Potential play in the making?

Ok. I've been thinking about it for the longest time. I've been wanting to write a play. Pitch it to someone to direct (or direct it myself if I have to) - and stage it. But I haven't felt strongly enough about any subject matter or idea to commit myself to the act of sitting in front of my lappie to write it. But 2 nights ago, lying awake at 3 ish am. Unable to sleep - I suddenly felt a flurry of ideas fill my head making it even more difficult for me to get any shut eye. So, I put a small portion of what was in my head in a word document.

What I did that night, I will post below - have a read - tell me what you think. Is it interesting enough to keep you watching?
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DREAMS - a potential play in the making.

Characters: Protagonist: Kit
Protagonist’s love interest: Elizabeth

Story skeleton (Tentative):
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Life happens – tears boy and girl apart.

Monologue:(As audience settles in the dark - they hear a voice)

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it was quoted that sleep and dreams are the chief nourishers of life’s great feast. Everybody dreams. If you think you don’t – you do too. You just don’t remember them. That happens.

I read on the internet that there used to be a Greek God by the name of Asclepios. There were temples built in his name all over the ancient Greece. People would travel great distances to his temples to heal themselves.

One such person was a woman by the name of Arata. She was suffering from Edema or Dropsy as it was formerly called. Arata’s Mother went to one such temple and begged Asclepios to cure Arata. Arata’s Mother slept in the temple and had the following dream:

It seemed to her that Asclepios cut off her daughter’s head and hung up her body upside down. Out of it came a huge quantity of fluid matter. Then, Asclepios took the body down and fitted the head back on the neck.

After she had seen this dream, Arata’s Mother went back home, miles away, where she found Arata in good health; she too - had the same dream.

Lights come on to reveal - Stage bare except for a tombstone in its centre.

TV’s strategically placed around theatre(off stage but where all audience can see) showing protagonist (tentatively named: Kit).

KIT: Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could look into someone’s dream? I find myself wondering what it would be like. But as with most things, I think it’ll be subjective dependent on the person doing the dreaming.

Take Eliza for instance. You see her don’t you? (Image on TVs change to that of Eliza lying in bed, sleeping) She’s lying in bed right this moment. And at right this moment, she’s dreaming of me.

She dreams me dead. I don’t blame her.

Lights go soft as Elizabeth enters stage. Till she stands facing the tombstone.

EL: Now you’ve gone and done it. You happy now? Bloody idiot. Stubborn mule. You just had to do it. I wasn’t enough. All your promises and sweet words, all gone. Like they never happened.

Elizabeth stops – unable to continue talking – clearly very sad – on the verge of breaking down.

KIT enters stage: But KIT’s voice comes from TVs’.

KIT: Eliza was the one. I knew it the moment I laid my eyes on her and I was proved correct when I started talking to her. And then she did me the utmost honour by allowing me into her world. As screwed up as I was when I met her, she always saw the best in me and she always brought the best out of me.

Everything that was ‘wrong’ with me was ‘right’ to her and when someone embraces your flaws with as much ease as they would your good qualities – you become ‘perfect’ to them. And that was how I appeared to her in her dreams – ‘perfect’.

Back to the stage:

KIT: Hi.

EL: I hate you right now. I wish I never met you. (EL is visibly distraught now.)

KIT: I don’t blame you. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being such an ass. I’m sorry for causing you pain. I’m sorry for every wrong I’ve done to you. You deserve better. You deserve more. I definitely don’t deserve you. I love you in a way I never thought I could and that’s a gift you’ve given me that will live in me always. For that, I have to thank you.

Then KIT walks over to EL and hugs her. But she does not return the hug. She just stands there.

KIT then exits stage: KIT on TV resumes talking.

KIT: She definitely saw the best in me. In real life – I would never have said or done what you just saw me do in her dream. In real life, I was good at one thing. Running away, turning my back. When I made a mistake, a really big one, I wouldn’t do the right thing and apologize. Because to me, apologizing wouldn’t make up for my mistake. Better to just walk away.

But sometimes, all a person needs to hear is, “I’m sorry.”

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So how? What do you think? Cool opening? Lame? Got you interested?

I'm out.

Wear Sunscreen.

