"Life is Suffering"

This is supposedly the first of Buddha's four Noble Truths. Although, from the .05 seconds of Google research I just did, the true implication behind these truths isn't that all of life is about suffering, but more that there is suffering in life, and that through the practice of meditation, suffering can be alleviated. If any hard-core Buddhists are reading, please feel free to elucidate further.

So, I nearly got one of my little toesies broken at a rehearsal yesterday on Baker Beach. See pic at left, the purple one is the one that's in need of some meditative energy, fast!

This experience has been a challenge, on a million different levels!!!!!


Last weekend we had an "Artists' Retreat" day at a beautiful secluded beach in Half Moon Bay. As a surprise, the theatre company folks lugged our set down this steep cliff and it was all set up when we arrived-- it was done to show us all how cool the set looked on the beach. It's a little hard to see here, but those are screens, a big old armchair, a grandfather clock and a bamboo ladder in the middle.

One of the biggest creative challenges that I'm having is that the character I'm playing is very emotionally shut down, and I'm finding it difficult to get into it. It's a pretty depressing role, really. At the very end he has a kind of awakening.... I feel like it's about as unglittery a role as I could possibly have to play.

The two Baker Beach mini-performances are next weekend, and then the run at the Magic Theater is a week after that.

I am using a very intense, powerful affirmation to get through it all.