Another Harold Night, another rock ‘n’ roll set by Big in Japan.

There was some adventure preceding our set though. Usually, we warm up in the alley beside the Savannah Room, and we can get a bit hyper and aggressive with each other. We ran into the alley, and there was some pushing and shouting along the way. People on the street were staring at us, but that’s normal. Anyway, we got ourselves into the alley, and into a circle to begin our warmup. Suddenly, a police car screeched into the alley and stopped just a few feet from us, scaring the living bejesus out of us. Two cops got out and confronted us. “We heard you guys were fighting in here,” one of them said. Apparently someone saw us running into the alley, and misinterpreted Allison screaming, “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you, Cawley!” at Adam to mean that there was something bad going down. Silly people. We started laughing, and had to explain that we were an improv group, and we were just warming up, and that nothing illegal was happening. They remained suspicious, and watched us for a minute or so, but eventually decided we were no threat to ourselves or anyone else. After that, they just backed the car out of the alley and left.

Anyway, as I mentioned, we had a rock ‘n’ roll set. Our suggestion was “stealth.” Energy was high, we ditched the Harold form and just had fun with each other. We had the audience cheering before our opening was even finished, and held them until the end. We’ve got a week off next week, but already I’m looking forward to our next show on November 12.

I went to a couple of Hallowe’en parties with Jen and Laura tonight. It took me a while to figure out what I was going to be, but since I am lucky enough to be living with the Fake Blood Queen, I would be stupid not to be dead in some bloody way. Everyone who is dead was also something else, other than dead. So I was a dead hockey player. I’m probably the only dead hockey player in history to be wearing Christian Dior eyeshadow.

Not bad, eh? Yes, we both know there would be more blood if I actually died from that, but we’re on a budget, ok?

Jen played the part of the sexy nurse tonight. The stethescope was significantly longer than her dress.

Laura’s costume was very creative. She dressed as chiaroscuro, represented conceptually by an elegant, somewhat art deco outfit in various shades from black to white. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of it.

Good times. I’m glad we got a chance to dress up, although, at the party, we discussed the philosophical concept that we wear costumes every day, for whatever role we’re playing at the time.

Anyway, I was glad to have a shower and wash off the makeup when we got home. I don’t envy women for feeling like they to wear that goop all the time.

The movie watching continues: we watched Flightplan and Aeon Flux. Flightplan was actually better than I expected. It was visually very cool, stylish and decently acted. The story was rather far-fetched, based on a criminal plan that no one in their right mind would come up with or expect to work. Movies require some suspension of disbelief, though, so I let that one slide. Jodie Foster plays book-smart characters very convincingly, probably because she actually is smart. It’s easy to believe that she’s an engineer, or FBI profiler, or astrophysicist because she gives off that vibe. It’s a vibe that turns a lot of people off, but I don’t have a problem with it. The world needs variety.

Aeon Flux was painfully bad. I think it’s the worst movie I’ve seen since Domino. Aside from Charlize Theron’s obvious hotness, there is nothing redeeming about this movie at all. It is utterly ridiculous, and the dialogue is laughably awkard and stupid. There is a certain kind of false depth to it that only a movie this shallow can deliver. However, unlike Domino, it wasn’t really annoying. It was just eye-rolling and pathetic.

I agree with Jen. Every time I go to the States, the paranoia at the border seems to get higher and higher. This time, when going to get Jen at the Buffalo airport, I waited about 30 minutes in a line of cars to cross the border. There were dudes with guns and sniffy dogs patrolling between cars too. I got grilled by the border agent when I got to the front of the line too. One question was, “What time does her flight arrive?” I said, “About 20 minutes ago.” He said, “Why are you so late?” and I said, “Have you seen that line?” pointing behind me. He wasn’t amused. Anyway, I thought it best to just shut up. He searched my car, including the trunk, and then let me pass. I felt really bad for the truck drivers though. The line of trucks waiting to get through the border was at least 5km long, and didn’t seem to be moving. That would be depressing.

One other thing to note… I’ve been to the Buffalo airport countless times, but each time I need to go, I seem to forget how to get there. I always have to look up the directions, and even then, I almost always make a wrong turn on the way back and end up driving through some industrial part of Buffalo that strongly resembles Beiruit after a week of shelling. I blame the complicated highway system in and around Buffalo for getting me lost. Like, who knew you’d need to take 190 South to get to Canada.

My body is all freaked out because my schedule has been weird. I didn’t sleep a lot last night. I went to bed by midnight, but since I’m used to not sleeping a lot, I was awake by about 4:30am. I finally got out of bed around 8 and had a piece of toast with honey on it. I really need to get more food that is not pork chops or steak into my house. I met Laura for our first workout together. We did a brisk 2km walk in the rain to the stairs at the Desjardins Canal, and then ran up and down them twice. As usual, I take the stairs two at a time. For some reason, it seems easier that way. By the time I reached the 6th flight of stairs, my legs felt like concrete and I thought I might fall on my face. I switched to one stair at a time to avoid this embarassment. After the 2km walk back to Laura’s, I headed home, where there was still no food at my house. I held out until 3pm when I picked up Dad to take him to the airport. He’s going to India. We went out for a very late lunch in Mississauga, which would be his last chance to have Chinese food for a few weeks. I ate a lot. I dropped Dad off at the airport, and then killed a few hours at the Dixie outlet mall. I bought another pair of shoes. That’s three pairs of shoes this month. I think Jen’s influence is rubbing off on me. I think I can finally throw out those shoes with the holes in the soles. I drove to the Savannah Room, but I was way too early for improv. I curled up in the back seat of the car and had a short nap. The Big in Japan set was good, I think. We’ve been working hard in rehearsal at integrating some new dialogue techniques. We’re experimenting with repetition of our scene partners’ lines, which really gets us in sync and gives us a nice rhythm to our scenes. We’re also occassionally starting scenes like two different monologues, but still addressing the other person. Eventually, the ideas blend together and the scene is richer because it has so much more information in it. The first time we did it tonight, I could tell the audience was a bit shocked that we weren’t initially addressing each other, but it all came together nicely, and the feeling of resolution in the room was very gratifying. Now, I’m sitting here, after having returned from improv, and I’m not sure if I’m hungry or tired. I think I might be both. And now I remember I have a couple of spicy turkey pepperettes in my bag. Yes!