I have actually avoided watching baseball very much this postseason. It is just too debilitating to stay up until 4:00 AM night after night. But this is going to be a fairly cosmic game 7 And it seems to me that, simply as a baseball fan, I have to watch it. It deserves to be an epic game, which means that it will probably be a blow-out. But I want to see baseball history made, one way or another, so I’ll be on it to the bitter end. This means that I will spend 45 minutes (at least) staring at a screen that says “Commercial Break”. So I’ve decided to be constructive and try to write in the many, many dead moments. I am actually starting a bit early and that you God for ending British daylight savings time earlier than the US.

New Painting: This was a fun one, partly because red and black is my favorite color combination. It is based on one of many photos I took when we went with Robbie and Bob to see “Trooping the Colors”, the event where the various costumed soldiers march around and present themselves to the monarch. We actually saw a rehearsal, since we were going to be in Scotland on the big day. (I wrote all about his back in May, with photos and everything). I had a little trouble trying to figure out this painting. I thought at one point of cutting out the guy on the horse and making it a strictly black and red affair, which would have been more abstract than what I ended up with.  I finally decided that the guy on the horse gave the whole thing some context, although I have to admit that the prospect of painting a horse worried me, even without the head visible. After I completed most of it, I had to decide whether to add any detail and if so, how much. I didn’t want to break up the black and red too much. I ultimately decided to give the guy on the horse some gold and white and some darker red to give the impression of arms. Then I added the white on the beefeaters, figuring I could always paint over it if I didn’t like it. As you can see, I left it in. I’m not crazy about the pants on the line in the front, but I decided it’s Ok and the painting is really about the black and red anyway. Here it is:

“A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer”:  Judie’s women’s group was meeting in the flat, which meant that I had to vacate. I didn’t know much about this production other that it was at the National Theatre (possibly the best theatre in the world) and it was some sort of musical about cancer and, after “iHo”, it seemed like a fun idea to see consecutive plays with Guide in the title. Kinda weird choice, but it was a good production. [1-1 after three innings.] It follows a women who has to bring her baby back to the hospital for cancer tests. While there, she meets all of these other cancer sufferers. It is kind of cancer “Chorus Line”, as each of the characters has a song. Of course, you figure that they will not all be doing a kick line in sequins, so the issue was how it would end. [The Indian centerfielders may cost them the Series] The set looked like the waiting room of a hospital–same colors, etc–and as the act went along, big balloons with odd cancerous shapes would appear, growing out of the walls or coming out of the doors. [Cubs score two in the top of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.] There were also moments where Emma, the main tragic mother character, was followed about by actors dressed as cancer cells (sometimes singing and dancing), which was certainly odd. The whole first act was predictably emotional and actually quite moving. [Indians down in order in the fourth. Why do the announcers seem to want to take the Cubs starter out? ] There is something about cancer of course that make you start to thing about all of your friends and relatives who are suffering or who have died. [Baez homers leading off the fifth. Cubs lead 4-1.]

In the second act, Emma (the mom) gets the bad news about her baby and I’m thinking where do we go now? And all of a sudden the actors break character (although it takes a minute to realize it) and begin to lip-sync the recordings of the cancer sufferers whose stories are the basis of the book. Very moving. And then Emma asks the narrating voice “Who am I?” and it turns out that she is playing the Artistic Director of this troupe, who had gone through this with her son, and which inspired the show. Then, to top it all off, a cancer sufferer is called up to stage to say something and the actors all have shout out to someone impacted by cancer. Then they ask the audience to do the same and the show ends with a song. [Cubs leading 5-1, take out their starter. Seems like over-managing, but it may not matter. Well, maybe it might. Strange two-run wild pitch makes it a ball game again. 5-3 after five.]

This whole play leaves me wondering. Is this really a good theatrical production? Or is this a manipulative work about a fraught subject for many people? A little of each, I think. It really was ver effective at making yo think about cancer. In particular, there was a section in the play and in the programme which looked at how we treat people, including friends and family, with cancer. And you find yourself thinking “Do I do that?” I think that it is all a valuable look at cancer and how we think about it. It isn’t exactly “The Sound of Music”, but this is a serious work about a subject that is as serious as it gets.

[So we have passed 2:30 AM and I have been sipping Makers Mark for a while. Enjoying the game. Seventh Inning Stretch. Cubs led 5-3 and the game would be kind of boring, were it not for the two-run wild pitch off the catcher’s head. It is looking like a long night. I’ll have to proofread this mess tomorrow.]

A Break to talk about the US Election:  I haven’t written that much about it because that is there to say that isn’t being said? Which isn’t to say that I am not obsessively checking FiveThityEight to see what Nate et al. are saying. (They are the most sensible people covering the election, I think.) But now I can’t even watch the BBC coverage or because I’m so stressed about all. [Now it is past 3:30 and the Cubs have blown their lead. Maddon is over-managing to a horrible degree. A two-strike Squeeze play? Too much stupid small-ball strategy. He got Lester up too early and then had to bring him in too early, so he had to bring Chapman in too early. What an odd game.] Judie and I are trying to decide what to do on Election Night. We are going to “King Lear” that night and it turns out that there are a number of all-night parties in London. [OK. Now it is 4:00 AM and there is rain delay. Are you kidding me? What am I supposed to do now? Am I supposed to just hang out until Dawn? I can’t really give up on this game now. But when will it end?] I guess if I am willing to stay up to watch the World Series, I should probably stay up to see the future of the world determined.

CUBS WIN! And it isn’t 5:00 PM yet!