November, 1996.

DIARY

I was acting in the first version (it's been repeated about eight times now) of Flint Youth Theatre's Visions of Sugar Plum. This was a play in which the actors dressed in black with gloves and barefoot and moved puppets in front of blacklight. It was a runaway success and became a sort of sacred money tree for FYT over the next several years. At the time, though, it was somewhat experimental and we didn't know what the upshot would be.

I remember November as being one of the most depressing months that year. My friends Jessica and Demetrius were angry at me... the original incident was certainly my fault, but their response was to gossip and ignore me, which didn't put me in a penitent mood. I also had a crush on a girl who was way too young for me, but that wasn't working out and it was disappointing. Mainly, however, the year wasn't matching the intensity of the year prior. If this was the vaunted year leading into college, and it didn't get any better then this, than what was there to look forward to. Really.

One night after rehearsal Greg and I went to Angelo's and I spent two or three minutes staring at the table, fixedly. I felt apathetic, and I thought something along the lines of "if there's nothing to say, I won't speak." I wasn't particularly good company, and finally Greg said "why aren't you saying anything?!" An outburst like that was far out of character. I must have made an impression, I realized.

Where were you in November, 1996?

END OF POST.