Life Update 1.5
Current mood: obsequious
Category: Life
Alright Cats and Kittens--
Well, we made it. The drive was long but rather uneventful. Carmen drove our pick-up with Dingo riding alongside, and I drove the U-haul.
We stayed overnight in Lumberton, North Carolina. Where? Yeah, I don't know. The people that live there don't know where it is. We had Italian food from the hotel restaurant. We were far from impressed.
The rest of the drive in went swimmingly...if by swimmingly you mean a massive traffic jam on I-95, getting lost in Virginia (thanks Yahoo Maps, you SUCK!), and arriving two hours late to our apartment.
The day got better...if by better you mean that the movers we hired completely missed their three hour arrival window and instead of arriving at 12 pm, arrived at 4 pm. Plus they had no dolly. What kind of movers don't have dollies? We borrow a luggage cart from the concierge and (with my help) we have the truck(s) unloaded in about an hour and 15 minutes. The Comcast guy was scheduled to arrive between 3 and 5. So when does he show up? 5:00. Right at the end of the load in. Before we even have the tv upstairs or the computer hooked up, here is the guy to do the connecting. We get the movers squared away, Dingo decides to verbally assualt the Jamaican Comcast guy, and so he gets taken for a walk. I hook up the computer, unbox the tv and the Comcast guy is bitching because our tv isn't digital ready. That's right. Our tv predates digital technology. Carmen with a glint in her eye (cast out the window at the Best Buy across the street) says I can go across the street and buy a flat-screen right now. Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, she honestly dared the cable guy to call her bluff. And when he did, she promptly went downstairs, crossed the street and bought a flat screen tv. Ladies and Gents, her balls amaze even me. After she leaves the cable guy goes, "Hey man, tell her she doesn't have to buy a new tv." To which I reply, "Are you kidding me? I'm getting a new flat-screen tv! This is awesome!"
The rest of the day is peaches. If by peaches you mean driving in circles around K St and 1st looking for a U-haul drop-off location. AFTER driving crosstown through DC traffic. In case you are unfamiliar with DC traffic: Imagine a New York cabbie navigating crazy traffic at breakneck speeds disobeying every ethical, legal, and common-sensical safety regulation. Okay, now imagine that EVERY DRIVER is that New York cabbie. That's what DC driving is like. Needless to say, every moment I am driving crosstown I am near shitting myself in fear. I finally find the U-Haul place after circling it literally 50 times. I fill it with gas, drop it off and head to Union Station to take the train back home. It's now 8:30 pm. I get dinner at the Potbelly sandwich shop downstairs from our apartment, and we eat dinner shortly after 9 pm. Bedtime comes early and easy.
We are now almost completely moved in and unpacked. We love our apartment, we love our apartment building/community, we love our neighborhood, and we love DC! (Except for the whole driving in DC part). We have a few more shopping trips to make for groceries and other household items, but otherwise we are settled in quite nicely. And Dingo likes it, too. Except the elevator, he does not like the elevator. Or sidewalk grates. Or black people. I hate to admit it, but I think my dog is racist. All is good. I'll post a further update with pics of our apartment and neighborhood soon.
Thanks for everybody's kind wishes! We love you all!
Life Update Part 1
Current mood: excited
Category: Life
Okay cats and kittens here is what has befallen our hero in recent exploits:
The Shakes season went beautifully. We had the biggest audience turnouts in five years. Our doubled (quadrupled?) performance schedule really paid off in viewership and in donations collected. This was by far our most successful season of Shakes in the Park to date. AND we only had one rainout! Out of six performances! For Shakes standards that's damn good! The cast and crew (mostly doubled between shows) were nothing short of amazing. The fact that they mustered through all of that hardwork without a paycheck is a testament to how important the idea of free Shakespeare performances is to this community.
I am in awe of our cast and crew. I doubt that I will ever meet their ilk again.
We (Carmen and I) had our Moving Sale, and we cleared $500 eventually taking all unsold items to Goodwill. A pretty good turnout for all involved. I know many people walked away with incredible bargains, a ton of good books, and some very well-priced furniture and appliance sales. Overall a great experience. We unloaded everything we didn't want and made $500 in the bargain. Kudos to us.
