Kitsilano, March 2012. Lisa Norton, last uninfected survivor of the Great Vancouver Zombie Plague, stands emaciated yet still alive in her darkened apartment, scanning her boarded-up windows for cracks of light, for signs of weakness. All seems secure. Supplies, however, are running low. And even if this weren’t her last eight dollar mulltigrain cracker from the local Capers Market (a proud subsidiary of Whole Foods®), even if she wasn’t down to licking the inside of the goat cheese package and actually eating those pickled beets at the back of the fridge, what hope would she have of survival? Very little - and perhaps it’s better that way; after all, what kind of existence is this? She’s out of wine, she’s running low on lip balm, and no one’s here to tell her how fabulously silky her hair is these days. Also she’s dying of starvation. The way she looks at it, there are three possible outcomes. One, she stays here and starves to death. Two, she ventures out in search of food, and the creatures tear her to pieces. Three, they come and get her.
Or…are there any other survivors out there?
Once again, she huddles under the blanket that obscures the glow of her computer screen and starts tapping out faint hopes of rescue, or if not that, at least of the comfort that will come from another human voice, across however many miles, saying, I am here. I am alive. They didn’t get me…
Granville Street, Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre, two weeks earlier…
Our heroine is – okay, I am working on Calendar Girls for The Arts Club Theatre (my first Vancouver stage gig!), which comes with the rare and exciting perks of working in an airless, previously flooded basement of a (beautiful) haunted old theatre, with some of B.C.’s finest and most contagious.
Our cast has, over the past month, been hit by strep throat, bronchitis, PNEUMONIA (kudos to Kerry Sandomirsky for trooping through a two-show day after spending the night in a hospital oxygen tent), various aches pains and viruses, and a stomach flu.
From what I gather, the latter is a particularly fascinating challenge for a performer who has to take her clothes off onstage. Gives new meaning to hoping you don’t have a shitty show. Har har. (Don’t pretend you aren’t impressed with the sophistication and subtlety of my humour.) Alternately, if properly harnessed, loose bowels may give one a power unknown to the common, healthy stage performer, as in, for instance, “If this is a lousy audience, so help me God, I’ll poop on them.” I envy you, Shirley, you silver-haired diarrhoenian goddess. (Who didn’t actually utter the above phrase, but odds-on thought it once or twice at the height of her symptoms.)
An “Inside the Tourist’s Studio” GLIMPSE INTO THE PROCESS: The Skeptical Tourist tells us, “While writing the above paragraph, I briefly struggled to find the right adjective to describe my castmate and her arguably enviable affliction. After a brief visit to the diarrhea (alt. “diarrhoea”) Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhea) looking for a suitable turn of phrase, I decided that A: there was nothing there worth quoting, and thus was inspired to invent my own word; and B: that the alternate spelling – avec “o” - lent itself far more readily to images of Greek mythology. Hence ‘diarrhoenian’.” Hey, kids, this isn’t all fun and games over here you know. I mean it wasn’t, even before the zombie apocalypse.)
Back to the backstage: you know things are bad when looking on the bright side consists of saying, “Hey guys, at least that lice scare turned out to be nothing.” (True story.)
I have somehow, inexplicably, miraculously, knock-on-wood-ulously, avoided all of this, other from a slight case of (likely non-show related, totally treatable) chlamydia and a (possibly Polar Bear Swim-related) head cold that I started rehearsal with in January, that I SWEAR TO GOD didn’t start it all. We’ve designated the youngest member of the cast (and official union scapegoat) Patient Zero, and we haven’t yet murdered him and buried him in the yard only because he’s pretty okay in the show. We keep him in a cage and let him out for his scenes and then poke at him with sharp objects from time to time. He doesn’t seem to mind.
As for me, so far I’ve gotten through with vitamins, a neti pot (that fascinating, perverse little device whereby you shoot hot saltwater through your nose and watch your snot run out), hard liquor, and a prayer. This week though, I’ve decided to switch things up and go with the experimental cold-prevention method of insomnia and long walks in the pouring rain.
