Treasure Island and Tonic

Unfortunate circumstances have led me to the first opportunity to write in days. I’m sitting in Dulles airport half-way through a particularly hellish trip home at the tail end of a particularly hellish week.

Except for a funky flight, my stint on the project in South Carolina ended last week without any major glitches. All in all, a good learning experience, although the guy in charge, Mitch, was becomming increasingly weary of this project. I got home late on Friday, met my new roommate, and we grabbed a beer down on Polk. Mark did a pretty good job of clearing his stuff out of the place, but it was still a mess. Anything he figured he didn’t want, including the 6 year old dust bunnies in just about every corner of the apartment, he left behind. I also get to deal with his two crapper bikes and 3 bookcases in the living room. Lovely. James is cool. Score another one for Craigslist; I can tell this is going to be an excellent roommate situation.

Saturday’s rehearsal went well. I credit the location and the weather. Treasure Island has never steered us wrong. Kudos to Mistress Keli for putting us back in our old digs. Lolita and I decided to give up on the secrecy, so I’m letting some of the folks in the corps in on our relationship, one by one. I really hope this doesn’t blow up in our faces as some sort of high-schoolish Renedrama.

That night; James joins us for a quick bite and a couple rounds on Polk Street. Tonic has turned into a college meat market. Maybe it’s me… It’s been a while since I’ve hung out there on a Saturday, but I swear that place was worse that night than I had ever seen before. 22 year-olds who should have been cut off 4 rounds ago, trash on the sticky floor, glasses lingering on the tables indefinitely. There was only one bartender, and he was more interested in a giggly brunette than he was the $20 bills being waved in front of his face by eager yuppies. I wasn’t proud of my neighborhood that night.

Sunday’s rehearsal was even better. We finished learning the show, and effectively finished the 2005 pre-season on a real upswing. James even bussed out to the island to catch the run-through. I thought that was pretty cool of him. I can’t even get my best friends in the city to come to a friggin’ performance. I’m happy about how the season is shaping up. I’m seeing a morale in the corps that I’ve never seen before; I think they call it professionalism. I credit the roughly 90% vet rate, the smaller, tighter hornline, and of course, the incredibly intense battery line. They continue to lead the corps in all measures of success this year, and the season hasn’t even started.