A Baz Luhrmann song from a while back entitled Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) has a lot of corny and cliched lines of 'advice' that I would normally scoff at if told to me. But being dispensed in the form of a chill out song and the smooth soothing voice of good ole Luhrmann himself somehow managed to make those cliched pearls of advice easier to swallow. And everytime I listen to that song, I think to myself,

'Yeah - I do look good. I don't need a six pack. And Yeah I don't have to worry about the future. And Yeah, I should forget the insults and remember the compliments. And Yeah, I should be more mindful of what I do with my knees, bend down to pick heavy stuff up - don't f*ck up my back. And I shouldn't feel guilty that I don't know what to do with my life, that makes me interesting!' and so on and so forth.

However, there are 2 lines in particular that never fail to jump out at me and stay in my mind.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

This line basically always strengthened my resolve to not give a rats ass about someone if that someone just stresses me out more often than necessary. You can't please everyone right? People make mistakes. But recklessness is not to be misconstrued as mistakes. They are not the same. Mistakes are forgivable. Recklessness - well - a string of recklessness is not.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

This line is the 2nd one that never fails to jump at me. What holds people back? Its fear. Thats it. If you say its your parents, then its probably because you're afraid of disappointing them or afraid of angering them. If its life, then you're just afraid to live. And thats a sad way to go about life. There are always ifs and what nots. And if you really want to think about those, then life would probably become an endless chore.

Caution: Corny paragraphs coming up.

Its definitely easier to just focus on what you want. I don't believe people who say they don't know what they want. People like that are usually people who want a lot of things and just don't know which to choose. Like me. There are 2 ways to deal with that, either you spend your whole life thinking about which option to attempt first OR make a list and then go for it. I'm not saying go into it blindly, but think of the pros and cons and be willing to accept both aspects of your choice.

Some people get stuck on the pros and cons part and spend a lot of unnecessary time thinking if they can accept the cons. If that happens, I suggest - look at the pros. If its exactly what you want. Go for it. Cause if you don't know whether you can accept the cons after spending weeks on end thinking about them, then you probably won't be able to figure it out no matter how much time you spend on them. Every experience is never a total loss as long as you know there is something you can get out of it.

I am scaring myself everyday now. From the moment I wake up. I've chosen a career path that I never thought I would. I am trying to build something out of nothing. I spend many waking moments thinking about whats the best way to go about doing it. I ask my Father and Brothers and every other experienced acquaintance for advice every time the opportunity comes up. And I usually get a hard time for doing so - especially from my family. And thats something I have to deal with. It won't stop me from asking - because the truth of the matter is I'm not sure of what I'm doing. But that won't stop me from doing the best I can.


On another note:

Rose Rose I love you!

And I just scared myself even more yesterday, when I made another choice. I took up an offer to be apart of the ensemble of a musical due to be staged in November. The next 2 months I'll be focusing my energies into trying to build a company and rehearsals / performing.

I'm already scaring myself with my first choice. Why would I want to scare myself even more right? But I guess I'm just a gutsy fool. I'm cool like that.

Thats it for now. I'm out.

P/s: Wear Sunscreen.

The New Stage

September 3rd

On this day last year:
Andre Agassi retires after winning 60 career titles.

On this day 2004:
After a 2-day standoff, Islamist terrorists murder about 340 held inside a school in Beslan, Russia.

On this day 1989:
"Into the Woods" closes at Martin Beck Theater New York City after 764 performances.

On this day 1978:
Pope John Paul I officially installed as 264th supreme pontiff.

On this day 1971:
John Lennon leaves U.K. for New York City, never to return.

As for Sept 3rd 2007 - nothing really spectacularly amazing to report on my end except that it marks the first day I got a 'real job'. Close friends may know why the term real job is highlighted. Private joke. Moving along...

Yes, ladies and gentleman, I have now officially and properly joined the ranks of the working Malaysian public. For the first time in my 25 years of life on this earth, I have finally landed myself a permanent job. EPF, SOCSO, income tax and eventually all the relevant thingamajigs will finally affect me. I am no longer just a kid trying my hand at interesting jobs. I now have a career that needs attention and care. In other words, no more f*cking around.

