On the Stage

I want to hang out with my sister, we are close friends as well as siblings, and we do hang out all the time, but we're in different stages in our lives. She's 27 and single, I'm 23 and married with a kid and sometimes she doesn't want to try and respect that part of my life. She obviously loves Kaia to pieces, but she's always trying to get me to do things that won't work out with me having a child, and this isn't bad, I'm not harping on her, it's just frustrating for me, because every time I say no she gets all pissy and makes it hard for me...but isn't that what siblings are for, I guess?

Let me explain...

I got this e-mail from her:

---

What are you guys doing tonight? I might need some mindless Mario Party
after the hectic day I've had here! *argh!* Want to come over to my apt &
play? That way when Chris is done w/his lessons, he can drive to my place &
play w/us? Maybe we can have something fun for dinner.....?

---

See...the problem is that we're having a shitty time getting Kaia to sleep. And with rehearsals for the play that we just finished and with the long Thanksgiving, she just wont go to sleep, way too long of a story to try and tell. And well, even if she was going to sleep fine the "Mario Party" she is referring to is on MY gamecube at MY apartment. Now, it's easily trasportable, the fact remains it's at my place. And I have a daughter to get to bed, so I'd have to leave her place 2 hours after I got there, so that's pretty useless. Whereas if she came to my place, besides the 30 minute routine we've developed for Kaia before bed time, and the constant getting out of bed by Kaia, there's ample time to have fun at my place since I'm where Kaia needs to be to get to bed...so it only makes sense for her to come to my place.

So...here is my reply:

---

Veronica has rehearsal for her play she's in at ISU.

We are also having one hell of a time trying to get Kaia to sleep, so we have a schedule and this week at least we wanted to stick to that and try to get her to realize when it's bedtime, so I don't think I should be going over to your place tonight.

I"m sorry, but this is so stressful with Kaia not going to sleep and we need to have some consistency for at least a week if we can. It only took an hour and a half to get her to sleep last night compared to the 3 hours of screaming and crying the night before, and Chris was there, so you are more than welcome to come over to my place as long as we don't play video games until after 8:30 and let me do the routine with Kaia for bed time and pause every time she gets out of her room, which I know isn't any fun.

I'm sorry, it has nothing to do with you or your apartment, we always have fun when we're over there, but V has rehearsal from 7-whenever and I need to be at my apartment with Kaia.

---

I love my sister, and I love hanging out with her, but she asks me to do things that are like I'm single and the worlds is mine...well it's not. Then she gets mad when I can't do them and say no, or say "let's do it at my place" or "I have a kid to think about."

I'm waiting from a response from her, but it won't be pretty, I can already tell. But, sometimes she surprises me and gives me the benefit of the doubt that I DO know what I'm talking about.

**UPDATE** She understood! Here is the reply she sent:

---

If we don't start until 8:30, I'll be there way too late, and I've been
trying to get to bed at a decent time, myself, so I'll take a rain check.
Maybe some other night. I know you're gone already for the night, but like
I said before, it's been a hectic day, so I'm just now getting back to
replying.....maybe I'll cc your hotmail, so you don't think I'm pissed, b/c
I'm not. :-)

---

How come I have these random people who don't even know I have bookmarked their sites and read them from time to time and they're getting 10-30 comments on each one of their posts? And some people who I do comment on their blogs, are also getting numerous comments on almost every one of their posts. Is my blog not in the "next blog" cycle? Do people see my blog and go, "Oh god, this shit sucks." or what's going on with that? Yeah, there must be something to their blogs if I found them and decided to bookmark it so I could go see what else they're talking about, but still. I have NO random people on my site who found me and decided to stick around, sure there are people I found and made them come to my site, lol, but no the other way around...

I have:

Doug and Jody, who I know

Meritt, who was a random blogger I found (which was an awesome surprise)

Yankeebob, who came to me from Meritt

Sharkie, who I randomly found and then found out she's my wife's cousin and I have met her previously...weird

Matt (oasis corn), who I found randomly and who is from Iowa

and an occassional visitor from one of the aforementioned people's site who saw me comment on their blog and came over to mine for a second. ANy advice people who get lots of comments? DO I need to be more entertaining? lol, I need help...lol

What is YOUR favorite holiday song?

Mine is "O, Holy Night" and "What Child is This?" there are NUMEROUS others that I love, but I'll throw those two out as some of my favorites.

• I can wiggle my ears together, or one at a time.
  
• I can do both eyebrows or one at a time.
  
• I can blink either eye.
  
• I can cross one eye and not the other, using either eye.
  
• I can wiggle my nose in a funny way.
  
• I can do that roll of a tongue that most people can do.
  
• I can flip up my eyelid so it looks all gross on my eye, but it pops out my contact, so I don't do that anymore.
  
• I can constantly crack either of my wrists.
  
• I can cross my leg around the other two times (cross it normal, than hook my foot all the way around down around my ankle)
  
• I can take my left leg and pull it behind my head, but not the right one.
  
• I can, most days, crack each hands knuckles about 30 times - 3 times each.
  
• My left thumb is double jointed, not my right though (interesting story)
  
• My left pinkie is double jointed too
  
• I think everyone can do this, and it's easier to see than explain, but I can straighten out my fingers to where I can just flick the ends of them and they're like jelly, they just wave there like they have nothing attached to them, it's cool looking!
  
• On my right arm I have this muscle in my forearm right by my elbow that I can make puff out and look all funny, this one you'd have to see also.
  
• I can touch the little hangy ball in the back of my throat with my tongue.
  

If I remember anymore I'll let ya know! :-)

**EDITED TO ANNOUNCE**Meritt, I will, I promise :-), get to the turmoil and the terrified of jobs post...this one post just came out of nowhere though and it's published now, so no use in turning back now, I will get to those cliffhangers in my life...that's cool, I have cliffhangers in my life story :-)

**EDITED AGAIN TO ANNOUNCE**I guess there is a use in turning back, I decided to take this post down.

I'm stressed with a lot of things in life and I'm tired and I don't need to rant and be all shitty, so, oh well! :-) IF someone of you got to read it before I took it down, I'm sorry.

Happy late Thanksgiving everyone!
Happy first day of snow everyone!

Wowey wow wow there is a lot to catch up on, in more ways than one.

I need to let you all know what’s been going on in my life, nothing special it’s just been 5 days since I did (though I doubt anyone is on the edge of their seats.) I need to read the past five days of everyone that has a blog that I read too, because they’re good at updating their blogs over the holiday weekend and I’m not, and I want to know what’s been going on in their lives too!

What’s been going on in Lars’ (which the lady at the proof reading seminar said it should be Lars’s but I learned in college it is Lars’, so I’m going to leave it) little world?

Thanksgiving
Staying up too late
Eating
Turmoil
Watching the parade
Playing video games
Playing board games
Hanging out a lot with family
Hanging out a lot with friends
Installing new all-in-one printer etc. for my parents
Moving lots of furniture around my parent’s living room – numerous times (funny story)
Setting up parent’s Christmas tree – Kaia loves it
Lots of watching of football - but no playing :-(
Lots of singing in church – more to come too
Setting up our Christmas tree at home – Kaia loves it
Fighting every night with Kaia when she won’t go to sleep
Seeing my best friend’s unfinished home
Very little sleep all weekend
Very little TV or movies
Very little time on the Internet – and no e-mails from anyone so I guess it didn’t matter much :-(
Snow!

So, that’s about it that I can remember!

Back at work…18 work days until next day off

Happy almost turkey day!

