For that matter, where has the past month gone?

Holy crap. I don't even know what has been going on for the past twenty-eight days. Oh, wait, I do.

First of all, there was some babysitting of my favorite toddler, Ronin. Several exhausting six-to-eight hour gigs. Oh, my, can that little girl shriek. Two-year-olds are totally bipolar. Everything's fine, then suddenly everything sucks and it's time to cry, and nothing will make it better. And then it's time to snuggle. It was fun overall, but also a good counter to my baby-related meltdown of the previous month.

Lots of family time, as well, mostly centered around the Nursing Home Tango. It's like playing goddamn musical chairs. You try to stay a step ahead, but it's impossible. We moved Grandma to a different location, one that specializes in Alzheimer's and other memory loss. It's... it's just weird. It takes a lot of emotional energy to be there.

At times it's a lot like improv. More and more often, it's pointless to deny Grandma's reality as she perceives it. The important thing, what really reaches her, is an emotional response. That's how to keep interacting, rather than going in circles about way too many factual discrepancies to list. An improv tool I've really noticed myself applying with Grandma (not even on purpose) is to respond to the very last thing she said. I like that tool in scenes. In this case, whatever was said thirty seconds ago has already been forgotten. The important thing, onstage and *cliché alert* in life, is the thing that's happening right now.

When Grandma was at the Atriums, several of the staff and a couple family friends told me I'm good with old people, and should work in geriatric care. No way in hell. I haven't got that kind of lifeforce. I'd slit my own throat after a week.

And then there have been shows. Westport. Lawrence. Westport again at the end of this month. Anomaly Orange has been busy. Note: I did not say I have personally been busy as hell with Anomaly Orange stuff. A little busy, but everyone in the troupe has been picking up more offstage tasks. Especially Brandon, who did an outstanding job putting together the Lawrence show. I'm learning to let go of a significant portion the responsibility. Turns out, it is not easy, but I ultimately have more fun, which makes it a nice diversion from all of the above, instead of one more thing to drive me fucking batshit crazy.

Ooh. Yeah. Still a little edgy.