Work Haiku
One cup of coffee
Followed by one cup of tea
Pardon me, must pee
Shyne
5 word challenge – Lexi
Lexi was an odd little girl, as little girls go. No interest in dolls and dress-up, only books and being out back in the woods. A perfect day for her was a walk in the woods to her favorite spot to relax and read one of her many books. For 10, some thought she was a little dour, but her parents brushed off the comments and figured she was just quiet.
After a particularly rough day for Lexi where her well-meaning parents forced a birthday party on her, Lexi simply couldn’t wait to get away from everyone. Stupid cake. Stupid balloons. Stupid presents. No one had even gotten her anything good, like books. It didn’t seem to matter how many times she told, begged or pleaded with her mother, she always received little girl presents like flowery dresses and dolls. All Lexi really wanted was the latest Stephen King or Dean Koontz but her mom thought she was just too young for that. She didn’t know that Lexi read them anyways. Duh, library mom. Lexi had actually become quite the Stephen King aficionado having read everything that he’s written.
Finally, after having escaped the adults’ watchful eye, Lexi makes her way to her room and changes out of the stuffy party dress and into her exploring clothes. She dons her favorite baggy cargo pants, great for carrying things and keeping the briars away, a comfy long sleeved t-shirt and her stinky sneakers. Mom’s always trying to get rid of those shoes, but Lexi puts up a fight and wins every time. Today, she packs her backpack for the trip. An apple, a book, a camera, a doodle pad. Yes, she’s quite the precocious young lady. Her doodle pad is full of palindromes: no garden, one dragon; live not on evil; dammit, I’m mad. She loves words, word puzzles and riddles.
She knows that the danger of having to go back to the party is over and so she doesn’t hesitate to tell her mom that she’s leaving. Of course, Mom has known for a while that Lexi has disappeared and has already figured out where she went and what she’s up to. Mom knows when a storm is on the horizon, when Lexi has that look in her eye, like a maelstrom of thoughts is behind those dark brown eyes. After a quick kiss goodbye, Lexi takes off for the woods behind the house……
Collide
Garen said it best:
I want you to corrupt me
I want you to make me bleed
I want to be your savior
I want to part your seas
Fill you up until you were whole again
I’d make you feel alive
So you don’t feel so empty on the inside
I want to be your lover
Never just your friend
I swear I’ll be beside you
Every chance I get
I wish you’d take me a little more seriously
When I say these things to you
But you act like you don’t know who I’m talking to
With all of these thoughts pounding in my head
All of the words I wrote in a letter I never sent
Lines that you won’t let me break
Times that you could never erase or change
Will our worlds collide the next time
I let you dig your hole too deep in me
Pretty soon you’ll let me down again
Will I still see you in my sleep tonight
Will I still see you in my sleep tonight
I wanted you to linger
I want you on my mind
I swear I’ll think about you
All the time
Take me a little more seriously
When I say to you
Don’t act like you don’t know who I’m talking to
With all of these thoughts pounding in my head
All of the words I wrote in a letter I never sent
Lines that you won’t let me break
Times that you could never erase or change
Will our worlds collide the next time
I want you to corrupt me
I want you to make me bleed
I want to be your savior
Gentlemen (term used loosely), why?
Perhaps it is because of where I live, perhaps not, as this is not the first occurrence of an incident such as the one I am about to describe.
Today at lunch, I had to take a little trip on foot to the post office. I, unlike some, am a fairly conservative work dresser. Today's outfit consists of a button up long-sleeved black shirt and beige dress pants. Nothing tight, nothing sexy. So why, random guy on the street, do you feel the need to leer at me, make noises at me, and talk to me?
Maybe it annoys me because these men are just never attractive, or at least not to me. Am I only attractive enough to merit comments from sub-par men? (That is a RHETORICAL question, please don't answer it. You won't be able to break me with rude comments. I'm beautiful to me and at the very least pretty damn cute to others.)
I'm not a super-bitch when it happens. I've learned that the Borg knew what they were talking about. Resistance is futile. If I don't respond, I'm definitely a bitch, but flash those pearly whites and it seems to soothe the savage beast. I guess the point of this ramble is why do guys think that this is okay? Seriously, if you're really interested, approach me like a grown human being capable of conversation. Does a wedding ring scare you off? If that's all it takes, I'll mention that to the love of my life.