I am alive, believe it or not. The only problems I have right now are what appears to be crud still in my throat from the bronchitis/coughing and the coughing is still there, but not as bad. Also, last night I coughed a bit and heard/felt a crack in my upper chest and from then on it has hurt like a son of a gun, so I hope that's nothing big and it might go away, but right now it just hurts so much...

I hate computers, have I said that before? I can't figure the friggin' things out and support centers can suck a big one too. So, we have wireless internet. Well, it is unsecure right now, and we live in an apartment complex, which means anyone that has the capabilities too can steal our internet. I don't know how to secure it myself, because I'm computer technologicaly retarded, so I call up D-Link who we have our router through.

The dude gets me all set up so it's secure and running great, and right before he hangs up I ask if I can change the name of my router because it was set to "default." He says "Sure, just change that name right there, hit apply and you're good." So we hang up. I do that...

BAM! Friggin' router is broken, internet not working, just because I changed the damn name on it. So I try to fix it, doesn't work, so I call the D-Link back. Get a different dude, he tries shit with me and eventually says it's got to be something wrong with my internal wireless card, which I don't think is true, but whatever, I was hanging up with this dude because he kept talking and getting me nowhere.

So I try to fix it again myself, doesn't work. I'm about ready to cry I'm so frustrated (and I never cry) and so we leave for a while.

Come back home and I call HP to talk to tech support there. Would you believe it, it's some guy that speaks very hard to understand with his Indian accent English. BUT, after about 40 minutes he gets my router restarted and I have Internet again. BUT, not only is it not secure, but it's running at 24 mbps instead of the 54 mbps that it's suppose to run. So I'm pissed about that too now. I call back HP and they say it's got to be our Internet service fluxuating and it will be fine some time soon. Well, it isn't yet, but I have seen it go up into the 30's, so I'm hoping it's just something going on with Mediacom.

I'm very upset because computers are so hard to figure out in the first place, then when you want to change something, it always goes wrong, and the people on the phone aren't ever very good at helping you. I'm also very mad at myself, because if I would have just left it at the name default with it running at 54 mbps and secure, then it wouldn't have been a problem, but all I wanted to do was change the name then the whole f'in thing blew up. Now it's working again, UNSECURE, and NOT AS FAST as it was before. I don't know what to do, except throw my hands up in the air and say "If I knew someone who could help me, or I could help myself then life would be easier, but instead I'm a dumbass and so I have to bend over and take it being in the same place it was before, unsecure, but with worse speed results."

Sucks...

Got our bonus today, $667 in taxes taken out of my bonus, that sucks. But as soon as I complain about that then someone will say or think in their head, "At least you got one." or "What do you think those taxes are going to?" or something political.

All I'm doing is complaining that I don't get that $667 right now with my bonus and to me that's a lot of money.

Still smiling though, things could be worse! :-D Everyone has complaints...

The show is all done, all done, all done! It's a good and bad thing.

Good - I get to have my life back, and although it was only three hours, three times a week, I get to hang out with Kaia all week now again :-)

Bad - I really enjoyed this show! It was such a good one. People loved it. I loved the cast and crew, it was fantastic.

It went very well. We only had a couple of days of bad ticket sales, but we had quite a few sold out days too. People loved it! I had one guy say the "death tango" that Rick and Thursby(me) did was in the top five of things JSTT has ever done, and that's saying a lot!

Luckily Tom was there Sunday night to take pictures and make a DVD of the show, so that'll be exciting to get those! Tom has been in a bunch of JSTT shows as well and is a wiz, freakin' wiz, graphic designer and his whole family (his brother Nick was in my class and was in my wedding) can do photography like no one's business, and video too. So it should be good, he did the video editing for Oklahoma! and it is a good video!

Exciting, who doesn't love the theatre?! :-D

Things I STILL need to talk about



• Why I'm so scared of the job opening here at work


• Why I'm so scared of the job opening in WA


• Christmas!


• Graphic Design updates


• More and more, but I can't remember...bad memory and all, remember?

Our show is all but sold out tonight and tomorrow night, and then there’s quite a few left on Sunday, so better buy up those tickets!

Meritt, I know you’re going to be gone all morning and afternoon, but I thought I’d let you know if you were still interested in coming that we’re almost sold out all but Sunday.

Oh, and by the way, I am going to applying for those jobs I was talking about, they just make me nervous, and I'll have to explain why later!


JUDGE STORY'S THEATRICAL TROUPE presents:
Murder at Café Noir
A comic tribute to the Bogart Movies of the 1940's by David Landau

November 5-7, 12-14, 19-21, 2004
Fridays & Saturdays - 6 pm Social Hour - 7 pm Dinner & Show
Sundays - 5 pm Social Hour - 6 pm Dinner & Show

The Cottage on Broad
410 Broad Street
Story City
Reservations: 515-773-4376
http://www.cottageonbroad.com
Tickets: $30 includes dinner & show.

This forties detective story come to life features Rick Archer, P.I., out
to find a curvaceous runaway on the forgotten island of Mustique, a place
stuck in a black-and-white era. The owner of the Cafe Noir has washed
ashore, murdered, and Rick's quarry was the last person seen with him. He
employs his hard-boiled talents to find the killer. Was it the French
Madame and club manager, the voodoo priestess, the shyster British
attorney, the black marketeer or the femme fatale? The audience votes
twice on what they want Rick to do next and these decisions change the
flow of this comic tribute to the Bogart era.

Cast List:
Rick Archer, P.I. - Robby
Madam Toureau - Marla
Sheila Wonderly - Andrea
Anthony Cairo - Clay
Marie LaRue - Veronica
Simon Gutterman - Adam
Thursby/VanGilder/Rigfield - Lars

Director - Jena

You are Jack the Ripper. Yours were some of the
most brutal murders recorded in history--yet
your case is still to this day unsolved. You
came from out of the fog, killed violently and
quickly and disappeared without a trace. Then
for no apparent reason, you satisfy your blood
lust with ever-increasing ferocity, culminating
in the near destruction of your final victim,
and then you vanish from the scene forever. The
perfect ingredients for the perennial thriller.
You are quite the mysteriously demented?


Which Imfamous criminal are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


--ok, I'll be honest, that isn't who I was at first, so I played again and again until I got Jack the Ripper. Why? Because I have a bit of a fascination with Jack the Ripper. Not in a sick, I want to be like him way, not at all. It is just an interesting story and how he did it and how he didn't get caught, yet who they THINK it is and why. Just is a fascinating story really.

I hesitate in publishing this because people will think I'm weird, but I don't think it's weird, or it shouldn't be.

This one is too long to sit and type out since I have 4 minutes until my break is over, but I'll talk about it briefly and into depth later.

One job came to my attention today.

The current company I work for is hiring a new position: Special Projects

It involves working with web site design and maintenance including HTML and JavaScript

Good PC skills and experience with Word, PageMaker, Photoshop and PowerPoint

Strong telephone skils, etc. etc.

Ability to learn about the department this is open for

Attention to detail, good attendance

I've got ALMOST all of this in my skills, but it would make me nervous to be offered this job for A BUNCH of reasons, which like most days, I don't have time to go into right now. I will come back and explain myself though so I can get it off my chest and you all can skim read right through ;-)

The other job is graphic designer for The Capitol Theatre in V's hometown in WA. That job offer would SCARE me on multiple levels, which I don't have time to go into right now! Big surprise...I will come back to explain this one too though, since typing (talking) through things sort of makes me feel better even though it doesn't accomplish anything...

Other things I wanted to talk about but didn't have time for:


• Smoking in general but specifically medical personnel who smoke


• My updates on my graphic design projects


• I can't remember, I have such a bad memory...

The last weekend for the show V and I are in is coming upon us all.

