CALENDAR Happy September!
Well, kids, I've successfully gotten through another month without so much as a dollar to my name. September will bring about, I hope, some interesting changes. Ken's wedding (stupid Ken), the end of the run of my show, Albion's Caucasian Chalk Circle and a promise long over-due, College and Professional Football's return, MLB Playoffs, and--one can hope--my reentry into the world of the employed. Thursday also marked Miss Laura Jeannine's day of birth, so feel free to send your best wishes on to her. Also feel free to send your worst wishes onto her... she can take it. As for me, I only wish her good things like hockey tickets this year. Happy Birthday, dear.
PERSONAL Insomnia and Other Things That Keep You Up Until Four AM
Hey... can you believe it? That was me *points to picture behind him* only 12 hours ago. And now look at me! *hold up pants which are larger than I am* I was able to sleep! Enough of the "funny," I spent Wednesday night staying awake until 4 and Thursday night being awake until 3. Why? Various reasons... but the awake time allowed me to finish The Da Vinci Code in record time (for me anyway... for a book that big? Oh yeah... record time). Interestingly enough, my initial thoughts on the book after 33 pages were pretty accurate. Brown made his characters both intelligent beyond belief AND incredibly stupid. Near the end of the book, I was figuring things out chapters before the main characters were (the chapters were short, but Brown liked to give you something to think about in one plot thread and then switch to another thread for a chapter or two). The part that made me, quite literally, get up and go to a mirror saying "For the love of God"... was SO annoying!
Well, hopefully now that I'm done with the book I'll be able to sleep. If not, I don't know what I'll end up reading. The Da Vinci Code made me want to pull out my old philosophy books and read what great philosophers think about creation and religion. I also have a *gasp* women's philosophy/political thought book that I'm working my way slowly through. Yeah, I know. With women's philosophy I must be starved for good literature. Get it? I'm misogynistic? I'm sorry... please don't hurt me. I didn't mean it! It was a joke!
PERSONAL Burning Chicken and Other Lies Recipes Tell Us
Thursday night I was prepared to cook what was called a "one skillet chicken dinner"... complete with recipe. This recipe asked me to cook the chicken in a covered skillet (in olive oil) for 10 minutes. Okay, I can do that. So I did the above and started washing dishes during the 10 minutes I was waiting. After 7 minutes, I checked on the chicken and it was burning on the bottom! So I flipped it over and gave it three more minutes. After three minutes, I saw it was smoking a bit... and turned the range off. I figured it was probably still edible, but then I turned around and noticed my apartment had been filling with a light smoke. So I filled the skillet with cold water (to stop the cooking), opened my windows, and turned the AC on (to circulate the air)... saying "shit shit shit... the fire alarm's going to go off!" But, thank goodness, the smoke detectors in this building are apparently just for show. I did NOT set off the fire alarm... but I did lose three days of dinners. To say I was mad at myself would be an understatement... yes, I KNOW one must always watch meat while cooking it, but I stupidly believed the recipe. This lead to some interesting and creative cooking, as I didn't have anything else to eat in my apartment. Stupid food.
THEATRE Week 2... And The American Red Cross
Well, Thursday night was week two of my show. While we didn't have a sell out like last week, we certainly had a fairly full theatre. From what I heard from the writers and the director (and one of the cast member's girlfriend, who has seen the show both times), the performance was actually better this week as opposed to last. But the crowd was actually LESS into it. Why? The other group on the double bill went first and, from what I hear, they're pretty bad. So the audience had to be coerced to laugh again when we got on stage.
And the audience enjoyed our show, I think. After the show, I took the stage again. I had been asked by my director, David, to ask the audience to give what they could to an American Red Cross bucket we had set just at the door. As I explained our situation ("We didn't have time to have the Red Cross get back to us, so we had to make our own collection bucket"), the audience was completely silent. As I thanked the silent crowd for coming out and turned to head back stage, I felt as if I had ruined the good mood our show had created. One of the writers said that it was kind of a buzz-kill, and I said "Hey, thanks for coming out and seeing a comedy show while thousands are dead or homeless. Have a good night, selfish asses!" That got a little laugh from the cast... as we all felt a little somber after my "speech." The good news? We raised $80 for the American Red Cross... and we're going to be asking for donations for the next three weeks. It'll be my hope that we raise $500 for the Red Cross over the next few weeks. It's not a lot of money, but it's taking what I can do (entertain) and using it to help. I'm still mentally working on other ways I can use my ability to entertain to help those down in the New Orleans area.
FOOTBALL College Game Day
It's finally come... the first day of the college football season. I haven't been this excited for college football for a long time. Notre Dame was my team growing up... and then they decided I wasn't "Notre Dame" material, and I got a fabulous rejection letter reminding me I was white, didn't play football, and wasn't smart enough to make up for the lack of the other two. Ever since then, I've been indifferent to Notre Dame and most of college football. But, for some reason, this year I'm back. I'm interested in the team/school that rejected me (forgiveness is divine); I'm interested in Northwestern; I'm interested in Wisconsin (who have been my adopted team since ND too a break); I'm interested in Ron Zook coaching Illinois; I'm interested in Matt Leinart staying HEALTHY (I know I don't like USC, but I want good players to stay in college... and if Leinart stays healthy, maybe more kids will stay in college); and I'm interested in college football in general, just watching good games played by good teams. Now I sit, like a rabid fan literally foaming at the mouth *wipes mouth with towel*, waiting for the games to start. Let the games begin.