Just a quick note to let you all know that I love reading your posts -- even the ones that make me wish I'd stuck around to keep the old group going and help get the new group started -- and if I hadn't been so busy myself trying to make drama work over here in Kuwait, I'd have written a lot more than I have and said just how much I miss you all.
I don't laugh as much over here as I should. You guys were very good at making me guffaw, sometimes with embarrassment (need I mention Ian & Teava?), but always with great heart, wicked wit, and support for one another.
Cherie just sent me a long note filling me in on what she's been up to, so she's inspired me to write a bit about what I've been doing.
The school drafted me to be one of the Forensics coaches this fall. Forensics is their way of saying "speech and debate" -- it doesn't have anything to do with bones or dead bodies. Not much, anyway. We had our tournament this past weekend and did all right. Two of my actors in the Serious Duet category took first place overall with a script that one of them had written. Two other duets in that category made it into the finals as well, but didn't place. And I had one Comic Duet make it into the final round. They were cheated out of a place, I think -- they were very good and very funny -- but I won't tell them that. (One of the judges was from the winning school. Go figure.)
On Thursday, tomorrow, I am going off to see a "pantomime" at a local theatre with about a dozen of my colleagues. This is not "mime" but is a musical comedy at Christmastime in the British tradition. Pantos (as they're called) are musicals usually based on fairy tales, made contemporary with references to society, new lyrics, and with the tradition of a guy dressing up as a woman: sort of Variety Show meets Mother Ginger from Nutcracker.
On Friday, I will be playing the choice role of Santa Claus for our faculty Christmas party. As I told Cherie, the Santa suit that they gave me to wear must have belonged to someone the width of Carter Nakamoto. When I put on the shirt, I look like Shaka Santa down at Honolulu Hale. Gotta go buy a red t-shirt for underdressing, otherwise I, and a whole lot of impressionable children, will be scarred for life.
On Saturday, off I go to the races! What races? Camel races! And the cool thing about that (as if it isn't already cool enough) -- they use itty bitty robot jockeys. They used to used children, but apparently the kids kept falling off and getting trod upon and someone thought better of doing that. Here's a picture of what they use:
Lastly, for Winter Break (we don't do Christmas over here in Kuwait, of course, but we do have Christmas trees, Christmas parties, and bad Santa suits), I will be heading to Thailand. Of course, things have been a mite exciting in Bangkok of late, but then, it won't be much different than a SEALS Leadership Meeting, I suppose. I go from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and then back to lovely Kuwait -- where the temperatures have been below 50˚ this past week. In fact, right now at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning, it's only 7 degrees F. above freezing.
Brrrr!
Keep in touch, you guys.
Uncle Steve (or Mr. Swag or what you will)
