guess who's coming to dinner?

last night, i made a lovely dinner hoping to use remainders of Peapod delivery, and we casually ate and flipped on HBO. one of my all-time favorites was on, Charlotte's Web. besides the painful life lessons it teaches (people get bored of things they once cherished! pigs make bacon! things die!), and reminding that my first girl on girl crush was a spider, it also goes above and beyond by featuring PAUL LYNDE (center square) as templeton the rat.

after much careless consideration, i have decided if i get 6 people to ask to dinner per the age old question, lynde is my guest of honor. HE IS HILARIOUS! and SNARKY! and i could listen to his voice and stare at his ascots for HOURS!

he is the only one i feel sure of.
name yours. convince me. you get up to 6.

bag it, tag it

anyone know where i can get a good everyday, sort of nice bag?

i've come to a point in my life where i want things to be a nice thing i invest in, but still quirky enough that it's me. know what i mean? reduce clutter with one or two good things - the good things are still fun but nicer.

an example of something i'd normally like might be this:
http://www.buyolympia.com

if in chicago, tell me a place you love to get 'em, and if not, tell me a place online or someth. it's gotta be able to fit a laptop, but that's my only requirement. help!

i can see (ever)clearly now

this week - in addition to it being super stressful - has now become very fun. lots of celebrations (there's still a long entry coming about the csz banquet) and gatherings, and it's lovely. for a bit there, i wasn't finding enough time to breathe, and now i feel the next 5 days or so are just filled with reasons to hang.

last night, a few of the csz girls got together and went drinking at cesar's margaritas. we have hit this place many a time in the past two years or so, but hadn't been for about two months. the lore here in chicago is that they're called "killer" margaritas because they put everclear in them instead of rum or tequila, and they make you drunkski in 14 seconds. i believe this rumor.

we got free shots from our waiter and i had two jumbo margs, which effectively made me a playful nightmare. the night was supposed to end by 11pm, but it sure didn't. both stephs, sara, robyn and i all stumbled over to egor's dungeon (see picture: pretty much what it sounds like) and giggled a lot, then went to big city tap (affectionately known as 'big titty') and learned just how easy it is to get hit on by swarms of douchebags.

super fun night. i need more nights like this. everyone does.
tonight, my team from iO, merman - the merladies are gathering and having a slumber p. now that's what i'm talking about.

treading new ground

viral video is fun... but, is it bad that i'm already sort of sick of it? several of the places i work for are using it for cheap marketing and to create while exposing to large swarms of surfers that would never normally get to a comedy theatre. you tube, all that stuff - it's sweeping the nation. i totally appreciate how awesome it is, but there's so much stuff out there that i feel like i can't keep up on watching junk, and then i feel that deflating ubiquitous artist feeling that there are no new ideas. i really don't believe that, but i do feel pressure now that everyone is making stuff - there's a constant influx of product everywhere, at all times.

one thing though caught my eye today on the colbert report regarding this, though - band OK go made a video about two or three weeks ago that they only put on youtube, and did not release to mtv. YEAH! way to skip the middle man. no one should dictate what your message is, what you can do, or tell you after hard work how famous you're allowed to be. you tell 'em, boys. this was well worth the watch.

i know why

thanks, Found magazine.
how are they all winners?

big ups to my peap-s

has anyone used the Peapod service before?

yesterday, i went on a cleaning blitz in my apartment's common areas. it was nearly fun, one of those satisfying cleans where you can see all the dust you're getting rid of and it makes you feel like you're changing your life.

one of the stops was inside the fridge, a place where i disappointingly found items that still existed from old random subletter Philbone (remember him, Chicago?). we've got a tidy apartment for the most part, but having a lot of roommates simply leads to junk being tracked in and no one knowing what stuff is whos. cleaning out the old fridgebot reminded me that on sunday, my improv team merman was discussing the pros of peapod - a grocery service that delivers your order to you. during this spree, i decided to go for it, and placed a huge-o order so i could build a root cellar and wouldn't have to leave my apartment again.