If you want to come, look to my two or three previous blogs to tell you when, where and what for. I'm lazy...:-)

If you want to come, you don't NEED to be to the restaraunt until about 6:55 PM but social hour is at 6 so you can get drinks and sit and talk and be there early. But on Sunday it's all one hour earlier.

:-P

Your Lightsaber is Blue

Blue is often associated with depth and stability.
It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom,
confidence, and truth.


What Colored Lightsaber Would You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla

She has her new comedy show out on Broadway. She had done one previously in 1984, so 20 years later she's back.

According to broadway.com it's not very good. Some of it is funny, but what she has that's new isn't very good and she uses a bunch of her old stuff from 20 years ago. They said the first 40 minutes are all anti-Bush, which is just unfortunate. Then she gets into some cheap toilet humor to get some laughs.

Hmmm...I don't know, I didn't have much of an opinion on her before, I guess I thought she was funny, so it's too bad really. She will still probably get nominated for a Tony.

Also, I trust broadway.com. They are professional, not just some hack, fan site. They have very good reviewers and well respected. I've mostly agreed with all previous reviews, so I"m going off of this one. I am going to head over to playbill.com to see what they thought, if they even have a review up.

Stupid Woman

Oh no it might turn our children *whispers* GAY! PLEASE, go suck an egg, stupid woman.

Here is the article for those who don't want to click on the link.


Homosexuality Worries Get School To End Cross-Dressing Day

POSTED: 7:54 am EST November 17, 2004
UPDATED: 10:30 am EST November 17, 2004

SPURGER, Texas -- Boys in the Spurger, Texas, school district won't be wearing dresses Wednesday and girls aren't going to be putting on men's suits.

That after a parent complained about a dress-like-the-opposite-sex day -- an annual Homecoming week tradition.

According to the tradition, boys and girls reverse social roles for one day during homecoming week. It lets the older girls invite boys on dates, open doors and pay for sodas. It also calls for guys to dress like girls -- and girls like guys.

However one parent complains the practice has homosexual overtones. School officials call that statement "inflammatory and misleading."

The Liberty Legal Institute came to the aid of parent Delana Davies, who was concerned about officially sanctioned cross-dressing. Davies said having boys dress like girls is part of an effort to push a homosexual agenda in public schools.

An attorney for the tiny East Texas school district says there's no hidden agenda. He said the dress-up day was just intended to be fun for the kids.

Still, the tradition is being scrapped and the district will hold "Camo Day" instead -- with black boots and Army camouflage to be worn by everyone who wants to participate.

I met a new driver this morning, which is surprising because I thought I had met them all. I was late this morning, about 10 minutes late (I made up 5 of those minutes thank you very much!), and so I was going 80 mph on the interstate in the left lane and I came upon this new driver. He was going about 70-72, I know because I had to slow down for this jackass, and had just started passing a driver and so I waited and waited (he’s also one of this drivers that likes to pass going 1 mph faster than the person in the right lane) and finally he was past the other driver, but didn’t get over!!! BIG SURPRISE. So I go into the right lane to pass him and…he speeds up….what?!?! Why did he do that? So now all of a sudden he’s going 80-82 because there’s no one in the right lane to pass. SO, I have to get back over behind him because the next car in the right lane was coming up. Believe it or not he slows back down to 70 to pass the car, then speeds back up to 80 when there isn’t a car in the right lane anymore. I have NEVER encountered such a messed up driver before. It just astounded me and I was at a loss of what to do. Finally, after doing this for about 4 cars he passes a car and get over into the right lane and I pass his ass and I find out it’s a woman, a rather butch looking woman, and I pass her with a mean WTF look on my face and she doesn’t even glance over so I can show her my mean WTF face, which makes me even more mad. But I was past her and life moved on again, until the next set of dumbass drivers.

YAY! We got plane tickets to go see the in-laws in WA. We had been looking for a while and we couldn’t find much that worked with times for under $347 a ticket. To find cheaper we had to take a red eye or leave at 6 in the morning in Seattle to return home and they live 3 hours from Seattle so leaving at 6 in the morning wasn’t going to work. So last night I was on the phone with my mom while she was looking and I was looking and V was talking to HER mom so she knew what we were looking for and after about an hour (Kaia was running around the apartment singing silly made up songs and loving that she wasn’t in bed yet) I came upon the tickets we ended up buying. I found 3 tickets leaving Dec 31 at 5:30 PM from Minneapolis taking a direct flight and getting into Seattle at 7:15 PM. Then our return flight is on Jan 8 from Seattle at 12:10 PM and getting to Minneapolis at 5:30 PM. Fairly excellent times! I found these bad boys for $285 a ticket, that’s including the taxes and shit. Oh YEAH baby! We get 7 solid days in WA with the in-laws, whom I love, and then one day of travel to get there and one day of travel to get back, which still means three hours in a car to MNPLS with my Dad and then three hours in the car with mom-in-law to get to their place then vice versa to get back, so that’s still time spent with family, it’s just in the car. AND…that’s 5 solid days of paid vacation from work! :-D AND, it’s only going to count as ONE PTO day taken, since I have three left over this year that will carry into 2005 and we get a floating birthday day off which equals four days, and then I will be taking one new 2005 PTO day, which is FINE. Excellent, I’m mucho excited.

Oh man, I don’t care if you watch TV or not, you should have seen this last weeks ER. It was VERY good. It guest starred Ray Liotta and he gave a tour de force performance. If that man does not win some kind of major guest starring award I will be disappointed. Damn, it was good. Way to good and too complicated of a plot to try and explain or go into, lets just say if you saw it you probably feel the same way I do. I just got to see it last night, thanks TiVo J, so that’s why I’m commenting now.

Speaking of things I just saw, this weekend I just saw the move Cold Mountain with Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renee Zellwegger. Wow, good movie! I see why it won best picture. The war scenes were tough to watch, when that family died it was seriously tough to watch, and Renee Zellwegger, I can see why she won best supporting actress for this movie, she was fantastic, totally out of her element. All the other roles, played by various seasoned actors (including the very vivacious Natalie Portman! *rowr* ) were spot on as well. Very good film, it comes highly recommended from this reviewer.

I know it’s not Thanksgiving yet, but let me say that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. I could go on for HOURS about how much I love Christmas, but I will do so at a later date, just wanted to throw that out there now.

I get to sing a bunch this holiday season! If I may toot my own horn, I was asked every time too, so it makes me feel very special. First, I was asked to sing a solo and then a duet with my sister at this thing in Story City called “Yulefest.” I’m not sure what solo I’m singing, but Jena and I are singing “The Prayer” which was made famous by either Celine Dion and Andrea Bocceli or Josh Groban and Charlotte Church, depending on which you know, or maybe you know both, we sang that at my church last year, it’s a beautiful song. We’re doing this on December 5th, so I hope my bronchitis is under control by then. Second, I’m singing “O Holy Night” at my church on December 24th, I was asked personally by the church organist/pianist who has played for me before. It’s an open call to anyone who wants to to come sing or play at that service, but she asked me ahead of time because she really wanted me to sing “O Holy Night” and as she said, “get some professional talent.” Ooooh J That made me feel good! I sang “O Holy Night” previously at that service two years ago. Last year I was sick, so I didn’t sign up to sing, I hope I’m not sick this year! Thirdly, I am singing at the in-laws church. I have sung once or twice every time we’ve been out there and mom-in-law, who is the music director/pianist, said they comment and love it so much that there’s no way I can’t sing when I come over there. That made me feel good too J Mom-in-law is a vocal instructor and has a music degree, so she is real proud to have this son-in-law J

Bronchitis, huh? Yeah, still battling with it, around one month now. First set of medication didn’t work, so I called back my doctor and said, “listen here bub! That didn’t work and I need to get rid of this god-awful cough I have.” So she gave me this cough medicine that is in a gel capsule that I take three times a day. When I went to the pharmacy to get it my pharmacist, who knew me and got it ready as I walked up (what a guy, even though I rarely get sick or need medication, I’ve been there enough to get it for Kaia and V and I so he’s a good guy), said “Now don’t bite down on one of these. And don’t go home now and bite down on one of these because I told you not to because this will make your whole mouth go numb.” Cool! But I choose to heed his advice. I also asked him, “Do you have any words of inspiration to let me know this stuff is going to work?” He just told me that it would get rid of my cough but the bronchitis is something you just have to work through. Well whoopdefriggindoo I want this friggin thing GONE. The cough is so bad it’s given me a mini hernia and it’s made my chest sore and it’s given me headaches and almost made me yak. It’s just not fun. I can’t sing as well, though I can still mostly sing for some reason, which is really nice. But definitely not as well and as clear as I CAN, which really sucks.

