My Cardboard Balcony

Yep, I admit it: No short story tonight. And that's because I am outlining and beginning to write my tenth play! It's another sci-fi play, though it's not inspired by or adapted from any of my previous work (unlike my play,  It Is Fragile,  or my feature film,  The Potter and the Summoner).  I don't have a title yet, though I would love to start it with a J, as all of my plays have been written in alphabetical order by title. The first scene is finished, and I'm hoping to add more soon. I'm trying not to oversaturate my life with too many projects, whether they're my own or a collaboration with others. But hey, this is my passion, and I'm happy to indulge and work on my own pace for a lot of my work. So I'll let y'all know how it goes! And if you want to hear what my play's about, let me know: maybe you can even help me come up with a title starting with the letter J. Night, all!

We looked at everything when it came to the championship brackets. We checked the rosters. We checked the stats. We checked both individual performance and team effort. And in the end, we had an idea of who would most likely head to the finals. "I'm just saying," I told my buddies over a tankard of ale at Mox's Tavern, "when you have experience as a dragon slayer, you're gonna do well in the beast bouts. Especially when you're a damn good swordsman."

I've just finished a yearbook deadline. I'm in the middle of my annual performance poetry unit with my English classes. I've let the appropriate people know about my decision that I only hinted at in last week's introspection. No, you're not getting any more details for me. I had to be reminded of something today, and it really jarred me. I talked about it with my wife on BART, as we were able to see a great play in the city (it's called, The Do's and Don't's and Time Travel, and if you're a bay area local, freaking see it, it's going until the 26th, here's a link ). And when I told her about my experience, after so many days of stress and anxiety and anger from the people around me, I really began to realize how much I was losing my passion for something that is, in truth, super important to me. But I want to write my thoughts down in a way that's appropriate to my life right now. Yep - time for some cheesy spoken word. Enjoy. ...

Don't Ask Me The Rules by Belinda Roddie My favorite new game is bowling with my enemies' skulls!

Everyone likes to say that I don't have the courage to confront my problems. I ignore them, they claim with a pointed finger and a standard accusatory tone; I just pretend they're not there, sweep everything under the rug. Well, why the rug, out of curiosity? I mean, my floors are all hardwood, and the carpeting upstairs can't have anything swept under it. How about I keep my problems in an old empty vodka bottle instead, like preserving dying insects, and I enjoy watching their exoskeletons slowly decay in the sunlight from my kitchen's bay window?

We Played Croquet by Belinda Roddie We played croquet after a tea or two, our shoes skidding on the manicured lawn, the crack of mallets against orbs both blue and red breaking the silence of the dawn. We did this every sunrise, and once we had woken up the neighbors, we retired back to our bed to warm our chilled bodies under a handmade quilt. You had been hired as a receptionist, and I, poor fool continued my vain efforts to inspire the adolescents I taught at the school. "Kiss me," I said, and yet, I was too tired to kiss back. The remainder of the day was gone to me after playing croquet.

"Hey, man. I got the pizza." I look up from my newspaper. "Wow," I intone. "That was quick. Slow day at the Big Pepperoni?" "Nah," replies Marcia with a grin. "I went to Slice Of Life instead. Their pizza's cheaper, but also way better. Dig in!" Skeptical, I stand up and retrieve some cheese goodness from the box. Already, the dairy actually looks real; good start.