Post by Vespertine on Dec 16, 2022 21:51:34 GMT -5
Place: Union Square, San Francisco, Ca
Time: 10PM
Date: Saturday Thurs Dec 15, 2022
Outfit: As described in first paragraph.
Background music: Various Christmas songs that we probably know all the words to by now
“Thoughts on the Christmas Season”
(The camera fades from black to Union Square in San Francisco. It’s Christmas. It’s nearing midnight in the heart of the City by the Bay. In the park that is Union Square, the tree is lit up and the carolers are at the base of the tree currently singing “Deck the Halls.” A crowd has gathered around them to hear them sing. It’s cold in the City this eve. About 38 degrees (relatively cold as compared to other areas of America). The hot dog vendors are just closing up shop. And what children are left are running ahead of their parents or walking with them hand in hand looking at the moving decorations in the windows of stores like Macys, Nordstrom’s, Saks 5th Avenue, Neiman Marcus and more. Christmas is a few days away but the atmosphere in the City feels like it’s been in the Christmas spirit for months. It’s nearing 10PM and what street performers are left, are still going strong, singing or playing their songs and trying to sell their CDs that they have made. In the midst of everyone who is walking or running around with packages too huge to carry themselves, a lone figure walks slowly down the street. Vespertine. She is lost in her own thoughts, lost in her own world on this night. She is dressed rather darkly for a night like this: a purple waistcoat, a long black dress that hangs down to her ankles with black Victorian lady’s boots. She has on a velvet navy bluish jacket and a dark purple scarf. Her hair falls in streams down her back and shoulders and have streaks of white in them. Her voice comes up but her lips don’t move.)
VO: Alone, again, on this holiday. Everything is almost closed. Being Buddhist isn’t all that bad though. We have great holidays for ourselves. But the majority of people in San Francisco, the majority of retailers here are Christian and believe in what they like to call the Christmas Spirit. I HATE Christmas
(She is like a dark serpent rending and winding her way between families and street performers, the only person in the crowd that is wearing dark this time of year.)
No. No. I can’t say that. I do love Christmas. I wish I were Christian to celebrate it. I love giving gifts to my friends and receiving them. But I was born Buddhist and that’s a huge part of me. I do however have many friends who celebrate Christmas.
(Someone bumps into her and she staggers back. She gets a mad look and turns around to see where he went, but the perpetrator has disappeared into the crowd. She shrugs and turns back around.)
I’ve always believed that Jesus was just an obscure preacher man lost in the fray in the Middle east about 2,000 years ago. A cultist leader of some sort. Maybe he was like the first David Koresh or Warren Jeffs or the Barack Obama of his day or some other type person like that.
(she stops in front of a Macy’s store window and looks out towards the Square. In the window next to her a scene from the Sugar Plum Fairy Dance from the Nutcracker is displayed and the figures are moving as if they were on stage and putting on a show. She turns to start down the street and stops as several children run by and she watches them until they disappear into the crowd. A SF streetcar goes by, rings it bell and continues on. It’s outlined in Christmas lights and the radio in it is currently playing “Deck the Halls” and that fades away too as the streetcar goes down the street)
This is a great time of year though. If I lived anywhere else, it would be snowing and I would be shoveling. I like snow but I like snow on my terms. I love to go to the snow. I don’t ever want the snow to come to me. But despite all that, people are happiest this time of year. People get to see loved ones they haven’t seen all year long or in months, sometimes even years. Hanukkah is the same. I’ll be in Vegas for New Years, it’s always the biggest celebration on the West Coast. Almost as big as the one in New York City. James, said he would be going back home to Mexico to visit his family too.
(she turns and continues on. She goes through the crowd to step down onto the street, turns her head to look both ways, realizes the cars are jammed so much they aren’t moving and she starts heading across the street to the Park. She steps on the curb across the street, goes across the sidewalk and starts going up the steps towards where the Carolers and the Tree are in the middle of the Park. The Carolers are now singing “Jingle Bells” as well and the lights look cozy and warm as they blink on and off as a breeze stirs the branches and moves it around. She sits at the top of the steps and leans back against the wall. She sighs and looks around and as a couple of children run down the stairs playing tag, she smiles a lazy smile.)