Yeah nothing on a job yet, keep sending me good job vibes though, maybe some day they will work! Ok, today at work has been HECTIC and it’s not even close to over yet, it’s just lunch right now, so I will catch up with ya’ll later.

Ya’ll come back now ya’ hear?

MAN! When you haven't posted since Thursday there is just too much running through your head to remember what all to post. So many times I"m sitting somewhere or doing something and I think of something I wanted to comment on and then I don't get to post forever and I forget.

Stuff about adultery, smoking, the play, life in general, things I can't talk about but wish I could, daughter, wife, jobs, christmas, woek, sickness

Sickness...some of you may recall I have bronchitis...had it for THREE weeks now, still have it! Have already gone to doctor, she gave me some shitty five-day pill deal, didn't do jack for me, so I finally called the doctor's office today and they'll call me back so I'm waiting on that.

Only one weekend of performances left, sad and good. I made some good friends from this show and I hope to keep them!

Why does it never fail that something happens in the morning that pissess of my wife and she calls me at work to yell and complain which puts me in a pissy mood then my day sucks.

So much to talk about that my brain is all but mush trying to pull up the items and make them sound witty for all my devoted readers ;-)

Oh well, at least I posted!

ETA: Meritt! Yay, I saw your second comment on my graphic design blog. I'm glad to hear you still check up on me and yes, I've been busy and yes, show is this weekend also I would love to have you and the fam come :-) Oh, and if you come, I'd have no idea since I have no idea what you look like! I'll e-mail you too, which I can't do until I get home, but here is this too --

Still tickets available

Murder at Cafe Noir
at The Cottage on Broad
410 BROAD STREET • STORY CITY , IOWA • 515 - 733 - 4376
$30 which includes show and 4 course award winning meal!
Friday and Saturday the 19th and 20th at 7 pm, social hour at 6 pm
Sunday at 6 PM social hour at 5 PM


DOU AND JODY -- I've already told Doug and you I'd love for you to come, but I understand if you cant, and I know Doug was gone this past weekend through Wednesday I believe

YANKEEBOB -- Come on down! :-) Even though you live in the great state of MA

SHARKFORBRAINS - Also, come on down. Though you live just as far away as yankeebob but in the other direction

THOUGHTS FROM OASIS CORN - YOu have your show to do, so it's no big deal at all, it'd be fun to come see your show too!

I believe that's all that reads my blog, so there we go!

There are a couple of graphic design projects that I want to do in my spare time, which isn't ANY (the little monkey is not wanting to go to sleep AGAIN, do you see me going more and more bald by the minute?), but I still want to do them.

1.) Make a family web site - I need to sharpen my web designing skills badly, and it would be something nice to have in the portfolio. Web designing is, by far, not by best feature, but I do know how to do it and I have done it before. I have a web site I made in high school with strictly HTML, I will not be giving you that address, I don't even know my username or password to get into it and update it so it's horribly immature, but then I did a site for my college theatre's web site, then I did a different design and I tooled around with that in my free time a couple years ago, and though I haven't worked on it in over a year, it is here -- Waldorf College Theatre Department well I think that's it at least. I guess we'll find out won't we. It would also be nice to have that going for me and my wife and little one and future little ones!

2.) I need to make a design for my future brother-in-law because he wants to run for office where they live and he wants nice letterhead and business cards, etc. So I NEED to do that, not just want.

3.) I want to do something in access where my sister-in-law and her fiance can enter people's names and addresses and then print out labels for invitations and then thank you cards for their wedding. That I want to do for them without telling them.

4.) I think it would be nice to try and design a wedding package for them too. Programs, invitations, thank you cards, etc. etc. But I don't want them to rely on me in case I fail :-(

5.) Then the always side need to teach myself Quark and Photoshop and InDesign. NEED to do that, but just don't have the time at ALL. Sucks...I'll never get a job :-(

SO, here's where YOU come in. I want each and every one of you to hold me to those things. Now, I don't have much time at all...especially with the little monkey not going to bed until 11 PM!! She is IN her room and must remain there, but she comes out for this and for that and for this and that, and it's an endless cycle until she finally conks out, it's not like she's screaming or we're letting her stay up, it's just impossible!!!

Ok, so there ya go, be my bosses ;-)

This makes job about...20 or 30 in the last 2 or 3 months, which I know isn't a lot, but there's not a lot out there and I am working full time too, so I missed a few because I dind't jump on the ball.

There are about 5 other I want to get a resume and cover letter out too also, so I'll see if I can get that done too, but I just applied for this one today:

---

Executive Assistant
Date Posted: 11/5/04
Responsibilities:


This position supports the President and Vice-President, including in confidential work. Arranges travel for staff. Manages board communication. Attends to scheduling, meeting, filing, and contract details. Teams with the Administrative Assistant and others for phone coverage backup, computer systems managment and payroll.

Qualifications:

Specific skills needed are organizational management and prioritizing; detailed advance planning; graciousness and responsiveness; written and verbal communication; attention to detail and accuracy; project management; flexibility; and computer skills.

This position pays in the upper 20s to the low 30s and has a full benefit package.

To apply please send a letter of application and a resume to C. Browning, Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, 221 Walnut, Des Moines, Iowa, 50309 or cbrownin@civiccenter.org. Review of applications will begin November 12, 2004.

---

so...we'll see I guess. I know I could kick the shit out of that job, but can they see that? Probably not since I've applied for about 5 or 6 just for the Civic Center and haven't even gotten an interview.

The last job I applied for there I didn't even get a no thank you, I had to see on their site that someone got the position, but before I even saw that I had sent an e-mail and called the lady in charge of hiring for the position to let her know I was still interested and she did not return my call OR my e-mail, so I sent a polite but firm e-mail to the vice president telling her how unhappy with the whole process I was, so that probably wont help me in getting a position with that theatr ever, but it wont stop me from trying...and if I get the job and come in contact with that person who did a shitty job, I'll talk to her about it, I don't care, she didn't handle herself professionaly at all.

So that's that!

Jesus Christ Superstar: Ames, IA (11/09/04)
U.S. Tour 2004
Jesus – Eric Kunze
Judas – Todd Fournier (u/s)
Mary – Natalie Toro
Caiaphas – Lawson Skala
Annas – Jeffrey Polk
Pontius Pilate – Raymond Patterson
Herod – Daniel Guzman
Simon – Brent Schindele (u/s)
Peter – Johnny Hawkins

Still thinking about this show, it was that good, but I knew it would be. It was so good when it was in Des Moines and there has only been a couple cast changes, and my all time favorite Lawson Skala was still in the cast, so I knew it’d be good right there. So the changes to the cast since I saw it last are Herod and Pilate, with tonight having understudies for Judas and Simon (because Todd who normally plays Simon was on as Judas, so consequently there needed to be an u/s for Simon). I’m not so good at reviews, so here goes.

