I Hear The Zoo Is Great

I spent the last three days in Nebraska judging a show and exploring the city. Omaha is nice. The art museum’s in a beautiful building, and the collection has a Basquiat, a Pollock, and a few Monets. I went to a local history museum in an old train depot and had a $100 tomahawk steak. I hear the zoo is great, but honestly, zoos kind of make me sad.

On Friday morning, I went to rehearsal to weigh in on a show I wrote. Two and a half years ago, Kyle at Elkhorn sent me an email saying he’d seen a Facebook post and wanted to talk about using SouthCoast. That email led to me standing in the cold, watching the sun come up over Omaha at a 7:00 a.m. rehearsal. I joked that everyone complains they don’t get enough stadium time when all they really have to do is get up earlier. Those members do that every day.

Yesterday was a long day: sixteen groups in prelims, critique blocks with all of them, and then nine more in finals with three exhibitions. I got about three and a half hours of sleep before I needed to leave the hotel to get back to the airport. Still, it’s neat to spend a day with people who care about the same thing you do and to see how much it matters to them.

I sat at a Cubs-themed airport restaurant while waiting for my connecting flight in O’Hare. I got breakfast and graded. A guy sitting near me was drinking vodka, buying scratch-offs, and asked the waitress if she was single. I looked for parallel fifths, ate my eggs, and thought about how lucky I am; not only to get to do what I love, but to have something to love to begin with.