Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
In yesterday’s post I mentioned how people from all over the world are descending on Vancouver to enjoy the fever and excitement of the Olympics. Not only spectators, but performers too as Street Performers always seem to gravitate towards where ever large crowds are congregating… One such performer is my friend Cathy Peace from Swank Street Theatre Company.
Cathy and I met at the 2009 Edmonton Street Performer’s Festival and had a hoot hanging out then, so when she said she was coming to Vancouver to perform with Dana Fadkin (another performer I met at the 2009 Edmonton Festival) and needed a place to crash I was happy to provide a place for her to crash…
One of the big things I love about the world of Street Performing is the people who populate it. Lee Zimmerman recently painted a lovely picture of the ordeal that happens at a Festival when people gather for the ‘Circle of Judgement’ at the opening meeting of an event and captured a glimpse of the wonderful characters that inhabit this world. These hugely talented misfits are amongst the most interesting people I’ve ever met and the friendships I have with these people are amongst the most important relationships in my life.
I’m very good at compartmentalizing my life so I can give full focus to what ever it is I’m doing. I love being a performer, but I also love being a father and a husband. Both aspects of my life, the ‘work’ part and the ‘home’ part are incredibly important to me and I’ve spoken before about trying to craft the ideal balance between the two. It’s never easy and I find it much much easier to go away from home to work and when I’m home focus my energies on my family. The trick with it all comes when I get a gig like the one I’m doing currently for the Olympics in town because I run off, do my shows, then come home and attend to the duties at home. I’m in one of those ‘burning the candle on both ends’ situations and I find it exhausting.
I’ve learned from experience that when I’m in a scenario like this, getting enough rest becomes hyper-important. If I try to do too much on not enough sleep, everything suffers… So, I’ve been trying to remember this, not party too hard in the evenings though the temptation is there and stay on track and pace myself as there’s still nine more days of shows to go.
Cathy showed incredible insight the other night because I think she could sense my general energy drain and she stepped forward and offered to make dinner. In a world where Facebook makes it so easy to have superficial relationships with so many, there’s something really amazingly valuable about having a friendship that go a bit deeper. Cathy did the shopping, the prep and the execution of a lovely pasta dinner. Add to this a couple of baguettes that my wife made and I found myself very happily blending my family life and my work life over a fabulous meal which gave me an enormous amount of pleasure…
Hmmmmm… Friends!
