My weekend/vacation
Thursday
I left Chicago and headed to Albion. I got into Albion a bit earlier than I needed to be there, so I went to a place that I've missed... and a place I used to spend a lot of time writing. I actually only took one person there, and she loved it.
After my reminiscing, I went to Arby's and ate alone. I feel weird dropping in on people at Albion and just saying "hey, I'm here... let's go get food". Whatever... after dinner, I got to the parking lot near the theatre a little over an hour before the show and ran into Starko. He and I chatted for a while and then he said "come on in and say hello to everyone." I didn't really want to, to be honest. My time bothering the actors and pretending like I was important enough to come and go as I pleased has passed. So I felt awkward going backstage and seeing the actors getting make-up on and getting ready. That's one of the reasons why I didn't say hello to everyone. I did say hi to Bohne... as it was his begging that made me go in the first place. I got a super-enthusiastic hello from Miss Mann... which felt good. And Chelsea Sadler asked simply if I wanted her to kill someone for me. I responded "No, but you could maybe stop being ridiculously hot." If I were Chelsea, it would be understandable if I were a bit narcissistic. I mean, let's face it, masturbation is having sex with the hottest person you know. But I digress. I also got to see Mr. Groggle for the first time since 19-forever. That was five shades of awesome. But what made my night was seeing Miss Chelsey Wagemaker in pig-tails. *drool* I mean, what made my night was seeing Miss Chelsey Wagemaker again. That's what I meant. Right. It was also wonderful to see Katie Aumann again, as I got to sit next to her during the play.
About the play... I know someone says I'm harsh, and they're right. But I'm harsh with myself, too... and that's how I made progress. Anyway... the play was awesome. It really was a fun, interesting, and highly stylized piece. It took me about two minutes of stage time to notice that they must have spent lots of time working on how to stand and move for the period. The make-up was fun, but a little too inconsistent. From the audience, some actors were totally white-faced, while others just had a little more white to their face than normal. The costumes were unreal... totally period and incredible (for Albion College... yes, they were incredible). I thought the set looked very nice as well. As far as the actual script, I'm sure that Royal made lots of cuts-he always does-but it was still a long-ass play. The actors did as much as they could, but it was just a little too long for my taste. As for the individual performances... Mike was hilarious, and even slightly believable as someone who could get chicks (slightly... heehee); Andy was very very good, but was given too many asides (his character kept telling us exactly what was going on... and it got cumbersome. Andy did the best he could with it); Karen was incredible, and even managed to effectively expand her acting range; Audrey was quite good, but was type cast again as the innocent, young girl... I'm sure she's sick of playing that same role over and over again (and she probably really liked Laramie because she got to play other types of characters); Steve Fish has grown on stage since I left Albion, and his performance was good as well; there was a freshman named Jason who was perfect in his role and with that style, I would be interested to see this young man in other roles in the future; and there was another young woman, Alysia (?), who did quite well, as well.
After the play, I didn't have a whole lot of time to meet with people and tell them how they did (because Chelsey needed a ride to Euphonics and she was being impatient). So onto...
Euphonics rehearsal was... interesting. A whole lot less arguing over stupid stuff with the current group. But, Bohne's as "funny" as they get, and if Bohne's the best you can do, you've got problems. I'm totally joking, Chelsey Wagemaker is the comedian of Euphonics now. Anyway, as I was sitting in on practice, Chelsey asked me if I knew Jill. I said that we "go way back", which is what I say when I don't really know someone. Jill then recounted the story of how she got into Euphonics. Apparently, she auditioned while I was still around and didn't make it. The next day I saw her and stopped her in the middle of the street. I told her that I thought she did really well and that it would be a very good idea for her to audition again. She did... and now she's in Euphonics. Do I feel partially responsible? I suppose. Do I even remember doing that? No... but it just shows to go ya that you never know how you can change someone's life quickly, even if you don't know them. Fascinating. The Euphonics were working on *gasp* Crazy Love and Sexual Healing during that rehearsal. They were asked by Issa Beatty if they would come to her wedding (WEDDING!!!) and sing... and she picked those two songs as two songs she wanted to hear. So I sat through the group learning Crazy Love... feeling a bit impatient, as it seemed to take them longer to get it than it should have. Then they skimmed over Sexual Healing, just long enough for me to hear Dan "rap." I jokingly said "Now I'm obsolete"... as Sexual Healing is a song I never wanted the Euphonics to do without me. I thought that song, that ONE song was my song... but, alas, not even my song makes me unique. So it goes...