I have family in town, but don’t blame the six-hour walks on them: as a conscientious host, it’s entirely my idea and moral obligation to drag them around town on “scenic” walks even if it’s cold and rainy and the views are obscured by fog. “Okay, look. I know you were supposed to visit me here last July, and that I ended up borrowing money from you to fly to Toronto for some auditions instead, and that you changed those non-refundable tickets to now, only to arrive in the rainiest week of the year…but we are walking on the motherfucking beach! There are mountains over there, I’m telling you! Squint a little and you can sort of make them out. Okay, just close your eyes and I’ll describe them to you. Honest to God last week was SO nice.
“All right. That’s it…
“Kerry spent the night in an oxygen tent, you lazy bitches! Shirley has diarrhea, for God’s sake! DIARRHEA! DiarrhOea, even – with an O! Did you catch that? Just in case you, or anyone reading my blog, missed it…diarrhea!!! Check the Wikipedia page; that is not fun. Now stop shivering, Private. I mean….um, Mom. And if you get stuck in the mud again, I’m leaving you behind.”
A strange side note: When I cancelled that afore-mentioned July visit to head off auditioning, it led, in a round-about way, to my landing the plum supporting role of Edith on Bomb Girls, the WWII show I shot that’s just been okayed for another season. But making that trip was not an easy call for our usually decisive Tourist: it was another long-shot that led me there, I was dead broke and trying to get catering shifts, and had just booked a radio spot for 7-11 which I would have to turn down. Plus, yes, I’d have to make that fun “Um, maybe don’t come visit…P.S. Can I borrow plane fare?” phone call, and take a trip that possibly led to absolute zero.
If that story in itself isn’t wildly fascinating and inspirational enough to make you puke…I recently came across the copy for the 7-11 ad I turned down and realized that the role I’d auditioned for and booked was EDITH THE CHICKEN. I’d out-clucked the competition, booked the gig, turned it down, agonized over it…and eventually traded Edith the chicken for Edith the Bomb Girl. Now is that weird or what? Or do I just look and sound like an obvious Edith? Okay by me.
Also on the recently-survived list: Valentine’s Day. Although I only say “survived” cause that’s how everyone else puts it, when referring to hideous single lepers such as myself. In reality, I don’t mind Valentine’s Day. I really hated it when I was in a relationship, truth be told, and discovered its true nature: Let’s Compare Our Boyfriends Day. “Sooooo…..what did your sweetie get you for Vaaaalentiiiine’s?”, they’d say, just itching to tell me what stupid thing their guy had gotten them, and I’d mutter something about us not really believing in it or making a big deal about it, that maybe we'd go to dinner or something but how he did nice things for me all the time (which was always at least mostly true with a slim majority of the men that I’ve been with) and they would manage a smile and say, yeah you’re right, it’s a Hallmark holiday anyway… and after the thought bubble appeared over their heads, clearly reading “Boy, is Lisa’s boyfriend ever a jerk, I give it a month”, they’d turn to each other and say, “Well MARK got me a diamond ring!” “Oh yeah? That’s sweet. MIKE got ME a live panda and taught it to dance my favourite ballet. Oh, and it’s wearing a diamond ring. AND he’s taking me to the Dominican. I love unicorns!”
Man, bitches is whack.
And when I have tried to play along it turned out I was doing it wrong, I guess ‘cause when I have exchanged gifts or done stuff with boyfriends for Valentine’s it’s always been of a more, uh, private nature. “Soooo, what did you and your sweetie do for Vaaalen-tiiiine’s?” “Oh. Well, first I got down on my hands and knees, and he put his –” And then they either didn’t want to hear any more, or seemed a little too interested. Perverts.
SO, now that I’m single, Valentine’s Day just slides off me like water off a duck’s back. For about half the day. And then everyone starts saying “Hey, Duck, how’s that water treating you, huh?” “Sorry about all that water all over you, duck, this must be really hard for you, being a poor lonely single duck and all.” And then I start to wonder…oh my god, maybe I AM upset. I thought I was okay, but maybe this Valentine’s is actually the hardest day OF MY LIFE. Maybe I’m the saddest, wettest duck that ever floated solo on the love canal.
