This weekend, I meant to finish my work on a Fight Scene Database for the Society of American Fight Directors. I plugged away at it in PHP for hours on Saturday, but I learned little and progressed less, though not for lack of trying. I did get some functions working, but not as many as I wanted. I sound like my girlfriend; I suppose I can now sympathize.

I meant to do more Sunday, but my friends the Frantals had a mini-disaster that likely others suffered as well. Their basement flooded, seemingly by a few inches. Picking through sopping cardboard boxes, we found bits of nostalgia, no small amount of unnecessary foofarah and a few remarkable finds. They have a lot more work ahead of them, sadly, but I don’t think they lost anything irreplaceable, thank goodness.

I have been craving more theater. I missed a friend’s performance at the Bunny Gumbo Combat Theater and I feel a little guilty about that. I need to see more theater as part of the education, but also it makes me a bit of a pariah when I say I have not seen very many shows. Can someone love theater and not have seen much? I’m living proof. That will change soon, I am sure.

I talked with my friend Mike about Radiolab’s episode on memory and how basically a memory is just a series of protein chains connecting different parts of the brain. The associations are made very rapidly at the time when the memory is formed, but when you then try to recall something, a new image of the thing is created each time. The more you remember something, the more the image is biased by new experiences and connections. Wintess testimony is unreliable. I think I was thinking about it because their basement flooding brought them so many memories.

I felt like I was very productive this weekend, since I at least attempted to accomplish a lot. I made progress toward the database and toward the Frantal’s basement. Still, this week is going to be rough. I have a project at work that will have me here late most of the week. And what time I can spare must be dedicated to the deadline of the database. I hope I can maintain some good will toward these things and still get to the gym once or twice.

I estimate my current body fat percentage at about 18%. Not bad, I suppose, and certainly a far cry from where I had been just two years ago. I want to get closer to 10% before the end of the summer. It would be nice to feel comfortable taking off my shirt when it is appropriate. Hopefully before August. I only need lose about 20 more pounds of fat if my estimate is correct. If I really buckle down, that should not be a problem.

I heard back from the Boulevard Theater regarding my audition, but only in a mass email sort of way. It’s clear they won’t need me for the next two shows, but I think I’ll take the opportunity to go see them. It could not hurt to kill two birds with one stone: see more theater, and see shows at the Boulevard to increase my profile there. I think it will be a great place to get my professional start, if they will have me.

That audition process was very professional and low bullshit. That’s the kind of theater I can get behind. The director was complimentary, though mostly of my physical attributes (he said little about whether he thought I had any skills or talents), but also said some of my favorite things to hear. He intimated pretty clearly what sort of people he preferred to work with, and I agedd wholeheartedly. He paraphrased a few of the things that I have been saying for months. They’re probably the same thing everyone says, but in my case — and I believe his as well — it is far from lip service.

I created catch-phrase summations like “It’s more important to have a good character than to play one.” I probably sounded a bit glib, but I really did feel like we understood one another. Hopefully, I will hear more when he is doing a show that he feels I will fit into. Meanwhile, I am working with the South Milwaukee PAC to start a community theater there and I may audition with the RSVP Theater at the Astor.

Everything right now has to go through the “Clare is moving to NY” filter, however. I don’t want to fill my time with so much stuff that I don’t spend time with her, but at the same time the more I do, the less time there is to think about that major life change. A Piscean avoidance at which I excel.

I once made notes on a screenplay in my head for a romantic comedy based on some of the things Clare and I went through during her divorce. The working title was “Pisces and Scorpio in Love.” In my mind, it was a witty, Woody-Allen sort of thing, but I think it would generally turn out pretty schlock-y. Maybe I will give it a go sometime. It’s certainly a better notion than the fantasy screenplays I dabbled with in high school. Come to think of it, though, that’s the stuff that’s selling right now. Always on either side of the curve, I tell ya.