Reflection 2.015, Section 89B, Article 2

The challenge these new days is not deciding what to do...so much as prioritizing what to do now and what to do later.  The days of being a freelance choreographer (in a nearly forgotten, but rapidly growing provincial city in a developing nation) seem to have come to an end.   No more schlepping myself to and from rehearsal through the snow, this is true, but also, my day no longer begins and ends with rehearsal.  All sense of being a D-list celebrity accompanied, oddly, by nearly complete anonymity, has vanished.  I even waited in line last weekend to get into a club...I felt as if I had been duped. 
  Now, the making of the work itself is a ridiculously minute part of my 'day'.   We're trying to organize things...but before we do that we must first create the organization itself.  I knew all of this would require work, and that for the time being, and for much of the time to follow, I will be the 'point person' on nearly all issues...which means having answers to the questions and a simple but effective way of disseminating information.  A non-profit contemporary dance theatre company IS a company...and I suppose it IS a business, too...and I'm prepared to run it like one, in spite of the fact that I, myself, am not a business person and that my true interests lie not in creating or managing budgets, but creating and managing choreography.  It is currently the situation that having my own company removes me even more from the choreography itself, instead of bringing me closer to it.  I think, though, that this is temporary and that as this ant of an entity becomes a juggernaut of creative majesty (we've got big plans) I can spend more time talking with the dancers about their sit bones, and less time talking with the company manager about whether we should create a facebook 'person' for the company or a facebook 'group'. 
   It is time, then, given perhaps our most American of American holidays, Thanksgiving, to realize how much total-kick-assness I've had in my life...how many opportunities and 'breaks' and how many crazy fools, for whatever reason, believe in and support this crazy fool (me).  I took a few days off of email, off of web-based social networks...I've even had a difficult time responding to text messages...so that I can just kick it with my family and play with the dogs and watch saturday college football games and, in many ways, reconnect with my roots, my hometown(s), and all those who spent the last 25 years fretting and stewing about me...making sure that I was taken care of, provided for, and, most importantly, loved.  It's the very least I can do to realize what I have, experience and express my appreciation for those things, and give back to both those who have already given so much.  It's heavy...and a tad sentimental, I know...but truly important and awesome and calming. 
 Christmas is just a few weeks away now...this is exceptionally exciting as two of my favorite people (the former Ms. Hong Kong [2006-2008] and the current Mr. Warsaw [2008]) are coming for a visit  to my fair state.  We will drink and debauch, laugh and giggle and get pissed off...drive around, swim around, and meander around the wild southland and its ridiculous non-winter.  Between now and then I will finish my new choreography, file that pesky 1023, visit Boston, Providence, and NYC, have a few more drinks on top of my roof (from which I can see the TransAmerica Building and downtown San Francisco), build a bed for myself, smile and laugh a lot, cry a bit, wake up groggy-faced and tumble into the kitchen, waiting with eye-booger filled eyes for the coffee to finish percolating...I will do a lot between now and then...and probably way more after 'then', too...but I think it's sometimes good to parse things out and look under the covers and figure out what's going on...to take a breath and an extended moment to step back and observe all...all that has happened in the past few whatevers (minutes, days, years, etc) and ponder what will happen in the next few whatevers.  Life...that slippery mofo...is pretty damn ______________ (insert any adjective here).

Bon Chance to all...may your Thanksgivings have been plentiful and your smiles wider than you expected.  If you don't do the Thanksgiving 'thing', I'd suggest trying it on...it's definitely an American tradition I'm proud of, want to preserve, and encourage all to celebrate.  Be thankful for your surroundings, the little things and the big, your histories and futures, all the tragedies and triumphs...bold and cowardly actions...all victories and defeats...because these are the things of which life is made...in between, within, and surrounding every thought and action, emotion and impulse...we're connected by minutia and, well, I like that quite a bit.