Friday, February 21, 2014
Hidemi’s Rambling No.506
After two and a half years of training and backstage work in the drama
club at junior high, I was close to getting a role in a school play.
Casting was done strictly by seniority, not by acting skill. A leading
role automatically went to the club captain and the higher grade at
school a member was in, the better role she got. The club was a joint
activity of the high school and the junior high. I was already in the
ninth grade and many senior members at high school either graduated or
quit. As a result, I rose to a candidate for the last bit part that had
only two lines. The part was normally to go to Miss Fujiwara who was a
freshman at high school and so one year senior to me. But since she
joined the club at the same time as I did and our careers were equal,
the bit part came down to either her, or me. It was put to a vote.
Everyone knew my acting skill was much better than hers, and the choice
was actually between seniority and skill. All members including she and I
sat with a face hiding in the arms on the desk and eyes closed. The
club captain stood in front of the blackboard on which our names were
written. When she read out a name, we raised a hand for the name of our
choice, and she counted the vote. Although I craved the role, I raised
my hand when Miss Fujiwara’s name was called out for two reasons. While
we wouldn’t know who voted whom, the club captain would know. I wanted
her to recognize how much I respected seniority and I was thus a good
member. And also, I had a trauma that my mother never allowed to vote
someone else but myself and people laughed at me when I got one vote by
myself in every election at elementary school. The result was exactly
tied. The captain declared the second vote, which meant the part would
be mine if I voted for myself this time. Switching a vote seemed so
shameless, though. I had never been in a tight corner like that. I
raised my trembling hand for Miss Fujiwara. I heard one of the names
being erased on the blackboard and when I opened my eyes, I saw my name
gone. Miss Fujiwara got the role. Right away, an enormous feeling of
regret came over me. I went home shivering, realizing I had made a huge,
irretrievable mistake. And it really was. From then on, she was
acknowledged officially senior to me and I was always left one step
behind her. One year after that, she got a leading role and I was her
sidekick. Two years later, she became a club captain. If I had voted for
myself, I would have been a captain. Instead, I quit. I couldn’t stand
to be a sidekick of her bad acting and her way of managing the club. I
didn’t quit for any hardship all those years, but I did for my mistake
that still makes my heart throb today…
Friday, February 14, 2014
Hidemi’s Rambling No.505
From January of last year to October, I’d had terrible skin trouble on
my face. I had eczema mainly on my cheeks that were itchy and peeling.
The condition was too bad to be covered up with makeup and I was in a
mess. Since I’d never had that kind of problem before, I couldn’t figure
out the cause. Eventually I attributed it to an allergy to basil pasta
sauce. But I recently ascertained the true culprit and need to clear the
basil sauce’s name. My apartment building has a spa which fee is
included in the monthly maintenance fee from the resident. The privilege
of using it with no holds barred and the fact I’m cheap send me to the
spa every morning and evening. Not using it is a big waste of money for
me. At the spa, a hot tub, a Jacuzzi, a sauna and a cold water tub are
regularly available. And during the busy time such as the summer
holidays and the winter skiing season, an extra hot tub is operated.
When I looked for the solution for my skin trouble, I tried everything
including shortening my spa time a little. After the trouble went away
in October, it reappeared as soon as I started taking an extra hot tub
at the spa in December. The cause wasn’t the basil sauce. I took a bath
too much and too long every day. Sweating too excessively and having too
much metabolism seemed to cause skin trouble. I knew moderation in all
things, but had never known it was also true for a spa and metabolism. I
thought they were good for health and the more the better. I’ve read or
heard everywhere that metabolism is essential to health, and had never
thought it also required moderation. It amounts to this, that I was too
healthy. I reduced time and the frequency for the spa drastically and my
skin trouble quickly disappeared. The free spa was my favorite
relaxation. Now spending less time at the spa every day, I feel as if I
leave an all-you-can-eat buffet after only a few bites each time. My
good old days of sweating in a sauna as much as I want and relaxing in a
Jacuzzi as long as I want are over. And to make matters worse, now that
I’m careful not to sweat too much, I’ve gained a few pounds…
Friday, February 7, 2014
Hidemi’s Rambling No.504
When my role in a drama club at junior high was still lower backstage
work, I was assigned to give the cast members a cue on one school play. I
needed to cue them in the dressing room when the show before us was
about to end. I counted down from forty minutes before the cue to make
their preparation easier by watching the show in the wings. The stage
was far from the dressing room and I had to go back and forth between
them to tell them the time left. On that play, the heroin put on makeup
and got dressed so slowly, and I felt sure our play couldn’t start on
time. I rushed her while reporting the progress of the show before us by
running laps between the stage and the dressing room. But as I had
thought, she couldn’t make it. The previous show had ended, the audience
was waiting, and she remained wigless. Those who helped her dress got
hysterical and began to take it out on me who kept on cueing. Back in
the wings, the teacher in charge of the school event stormed at me. We
had to start without her and I asked other cast members to prolong the
opening scene by improvising. They got panicky and complained to me.
Eventually, everyone yelled at me who was just a cue person. While they
were desperately improvising the play, I took her from the dressing room
plowing through the people on the crowded hallway for her. Then I had
gradually promoted to the higher backstage work play by play. As the
curtain drawer, I needed to learn how to draw the heavy main curtain
smoothly. If it opened or closed in several separate movements according
to my tugging, I would get reproved. The curtain was used frequently to
shift scenes and drawing it seamlessly was such a tough job. As a
prompter, I was pointed out that my prompts were too loud. Then as the
stage lighting, I needed to get the knack to create a blackout on the
stage by turning numerous switches off in one quick sweep by my hands.
The switches were too many and big, so I had to hold my breath and put
my whole weight on my stretched hands to slide them all. All those
years, I didn’t quit because I really wanted to be cast and play on the
stage some day. It must have been a strong aspiration as I spent a good
three years just training and working backstage…
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