Jesus – Eric Kunze – This guy is good. He has soft voice which is crystal clear and sweet sounding, then his louder voice where he just rocks it out (and not in the horribly shitty Sebastian Back way). My wife and I both thought he was better even than when we saw him in Des Moines. His acting is spot on, very good emotion and control of his body. He sings a lot through his teeth, which is interesting, but not necessarily bad. His screams, when called for, are so damn good, and surprisingly enough, he doesn’t lose and of his voice. Such a sweet guy at the stage door too, very good looking individual!

Judas – Todd Fournier (u/s) – I was very excited when I saw the cast board and saw that there was an understudy for Lawrence Clayton, because I saw him in Des Moines and he was good, just not what I wanted in a Judas. Well, Todd was more of what I wanted. He grew on me, I guess you could say, though he grew on me from within “Heaven on Their Minds” because it started out good, but not so strong and a little weird voice, but it got better. He does have a weird voice, but it’s just so high and like it comes out of the bottom of his stomach and it’s pretty cool. It’s not belting in his high high notes, but he hits them strongly enough and I just started liking him a lot. He makes very good acting choices as well, very torn up, very confused. He didn’t disappoint at all, I liked his voice very much, just kind of hard to describe, either that, or I’m not good at describing what I know in my head…probably both.

Mary – Natalie Toro – Boy, she is just good. Was in Des Moines, was last night too. Just a powerhouse voice. She makes Mary into a very likeable character, but at the same time I’m always confused by the Mary/Jesus relationship, but that has nothing to do with the musical. She’s just good, I don’t really have much more to say for her, it’s not that horribly big of a part, even though it is, does that make sense? Very good, very big boobs, yup.

Caiaphas – Lawson Skala – Aaaaaahhhhhh, one of the greatest actors and singers I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. I’m sorry, maybe I’m blind, but I can’t find one wrong thing with this man. His deep fuckin’ bass voice is INCREDIBLE. Caiaphas’ higher range notes are effortless, seamless changes, he’s the best Caiaphas I’ve ever seen, and, though I don’t know for sure, I’m going out on a limb here to say will probably be the best Caiaphas I ever WILL see. His acting, flawless. He gets his character, he gets what Caiaphas is getting at, what his job is, what he has to do. He’s one badass mofo. His bald head and goatee and his makeup that makes his face look even slimmer and more hollow is excellent (and he does his own makeup by the way). He keeps his Caiaphas straight as an arrow, it’s like there’s a board extending from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, it’s amazing, just makes him look all the more menacing. On stage, especially next to Jeffrey, he looks about 6’8”, but at the stage door I met him twice now and he’s only 6’2”-6’4” because I’m 6’4” and he’s no taller than me. The costume helps too, of course. His facial expressions are spot on, his body movements are precise and his interaction with the other characters, perfect. Sweet, sweet guy at the stage door. Very gratifying that we enjoyed it so much and that we came to the Des Moines one as well. Couldn’t have been a nicer guy. From interviews I’ve read of him too, just a super guy with great work ethic and love for his cast members. He’s been with his partner for 25 years now, that’s an amazing relationship! He said he always finds a local gym to work out at, he spends his off time giving some of his cast members vocal lessons, he loves to teach. Funny, at the stage door this time, besides being so gracious, he gave my sister a peck on the cheek, then said “oh, well I have to give you on too” to my wife then I was all “eh?” and pointed to my cheek, haha, and he chuckled and gave me a peck too! It was funny…

Annas – Jeffrey Polk – He is just adorable, first and foremost! He’s 5’2” and FULL of spunk. He’s a bad ass on stage too. Such a good performer, he pokes out those high notes, which I like to see Annas blow those notes out of the water, but he does it great too. Oh he made me chuckled numerous times and how much of a dick he was to Judas during the blood money, etc scenes. He and Lawson interact so well together. Like Lawson his acting skills are toned to perfection and his facial expressions are to a T also. Love this guy too.

Pontius Pilate – Raymond Patterson – Well, he was interesting. I was super disappointed that Stephen B. wasn’t in the role, because he just took my breath away with his acting when I saw it in Des Moines and I was very excited to see him last night from the front row. Super excited…it was him and Lawson I was really looking forward too, so I was really sad to see it wasn’t him anymore. But I moved on, excited to see a new performer tackle the odd role of Pontius Pilate. That being said, I was not impressed with him in “Pilate’s Dream.” His vibrato was rather odd and it just didn’t do it for me. He had some emotions and some acting too it, but it just wasn’t special. Coming back on in the second act though he totally redeemed himself. His acting was stronger, he had a lot more script and raw emotion to work with obviously, and he had some better stronger notes to work with, but it was just tons better. Very strong acting and a very good strong voice in the second act. If you can’t tell I’m hedging the titles of the songs because I can’t remember what they’re called and I’m at work so I don’t have my program with me. He didn’t show the torture that Stephen showed when faced with Jesus for a second time and having to make a decision, which I know it’s not fair to make comparisons, oh well, but it was still very well played. Overall I like it quite a bit in the second half, which is the bulk of Pilate anyhow.

Herod – Daniel Guzman – Love him, love him, love him. He was fantastic. Such a performer. He milked every one of those laughs he was suppose to get, excellent comic timing, yet he could be serious when he needed to be and pissed off at Jesus and, he was just damn good. A great voice. So bummed we didn’t get to meet him at the stage door. Only has that one scene, so there’s not too much to say, but it was so good, sorry to compare but it was much better than Barry Dennen.

Simon – Brent Schindele (u/s) – He was not so good. He had an ok voice, not strong at all. He was beyond spazy and I just didn’t like him at all. He was way to pumped and spazy in his movements and acting to be a Simon. Ok voice by all means, but not spectacular and blah.

Peter – Johnny Hawkins – Eh, not very good either. Didn’t have a strong voice in the lower range OR in the upper range. He was just ok.

Overall, I loved it a lot! Everything was very good, a way above par show and they all loved what they were doing. The rest of the high priests their voices weren’t all that spectacular, the disciples voices were pretty good. But the leads shown through and that’s how it should be I guess. I’m sure there is a lot more I could say, and if anyone has questions, than by all means, but I’ll just wrap it up here.

Oh boy, am I EXCITED about tonight!!!

I found out it is the same cast we saw in Des Moines...which ROCKS because the Caiphas, all the high priests and Pontius Pilate are SOOOOOOO good!! And Annas is so funny! If it is indeed them I will be describing them ALL in my review tomorrow. Not to mention, if he's there, Barry Dennen is playing Herod (he was when I saw it in DSM) and he is the original Pontius Pilate, so damn! It's awesome to see a legend like that come back to the stage.

And we're sitting FRONT ROW, so we can see the whole thing up close and personal.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy, I couldn't be more excited!

A review will hopefully follow up on this blog some time tomorrow.

PICTURES OF THE AMAZING CAIAPHAS:

Caiaphas - Lawson Skala(and most of the high priests - the little guy on the left is Annas (Jeffrey Polk), that's why he's so funny because he's about 5'2" and Caiaphas is about 6'8")

Come on, how can you be afraid of a funny guy like Lawson?

Yeah! That's why...I just wish you could hear him sing!

Jesus - Eric Kunze




Mary Magdalene - Natalie Toro (HUGE breasts, it doesn't matter if you're male or female, everyone notices - and for some reason the web site has the most pictures of her...so that's why there's three of her, not because she has big boobs)




MORE PICTURES:

Just one of many articles on the late Howard Keel

Great musical theatre actor as well as hollywood actor who appeared in numerous shows made for movie, but especially Showboat, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Kiss Me, Kate.

