A short poem about gross bodily functions

You are so full of... talent that it makes my bowels want to vomit vowels and choke on consonants and, consequently, consonance. Mentally constipated, I constantly gag, trying to spit out the perfect words to say what's deep inside my throat: I love the piss out of you and I can't wait to come home.

Year of the Space Cowboy

Yep. Normally this would be about the time to evaluate this entire year and decide at all once if it was a successful one or not. Judging by all I have learned this year, I would say it has been a pretty good year. The fact that I can now say it in Japanese that this year has been a good one (今年はいいですね！) proves it.

When I moved here in February, it was after a year of soul searching. After failing to get the only spot available in the M.A. Directing program at the University of Texas, I wasn't sure where to go next. I was told, very politely, that my biggest downfall was my age (23 at the time) and that they sincerely hope, after I gain a little more worldly experience, that I would try again. I took the worldly experience thing to heart. Here I sit in Hamamatsu planning the next phase:

Tokyo 2010.

A big factor in my decision to come to Japan was to study, or at least observe, Kabuki, No, and Bunraku theatre. After seeing a kabuki version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by preeminent Japanese director Ninagawa Yukio, I knew I made a wise decision. It's been a few months since I've seen a show (the last was Sarah Kane's Blasted, performed by a Japanese company with a French director). That's the territory that comes with dating someone a few hours away. The days become counters for the next encounter. Until the clock stops cold. And you're standing there wondering what the hell to do with these batteries.

So, I've been redirecting that energy back where it belongs: travel and theatre. And there's no better way to celebrate the homecoming of my he(art) than to come home. During my two weeks, I will see the people who have kept me strong through the loneliness that comes with not being able to speak to even your neighbors because of the language barrier. And I will visit my Mecca for my very first pilgrimage. I will visit NYC for NYE.

I am truly amazed at how this year has unfolded. I've seen things I never imagined and I constantly make plans that once seemed impossible. I feel powerful and impotent at the same time.

Maybe it's a Gemini thing.

This weekend, I am staying in-bed to do some much needed reading. The Kite Runner, perhaps. Maybe some Shakespeare. He never fails to equally humble and inspire.

Oyasumi. Today will be a good day for you.
I am living in the future after all.

Best thing I've heard in an interview on television

Every time Rachel Maddow books a guest who clearly disagrees with her, and vice versa, it always makes for good television. What really fascinates me is how she readily uses her guest's past statements against them. She really does her research, and while I know she has staffers, I have read accounts that she works harder than anyone on her team. Yay perfectionism! That's how she became a Rhodes Scholar.

Anyway, I saw this tonight and I laughed so hard at her candidness I watched it three times in succession.

Rachel Maddow: "The idea that divorce makes you gay for example seems insane to me-"

Richard Cohen: "No no no no-"

Rachel: "You described it as a factor of homosexuality."

Richard: "You're taking it out of context, Rachel."

Rachel: "No. I'm reading from your book, dude."

Hahahahahaha. Dude!

The Once Wonderful Wizard

The Once Wonderful Wizard

Weary from their westward walking, our wanderers reach the Wizard
The Wonderful Wizard
The one who made the town emerald and the eyes green
The Wonderful Wizard
Who is larger than life
Whose compassion knows no bounds
The Wonderful Wizard
With several tongues
Wearing the story of life on his skin.

Weary from their walk, they wrestle with the Wizard.
The Wonderful Wizard
Who projects himself as strong and all-knowing
Who turns out to be a mere mortal after all.
The wall has fallen and the Wizard looks beyond
Wondering if he should seek his own rainbow.

Our wayward travelers continue west.

Weary from their walk, our wanderers realize
They never really needed the Wizard after all.
They'd walked so far on the saffron road together
Wondering how this would all come to end.

The straw woman wizened on her journey
She now knows she cannot stay in Oz.
The last we heard, she let the wind take her west.

The maple colored leo was searching for the antidote
The one to cure his pussycat ways.
This lion, once thought to be a coward,
Was right to turn tail and flee in the rain.

The metallic automaton was on a journey to find emotion.
The thing to make him fully human.
The Wizard chided him, called him scrap.
Told him to oil his own joints.
The tin woodsman cried back:

I am indeed a
clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk.
And one day I'll take off this tin armour streaked with rust
And follow the gilded road home.
On that day you'll realize that I do have a heart and you
Wizard
have no magic.

And that girl
The infectiously chipper girl,
(And her little dog too)
was disappointed most of all.
But at the end of this journey, the long westward walk
She learned that what she was seeking
Was with her the whole time

She learned though she's not in Kansas
or Kansai
anymore, she is home.
So she stayed. And they smiled,
The girl and her armoured companion.

What about the Wizard
The once Wonderful Wizard
The once Wonderful Wizard is searching for blue birds.
And he, like our wayward wanderers, needs to follow this road through.
And we hope to see the Wizard soon.
And we hope the Wizard can tell us his stories.
And we hope the Wizard finds his magic too.

But he will never be the Wonderful Wizard again.