We are (at this point) almost 95% packed and truck ready. We pick up the truck tomorrow at Noon. We have friends coming over to help load the truck. We leave very, very early Wednesday morning. We'll stop after ten hours driving, somewhere in North Carolina, and stay the night. We'll finish our trip on Thursday, meeting movers around 1 pm, who will then unload our U-Haul truck for us. The cable/tv/internet workmen will also meet us on Thursday afternoon.
That means that from A.M. Tuesday until P.M. Thursday I will be incommunicado. Deliver your messages, but know that I won't reply until Thursday evening at the earliest.
We are super-excited and super nervous. But we're almost there.
BTW, we couldn't keep all three pets due to strict laws at our apartment building that we were unaware of until too late. We had to give up at least one animal. We knew that the cats, as long as they are together are self-sufficient. Dingo however, is still very needy. We decided that it would be least disturbing for all if we found a new home fo rthe kitties. Luckily we found a terriffic home for the kitties. My boss at Borders had just gotten a Kitty at the shelter about a week earlier, an dthe kitty was very lonesome. She needed friends. In come our two kitties. It will take some getting used to, but we have a very good home for our kitties. For all involved. Erin will be an awesome mommy to our kitties, and our kitties will be great company for her lonesome kitty. A true win-win. A hearty and deep-felt thanks to Erin for taking our babies.
P.S. Dingo is very happy that the kitties are gone. He sleeps better, eats better, and all around breathes easier knowing that he gets all the attention.
I am transferring to a Borders store in D.c., and Carmen along with her teaching job is also transferring to a Victoria's Secret for extra moolah. I (besides the Borders job) will be working in at least two to three part-time theatre jobs until I can get something more full-time and salaried. I will also be using my time to overhire as a carpenter or crew, and audition as an actor.
All is good, but we'll be offline for a couple of days. So I'll post Part 2 soon. I promise.
Love ya!
Chuck
Currently
listening
:
Momofuku
By
Elvis Costello & the Imposters
Release date: 2008-05-06
10 Things That Are Blowing My Mind
Current mood: chill
Category: Life
So...EW can do it, so can I. Here's a list of 10 things that are rocking my fraggin' socks right now.
10. Weezer--Red Album - Have you ever felt like there was a huge joke and you weren't in on it? Rivers Cuomo and his cronies have created an album that is just like that except that it's fun and the joke IS actually on you. How odd. Every song on the latest Weezer effort is a shrug of an off-hand joke about modern music and it's crazed zombie-like followers. Every single track of this disc is a sneering, self-aggrandizing jab about how much pop stars really truly rule the world, but each one is sung and played so earnestly that the unitiated might make the mistake of taking them seriously and judging this as a serious outing, and thereby rendering them as self-important and grandstanding. "I am the Greatest Man (that ever lived)" is by far the standout track. It flips between genres like I flip between channels on the weekend. And what would be filler on any other album, tracks like "These Are Our Heartsongs". come out as sly and even wistful jabs about the crap music we consume in our lives. The music is great, the lyrics sophomoric, and the vocals make us yearn for something more honest and heartfelt. I couldn't think of a better commentary on our current musical malaise.
9. The Incredible Hulk--I know this is late, but I'm poor. Edward Norton plus a trillion nods to the 80's tv series (like green contact lenses) make this a fun summer flick. It's no "Iron Man", but it outweighs other comic book fare by a ton.
8. The Audacity of Hope--Barack Obama - (On Audio) - This, Obama's first book, lays out both his basic and general beliefs about America and its political system. It is bold, honest, and because it is read by the man himself the book has a very inspiring and practical approach to understanding where our next president is coming from. If you are new to Obama, this is an excellent intoduction.
7. My new External Harddrive - Some might think that having room to store downloaded files is an unnecessary luxury. The fact is: having room to store the files you download without having to delete other files to make room is surprisingly refreshing.
6. Into The Wild (Soundtrack)--Eddie Vedder - This is a soundtrack that deepens and widens as you listen to it. I heard it first without having seen the movie and was unimpressed. I saw the movie and the soundtrack became nearly flawless. A rare case of music and movie so completely complimenting each other that they make each other better than they would be alone. This is Vedder's best and most focused work since the seminal brilliance of Pearl Jam's Ten.
5. Blame it on Gravity--Old 97's - This is classic Old 97's. Ripping guitars, plodding bass, and eclectic rhythms. This is the quartet's best outing since Fight Songs back in the 90's. It's nice to hear them back in form and to also get a clear difference between front man Rhett Miller's solo work from recent years and what makes Old 97's unique. Murray Hammond lending vocals to not one but TWO tracks here really help solidify the 97's sound.