Christmas, a child’s holiday. How fun is it to see them laugh and play so. (she shakes her head) But enough about that, I feel something is wrong. I’m not going quickly enough up the ladder in UGWC… or not as quickly as I should be. I want to get to the top of this federation or I should be at the top by now. I’m not and I’m not sure what’s slowing me down.
(Her smile fades as she realizes this. She leans her head back against the wall. The crowd, going up and down the stairs, are ignoring the black velveted figure that is her.)
I had the Cross Hemisphere within my grasp and it escaped. Anywhere else, any other federation, on any other day, in any other time period I would have had it and held on to it. I don’t have any feuds I’m in currently so I don’t have to tie up any loose ends. So I’m clear to go for whatever title I choose, for whatever title shot is given to me and to be the best this federation has to offer. But why am I not there? Am I being overlooked? I fight my hardest to impress management.
(She looks around and watches the people going up and down the stairs, oblivious to the dark figure sitting there watching their every move.)
I have meditated in the past few days, have tried to achieve peace and harmony within myself and be at one with the ‘Verse to find an answer. I can’t find that place for me because back here on this planet, in this world, in my life, in the current present time, I am having trouble. I am NOT at peace. Something is holding me back! It’s not me holding me back. It’s someone else holding me back. But why? Who? Wait! Should I feel like this? It’s Christmas. It’s not about me wanting. It is about wanting to give, right? I should be wanting peace on earth, good will toward men. Instead all I think about is my match that was on Monday, that triple threat match for the Cross Hemisphere title.
(She sighs again, gets up off the steps and walks up the last few steps to the top and goes towards the Tree. She smooths down her dress in the back. She whirls around in time to the music and spreads out her arms as the bubble machines are spewing out bubbles to look like snow, in her child like demeanor she tries to catch them. Several children come over and start twirling with her.
(the Carolers at the base of the Tree stop singing and a lone singer starts singing “When Christmas comes to town”, a song from the movie The Polar Express. A few minutes later the rest of the Carolers join in.)
Christmas is such a wonderful season. Sad for some, beautiful for others, and yet still others don’t even celebrate it. To each his own. Just like this day for me, it’s just another day. Just another reason to celebrate for no reason at all. Just another celebration celebrating the birth of a god from a different religion. Celebrating the birth of an obscure carpenter/preacher in the middle east who was actually Jewish and born Persian. Go fig! I never really understood it. Buddhism is different. There was only one great man, who believed in many traditions, belief’s and practices. And all he tried to do was achieve peace, understanding and enlightenment. Buddhism had been around 1000 years by the time Jesus was born.
(She stops twirling when the bubble machine stops and her skirt and hair keep twirling to catch up with her. She stops and looks around at the beehives worth of activity going on around her. The children who were twirling with her are now off on their own little game of tag somewhere)
Just like MY God, Buddha. I will achieve peace, enlightenment and harmony with myself, and the ‘Verse one day, while in this federation. I know now what I must do. I know I’ll get there. And when I get there everyone will know that I have arrived. That I lived by one mantra: I’m first or I’m not at all.
(She starts walking towards the stairs but when she gets to the top of them she stops, looks around at the view of the street and how the activity is winding down and her eyes, heavy with black eyeliner, come to rest on the on point in the distance across the street. She gets off the last step.)
This is my time. This is my rise. This is my story. And I WILL have all the glory. There is no way I’m deviating from the course that has been laid out before me. My chains are partially broken. Now all I have to do is rise up, break the rest of them and continue my journey to the top.
(she sighs, and then starts down the steps towards the street.)
Alone, again, on this day. Being Buddhist isn’t all that bad. Christmas: just another day. Just another season.
(She reaches the bottom of the stairs and starts to go towards the street. Everywhere else, the activity that is going on around Union Square seems to be lessening as more and more people are realizing that midnight is fast approaching. The traffic has kind of let up as it is now moving along, not swiftly but faster than it was going before. But this is San Francisco. It will always be crowded… even at midnight. More so during the Christmas season. She walks until she reaches the bottom of the Transamerica building a block or so away, gets out a set of keys, opens the doors, and goes in and disappears inside. Work to do. Things to prepare for. Camera fades to black.)
