Tag Archives: OW MY TOOTH

“To dream of caramel”

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August was entirely too hot to even get bothered.

That’s saying something. But as we’re rounding the bend on the tail end of it, things are shifting again under the Texas sun.

* * *

Tonight kicks off the 10th annual Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. (Essentially, SXSW for the comedy set.) I bought a fancypants badge so I can see everything, including (and especially) Boom Chicago! BOOM. CHICAGO! Remember a million years ago when I used to work for them? Passing out flyers? Drinking margaritas in a Dutch bar? Meeting tourists and seeing shows and all the subsequent hilarity that ensued?

Me, neither! But the fuzzy memories I have of it are epic. EPIC.

I have a tentative schedule mocked up. Fingers crossed I follow it and not flake out in a puddle of exhaustion midway. I’m juggling freelance deadlines this week and the return of the ZOMBIE TOOTH as well, so we’ll see.

Kick-off w/ You’re Not My Real Dad at The Hideout tonight at 8!

Keeping the lyrics locked in my mouth.

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Well, hello.

So I signed up for that awesome Jill Bernard three-day workshop and only made it to one class. Why only one day? Tuesday night, while we were working out the VAPAPO (Voice/Attitude/Posture/Animal/Prop/Obsession) method and finding voices in various body parts and singing and shouting and generally making with the awesome, I pulled a stitch out of my still-healing, still-painful gums.

And that sucker HURT.

I spent the last hour of class trying not to talk very loudly and under the influence of some extra-strong narcotics. Pain continued to plague me and my inability smile/laugh/eat all week so I sat out the rest of the session and felt really lame about it. But lucky for me, that one day was awesome and totally worth the price of admission.

My regularly scheduled Coldtowne classes started this week, too. The Harold. THE HAROLD. I’m really excited about it, and my instructors are both awesome and they came into class swinging with concepts (and one, with a chart!) and I can’t say how the other seven weeks are going to go, but we’re off to a running start. (I say “instructors” because I’m determined to attend class Mondays *and* Tuesdays to get the most out of it. IT’S THE HAROLD, Y’ALL.)

Wait … this post, this whole post is supposed to be about what I learned in the JB workshop and already I’m not doing it right.

Here’s a giant photo that captures the four-quadrants of the body theory that I’m going to practice the shit out of because it really opened up my mind to the range of potential physicality on stage:

4 quadrants

The arrows there are meant to show how if you move your body in the forward/backward (outward/inward) directions of each quadrant, it designates what you’re projecting.

Head high and forward? Intellect.
Head back and down? Imbecility.

Chest high and out? Confidence/Love.
Shoulders curled under? Insecurity/Rejection.

Your pelvis? Sensuality.

Feet wide and planted? Grounded/Strong.
Moving your feet? Joy/Playfulness.

Now the actors among us probably knew this already. But I’m a writer, and I didn’t.

Go into scenes with these atributes, and you know what you are. Your scene partner can “recognize the shape” and name it. And name you, because as much as I keep hearing and being reminded to name my scene partner, I can’t hear it enough. The audience doesn’t care about characters who don’t have names. Also, names make it easier to call back scenes. “Hey LADY!” is a name as much as “Hey, ARCHIE!” is a name.

Golden advice and worth the cash and the pain.

I looked back at this journal and it looks like I’ve been dealing with this zombie tooth since December. DECEMBER. Last night I was up all night after 2:26 a.m. (like my specificity?) sucking on popsicles and pain pills. NO. FUN.

This weekend looks like a weekend of soft food and smoothies and staying out of this infernal heat. AND THE COLDTOWNE IMPROV FANTASY LEAGUE! How could I forget to pimp that??

Accidents will happen

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Dear blog,

Oh I went and did it again, didn’t I? I got all wrapped up IRL and ignored the 010011011011101s until those 01011010011101101s threatened me in the way only they can and I became overwhelmed.

This “getting overwhelmed” business parallels with so many other things in my life, so I’d like to say it’s a one-time thing, but I don’t want to lie.

  • I had gum surgery.
  • I finished level three.
  • I pulled my back
  • Troupon played and lost (by ONE vote!) Cagematch.
  • I started practicing with the IFL.
  • I had an impossible flat tire.
  • I got new boots.
  • My dad celebrated a birthday. (I’m always grateful for these.)
  • I fell down, really hard.
  • My A/C went out and had to be replaced. WHOA, that was expensive.
  • I ate curdled cereal on accident.
  • I drank a lot of champagne.
  • I had a weird run-in with a cop that might not actually be a cop, in plain clothes wearing a balaclava in 107 heat.
  • I started reading Game of Thrones.
  • I missed out on the level three showcase because of a handful of the above.
  • I start a new intensive this week with Jill Bernard.
  • I had coffee. Lots of coffee. Lots of coffee with interesting conversation.
  • I slept. A lot.
  • And then didn’t.  A lot.

