Blah Blahbity Blah Blah Blah

So much has gone in the last few months, I don't know where to start. I am no longer the lonely pathetic man that most of you know me to be. :) I also have been working a lot, and career prospects are looking up. On top of that, the podcast continues to grow, and I've been hard at work on my next book, the short story collection. I am generally pretty happy and busy, and I miss those friends I have had so little contact with due to our conflicting schedules.

Speaking of missed friends, my friend Jonathan Stewart reminded me that I never wrote a review of Center Stage Player's Rocky Horror Show in October. it was FANTASTIC!!!! I saw it twice! Esther Stinson rocked the stage as Magenta. Jonathan wore a ridiculously cool costume leading the band, and Michael Newsome directed it wonderfully. I can't remember what Mary Sink did, but I remember she did it well, and that she was backstage. Ed Eblin cracked me up as the narrator. I wish I could write in more detail, but it has been a long time. I can't wait for the show next year, as well as the shows the company will do before then, because they always do a great job.

Ohio primary elections are today. I slept through four alarms, even though I set them early and went to bed early. I was actually late for work this morning, although not late enough to matter, they didn't care. But I had planned on going to vote before school. I have to go straight to my second job this evening, so I won't get to vote. Those of you who know me know that I am deeply disappointed. I follow the political stage quite loyally. Oh, well. This sucks.

I saw The Other Boleyn Girl this weekend. For my review of that, the season finale of Project Runway, New Amsterdam, and other stuff, check out the podcast I host, The Good, The Bad, & The Geeky at www.dribbleforkids.com/GBG or on iTunes.

Speaking of the podcast, my cohost Nick will be at MegaCon in Orlando, FL this weekend so Jon and I will be doing it without him, though we hope to have a guest fill in. I was not able to attend the convention, but my books are on sale there, and so is a new short story! Well, the short story is free. But only convention attendees will be able to get it, unless you personally know me and ask me nicely. :)

No Qop this time as the post is already too long, but expect another one soon!

Welcome Back, Wetzel

Taking a cue from my good friend Mr. Kotter, I welcome you all back to a new edition of my blog! The summer is over for me, and as such I promise regular updates of at least once a week. I'd love to do them more often, but things are about to get even more busy for me, if that is possible. I would love to tell you all about my summer, such as all the hours worked and class took, but that would be boring. Instead, I present 7 Fun Things That Happened to me!

1. I played duck-duck-goose with adults. Yes, adults. No, not those young adults in their twenties, but real adults whose age ranged from late 30's up into the 60's. It was quite fun. My family rocks. And are creative on getting a seat when there aren't enough chairs around the campfire.
2. I saw Jonathan star in Bye Bye Birdie. Yes, I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating He did a really great job, and it was really cool.
3. I drove Lisa to and from her job a few times. This was fun because I got to see her. I did hang out with her a couple of times that weren't job related, but I enjoyed those drives and frozen beverages.
4. Karoke night at Havana was also fun. Again, Lisa was involved, as were Joe, Mary, Esther, Cindy, Evan, and many others. I'm not a great singer, but I appreciate their encouragement and support. I look forward to more fun nights with them soon.
5. I watched lots of Gilmore Girls with Amanda and sometimes Andrea. Amanda sat through 12 seasons of Buffy and Angel with me, and this was her TV pick. We're late into Season 4 now, and I'm really enjoying it.
6. I went drinking with my Champps coworkers plenty of times. This was much fun.
7. I got a new kitten less than two weeks ago. His name is Snugglebunny Fucktard. Thanks to my brother David for helping me name him. Pics and stories of S.F. to come soon.

Qop!
"Up your nose with a rubber hose!" ~ Various characters from Welcome Back Kotter!

