M.A.S.H. Break

Another Bella update before I begin babbling. Bella has decided that her pedestal isn’t close enough when I am at the computer so she has taken to lying on the floor directly behind the wheels of the desk chair while I write. Very cute if you ask me, but very dangerous. I know I am going to get up too quickly one of these nights.

Anyway, I was trying to write part III of Smorgasbord this evening, but it really wasn’t going to work. It has been one of those days. Lots planned and lots to do and wound feeling like the wheels were spinning in the mud all day. After a while, on days like this, I eventually surrender to the weight of the world, or whatever weight there is, and try to find something to take my mind off that which I am trying to accomplish and failing. If all else fails I will invariably turn to the “old standby,” M.A.S.H.

I have been watching M.A.S.H. religiously since high school. In fact in high school, in the Providence area there were days where it would be on three times from 5 PM to 11 PM and I would try and catch all three. I realize that this fact makes me both an addict and pathetic, but “it is what it is.”

I love the theatre, more musicals than anything, but the theatre in general is a special place to me. More so the older I get and the more involved in the theatre I become. To me, M.A.S.H. has always been much more like a twenty minute filmed play than anything else. Amazingly talented, exquisite actors, compelling writing, and directing, and characters that force you to root for them, or against (Frank Burns, Margaret Hullahan, and Charles Emerson Winchester the 3rd). Their timing, their delivery, their ease with one another just makes for a great break from whatever it may be you are trying to forget.

For me, more than anything else, watching episodes today just reminds me of a time that was easier, better, simpler, and one that I truly wish I could have back, the people, the circumstances, the places, even the smells were all so much better then. Those were fortunate times, and times I will always remember with nothing but fondness, and yes our memories of times gone by do improve the farther away we get, but still I would take that in a minute.

Probably a good place to begin tomorrow.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.