ceebeegee | Entries tagged with ghosts

Softball yesterday was GREAT, although we did lose. But considering we were playing a player down, *and* our first baseman had a broken freakin' arm and could barely throw, losing by only 2 runs was a moral victory. But I was quite stoked personally--I batted .600!!! And I got an RBI! And I hit a double! And scored two runs! It was all basically mental--I started focusing only on the ball, nothing else. I did a battery of other adjustments as well (choked up a little (the smallest bat yesterday was 26 ounces), held the bat higher behind me, and leaned back) but primarily I just focused on the ball and visualized myself HITTING IT. Oh, and forcing myself NOT to swing on the first pitch--that is a terrible habit of mine, and telling myself, over and over, to WAIT. I can usually see immediately if the pitch is any good, which is why I tend to first-pitch swing, and why I always pull to the left.

I also slid under a tag at second base. Woo hoo!

In other news, Anya and I think we have a visitor! There have been...signs that someone--or something--else is in our apartment. Saturday morning Anya woke up to find something that looked like residue in the tub--and it wasn't there an hour earlier when I'd gotten up to feed the cats, use the bathroom, and then go back to sleep. I *know* I shut the door behind me and I know the door had been shut when I first entered the bathroom (to keep the A/C in--the bathroom window is open to help air it out after a shower). That was the first sign. Then Tibby and Tatia started acting strangely--especially Tibbles-and-Bits who seemed to be "seeing" things. He would stare at what looked like blank space and act scared. Hmmm. We noticed a couple of other things as well, and were trying to figure it out. Anya wondered why Edna Mo wasn't visiting the apartment where she spent the last 6 years--I said that's because Stuart and his family are gone from Naples, there's no one there for her. And she did spend the last 5 months of her life with us. Precious lamb. I started calling out to her, telling her she was welcome to stay with us as long as she liked, and Tibby could use the schooling.

I'm in the middle of a writing project of sorts right now. I met with Dave a few weeks ago to discuss how TTC is going to do Xmas Carol this season, and we also came up with another project, a fundraiser, Scary Stories Along the Waterfront. I have to write this one as well, and I've been doing a ton of research. It's harder to write a good ghost story than you think. Dave and the Hoboken Historical Museum (a co-sponsor) are fine with my using actual ghost stories, but the several books I have (DC ghosts, NYC ghosts, and Scottish ghosts) feature accounts of actual ghosts, not necessarily ghost stories. With an actual ghost, the thrill is imagining that it really happened, whereas with an openly acknowledged imaginary ghost, you have to have an actual story, with buildup and a twist and all. These are not easy!

The DC ghost book has some great stories, like the Three Sisters--3 Indian princesses along the Potomac tried to cross during a storm, were swept away, and cursed the river that nobody could ever cross it at that point again. After the curse, there appeared three little islands in the river and believe it or not, no one has ever been able to cross it there. The best example is the Three Sisters Bridge, which started construction and was halted by 1) Congress and the DC Council withdrawing funding, and 2) a hurricane, which swept away what little had been built. Great story, but what makes it great is the added bit about the bridge--even Congress couldn't break the curse! I'm trying to make the stories New York/New Jersey specific.

The NYC ghost book is pretty sucktastic. I bought it awhile ago, thinking it would be as good as the DC one--it ain't! The writing is pretty cringe-inducing--I've tried to get some ideas by reading it, but it's not that helpful. I have been able to use some particularly vivid details from the DC book to whip up a couple of stories--not great ones but they a'ight. They need work.

However the Scottish book may well be my saviour. This is an old book that my dad has when I was a kid and I read it to pieces. I found it later on Amazon. Some GREAT stories there, with murdered pedlars and Earl Beardie playing dice with the Devil and crazy Janet Dalrymple grinning insanely over the bloody corpse of her husband (inspiration for the opera Lucia di Lammermoor) and all. Trust the Celts to get the other worldly stuff right.

I just got off the phone with the Hudson Current reporter from last night.She asked me a lot of questions, like would I say there's more music in this production of A Christmas Carol than others I've seen (I said well, there are about 15 pieces in this production but they're not set pieces, they're used in a variety of ways--to comment on the action, to underscore certain themes, to add tension, to prepare the audience--so maybe it will feel like more, or less). She asked about my "take" on the show--I talked about our focus on the language, the authentic (and yet not beaten into the ground) music. She wanted to know about the tablework process--I told her about the early rehearsal, talking about classical technique, studying poetry, hearing the cadences. She also asked if I thought my version had more thpoookiness--I said that I was always interested in ghosts and even as a child, my favorite ghost was Future, with the long creepy robes and talon-like fingers*. I said I took some liberties with the Ghost of the Future--I didn't want to give it away but I tried to add thpoookiness there. She asked why did I think Dickens used the ghosts? I thought about it and said perhaps he was saying that some changes are just too big for us mortals to accomplish on our own--you need supernatural intervention. I mean, he does it all in one night! As she was typing this up (I could hear her typing over the phone) something else occurred to me--I said "actually the very first phrase in the book bears this out." I started reciting it and she joined in--"Marley was dead, to begin with." And at the end of the passage he finishes with "this must be distinctly understood--or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate." So he gets in both worldly, inescapable fact of life and death, and the otherworldly miracle with which the story ends--in the very first passage. Alpha and Omega.

The article should be out on Wednesday.

*I was showing Duncan this picture

of the Ghost of the Future--it kills me. I just love that prissy little finger pointing down--it's so precise and showy. Like he just got a manicure and doesn't want to mess it up.

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Entries tagged with ghosts

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Scary Ghost Stories

This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.

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