ROCK STAR
Last weekend my latest Donny's Skybox show opened here in Chicago. I had been worried about it because the writers/director decided to change the running order two days before the show (and after our last rehearsal). Needless to say, I didn't tell anyone about the show (and I don't think the other actors did, either)... so I wasn't expecting much of an audience. I was quite surprised when the director emailed us the day of to tell us that we had already sold out (for a Skybox show opening?? Quite odd).
The show went much better than expected. Long after the show, I would tell someone that the crowd "spoiled us" by laughing harder than they probably should have. Immediately after the show, the cast was on cloud 9... we felt like we could do no wrong, and it didn't help our egos that we were asked to come back on stage after the show. It turns out that an entire women's basketball team from a small college in Missouri had attended the show--and aforementioned basketball team wanted us to come back on stage and take pictures with them. It was the first time I was asked for my photograph from someone who wasn't legally blind. And, even though I felt insanely awkward, it was nice to feel like someone that other people want a picture of, just to commemorate your performance.

A WORD ON THE BCS
This year, I feel the short-comings of the BCS are most apparent... and the ease of correction is also fairly apparent. My solution? A 4-team playoff. That only adds one game to the season (which is already in place this season!), and would be fairly easy to figure out this season: Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, and USC would all play each other for a spot in the Championship game. But John, you say, what about LSU? I think USC is a better team than LSU... and every year, with only four teams, you'll have the same "Who's #4 and who's #5?" B.S. that we have with #2 and #3. But, really, the further from #1 we get, the less it will really matter who number 4 or 5 is.
Alternatively, we could have an 8-team playoff between the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, SEC, Big East, and Pac-10 with two "at large" spots (which this year would be Michigan and LSU). This means each of the four big bowl games (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange) is part of the playoff... but it also means adding two more weeks instead of just one. I think it's doable and only the WAC, MAC, and Conference USA would be upset (although they could be 'at large' spots as well). Sound good? I think that makes lots of money and sense... so call your local congressperson and let's get on this!

I've Been Tagged... And Other Childhood Niceties
Like a month ago, my friend Katy sent me what she referred to as a "blog tag." The premise being that she makes a post and then I post the same list of ten questions and answer them (think: survey but with better title). So here it is in all it's glory.
Note: The fact that 'books' are the subject makes me feel a little self-conscious. As a writer, I always feel embarrassed by how little I actually read. My new belief (or my thinly-constructed justification argument) is that reading isn't mentally engaging enough for me (or mentally engaging in the right ways for my mind to stay occupied), but I'll get more into that later.

1. One Book that Changed My Life: As lame as this may sound, it may very well be "Dave Barry's Complete Guide To Guys." I read it in high school and, up until that point, I believed all books to be boring... one of the least entertaining mediums out there. But this book made me laugh out loud. It engaged me from the very beginning and kept me engaged. It may have been one of the first--if not THE first--book I ever picked up, read, and (most importantly) FINISHED in my life. It was one of those books that make you say "Hey... I could write a book like this," and I don't think HighSchool!John ever thought that before. Plus, it has a diagram of how men use public restrooms. Classy.
Honorable Mention: Stephen King's "On Writing".

2. One Book that You've Read More than Once: I think the Harry Potter series is probably what I'll go with here. I rarely read books more than once... and rarely watch movies more than once... and rarely play a video game all the way through more than once. It's nothing against any of these genres, I just feel I have a good grasp on everything that happened the first time I read/watched/played. But I think I read the Potter books (1-4) again before the fifth book came out.

3. One Book You'd Want on a Desert Island: Katy said the Bible... and that's actually a really good choice for me, too. It's a dense book, full of things to read and reflect upon multiple times. But I hate stealing answers, so my answer is probably the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. I'll give you three reasons: 1) Dense book, lots to re-read and reflect upon; 2) If I ever get picked up from that island and have all the plays memorized, people will mistake me for someone who's smart; and 3) A book of plays means that I could have my own theatre on the island... with me playing all the different parts. How much fun would it be to be both Hamlet and Ophelia if there was no one there to mock how stupid you look?
Honorable Mention: The Dictionary. For reasons 1 and 2 listed above, plus it would take a REALLY long time to read all the way through.

4. One Book that Made You Laugh: Lots of books I read make me laugh out loud... so I'll give you the most recent one that I've read that really made me laugh hard. Katy was on the right tract by giving a David Sedaris book, but she gave the wrong one. The correct answer is "Me Talk Pretty One Day." Laugh out loud funny. I tried to read a section to my sister once and couldn't make it through it.

5. One Book that Made You Cry: My checkbook! HA! I slay me. In all honesty, it's probably the most recent Harry Potter book. Let's not talk about why.

6. One Book You Wish Had Been Written: It's not a book, but I'm uber pissed that I wasn't the one who created the Star Wars universe. Granted, I probably wouldn't have had the brains to create my own special effects company (and then video game company... Remember Maniac Mansion? Who doesn't!!!), but if I were to have written the prequels to my already successful franchise, I wouldn't have sucked so much ass at it. I mean, stereotyped new characters, horrible 'love scene' dialog, and a nonsensical leap through time from one new movie to the next (How come Anakin was the only one who got older?) AND from the new movies to the old (How come Darth Vader was so rusty with the lightsaber when fighting Luke?... I mean, just look at all the cool moves he had in the new movies, did he forget how to twirl the saber? Is it because he's more machine now than man? Twisted and evil?), and you've got the makings of a recipe to sink your franchise! If it wasn't for the amazing Knights of the Old Republic storylines (and the games in which you'll find them), the cute and clever Lego Star Wars, and the constant DVD updates to the originals, this would be a dead franchise indeed. I've got an idea... give me a few hundred grand and let me explore the darker side of Star Wars: How would a Boba Fett/bounty hunter movie strike anyone? How about a Knights of the Old Republic movie? The storyline from the game is almost good enough to be a movie anyway. I've already said too much about something that's not a book... and, moving on...

7. One Book that You Wish Had Never Been Written: In college, I was chastised by my entire class for hating Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth." One of the things that pissed me off most about that 'discussion' (if you can call a group beratement lead by the teacher a discussion) is that I couldn't actually make it far enough in the book to have intelligent arguments. The best I could do is to say that I HATE any book or movie or anything that tries to tell me how hard it is to be in the 'rich' and 'upper-class' crowd. I find nothing more mind-numbingly boring than reading about how every move they make has to be calculated or else they'll be shunned by their "friends." I've, frankly, never been the type to care... so the book can not possibly speak to me on any level. Additionally, I hate the book for that one day in class where I ended up looking like the bad guy for thinking a book was boring. Excuse me!

8. One Book That You're Currently Reading: This is us getting back to what I mentioned in the introduction. The book I was most recently reading (just finished not too long ago) is called "Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter" by Steven Johnson. His book is a fascinating study of pop culture and, in it, he concludes that things such as Reality TV, Video Games, and even the internet have allowed more 'classic' forms of entertainment to become multi-layered and re-viewable. He said that reality TV has trained our eyes to look for non-verbal communication and honest emotion on television. Additionally, TiVo and DVD recorders/players compounded with internet chat-rooms/discussion forums have allowed TV and movies to become so complex that we have to watch and re-watch just to catch everything. I'm butchering his argument here a little, and I apologize to Mr. Johnson... but my ultimate point here is that books don't actively engage my mind in the way video games do. With a game, you are allowed freedom of movement along a narrative and even the freedom to drastically change the narrative almost whenever you want. It was this point (of his) that first got me REALLY thinking about why I prefer games to books. I think the book's fixed narrative is what turns me off. If I don't like where the book is going, there's nothing I can do besides stop reading. I have no recourse of action--I can't change the narrative if what I'm thinking is more interesting to me--everything's already taken care of. That's why, while the written page will always be around, I think a more interactive story-telling is REALLY the future of stories. And I think, right now, video games are the only place to find such a thing. We'll see.

9. One Book You've Been Meaning to Read: Up until recently, I would've said that DaVinci Code book (over-hyped!). But since I read the last "must-read book," now I don't know what all the kids are talking about anymore. I suppose I feel like I wasn't forced to read the "classic" books that everyone else seemed to have been forced to read in high school... so if I were to pick one book, it would probably be "Catcher In The Rye."

10. Now Tag 5 People: This is where Katy and I will differ. She actually tagged people, but I don't know five people who blog anymore. Had this been 2004 (the year of the Blog), I would've had plenty of candidates. But, as it is, people have been turned off to the voyeuristic thrill that is exposing your inner-thoughts to complete strangers on different continents. What has the world come to if I can't explain my fear of water to someone in New Zealand? For shame, America... for shame.

Um... BRRR!
It seems like just a short time ago when I was able to go outside and enjoy a beautiful day in the mid-70s or even a day with the temperatures spilling into the 80s. In fact, that was only one week ago. But yesterday's high in Chicago was 41... and right now it's only 39 (all temps Fahrenheit. Take THAT, rest of the world!). I suppose where this hits home the most is in my actual apartment. You see, dearest reader, my building lets its residents borrow an air conditioner unit which THEY even put in the window for you. What they don't tell you, however, is that they take the air conditioner units out on there own damn sweet time. So, while the wooden plank they set up seems to keep rain out when it rains... the wood most certainly doesn't keep the cold out. It has to be about 50 degrees in the living room, thanks to the freezing temps outside. The air conditioner won't be taken out until next week, which leaves me in an interesting situation: I could take it out myself, leaving an air conditioner INSIDE the apartment for a week; or I could man-up and fight the cold for a week. Manning up is fine for me, but Chelsey has problems with the "man" part. As such, I've constructed an interesting warm-up regiment. Since the bedroom has a door and can be closed off from the living room, that's what I do; then I turn on all the lights in the bedroom; and, finally, I put plenty of blankets on the couch and have some more on hand to put over them... and you've got a sure-fire way to fight an OPEN WINDOW to the COLD! Am I mad at my building management company? Certainly yes... as Chelse and I asked to have the AC out a couple weeks ago, when it seemed like the temps were going to get colder.
Speaking of cold, I look forward to watching Tigers playoff baseball in the freezing temps. Nothing makes me happier than seeing freezing cold baseball players. Check it out today at 4.30 Eastern.