I mean, duck metaphor aside, here’s my February 14th. Just past midnight, a friend in L.A. posts something on facef&*%k along the lines of “All right, who wants to shoot down that flying, arrow-shooting midget bastard, douse him in Jack Daniels, set him on fire and end this once and for all?” And I, swear to God, am so out of touch with Valentine’s Day that I think, wow, Los Angeles. Dave sure has some crazy-ass neighbours. Honestly: has it moved into weird denial territory when you mistake a Cupid reference for a description of an obnoxious midget living next door who likes to have loud archery parties? And can FLY, for some reason? I was, like, DAVE MAN, Peter Dinklage is a dwarf, not a midget. And how can you afford the house next to his?!
Later, I’m listening to CBC Radio 2 and ol’ Tom and Rich are playing lots of love songs and such (and being anti-love songs because you’re single would be like being offended by Christmas and living in the bible belt; you’d go insane), and you know, dedicating some to all the lovers out there, and that’s all good. But then in deference and sensitivity to their unattached listeners, they keep playing anti love songs and mentioning how much we must hate all this, and letting us know that that’s okay, too.
And just as I’m pondering that, looking deep within my duck soul (I just like the duck thing, all right?), AM I okay?, the weather comes on, and of all the regions of BC, the weather reporter is only interested in talking about frickin’ Victoria. And after a moment I’m just hearing “Lower than usual temperatures in that place where that guy lives, you know, the one you used to like so much?” and “Three centimetres of rainfall all over his gorgeous head but I bet he’s very sweet and cheerful about it and that his hair looks really nice anyway, and his eyes always were extra blue on rainy days” and “Winds up to two hundred kilometres an hour through the LONELY UNINHABITED CAVERN THAT IS YOUR HEART.”
And then one more minute of “moron moron/nice guy/moron” running through my head, before I got over it, made some banana bread and went off to my job of being adored and applauded by throngs of appreciative fans.
And diarrhea.
Poor duck.
Yadda yadda, funny stuff, zombie reference to wrap it all up. Also must add more pictures so the sole image in this issue is not of a dude pouring snot through his nose. Screw it. I’m tired. I believe 3:04 am is a late enough bedtime to stop me getting the plague.
Oh no not I, I will Survive,
The Tourist
Or…are there any other survivors out there?
Once again, she huddles under the blanket that obscures the glow of her computer screen and starts tapping out faint hopes of rescue, or if not that, at least of the comfort that will come from another human voice, across however many miles, saying, I am here. I am alive. They didn’t get me…
Granville Street, Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre, two weeks earlier…
Our heroine is – okay, I am working on Calendar Girls for The Arts Club Theatre (my first Vancouver stage gig!), which comes with the rare and exciting perks of working in an airless, previously flooded basement of a (beautiful) haunted old theatre, with some of B.C.’s finest and most contagious.
Our cast has, over the past month, been hit by strep throat, bronchitis, PNEUMONIA (kudos to Kerry Sandomirsky for trooping through a two-show day after spending the night in a hospital oxygen tent), various aches pains and viruses, and a stomach flu.
From what I gather, the latter is a particularly fascinating challenge for a performer who has to take her clothes off onstage. Gives new meaning to hoping you don’t have a shitty show. Har har. (Don’t pretend you aren’t impressed with the sophistication and subtlety of my humour.) Alternately, if properly harnessed, loose bowels may give one a power unknown to the common, healthy stage performer, as in, for instance, “If this is a lousy audience, so help me God, I’ll poop on them.” I envy you, Shirley, you silver-haired diarrhoenian goddess. (Who didn’t actually utter the above phrase, but odds-on thought it once or twice at the height of her symptoms.)
