returning to my room from a run in with the quality group of a few Pledges of AEPi and a brief walk with one of my roommates, I called my father, who silently fell asleep on the phone. Before going to bed, I noticed that the large white spider was not sprawled out on its web as it usually by this hour. I was worried that someone had done away with its web and the spider. To my delight, I found it curled up in the metal railing of my window, still alive.

W            This morning Kyle and I lay together in bed the entire morning without a worry or regret. I chose not to attend any of my classes today, which I do not regret, however I wish that the day was more progressive quantitatively (qualitative progress was high; I was happy to say the most). Regarding ballet, it pleases me that I am becoming more proficient in how I carry myself. Dinner with the Rabinowitz’ and company was lovely, and their home, exquisite. I have no reason to believe that I made an unfavorable impression on Mrs. Rabinowitz aside from the fact that, upon pulling out a petite note, in which I thank them with my own handwriting for their hospitality, a condom fell out of my pocketbook. It was quite funny, at the time. At the end of the evening, which had dragged on much too long, Mr. Rabinowitz graciously drove us all back to campus, at which point I promptly returned to my room, undressed, and slept.

Th           Today the rain came down from laden clouds and I bathed in it freely, content with all that I was.

F              My mind was very dissonant tonight and out of it I created an emergency gift for myself, bound with orange ribbon. Afterwards, I got very drunk at the party of a lady friend of mine who was turning twenty-one. (She had put a large photo of herself at the age of 15 on the window, though her appearance was exactly the same as it is currently).

Sa           I went to bed too late and woke up too early, so I went back to bed and then woke up feeling bland. I was swept away to Zander’s 21^st birthday—his parents had invited fifty of his close friends over to a bar for drinks, appetizers, and billiards. I almost didn’t go due to a severe confusion but I was very glad that I had. 

Journal de la Semaine, 18-24 Septembre

18me-24me

Su           Today was one of those Sundays that go according to plan while being moved by a subtle and more powerful pull. These instances of pleasant overlap of our micro and macro experiences, which are experienced in the present but perhaps strongest in retrospect, are profound, perhaps necessarily so. Also, I sat in on a conversation with Jawole Zollar and Liz Lerman. Potential research and dance project.

                I seduced Kyle but only momentarily, for the instant that I stopped I got typically sleepy until he arrived.

M            Monday was a very busy day. I obtained a little green-blue couch, had a job interview with three interviewers present (they made quite the tour-de-force, perhaps without realizing the power of their presence), and a trip to the Boston Ballet practice studios in the South End of Boston. I spent the evening with Dylan Freedman, which was a pleasure. At the end of the day, I was undoubtedly happy. 

T              Today I was in a very peaceful place and did not feel much for conversation. Most easily put, I had nothing to say to anyone. If only it were that easy without inciting offense. I enjoyed working with Jawole Zollar and Liz Lerman in class today, and on the walk home I procured some ivy from a brick wall, foliage that is now draped in my room to my greatest pleasure.

W            I worked out and feel so good. Ballet class was also amazing today. I felt it. Starting reading on René Descartes tomorrow morning, after an orange and a cigarette on the bench outside as it lounges in morninglight. 

Th           The weather was muggy and the benches wet, so I did not take the cigarette. Instead, I read at leisure at brought Kyle breakfast, for he hadn’t slept at all and with class all the day he wouldn’t have had the time. I also wrote a poem about the spider during this time. Jawole Zollar is magnificent.

F              I danced with Jun for the first time today. After fraternizing, I watched Mean Girls with Dylan and Kyle (it is still very funny). While the movie played, I learned who the young pianist was in Cabot: his name is Michael Taylor, which was a funny coincidence.  After walking to a pizza joint with Dylan, whose stomach was quite empty, I returned to my room to continue moving around. 

Sa           Sacvan Bercovitch failed to communicate with me about working for him this weekend, so I didn’t. I got very upset due to the conditions of a social mixer hosted by the fraternity. I was one man in a gentle threesome last night with two gentle friends, which was a new experience for him. 

Journal de la Semaine, 11-17 Septembre

11me-17me

Su           I decided to consume only healthy and balanced foods this week because of my Boston Ballet audition. Art of Survival. 

M            Today I visited the Department of History of Science and felt the Good energy. I rode my bike in a mob with Josiah and Sam Arnold to Fresh Pond for the first time today. Ballet class was fantastic. Made $10. 

T              Today I went to my first History of Science lecture and got 2 of 3 necessary signatures to join it. I made  significant progress in my solo: The Cocoon. I had a slow dinner with Becky and what I learned about her made me hopeful. I used an apple to blaze and found a small, dingy garage for a stage and I played with the piano to create what will be the music for my solo.

W            Today I had lunch with Cassandra, Chava, and dearest Kyle. I had dinner alone and sat with Kevin Meers and his company, which was pleasing. Afterward, I made more progress on my solo. While dancing in Cabot common room, I realized that I had an audience looking down from the windows across the way.

Th           My solo went well and I had a really nice date with Kyle watching and listening to Wynton Marsalis in Sanders Theater. After that, I had a super chill time with Andrew and Dylan after sake bombing. Slept with Kyle. Good day.

F              My History of Science section is very pleasant. The students in it are all of similar ages and academic aspiration and also of calm and intellectual demeanor. I am very much looking forward to the semester with them. 

Sa           I went on a boat trip with some people, which was nice, though I wished that I were alone the entirety of the ride. I wrote a poem to Boston, my second or third of this genre now.