unless peapod blows it, i can't understand why everyone wouldn't use this service every d. it's a tiny bit more expensive, but nothing insane. anyone used it?

volunteers of america

on sunday, i signed up to volunteer everywhere in america.

not really, but i did sign up for quite a few things. this is something i've wanted to do for a bit, but it's defintely coming to pass because i've been having quite a few big talks. this is a struggle that has always plagued me - at least for a decade or more of my life now, i just don't know where i stand when it comes to my spirituality. i feel like a really spiritual person, but i don't like claiming something specific, and while church is a great place for some, it does little for me than make me turn in circles. it does, however, provide me with focus and a chance to meditate once in a while, something i don't necessarily block time for on my own.

i feel like as a gen x-er, it's pretty obvious to doubt and question and be relatively cynical about most things. this, this is no exception, though 20% of me wishes i could suspend my disbelief in this more and just believe. this subject has recently surfaced with friends, boyf (you heard me), and self, and i guess, per usual, i feel a little lost. since that lost feeling isn't going anywhere, i decided that for me, the most proactive thing i can do in my quest for what makes me "good" is give back more than i am, and see what i feel after that.

it's hard with my weirdo varied schedule, so i focused on three things.
a. big bro-hams, big sistros: signed up to be a big sister to a 7-12 year old somewhere in chicago. this time commitment is pretty big, so i bet they won't think i'll be an ideal candidate. interested, though, and i'd love to do it if they're flexible. i'd take my sis everywhere! playgrounds! comedy shows! ice cream! america!
b. "being a grandparent" - i'm not sure why they call it this, but this is the actual term for a volunteer that goes into hosps and rocks and feeds at-risk babers. since i'm dead inside re: babies, this may make me wake up, and commitment wise, this is ideal. a few hours a week with a baby that will enjoy you while there and won't be upset if they get someone else the next day.
c. telephone reassurance for the elderly - there's an organization here that really believes in the support of the elderly community through phone contact. their reasoning is that since a lot of older people are homebound, some of them don't like visitors because they are embarrassed about their physical state or ability, or even just their appearance, but still crave contact with people. so, they've created phone pals. i like this idea. i want to help. i just want to be reliable enough to talk to once a week or whatever, and interesting enough for them to want to talk to.

hope i can do one or two of these. i'll find out more in the next week.

blonder ambition

i am blonder than i was. it's way lighter. it's now a blondie strawb. i wouldn't be alarmed if someone now called me blonde, and i would've last time.

i'm clinging to chicago summer with everything i can.

WooPigSooie!

traveled with SC BlueCo on Friday to Arkansas... Fayetteville, to be exact.
the running order ruled - lots of fun things - for you SC nerds, we did a scene called MSN from toronto's mainstage and a song from detroit called greatest day. both were really fun, and it was nice to honor different places by trying their stuff.

going to arkansas was fun because we had no idea what to expect - well, really, we did; but what we got was very much the opposite of what we thought we'd have. the 8 of us were cracking watch-out-for-klansy jokes on the way down, only to find that the show for 1200 at the walton performing arts center was to a liberal crowd who loved them the progressive comedo.

on each gig that you do on the road, whether for csz or sc or dave and co or whatever, we all take a little time to sort of familiarize ourselves with the surroundings for bits within the show that we can finagle. jordan was our ambassador in this particular travel, who met a guy on the plane named keaton. keaton told jordan a bunch of hot facts about the campus and his frat house, and clued us in on a very important cheer that would later be used in a scene that changes via location called Trash Talk (see title of entry for cheer). jordan, hetero jones, developed a platonic male crush on this guy after talking to him for the duration of the flight, which was adorable. don't you guys think he's cute?, he'd ask. what do you think he's doing right now?