Unfinished Business
Recently, after watching X-Men 3 on DVD, I remembered a little video game called X-Men Legends. It's 'hack and slash' meets 'role playing game'... as you basically go around and punch stuff, level up your X-Men character, and use the X-Man's special talents and powers to punch more stuff. It's a lot of fun in its mindlessness... and being able to use new and more powerful abilities is what keeps us geeks playing. Regardless, I own both of the games in the series... and, while I was watching X-Men 3, I remembered that I haven't finished either of the games. In fact, when I started thinking about it, I must own at least half a dozen games that I've played almost all the way through, but for some reason haven't finished. And that, in turn, also reminded me that I have dozens of books that I've started and never finished. Is this indicative of a problem with me?

Well, now that I'm thinking about it, I think there is something about me--something that really enjoys STARTING things, but doesn't necessarily enjoy FINISHING--that is a problem. Could it be that I get bored? It does seem hard to hold my attention for long periods of time. Watching movies has become increasingly hard for me: I fidget, and feel like I should be doing something else; something more interactive. And--particularly because of my reading ability (or lack thereof)--both reading and video games take a long time to complete start-to-finish. As such, it seems like I always find something more interesting to me before I'm done with the previous activity.

I guess this knowledge of myself is the reason why I'm so hesitant to throw myself headlong into writing. I've started a novel... I've started full-length plays... I've started a screenplay--but I don't know how to keep myself interested for long enough to actually finish. Even this blog, which I kept at for months and years, has fallen by the wayside as I find other things to do. That scares me, frankly. I don't know how to keep myself interested in a particular task for long enough to finish it. And with writing, God, you have the first draft, then the second and third... and I rarely have the wherewithal to finish the first draft on anything longer than 5 pages. That was why I thought Second City and sketch comedy would be so good for me... short bursts of humor, get-in-get-out, and move on!

Where does this leave me then? What have all these questions taught me about myself? Well, perhaps stupidly, I figure if I can finish the small stuff--the stuff that doesn't matter--then I can finish anything. Which brings me back to the beginning of this post: I am going to finish those X-Men Legends games. I reckon, if I can finish things from months or years ago that don't matter... then I'll know I can and will be able to finish important things in the future. Maybe it's stupid but, hey... that's me. Wait... don't call me stupid.

Two And A Half Blocks In The Rain
I've decided that the above distance, about two and a half blocks, is the perfect distance to really mess up your clothes in the rain. Consider: anything more than three blocks--four or five CITY blocks, for instance--is too far to even attempt running through the rain. You look at outside, you've got four blocks to go, and you say "There's no way I'm walking that far in THAT," and you stay where you are until the rain subsides. Alternatively, if you've only got a block to go, you man-up and sprint the block in the rain. You'll end up a little damp, but it's nothing that won't dry in a few minutes.
"Why bring this up?" you ask. Why do I bring anything up on my blog?! Because I feel like it! Now I feel like yelling! AHH! Regardless, Monday of this week I had my SC gig rehearsal. As such, Monday I headed to the Training Center. When I left my apartment, the sun was shining, and it was still warm enough that I didn't need a jacket. As I got to the bus, it was sprinkling a bit, but nothing to make me think I was in trouble. I then waited for the L and, still, there wasn't anything to make me think I should turn around. But the weather changed as I got on the train, and it started hailing only a stop after I got onto the train. Hail!
Which reminds me... I should mention that it's been the rainiest, dampest, August-September-and-into-October that I can ever remember here in Chicago this year. It's rained at least once a week for the past couple months and, normally, when it rains one day it'll rain the next two days as well.
Which brings me back to the train, Monday afternoon. It's raining... hard! and I've got two and a half blocks from the Sedgewick El stop to the Training Center. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing at the TC, but I know I'm getting paid, so I don't want to be late and I don't want to arrive wet. These two things, at this point, are incommensurable. I'm supposed to be there at 2... and it was probably 1:47ish by the time I got to my train stop. I have very little time to wait for the rain to let up (which it didn't look like it was doing). It had stopped hailing, but it was still raining hard. I jumped off the train... and cut across the street to an awning, where a jogger had stopped to wait for the rain to let up. I asked her how long she'd been waiting, and she said she'd been waiting for a while--the storm sneaking up on her just after she left. I figured it wasn't going to let up in time for me to completely wait it out, so my dress clothes and I starting jogging. I decided quick bursts/sprints to various awnings was the best course of action... and I was able to meet a few groups of people along the way (all being caught by the swiftness of this storm). When I reached the training center I was drenched. Even my best efforts to avoid the heaviest downpours left me wet on top and the front of my pants (the backside of my pants was moving too fast for the rain [I pretend to believe]).
Fortunately for me, not only was the rehearsal very relaxed... but about 90% of the people who were there were also caught in the rain, so everyone came in soaked. It turns out that the gig was not a filming, but simply a press conference. The good news? It was a relaxed atmosphere, I had a few laughs, and I made as much money on Tuesday as I would have with a "real" job. Good work, if you can get it.

OH FAVRE!
This topic could easily be about how terrible my Packers have been this year. But I don't feel like crying on my internet (huh?), so it's not. No. This topic is about the Prilasec (I don't care if I misspelled it, I did it on purpose) OTC commercial that I just saw Brett doing. You know, thanks to the pills, my quarterback now no longer has frequent heartburn... and that makes me happy. Perhaps frequent heartburn is the cause of dozens of interceptions per year? Or could it be the worst receiving corp in the league? You tell me. Shouldn't sports figures be selling stuff related to sports? Should I be disheartened that my QB is hocking heartburn medication? Or should I be happy that people still recognize a player on my team? Unlike some other teams in the league (I'm looking at you, Detroit Lions).

How Quickly Two Weeks Can Pass
My last blog post was during the push to finish my sitcom spec for class. What followed was a busy weekend where I tried not to think about my story... trying to give it air so that, when I came back to it, I'd have a new perspective. I saw an improv show at Donny's Skybox on Friday night consisting of many of the women with whom I graduated the program... and then Saturday night I went to ComedySportz and saw that show for the first time here in Chicago. They have a new space that's pretty nice (if hard to get to), and the show was what I would later describe as "interesting." I couldn't do ComedySportz... I would probably be annoyed by the format after a while... only playing short games and never REALLY getting into anything that seems real ("real theatre" that is, if you take my meaning).
A week has passed since that last post. I'm finished with my episode of "Family Guy," which didn't get rave reviews in class... but it seemed like the class enjoyed it, and struggled to find something which was 'obviously' wrong.
I had a productive weekend... getting a lot done for the apartment and for my internship. Oh, that's right, I haven't really said anything about my internship. I'm now the Writing Program intern at SC... which means I do stuff for them every week and they give me a free class. That's how I could afford my Sitcom class (BTW, I'm going back and forth on whether or not to take a Screenplay course that's only offered once a year. I should take it, shouldn't I? Well, I need Final Draft and that costs big bucks... so I'm still debating). As the intern, I talk with the younger writing students about their opportunities within the program... I set up the Writing sketch show auditions... and I email people longer and more often than I should. I'm also going to be 'the authority' on what the intern does, as they've asked me to write the internship manual for after I 'pass' (read: die). At any rate, this past weekend I ran the auditions... which is always fun. I try to put the auditionees (who are always nervous) in a light-hearted mood... and I try to set everything up so that the only thing the writers need to worry about is who they are going to cast.
And now I come to this week, when it actually seems like I've got some stuff going for me: three paying 'gigs' in one week! (One refers to 'work' as 'gigs' if you're a poor artist, the pay is minimal, and the work is infrequent) Today and tomorrow, I'll be at SC for a Cingular wireless gig. I don't know the specifics about it yet, just that they wanted 100 Conservatory students (and former students)... and that we're filming something on Navy Pier tomorrow morning. Tomorrow night I'll be reading a script for, well, a script reading. I was offered (through my SC connections) to read a play for a local playwright. It's the first reading of her newest script... at a theatre and everything... and I'm very excited to have my hands in such an organic, local creation. It should be fun. And, finally, later in the week I'll be doing voiceover work for a children's educational cartoon. (what?) Yeah, I auditioned via sound clip for a voiceover gig (a LONG time ago... I think there was still snow on the ground), and they're finally far enough along that they want me to come in and record! So that will be Thursday and/or Friday (depending on how long it takes).
Each of these are paying gigs, mind you... but it doesn't feel like enough. And, in reality, it's not enough... I can't do stuff like this consistently enough to make the money I need to live. That's the part that angers me the most. I'd love to have my weeks filled with filming, play readings, and voiceover work... but that's just not realistic. I don't know how 'actors' do it. How do they make a living off stuff like this? That's just it. They don't. No one can. I find it slightly amusing that there is such a discrepancy between those who can make a living (those millionaire actors whose lives are so great that we have TV shows and magazines devoted just to what they do when they're not working) and those who can't (everyone else that you've never heard of). I suppose that happens in most professions, (except I can't see their being millionaire teachers AND starving teachers, just seems to be the later) but I still find it odd that 'the biz' expects you to work for free (or next to nothing) for YEARS until they say it's okay for you to make some actual, real-person money.
Negativity aside... this should be a fun week. Oh! And I'm trying to call SC to schedule an audition for the Touring Company (auditions are later in October). Wish me luck!!!

