Endings ...

Greetings, everyone.

Happy Passover, and belated Happy new-pope day to those of both the
Jewish and Catholic traditions ...

It's been a hectic couple of weeks since we last met. I've been working, at
*four* (count 'em) four different jobs .. sadly, three pay pretty much squat,
but one is relatively lucrative.

I've been working as a contractor for a software company for just over a month,
now, testing software, writing testcases, reading design documents and
experimenting with various systems. It's proving to be an interesting position,
actually far more interesting than I'd initially anticipated, and it will be
difficult to leave behind in July, when my contract ends.

This has been a week in which the notion of endings really hits home.

I've been involved in a play, now since January, and this week, finally is
opening week (and closing week, too .. we do four performances,
and that's it). Three nights a week since the second week in January,
we've met in a community centre in the west end of Ottawa to painstakingly
rehears, block, re-hash lines sort out characters and at times, just cut up and act like goofs.

And now, in just over 72 hours, all that will pay off.

As this will likely be my last performance in community theatre for a little while, it's
been a bittersweet time .. and again has reinforced the notion of passage and endings.

The cast of this play (http://www.lakesideplayers.com) has been great, and while I've got to know them all well (since there's only five of us), I've got to know one or two better than the others, and if anything it's been a reinforcement of just why performing can be so addictive. Indeed, I've been very fortunate over the years to get to know a number of talented, unique people, who bring colour and energy to what is, at times a pretty bland world. I've learned so much from them .. not only about performing and theatre, but about celebrating the silly, and oddball side of life, and about relishing the opportunity to play, and to be kids once again.

It's always a slightly melancholy time when opening nigh draws close. The adrenaline starts to run high, and the nervous energy starts to pick up, but at the same time, the beginning of the run also signals the beginning of the end, and the knowlege that soon our time in this little universe we've created, will be done. There have been some plays that have been a chore to complete, where as rehearsals dragged on, I wanted nothing more than for the play to be done. But even there, once performance time came around, the fun was back and the wish for just one more performance was still there.

As well, I've begun to start putting my affairs in order to move this July. Not a little piddly move, no siree. Nope, I will be moving to Japan for a year .. to near Yokohama and Tokyo, in fact, where I will spend what I hope will be a fascinating 12 months teaching English to a variety of students. As I sit in my comfy chair surrounded by all the things that are familiar and routine, I wonder if I'll be able to adapt. But then, at the same time, I know I've adapted to many situations and circumstances in the past, and ceratainly can adapt to this, as well. But then, as the play draws close, I begin to think of the people, the friends the familiy I won't see for a while, and the realization of what I'll be leaving behind hits me once again.

It's a melancholy feeling. Like the end of summer, just before school starts, or the last night of a play's performance, and I know I'll be wishing for just a little more time, or one more show, or one more friendly coffee, before I'll have to say goodbye.

And so it will be, but it will make the reunion all that much sweeter.