Performance Anxiety

I met Tania at Echo Coffee this morning and we talked for about an hour. 

Goddamn, I love Tania.  So much good energy, so much encouragement, great sense of humor. 

It was Tania who asked me to participate in the Lit Lounge program at SMOCA last September.  One of the reasons we met this morning was so she could give me a dvd of that evening's performance. 

Tania had previously asked me if I was free to read again in May. 

Apparently, she's putting together a "best-of" show in a larger venue and I told her yes, I definitely wanted to participate.  Tania had a contract with her and she explained I could simply perform the same piece again or come up with something new. 

I told her I would be happy to work on a new piece and she could choose which one she wanted me to use.  We also talked about a few other writing/performing projects which I'm excited about. 

I was supposed to have lunch with the kids, but Sara stayed up late completing one of her finals.  She sounded exhausted when we spoke, and I told her I would see her and Sam this Thursday at Sara's graduation.

When I got home, I slid the Lit Lounge dvd into my computer. 

It was weird, watching myself. 

I wasn't nervous during the performance (I nursed a gin & tonic while the first three performers read), but I was conscious of trying to stay within my alotted time.  You can hear most of my jokes just fine, but I could have taken a few more pauses. 

Of course, there are worse things than summing up your reading by saying, "you actually can't hear everything I said because the audience was laughing too hard."

I am keenly aware that it may never happen again. 

I plan on posting my portion of the show in the next week or so, once I find some time to do a little editing on it.  Then I need to get to work on a new piece. 

There's another installment of Lit Lounge on December 28th.  Tania offered tickets and said she had some funny Jewish women to introduce me to.

It's nice having friends.