One Of Us Is Afraid
And it's me. It's been such a long time since I sat down and actually wrote with any regularity that I now fear the blank page. The blankness of it... is overwhelming. I look at my sitcom spec (I've only got until Tuesday to finish an episode of "Family Guy" for class) and I'm completely intimidated. So much so, in fact, that I find myself crippled to move forward.
Why bring it up? Why start typing in here again after a month-long hiatus? Because, my dear children, I've noticed that the overwhelming blankness of the page is just a cover--a metaphor, if you will--for the blankness that is my future. To further speak in metaphors, I'm looking ahead in the book of my life and noticing how many blank pages there are. Some people find this exciting... but I find it crippling. Chelsey thinks that I've become so afraid to fail that I've stopped trying... and I think that's about as accurate as it gets. Rather than trying and failing, I've just stopped trying new things. And so, just as the blog has always been a reflection of my inner-self/thoughts... I come back to it. I've realized that anything worth wanting doesn't just "come" to you without chipping away at it for months and years. So I tackle the blog just as I hope to tackle my fears of the outside world--its unfair judgments, its unequal distribution of resources, and its rejection of anything outside the norm or familial--in the only way I know how: slowly chipping away at it.

After a diatribe like that, what is there to say? Over the past month, Chelsey and I have fully moved ourselves into the Lakeview area. The move facilitated renting a U-Haul, which I expertly used to strike another vehicle... then there was the resulting insurance troubles. Additionally, since I last wrote regularly, my car's alternator blew... resulting in roughly $600 worth of damages. That would be an intimidating figure for someone who DID have a job.

I'm still jobless, and prospects don't look good. I am leaning, instead, towards going to Grad School. There is a program at Northwestern that I'm going to be applying to in the next few months... which will hopefully give me direction. I've noticed that my life (much like others of my generation) has been like the flow of a river. We start up in Minnesota as a trickle or in Colorado as a mountain stream... we are sent to schools and are giving a straight path. Sure we can go in the occasional circle, and we might join others like us along the way... but it's pretty much a straight path from where you are to where you're headed. And where we're all being sent is the ocean, the "real world," and its vastness. And that vastness--much like the blankness of the page--is a crippling thought for me. Some people don't mind being out on the open sea, with all its possibilities, but the thought of seemingly endless possibilities has always scared me. I suppose it's the thought of going the wrong way and drowning. So, instead of paddling in one direction--any direction--I sit and hope that something will come along to point me the "right" way. The idea that I continue to not fully grasp is the thought that, no matter which way you go, you'll end up back on land eventually. Some paths are a little more or less direct than others. I guess, somewhere in the back of my mind, I just can't understand that things are going to be just fine no matter what I decide to do.

My indecision, long-since a flaw of mine, is really starting to wear Chelsey down. I think she doesn't care what I do as long as I'm doing something... and I keep coming up with ideas and not following through. The only thing I've done well, and done consistently, is going to Second City. That seems to be the only thing I can get myself to do with any regularity. Whether it be some notion that the place itself will make me famous, or I just really enjoy the people--the students, the instructors, and the staff--but it's the only idea I've had that I haven't dropped for one reason or another.

Perhaps a more subtle reason why SC is still labeled "Good idea" in my head is that it's something I feel comfortable telling people I'm doing. I recently spent some time with my aunt and uncle who I haven't seen for... *thinks*... 7 or 8 years? I think the last time I saw them was when my grandfather died. Regardless, going to SC was something I felt comfortable with and proud of... I didn't need to say "I work at Coldstone" and watch them struggle to find something positive to say about a 25-year old who scoops ice cream. Yet another reason I find it hard to get a job typing or making copies? Would I find it hard to justify, mentally, why I would waste my time as a cog in a corporate machine? Especially since that's never been something that has interested me... but what else is there in this city?

And that leads me to something else. I've gotten to a point where Chicago is really starting to wear on me. I'm sick of over-paying for small apartments with non-working refrigerators (can't buy milk because it doesn't keep more than two days), over-paying for parking (now at $245 a month), and waiting in long lines for groceries or fast food. I am a perfect example of taking the boy out of the small town, but not taking the small-town out of the boy. I suppose that's one of the reasons I thirst for the college-life so much: it's a small community within bigger ones.

So, yes, my thought is grad school... and hopefully hiding from the "real world" as a college professor for as long as they let me hide. Or growing a pair and letting the world beat me down for a decade before I finally win in the end? History will show that I can be a patient man when I know what I want. Let's find out how the rest of this story goes, shall we?

PERSONAL New Apartment, New Topics!
Just as the true test of a quarterback is his arm-strength, or the true test of a Texan how many guns he or she owns, the true test of a microwave--as we all know--is the popcorn button. Yes, nothing more simple for a microwave than popping a bag of popping corn into it and hitting the one magical button... to be treated by wave upon wave of fluffy popcorny goodness. And yet, even though the mechanics of it are simple, there seems to be nothing more difficult for a microwave than popping a good bag of popcorn. The microwave at my apartment on LaSalle historically burned the crap out of a bag of popcorn. The microwave at Chelsey's apartment, on the other hand, neither burned nor popped particularly well. What came out was a truly uninspiring bag of popcorn. The microwave at out new apartment, however, seems to have magically infused each bit with the taste of marshmallows (or some other yummy candy)... because I could swear that I'm eating some kind of candy when I eat the popcorn here *points to new place with no furniture... just a computer and the floor* And it's a good thing that the popcorn's good, because there is no other food in this apartment. At all. Nothing close to food here. There's food outside... and it's pretty close. But there's none here. Why am I here then?

PERSONAL I Can Feel It...
Around this time, every year, I can physically feel football season coming. I know that sounds lame and ridiculous... but it's real to me. I can almost smell the leaves falling off the trees, I can feel my body longing for the cold (and, as a result, sweating more profusely)... and I don't want to watch anything that isn't football related. It's the time of year that ESPN Classic ropes me in by re-playing old college football games. I found myself watching FSU/NCSU from 2001 today (Phillip Rivers and the Wolfpack beat Florida State... I hope Phillip Rivers doesn't win his next game [pre-season against my Packers]) and "Wide Right 1" a few days ago.
It is also the time of year that I get obsessively involved in NCAA Football for the XBox (or, hopefully soon, the XBox 360 or Nintendo Wii). I'm reading an interesting book about popular culture called "Everything Bad is Good for You" (or something like that) and the author talks about how pop culture (like video games) is actually making us more intelligent. His point is that complicated games (his example is a dice-based baseball, my example being the EA Sports Football franchises) have actually heightened our intellectual involvement in aforementioned sports through math and statistics (and a uber sense of realism. So real, in fact, that I can recognize defenses, blitz packages and stunts, zone coverage, and even the occasional odd offensive formation far before my father--who has watched football HIS whole life--can). The author goes on to say that pop culture in general is making our culture more demanding of versatile, intellectual, and interactive media. For years, I've hidden the hundreds of hand-written pages that I keep on video game players' ratings, statistics, and--in the pro games--salary. I have literally spent hundreds of man-hours figuring out who I can/could/should trade for whom... what positions on my team are the weakest... and where I need to draft or recruit for the future over the span of these games (roughly the past five or six years). After reading this book (and seeing the complicated schemes the author came up with just to realistically justify his dice-based baseball game), I no longer feel shame from my pursuits. I can say (almost with a straight face) that what I was doing was recognizing flaws in the system (previous NFL and NBA video games didn't necessarily care who you traded for whom... meaning you could really make un-fair trades and create a super-team) and trying to figure out my own fair way of judging and comparing talent. Even recently with NCAA Football 2006 (last year's offering), I kept very detailed records of all my players over five or six seasons on their ratings, how their ratings increase, how they were recruited, and when they left (as well as a few other categories).
What is my point? I suppose it's only a late-night rambling... trying to sort out what to do with these year's game: NCAA Football 2007. I've rented it for the XBox... but still have it in my mind that I'm going to buy it when I buy my NextGen console. So, should I even worry about keeping statistics for a game I'm not going to keep? Should I even play the game for XBox at all... considering I'll probably spend dozens of hours with the NextGen version whenever I can afford to get the console and game? Am I seriously wasting vast portions of my life while other people I know are getting married, buying houses, and starting families complete with children and everything (i.e. real people stuff)? Are you secretly looking down on me for being "simple... cute and incredibly sexy, but simple"?

