Week Nine 8/4 to 8/10

Do you ever have the feeling that you don't really belong anywhere?  I'm finally back home, but I feel very strange.  

Last year when I get back I was down right depressed.  Last summer I had such an amazing time, loved the work I did, got great reviews, then all of a sudden I was unemployed and didn't know what I was doing with my life.

This summer, again, I loved the work I did, I got great reviews, but I have a job and I know what I'm doing with my life.  I guess it's just an adjustment period. 

I was gone for so long, I feel like a stranger in my own apartment.

Also I'm heavily drugged at the moment. 

My last week at OSF was pretty good considering I had to go to the Hospital/ER.  Yup, I got hurt during a stage fight while doing Othello.  It happened on Thursday.  We held the show for a couple of minutes because it was raining.  

We get the go and everything is fine until the, 'Roderigo gets his ass kicked' scene, which pretty much is right in the middle of the show.  I run out from up stage screaming "Help, Help" and I'm supposed to trip and fall.  Well the stage floor was wet so I really did trip and fall.  I used it, of course.  

Then the actor playing Cassio (Chris Richards) is supposed to drag me up and fling me across to the other side of the stage.  I was so disheveled from my 'real' fall that I didn't control my next fall and I fell right on my back.  It all happened so fast.

The next day, Friday, I'm really sore, but nothing to bad.  In between my scenes there was always someone in the cast rubbing down my back.  (PS I've never had back pain issues before, never)

On Saturday, however, BAM the pain hits me like a ton of bricks. 

I was feeling better Saturday morning, only a little sore, so I start packing, lifting heavy suitcases, etc... That day Dane, Ben and I were planning to go to a Wolf Creek Winery for a nice lunch and wine tasting at 2:30pm.   As I'm packing the lovely lunch I made: cheese, crackers, grapes, grilled chicken salad, the pain hits me in the kitchen.  

I stumble into the living room and fall to the floor. I  stayed down for 30 mins.  It hurt so bad.  I took a vicodin, but it still hurt.  After those 30 mins i tried to get up and couldn't. That's when I said, "um, I think I have to go to the ER."

Dane and Ben carried me to the car and off we go.

When we got to the hospital, some of the staff there saw how I was struggling to get out of the car and making "oooohhh" "OUCH" noises so they brought me a wheel chair right away.  A woman cop that was at the front door helped me onto the wheel chair and said,

"You hurt your back... Let me guess, football."

To which I responded

"No, acting."

Anyway, I was there for about 3.5 hours.  They took X-rays and give me 2 shots of something good, and a muscle relaxer.  

The doctor said, I didn't break anything.  I strained and bruised a muscle and they prescribed pain killers and muscle relaxers.  I asked, "I have show tonight can I do it?"  He said, "We'll you shouldn't, but that's up to you." 

I thought to myself, "Well, he didn't say I couldn't!"

I had called the director before I left to the hospital and he was prepared to go on for me and read the lines on book.  I called him back said, "I'll be late, but I'm going on."

I left from the Hospital straight to the theatre at Willoughby where we were performing Othello.  It was an hour away, I got there just in time to get into costume and out on stage.  

When I left the Hospital I was high as a kite on Vicodin, which they didn't know I had taken, 2 shots (one in each arm) of something and a muscle relaxer.  I was FLYING.

Before going on I asked the other actors to, "shove me on stage if I'm on and I hope ill say the right lines."

The show went well.  I did have a funny walk, but since Roderigo is a fool, I think it worked for me.  At one point when Othello, who was not every good at all, had a long monologue, I had to lean up against the stage right proscenium because I was getting really dizzy and thought I was going to faint.  

 

This last week both my temp agencies called me, Seville/office, and KSM/catering.  I had lined up a catering gig this entire week, and an office job starting  this coming Monday until Oct 8th, when I'm off for my next gig.  

I had to cancel the catering and take this week off.  I'm still in pain , but not as bad as the day I ended up at the ER.  I'm basically just knocked out all day, because the meds I'm on make me sooo drowsy. 

That having been said, I feel like i'm gonna pass out again.  Goodnight.