Sorry, stream of consciousness going on today.
Busting my stage cherry
So the title is graphic and a little naughty, big deal.
This is the story of my first time on stage in front of about 300 people.
When the concept of working at Club Med was first explained to me, I thought it to be interesting and fun, if not a little odd. I mean really, who pays you to do what you enjoy doing, learn to do new stuff, show off your new stuff on stage and to talk to random strangers who end up being your friend 6 days later? Well, Club Med does basically, or that was my understanding of it.
I like to dance. Mind you, I am a terrible dancer. An embarassment to anyone with rhythm actually. I can headbang with the best of them, although I'm getting off track. I have a tendency to be very active behind the bar (I think I left out the fact that I was a bartender), and therefore, I tend to be remembered if not noticed. Our choreographer, who came in for coffee every morning, was dying to get me in a show.
The problem was scheduling. You see, as a bartender, I was working during many of the rehearsal times and no rehearsal equals no show. Fortunately, in my first season working at CM, my co-workers in the bar really enjoyed drinking more than I did and were not the least bit interested in getting up early. Me, on the other hand, I would prefer to be up early and get my work done so that I can relax in the evenings. In the end, my boss gave in and let me take over all of the morning shifts so that I would have evenings free for rehearsals and shows.
These are not Broadway productions people. These were a bunch of folks whose talents lie elsewhere that were coerced into a show. A lot of rehearsals consisted of more yelling than dancing. I was behind in the learning curve since most people had already been doing rehearsals for a while before I got there, but I do learn quickly.
Here's the thing about CM: if you're asked to do something and you say yes, you'd better be ready to do it in a very short amount of time. I'm pretty sure I had about one week of practice before the choreographer decided that I was ready for the stage. How excited was I?!?! I told my co-workers and my boss about my pending big debut and all was happy across the land.
As the big night approached, I had no worries. How difficult could this be? That was not the correct attitude. I headed backstage before showtime and found my newly named cubby. It had my three costumes and my shoes. Whee!!! I made sure of the order of the show and pulled out my first costume and that's when it struck.
Stage fright.
Possibly the worst case ever known to man. Okay, probably not, but my God, I couldn't even get my shoes on. Mimi, who had the cubby next to mine, noticed that I was a bit on the nervous side.
"Sunshine, how are you doing?"
"Well, I have all my costumes, I think I remember the steps."
"That's good. Oh wait, you have that on backwards."
"Ugh! This is terrible. I'm shaking like a leaf!"
"Oh, yes, this is your first show, right?"
"Sure is. I hope I don't screw up."
"Look, have you had a drink?"
Seriously, she asked me if I was drinking. I will not stand on a soap box and say I didn't consider it, but I decided against it being the noob.
"Um, no."
"Well, girl, go get one! Geez, you work in the bar, you drink for free, and you're not having anything? Go get yourself a drink, and bring me one too."
I'm pretty sure that I looked at her as if she had 3 heads before she told me to get a move on. There was a corridor that connected backstage with the back area of the bar and I made good use of it. I went back, got us drinks, had a shot of Jaegermeister for good luck and then headed backstage again where Mimi and I toasted my first show.
Did you know that alcohol kills butterflies? No scientific study needed. Proof positive. I went out on stage and busted a choreographed move. Not only in the first number where you couldn't see any of our faces anyways, but in the second number and in the finale where I was in the front row!
As we changed back into our regular clothes after the show, I received congratulatory praises on my first performance. Even my boss pulled me to the side and said that I was right to fight for what I wanted to do. It was a great experience that lead to soooo many more nights on stage. After a couple years of performing, people started asking me if I'd had any experience on stage before because it always looked like I was having so much fun up there. A few people suggested that I should try a career in stage. HA! I laugh at them. I'm smiling and laughing because a)we do talk to each other up there even though you can't hear it in the audience and b) give me a shot of Jaeger and I'll smile at anything.
I've retired my stage shoes, they've been collecting dust for about 3 years now. That doesn't mean I don't get the urge to dance every now and again because I do. I just have to suppress these desires and be the mom/girlfriend/admin/web designer/soon-to-be business owner that we all know and love.