PERSONAL I Have a Job!... Mostly
On Wednesday of last week (at around 2 in the afternoon), I was contacted by a temp agency that saw my resume on CareerBuilder and wanted to hire me to temp at another company. I was so shocked that someone actually read my resume and WANTED me to work for them that it basically didn't matter to me what I would be doing. And, even though it didn't matter, I thought I had lucked out. Turns out what this temp agency said that they needed was someone to type up a manuscript for a book. The woman at the agency asked if I could type accurately at 60 wpm (which I can) and she asked if I was an English major (which my lack of money in my checking account proves that I am)... and then she said I was perfect for the position. How soon could I start? was the next question. Tomorrow sounds great, I responded... and I was off to the agency downtown to fill out the paperwork so I could start the job the next day (last Thursday).
Time-out: It should be noted, here, that because of my dress shoes and how often I was wearing them last week, a huge chunk of my right heel was basically torn off my skin. Walking has been painful ever since. Time-in!
I made the drive from Chelsey and my apartment (on the far North side)--dressed to the nines in my best suit--to my new place of employment (on the far South side) in about an hour. However, because I didn't know how long it would take for me to get that far in Chicago, I gave myself two hours to get there. As such, I arrived on the South side with an hour to kill. Perhaps not the right wording. What I meant was... with an hour to spend trying to see another white person.
Sidebar: I don't consider myself a racist person. I don't consider myself someone who prejudges. Sure, I judge people quickly (thanks Mom)... but only after interacting with them. But this experience, if nothing else, has helped me to understand what it feels like to be the only person of a certain race in the area. Back to court!
When I got to the office, a woman who I thought was the receptionist told me--not to take a seat--to look at the pictures on the walls. The man who I would be working with could be seen in pictures with Louis Armstrong; Dizzy Gillespie; former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr; Presidents Carter and Clinton; and many other people who looked like faces I should recognize. An intimidating task to spend time with a man who has accomplished so much.
Then the woman who I thought was the receptionist asked if I wanted anything to drink (to which I responded "Water would be great"), and she came back with a bottle of water and a stack of this man's previous books. He has written something like 20 books (as if I wasn't intimidated enough), and I starting skimming through the first one I picked up. He works mostly in historical non-fiction... so any creativity I have is pretty much out the window as far as helping him is concerned.
After about fifteen minutes, I was called into the inner-offices and given the tour by the woman who would be my supervisor on this job. I found out that the woman who I thought was the receptionist is actually one of the property managers... and the women (plural) who do reception are also property managers and accountants respectively. Everyone in that office has multiple responsibilities (just the way I like it). After my tour, I was told to go into the head man's office and read through the manuscripts he had on his conference table. He had piles of books on the table and hand-written notes and all sorts of things that didn't look like materials for a book (i.e. plaques).
I sat down and read his prologue. It was good, he has an engaging, charming, and knowledgeable literary voice, but it was peppered with some glaring grammar and sentence structure problems. I started making some notes in the margins and on a scrap piece of paper... preparing for what I thought would be my retyping of aforementioned prologue. After about twenty minutes, I was told to go ahead and make copies of the pictures he wanted to use in the book. Apparently, he uses copies of the pictures to lay-out the manuscript and then uses the actual pictures in the actual pressing of the book. So, for the next two hours (at least), I was in the copy-room copying hundreds of amazing (and sometimes candid) pictures of Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, and others.
At 12:30, I took my lunch and called Chelsey to let her know how the day was going so far. When I got back to work, I was asked to cover the phones for an hour. I received instruction as to how to transfer calls and how to let the employees know they had a call being transferred and then I answered phones. The good news for me was that everyone in that office pretty much takes their lunch at the same time... so sans me and the woman who helped me (Kathy... who was very nice to me. She was my helping hand all day), there was no one left in the office. I didn't have to transfer most calls, I could just take messages.
After my hour on the phones, I went right back to copying. But, while I was making copies, the Man himself came into his office and wanted all his book materials back (to work on). He and I chatted for 10 minutes and, for an 87 year-old man, he's a pretty cool cat. He loved the name "Pizza Xtreme" for my SC show... and said he'd like to come check it out. I told him that it was for mature audiences and he said, "Well, I think I'm mature." He then asked if the show was "rated X" and I told him that it was not something I would bring children to, but I wouldn't consider it rated x. He then pointed out that we probably see things differently. "What you think is rated X is different than what I think. What I think is rated X is... probably what you do in your show." I couldn't help but laugh at this charismatic, interesting fellow who simply wanted to talk about me.
But, once he left--taking all his book materials with him--I was left with nothing to do. On my first day, I was sent home an hour early.
On my second day, Friday, I stayed long enough for the Big Boss Man to come into his office and kindly say "What are you doing here?" I was let out at noon.
My third day, I lasted long enough for my supervisor to come into work and say "I called your temp agency and told them we wouldn't need you today." She, nicely, paid me for an hour.
Which brings us to today... Tuesday... day four. I didn't want to waste my time and gas by even attempting to drive down to work, so I called a few times and was told I wasn't needed (again). My supervisor suggested that I call the temp agency in the mornings to find out if I was needed, instead of calling their office. In the span of four business days, I've gone from having a steady 9-5 on a temporary basis, for what they said was a month-long contract... to not being needed (and wondering if I'm ever going to be asked back again). That's got to be some kind of record. I should have at least 28 hours under my belt by now: I have 10. Sounds like I've really made it to the big-time, huh?
I guess one of the things that upsets me most is that I was already thinking about what to do with the money I was going to be making. My gut has been itching for football season to start, and I told myself I wasn't going to buy any football game this year unless it was on a nexGen console. But, after my whopping $150 comes my way, I'm not going to have a lot left to do, well, anything with besides pay bills... or try to get the balance down on my maxed out credit card. What? Didn't know I did that? Well, do I have a story for you later...

PERSONAL Another Weird Dream
I actually just awoke from this one, and it's too odd not to get down somewhere. The dream opened as me and someone else (some dude who I don't know) are crawling through the grass in dress clothes. I'm telling him about my experience hosting the Daytime Emmys in New York. (At the time, during the dream, it was the only reason that made sense why I had been to NYC before) I'm telling my "friend" that reading the prompter poorly at the Daytime Emmys ruined my career just as we're entering what feels like a small Chinese restaurant--even though the seating consists of one large table around which everyone sits. And as I'm telling him that awards shows aren't worth risking your career, I see that Jack Nicholson and his wife (is he actually married?) are sitting at this table, watching us enter. This apparently doesn't bother me but, rather, I look for confirmation from both of them--"The Daytime Emmys ruined my career, right? I mean, you've never heard of me"--and Nicholson shrugged his shoulders in consent. My friend and I then sat down on the near left corner of the table (from the door) and Nicholson was seated in the middle of the right side (the table was packed). The waitress (a white woman) then came in and apologized that no appetizers had been put on the table. Nicholson asked if "Those little anchovy pizzas" where going to be brought out... in an As-Good-As-It-Gets kind of tone. I then tried to ask the waitress nicely if she'd bring the appetizers out and she left. A few seconds later, one of the other patrons--a middle-aged female--had something big almost drop on her head. She was distraught and I went over to calm her and then looked up. I said "Stay here, I'm working on a theory." My theory was, apparently, that the object must have fallen from above (I'm smart). I ascended a staircase near the table and there was an entire room (set up like a living room... with a white leather couch, a white wooden coffee table, and a piano) overlooking the large table downstairs. In the room was the waitress... whom I roughly interrogated ("Why did you try to kill that woman?"... don't worry about tipping your cards, John. Moron). She didn't say anything but looked very nervous. I noticed she was clutching a pencil (#2) in her right hand so hard that she was white knuckling and then... she shot me. With the pencil. In my right shoulder. The noise was enough to make my friend come up from the table and see what happened. I felt relieved to see him, thinking he'd help... but instead he said "Mother, what have you done?" That's when I started pushing them both... roughing them up a bit (and trying to figure out how I was shot with a pencil). That's also when I woke up.
I normally don't remember dreams. But when I do, they come in groups... so I'll remember one night and then a night in a couple days, and so on. Since Rob and I have started actual production on our show (OPENS NEXT SUNDAY!!! THE 23RD!) I haven't written anything new. I suppose my brain is trying to get the creative out, since it's been used to writing something creative every week for the past year or more. Who knows?

PERSONAL Weird Dream Central
I had two weird dreams this morning. In the first dream, I started in a very basic looking room. I felt like it was a bedroom, even though the walls were bare and painted a cream color. I also got the feeling that it wasn't my bedroom, but some place I was sleeping while with my family... perhaps a guest bedroom of a relative. I knew I was running late, right away, but it took me a little bit to figure out for what. Then I realized that my family was at church, and I needed to go and visit my mother at church. Coincidentally, I'm not sure it's a church I've ever been to and, if I have, I think it might have been one of the churches I saw while in England. At any rate, I went to visit my mom and for some reason it was video poker night at church. Now I know that churches do Bingo... but video poker? And there were so many machines that everyone had one. I even saw three people bringing another machine into the chapel. I finally found my mom and she seemed very distant, preoccupied. For some reason, that didn't bother me... as the only thought in my head was whether or not I was going to get my own video poker machine because I was late.

The second weird dream was kind of more normal, even though it doesn't make sense to me. In it, I was working in advertising (or marketing, something I would hate) and I was working with a team of people. We were in the office, and I went outside for a breath of fresh air. That's when I ran into an old friend of mine that I haven't seen or talked to in over a year (and I got the feeling that I was no longer in Chicago). She and her friend (who is someone I didn't know) were headed to a Dave Matthews' Band concert. I don't even think my friend likes Dave Matthews. And then I said "Oh, Dave Matthews... I like him" and proceeded to start singing "Ants Marching," from the "Under the Table and Dreaming" album which I lent to someone I worked with (that's how long ago it was) and he never returned it. My friend looked bored, but her friend was captivated. I got through half of the song before my colleagues came out and told me to get back to work; and then my friend and her friend left.

I know these are short dreams, but they both happened after the alarm went off while I was hitting the snooze (which is something at which I'm an expert). Short sleep time equals short dreams!

PERSONAL A Productive Weekend
I suppose the weekend really began Thursday night. It was the last show of our Skybox run for my Improvised show... and I think we went out with a bang. The show that was reviewed (and, thus that we improvised) was a play about a theatre group who thinks they're going to perform King Lear only to find out that they are instead doing a show based on the novel Moby Dick. I was probably one of the few people in the cast who had intimate carnal knowledge of both works (having been in Lear and read [most of] Moby Dick). I made my character, that evening, a loan from Joliet Prison who had played Gloucester in the Joliet production of Lear and who would gladly "perform hand-to-hand combat with real knives." When we were given Moby Dick, I made myself Starbuck (I would have been Queequag, but that role was actually assigned by the improviser who was playing the producer... so I had to think quickly). My favorite part of the evening was when the Producer character asked my character what I would like Starbuck to do in the play (the Producer was adapting it) to make me feel more comfortable. For some reason I said "I'd like to rape somebody and then stab someone's face off. With a harpoon!" In the immortal words of my friend Katy "It's the truth of what the character wanted at the time." So later in our show... when we performed the new Moby Dick show, I was able to rape and stab two of the space pirates (yes... space pirates). Nothing like saving your best for last.

