You Can Surely Try To Be More Alive

Life is very resilient, and very defiant. Grass pops up in the dirt stuck in pavement cracks, plankton live in super-heated thermal sea vents, and people, I'm told, still live in many parts of Canada. Life is resilient. It's wild, and free, and almost unstoppable.

When I moved into my apartment, the woman who lived in it before me left one thing behind: a tomato plant in a red plastic pot. It doesn't get much direct sunlight, or water for that matter, but it produced some really outstanding little tomatoes last year. They were blooming all the way through December. I have no idea if that's normal or not.

I did my best to protect the plant after I moved in, but it died, as tomato plants do, once winter arrived in full force. But it left behind a slew of tomatoes, and sometime in late December I put a few into an empty San Pellegrino bottle and set the bottle on the shelf in my kitchen. And I waited. They sat there for nearly five months, never growing mold or shriveling up. I don't know much about little tomatoes, but that surprised me.

On April 29, 2007, I took the tomatoes, squashed them and shoved the pulp into the soil of the plastic pot from whence they first came. Shortly thereafter plants sprung up. Sometimes I remembered to water them. Usually I didn't. But they grew, they put out flowers... and nothing happened.

No tomatoes. For nearly four months.

One finally showed up today! It's green and tiny, but it is there. Not because of my efforts, I feel, but rather in spite of them. I've neglected the crap out of this plant, forgetting to water it for days at a time, but still it thrives. It's a very gentle reminder that life on the earth will go on just fine without us, thank you very much. Kind of depressing, I guess, but in a way it's a relief. They say that the show is bigger than any actor, and if the world's truly a stage, that means the show must, and will, go on without us.

But, in the meantime, we will have tomatoes.

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In the interests of crass self-promotion, I should inform you that I have some upcoming shows:

September 7: Oklahoma Comedy Night at The Opolis in Norman! It's a fundraiser for the Oklahoma Food Bank. Tickets are $5 at the door, doors open at 8, show starts at 9. It's at 113 N Crawford.

September 13: Music and Comedy at Pepe Delgado's in Norman! Four comics, three bands, $5. Starts at 9. It's at Pepe Delgado's on Asp in Campus Corner.

October 3 - 7: MC at the Tulsa Loony Bin! It's just like the Oklahoma City Loony Bin, only it's in Tulsa. 6808 S. Memorial in Tulsa! Open Mic show Wednesday at 8; Ladies' Night Thursday at 8; two shows at 8 and 10:30 Friday and Saturday; Service Industry night Sunday at 9.

October 12: OKC COMEDY NIGHT 2007 at STAGE CENTER in Oklahoma City! Eight comics, one night, $10 plus a reasonable service charge. You can buy tickets online here or on your telephone at 405.297.2264. For more info, check out the myspace page.

Come see me!