Time: 10PM
Date: Saturday Thurs Dec 15, 2022
Outfit: As described in first paragraph.
Background music: Various Christmas songs that we probably know all the words to by now
“Thoughts on the Christmas Season”
(The camera fades from black to Union Square in San Francisco. It’s Christmas. It’s nearing midnight in the heart of the City by the Bay. In the park that is Union Square, the tree is lit up and the carolers are at the base of the tree currently singing “Deck the Halls.” A crowd has gathered around them to hear them sing. It’s cold in the City this eve. About 38 degrees (relatively cold as compared to other areas of America). The hot dog vendors are just closing up shop. And what children are left are running ahead of their parents or walking with them hand in hand looking at the moving decorations in the windows of stores like Macys, Nordstrom’s, Saks 5th Avenue, Neiman Marcus and more. Christmas is a few days away but the atmosphere in the City feels like it’s been in the Christmas spirit for months. It’s nearing 10PM and what street performers are left, are still going strong, singing or playing their songs and trying to sell their CDs that they have made. In the midst of everyone who is walking or running around with packages too huge to carry themselves, a lone figure walks slowly down the street. Vespertine. She is lost in her own thoughts, lost in her own world on this night. She is dressed rather darkly for a night like this: a purple waistcoat, a long black dress that hangs down to her ankles with black Victorian lady’s boots. She has on a velvet navy bluish jacket and a dark purple scarf. Her hair falls in streams down her back and shoulders and have streaks of white in them. Her voice comes up but her lips don’t move.)
VO: Alone, again, on this holiday. Everything is almost closed. Being Buddhist isn’t all that bad though. We have great holidays for ourselves. But the majority of people in San Francisco, the majority of retailers here are Christian and believe in what they like to call the Christmas Spirit. I HATE Christmas
(She is like a dark serpent rending and winding her way between families and street performers, the only person in the crowd that is wearing dark this time of year.)
No. No. I can’t say that. I do love Christmas. I wish I were Christian to celebrate it. I love giving gifts to my friends and receiving them. But I was born Buddhist and that’s a huge part of me. I do however have many friends who celebrate Christmas.
(Someone bumps into her and she staggers back. She gets a mad look and turns around to see where he went, but the perpetrator has disappeared into the crowd. She shrugs and turns back around.)
I’ve always believed that Jesus was just an obscure preacher man lost in the fray in the Middle east about 2,000 years ago. A cultist leader of some sort. Maybe he was like the first David Koresh or Warren Jeffs or the Barack Obama of his day or some other type person like that.
(she stops in front of a Macy’s store window and looks out towards the Square. In the window next to her a scene from the Sugar Plum Fairy Dance from the Nutcracker is displayed and the figures are moving as if they were on stage and putting on a show. She turns to start down the street and stops as several children run by and she watches them until they disappear into the crowd. A SF streetcar goes by, rings it bell and continues on. It’s outlined in Christmas lights and the radio in it is currently playing “Deck the Halls” and that fades away too as the streetcar goes down the street)
This is a great time of year though. If I lived anywhere else, it would be snowing and I would be shoveling. I like snow but I like snow on my terms. I love to go to the snow. I don’t ever want the snow to come to me. But despite all that, people are happiest this time of year. People get to see loved ones they haven’t seen all year long or in months, sometimes even years. Hanukkah is the same. I’ll be in Vegas for New Years, it’s always the biggest celebration on the West Coast. Almost as big as the one in New York City. James, said he would be going back home to Mexico to visit his family too.
(she turns and continues on. She goes through the crowd to step down onto the street, turns her head to look both ways, realizes the cars are jammed so much they aren’t moving and she starts heading across the street to the Park. She steps on the curb across the street, goes across the sidewalk and starts going up the steps towards where the Carolers and the Tree are in the middle of the Park. The Carolers are now singing “Jingle Bells” as well and the lights look cozy and warm as they blink on and off as a breeze stirs the branches and moves it around. She sits at the top of the steps and leans back against the wall. She sighs and looks around and as a couple of children run down the stairs playing tag, she smiles a lazy smile.)
Christmas, a child’s holiday. How fun is it to see them laugh and play so. (she shakes her head) But enough about that, I feel something is wrong. I’m not going quickly enough up the ladder in UGWC… or not as quickly as I should be. I want to get to the top of this federation or I should be at the top by now. I’m not and I’m not sure what’s slowing me down.