The change is happening not quite at a gradual pace but moving along quite nicely at a pace that is not entirely comfortable but not terribly alarming either. Not so long ago I changed my mobile number from pre-paid to post-paid. And that may seem like a small little iddy biddy thing to most but for me, it was indeed a milestone that is still fresh on my mind. When I was still at school, I always saw the option of getting a fixed line only open to adults who earn a living. In that sense, I now consider myself an adult earning a living. Thats big.

If we rewind further back, I stopped using my Mum's credit card to fill up petrol for my car. I started paying for my own. This probably took place 2 years ago. It was accomplished solely on my income as a part-time Kickboxing Instructor at TNT Kickboxing. In fact, my income from there pretty much kept me going for a solid 2 year period. From entertainment to the essentials of pre-paid reloads and petrol and food, I survived on Kickboxing Money. (Thank you TNT!)

The decision to pay for my own petrol was instigated by a passing statement by my 2nd bro to me, "That's why...can't even afford to pay for your own petrol, then you want a car??"

Since I resented the fact that that statement resonated the stink of an accusation that I was being spoilt, I made a conscious decision and concerted effort to start paying for my own things. And only resorted to asking for money from parents when I absolutely couldn't afford something I needed.

But it helped a lot, cause I was motivated. I did all kinds of jobs. From event management to kickboxing to acting and some odd stuff in between - I did a lot.

As most of you would know, just before I started on my current job, I was working in production.

I worked my ass off in production. The pace was crazy and at times I felt like it was a neverending gargantuan task that I would never be able to complete alive. This may sound like a dramatization but I assure you, its as real as it gets. I don't think I'll ever feel that kind of pressure to perform at work ever again.

But, after all is said and done. I finished my term there. I got out alive. And feeling quite proud of the end product. Although, I know that I only contributed 'so much' - I'd like to think that it was enough for someone fresh like me. I feel I did myself good. Far from perfect - sure - nevertheless, I'm proud of the 'little' that I did do well. The only comfort I have is the assurance from both the Director and the Producer of Popiah, that they would gladly hire me again should I decide to continue to stay in the Production line.

But they did caution me - that when I told them if I ever go back to production - my end goal is to be someone who can Produce, act and even direct shows ... they told me that I'd have a realllllllly loooooong way to go. And in not so many words, I guess they told me what I already knew, I don't think I'm patient enough to go through all the hardship and time required to get there.

So with a heavy heart I said good-bye to Production. I still will write, act and even direct - but under my own terms and at my own pace. If I ever strike gold and something that came from me sells...then all the better because its what I love to do. But if nothing happens, it still works out for me cause its something I love to do. So either which way I look at it - I guess I win.

Now I'm working in YouthMalaysia.com Sdn. Bhd. (Yes, it is a website. But we're not a dot.com company.)

YM.com is a non-profitable and non-governmental organization that strives to support the cause of youth unity. It will serve as a community platform to allow the Malaysian youth to join together as one.

My own personal goal for joining YM.com is to help create sustainable and easily accessible platforms in diversified fields to enable Malaysian Youths across the board to live empowered lives.

Now don't that sound noble and shit... haha - put away all the cynicism for once. And read on.

In all seriousness, I like the idea that if I do this well, I could be apart of creating something that can really change some lives. And in my own little way, I get a chance to make a difference.

Thats the impetus. Thats my drive. Thats something worth paying EPF, SOCSO and going to the office for. Innit?

Beats just going to work, looking to climb the ranks and earning profit. Essentially, thats whats I'm doing too - sure - I'm looking to create something profit generating, climb the ranks and become a partner and make some money to be able to live the life I want to live. But its bigger than just that. Thats what I like.

This is the new stage from which I will need to perform. Only time will tell whether I'll get a standing ovation at the curtain or a resounding 'boo' instead. Hopefully, I won't f*ck up and fall off the stage either!

Dedication: This entry goes out to all who still visit my blog and check on how I'm doing. Even if you don't leave any comments or any clue that you do visit my blog - I appreciate the effort. But for f*cks sakes - leave lah a comment! ;)

But before I leave - here's a picture of Captain and myself - playing fetch.

Signing off.

The CommonJack.