City of Angels

I went down to Axis last night and saw City of Angels, a musical several of my friends were in. It was great. I highly recommend everyone goes and sees it next Friday night. You can get tickets at centerstageplayers.com To be honest, I think my friends were among the most, if not the most, talented in the cast. Jonathan had a small part, but he cracked me up, especially when rubbing lotion on a hot woman's leg and acting like he liked it. :) Mary and Lisa were members of the quartet, which was a sort of chorus but much more interesting, and they were hilarious! They did lots of cool stuff that kind of held the shoe together. Mary's facial expressions were to die for, and when Lisa grabbed Jonathan and held his face in her boobs, I almost peed my pants. I saved Michael for last because all I can say about him is... WOW! He played a Latina cop out to get the detective in the murder mystery, and every time he came on stage, he totally stole the show. He was a larger than life character, and his musical number was the best. I can't wait to see them all star in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in April. Esther and I are prepetual audience members now. :)

Also, the Grey's Anatomy spinoff, Taye Diggs is going to costar! And it will be an ensemble cast. Cool. Oh, and I moved the speakers and laptop away from my TiVo, and it seems to be working fine again. Who ever knew that that would mess things up?

Qop!
"You bitch!" ~ Jonathan's improved line when the hot women exposes his homosexuality

Randomness Yet Again

Ok, so it is too much to put all my memories in one week, so I am doing one year per week. Here are a few more freshmen memories that I thought of, and then I have some fun news headline for you all!
FRESHMAN:
~Erin and Esther and Kelly lipsinking I Touch Myself as Erin and Esther danced on Nathan andI ~My Christmas party: Julie, Nora, Cindy, Brianna, Esther, Erin, Nathan, and WJ crashers
~Going to see a midnight CPC movie with Kenny starring Jolie and falling asleep
~Enterprise premiered
~Tricking Amber and K with my Wizard trick
~Staying at the Hilton at Easton for band tour

INSANE NW HEADLINES - SIGNS OF THE END TIMES??? :)
~Governor Taft was voted the least approved governor in the country by the first ever all-governor poll. He only got a 19% approval rating. The next highest had 27%. Taft sucks.
~Girl from Portsmouth found to have Lyme Disease - green braclets made to support her
~Cell phones are costing colleges tons of money in lost phone charges and having to dial long distance numbers to reach students. Boo-hoo.
~Two people who were bad at reading maps flew over DC and caused a panic that evacuated the White House and the Capital. Hahaha. The men were not charged as it was an accident.
~Another proof of gayness is genetic, not a choice. Gay men have been found to read maps like straight women - badly. They don't have spatial intelligence.
~ Jennifer Garner is pregnant and engaged to Affleck, whose ex J-Lo is in a movie opposite Garnmer's ex Michael Vartan
~ABC is remaking The Ten Commandments because they like screwing with classics. Naveen Andrews of Lost will play Menerith. They start filming May 23.
~ West Virginia is trying to start their own Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their first entry? Don Knotts
~Elf found hanging in tree

And Question Week Continues!
Tuesday - Why do they sell boxes of boxes?
Wednesday - Does anybody really know what time it is?
Thursday - Does anybody really care?

Qop!
"I didn't feel anything at all. I hope I'm not some kind of psychopath." ~ Chloe to Edgar on 24

Bonus Qops!
"We don't have time for your personality disorder." ~ said to Chloe on 24
"If you need to talk to someone, I'm here. You know, not now, later." ~ Chloe to Jack on 24

Scoring

Hmm. That title best sums up the topics I wanted to cover today, but get your mind out of the gutter. I'm not talking about scoring as in sex. Well not really, anyway. :)

Firstly, we had the annual Flyer's manager meeting / bowling tournament. West Jeff won this year, finally beating Galloway, who I believe has won every year up to this point. So like the last 3 years or so. Anyway, I ended up getting the second highest score for West Jeff in two rounds and third highest in the first game. Scott, my boss and owner, got first in all three. The Ulreys are all great bowlers. Anyway, it was close, but we scored and West Jeff won. Yay! I need to bowl more. I miss the every week trips with Timmy, Julie, Esther, Erin, Ivan, Nora, Scott, and assorted others. Aww.

Second, I watched Citizen Kane and RKO 281 this week. For those of you who don't know, Citizen Kane is widely considered to be the greatest American film ever made. Honestly, it's pretty boring, but that just means I need to watch it again because I didn't understand it enough. Basically it tells the story of William Randolph Hearst, one of the most powerful men in America when the film was made and basiclly owner of the entire national media. RKO 281 is the story behind the movie, and was made recently by HBO and stars a great cast. That movie is much more interesting. It's a good thing Orsen Wells made CK just before Hearst went backrupt, or it could have cost him his life, career, his everything. Yet it still cost him a lot. It's about figuring out the score of one's life. Very intriguing.