On Friday, I had a rehearsal at Second City. My friend Rob and I have a show coming up the end of July and we're getting close to the crunch time. Friday night was the first time we did a couple scenes from memory and it went pretty well, actually. I'm just starting to realize, however, that a two-person show is far more work than I had even imagined. Especially considering that we're the writers and the producers... there is a lot of work to be done besides just running lines and rehearsing scenes, and I think Rob and I are a little behind where we should be at this point in the process. Oh well... July 23rd will come whether we're ready or not, and we might as well have the show as crisp and fast-paced as we can.

Saturday morning, Chelsey and I went apartment viewing. We actually made an appointment with the management company that owned my first apartment building in Chicago; that company (PPM for identification) has a few buildings in the Lakeview/Wrigleyville area that we were interested in seeing, and we viewed them Saturday. The man who showed us around was very nice and reminded me (in an odd way) of my PT Thad when I was at XSport. Granted, one is a personal trainer and the other is in apartment management, but their manner of speech, and approach to talking with new people was the same. We only saw one apartment that we liked, so we said that we'd be in touch after we saw a couple other places.

But we didn't view the other places Saturday afternoon because that was reserved for spending time in Gurnee at the mall. I know we just went there, but it didn't seem like we got an idea of what the Mills are like because we spent so much time watching movies the first time. So we wondered aimlessly around the mall for a while until Chelsey decided that she wanted a Nintendo DS. She has actually been thinking about getting this hand-held system for over a month (she fell in love with the New Super Mario game... which is sweet) and decided that this weekend was the perfect time to get one. So we headed to the Circuit City (which is in the mall, weird, huh?) and purchased the Nintendo DS, the new Super Mario, and a game called Brain Age (which supposedly trains your brain in minutes a day).

After splurging on video game hardware and software, we saw a movie: Pirates of the Caribean 2--Dead Man's Chest. I will not ruin this movie for anyone but let me say three things about it: 1) Johnny Depp's Captain Jack is one of the most original characters I've seen in years and he's still amazing; 1A) I hope you like the characters from the last movie, because there are far too many of them in this movie... As they keep recycling the same characters I'm left to wonder "how big is the world?" 2) Keira Knightley's character is still a moron, making me think this movie was writen by a man (there is a general lack of strong female characters--or female characters in general--in this movie. Even the strong character from the first movie, the one who wanted the Black Pearl to herself, is MIA in this movie); 3) The ending made me groan. That is all I will say about it... groan.

Sunday morning, Chelse and I went apartment searching again. This time, we went to a Lakeview property company and saw three of their buildings. Oddly enough, for me anyway, two of those buildings were right across the street from Jim's first Chicago apartment. The third place, just around the corner, is beautiful! We just had to take it. The price is right at the cusp of what we were willing to pay, but we get free satellite TV and free high-speed internet (which will probably save us around $100 a month here). There is no parking... so I'm going to have to decide whether I want to risk street parking (I'd need a permit and probably Illinois plates--and an Illinois license), or find a place nearby that rents parking per month. This is going to be a problem for me, but it's worth it. This building is beautiful, old and ornate on the outside, and the apartment has been refurbished--new floors, new ceiling fans, new stove, new microwave, new dishwasher (A DISHWASHER!!!), new showerhead, etc. It was honestly too good to pass up. Chelsey has expressed some remorse that we're leaving such a huge place and will be forced to cram all of our stuff in a smaller place... but I'm trying to be positive and reassure her that everything will fit, everything important that is (can you believe I'M the positive one? [Hint: No you can't])

Sunday afternoon and evening, we felt so relieved that all we wanted to do was sit around and play video games. We both had a try at Mario DS and Mario Golf for the Gamecube (which I picked up because Chelsey said she liked it)... and then I finally tried Resident Evil 4 (also for the Gamecube). I picked up a copy when it won billions of awards and then the price dropped to $20. The actual gameplay is amazing--the shooting engine is crisp (though hard) and the graphics are truly the most chilling thing ever put on a Gamecube. I actually haven't gotten that far, I keep getting my head chopped off with a chainsaw... but I'll keep at it. This game certainly saved the Resident Evil franchise... and will probably be what we see on the nextGen consoles when they release a new one. I can't wait.

NATIONAL HOLIDAY Happy Independence From The British Day Everyone!
It's rare that Chelsey gets a day off during the week, so we wanted to make the most of this one. Yesterday we headed to Gurnee Mills (a huge half-outlet mall/half-mall mall) and spent the better part of Independence Day out there. We decided to see two films while there: Cars and Superman Returns. I liked both movies, even though they were quite different. Cars once again shows Pixar employs amazingly talented and funny writers and animators. At some points I was actually struck by how detailed the animation could be... even though the over-all feel of the movie was "cartoony," some of the animations of the cars, specifically the Portia, are amazingly realistic (i.e. headlights, logos, her whole backside [which, in one scene, they show the white 'backing up' lights when "Sally" goes in reverse... so cute and clever]). I guess that's a good way to describe Pixar films: where cute meets clever.
Superman Returns is a different story. Part-homage, part-new story, Superman Returns is a step in the right direction for the franchise. It seems like Hollywood has been more fascinated with Superman than any other super hero, and we've seen almost every angle of it: Superman love Lois/Lois loves Superman/Lex Luther is evil/Kryptonite can kill Superman/and Clark Kent is a bumbling goof (a good cover even if the glasses don't fool anyone). But, FINALLY, we see some actual movement forward in the franchise! In this movie, scientist found the remains of Superman's home planet and he has just gotten back from a five-year pilgrimage to his home planet of Krypton to see if there was anything left. When he "Returns" to Earth (the name of the movie!) he finds that Lois has a son and a fiancee named Richard (played by James Marsden, who seems destined to play the guy in Comic Book movies who has the girl [Lois or Jean Grey] even though the audience wants the other guy to get her [Supe or Wolverine]). It's almost a shame, then, that as the movie progresses, the plot breaks back down to it's root elements of Lois loving Superman and vice versa/Luther being evil/and Kryptonite being able to kill Superman. Routh actually plays a good Superman and Clark... and there were times when he was Clark that I swore I was Christopher Reeves (Routh's Clark is good). What is also very good about this movie are the special effects: they've added some sound to his flight... it sounds like a sonic boom when he flies faster; they really spent special attention to how his cape reacts to flight (I also like the new costume... it's more practical looking than previous Supermen--looks like something a person could actually fly in [if people could actually fly]); and I know for a fact that there were a few shots of Routh that were CG but looked pretty good--the last flight, for instance, I'm almost positive was CG even though they zoomed in on his face. Regardless, this was a serviceable movie for the franchise.
Can I just take the time, again, to contend that the James Bond series could learn a lot from the Batman franchise? Go back to his roots!!! Come on! I'm done.
Chelse and I had a great, and huge, meal at Max and Ermas for lunch... watched the two movies, then came back into Chicago and spent the night putting together (I kid you not) a Lego Batmobile. It's sweet. Maybe I'll even take a picture of it.... cause it's awesome. ROCK! INDEPENDENCE!

NATIONAL NEWS The Supreme Court Rules!... and they also made a ruling
The Supreme Court ruled today on the Ahmed Salim Hamden case. Hamden was the driver/bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden and was detained as an "enemy combatant" at Gitmo in Guantanama Bay (Prisoners Of War have to be part of an army and al Qaeda, while highly organized, is somehow not considered an army). And, because of the symantics--because of the language of who this person was to America--we thought we did not, as a government, have to afford him the same rights that a POW is afforded (thank you Geneva Convention). What today's Supreme Court ruling says--basically--is that the idea of an "enemy combatant" being different than a POW is wrong, and it's time to afford these people the same basic rights as POWs. A better way of putting this, and the way my dad said it in his email is: "the Bush administration did not have authority to set up the war crimes tribunals and found the military commissions illegal under both military justice law and the Geneva Convention."
This seems a large blow to Bush's "Let's get those freedom-haters" attitude and is something of a surprise to me. Bush personally appointed two of these Justices, his father appointed two others... I just assumed (like a moron) that he'd always have at least four votes in his pocket. This particular ruling was 5-3 (with Chief Justice Roberts obstaining from the vote), with the three descenting votes Thomas, Scalia, and Alito. Perhaps that should read Scalia then the other two... as they've both been acqused of blindly following Scalia in their Justice careers. Regardless, it's refreshing to see that no President, no matter how many Justices they appoint, is above the reach of the Court.
Now it's time to figure out what to do with all those people in Gitmo. Bush says he wants to just send them all home and I don't blame him. The only problem now (I'm going to sound so conservative) is that we've just held 400 people in pretty poor conditions and we're going to release them? How pissed would you be if that was you? And how badly do you think they would want to come back here and get some retribution? I think this situation is only going to get more complicated before it gets better. Keep your eyes peeled on this one!

