December 31, 1998

22h00 hrs til midnight

This year is stained with the impracticality
we all walk together in separate directions
the year in general
it is about the cut and paste of love and loss
this is about slowing a moment long enough to give it reason and texture
it is all of the movements we make like clocks, inside of each other
we are precision like midnight
and the millennium is ragged from crawling and spending
it's new year's eve
the changing is not unlike us
it is the darkness that takes us into the shallows
and it is the light in their eyes, those we love, that keep us closest to the truth
the calendar has aged us like the consequence engaged to each new day
we are not unlike the ancients
we are not unlike our dead
we make love like weightless stone, flailing in a chaffed and coupled union
we are hot breath
we are pressed mouths
we are the groping and the reaching
this is a new year and everyone will get another chance

william simpson '97

The Wednesday @ 22:00h Show Theme Song

But it's alright,
The New Year's coming I know.
But we're not afraid of the apocalypse
On the Wednesday @ 22:00h Show.

And we'll hear the countdown in Newfoundland
On the Wednesday @ 22:00h Show.

And soon we can all break our resolutions
On the Wednesday @ 22:00h Show.

The Wednesday @ 22:00h Show New Year's Theme Song

New Years is on its way.We've been waiting all this day.
I can't believe it's here now.
The time has come for a row.

It intersects my work week.
It's a new life that I seek.
So I'll just go on an alcoholic bensing,
My version of a spiritual cleansing.

It's so close to 1998.
I hope I don't get up too late.
In two years the world is ending.
My foes to the year 2000 me are sending.

I don't want to think about things this evening,
Not that to thinking is here I'm usually leaning.
Why can't I just wake up old,
So all my bad days are just stories to be told.

It's so close to 1998.
I'm a fish and I've taken the New Years excitement bait.
But I only have two days till the end of the world,
And I don't want to be in a state in which my soul needs mending.

It's so close to 1998.
It comes so slowly and it leaves at an astonishing rate.
The Wednesday @ 22:00h show wishes your New Years to be amazing,
You better milk it hard before the apocalyptic hazing.

It's so close to 1998,
I can't even taste it because it's it I've already ate.

It's it I've already ate.

The Wednesday @ 22:00h Show Radio Play Theme Song

This is the next installment of the Wednesday @ 22:00h Show Radio Play.
They all just finished Christmas.
And I'll tell you it was a gas.

Alboldert received from Wendy a door mat, it overcame his fears about becoming his dad.
He did not like doors.
He'd rather get down on all fours,

than get caught dead in one.

And Harold from Alnerd got some pants, he can finally say that all of his clothes matched.
But now I am afraid that he,
Now that he has all he needs

will go off on his own.

And Jeff from Harold received a phone-bugging device so he can listen in on conversations because he never has any himself.
Oh, and to help him in his investigatorial work,
I'm sure that Jeff would never shirk,

the finer points of the law.

Oh Wendy played by me you are so pretty and so caring.
From Jeff you received a pillow.
Now you don't have to go,

to the chiropractor.

Now Christmas is over and all four have shared something very special.
I hope that they are closer now,
That they can now not see how,

they ever thought ill of anyone.

Ever thought ill of anyone.

The Wednesday @ 22:00h Show Radio Play

Harold- So what is it Wendy. So far I've found out that those two big burly men only wanted to invite me to a Christmas party- which I missed. And we just had a great Christmas gathering of our own, at which Albold gave me these great pants- thanks again Arnert. And now you have some exciting news and I can't wait to hear what it is.

Jeff- Yes, I'm excited too. Or at least my extreme depression doesn't seem so bad.

(LAUGHTER)

Albert- So what is it dear that's so intriguing. I hope you're not just going to blabber on and on without saying anything that anyone could actually understand unless they suspended all belief in a proper way of speech.

Wendy- Don't be silly dear. I only blabber when I drink. And I only drink on special occasions- which happen to be most days of the year. But today is an exception because today is...

Harold- What is it Wendy?

Wendy- It's NEW YEARS EVE!

Jeff- What?

Albold- New Years Jeff.

Jeff- I don't need a new year Alboldert, I haven't finished with this one yet. I had so much I wanted to do.

Harold- You can't stop time Jeff.

Jeff- Why not?

Wendy- You just can't Jeff. But don't worry about it. What we need to do now is meditate on those things that we have done over the course of the year, wish we could do those things again that we enjoyed, take back the things we didn't, and take stock of all the baggage we want to carry over, making sure that nothing gets misplaced in our subconsciousnesses.

Harold- Can you pluralize subconscious Wendy?

Wendy- Unless you're playing Scrabble, yes.

Jeff- I've only ever played Scrabble with myself.

Arnold- With yourself?

Jeff- Ya, I always play with myself. See?

Harold- Jeff! Where did you get that?

Jeff- I always carry a Scrabble board around, you know, if I have to stake out a joint and get bored.

Wendy- This is perfect! The words we come up with can serve as associations for things we've done over the past year.

Harold- That's silly Wendy, the words will be purely arbitrary.

Jeff- Actually Harold, There's been many studies that show, amazingly, that each word a person chooses in a game of Scrabble says a little about her, no matter how arbitrary the choosing of letters.

Wendy- Shall we begin?

Alholderalnerd- The Cod are jumping out of the water in Newfoundland.

Harold- This is amazing. Jeff, how did you set up the board so quickly.

Jeff- I'm a private investigator Harold. I'm constantly taking courses to update my skills. Your letters are "J,O,F,Z,Z,R,T", by the way. Am I right, or am I right?

Harold- There's only one "Z" in Scrabble, Jeff.

Jeff- But am I right?

(LAUGHTER)

Harold- No.

Arnold- OK, OK. I have a word.

Arnold- It's "today". Which for me symbolizes my unfaltering dedication to living for it, and to have never stepped out of the moment in which I am for the entire year of 1997.

Harold- but what about when you denied the possibility of letting yourself be bludgeoned by a jelly-fish until you starve to death in the future?

Albert- Was that for in the future in time? Oh. I thought you were talking about further down the moment I was in.

Jeff- OK. I have a word. It's "interaction".

Harold- The largest word you can make this early in the game, with only "today" to build on is eight letters Jeff. You can't possibly have "interaction".

(LAUGHTER)

Wendy- Look everyone! I spelled "carcass"! I think this represents she-who-was-me-only-yesterday-and-the-three-hundred- and-sixty-four-days-previous-who-no-longer-exists-in-lieu-of-who- I-am-now!

Albert- And who is that dear?

Wendy- Well, virtually the same person hone, except I now exist in wholly different calendar.

Harold- But what does that tell you about yourself Wendy?

Wendy- Well, silly, it tells me that I have a clean slate. I have the opportunity to do things all over again, and to not make a mistake. I can forget everything from the past year and start again as if I never did them- and really, I remember very little anyway, do to my incessant drinking, that it's very easy.

Harold- Well, I have a word now. It's "crisis". An I think that that refers to what happens to everything with which I'm not involved.

Jeff- When do we count down the New Year?

Wendy- Well, what does the clock say Alberholdertal?

Arnold- I don;'t know, it's stopped.

Harold- Well, what about your watch?

Albert- It's stopped too.

Jeff- You mean time has stopped while we were playing scrabble and now we won't be able to live life fully because we won't b able to have any deadlines?

(LAUGHTER)

Albert- Well...
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©Louis Marrone, 1998