Cutting it close...

I just called Galina, expecting to not reach her; that is, expecting to be shunted off to voice mail, indicating a possibility that she was on the road home.

No dice.

She's still in Houston, after having an engine light come on in the "new" car and having the CarMax folks work on it for a while. I hope this is not a portent of things to come. I've called the local Ford dealer in Durango, and have an appointment for Thursday at 1:30 pm.

We are cutting it close, personnel-wise around here. Drew and Shannon depart for her folks' house in California on the 12th (they had wanted to leave tomorrow, but without Galina here, that would leave me alone to run the shop...an impossible task).

As it is, with Drew and Shannon gone, it'll be me and Galina for the rest of the week (except Thursday afternoon, as noted above). We expect Lee to return on Saturday or Sunday, so she'll be available to work next week, but that will still leave the shop short, since I leave on the 17th for Houston to cover the next ISS flight.

I need to get on the phone and make sure there are enough people available to work while Drew, Shannon, and I are gone. I feel I am cutting this one way too close.

Cheers...

Another small epiphany...

There are times when the same phenomenon presents itself in multiple, parallel ways and yet you don't notice it. Tonight, one such phenomenon crystallized for me. It came about when Zach - our acting coach - spoke of what he called "technical acting." That's when, according to Zach, an actor not only learns his or her words, but also puts effort into developing stresses, intonations, etc. By doing so, the actor carefully maps out the how and where and why of the character, carefully crafting it all to affect the audience in a certain way.

Zach likened such craft to that of an artist who sets out to paint a painting, carefully pre-planning what goes where, what colors go where, etc. so that the painting is complete before the caps are removed from the tubes of oil paint.

In the end, you may end up with a good product, and even a quality product, and there is nothing particularly wrong with that. Technical actors, says Zach, often get compliments on their work. But there will be a noticeable lack of "soul" embedded in the craft, and such work will never be "great."

What Zach said, and his drawing the analogy between actors and artists, made me recall the relation some writers have with their work. Some carefully plot out every detail and nuance; others put their characters in various situations and then record what happens.

It also made me recall some simultaneous interpretation sessions. Normally, there's very little time to think while doing that sort of work; everything is just coming together the best way it can, and somehow, you always muddle through. Done well, you don't really have good recall of what was said. You remember the high points, of course, but I've had sessions go where, afterward, I ask "What did I say?"

Interestingly enough - and I don't know if this is the same phenomenon that Zach was talking about - there are times when some part of me "interrupts" the rest of the process and tries hard to turn a phrase in a particular manner. Experience shows that invariably, my concentration is diffused just enough for me to miss something in the stream of information coming into my ears.

The best example of this was the time I was interpreting an answer Valery Ryumin was giving at a press conference. This was during the series of problems that occurred on the late Mir space station a few years ago (fire, followed by a collision and depressurization, followed by various systems failures). He was saying that it was important for the U.S. to continue to support the joint space effort despite these setbacks, else we would be considered to be people who could only be counted upon for support when times were good.

When he said this, I had a momentary recollection of Thomas Paine's description of "the summer soldier and sunshine patriot," but realized I needed something else...and then "fair-weather friend" hit me between the eyes. That was the phrase I was looking for! It was perfect! I was so proud of this rendering, I missed half of his next sentence.

I find it very difficult to simply memorize words without a context (I have a history of memorizing poetry...so shoot me, I like it). My own mechanism to avoid "technical" memorization - and this is something I've been doing for some time without any awareness of "technical" versus any other kind of memorization - has been to repeat the words in different styles and states of mind. While memorizing Kipling's Gods of the Copybook Headings, for example, I'd repeat the lines with a Russian accent, or a Brooklyn accent, or I'd say the words as fast as possible, or in a monotone. I undertook this approach not so much because I wanted to avoid falling into a rut where you repeatedly put a stress on a certain word, or perform some physical action that emphasizes what is being said, but because it was fun to explore different ways of reciting the words.

As a side effect, I've found the result is similar to that reported by athletes or musicians, where the organism "knows" what to do (say) next, as if on autopilot. You don't have to think of what the next words are, which leaves you free to think (or not think) about what the words are doing to you, or what you are doing to the words.

Segue.

It snowed pretty much all day, which is about par for the course here in Colorado for "April showers." At last report, Galina left Houston this morning, but Drew reports that weather is pretty bad all over. I trust she is safe and taking her time to assure her arrival here at home.

Time to go to bed. Big day tomorrow. Drew and Shannon are taking off for California, and we have a bunch of stuff to do before opening the store.

Cheers...