Great actor/singer and from all accounts very great guy too!

As all good little theatre buffs know, RENT is coming out, finally, in movie form. There has been a lot of discussion of the cast being chosen and it’s finally starting to come together. Here’s what I know:

OBC – means, Original Broadway Cast member

Mark – Anthony Rapp (OBC)
Roger – Adam Pascal (OBC)
Mimi – Rosario Dawson
Maureen – Idina Menzel (OBC)
Benny – Taye Diggs (OBC)
Angel – Wilson Jermaine Heredia (OBC)
Joanne – Someone said Tracie Thoms, but it’s not confirmed

The director, which has been known for a while, is Chris Columbus (Harry Potter, Home Alone).

I post on a couple of theatre message boards and Anthony Rapp actually came on them both to tell us some of the news. He and his fellow OBCers have been offered the roles, but no one has signed a contract yet. Rosario was reported by playbill.com and yahoo news at least, so she must have signed a contract.

That’s what I know folks!

“You can’t make footprints in the sands of time by sitting on your butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?”
- - Bob Moawad
Professional Development Consultant

I’m depressed today. I didn’t want to be, but I am. Maybe it’s Monday, but I don’t think that’s it. That sucks too, because I have control over my own emotions, but secretly deep down in my psyche somewhere it’s telling me to be depressed today.

Hell, I have reason to be, but, everyone always has a reason to if they look hard enough for the reason. Some just don’t have to look as hard as others. Some choose to look, and I guess, some choose not to also.

You know something else I don’t like? And I do this with other people too, so I’m not one to talk, but, when people get mad or annoyed at me for being depressed. You know like when they say, “Look at my life THEN maybe you’d know what it’s like to be depressed.” Well, that’s all well and good buddy, but let’s take things in perspective. Everyone has their own degrees of life and things that are affecting them. Say some dude won 20 million dollars, if he walked up to me and told me he was depressed I’d be thinking “Fuck you” in my head, but just because he has money doesn’t mean he doesn’t have something else going on in his life. Or maybe what has him depressed isn’t as big a deal as what has me depressed, but it’s still important to him in his life.

Well, my wife calls me and always has something going wrong in her life and so she bitches to me about it and there’s nothing I can do and she’s never motivated enough to figure out a solution herself, especially without bitching about it a lot first…so I feel like I have to solve all of her problems because she can’t figure it out herself, and lots of times it’s because our lives our so unorganized and fucked up that things don’t ever go the way they’re suppose to. She needs the checkbook, I have it at work here with me, I work fucking 45 minutes from home so it’s not like she can just come and get it, and we can’t find any other checkbooks, which I’m not sure if there are any or if we need to order more, but I’d have to be damn well convinced we have more somewhere. But our apartment is a clean mess and we’re not organized in anyway, which has GOT to be partway Veronica’s fault, since she just doesn’t handle things well and doesn’t know much about maturity, though I have my downsides there too, but she’s worse. ANYTHING that involved bills or money or anything “grown up” I have to handle because she doesn’t know jack shit and doesn’t try to figure it out. I DIDN’T know jack shit, but kind of have to now because someone needs to and I just wish she would grow up and help! School is a very hard thing, that I know, but it doesn’t mean you get a free pass to the rest of your life because it’s so difficult, I had a wife and child and an apartment when I was in school, now I know she did more than me, which wasn’t much, while I was in school and gone for homework and plays etc. but when it came to most anything “grown up” if you know what I mean, it was still done by me. It’s hard to explain the frustration I have with her, but it’s obviously there!

So today’s problems are a number of things.

1.) We’re going to JCS here in Ames tomorrow and we need to buy 5 tickets for other people that are going with us. Well we have no credit card or debit card (long fucking story that just pisses me off so I’m not going to tell it) so all we have is our ATM card and our checkbook. Well I have the checkbook and she SAYS she can only get $100/day from the ATM machine which I don’t believe. So how is she going to get the tickets today? Well that I don’t actually know. But she was home searching for some more checks and getting pissed and getting pissed because I have the checkbook because I have some bills I took here to work to pay for and she has three classes today and only one hour break and she has to stop at the library and to go get the tickets which I don’t know how we’re going to do anymore and we’re having company over tonight and we have no food and no time to go to the grocery store because they’ll be over at 5:15 and that’s when I’ll get home from work and picking up Kaia and that’s when she’ll be home from class and she has to be back to school at 6:30 to rehearse for a percussion concert that she has at 7:30 that will last till 8:30 even though she only plays in the first song and so we have no supper, so she’s thinking of stopping at Papa Murphey’s for some pizza but I didn’t want to spend money on supper since we need to spend money at the grocery store to buy food so we have some suppers without going out to spend money to eat and…ugh…so you get the drift.

2.) Our STUPID in-home daycare worker takes every fuckin’ federal holiday off, DON’T ASK ME WHY, AND AND AND we have to pay her for it, because she PISSES ME OFF, but Kaia really likes her and she does a good job, mostly, I have some qualms, but that’s a different story. ANYWAY…so she gets Veteran’s day off AND WE HAVE TO PAY HER, did I mention that?! And so we have no one to watch Kaia because V has three classes that day and has already missed them because of other various Kaia sickness reasons before, and I have exactly three days of PTO left and can’t use it because we’re going to Washington for Christmas, and our ONLY babysitter is my parents because we’re a young couple with kids and know no one else and no one else that we’ve known long enough that Kaia knows them and wouldn’t scream because we’re leaving her with a complete stranger. We have my cousin but she JUST had a baby and has two other kids so I’m not even going to ask her, so that’s really frustrating. So we have no one to watch Kaia on Thursday, but my dad gets that day off, but I’m not going to ask him because they watch Kaia every time we have something to do, and plus he’s a HUGE hunter and so he’ll probably be gone all day hunting anyway, and they don’t watch Kaia ALL that much except for this past couple of weeks because we’ve had rehearsals for the show we’re in, and even though it’s only a couple hours from 6:30-9 you know, this past week it was everyday since we opened this past weekend and then we’re to my parents house every weekend anyway to do laundry, and though they’d HATE it if we stopped coming over, I think they do get burned out maybe, I don’t know, but it feels like I inconvenience them every time I ask them to watch Kaia even though I KNOW that’s not true because they love her so much and have said how pissed they’d be if we moved away like my sister did! But…it’s hard to explain. So we’re in a tight spot there…and I asked them to watch Kaia on Tuesday night so we could go to the show, and it felt like I was inconveniencing them, but after this weekend after next our show will be over and we wont see them except for on Saturdays and Sundays and then things can start going back to normal, but JEEZ, it sucks.

Me at work I don’t like and 45 minutes away and Veronica a full time double major at college and being young with a child and not much money and no friend to speak of except a couple fully single friends in Des Moines who have lives and money and no cares in the world but work and so it’s safe to say we don’t have a normal life in any way shape or form and some times it gets overwhelming.


Now I know this may not be much to some of you compared to what’s going on in your lives, but it is hard to put out into words what goes on everyday and how our lives work, but I had to get all that out, even though it’s really only the tip of the iceberg, and I did, so I guess I feel a little better.


I’m sorry, I probably came off as a real dickhead, but I’m having a bad day…

Oh, P.S. I got a “fuck you very much” letter from The Story County Advertiser on Friday. It’s not surprising, and not really surprising that it was in a letter even though he said he’d call. Which always makes me a little depressed because of my lack of skills and education I received at college and how I don’t have time to improve my skills and can’t go back to college for another degree right now, etc. etc. but….that’s another topic that will probably never be written on and just live in my head slowly eating away at me every day until something possibly comes along to make me feel better!


