Fringe 2009 - Decompression Day

I spent the evening of the day after Fringe with tctheaterconnection's Joshua Humphrey and his friend Nick Decker.

I was thinking this would be, you know, a part of my evening. A chat a little short of an hour, like the previous podcast I'd done about something non-Fringey.

Turns out, with 11 days, 162 shows, and three avid Fringers, there was more than an hour's chat in us. Try nearly three hours.

We decided not to focus on the things we didn't like (which were few), but to focus on the good stuff. And there was a lot of good stuff.

So here's the podcasts...

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

That turned out to be the only strictly Fringe-oriented part of my day, despite all efforts to the contrary.

I learned awhile back that diving immediately back into the world of day jobs the day after Fringe is over is too much a case of intellectual and emotional whiplash to take without at least a bit of a buffer. Thankfully, one of my day jobs provides enough vacation time to make an extra Fringe day off feasible.

My intent is always to spend such a day kicking back and cranking out a bunch of the leftover reviews that pile up by the end of the festival. Last year, it didn't happen because that day was spent driving out to Morris, MN, for the first rehearsal of "Leave." I didn't mind that one bit.

This year's distraction wasn't writing-related. I'd been off the training schedule for my running event coming up, so I got a morning run in. The car had been cranky during the festival and I knew I was overdue for an oil change, so I ran the car over to one of the local oil change in-and-out garages. The mechanics on duty said I should go to a full-service place because my "serpentine belt" was in need of replacing. Never heard of it. Trying to explain it in layman's terms, they said it was like the chain on a bicycle - if this belt goes, the car suddenly won't. The current serpentine belt was dry and cracking and not long for this world. So, off I went to a garage. While waiting on the car, I went on a stroll to see if I could get a couple of running related items I'd be needing. Luck with some, not others, so as time was growing short to prep for the event, I took the newly re-serpentined car out in search of the items. Finally got everything, but it devoured more of the day than I planned on.

Pretty soon, time for the podcast. And we're back to where we came in...

The next day, back to the workaday world...

Still got those leftover reviews staring me down. So we'll get on that now...