Comic 586 – “Panel Panic”
Errol: I don’t remember much. I do remember being confused on what show was happening when. That didn’t help with Manpans anxiety. Poor Manpans.
Manda: This is how well Errol knows me. I said almost none of these things. I thought ALL OF THEM. I do remember that at that point, everything was pretty much doom. My poor body was begging me to sleep too. Also I have a blog! And the latest post introduces Errol! Reeeeaaaad!
I actually tend to go with Errol on this sort of thing- last minute panics are counter-productive, and I try not to let myself get suckered into them.
Well, poor manpans, she can’t help panicking.
For example, this comic? It’s not an exaggeration. Sometimes my comics are. And sometimes, my stories are. But when I talk about Manpans panicking, or Debs being tired, it’s sadly not. 🙂
I just tend to save the panic for situations where I’m not even remotely in control to start with- not that it helps even then, but there’s less to help me avoid it under those circumstances…
Hah, actually, I think I have the opposite reaction. When things are out of my control, then there’s nothing I can do. No point in panicking. 😀
When things ARE in my control, then I probably need to do things and then I get stressed if it’s not working out. 😀
The thing with my panicking is that it actually ends up fueling me a bit. That and I have the extreme last minute zen moment that eradicates most of it.
I tend to stay as calm as I can and psyche myself up internally for the same sort of effect.
Weirdly enough, almost all of my freakouts are extremely internal, although it does show on my face which is probably how Errol guessed what I was thinking. I get very silent and tight jawed, and the only time I actually say I’m freaking out is if someone asks me…which Errol does. Poor Errol
I get nervous too about things. But I understand what you say about fuelling it, apparently lots of performers get nervous before they do something and it enhances their performance. 🙂
I get more nervous if I have to do a speaking thing, I think, as opposed to a singing/acting thing.
A few of my directors have told me “If you aren’t nervous, then I’m worried”, meaning that if we’re too comfortable we tend to make mistakes more often.
I hope you don’t mind, Robyn. I stalked you on your blog. 😀
I still get nervous at D&E shows but it’s more the circumstances than anything else. There are particular grounding things that I need and if they’re not there then I’ll feel off and unsettled and it really shows. A big part of that is that I need to feel like Errol and I are on the same page…and ideally that involves practicing right before. I think Errol’s a bit tired of that, but I kind of need to make sure I still know how to play, you know? We don’t always get to do that, so thank goodness for soundchecks.
But yeah, if we ever had to do a rushed gig with no soundcheck, no practice and no time to check in with each other…that would just be really bad.
Your freak outs aren’t internal, but I guess it’s because I always ask and you explode.
And that’s ok. You are welcome to freak out at me. Why would I ask, otherwise?
Well, yeah, internal basically means I don’t voice anything. It’s pretty darned obvious when I’m having a freak out based on the pacing, grim doomed looks and fetal positions. Oh yeah, and my thinking face.
When I used to do acting, I found I was really nervous right up until the moment I stepped on stage the first time, be that first scene or second act, and after the show I was a nervous wreck again, as if things could go wrong at that point somehow. But in the time between, from that glorious first moment breaking onto the stage, to the last bows and curtain calls… There was nothing but the show, nothing but the energy and the script and my fellow thespians and the audience and… wow. The only notable exception were the shows where we had to sit perfectly still on stage until it was our turn to do a monologue. THOSE scared me even when I was on stage, because I don’t do sitting still well, and because I kept found myself trying to mouth the rest of the monologues as well.
Yes, when I’m in the moment on stage, I forget mostly everything around me. 😀