MY DAY JUST GOT A LITTLE BETTER: V just called and told me we have FRONT ROW tickets to JCS tomorrow!!!! AND AND AND the tickets were $23.40 a piece!!!! Front row…cheap…front row…aahh!!

Oh, and V found another checkbook, so that little fiasco is solved. Life moves on, I'm always frustrated as hell with her and she likewise, but for some reason we still love each other...go figure!

This is unofficial since Veronica has some at home that I haven't heard about yet...but here's the list as of a few days ago:

1. 1776 – Original Broadway Cast Recording
2. 42nd Street – Original Broadway Cast Recording
3. A Chorus Line – Original Broadway Cast Recording
4. Aida – Original Broadway Cast Recording
5. Annie – Original Broadway Cast Recording
6. Annie Get Your Gun – The New Broadway Cast Recording
7. Anyone Can Whistle- Original Broadway Cast
8. Aspects of Love- Original Broadway Cast
9. Assassins – 1991 Original Off-Broadway Cast
10. Assassins – 2004 The Broadway Cast Recording
11. Avenue Q – The Musical – Original Broadway Cast Recording
12. Bat Boy – The Musical – Original Cast Recording
13. Beauty and the Beast – The Broadway Musical – The Original Cast Recording
14. Big: The Musical – Original Cast Recording
15. Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Original Broadway Cast Recording
16. Bombay Dreams – The Original London Cast
17. The Boy From Oz – Broadway Original Cast Album
18. Brigadoon – Original Broadway Cast Recording
19. *Bye Bye Birdie- Original Broadway Cast
20. Bye Bye Birdie – The New Soundtrack Recording
21. Cabaret – The New Broadway Cast Recording
22. *Carousel
23. Cats – Original Broadway Cast Recording
24. Cats- Original London Cast Recording
25. Camelot – Original Broadway Cast
26. Chess – Not sure which one…
27. Chicago – The Musical - Broadway Cast Revival Cast Recording
28. Chicago – Music from the Miramax Motion Picture
29. Children of Eden – Papermill Playhouse 1998 New Jersey Cast
30. *Cinderella- Original Broadway Cast
31. *Cinderella- New Movie Cast
32. City of Angels – Original Broadway Cast Recording
33. *Company-Original Broadway Cast
34. *Damn Yankees
35. *Do Re Mi
36. Das Phantom der Oper – Deutsche Originalaufnahme
37. Evita – The Complete Motion Picture Movie Soundtrack
38. Fame – 1999 Original American Cast Recording
39. Fiddler on the Roof – Original London Cast Recording
40. Finian’s Rainbow – Original Cast Recording
41. Five Guy’s Named Moe – Original London Cast Recording
42. Flower Drum Song – The New Broadway Cast Recording
43. Footloose – The Original Broadway Cast Recording
44. Fosse – Original Broadway Cast Recording
45. The Frogs/Evening Primrose – 2001 Studio Cast
46. The Full Monty – The Broadway Musical
47. Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A – Original Broadway Cast
48. Godspell – 2000 Off-Broadway Cast Recording
49. Grease – The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture
50. Guys and Dolls – 1992 Broadway Revival Cast
51. *Gypsy- Original Broadway Cast
52. Hair- Original Broadway Cast
53. Hair – Original Soundtrack Recording
54. Hairspray – Original Broadway Cast Recording
55. Hedwig and the Angry Inch – Not sure which one…
56. How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying – The New Broadway Cast Recording
57. I Do! I Do! – Original Broadway Cast Recording
58. I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change – Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording
59. Into the Woods – Original Broadway Cast Recording
60. Into the Woods – Broadway Revival Cast Recording
61. Jack: The Musical – Demo CD
62. Jekyll & Hyde - The Musical – The Original Broadway Cast Recording
63. Jekyll & Hyde – The Concept Album
64. Jesus Christ Superstar – Movie Soundtrack
65. Jesus Christ Superstar – A New Stage Production Soundtrack
66. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Starring Jason Donovan – 1991 London Revival
67. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Starring Michael Damian – 1993 L.A. Cast
68. *Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
69. Kiss of the Spider Woman - The Musical – The New Broadway Cast Recording
70. Kiss Me Kate - The New Broadway Cast Recording
71. La Cage Aux Folles – Original Broadway Cast Recording
72. The Last Five Years – Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording
73. Les Miserables – Original Broadway Cast Recording
74. Les Miserables – The Original London Cast
75. The Lion King - Original Broadway Cast Recording
76. Little Night Music, A – Original Broadway Cast Recording
77. *Little Shop of Horrors- Original Off-Broadway Cast
78. Little Shop of Horrors – Movie Soundtrack
79. Little Shop of Horrors - The New Broadway Cast Recording
80. *Mame- Original Cast
81. Mamma Mia! – The Musical – Original Broadway Cast Recording
82. Man of La Mancha - The New Broadway Cast Recording
83. Miss Saigon – Original London Cast Recording
84. The Music Man – Disney Movie Soundtrack – Matthew Broderick
85. *My Fair Lady
86. Newsies – The Musical – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
87. Oklahoma! – Not sure which one…
88. Once Upon a Mattress – Original Broadway Cast
89. Once Upon a Mattress – The New Broadway Cast Recording
90. The Pajama Game- Original Cast Recording
91. Parade – Original Broadway Cast Recording
92. Phantom – 1992 Studio Cast
93. Phantom of the Opera – The Original Cast Recording
94. Pippin – Original Cast Album
95. The Pirates of Penzance – Original Broadway Cast
96. *Porgy and Bess
97. The Producers – Original Broadway Cast Recording
98. Putting it Together
99. Ragtime – The Musical – Original Broadway Cast Recording
100. RENT – Original Broadway Cast Recording
101. RENT – Hungarian Cast Recording
102. RENT – Icelandic Cast Recording
103. RENT – 1998 Mexico Cast Recording
104. RENT – Swedish Cast Recording
105. Rocky Horror Picture Show – Movie Soundtrack
106. The Scarlet Pimpernel- Original Broadway Cast Recording
107. The Secret Garden – The Original Broadway Cast Album
108. Seussical the Musical – Original Cast Recording
109. Smokey Joe’s Cafe – The Songs of Leiber and Stoller
110. Song & Dance – The Songs – Bernadette Peters
111. Songs For a New World – A Musical Revue - World Premiere Recording
112. South Pacific – Music from the ABC Premiere Event
113. Starlight Express – The New
114. Steel Pier – Original Broadway Cast Recording
115. Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Original Broadway Cast Recording
116. Sweet Charity – Original Cast Recording
117. Sweet Smell of Success – Original Broadway Cast Recording
118. Taboo – Original Broadway Cast Recording
119. Thoroughly Modern Millie - Original Broadway Cast Recording
120. Thou Shalt Not - Original Broadway Cast Recording
121. tick, tick…Boom! – Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording
122. Titanic – A New Musical - Original Broadway Cast Recording
123. *Tommy
124. Urinetown – The Musical – Original Cast Recording
125. We Will Rock You: Rock Theatrical – Official Recording Live at the Dominion London
126. West Side Story – Original Broadway Cast Recording
127. West Side Story – Original Soundtrack Recording
128. Wicked – Original Broadway Cast Recording
129. The Wild Party – Lippa’s 2000 Off-Broadway Cast Recording
130. The Wiz – Original Cast Album
131. You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown – The Original Cast Album
132. You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown – The Broadway Revival Cast

Ever wondered these things? I have.

