Heaven is Place on Earth, Words and Music by Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley @ 1987 Future Furniture Music And Shipwreck Music

I guess you could say this is my, How I Spent My Summer essay. In short I spent my summer escaping the heat. I spent it at the main branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library and at the Owings Mills Mall and in movie theaters.

Summer 2002 was extremely HOT.

One day I went out and renewed my library card. I had’nt used it since I was working two jobs in the late 90’s one at Center Stage the other at UMAB’s Dental School. I would usually borrow books on tape which I would listen to while working at the Dental School in the Microbiology dept. I was’nt in a rush to get it renewed because I knew I had fines to pay. So this summer I was a book reading fool. I feel that I will surpass the 9 books that I read last year. This was 9 out of the 32 books that had on my personal reading list. I have tons of books in my apartment that I’ve never read this happened because I used to belong to book club and would oftentimes forget to senfd the reply card back. So I made a pact with myself to read the books so that I could feel comfortable selling them on eBay. I guess right about now I should say I’m the type of person who reads books then writes a review of what I’ve read. Why I do this I do not know?

I would also go to the mall to escape the heat. My mall of choice is the Owings Mills Mall. This summer my favorite activity was stopping by Hechts and spraying myself with Chanel No. 5. I did this one day because I was bored and always wanted to know what it smelled like. The aroma was at once intoxicating and hypnotic. I instantly felt expensive and rich like I belonged here, there, and everywhere. So that’s how I started my ritual of going to Hechts and seeking out the Chanel counter and giving myself a generous squirt of Chanel No. 5 on each wrist. I don’t know why but that perfume makes me feel like I belong. Maybe one day if I save up enough money I will buy myself an actual bottle of the stuff. Also while at Owings Mills I I loved going to the food court and getting an order of Orange Chicken I swear that the Orange Chicken in Owings Mills is the best in all of Maryland. I should also say that durng the summer I was still adhering to Weight Watchers. I would only order Orange Chicken once a week and only when I had more than enough points to cover it.

My favorite out of all the movies I saw this summer was, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I really loved this movie. After seeing it I wanted to be Greek or hang out with Greeks! When I briefly was doing a double major in Drama and Digital Art at Towson State I had a classmate who was a Greek American. I remember she used to sing the Greek national anthem at the drop of a dime. She would also tell us about Greek history and stuff without any prompting. I also feel that she was a bit insane. One minute she’d be the sweetest person on earth the next minute she’d turn into the evil bitch from hell. I was once a stage hand on one of the productions that she was in and it was shear hell. All this considering that she was’nt the star of the play but just a damn extra. She was literally, the extra from hell. What does this have to do with Greek Wedding you ask?....absolutely nothing. I was just remembering a psycho Greek American Drama student I used to know.

Also this summer I decided to work on a play for the Baltimore Playwright’s Festival. The play I’m doing is about Queen Boudica. Queen Boudica was a real person. This is how I came about with the idea, one day I was in the Barnes & Nobles in Towson escaping the heat and happended to come across an Archeaolgy magazine which had a story in it about the town of Colchester, England which was famous for the role that it played in the lore of Queen Boudica the Warrior Queen and the Iceni Celts. I recall studying about her in a Women’s History class I took back in high school. I’m not sure if the one act play will be completed by the September 30th deadline. If not then I guess I’ll submit it for next year. Here’s a brief history lifted from the web for those who are not familiar with Boudica; Between AD 61 and AD 63 Boudica led her Iceni people to a glorious war against the Romans. The Iceni Celts had submitted their kingdom in East Anglia to the conquering Romans and the rule of Emperor Claudius in AD 43. In AD 61, Prasutagus, Boudica's husband and King of the Iceni died. A dispute followed during which Boudica, was publicly beaten by the soldiers of the emperor, and her two daughters raped. The Iceni were insulted and rose in revolt led by their queen Boudica. So successful was the uprising that the Romans were almost defeated. Unfortunately for the Iceni and their allies, the military skill of the Roman army finally led to the crushing of the rebellion.After the revolt, Roman rule was re-established. For almost two glorious years, Boudica pillaged the Roman settlements; she remains to this day, the greatest of the heroines of Britain.