Chapter 98: May-hem Begins with Murphy

nerd blog post #103

It has been awhile, dear readers, and I apologize for that. The reason is mostly that my computer died early last week and I need to (somehow) reinstall Ubuntu. Or something... My regular computer technician (Ian Norman Hincks) left on Thursday to ride his bicycle to San Fransisco (no big deal) and I have to fend for myself. Yes, that's right. He is choosing to ride his bike across Canada. For zero dollars. Just for fun. I once did a 50km bike-a-thon to raise money for something and my derriere was sore for a week. But that's what Ion is like and I think it's a cool way to spend the Summer. If you're into sports and whatevs.

Anyyyyyyways, last week-end was grand. I arrived on Thursday and there was a big clown party at this French clown's house, which was terrific. Friday was a national holiday so they had the day off. Besides the week-ends Raffi has visited Rennes or we have gone away (four in total), he has had school or work every day I have been in Paris. So it was nice for us to spend the whole day together, for the first time. We went to a park and lay on the grass and he (of course) did numerous handstands and juggling things. Then we went to Chinatown and had a delcious dindins. We very rarely eat out so we were both excited to have that treat. In the evening, we watched a movie entitled Lost in Translation, which I had seen before but really like.

On Saturday, I went to the airport to meet Murphy. I think I've explained this before, but Michael Patrick Murphy is a good friend from Queen's. We met in our first year and he has directed me in a number of plays. It was amazing to see him! We did a ton of stuff, so here are the top five highlights, in no particular order:
1. Three years ago, Murphy directed a show called Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, in which I played Wilde's lawyer. This was an incredibly unforgettable Summer and the show was a lot of fun. On Sunday, we went to Pere Lachaise cemetary, where we found Wilde's grave. We had a wonderful walk around the cemetary with good chats.
2. On Monday, Raffi and some clowns have an improv session, and Murph and I went and joined in. Not only is it a rarity to see Murph on the other side of things, but it was a real pleasure and fun afternoon.
3. At the Eiffel Tower and other touristy places, there are people trying to make money by selling doo-dads, begging, playing music, etc. I realize now that I won't be able to explain how interesting this was, but we saw a COP CHAAAASE! A for real cop chase, complete with cop bikes, hedge hopping, running, whistles and everything. Okay, no whistles that I heard. But it was intense and very interesting to watch.
4. So Clown Nicole's bf moved to Paris a couple of weeks ago and on Saturday, they moved into their new place and threw a party. As Viktor, Raff, Murphy and I were on our way up there, Viktor received a call from a friend from Queen's who happened to be in Paris and wanted to hang. And so, we met Kat Sandler at the metro and she came along to the party. We had four Queen's Drama alumni together, and it was a lot of fun. Kat was a year below us in school but we did two shows together and hung last Summer after she graduated.
5. Sunday night was very nice. Raffi, Murphy and I played a game of Scrabble and drank wine. I didn't get too competitive this time and even congratulated the winner (it wasn't me, shockingly). It was just fun and a nice way to spend the last night.

Saying goodbye was hard, as it always is. I wasn't looking forward to going back to Rennes all that much and it had been such a great week-end. But I'll be home next month so that was comforting.

I'll write more tomorrow. Hope you are all well!

Much love,
Hincks.

PS - Thank you to those who comment or somehow let me know they are reading. Knowing people read is the only reason I write. So thank you.