After Euphonics, I hung out with Maggie and Mike for a while. Then I went to Nick's apartment and spent some time with Nick. Nick's apartment is Chad's old apartment... which made things REALLY weird when I walked in. But that weirdness passed quickly, as I was with my son again. He's on the cusp of being "free" of school... except he's going Super-Senior and staying another semester to teach. I really think teaching is where he'll be comfortable... as it will allow him plenty of free time to write or travel (at least during the summer). At any rate, I kept him up WAY too long talking about himself and the stuff I'm doing and about this young lady he seems to be crazy about. Heehee... oh well, he didn't need to do well on his history test (whoops... sorry Nick).
Friday
I woke up after Nick had already left for his class. I took my time showering and waking up... and then went to the quad and wrote. As I was ironically writing about how few people still remember me, I then had people come up to me to talk. How weird! I then took Miss Karen Rose to lunch. I figured she didn't get out of Albion much, so I would take her to some other town. So to Chicago we went. That's a joke... she's never been to Chicago (or something). We went to Marshall instead... yes, to the Denny's. It was just a lunch full of nostalgia. We talked about all kinds of things, she told me a story, and we had a generally interesting conversation. I'm not sure I want to say much more than that... it was interesting, to say the least.
After my lunch, I headed back to the quad and sat in a little more inconspicuous spot to continue writing. After an hour or so, Nick called me and we headed to Charlie's. I had only been to Charlie's once previously... the Philosophy majors bar night. It was interesting... but I didn't really enjoy it. Being at Charlie's with Nick, however, was pretty awesome. We had an interesting conversation.
He then dropped me off at my car, but I didn't feel like leaving just yet (I had too much time before dinner). I actually called Miss Wagemaker and asked if she had some free time. She did, so I headed to the Mae to chat. We spent about an hour chatting outside in the courtyard. God was it hard to imagine the Mae without Court, Amber, Randi, and Sarah living there... and it was hard to imagine Laura not being in Porter Street... but I tried to let that all slide as we talked. We had a pleasant conversation, except I think Chelsey is still caught up in the "John Steeno" persona that most people seem to believe is who I really am. Anyone who really knows me, knows that there's the front, the act that everyone sees... and then there's me. I forget what class it was, but one of the classes I took at Albion talked about everyone wearing 'masks'. I think it's true. I try to keep my morals and ideals consistent, but my personality is far different from the ego-driven ass that most people see. I suppose it's a mechanism to keep people at a distance... as I've often said that when I "let someone in," they start taking a lot of my energy. Plus, no one would be attracted to an anal-retentive, low self-esteemed, Star Wars lovin' geek... would they? Would they? *Begin dream sequence... "Hey Natalie Portman. What are you doing here?" "I heard you were an anal-retentive, low self-esteemed, Star Wars lover" [camera focuses in on John's reaction] "Narf?" "Hey John... did you know you're half a year older than I am? But guess who's rich, famous, and starring in Star Wars movies!" wah wah wah waaaah [scene]* (I can't even score in my dream sequences)
To completely change subjects, I had dinner with Randi, Amber, Sarah, and Eli Friday night. Eli and Sarah have been dating for almost *cough* months! Wow... that's a long time! Anyway, it was nice to see everyone again... even if Randi's selling out has grown so big as to now block the suns rays. Amber is keeping herself busy and not sleeping... this is very much Amber. And Sarah seems happy with Eli. I like Eli... I liked him a lot. He had a good sense of humor. I only wish I could've seen him and Sarah interact even more (it was tough to focus on them, since I was trying to catch up with everyone at the same time). I think he treats her well... because I don't think Sarah is the type of person who would put up with any crap; but I won't know for sure until I see it and am satisfied. Sarah must have thought things were going so well that she left me alone with Eli for a few minutes. Yeah. I wouldn't leave my boyfriend with me for any amount of time. You never know what I'll say! But, like most good things, our dinner was brief... and soon we were all on our way to different places. My way was to Kalamazoo to spend time with my sister.