LOCAL NEWS I'm Thinking Pink
Whether you know it or not, over the weekend the CTA opened a brand new train line: the Pink line. The Pink line was named by a local middle school which is, as far as I can tell, an all girls school. There are some ads up on other trains (i.e. the Brown Line) that supposedly show why Pink was picked. The reasons include that Pink is happy; that Pink should be said more often; and that I am a middle-school aged girl and have no grasp of how hard it would be for a college-aged boy to get his drunk ass home from the Cubs game via the "Pink" line. Perhaps the worst thing about the Pink line is the fact that it runs along an already established line (the Blue 54/Cermak)... it's just going to be more frequent than the Blue line to those stops.
I suppose, as stupid as I think naming a train "Pink" is... I honestly can't come up with a better color. Keeping in mind that Yellow, Purple, Red, Blue, Green, Brown, and Orange are already taken, honestly what's left? I mean, also factoring in the Political Correctness inability to name a line White or Black... and the fact that you want the color to be a one- or two-syllable word which is easy to say and is a color distinct enough that when visitors from other countries visit Chicago they can easily distinguish between the lines... what's left? Chelsey came up with one: The Silver line. The trains are already Silver, she said... why not name the line Silver? I honestly don't know why not... Silver is better than any other color I can think of. Pink is actually a little to derivative (of the Red line) to be better than Silver. But if we are doing derivative colors, wouldn't one that's more like Blue be better for a line that's replacing Blue line service?
In addition to the Pink line service, the CTA also did some minor tweaking over the weekend. All of the system maps have been replaced (to include Pink line service), and the train voice-overs have been modified. Now the train polietly asks people to be courtious when talking on a cell phone or listening to music playing devices. Now the train warns that soliciting and GAMBLING are prohibitited on CTA trains. And, the worst change of all, what used to be my favorite stop "This is Chicago"... is now "This is Chicago and Franklin." Not as cool... and there goes my one idea for a movie!

PERSONAL Goin’ to California
As you can see, I’m back from my first visit to Los Angeles. Friday was a very long day. We finished our Skybox show Thursday night at around midnight, and then I headed back to the apartment and packed (who does things last minute? This guy). It was probably around 1:30 by the time I was done packing and ready for bed. That’s normally not so terribly late for me, except that I had to be awake at 4 for my 6:30 flight. I probably got less sleep than it seems, as I’m always anxious the night before a big trip. So I was going on very little sleep… and I think everyone else in the cast was on the same boat. When I got to Midway in the morning, my director—Angie—was pretty much asleep, and her husband was bleary-eyed and keeping track of their luggage.

I should take the time to note something special about this trip here. I have flown a few times, but I’ve never NOT checked baggage on a flight. This flight was short enough that I took a couple carry-ons with me and that was all I needed. That was awesome! Combined with the fact that I could print my boarding pass up to 24 hours before the flight, I was able to go from entrance to gate in about half-an-hour on the flight to LA (and, seriously, about five minutes on the trip to Chicago. LAX is so big, and Monday night such a non-busy time, that I made it through the security check-points without waiting in line). If I can swing it, I’ll never check another bag again.

The flight there actually seemed short because I was able to sleep on the plane. That’s amazing for me, as I can’t sleep on planes, in cars, or in war-zones. I took about half-a-dozen short naps… in between pulling on the guy’s chair in front of me (I’m an asshole) and accidentally kicking the guy behind me. That makes me awesome.

When we landed at LAX, we looked around to find other cast members. We were the first to land, so we had to kill some time (in the food court) and then try to convene with the other cast. The other cast members landed in a different terminal (a foreign concept to me… terminals?! Why doesn’t everyone land in the same building?). When Gillian called me to tell me where they were, she said that they were in the Tom Brady building. This made me confused and angry. “Tom Brady? Why would Tom Brady get a building?” Now Jim will tell you that it’s because he’s got fifteen-hundred Super Bowl rings. But even all those rings can’t justify your own building in an airport of a city in which you never played. So Angie, Tom, and I walked around asking where the Tom Brady building is located… and we had three people tell us before someone said “You mean the Tom Bradley building?” Ah yes… Tom Bradley!

After feeling like a moron for half-an-hour, we finally met up with everyone and rented a car. Gillian decided to spend the extra cash and get a convertible… so there we were, in Southern California, in a convertible. I don’t want to say that I felt like a choch… but I did.

We then headed to Jill’s parent’s house in Pasadena and I got a tour from Jill and her mom (including the big doughnut-shaped doughnut shop, the Staples Center, and the Rose Bowl). The afternoon was spent lying all around a room (on the floor, on a bed, on the ceiling) as a cast talking about life and love and everything in between. Jill had a vision of everyone turning into a big sorority at her house, and we kind of did. It was nice to talk to the cast as people, and get to know them a little.

The reason I was in LA... The LA Improv Comedy Festival

And before we knew it, it was time to head to Hollywood and do a show. Yeah, if you thought I sounded like a choch before; “I had to go to Hollywood to do a show.” Poor me, right? Right? Shut up!
Anyway, the review we had was of a show called “One Way Ticket to Hell” which is a theatre show based on a 50s marijuana propaganda film. Basically the premise seemed to be “If you smoke marijuana, your life will be ruined.” This is where our show started. Oh, did I mention it was a musical? Yeah… it’s a musical. And so was ours. Oh, did I mention I played the lead? Yeah… I was the lead. The cast decided to name me “John” just in case people forgot who the hell I was supposed to be.
So the show was a 50s propaganda musical whose premise was that smoking “reefer” leads to everything going wrong in one’s life. I think, perhaps, I took things a little too literally: My character smoked, drank, listened to jazz music, then stole from the church, and eventually lost his unborn child because his wife took in second-hand marijuana smoke.

If the point of the show was just to put on a really good improvised play, I think we kicked ass. Unfortunately, I think everyone had the expectation that we would be putting on a “funny” show… and I don’t think we accomplished that. Such is my problem; when I should be proud of myself for improvising a moving, interesting, musical… I’m upset with myself for it not being funny enough. *sigh*

After the unfunny comedy improv show, the cast and I went around to the front of IO West--the front is a bar which leads to their mainstage. That, my friends, is where I saw Weird Al. You know, the guy who sings the funny songs? Yeah, him. I would have gone up to him and talked to him, but he looked like he didn’t want to be there and I pussed out. If I play my cards right, this won’t be the only chance I get to meet him. If I don’t, it’s not going to be a big deal whether or not I said “Hey” to Weird Al Yankovic. But most of the night was uneventful… and we, as a tired, exhausted, redundant group, headed back to Jill’s to sleep.

Saturday morning, the cast and I went to a local golf course, you know, for breakfast at the clubhouse. Nothing says luxury like clubhouse breakfasts (even though this breakfast was fairly reasonably priced). Additionally, they put avocado in everything out in California. And I mean everything. Gross.
After breakfast, Susan and Adam picked me up. That’s when I met Cubby. Cubby is the adorably precious dog of Adam and Susan. He sniffed me and decided he should be doing something else. I’m not very interesting. Not even to cute dogs.

Here Cubby moonlights as a super-hero. His super power? Being precious.

Adam drove me through LA from Pasadena… making sure to point out anything scenically interesting along the way. We got to their apartment just in time to get lunch at a little place I like to call “Yuca’s.” Now Yuca’s, for those of you who don’t know, is a burrito stand which is basically the size of my first apartment’s bathroom, and is located in a parking lot. I didn’t paint a favorable picture, but that’s to let you experience the pure shock and juxtaposition at the amazing flavor explosion that is Yuca’s. It was yum yum good. And it was the type of flavor (pun intended) that I wanted to experience in LA: get a real sense of what the city is like if broken into smaller neighborhoods.

Saturday evening I met Adam and Susan’s friends, and we met up with Dave… and old friend from Albion who has floated in and out of this hero’s life. We went to a nice outdoor restaurant—had our dinner—then rented some movies. I find it odd that we were six college graduates and we rented two cartoons. After watching cartoons and drinking mudslides (made with vanilla ice cream instead of ice… so good!), most of us were asleep. Those that were awake stayed awake until 3 AM watching the Jackass movie.

Sunday was fun, too. We went as a group to an LA street festival. That’s where I learned the importance of curb-seating. After the festival, we reconvened at the apartment to meet up with Miss Colleen. She had been in Chicago, and missed me terribly. Only half of that sentence is true. While Colleen and I caught up, Susan and Adam made a delicious home-cooked meal. We ate and then I forced everyone to sit through my Second City DVDs. They all seemed to like my Conservatory show the best.

Sunday night, Adam and I went out to the Viper Room to see a band of a friend of his. I was instantly brought back to my days of Outer Core. The room was small (although you wouldn’t know from the $10 drinks at the bar), and everyone was standing around listening to the music—kind of bobbing their heads. The band we went to see was actually pretty good. They sounded like a combination of Nirvana and someone else good… it sounded pretty. And we bonded over the loud, interesting, and over-air conditioned experience.

Monday was interesting, too. Adam and Susan both had to go to work early… and I was left to fend for myself and eventually walk the dog. I’ve never walked a dog by myself before, so I was really excited to be able to have that responsibility. Cubby and I successfully got to the corner, turned the corner, and then he pretty much stopped. There was a mini-Doberman that was with a group of men doing construction and Cubby wanted to smell it, or bite at it, or look at it, or whatever and he stopped walking. After about five minutes I picked him up and walked him away. When I put him back on the ground, he turned around and didn’t move. After a couple minutes of that, I picked him up and moved him further away; set him down; the same thing happened. So we walked back towards the other dog… and that was the walk. We then headed back to the apartment (for some reason he walked through the sprinklers instead of around them… Cubby hates being wet!), and we got back just in time to see Adam who had come home from work to drive me to the airport.
But I wouldn’t get that ride for free (Gross, come on!). We had to do a few things for his work, so I was off to the Beverly Hills City Hall/Police Department/Library building. Nothing says decadence quite like marble in the elevator (not on the floor, on the walls)… and that’s what this city building has. Adam and I waited in two different lines and finally got six “Valet/No Parking” signs. We then went around Beverly Hills (I’m not kidding you) and put these signs over parking meters in such glorious locations such as Rodeo Drive (again, not kidding). After doing a little work, we were off to In and Out Burger (“They have pretty good burgers,” “Shut the phuk up, Donny!”) and then LAX.

