The ongoing battle against shit that gets me down

Well, if my lack of writing lately hasn't been testament enough to the fact, September gave me little to complain about. A quick summary includes my getting hired at the best internship ever, seeing a bunch of shows, reaffirming and pretty much cementing my desire to be a playwright, and a serene, happy feeling that followed me everywhere I went. Sometimes my brain clicks on, and my thoughts come quickly and the world is rose-colored.

And, to balance out, sometimes my brain clicks off and I feel like a big, big retard and the world is shit.

I'm pretty sure I just began the slow descent into the latter.

I felt pretty depressive all day-- lethargic, pessimistic and oh yes SO HUNGRY. For some reason, when I get depressed, all I physically desire is ice cream and a nap. And I had planned on going to the gym today...

But even when things aren't going that bad at all, when I've got a case of the downer, I still manage to perceive good things as
shit-tinted. Like, for example, tonight I saw a free 80's rock musical. At the outset, I expected it to be fun but bad (like "The Holiday" or a whole bunch of other movies my mom really likes). And surprisingly, as the night went on, I realized "Oh wow... this is bad... but not -that- bad." It was a juke-box musical, but the book wasn't entirely moronic. Some jokes were so over-the-top that I had to commend the show's commitment to it's own ridiculousness. And ultimately, I was having a really fun time watching it. At one point during the first act, I was unable to keep from singing along (it was the "Waaanteeed" in between "I'm wanted" and "Dead or Alive," just to clarify).

Only something managed to tarnish even my ridiculous fun. I realized at intermission that my boss from when I worked at The Public was sitting behind me.

Which was fine. I'm civil and try to be genuinely friendly, even though the internship ended pretty badly. I joked about the ridiculousness of the musical (my friend literally admitted that she was having more fun than she did at "The Seagull") and I was successfully behaving cordially, until I realized that she was gathering her things to leave at intermission.

Now, I mean, please. It was the first preview, the audience was seeing the show for free, and even I (who despise juke-box musicals SOhohoHO much) have to admit that it wasn't the actual worst thing I'd ever seen.*

*"Strippers and Gentlemen" takes that prize. Edinburgh 2008. I left half-way through and I've never regretted it.

But honestly, I'd be lying if I said I got over my indignation for her pretention anytime soon. It bugged me all throughout the second act-- which, by the way, was even MORE FUN. In fact, it wasn't until just recently (while writing this) that I found a positive spin on what was essentially a non-important event anyway. The positive spin being this:

Thank goodness that I'm not so stuck-up that I can't enjoy myself when things are far less than earth-shatteringly important. Obviously I really enjoy good, legit art as well, but I consider myself lucky to enjoy an especially wide spectrum of entertainment. My tastes aren't always so discerning that I can't see the specific kind of value in well-executed buffoonery. (An example of well- versus poorly-executed buffoonery being the difference between "Tropic Thunder" and oh, say "Epic Movie" or any of those painfully unfunny spoof-movies). As long as a retardedly fun show doesn't expect to be received as anything more than retardedly fun (and succeeds in being retardedly fun)-- I'm on board.

That being said, people who saw "The Trailer Park Musical" at Edinburgh will understand when I say this-- Bad musicals can be fun.

And this one was WAY more fun than "The Trailer Park Musical," just saying.