I find myself going to the bathroom at work, and when I’m done, since 98% of the time I’m there by myself I just go ahead and look at myself in the mirror, then turn around and try to look back and see what my butt looks like in whatever pants I’m wearing. You gotta wonder that sometimes.

I look at myself backwards, well try, and I know I don’t look quite like that because I’m twisting, whereas from someone else’s point of view I don’t look twisted. So as I’m looking at myself backwards I try to walk and see what my butt looks like when I walk. What type of butt walker am I?

You know the types:

“Never ending crack” woman is the one that has her pants so far up her behind you’d think it never ends. Gross…now this typically happens on a woman, but there are men versions. And there are sublter versions that are a branch of the "never ending crack" family known as "suction cheeks"

“Mover and a Shaker” woman is the one that jiggles and shakes and bounces soo much you wonder how their legs look so normal walking when their bottom is jiggling so much. Now this typically happens on a woman, but there are men versions.

“Ghetto Booty” woman has, and I quote David Yazbeck’s musical The Full Monty

Horse
She got a butt like a battleship!
I don't need to look above the hip

She got that shelf kinda ass ... you could display your tchotchkes, your collectibles on there.

Baby got back. That's a fact
You could park a wide-track Pontiac in that crack
Now that's the goods
The bigger the cushion -

Jerry
She's got a sofa-bed back there!

You see what I mean now. Once again, typically women, but I have seen a male “ghetto booty” before. Now certainly don’t get me wrong here, I know a woman who has “ghetto booty” but she also has “damn!” butt (see below) so not all ghetto booty is bad, and it’s all in the eye of the beholder anyway. Variations on “ghetto booty” include: “bubble butt” and “j-lo butt”

“Slanted Butt Cheeks” now there is someone I know that has the “slanted butt cheeks” butt. This is a mystery to me and I don’t know if anyone is going to follow me. It’s like if you were to take nicely shaped butt cheeks and set them up right and normal like butt cheeks on a woman with a really nice butt then take them and ever so slightly slant them like so, / \ and make them all perky, that’s what it is. She is really skinny and she has had a kid and you cannot tell ONE bit. It’s a really nice butt and all my guy friends like it a lot, but it’s just weird how they kind of slant…

“Inward slant” or more commonly referred to as “No butt” man, and sometimes woman, has just as it’s commonly referred to as, “no butt.” It’s like an inward slant of the pants because there is no butt there to hold the pants up. My uncle has this big and bad and our family makes fun of him for it, it’s quite funny. You all know someone with “no butt” syndrome.

“My hips are part of my butt” woman or more commonly known as “saddle bags” is the one that’s hips are just a continuation of their butt. They have fairly nice skinny legs, but you get up to the hip and it’s just ( on one side and ) on the other side extended out from the buttial region.

And finally “damn!” butt. It’s the (for guys) woman that just makes you same “damn!” every time you see their ass and (for women) the man that you see that just makes you say “damn!”

Those are just a few of the common butts found in America, if you know more feel free to respond and they can be added to the list, with credit due to you of course. And like I said earlier, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, some people like “my hips are my butt” and some don’t, some like “inward slant” (don’t ask me why J) and some don’t.

This is all typically found in a woman, they just have so many variations on their body style, whereas a man just has a butt mostly.

Anyway…so after looking at myself in the mirror enough and from what others have said, I’d tend to call myself an “inward slant” or “no butt” man. How about you?

“Opening night…..it’s opening night”
The Producers: The Musical

That’s right, it’s opening night folks. Last night we had a show for JSTT patrons and one reviewer from Des Moines, but tonight is official opening night.

We should get our review from him today some time, so that’s exciting! I hope he doesn’t say “Everyone did a superior job, except for Lars, he just didn’t seem to be able to find his characters.” That would make me sad because I think I’m doing very well in this show and I’ve never been reviewed before and am actually a little confident in myself!

We did fairly well last night, I was happy with it, no one screwed up! The CD player screwed up and left our Rick high and dry for about 5 minutes. He then proceeded to throw a diva fit and attack the director backstage who was already in a tissy back stage trying to figure out why our CD player worked for pre-show music but then all of a sudden wasn’t working 5 minutes later, so they yelled at each other the first break we had in the show and that was uncomfortable…

My characters are Thursby/Vangilder/Rigfield and yes it is written in the script to be played by one actor. Thursby is a two bit gun-runner who gets murdered and as he is dying sings “It Was…” while dancing his death tango with Rick (yes, it is as funny as it sounds!). Vangilder is a Dutch blackmailer, until he is murdered as well (yes, funny accent!). And Rigfield is a British Deputy Inspector (yes, another accent!).

Everyone that I know that lives in Iowa come see it! (Hell, I don’t have to know you for you to come see it either) I guarantee it will be a fun night.

Here is the info again:

JUDGE STORY'S THEATRICAL TROUPE presents:
Murder at Café Noir
A comic tribute to the Bogart Movies of the 1940's by David Landau

November 5-7, 12-14, 19-21, 2004
Fridays & Saturdays - 6 pm Social Hour - 7 pm Dinner & Show
Sundays - 5 pm Social Hour - 6 pm Dinner & Show

The Cottage on Broad
410 Broad Street
Story City
Reservations: 515-773-4376
http://www.cottageonbroad.com
Tickets: $30 (non-refundable) includes dinner & show.

This forties detective story come to life features Rick Archer, P.I., out
to find a curvaceous runaway on the forgotten island of Mustique, a place
stuck in a black-and-white era. The owner of the Cafe Noir has washed
ashore, murdered, and Rick's quarry was the last person seen with him. He
employs his hard-boiled talents to find the killer. Was it the French
Madame and club manager, the voodoo priestess, the shyster British
attorney, the black marketeer or the femme fatale? The audience votes
twice on what they want Rick to do next and these decisions change the
flow of this comic tribute to the Bogart era.

Cast List:
Rick Archer, P.I. - Robby
Madam Toureau - Marla
Sheila Wonderly - Andrea
Anthony Cairo - Clay
Marie LaRue - Veronica
Simon Gutterman - Adam
Thursby/VanGilder/Rigfield - Lars

Director - Jena

This is very disappointing and, in all honesty, very depressing.

In Clean Sweep, 11 States Pass Bans on Same-Sex Marriages

Especially this passage from the article:

"The proposed amendments in Mississippi, Montana and Oregon referred only to marriage, specifying that it should be limited to unions of one man and one woman. The measures in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah called for a ban on civil unions as well."

I have nothing more to say at this time, it disgusts me...

I haven't posted in quite some time.

Well, I'm sick. I think I have bronchitis, I'll have to go to the doctor tomorrow to see. My nose is being all pissy too, it sucks since I need to be healthy for the next three weeks for my show. I can't go today because right after work I have to go vote then head right off to rehearsal, we open this weekend!!

Voting is today, I'm voting, as I mentioned above.

Kaia is sick too, but her's is UTI and some hardcore bad constipation. We got some antibiotics to help her, so hopefully that will take effect soon, because she is in such pain and it's so sad! And when she's trying to have a BM she crys and screams and doesn't want anyone to touch her, but we're still there for moral support, poor little girl :-( :-(

This bronchitis that I think I have is wearing me down like no one's business, but I'll have to pull it out like a trooper for my show, since people are coming to see me. And a reviewer from Des Moines is coming on Thursday to review the show!

OH, the job, I am still waiting. I called him back and he said he was busy and talking to a few more people and he would make his decision soon, so...still waiting! Not very confident yet, since he still hasn't talked to my references, so that can't be good.

Oh, I'm sure there is a lot more going on, but I can't remember everything.

Up to about 120 musical cast recordings, had to buy a new book to keep them all in today! :-)

SONG ON MY MIND:
"For Good"
~Wicked