 

All that is happening/happened. Some of it I’ll go into detail about. Most of it I won’t.

But I’ll be back soon, I swear it. Here’s a pretty picture. Forgive me?

IMG_1469

 

Love and watermelons,

Terry

DAZED AND OBTUSED

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So yeah. I totally should have realized today was going to be brought to me by the letters W-T-F when the lotion bottle I picked up after my shower this morning FLEW out of my hand and across the bathroom.

I left my phone at home. I left my sunglasses at home. I left the check I needed to deposit at home. I was running late to my dentist appointment (my teeth. my teeth. have I talked enough about my teeth?). There was wake-you-up pain at my dentist appointment. WAKE-YOU-UP pain.

On the way back to the office I saw that the road was clear to turn so I turned. From standstill to turning left on Lamar. Completely oblivious to the red light telling me NOT TO GO and the cop in the next lane. THAT JUST HAPPENED.

I contemplated the “run home quickly for the shit you forgot” strategy and then decided against it because I didn’t want to be late.

FOR THE MONDAY MORNING MEETING.

(It’s Thursday.)

*head/desk*

I really, really should go back to bed immediately.

“Battle for Middle You”

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Last week I had an apicoectomy for my zombie tooth. Three root canals didn’t work, so this was the final option. I now have stitches in my gums and a pain in my face. Chipmunk cheek has subsided though. That’s nice.

I ironed my sheets on Friday. All the bedding, pillowcases and the duvet. Crawling into a clean, freshly ironed bed was divine. Luxurious, even. Chances it will happen again are slim to none. I blame the painkillers for the sudden surge of domesticity.

Tonight is the last class of the second session of improv at Coldtowne. People keep asking what I’m planning on doing and why I’m still taking these classes. As if there’s an end game. Is there? I’m not sure yet. All I know is that I want to keep laughing. Everything else is lagniappe.

Speech hipped me to this track today by Julio Bashmore. It’s fitting nicely in the holes of my brain.

Already.

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Remember how I was all, IMMA POST EVERY SINGLE DAY EVER!?

I forgot that it’s really tough to keep that kind of promise when you’re days away from leaving the country (maybe. I’m looking at you, Heathrow!) and it’s a close countdown to Christmas and there’s a MILLION THINGS HAPPENING.

Things:

1) Ainjel is here and her CD sounds awesome
2) My tooth hurts. Endodontic flare up or something.
3) I bought snow boots and thermals.
4) I had Christmas tamales. There’s nothing, nothing like Christmas tamales.
5) The Saints lost. I … I … I don’t even know.

Sidenote: I really, really hate Everybody Loves Raymond.

Blog-a-day

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I didn’t forget, I’m still working is all. Late-night proofing FTW!

There was not enough yummy eating to blog about it, which is unfortunate. There was, however, a lot of fretting about my tooth and my impending root canal on Thursday. Everyone says it’s going to be fine, it’s not like it’s brain surgery, it’s a tooth.

However, I don’t like the idea of losing sensation, losing the nerve in my tooth. I’m actually really kind of pissed about it. I need all the nerve I can muster, y’all. Also, I enjoy chewing.

For a food blog, there’s a decidedly stark lack of food posts recently. This needs to be rectified, and soon.

The Sweet Tooth

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Before the doctors opened up my skull, I never had a sweet tooth. I’d enjoy the occasional fruit dessert (strawberry shortcake) and slice of carrot cake, but I never needed it. Certainly never went Cathy-crazy and threatened anyone with bodily harm if they stood between me and chocolate.

Also, I used to LOVE red wine.

Both of these things have changed significantly post-op. It hurts me to even type that. (Do you know how long my red-wine love affair lasted? Oh the plans we made!)

I can’t get enough chocolate. Seriously. I’ll eat something sweet every night. When I lost my appetite completely and would struggle to eat at all, you could be sure I’d fall face first in a piece or three of cake. And these days, even the finest Pinot Noir tastes of vinegar once it passes my lips.

(“It’s like that sometimes, I mean ridiculous.”)

It’s a crime. A shame. It’s heartbreaking.

And worse than all that, it’s costing me a visit to the dentist on Monday to revisit this pain that turning my top left molar into a torture machine on my skull. (Heat/cold/pressure all = OW FUCK STOP!*) Antibiotics and pain relievers have both been prescribed.

*My skull has a foul mouth.

This newly discovered sweet tooth may be in for some serious work.

In the meantime, I will drink my Sauvignon Blanc and white Bordeaux and desperately try and retrain my brain to recall my Malbec love.

This photo is of the strawberry topped Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes I talked about in a previous post. I made these for the community potluck a month or so back where we got to meet sweet Madeline, Jorge and Mel’s new little girl. I did them up with some cream cheese icing instead of chocolate for a change. They were YUM, but all melty what with the heat and cream cheese. All the more reason to eat them up fast!*

My excuse, anyway!