Vegas, Baby!

The picture says it all.

Well, it was a whirlwind weekend, beginning with a check-in with Olivia, and ending in a smooth 6-hour car ride. Scott and I departed Minny on Wednesday-at 5pm. Brilliant. The first hour on the road was spent in stop-and-go Minneapolis/St. Paul Rush-hour traffic. Awesome. Despite a smoking engine and a couple of white-out snow flurries, we made it down to Chi-town before midnight. Already, we were gambling and winning. That night, we got into a little Halo with Noah and Jason, and sacked out.

Thursday: I was able to make a quick trip to the Lakeview YMCA in Chicago. Last chance for some cardio before the desert! I ran into my old roomie Laurel schroeder at the gym! She was in the middle of a 3-hour run . . . trying to make us all look bad. After some sweat time and phone time, I borrowed scott's car and headed downtown to pop in on the lymans. Aunt Jo was in town (Uncle Ken was too, but he was stuck in Northbrook for the night), and the 5 of us had a nice dinner-resplendant with some homebrew!

I'm happy to report that Olivia is fattening up, and should be ready to cook by my birthday. Mmmm. . .

That night, I headed back up to Noah and Jason's place for a Chicago-based gathering surrounding Scott's birthday. It was a nice time . . . laid-back, casual, and slightly influenced by more homebrew.

Friday: Got a lift to O'hare in Noah Besser's Rumble Bus . . . it's a gigantic van (remember the daycare van?) that he uses for his work. Nice of that cat to give us a lift. The security line at O'hare was the most ridiculous one I've been through . . . and this is like, my 9th or 10th airport of the year. It was run amok . . . but somehow we made it through without any serious problems. Appearantly, we were one of the last flights allowed to leave the airport before they started cancelling/delaying planes. There was a pretty light-but-consistant snow falling, and we were lucky to escape on-time. In usual style, I managed to sleep most of the flight.

Vegas. The land of misspent dimes and ambitions. I could feel the vaccuum on my wallet as soon as our plane touched down. I started off big-$8 on a penny machine, $16 on video poker, $45 on blackjack. As we gambled away our first afternoon, other members of the "vegas away" team trickled in. By dinner, we were nearly all met, and we found our way to some great italian place that Scott was keen on . . . healthy portions and all the wine you could drink. And so we did.

The rest of the weekend was more of the same. Wandering, losing some money here, some there. Checking out the prosthetic sights and nonstop sounds of Vegas. It was great to see everybody . . . good friends in that group, but I kept remembering my last trip to Vegas with Elly.

Remeber that sis?

On the whole, it was a blast of a weekend. Nobody lost too much, but I don't think anyone left "up" either. Three days, two nights, plenty of poolside action in warm weather. It was great.

I've got more to post, but I've got to run right now. Hope you all are great! E-That website looks great so far, looking forward to the changes! Dad-you've got a birthday coming up! If only Grizz could perform for you . . . And Ma, hope you keep getting that ice to yourself!

peace

Quick Update

Hey Famn Damily!!!! heeheeeeee.

I'll post more later, but for now, here's what consumed my weekend: Stephanie Williams' Website. Our wedding photographer. Tell me what you think. :)

TGIF

Hi everybody, geez I feel like I'm reaching out to majorly busy lives. And mine too, you know....I have a nice hot shower waiting in the wings. Then work.

Had a spot of trouble getting on here. Still not positive what I did, or if I'll be able to repeat the process to get back on, but Elly wrote good instructions so I just need to keep practising.

I've been a jury-trial widow all this week with Dad in Pagosa trying a very complicated gravel pit rights case. Give us a good ol'fashioned murder any day.

I had the freshly zambonied ice rink to myself yesterday the entire 90 minutes. Accompanied by ma's rockboxx, of course. I had sharpened the blades also. Did I tell you that I was advised upon leaving the ice rink at CU, after skating, that speed skates&skaters are NOT ALLOWED on that rink!!!So I may have to ignore that (bleep-bleep) rule in the future. I'll wear the invisibility cloak.

Durango Film Festival in town this week. We never paid much attention to this event in past years'. (This may be only 4th year.) Scheduling a bit hard to follow,but some look interesting.

Snow is sketchy in town, but ski areas are great. $25 lift tix @Purg on Sunday for local appreciation. Usually that means it'll be packed. I prefer Wolf Creek w/no lift lines....I am SUCH a snob!!!After my 2-whole times skiing this year! Brother...

Okay, whoops! Outta time. I sure do enjoy this space w/you guys. MuchoLovo mammo

Big dumb-head

Hello everyone, posting sooner than I anticipated. Funny story, that. (NOT)

Well, things are going fine here, nothing much to report. As I commented to Cody's last post, I've been hitting the gym 2-3 times per week and I can definitely tell a difference. I have a paper due in Political Parties and Pressure Groups tomorrow, but I emailed my teacher to get an extention so that I can prepare for the tests I have to take this week. >_< She was really cool about it, and is letting me turn it in next week.

