Variety Show

First of all, we renamed it the MO-Pets show. Since it was a bit of a trainwreck backstage, had musical and puppet acts, and good hecklers in the audience, I think it is appropriate.

Everyone was calling it the kukla_tko42 show. Well, for the first year it HAD to be, since the con did not promote it in advance on the website *like I asked them to months ago*. My whole philosophy had to be that if I wanted a show of any length or quality, I would have to:
A.) Provide about half of the acts myself out of my own troupe.
B.) Spend all weekend persuading people to put an act in the show.
So, I am sure that once word got around, people started to fear me when I walked up with a friendly smile and said "So, what act are you putting in my Variety Show?"

If I had a dollar for every time I heard "What Variety Show?" in answer to that question, I could have financed a second room for the kids.

Damn lack of promotion!!!

So, despite the fact that I had everything prepared in advance, I *still* had to pull the whole show out of my @ss *from scratch* DURING the con.

I really hate this. Just because I am Capable of doing so doesn't mean that I want to do it.

Grumble.

However, we ended up with 16 acts! Four were Junior Entries (the only actual competition), Four were pieces that I prepared in advance to add to the show.
The other 8 were created at the con by the remaining Performers!

By these numbers, I bet that I can get twice that many next year because people will have time to think of acts and prepare them!

Some of the talent that I had to coax out of the woodwork:
The Tai Chi guys. These poor fellas were doing two demos a day, but were scheduled before 11 am, so few people attended the panels. I thought they were great and wanted a demo to happen for a greater audience. Yay!
The Toastmistress. She was doing cute puppet stuff in the hallway, so why the hell not get her to do it on stage?
One of the guests was Bob Bergen, who does voice talent. He did a workshop, and I invited the other participants to do their dramatic reading for the show. We only had one take me up on it, but I was glad that he got a chance to show off for a crowd. Also, he was living proof that you don't have to be "my friend" or really any good to get time on the stage.
A Con Virgin did a strange and funny number as Nightcrawler in Drag.
My Mom opted to show off her wedding gown (Created by Curious Cat Clothing) and do a creepy St. Patrick as a perv joke.
The Kids. I told them that we were doing this, and that they were free to participate or not, whichever they wanted. So, they went through my puppet box, played with the puppets and came up with a cute "dragon eats everyone" skit. All by themselves. Rock on, Kids!

So, all in all, I think that it went well, and has great potential to grow into a really great show, possibly as cool as the one at ConTraception in KC.
(Brad, feel free to comment.)

Of bullies and armor

Other posts about Mean Kids and Bullies had me thinking about my own experiences with them.

I was the weird kid, everywhere I went. In school, I didn't have the same kind of Daddy that everyone else had, he was "Papa" and a math teacher who drove a motorcycle. Mom was a housewife, (like the other kids') but we lived in a house like the Addams Family (Ok, not a mansion, but a 2 storey home on a wooded 1 acre lot with a gravel driveway on a busy street.) I didn't grow up in the immediate neighborhood of my classmates, who all knew each other before they went to school. They lived in pretty boxes, little boxes all the same. (Carbon Copy ranch houses.) There were a few other kids in interesting homes, but they all had older brothers and sisters who were in school, too.
Me, I am the firstborn of eccentric, hippy/intellectual, educator parents. (Mom's a teacher, too.)

I believe I became a target because I was different, and even more importantly, they discovered that they could make me cry very easily.

That's blood in the water to the bullies and Mean Kids.
( Read more... )

How I am broken

I mentioned in the previous entry some ways that I fixed my craziness and developed coping skills.

To be fair, I should acknowlege the ways in which I am still broken.

Is there a sound that drives you crazy? Like fingernails down a chalkboard? Like a dentist's drill? Some sound that causes your back muscles to clench and your anxiety levels to rise sharply?

Some sound that makes you want to stab the thing or person making it?


No?

<( Read more... )