As soon as the plane hit the tarmac I remembered why I had left Las Vegas in the first place. Las Vegas was certainly not my kind of town. The heat bowls you over immediately and when you first encounter the city during the day, the gaudiness of the casinos don’t do a good enough job masking the barren desert…
“I need four animals.”
I was sitting at an empty cubicle in the basement of the Moscone Center trying to look busy. I had been given the task of seperating wrist bands…one from another. I was trying to make this task last as long as I could.
As I woke up this morning, my friend Migraine was back.
She crept in silently, incorporating herself into my dream. Upon waking, she had gathered her forces and was about to stake claim in my frontal lobe.
“Thank God you don’t have to have chemotherapy.”
“Thank God you didn’t have to have a mastectomy.”
“At least it’s not more serious.”
How many times have I heard these sentiments, albeit well-meaning? How many times did…
Originally published in the San Antonio Express News on November 30, 2008
Editor’s note: Natalie Buster, a Midwesterner turned Broadway actress, spent five life-changing months last year living and working in China.