Other news...Mom and Dad know this story: on Monday I got an e-mail from CU Denver saying that they got my application, minus my portfolio. I was freaking out, because they said that they'd received everything else, including the stuff I mailed in the same envelope as my portfolio. This story has a happy ending, though...I called them after my physical therapy appointment (after a good hour, hour and a half of panicking) and told them the situation. The lady said that she maybe hadn't checked the mail yet, and did that right there while I was on the phone. Sure enough, she hadn't, and it was right there, so yay. Turns out that the things I sent in the same envelope (my application fee and the Statement of Purpose) were a confusion: you know how I had to write two essays which were essentially the same? Well, turns out that the one on the application counts as the statement of purpose; I didn't have to do the other one. She must just have assumed that she'd received my app fee. I shouldn't have paid them. >_<

I heard from John (Boo's son) about her website. He's not incredibly coherent and I wish I could talk to her about it, but we've got the show on the road for her website.

So, my not-so-funny story: Yesterday, when I got home from school, I took a nap that was supposed to be a half hour to an hour, but lasted about 3-4 hours instead. Whoops. Then, last night, after my shot, I started getting a headache. So, I took 1 IBuprofin and 1 Tylenol PM to help me sleep. I woke up this morning feeling like a zombie again, and managed to walk out the door without my backpack, and didn't realize I didn't have it until I was in the parking lot. I went back to get it and was zooming towards the bus stop. I saw the bus coming, so I started running (I can do that now, yay!!). The bus pulled up and I didn't see anyone at the stop, and the doors were closed, but the bus stopped so I thought they saw me. I kept running and was about 20 feet from the bus when it pulled away. >_< CURSES!!! So I'm taking the 9:25 bus and will probably be about 5 minutes late to my class. What a bummer.

Anyway, love to everyone! <3

Decisions, Decisions. . .

Well, I had planned to post some more photos in this blog, but iphoto is "rebuilding" it's "thumbnail cache". You all know how long that takes (and what an pain in the seat it is)!!! I don't get my computer sometimes, but I'm pretty sure it's smarter than I am-especially about what it wants or needs. Our human/computer thearapy sessions have helped me realize that.

So.

I got in at the Strawhat auditions. I'm both excited and a bit nervous about them. I booked my ticket yesterday, and I'll be in NYC from March 21-26th, with my audition on the 23rd (my long-time favorite number . . . perchance that's a good sign?) There are supposed to be between 60 and 80 theater companies represented, looking to cast their summer seasons. I've been doing my reasearch on the companies that are commited so far, and I'd say about 90% of them have summer seasons full of musicals. Even with these outrageous odds, I plan on presenting 2 contrasting monologues, rather than a song and a monologue that I'm sure most of the auditioners will be presenting. I get 90 seconds to audition, and I feel that 16 bars of a showtune would do nothing to show off my style. I'll most likely be doing a Shakespearean monologue, and something a bit racey from Eric Begosian. You know. I'm hoping that there will be some opportunities to sign on with a Shakespeare Summer Stock Company . . . that sounds like a great way to spend a summer.

The Diamond Circle Melodrama is one of the companies attending the audition. As it turns out, they have a parent company-the Great American Melodrama-located in California. I sent off a promo packet (letter of intrest and headshot/resume), letting them know that a hometown boy was auditioning friday at 2:35. I was supprised by their contracts . . . 200-400 per week. Much better than I had expected. That would be pretty cool. Working in Durango for the summer, that is. Artistically, I don't have many designs on Melodrama, but I probably wouldn't refuse that offer. In hindsight, I maybe shouldn't have mentioned that they'd be at the audition . . . we should be weary of getting any hopes up.

So, that's on the horizon.

Tomorrow, it's down to Chicago again, then off to Vegas on friday. Wish me luck. As you know, my plan is to win a lot of money early, then squander it away for the remainder of the weekend. I've set myself a limit . . . now if I can just stick to it! Noah-I was wondering if you had one, or if you would like me to try and snap a more recent pic of Skep's daugher for you? Let me know. (I hear that you're real busy, by the way, and I hope you're keeping it all together in Denver, my man!) Should be a fun weekend. Plus, I plan on popping in on Olivia again, see how she's doing. Scott and I are driving down, so I'll finally be able to bring some homebrew to a family member!

