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Precious Chong Blog March 25th
Holy smokes! Where have I been? I’m sorry I’ve slipped up on my writing. I’ve been busy, being/acting/feeling crazy. It happens every so often. Where I lose my perspective and start looking for trouble. I’m being vague I know. I just was having a hard time putting words on the paper because I felt so sh**ty and I kept waiting for it to pass and well it’s just time to face the music. Hormones? Perhaps. Chemical imbalance? Maybe? Residue from a difficult year? Probably. My birthday is on Sunday? Yup. You see I’ve always been hung up on my birthday, even when I was a kid. I distinctly remember being 11 and really being sad about turning 12. I was at the park with my baby brother and I was on one of those metal merry go rounds and it was in the afternoon. I felt so wistful about the time passing and I was really comfortable being 11. I really liked it. Plus I didn’t want to get old. Okay…My grandmother who is in her 90’s, but we don’t know for sure, because she won’t tell anyone how old she is, is also neurotic about her age. As is my mother and now me…I mean the irony is that because I’ve been this way my whole life I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time being upset about getting older when I wasn’t old. And now…well now I’m starting to have something to cry about. Oh well. But I don’t just want to talk about my neurosis about my age and my birthday. What have a learned in these years on the earth about myself and about life? What wisdom can I impart? I wrote a list. It’s from the end of one of the early versions of my solo show. It sort of a soul to-do list and it goes something like this. Walk the edge. Okay. I know there are two more because I used to write it at the end of every show on stage and pin it to myself as the finale. It sounds corny but it worked in context believe me. But for the life of me I can’t remember the other two things. So I’ll just work with what I can remember. Walk the edge. Push boundaries. Explore the unknown. Don’t get too comfortable. When I have that feeling of “Oh god, how am I gonna do this?” that’s good. Because it’s in the unknown place that the unexpected happens. Which helped me remember one more. Expect the unexpected. Life usually happens in ways that are different than the ideas in our heads. Really it has a much better sense of humour and imagination than our egos. Wouldn’t you say? Now I know there was one more. Give? That would be good. Give. My acting teacher Julie always says that “acting is giving”, which is such a great thing to remember. It gets you off yourself. It’s about the other person. Since I wrote that list I’ve gotten married, had a son, hell, my own father has been in and out of prison. Lots has happened. What would I add to the list? Let’s see, how about… Don’t f*** with the federal government of the United States. Relationships are complicated and nothing is black and white or for that matter fair. Anger may feel right at the time but it doesn’t solve a thing. Which I will sum up more poetically as… Forgive…yourself, your spouse, your parents, your agents, your life… I remember when I was on my way to University my parents had bought some books and wrapped them for me to open on the plane. One of the inscriptions my dad wrote was; Enjoy your life, my dear, enjoy. Because it’s all just temporary anyway right so we might as well just hold it all as lightly as we can, stay curious, and enjoy.
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