Success is the best revenge

I let myself cool down for a few hours listening to my beloved Yahoo Show Tunes channel and playing spider solitaire...

I've been nerve-wracked for the past week or so because my schedule at the theatre has increased a lot -- this for a woman who hasn't worked a 9-to-5 for a half a dozen years -- and getting stressed about passing this g.d. jury on March 18.

Seems the world of academia is 10 times more unorganized than my world of late. Prof doesn't know our recital dates, or what he told us the week before, or even how the juries will be run -- concurrently or individually. He can't wait to get into the compositions that people are finishing up -- and yet this isn't really a "workshop" so what the hell are we supposed to say? Or rather, what am I supposed to say to these arrogant 21-year-punks who think...

Okay, so there's only one guy, but he's the frickin' ringleader here. Working on a five-song song cycle about the five senses, writing his own lyrics and playing his own guitar. Do I need to know about the "all beef Chicago hotdog and mustard" and the "boy-girl kiss"? Prof says thanks for sharing your "3:00 am Self" which I gather means what you're driven to write when you are REALLY FEELING IT at three in the morning -- but I just want to kick him in the ass.

Granted, when I was 21 I started a 16-song song cycle based on tiny short poems called "What Does She Want?" (and I was SHE-ila -- get it?!) which probably would have been as mastabatory (is that a word?) -- but I'm just SO NOT HERE now, and I couldn't stand the lack of authority in the room. I actually walked out for five minutes to take a walk.

After an great week of a writing workshop, concert readings (it was great, Clay, and I really enjoyed your music and lyrics of Dr. Heidigger's Experiment!), dinner with musical theater folks, seeing Christopher as Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret (dude, you kicked ass singing "Why Should I Wake Up") and last night, hanging with fellow musical theater writers last night watching the Academy Awards... damn, my life is rich!

And last I watched the documentary that was made about my team writing our mini-musicals at the Academy last year three times last night(!)... just relieving the whole experience, and so proud of the end result...

What the hell am I worried about?!?! Punks?

As we used to say in the early 80s: FUCK THAT NOISE! I'm makin' me some music.