Dramaturge

A couple of days ago, I was called on to interview a dramaturge with Kris and Peter. Perhaps interview is an exaggeration, we only had one person to see and we weren't paying him very much. I had also only ever used the word dramaturge in French, and when talking about the Renaissance I think. And yet I think it was an appropriate word for what we want of him.

Halloween is coming. Yes, 'tis only August but the shops are stuffed with Halloweenery. Our dramaturge, should he agree to our pathetic terms, will be the visionary who will design and co-ordinate our Halloween event, 'Wild Things'.

Peter and I start with artistic differences. He is and I'm not.
Or....he thinks that our event should be safe and not scary, I think it should be physically safe, ie no-one should come to any actual harm, but really rather scary. I mean, think Brothers Grimm. I think that hair should be standing on end and children should be experiencing nightmares until Christmas. Christmas 2008. Plenty of ectoplasm. No sweeties.

Contrarily, someone out there is sick enough to be hiding razor blades in children's playgrounds. We have had two incidents notified from Burnaby (part of Greater Vancouver, to the east) and since we have a children's play area, we have to increase our checks on the equipment, especially the rubber matting where children land after coming off the slides. That's bad scary.

When last in the States, I bought a book from Borders, reduced from $24.99 to $2.99, an end of run.
It is written by an Historian of some note and is a look at the war in Iraq. So far, we have looked at the history of the area from Biblical times onwards and I am finding it absolutely fascinating. Some of the stuff is familiar from history lessons, some even from RI lessons (now known as RE in most schools) at school, but of course the detail is greater, there is more depth to the explanations, and frankly, history lessons are 35 years since.

The author is certainly a good writer as well as being a good historian.

He also repeats himself in slightly different ways, and I say that not as a criticism, but as a strength, the situations he is describing are complex, tough to keep pinned in your mind as a background whilst following the events he is beginning to explore.

One of the most enjoyable moments of each day currently, is getting home from work and stepping into the shower. I feel so hot, sweaty and sticky, and this is always rendered worse by the continual application of sun creme, which migrates into my eyes at some point, seemingly when the temperature gets too high and it melts, although I know that can't really be the case.

Katt and Rob finished the summer programmes today. It has been an exhausting summer for them, they have worked hard and done a brilliant job, but they both have to return to university, which for Katt means flying halfway across the country. I'm going to miss both of them.
I won't however, miss their mess ;)