Not
too often is a stop in a city one that doesn't involve any shows or
workshops, but here we are in Amsterdam without anything official to
do. Actually, that isn't entirely true, we have one official
engagement, it is my birthday and its time to show 39 who's boss.
Turning
39 is like approaching the “event horizon” on a black hole. The
“event horizon”, as so many science fiction movies have taught me
(actually, just one science fiction movie, the one called Event
Horizon), is the perimeter that surrounds a black hole where once
crossed, the gravity is too intense for even light to escape. So,
just to re-cap, turning 39 is like being at the event horizon,
turning 40 is like being in a black hole and entering into the
dreaded phase of life known as... “middle age”. And like so many
science fiction movies have taught me, like Logan's Run, “middle
age” is death. Actually, almost all movies have taught me that
“middle age” is death, especially movies about the actual Middle
Ages. The Middle Ages were a hard time in the history of humans, the
Black Death was rampant, poverty, anti-intellectualism, and generally
pretty dirty and miserable. The nickname for the Middle Ages was the
Dark Ages, which is not a good sign. I have lost my train of thought
here... My god, I'm going senile already.
Oh
and Amsterdam was a blast, though it did rain for the two days we had
off, which put a damper on things, which is a pun. They love puns in
Amsterdam, in fact, the Dutch in general love a good pun.
Another
thing about Amsterdam is the fact that it is a city that people from
all over the world go to. It is truly cosmopolitan. We ate at a
Surinamese place and an Indonesian place, which are both places
outside of the Netherlands (duh). We also met up with Cari (an improviser
from Ottawa in town working for Boom Chicago) and Jim (a Winnipeg
film maker who we know). How cosmopolitan is that?
Jim eating Dutch War Fries...
Mmmmmmmmmmm, Dutch War Fries...
Amsterdam,
your confusing streets and confusing canals were a joy to wander
aimlessly down.
Next stop Bremen, Germany.