This is as close as I got to the Chinese Theatre. This picture was taken from a speeding car and in between two trucks parked in front of the theatre. Not bad... considering.

That was my weekend in LA. When people have asked me how it went, I really don’t know what to tell them. The weekend seemed to go so fast; and, even though I saw a lot of LA landmarks, I don’t think I got a full enough flavor of what the city is really like. I suppose I’ll have to go back.

PERSONAL 24 Little Hours
What a difference a day makes. Wednesday was such a hard day for me: a day where nothing seemed to be going right. Then Thursday came. And Thursday was a nice change in perspective: I was able to finish a fifteen minute workout in the morning; I ate good, healthy meals all day; and, most importantly, I have a lead on a job. I would be working from home (bonus!) and I would basically be categorizing mathematics problems into what the problem actually tests the students--for middle school-aged students. I would be using about a hundred standards for learning mathematics and seeing which apply to the math problems I was given. Did I mention I could work from home? I just recently realized how huge that is for me. I would prefer not to have to work with other people because they drain my energy (and that's less energy I have for the actual work). My mom would say that it's a shame I don't work with people because I have a way with people. A certain charm, a certain charisma... that makes irresistible. But my mom's not here, is she?! Ahh ha ha haaaa!!!
I also had another BR show Thursday night. The review was about an absurdist dark comedy... and I think we played the genre fairly well, even though I'm not a fan of absurdist work. I am just learning that it's difficult to keep each scene consistently funny with our form. We're so busy pushing the plot that we sometimes forget to make people laugh. This is why I like playing the swing (or various) characters. If I'm playing various characters, my goal on stage is to further plot and to get the laughs. Sometimes the director calls this "bits"--if you're not furthering the plot and just trying to get laughs then you're doing "bits." She sees this as a bad thing... but I don't necessarily agree. If you don't have any "bits"... if the show becomes plot, plot, and more plot... then it's not as interesting to the audience as it could be (if you threw in a joke... say anything about blonde neuro-surgeons or the Miami Dolphins). As such, last night I was a swing (various) character and my goal on stage was to give the audience a laugh when the plot got a little heavy. "We're going to do this and this and this," someone would say; and I would respond with "Jokey joke joke." Maybe I exaggerated a little just there, that's not how it happened. That's not what they would say, they would say something that made sense in context... but that is actually a quote of what I said. At the very least, the show went better than the sock puppet Shakespeare. And isn't that all for which we can ask (besides excellent grammar)?

PERSONAL John and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Have you ever had one of those days where it seems like nothing is going right? Nothing is going your way at all and you just want to go to sleep and start over in the morning? Such was my day Wednesday. I started the day with a cardio workout (or, at least, most of one). My new cardio DVD has two settings: Ease me into it; and Challenge. I, being me, figured I could do the challenge without any prior workouts. I was, apparently, not up to the challenge... as I had to stop about 6 minutes into the 15 minute workout.
Then there was only breakfast cereal in my breakfast cereal box.
I tried to get my oil changed today, but the Midas was so busy that I was unable to even park in their lot to tell them I needed an oil change. And, since the nearest Midas is 400 miles of construction away, I was forced to sit in traffic on my way back to the apartment.
I tried to change my blog and only recently (about ten minutes ago) was I able to get the actual published page to look like the preview page. Frustration!
Today was also continuing my annual "melancholy" phase. I can't seem to motivate myself to do anything, as the weight of the world seems too great for me to even attempt to push against. You ever have those days? Where it's tough to motivate yourself against all you would have to do? And everything you could do is simply your attempt to move one step forward in your life? Such is my current state. I'm stuck in that place where, if only I could find a job I enjoyed, everything else would happily fall into place (hopefully). But it's not happening... and I'm hurting myself from all the butt kicking I'm doing to try to motivate myself. I'm just not motivated. And I don't know why. But I got back into writing. That's a start.

PERSONAL I'm Back!
That's right kiddies, your ol' pal John is back and with a brand new look. I've been wanting to change the format of this blog for a while and just haven't spent much time on it lately. But here it is, in all it's shiny new glory. What do you think of the title? Pretty sweet, huh? The old title didn't seem to fit me anymore--I'm less crazy now and more of a depressed drunk (i.e. Irish). Let me know what you think of the changes in the new comments section (goodbye to the old comments and hello to the easier, Blogger sponsored comment section)! Also notice the new Google Ads section that will hopefully have something to do with the subjects about which I post. If they don't, click on them anyway to give me money. Actually, click on them, close that window, then come back to my page and click on them again... that should get me money.
I have things to update about my trip with Miss Chelsey to Las Vegas and my trip to Los Angeles to the LA Improv Festival... but first thing's first, here's my new page and new format. Enjoy!

PERSONAL On The Road Again...
Hey kids... it's your ol' pal Crazy here in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada. Chelse and I are half-way through our vacation and have been spending some quality time with Mr and Mrs Staff Sergeant USA. Their house on base is very nice... and their hospitality has been even nicer--we've seen the strip; hiked the Red Rock Canyon; cooked our own pizzas; and been introduced to some fun board and card games. I'm particularly a fan of Sequence... which is basically connect four with cards and a partner.

This leg of the trip, however, has been particularly hard on me. I've been to Las Vegas three times before and never have I felt as bad about my self image as I have on this trip. The fact that I was in a rut before I got out here could be a contributing factor... but, regardless, it has been particularly hard on me to see the thin, tall, tanned, muscular men who walk around Vegas with that same smug, shit-eating grin that seems to be shared by all these college frat boys. It's not like I want to be like them... I just want to look a lot more like they do. I wonder if I would have to give up my fantastic wit and charm and modesty as well--if I'd have to succumb to being a vapid, beer-drinking yuppie. I would certainly have to change my life-style. I've been thinking a lot about that lately. Ken used to be someone--one of the few people--I could talk about video games with... but now he's into being married and cooking and owning a house. You know, adult stuff. Part of me thinks that I'm too old for the time and energy I put into the ol' XBox--I'm once again the kid who didn't recognize he was too old for trick-or-treating until he was standing on neighbors' porches in his Batman costume, watching younger kids half his age walking up and down the neighborhood, and finally he turns to his father and asks him "Can we just go home now?" It's probably time for me to move on to the next stage in my life... to grow up and settle down; to choose the right path or be left behind.

I've been talking a lot to Chelsey about my want of the NextGen consoles coming out this year, and her response mostly seems to be something to the effect of "When you get your job, you can do whatever you want to with your money." But I know that's not entirely true. When I get a job I'll be doing my share of the bills... we'll get a bigger apartment with bigger bills; and she'll want me to put something into savings or set up some kind of investment. It's almost as if this vacation (and the subsequent job search) marks the end of my extended childhood. And I know me, it won't be a gradual change... I'll decide that I'm done and I'll be done. I will effectively kill that part of myself and start over. Maybe that's what I need, though. Maybe I need to start from the beginning, create a healthier existence for myself. I don't know. But I do know that it's late in my best friend, the WAR VETERAN's, HOUSE and I should get to bed because I wouldn't want to wake up his WIFE. It sure feels like everyone is growing up but me... and does that make me the boy who never grew up?

PERSONAL/VIDEO GAMES My Thoughts On E3
E3 is over. After watching hours of seemingly repetitive E3 coverage ("Let's go to Adam and Morgan" who then say "Let's go to the floor" and that person says "Let's kick it back to Olivia and Kevin" who banter for two minutes about nothing and then say "Let's kick it over to Adam and Morgan" and so on), here are my thoughts on the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006--lovingly referred to as E306.

My big winner: Nintendo.
Nintendo's Wii: Stupid name, great system
Even though Wii is the dumbest name in the universe, I'm beyond excited (did I just pass excited? Oh no, turn around!) to get the motion-sensitive Wii-mote into my hands. From the games that use the controller to emulate sporting equipment (tennis racquets and baseball bats) to the shooters that use the controller like a light gun (or Red Steel, which uses the Wii-mote as an actual sword--Can a Star Wars Lightsaber game be far off? Nerdgasm times three billion), the Nintendo Wii looks like the next generation of interactivity. Yes, the graphics pretty much suck compared to the 360 or PS3, but game makers might be learning a valuable lesson soon--we just want to play FUN games... we don't care how pretty they look. Additionally, even though Nintendo didn't give us a launch date or price, they've promised that the Wii will be least expensive NextGen console. If you thought all that was good, don't forget that you'll be able to download every fun game that Nintendo has ever made (for the NES, SNES, and N64, that is) onto your Wii! They also promise toGenesisome Sega Genisis titles! Fun!

Furthermore, Nintendo seems to have such a firm grasp on the handheld market that I'm seriously considering purchasing a Nintendo DS. From everything I've heard, they've taken the stylus capabilities and added to the gameplay experience that way. Also, they've released some of my favorite old-school games on the DS like Super Mario Bros (and the "New" Super Mario Bros... which is supposed to be a new game just like the really old one) and Excitebike. Oh, hours of my childhood was spent playing Excitebike... building my own courses and jumping hills.