(Her smile fades as she realizes this. She leans her head back against the wall. The crowd, going up and down the stairs, are ignoring the black velveted figure that is her.)
I had the Cross Hemisphere within my grasp and it escaped. Anywhere else, any other federation, on any other day, in any other time period I would have had it and held on to it. I don’t have any feuds I’m in currently so I don’t have to tie up any loose ends. So I’m clear to go for whatever title I choose, for whatever title shot is given to me and to be the best this federation has to offer. But why am I not there? Am I being overlooked? I fight my hardest to impress management.
(She looks around and watches the people going up and down the stairs, oblivious to the dark figure sitting there watching their every move.)
I have meditated in the past few days, have tried to achieve peace and harmony within myself and be at one with the ‘Verse to find an answer. I can’t find that place for me because back here on this planet, in this world, in my life, in the current present time, I am having trouble. I am NOT at peace. Something is holding me back! It’s not me holding me back. It’s someone else holding me back. But why? Who? Wait! Should I feel like this? It’s Christmas. It’s not about me wanting. It is about wanting to give, right? I should be wanting peace on earth, good will toward men. Instead all I think about is my match that was on Monday, that triple threat match for the Cross Hemisphere title.
(She sighs again, gets up off the steps and walks up the last few steps to the top and goes towards the Tree. She smooths down her dress in the back. She whirls around in time to the music and spreads out her arms as the bubble machines are spewing out bubbles to look like snow, in her child like demeanor she tries to catch them. Several children come over and start twirling with her.
Well I KNOW what I want. Like these bubbles are, the Cross Hemisphere title is/was within my reach and something I WILL grab. But bubbles can be gotten and they can also pop, like dreams, and before you know it they are gone.
(the Carolers at the base of the Tree stop singing and a lone singer starts singing “When Christmas comes to town”, a song from the movie The Polar Express. A few minutes later the rest of the Carolers join in.)
Christmas is such a wonderful season. Sad for some, beautiful for others, and yet still others don’t even celebrate it. To each his own. Just like this day for me, it’s just another day. Just another reason to celebrate for no reason at all. Just another celebration celebrating the birth of a god from a different religion. Celebrating the birth of an obscure carpenter/preacher in the middle east who was actually Jewish and born Persian. Go fig! I never really understood it. Buddhism is different. There was only one great man, who believed in many traditions, belief’s and practices. And all he tried to do was achieve peace, understanding and enlightenment. Buddhism had been around 1000 years by the time Jesus was born.
(She stops twirling when the bubble machine stops and her skirt and hair keep twirling to catch up with her. She stops and looks around at the beehives worth of activity going on around her. The children who were twirling with her are now off on their own little game of tag somewhere)
Just like MY God, Buddha. I will achieve peace, enlightenment and harmony with myself, and the ‘Verse one day, while in this federation. I know now what I must do. I know I’ll get there. And when I get there everyone will know that I have arrived. That I lived by one mantra: I’m first or I’m not at all.
(She starts walking towards the stairs but when she gets to the top of them she stops, looks around at the view of the street and how the activity is winding down and her eyes, heavy with black eyeliner, come to rest on the on point in the distance across the street. She gets off the last step.)
This is my time. This is my rise. This is my story. And I WILL have all the glory. There is no way I’m deviating from the course that has been laid out before me. My chains are partially broken. Now all I have to do is rise up, break the rest of them and continue my journey to the top.
(she sighs, and then starts down the steps towards the street.)
Alone, again, on this day. Being Buddhist isn’t all that bad. Christmas: just another day. Just another season.
(She reaches the bottom of the stairs and starts to go towards the street. Everywhere else, the activity that is going on around Union Square seems to be lessening as more and more people are realizing that midnight is fast approaching. The traffic has kind of let up as it is now moving along, not swiftly but faster than it was going before. But this is San Francisco. It will always be crowded… even at midnight. More so during the Christmas season. She walks until she reaches the bottom of the Transamerica building a block or so away, gets out a set of keys, opens the doors, and goes in and disappears inside. Work to do. Things to prepare for. Camera fades to black.)