4. Hellboy II: The Golden Army- Guillermo Del Toro's imagination must have an excise tax it's so big. The academy award winning director of Pan's Labyrinth returns to the world he created from Mike Mignola's under-appreciated comic books with what is without a doubt an improvement upon the first film. The characters are more starkly and vividly drawn, with creatures mind-blowingly original and haunting, but what really sets this one apart is Ron Perlman's dead-on portrayal of Hellboy. His comedic timing here is flawless and helps push this one over the edge into the "all-time best" category.
3. Big Brother 10 - Sure, it's just another season of America's favorite guilty pleasure (and mine as well), but this is one of the most engaging and likable casts in the shows' ten season history. AND it was immediately intriguing, something it usually takes a couple of weeks to build up to.
2. Rescue Me Minisodes - Denis Leary and Peter Tolan's weekly 5 minute reminder on FX about what we love about firemen is a sad excuse for a regular season. BUT if we HAVE to wait until 2009 for a new season, there is NO better way to pass the time than with these brilliant 5 minute snapshots of comedic bravura. This past week Leary and Tolan segued beautifully from a gut-busting treatise on steroid use in professional baseball to a jaw-dropping realization of the real-world literally crashing in on us. This ensemble is one of the best on tv.
1. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog - Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy, Angel and Firefly) spent his weeks off due to the writer's strike creating and filming this tour-de-force starring Neil Patrick Harris (that's right, Doogie Howser continues to blow minds) and Nathan "I am Mal Reynolds" Fillion. Harris is a modern evil genius that goes by the name "Dr. Horrible". The only problem is nothing ever goes his way. As a matter of fact, his life pretty much sucks, especially adding his girl problems (he's in love with a girl from the laundromat who doesn't seem to notice him at all) and who also is love with his arch-nemesis. "Captain Hammer" (Fillion) is an idealist and self-absorbed super-hero who really makes you root for the bad guy (Harris). The music is brilliant and catchy, the lyrics meaningful and direct and surprisingly simple. This is definitely a musical and "Dr. Horrible" definitely rules the world. Neil Patrick Harris is nothing short of astounding. I will forever be a fan. Forever. But watch it today! After today what is free at www.drhorrible.com will cost money at i-tunes.
One of the most groundbreaking t.v. shows ever...
Current mood: intense
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
I just watched the LOST season finale on DVR. (Don't worry...there are no spoilers here. I prefer to go elsewhere to discuss the intricacies.)
Let me tell you folks, this is television for the ages. I know that many of you gave up on LOST around season 2 or 3. Let me tell you, in my personal opinion, YOU NEED TO GO BACK! You ALL have to go back!
This is quite simply the most daring, most controversial, and undoubtedly the most AUDACIOUS television show we have seen, possibly ever.
Without giving away secrets, let me tell you about it:
The mysteries go deeper and wider. For most of seasons two and three the storytelling was primarily vertical, meaning that it dealt mostly in backstory and character building. (If you are a fan of Stephen King, or if you have read Stephen King and dislike his tangents, then you are familiar with vertical storytelling.)
After creators and executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof negotiated a show ending date (in 2009) the 4th season took audiences in wholly new directions, widening and deepening character and plot, while pushing story ahead horizontally at a sometimes breakneck speed.
This season was a jaw-dropping season. Mysteries were explained, mysteries were deepened, and whole new mysteries emerged. Let's just say that Cuse and Lindelof finally know where they are going and they are going unimaginable places at a rather rapid pace (in comparison with previous seasons).
For the entirety of the two hour season finale I was smiling or wincing, grinning or grimacing in pain and heartbreak. I nodded a whole lot, smiling as I acknowledged things unfolding as I predicted. I took those moments at commercial breaks to go, "WHAT?! No, wait. What?!" I laughed. I predicted. I philosophised. I grunted with disapproval. I whined.
And the last twenty minutes of the finale I spent totally slack-jawed, in awe and wonder and fear and hope.
Look folks, no matter how you slice this, this is television to be reckoned with. This is television to grapple with. These guys aren't playing around. They aren't fooling with your emotions. They aren't flying blind. They aren't "making it up as they go". These guys are painstakingly and brutally creating one of the most boldly and breathtakingly original and...okay, I'll say it: Ballsy television shows ever.
