I made it out to the improv jam at the Hideout tonight for the first time in… probably a year or so. Tuesday nights are in high demand around here; Bernie usually rows, which means I’m on goblin duty, but the crazy rain has closed the rivers to boating. Tuesday night is also when my game design group meets, usually a little later, so if I’m not at home watching Pai or working, I’m there, playtesting and working on those. Tonight was a rare, rare alignment of events that lead me back to the jam, though, and I’m glad I made it out.
We’ve been cleaning, and the rain has been kicking up all other kinds of mold and pollen and whatnot, and my allergies have been going insane, so much that I actually threw my back out or something from coughing and sneezing so much. So, between the hacking and achoo, sniffly nose and crusty eyes, and feeling like my back is on fire and totally tense, which leads to neck pain, which leads to all kinds of sinus/migrane action - I felt like I got smacked in the face with a brick by the time I got home tonight - I was in pretty bad shape most of the day today, but usually, a good couple of hours of improv can actually make me forget how sick I am long enough for it to go away of its own accord. Well, that didn’t happen, but we did have a whole bunch of fun - there were probably between thirty and forty people there, including many new faces and people who just came to watch. There were too many to manage all at once, so we split up, with Roy leading our group and Jeremy leading the newer folks, doing the usual warm-up and scenework type of things, and then we came together at the end to put on a mock show for an hour or so. I was still feeling pretty rough by that time, so I mostly tried to sit quietly in the dark, but managed to get up for some fun a time or two.
Anyway, yeah, good stuff. It’s exciting to see so many relatively fresh people having such a good time, and it’s really great to get to play with some of the people who show up (Cody, Aden, the whole crop of new imps) that I generally don’t get on stage with, except briefly at Maestro or whatever. It’s also been cool to see how Roy and them have totally grown into teachy-leady-workshoppy mode - Roy’s got this natural charm and enthusiasm that totally draws people in, and his scenework and storytelling skills are right up there, and his love for the craft really shows.
So. I get home around 10:30pm - I’m hurting. Pai hasn’t been sleeping - Bernie’s hurting. We evaluate the situation, I grab some vicodin and acetaminophen and try to lay flat for a little bit while it kicks in, and Bernie goes to try to nurse Paidia down again. Neither one of us meet with success - I’m still all twisted up and in a good deal of pain, only a bit loopy now, and the baby is still hollering and refusing to sleep. So we just hang out and play for a couple hours, and try to make everyone feel better. The sound of quiet breathing is coming from the bedroom, so I’m guessing that the situation is under control in there now. I’m going to wait just a little bit longer, and try some more drugs for the hurting, and see if I can actually get some decent sleep, myself. Then maybe tomorrow, I can concentrate on getting stuff done without my face exploding.
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