An “Inside the Tourist’s Studio” GLIMPSE INTO THE PROCESS: The Skeptical Tourist tells us, “While writing the above paragraph, I briefly struggled to find the right adjective to describe my castmate and her arguably enviable affliction. After a brief visit to the diarrhea (alt. “diarrhoea”) Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhea) looking for a suitable turn of phrase, I decided that A: there was nothing there worth quoting, and thus was inspired to invent my own word; and B: that the alternate spelling – avec “o” - lent itself far more readily to images of Greek mythology. Hence ‘diarrhoenian’.” Hey, kids, this isn’t all fun and games over here you know. I mean it wasn’t, even before the zombie apocalypse.)
Back to the backstage: you know things are bad when looking on the bright side consists of saying, “Hey guys, at least that lice scare turned out to be nothing.” (True story.)
I have somehow, inexplicably, miraculously, knock-on-wood-ulously, avoided all of this, other from a slight case of (likely non-show related, totally treatable) chlamydia and a (possibly Polar Bear Swim-related) head cold that I started rehearsal with in January, that I SWEAR TO GOD didn’t start it all. We’ve designated the youngest member of the cast (and official union scapegoat) Patient Zero, and we haven’t yet murdered him and buried him in the yard only because he’s pretty okay in the show. We keep him in a cage and let him out for his scenes and then poke at him with sharp objects from time to time. He doesn’t seem to mind.
As for me, so far I’ve gotten through with vitamins, a neti pot (that fascinating, perverse little device whereby you shoot hot saltwater through your nose and watch your snot run out), hard liquor, and a prayer. This week though, I’ve decided to switch things up and go with the experimental cold-prevention method of insomnia and long walks in the pouring rain.
 |
| SEE? THIS GUY LOVES HIS NETI POT! |
I have family in town, but don’t blame the six-hour walks on them: as a conscientious host, it’s entirely my idea and moral obligation to drag them around town on “scenic” walks even if it’s cold and rainy and the views are obscured by fog. “Okay, look. I know you were supposed to visit me here last July, and that I ended up borrowing money from you to fly to Toronto for some auditions instead, and that you changed those non-refundable tickets to now, only to arrive in the rainiest week of the year…but we are walking on the motherfucking beach! There are mountains over there, I’m telling you! Squint a little and you can sort of make them out. Okay, just close your eyes and I’ll describe them to you. Honest to God last week was SO nice.
“All right. That’s it…
“Kerry spent the night in an oxygen tent, you lazy bitches! Shirley has diarrhea, for God’s sake! DIARRHEA! DiarrhOea, even – with an O! Did you catch that? Just in case you, or anyone reading my blog, missed it…diarrhea!!! Check the Wikipedia page; that is not fun. Now stop shivering, Private. I mean….um, Mom. And if you get stuck in the mud again, I’m leaving you behind.”
A strange side note: When I cancelled that afore-mentioned July visit to head off auditioning, it led, in a round-about way, to my landing the plum supporting role of Edith on Bomb Girls, the WWII show I shot that’s just been okayed for another season. But making that trip was not an easy call for our usually decisive Tourist: it was another long-shot that led me there, I was dead broke and trying to get catering shifts, and had just booked a radio spot for 7-11 which I would have to turn down. Plus, yes, I’d have to make that fun “Um, maybe don’t come visit…P.S. Can I borrow plane fare?” phone call, and take a trip that possibly led to absolute zero.
If that story in itself isn’t wildly fascinating and inspirational enough to make you puke…I recently came across the copy for the 7-11 ad I turned down and realized that the role I’d auditioned for and booked was EDITH THE CHICKEN. I’d out-clucked the competition, booked the gig, turned it down, agonized over it…and eventually traded Edith the chicken for Edith the Bomb Girl. Now is that weird or what? Or do I just look and sound like an obvious Edith? Okay by me.