If you are a fan that has stuck with it, congratulations. This is good shit. If you have never seen the show: Seasons 1-3 are available on dvd. There's no better time to get hooked than now. If you were a fan and left the show...you NEVER SHOULD HAVE LEFT. You've got to go back! Now is the time.
As Stephen King put it, "This is television that is swinging for the fences." I think this is gonna end up being a homerun. Just remember in ten or twenty years that I told ya so.
Currently
listening
:
Blame It On Gravity
By
Old 97's
Release date: 2008-05-13
District of Columbia...In the House?
Current mood: ecstatic
Category: Life
Hey if there is anyone in the D.C. area that might be able to provide some advice I'd appreciate it.
The wife and I will be relocating to D.C. later this summer, and I would love some practical advice on where is best/most economical to live, best restaurants, best bars, best movie theaters, etc. My wife has accepted a position in the theatre department at GWU, and we will be moving post-haste.
I will be sending out resumes to all area theatres (and lordy there are a lot of them!) and looking to set down some roots right away. We are super-excited about moving to D.C., but as with any move we could use some pointing in the right directions.
If anyone is in the area and would like to arrange a meet-up, please let me know. Plus any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.
This is UNDOUBTEDLY one of the best speeches in recent political history and it solidifies this man as not only the best Presidential nominee since I have been alive, but as my clear and unsullied choice for President of the United States. We as a people haven’t seen someone as bold and inspiring as this in a long, long, long while.
If you have the time watch this speech. It reminds of all the great speeches in history: Lincoln, JFK, MLK, Malcolm X. This guy is not only speaking the cold hard truth, he is passionate about SOLVING the problem.
Check it out:
When I am 50 I will be carrying around US money with this man’s face on it.
And really, isn’t it about time that our generation gets to experience one of the great ones? Cheers!
(Thanks Aegir for the post. I gladly stole it.)
Currently
reading
:
Duma Key: A Novel
By
Stephen King
Release date: 22 January, 2008
Marisa's funeral will be Thursday at 10 am at Kent-Forest Lawn Funeral Home.
The viewing will be from 6-9 on Wednesday.
you were one of the great ones
you will be missed.. by your closest of friends and relatives.. by even those who were Mere acquittance's
Rest in Peace Marisa
We LOVE You.
*Just a Note* Whether you knew Marisa.. or not... Do one thing... Tell those in your life that you care for.. How much you care & Love them.. Because... You never know what could happen Live everyday like it may be your last. Take nothing for granted.
Currently
listening
:
Young Modern
By
Silverchair
Release date: 24 July, 2007
Topdog/Underdog at GCCC
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Life
Topdog/Underdog" the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Suzan-Lori Parks will be presented for two weekends at Gulf CoastCommunity College's Lab Theatre.Performances will be February 22, 23, 29 and March 1 at 7:30 pm, and February 24 and March 2 at 2:30 pm.
This winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, "is a darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity…(It) is Suzan-Lori Parks' latest riff on the way we are defined by history.The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment.Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future."
---Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Suzan-Lori Parks is one of the most acclaimed and accomplished playwrights of the modern stage.Her plays seem to explore how history, identity, and culture affect not only the African-American experience, but the human race as a whole."Topdog/Underdog" is the quintessential expression of the themes with which this talented and ambitious playwright deals."This is without a doubt one of the best plays I've ever read," says director Chuck Clay."To get the chance to produce a play like this locally, with such an incredible cast, is truly a dream come true."He continues, "The fact that it coincides with Black History Month is not only extremely lucky, it's downright blessed.There couldn't be a better time for this play."
The play features local actors and GCCC students Jevon Smith as Lincoln and Geoff Brown as Booth.It is stage managed by GCCC theatre major Heather Clark, and features set and light design by GCCC faculty Carmen Gomez, costume design by GCCC theatre major Allie Fleckenstein, and sound design by director Clay.
It premiered on Broadway in 2002, in a production directed by George C. Wolfe, featuring Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale, Angels in America) as Lincoln and Mos Def (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam) as Booth.It was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and for a Tony for Best Play, and won the Pulitzer the same year.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. GCCC students, faculty and staff get in for free.
This play is strongly recommended for mature audiences only, and features loud and startling gunfire simulation.To make reservations call (850) 872-3886.
obsequious
excited
chill
intense
optimistic
chipper
bored
sad
accomplished