When I got to Karen's, Katie was already there. She was lookin' beautiful as always, and I entertained myself by asking her questions I shouldn't have (nothing illegal, I sware!). We then picked up Cory, Katie's boyfriend, and headed to Meijer for snacks and adult beverages. We then headed back to Karen's and watched Ghost Ship. Wow do I miss watching horror movies with Katie. Hell, I miss watching horror movies with everyone... that used to be one of my favorite things. But, alas, no one will ever pay me to watch a crappy movie and make fun of it, so it must stay a hobby. In addition, despite my best efforts, I am unable to hate Cory. I think he's awesome... he's funny, smart, nice... and I think Katie's happy with him. Alack! The only thing I have over Cory is a better accent... and who cares?! DAMN THE FATES!
Saturday
Saturday Karen let me sleep in. It was about noon before I woke up... and I needed the sleep (I'll be trying to catch up on sleep for a while, I'm sure). We then went to a breakfast place that was nice... and proceeded to Barnes and Noble. Karen wants to learn Spanish, so she bought some guides and CDs and stuff to help her learn. I got myself a book called the "Comic Toolbox" which has been brought up at least a half dozen times in my various writing classes. I also bought a screenwriting book, as I'm getting more and more serious about writing the screenplay that Adam was asking me about. He DID offer to fly me out to Oregon to film it... how can I pass that up?! Yeah... I'm pretty pumped.
We then went to Best Buy... and I ill-advisedly bought an XBox game. I eat and buy things when I'm depressed... neither of which is good if I'm depressed about not having a job (see? because I can't afford it?). Oh well... LOTR:Return of the King was only $20 and it's an awesome co-op hack 'n slash title. Ken and I played it in Vegas... and we loved it.
After that we headed to Chicago. We got here and watched some TV and then called it a night pretty early. We were both very tired... and we had a big day of driving ahead of us.
Sunday
Sunday morning, Karen and I woke up at way early o'clock to drive to the Packers' game. We both started off the day being tired... to conversation was a little lighter than I would've liked on the way there. Don't get me wrong, it was still very nice to have her with me, and we did talk about some awesome stuff... but she seemed preoccupied for a lot of the time.
We got to Green Bay a little less than an hour before kickoff. Having those club seats is like being a VIP... I mean it's an easy drive into the lot, an easy stroll in our own entry gate, and an easy flight up some escalators. It's awesome. And so is being inside Lambeau Field. It's always more awesome than I remembered it. Hmm... then the game started (herein lies a recap of the game... go ahead and skip to the end if you don't like football and are a commie pinko). The Packers' defense looked terrible; just so horribly awful that I couldn't believe it. And, even though we looked crappy the entire first half, the Giants couldn't score and we went into the half tied 0-0. However, after the half Favre got injured and that was pretty much the game. If Brett had stayed in, we probably would have won... but woulda, shoulda, coulda... a loss is a loss. Good Lord we looked terrible.
After the game, I almost successfully navigated back to the highway and started the long drive back. We had to get Karen to KZoo as she had a meeting with an advisor or something Monday morning. The plan was to meet Mom and Dad somewhere in Indiana to save me about two hours of driving. To be honest, I never felt so tired driving anywhere ever in my life. I don't know what it was... but my eyes hurt, my head hurt, and I just wanted to rest for half an hour. In retrospect, I probably do know what it was... we hadn't eaten anything worth eating all day: just junk food. We met my parents in Michigan City and got some food... and that seemed to make the drive back to Chicago easier. I even called Bohne to see how things went with Jennie seeing his show. Then I was back in Chicago to figure out what to do with myself. The End.