Speaking of Brewing, We just bottled a Steam Ale (Happy Pappy's Revenge), and a Rye Beer (Rye ask Rye). Coming up next, we've got a remake of a chile beer (Beerito Supreme), and a remake of a Ginger Ale (MaryAnn Ginger). Up next to be brewed is an experimental "Butterbeer" a la Harry Potter. To be honest with you, the grains have been sitting for too long, and I don't expect that beer to be especially palatable. Of course, I'll let you know.

So, upon returning from Vegas (no doubt with cash falling from overstuffed pockets), I've got 2 weeks before NYC. After that trip . . . who knows . . . could be 1-3 months before any contracts start, or perhaps none at all! The point is, I've got to start looking for a Civilian Job again. Rats. It's tough right now, because I don't know what I can commit to. And, what with it being the later part of Winter, there's not a huge amount of hiring going on right now. What's a boy to do? I'll figure something out.

I had more to add . . . looking toward the end of the summer/(summerstock?), and weighing the pros and cons of moving to either NY or LA, but I'm going to have to jump into those musings later . . . they're sort of amorphous in my head right now.

In the meantime, I'm still hitting the gym more often than not-Elly, how's it going? I'm starting to get a bit of muscular definition, and I've been doing plenty of cardio, but I haven't quite been dropping a pound a week. I think that I need to add a more structured diet into the mix. I feel like I've been eating pretty well, but there are occational lapses of gastronomical restraint.

I'm glad to hear that a photographer has been chosen. That should just about wrap up the list no? Let's see . . . Bride, Groom, Judge, Photographer . . . Yep! That's it! It's all down hill from here!

Hope everyone is doing well . . . getting through classes and jobs and such. I think of you all with every bon-bon I eat!

Love

While We're All Met . . .

Hello Fam.

So, you're all hanging out together, probably having a blast, skipping through dasies and drinking rainbow milkshakes. How wonderful. I'm just sitting here (sigh), all alone (sigh), on my futon (sigh), just sort of sighing. OK, I'm over it now. Hope you guys have a great weekend!

So, it's almost March. Damn, how time flies! I'm afraid that, soon, I'll be looking for a job. I'm chagrined by this prospect, but it's getting to that point. With no Caveman "until the fall", and unemployment that has run dry . . . no comercial auditions waiting in the wings, and no residual checks comming through, it might be time to get my customer service on! What a dismal proposition. I've applied to the 07 Stawhat Auditions-it's a combined audition attended by various summerstock theatre companies around the nation-but I haven't heard if I've recieved an audition or not yet. If I got a slot, I'll head out to NYC the weekend of Mar 22 and try to get a job for the summer. If I didn't get a slot, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

It's strange, but I've had the itch to move again. It's that 6-month itch that I've had recently. In looking at my future, I'm positive that I've got to finally move to one of the coasts . . . LA or NYC. I'm not sure which one yet though. I'll probably spend the next few months trying to iron that out. It's always been my hope that I would be cast in something that would help make the choice for me . . . like getting into a movie that shoots here initally, then moves to LA. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be happening. Ah, we'll see.

I'm sending in a demo CD for an audiobook company. They wanted 2 minutes of me reading a book. It doesn't matter if you're looking at a picture of yourself, or listening to your own voice on tape, it's a difficult thing. I recorded the demo on my computer, and for just a 2-minute spot, it took me forever to complete . . . I kept doing re-takes. Finally, I just decided that they were ultimately the ones who would be judging my voice anyway, so I just chose one of the takes, and I'm sending it off this afternoon. We'll see. More lines in the water . . .

Well, that's all for now. Hope you guys have some fun this weekend, I'll be thinking about you. If anyone hears of any great job opportunities, let a brother know. Love you guys!

too long coming, too short on arrival

Hi Guys- blogging from home while each of us sleeps in separate beds. Not unusual except for mom and I. Mom sleeps tonight at Ken and Jo's, after driving from Pagosa to Boulder and then meeting up with B & E and doing numerous things, nefarious and otherwise. I'm soon to sleep, to work in the morning and race to the airport to catch the 1 pm flight to Denver and have a get together in Denver with mom, Elly and Noah. Thereafter to a weekend beginning with a meeting of the Chief Judges (the Jedi Council) and then to Boulder for the weekend, driving home Sunday. The Bad Guy got convicted on all counts!! Hooray for the jury, 12 citizens of Archuleta County, to find the obvious truth about this guy, and confer to me the special privilege of sentencing him. I seldom draw pleasure from having to exercise the punitive functions of the criminal justice system (we have the worst criminal justice system in the world, except for all the other criminal justice systems) but it will be my privilege to remove him from society forever. On that vindictive note, but really because I'm pooped and need to sleep and get going on tomorrow, to which I'm looking forward to greatly, I'm going to sign off and sleep. One more thought- I nominate Cody, closely follwed by Elly and Mom, as the best bloggers so far, and it is up to the rest of us (you know who you are) to catch up. I love you all- dad