Also on the recently-survived list: Valentine’s Day. Although I only say “survived” cause that’s how everyone else puts it, when referring to hideous single lepers such as myself. In reality, I don’t mind Valentine’s Day. I really hated it when I was in a relationship, truth be told, and discovered its true nature: Let’s Compare Our Boyfriends Day. “Sooooo…..what did your sweetie get you for Vaaaalentiiiine’s?”, they’d say, just itching to tell me what stupid thing their guy had gotten them, and I’d mutter something about us not really believing in it or making a big deal about it, that maybe we'd go to dinner or something but how he did nice things for me all the time (which was always at least mostly true with a slim majority of the men that I’ve been with) and they would manage a smile and say, yeah you’re right, it’s a Hallmark holiday anyway… and after the thought bubble appeared over their heads, clearly reading “Boy, is Lisa’s boyfriend ever a jerk, I give it a month”, they’d turn to each other and say, “Well MARK got me a diamond ring!” “Oh yeah? That’s sweet. MIKE got ME a live panda and taught it to dance my favourite ballet. Oh, and it’s wearing a diamond ring. AND he’s taking me to the Dominican. I love unicorns!”
Man, bitches is whack.
And when I have tried to play along it turned out I was doing it wrong, I guess ‘cause when I have exchanged gifts or done stuff with boyfriends for Valentine’s it’s always been of a more, uh, private nature. “Soooo, what did you and your sweetie do for Vaaalen-tiiiine’s?” “Oh. Well, first I got down on my hands and knees, and he put his –” And then they either didn’t want to hear any more, or seemed a little too interested. Perverts.
SO, now that I’m single, Valentine’s Day just slides off me like water off a duck’s back. For about half the day. And then everyone starts saying “Hey, Duck, how’s that water treating you, huh?” “Sorry about all that water all over you, duck, this must be really hard for you, being a poor lonely single duck and all.” And then I start to wonder…oh my god, maybe I AM upset. I thought I was okay, but maybe this Valentine’s is actually the hardest day OF MY LIFE. Maybe I’m the saddest, wettest duck that ever floated solo on the love canal.
I mean, duck metaphor aside, here’s my February 14th. Just past midnight, a friend in L.A. posts something on facef&*%k along the lines of “All right, who wants to shoot down that flying, arrow-shooting midget bastard, douse him in Jack Daniels, set him on fire and end this once and for all?” And I, swear to God, am so out of touch with Valentine’s Day that I think, wow, Los Angeles. Dave sure has some crazy-ass neighbours. Honestly: has it moved into weird denial territory when you mistake a Cupid reference for a description of an obnoxious midget living next door who likes to have loud archery parties? And can FLY, for some reason? I was, like, DAVE MAN, Peter Dinklage is a dwarf, not a midget. And how can you afford the house next to his?!
Later, I’m listening to CBC Radio 2 and ol’ Tom and Rich are playing lots of love songs and such (and being anti-love songs because you’re single would be like being offended by Christmas and living in the bible belt; you’d go insane), and you know, dedicating some to all the lovers out there, and that’s all good. But then in deference and sensitivity to their unattached listeners, they keep playing anti love songs and mentioning how much we must hate all this, and letting us know that that’s okay, too.
And just as I’m pondering that, looking deep within my duck soul (I just like the duck thing, all right?), AM I okay?, the weather comes on, and of all the regions of BC, the weather reporter is only interested in talking about frickin’ Victoria. And after a moment I’m just hearing “Lower than usual temperatures in that place where that guy lives, you know, the one you used to like so much?” and “Three centimetres of rainfall all over his gorgeous head but I bet he’s very sweet and cheerful about it and that his hair looks really nice anyway, and his eyes always were extra blue on rainy days” and “Winds up to two hundred kilometres an hour through the LONELY UNINHABITED CAVERN THAT IS YOUR HEART.”
And then one more minute of “moron moron/nice guy/moron” running through my head, before I got over it, made some banana bread and went off to my job of being adored and applauded by throngs of appreciative fans.
And diarrhea.
Poor duck.
Yadda yadda, funny stuff, zombie reference to wrap it all up. Also must add more pictures so the sole image in this issue is not of a dude pouring snot through his nose. Screw it. I’m tired. I believe 3:04 am is a late enough bedtime to stop me getting the plague.
Oh no not I, I will Survive,
The Tourist