Nintendo DS owns the hand-held market... and your souls

My big loser: Sony.
Sony announced the launch price of the PS3: low-end $500, high-end $600... before taxes and accessories. Yes the PS3 looks great, but you've had over a year since the 360 was launched and the PS3 doesn't look good enough to replace it. Moreover, the PS3 will play Blu-Ray DVDs (the powerful and expensive as-yet-not-released disks) whereas XBox 360 will sell an HD DVD attachment (everyone knows what High Definition is all about... pluse, they're less expensive). Blu-Ray DVDs will probably hold around twice the information as an HD DVD (25GB to 15GB for single-layer or 50GB to 30GB for, what I assume to be, a double-layer), but who needs the extra 10 or 20 Gigs if I have to pay twice as much money every time I buy a movie? (I found an incredibly interesting article on Blu-Ray vs HD DVD at Macworld here. The Porn industry may be who decides which format lives on. Weird, huh?)
I'm sorry Sony, I just don't have the money to play games or watch movies on your system when I could get both the XBox 360 and the Nintendo Wii for roughly the same price. I need PS3 to Wow me at E3 2007 before I get serious about saving up that kind of dough.

VIDEO GAMES Prepare For A Nerdgasm… Here Comes E3
Sony's PS3 Peaks Interest in NextGen Consoles at E3 2006
If my life had a magic rainbow, the Electronic Entertainment Expo would be at the end of that rainbow. Every year, Los Angeles is host to, basically, a very large, week-long, video game expo. All the big hardware companies are there with large booths where Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo will strut their console and hand-held stuff. All the major software companies are there, too: Rockstar, Electronic Arts, LucasArts, Sega, Bungie, Valve, Ubi Soft, Activision (I could keep going… but I think I’ll stop there)... showing their new games for multiple platforms.

Basically, one who enters the expo gets to walk around and view new game cinematics, play any playable demos, and see what the next year’s gaming technology will be before everyone else (everyone who isn’t at the expo, that is).

But this year… this very year, my pretty friends, G4 will be broadcasting shows LIVE from E3. They will have three hours a day dedicated just to what’s going on inside E3. I’m hoping that my favorite G4 show, X-Play, somehow shows previews or even reviews the booths! Oh, I can’t wait!!!

What I want to see at E3? Sony’s Playstation 3, Nintento’s NextGen Wii (formerly the Revolution), anything they can tell me about Halo 3 (sure to be a 360 only release… as Microsoft realizes that the PS3 is destroying it in sales [because it will], they’ll pull some “You can only get these games on the 360!” bullshit and they’ll toss lots of money to game developers to develop just for the 360. Just you wait.), and Prices! Prices! Prices! How much are the PS3’s going to be? Are they going to be $700, like I hear they might be? And, as such, how will I afford to purchase a PS3, an Xbox 360, and an HD TV good enough to handle all the incredible graphics? I want E3 to explain to me how I’m going to handle the cost… explain yourselves Electronic Entertainment Expo! I can’t wait. And E3 starts tonight, May 9, on G4. Check your local listings for time and channel *commercial*

Nintendo's Wii Controller... Looks like a Remote Control, tastes like a candy bar

PERSONAL LA Bound
Last night I had my first rehearsal with my new, completely improvised show. The hot topic at rehearsal is the fact that our show has been asked to perform at IO West on June Ninth in some kind of improv festival. Where is IO West, you ask? Well, the smart kids who get gold stars today have already put the title together with what I’m talking about. For those who aren’t getting stars today, here it is: I’m headed to LA! For one night only (unless I get a hold of Adam and Susan and make it two or three nights), I’ll be in Los Angeles for the first time in my life. I’m so excited!
And you want to know the best part? The reason we're going out there is the best part. We were asked to be part of the 4th Annual LA Improv Festival! For realsies... check out their website here. It's famous people from SNL, MadTV, Upright Citizen Brigade... and us! How psyched am I? (Hint: Very)
But that excitement is quelled by the fact that I’m still learning this particular long-form improvisation… form (rehearsal did not go particularly well). I’ve only got a handful of rehearsals to figure it out… but if I keep myself under the same amount of pressure I’ve currently got myself, I should be able to learn the whole process soon enough. I’m still learning *pushes up glasses*.

VIDEO GAMES Kingdom Hearts 2 Song... Like A Siren In The Ocean Of Gaming
I do not have a Playstation 2. My lack of a PS2 upsets me whenever I think about three games: Guitar Hero; God of War; and the Kingdom Hearts series. Kingdom Hearts is an action RPG that combines Japanese Anime with classic Disney characters. I know that sounds like an interesting and potentially terrible marriage, but from everything I’ve heard, the first Kingdom Hearts game was amazing and fun and combined the two genres incredibly. Now there’s a new Kingdom Hearts game out, which has new Disney characters (Captain Jack Sparrow anyone?) and has a haunting commercial song. Every time I hear the song, I stop whatever I’m doing and watch the commercial. The commercial is almost all cut-scenes (but they’re beautiful) so I can only guess what the actual gameplay is like… but I anxiously await the launch of the PS3 because the price of PS2s will drop and I can finally be a Guitar Hero. And maybe I’ll take some time out from my guitar to help Mickey with a sword in the shape of a key.

MUSIC Faktion Album Online
I get a lot of friend requests from bands on MySpace. A lot equals about four per day. Most of the time I don’t even open the page and look at the band’s site… I just leave them on my friend request page to rot. One of the bands that I did look at and add was Faktion. They have been all over MySpace… adding billions of friends and putting trillions of things on their page. However, one of the cool things they’ve done is to upload their entire new album so that fans (or potential fans) can listen before they buy. I listened to almost the whole album… and I think they have a chance to be the next big thing. Or they just have a chance to have me buy one of their albums.

PERSONAL 11-Month Anniversary--Breakfast And A Gratuitously Violent Movie
Near the end of April, Chelsey and I celebrated our 11-month anniversary. That weekend Sarah and Eli were in Chicago, so we headed to Navy Pier to meet them for a fun-filled romp. Err… no romp atall. Whatever. Anyway, we met Eli and Sarah at Charlie’s Ale House—which is quickly becoming one of my favorite bars/restaurant in Chicago. Chelse and I ate with Ken and Abi there and anything I’ve tried there is good. That’s Charlie’s... and they’re paying me to tell you how great they are (not really… no one pays me).
After eating, we walked around Navy Pier and I finally took Chelsey on the Ferris wheel.

She’s wanted to ride the Ferris wheel since BEFORE she moved here, but for some reason we never made it up there. That reason could be my great discomfort with heights. I don’t want to say “fear”… because it’s more of an anxiety than a fear, but let’s just say I don’t feel comfortable with the thought that falling from wherever I am will kill me. Regardless, we all enjoyed our 7 minutes of Heaven (the ride was 7 minutes).

After the ride, we went to Hagen Das to celebrate the fact that I’m still alive. Chelsey and I split some Rocky Road thing… it looked like this.
It was as good as it looked. After ice cream, when everyone was happy and full I decided to ruin it by taking everyone to see Silent Hill. I wish I was kidding. Silent Hill is probably one of the best video game to movie movies I’ve seen in a while. However, if given a choice to see it with Chelsey after knowing what’s actually in the movie… there’s no way I’d go to see it again. Without getting too much into it, there are some gratuitous torture scenes in the movie and that really disturbs her.
It was far too late at night, after the movie was done, to make amends. I needed to do something, however, and so in the morning I decided to have a great large breakfast for us. Chelsey wanted it to be something that we did together, so I drove her to the grocery store, she picked up some food and we came back to the apartment to make it. A million eggs, thirty-three pounds of bacon, and four cinnamon rolls later and look at what we did!
It was the best breakfast I’ve had since I left college (you know, three years). Chelsey and I had a very relaxing and wonderful anniversary, and I look forward to the year anniversary in May (we’ll be on vacation… I hope to blog from the road).

PERSONAL My New Show
Every once in a while I’m fortunate enough to be privy to a new comedy show before other people are. This usually means that I don’t have to audition for the new show. That makes me insanely happy, as auditioning for stuff is my least favorite part of the “business.” So imagine how excited I was when I heard from my friend Gillian, who emailed me and asked me if I wanted to be a show she’s in. The show, Bad Review, has been performing for weeks now but they’re looking to add another member for a run in the Skybox. I was asked to be that other member… I mean person. I was asked to go see the show (which I did a couple of weeks ago), and I’m currently awaiting my first rehearsal with them.
What’s the show about? The show takes the worst theatre review from the past week and improvises an entire new play that the reader would have liked. You heard me right, it’s an entire improvised play. This is something I’ve been waiting to do for months, nay years! (No… really months) I don’t know if I’m ready for a fully improvised show… but I will continue to not know until I do it. And that’s why I’ve got to do this show—I’ve got to see if I can do this. Look for me in the skybox with this show in mid-June.

PERSONAL I'm Breathing Right!
A couple of weeks ago, Chelsey woke me up because I was sleeping funny. You see I have sleep apnea, which, if you follow the link, is a sleeping/breathing condition wherein the person momentarily stops breathing during sleep… and then that person has to “catch up.” As such, Chelsey caught me in one of my “non-breathing” moments and was scared for me. I didn’t like the thought that I was making Chelsey worried, so I thought I would try to figure something out that could help. My first solution was to try Breathe Right strips. The first night I tried it, I was instantly amazed at how easily I could breathe in through my nose. It felt like my nasal passages were opened as wide as I think they are when I point at them. Unfortunately, since one has to apply these strips to oneself, I think there were a couple of days in the past week or two when I didn’t apply them correctly. But last night I know I did it right again because the air is coming so easily! I’m a big commercial today! (The funniest part of the box is that it says "Drug Free"... like I'm really concerned about all the drugs used in a product which is an adhesive strip with two plastic bands on it. Thanks for easing my concerns)