Filling the Scene pages each week is like moving into a new apartment. At first, the space stretches out, seemingly plentiful. Items are brought in, dragged from one side to the other, looked at a number of ways until finally the “right” spot is found. But the more pieces added, the less room to play and adjust. The once airy abode begins to feel cramped. Do I really need all these houseplants?, one might ask. Do we really need to run six photos of hot chicks* rocking out?

Decisions are made. The encyclopedias from childhood will need a new home and the announcement about the play happening in Eureka will get pared to the most vital bits.

A friend of mine had to saw an inch off her chair legs to get it through the door of her latest abode. Sometimes making something fit on the page involves the arduous task of trimming a word here, a phrase there, inserting a dash or ellipses and tightening the text so the letters pull closer together.

Sometimes the content keeps pouring in, dashing any hopes of writing a column. Very rarely – usually only around the holidaze – do I find myself with an empty corner on a Sunday night. Unlike a house, I can’t leave the space. Those are the times when a column must be created out of bits and pieces of information and opinion. This year I’d imagined I’d do a column more consistently – I even had a somewhat satirical piece a couple weeks ago about how to do a last-minute, no-brainer entertainment column. Unfortunately, since then, the amount of music, theatre and art goings on has filled the pages without room to spare. “Unfortunately” only because I haven’t been able to follow up with anything fun or interesting. But, as Terrence would say, this is a good problem. Sure is nice to live in a place where not only do we never lack for something to do or a way to share it.

*Statistics suggest including the phrase “hot chicks” bumps up the likelihood of visitors to the blog. Weird, huh?