Place cart before horse, engage

It's two days until the end of term presentation, and I'm feeling strangely calm. Maybe it's because I feature in fewer pieces this term, but that's not a bad thing. As much as I'd love to be performing a clown piece this week, I have my Disney princess send-up, and that's fine with me.

The end of classes and end of term have also brought the happy realisation that I'm really enjoying creation these days. This is particularly good news since we're coming up on a term of nothing but. I still have no idea what my final project will look like, but I'm getting more excited about what it could be.

I've also, of course, been thinking about the summer and the fall and next year. But before I go into those thoughts, some clarification: I think I may have been a bit unclear in my last post when I was talking about being home for six weeks - that was not to say that I'm planning on leaving Minneapolis after six weeks (or that my flight back to London, assuming there is one, will be booked for six weeks after my arrival). Basically, I'm thinking I'll fly home mid-November, which makes six weeks in Minneapolis between my arrival and New Year's, which is the earliest I would consider going anywhere else (and when, ideally, whatever project I'm involved in will start.) So I'm not willfully self-sabotaging my quality of life in Minneapolis; I'm just inarticulate.

Now onto the new thoughts about this summer/fall/next year! There's now the possibility of going to Portugal for the month of October, where Diogo and Jillian will be leading physical theatre workshops and have invited me to help teach. That would leave me the beginning of November to come back to London to say my farewells, however temporary, to this city. (In this precise moment in time [meaning my feelings change regularly] the only thing that really gets me excited about the prospect of staying is if I did the Pedagogical Year at LISPA. But it's too soon for that, and I'm not ready, and I want to perform for awhile anyway, so I'll just come back and do it in a couple of years. Say 2010 or 2011. How does that sound?)
There's also the fact that Erin and Jillian are in the midst of writing grant applications to fund themselves, Jones, and Diogo (and possibly me!) to develop a devised show and subsequently tour it to four Fringe Festivals across the States (Boulder, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and Philly). In this particular dream, rehearsals would start in early 2009 on the West Coast somewhere (probably Portland, possibly LA), and the show would tour the fringes that late summer/fall, and would be damn near fully funded by grants.

This is not the only possibility for next year, but it's the most concrete one, and is definitely exciting. But far from certain! So don't get excited! This is an idea to be intellectually appreciated at the moment, not heart-set-upon.

Oh, and also Rebecca and Jed will be in Cairo for October. Have I mentioned that I've always wanted to go to Egypt? I should also not get excited about the possibility of having people to hang out with in Cairo.

You know what I am allowed to get excited about, though? Seventy degree and sunny weather predictions for the week (touch wood)! And even more so: Gemma arriving... TOMORROW! Oh the the places we'll go, oh the lists I have made...