the night progressed after royal treatment to our hotel and a bar within stone's throw, full of college students returning to campus for the school year. several of them ran out to greet us, yelling that they recognized us from the performance and bought us several rounds. we then stumbled from that bar to the connecting one, an actual reverse in decor than the bar we were just in. it was like stepping through a mirror or something - in one bar the chandeliers were white, the stools black; in the other, the chandeliers black and stools white. we soon found out the connecting bar was a gay bar, a fact that delighted the whole cast, since by chance 3 of the members traveling were gaybots (4, if you count my bisexual progressive ass). that bar had a basement blaring hip-hop and sporting fog machines, so we danced and laughed and stumbled the 100 yards home to the radisson.

cutting back: i don't know that i've ever felt that loved by an audience. at least, during a sketch show. every word was a success, every second resonated with someone. the improv games interspersed were amazing, the structured improv stuff was killer, the sketches were perfect. with a crowd that large, you really felt like a rock star. it was a blessing. i want everyone to feel like that for a second in their lives, doing whatever you do that makes you feel accomplished.

at the end of the show, we received three standing ovations. in a troupe, everyone knows that the collaborative is what got you there. it's a team game. it's a sport. still, it's fun to imagine that you gave something to that team, and someone out there is cheering right at you.

spoiler: they bite a dong!

snakes on a plane last night with csz and friends- special showing, 10pm.
unbelievable. well, actually - pretty believable. it's the perfect thoughtless ride.

it is everything that you hope it will be.
do yourself this favor.
---


p.s., i hope to catch you up a bit on here over/after the weekend. i know i've fallen behind on this thing, but as i write this is truly the first time i've had more than 3 minutes at a computer since monday. talk to you soon. lots to say.

wanderville

busy days of not much.

i've been sort of lamenting lately; lamenting that there isn't nearly enough time, all the time.

not for the usual reasons, like i have too much to do or too many shows, too much work - no. i just feel like i want more time to be a thousand different me-s, to try everything there is to try. to be alone and sit with my thoughts, to be together with friends 10x more, to call family at every turn.

am i doing things that matter? shouldn't i volunteer more? shouldn't i want to teach? am i dating the person i'm dating enough? am i trying to find my spirituality? am i doing much of much importance?

i dunno.

i feel good. i don't feel depressed. i feel like i can't find enough time. i feel like at the end of your life, you'll never feel like you had enough time. but, i guess that's good - it might be fucked up if you felt like there was plenty.

dag, wood

hey, i went blondie!

(bits! this is a wig that i used on a dave & co. gig... but now, i just might.)

catch up

man.

i haven't really caught you up on virginia. i'm apprehensive, though it was an amazing week as noted in the last post, to mention much because i know the campers can find us. so, i'll stick with what was said and hope that you understand how interesting and wonderful a gift it is to feel like you can bring something new and exciting to an area that is unfamiliar with that thing.

i am waiting with bated breath on pen-pals, though. at the end of class this year, i gave out my e-mail and home address in major hopes that we'd be pen pals with some of these kids this year. i really want to send them postcards and say hello in the hopes that we can keep tabs on some who are growing too old for the camp, or those who feel lost in the on-months of traditional schooling. one of our favorite campers told joey's sister abby during art one day that he had decided we wanted to do what we do, that he wanted to try improv. my only dream in life now has become pushing this kid after college to go for it. he's 14. we have time.

merry maids

my room is a sty.
i don't know when this happened - i think it just did, between being away a bunch and having lots of gigs... having a sick kitts to tend to (more on this later) and working from home. what has happened? it bugs.

usually, my room in disarray means i am also in disarray. in adult life, i've been much better about keeping things neat than in teenage spazdom, but i still just have too much stuff. how do you get rid of too much stuff? i mean, truly, too much? when nothing seems appropriate to truly get rid of?

any ideas?
on make sentiment less sentimental?
throwing away letters, notes, little presents, stories of where you've been?

i know it's not within this stuff; it's just not something i've mastered.

packratzio.