1. So! The Berkshires were heaven. Heaven with mosquitos! The co-artistic directors (Hi Sara! Hi Ryan! Hi Peter!) have created such a warm-hearted festival, and I wish I made new shows every year so I could make a regular trek.

2. NYC! I’ve been doing some secret things here, but the not-so-secret thing is that I’ve been binging on Sleep No More and have been thrilled to the core. Ooooooooooooooooooooh that show totally electrified and inspired me. When not seeing the show, I’ve been writing rhapsodic e-mails to friends about the show.

3. GUESS WHAT! This fall, I’m going to be in Night Falls, which is a show that includes performers WHO ARE NOT ME. We’ve just had a few development rehearsals, and holy crap, they were so intense and exhausting and fun. Maybe I should tell you about this in more detail? Not now, I’m tired.

Oh my god, what a good summer.

Many thanks to SAM for all these great videos today.

The pass at 1:45 is my absolute favorite.

I use this page to record daily happenings connected with year-long social and literary projects.

In 2005 I composed two lines of iambic pentameter every day in order to form a poem about the year. It was called “2005: a year’s work in iambic pentameter.”

In 2006 I gave a flower to a different person every day and created another type of poem about it. This project was called “2006: a year of giving flowers to people.”

In 2007 I adapted my life to a calendar of the saints, reacting to the lives of holy people in passionate or ironic ways. This was “2007: a year with the saints.”

In 2008 I followed a different person each day and saw if I was taken to interesting places. I called it “2008: a year of following people.”

In 2009 I spent a year in relation to lemons, spending some time each day engaging the fruit in a new mode, a new action. It was “2009: a year with lemons.”

In 2010 I had a year of kissing. Each day I kissed the lips of a different person. This project was called “2010: a year of kissing people.”

In 2011 I will spend a year with the I Ching. Each morning I will ask “what shall I do today” and throw coins. I will call the project “2011: a year with i ching.”

– http://thiel.livejournal.com/

It’s a tricky thing to have hopes about how something will be received! Oh well.

I want to mention, here, in blog context, the book that I talk about during the show. I’ve heard a couple of audience members say that I recommend that book — which — that’s a tricky matter! The me of the past, the me I impersonate in the show, was totally a proselytizer on that front. It’s true.

But the me who wrote the show, and who is writing this blog post, has a more complex opinion about that book and the world view it inspired. Granted, it did help me a bit to read that book! It offered insights which gave me some peace. But the peace lead to the zeal of the newly-converted, and that zeal lead me into some dangerous cognitive traps. Nowadays, I don’t think that simply having read that book will keep me safe in the world.

There are a lot of ways to try to understand something that’s fundamentally unknowable. And part of what I was intending to highlight in the show is that each of these ways of trying to understand — they each have their own comforts and their own dangers.

I love the way she articulates “artsy gents.” And the supremely awkward use of “semiotic” — irony, or DOUBLE IRONY!?

This totally made my day. Well, this and the dream I had this morning, in which I was hanging out at Yoko Ono’s place, and she invited me to play around with this camera she’d made, which was all tricked out in the following ways:

• The camera was like a telescope, that I could look through on either end. Looking through one end allowed me to see the world around me. Looking through the other end allowed me to see myself.
• There was a button which controlled the roof of the building, in case I wanted to let in more or less light, or filtered light.
• There was a button which influenced the climate, in case I wanted to take a picture on a dark and stormy night, or a bright sunny day.
• There was a feature that allowed me to superimpose images from Yoko Ono’s subconscious onto the picture: I saw an image from one of her dreams, in which she was a fish, with rocks in her mouth, swimming in the air around a bamboo plant.
• There was a feature that allowed me to superimpose my memories on the photo. The memories were not static images, they were more like movies. I saw Dushenka laughing. I saw Danielle laughing. I could snap a photo and capture one moment of that memory.
• Sometimes I could take pictures of animations. Where did these animations come from? A cell animation of a hopping little bunny, or of Pinnochio, with a look of horror on his face, the moment he realizes the depth of the damage he’s done with his lies.

Of course I’m not doing justice to this dream by describing it this way. The lighting was gorgeous. Everything was so so gorgeous.

In other news, I’ve made the spreadsheets and started sending the e-mails necessary to have another round of touring “Missing,” and I’ve got an appointment to meet with my director next week for the new show.

I’m really happy to be home.

2. I just remembered this album today, because of the Earth Day song, and it makes me so nostalgic. I had it on cassette tape when I was like thirteen and I listened to it over and over.

3. Since I’ve been on my self-imposed Facebook hiatus, I’ve had no audience for inane observations about my breakfast.