Yes, we are Basically Awful. And...?
This morning started with yet another Mockupations rehearsal. We weren't on the Skybox stage today, but we were, in fact, in the classroom we all refer to as the "hallway classroom" because there are basically no doors and it's a hallway. Right. We went through the whole show... but it wasn't really a big deal for me. I've been memorized for so long that rehearsal is just... well... kind of boring me. I think it's because we all got off book so long ago, that we've stopped coming up with new ideas for the material. Or maybe I'm making that up.
After rehearsal, I went out to Subway with Katy from the Mockupations show. She was starting her Conservatory class today and wanted to know what my class had been like. Katy, if you'll recall, is the only other person from my class who made it into the Conservatory. We had a nice and lengthy conversation... further proving that I LOVE to be able to go from the creepy guy you don't really feel comfortable around, to the guy who can sit and have a nice, intelligent conversation with you. I love fucking with people that way. So much fun.
After Subway, I headed right back to The Second City Training Center for a Basically Awesome rehearsal. We just wanted to go over a few things before the show... and it was mostly just us talking about what we were going to do. And we talked about the review... even telling people who passed by, like Aaron, to come see the show the Chicago Reader calls "basically awful!"
Before the show, one of the members of Poppyseed Lane was talking to us, and he basically called the reviewer a drunken bitch. That made us feel a little bit better about ourselves. And, I'll tell you what, week two of Basically Awesome went about a million times better than last week. Last week we pushed... wanted to make it a great show, but this week we let the show come to us, (with very low expectations for ourselves) and the audience really responded. We (meaning Keith) even made fun of the review in the Dave Convention scene... which later earned us kuddos from the Poppyseed Lane crew, being able to mock our review on stage during the performance... and do it fairly seamlessly, too.
After our show, we stayed and watched Poppyseed Lane's show. It was very very good... and one of the women, Robyn, was right that our shows overlap in some pretty interesting and unexpected ways. Yes, their show is without a doubt tighter than our is... but I don't think there's anything necessarily funnier about the premise of their show, or about it's content. The acting is better... by far... which makes their show seem so much better. It's no wonder we got a crap review. After seeing Poppyseed Lane, our show is at least two steps down. Although, I'll give us one thing, this is our first show and it's not that bad. As a matter of fact, the only thing Poppyseed Lane has on us is experience and confidence (which probably comes from that experience bit). I enjoyed their show, yes... but I didn't feel like it was anything that I couldn't do with the right group of people and the right amount of time.
After the show, I went across the street to Corcorans with Adam, his parents and his friends, Keith, Sara, Keith's crew, Dave and John from my writing five show. John showed up at the show to support us, which is awesome. I love it when my different "groups" come out to support one another. I spent most of the time at our long table, however, talking to Sara about various things. The whole thing was sweet, too, because Mr. Traum bought the drinks for the whole table! Although I only had a soda-pop/carbonated beverage... I've had enough alcohol for a while, thank you.
After everyone else had left, I stayed and talked with John for a while. While we were talking about stuff, the light/sound guy, Chris, came over to our table to talk about Basically Awesome. He started off by saying that I "make" the dance number, saying that the whole dance thing has been done before, but I make it different and original. He then said that I was the best part of the show (and John agreed). Chris basically talked about how my name was attached to this project and that I should aim higher... make sure that the rest of the group is as good as I am. I was very flattered, of course, but I felt like this was exactly the kind of advice that I DON'T need. Yes, it's important for me to think about myself, and to put myself first... but it's also important to network and get my name out there. And I don't want to turn my back on my friends--although as long as Adam keeps being down on his acting I might just want to write with him--but I think Keith and I are going to have lots more shows ahead of us. He needed this experience. And now he's gotten it. I honestly think that I'm going to take some time off of this stuff and write... make sure I have something SOLID... and even start rehearsing before I even get a slot or a stage to perform it on. *nods* Yep... this WAS good experience, but it also proved to me that I'm going to need to put a lot more time, effort, and thought into my future projects.

#8 Worst of 2004 - Two Dates, and No Second Date 2004 was not a good year with the ladies, let me tell you. I spent most of it bitching about them, but not doing anything about it. When I did meet someone interesting who seemed nice (and wasn't dating someone else), I worked up the courage to ask them out. This happened twice in 2004. The first date was with Elizabeth (see the March 1st post). I had a pleasant time, I thought she had a pleasant time... but the next time I saw her, she seemed like it was awkward. I half-blame Coldstone, as I had pretty much just been promoted at the time and that made it weird, and the other half blames me for obviously doing something wrong. Or something. The second date I didn't even make sound like a date on the blog... but it was. If you'll notice exhibit B, my October 22nd post, you'll find nothing in it that says "I was just on a date!" I just said that I saw a movie with her... but that should have tipped you off, dear reader! After the movie, we went to Mitchell's/Michael's and had a late night snack and talked for a while. I had a pleasant time, I thought she had a pleasant time... but the next time I saw her, she seemed awkward. Sound like a broken record much? I guess I don't get it. I've never really done this whole "dating" thing... in the past, I have just accidentally fallen into relationships; where I sit up, shake the cobwebs out, turn to the girl and say "Oh hey! I like you. And we're dating now? That's great!" But I'm in a whole new ballgame now. It's different and, as I've been finding out recently, it's hard for me not to push to make things happen when I have to be pro-active about it in the first place. *shakes head* So complicated.