In the meeting, the French language is being discussed as a technical problem.

“They do not have shortened forms for the months.”

Good for them. I think. Not everything should fit by design.

This bitterness did not come quickly, but like the opposite of building up a resistance to a poison. Small doses of idiocy every day built up like a blood clot until my brain inherently knew an idiocy embollism was increasingly imminent.

Several deep sighs became a tsunami of stress, destroying little serene villages which once served as sanctuaries. Externally, I am gone; internally murderously present.

My eyes flicked from the presentation screen to my notes with sniper precision. Every new task slapped me in the face like the glove of a scorned lover. I bit my tongue, pinned from the fight by some unseen political bulwark. Humility unwanted.

I bet (if you are at all a performer) you can’t watch this without being moved. It is clear that this was a work of love.

I was unable to see Greendale Community Theater’s production of RENT, starring a couple of friends of mine, but the word is that it was at least off-Broadway calibre. I’m not surprised. Congratulations to my friends, Robby Schuettpelz and James Jones on their triumphant performances.

I know I fucked up, but what can I do?
I never got used to loving you.
Watching options walk the street
Even with you, I was incomplete.

Now in empty rooms, I sit and dream
Of what we were and could have been.
“It is not fair,” I hear you scream,
“to tear me up at every seam,

To live your life like I’ll return
and stay so cool while there I burn.
I want to hate, I want to hurt,
I want to rip your life apart,

Just so I can be free of you.
Closure’s not the term I’d use.”
Simple words can’t make amends
for strangers now who once were friends.

Board up your heart is my advice
’cause I’ll come calling once or twice,
begging you to soothe my guilt
and sop up all the blood I’ve spilt.

My week in list form:

• Closed the sold-out, critically acclaimed production of SWEENEY TODD by dying and going through the trap for some old friends who saw the show.
• Secured a stage combat teaching position with a local theater.
• Played some video games and board games and watched a little comedy in a relaxed manner.

Some things at work that piss me off:

• Huge full-color printouts marked up for text changes.
• When people think I am pissy about having to work hard, when really I am pissy that they think I am pissy about having to work hard.
• Being frustrated that I am not working with maximum efficiency, then being doubly frustrated because people think my frustration is over something else.
• The presumption that I will be upset by *any* request, using evidence that *one* request had done so in the past.
• The seeming conspiracy that makes all project managers leave you alone for days only to flood you with their requests all within the same hour.

Basically, it comes down to “you don’t know me.”

* THE CLAIM: “Sec. 122, Pg. 29, Lines 4-16 – YOUR HEALTH CARE WILL BE RATIONED!”

* THE FACTS: This refers to a section in Subtitle C of the legislation, which sets standards guaranteeing access to essential benefits. The lines the Liberty Counsel’s talking point refers to actually limit the costs a family in a covered plan can be required to share in order to receive essential benefits. It does nothing to “ration” health care.

* THE CLAIM: “Sec. 1177, Pg. 354 – Government will RESTRICT enrollment of special needs people! ‘Extension of Authority of Special Needs Plans to Restrict Enrollment.'”

* THE FACTS: This piece of the legislation refers to a section of the Social Security Act governing insurance for the elderly and disabled. It grandfathers in certain plans that already had contracts to run integrated Medicaid-Medicare programs for the impoverished elderly, and it requires the Department of Health and Human Services to analyze the impact of those plans. It restricts no one’s enrollment in anything.

* THE CLAIM: “Sec. 1308, Pg. 489 – The government will cover Marriage and Family therapy. This will involve government control of your marriage.”

* THE FACTS: This section of the bill does provide for insurance coverage of marriage and family therapy — but by licensed, certified therapists, not government agents.

I would be much more interested in this pillaging of my childhood movie if Hank Rollins and Julianne Moore were to star. Hollywood? You don’t *have* to cast young, sexy idiots you know. You could cast people who fit the roles; they might even still be sexy.