Thirdly, and this absurd notion just occured to me, and please don't read too much into it. Love stinks. You know that? I mean, I am just starting to date someone and am happy with the way things are going, but it occured to me what a raw deal love is. I mean, we've gone on two dates, I've spent like...um, I don't even know. Let's say around $75? They were pretty cheap dates, thank goodness because I'm poor right now. :) Then you talk about time, gas, etc. And we haven't even decided if this is just dating or if it'll ever be something more. How many other things do people just throw in tons of time, money, effort, energy, and souls to attain a goal they may or may not get? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for love. It is always totally worth it in the end. Even a bad relationship I had in the past, I wouldn't try to figure out how much I spent or keep score of how it turned out. And I'm not caring about money now. True love in the end, whether it be with the person I'm seeing now or someone I have yet to meet, only time will tell, is always well worth it. It's worth ten times what you end up paying. Yet from a logical standpoint, it seems really stupid and it stinks. Hmms. Well cynicism can kiss my ass because I love love. :)

JESUS!!!

I'm sorry I did not post on this last night, but last night was pretty emotional for me and I needed stress relief with friends, not writing. Last night was the second anniversary of Timmy J's death. I actually forgot until Nathan called me to tell me the Kingsmen were heading out to the dam. I got there about 45 minutes or so before the rest and just stood staring out over the water. I miss Timmy greatly. Everytime I think about him, I still get emotional. Yes, the vast majority of my memories of Timmy were good. I will share some in a moment. But the last two years, when concerning Timmy, have not been easy. And I'm not even in that circle of family or lifelong friends. I knew him just over a year. Yet I thought I had a great connection with him in that year and valued him a lot. These are the things I thought about as I looked over the water. Where was he now? Is he looking down on us? I thought I saw his face in a cloud, but I'm sure it was just my imagination. One of the Kingsmen joked that the lunar eclipse last night was because Timmy got in the way of the moon. :) Maybe he was right.

I met Timmy at bandcamp my freshman year. He was so enthusiastic. Listening to him wail away on his trombone to "Do What You Wanna" was a highlight. That fall I went out to dinner with Timmy, Evan, Erin, Esther, and Scott for Evan's birthday. Since everyone mentioned is graduated, I don't think I can get them in trouble. At that dinner Timmy 'made' me sign a contract on a napkin that said I would not pledge any other fraternity besides Kings. I had spent many nights bowling with those guys. Imagine the college's shock had they found out that an illegal contract was drawn up to a freshman signed by King's Treasure, Consistution Chairman, and the President of EKT as well as a couple of witnesses.

When I lived in the King house, Timmy used to open my mail. One day I was expecting a box of DVDs and Columbia House mailed the wrong one. Timmy opened it up and found Barbie's Nutcracker. I don't think he ever let me live that one down. I swear I did not order it, nor did I keep it! :) Many nights were spent hanging with him on that porch. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.

I went bowling a lot, and a lot of times Timmy was there. Wednesday, just a few days before the Saturday that he died, Timmy rode with me to the bowling alley. We got a chance to talk, and I really connected with the guy. Saturday, the afternoon before he died, I was trying to help him get a date with Amber, Whore Bitch's (Whom I was dating at the time) roommate. It wasn't exactly a success, but I am so greatful for getting to talk to him about important things the day he died.

The day we all found out will always vividly live in my memory. I had gone to work Sunday morning to work one of my 16 hours shifts. By noon Nathan was in tears on the phone with me. I know I didn't leave that office at work, despite the orders popping up on the screen. I called every manager and owner until one of them would come in for me, and then I sped back to Westerville. I tried to make sense of everything. I called my dad. I called Dr. Boehm. No one had any information, but I just wanted to get back. I stopped at the WB's room, then headed over to the police-taped-off King house. Andy & Andie were sitting in front of it. The sight chilled me. I walked down to the police station where the entire fraternity was gathering. People got off work and rushed home. We came together that night like no other. We cried, we hugged, we went to a small service the campus put on, we went to the dam, and most of all we joked and shared our memories through our tears. Last year we did a similiar ritual, and this year was a sort of like that too, except most of the old guys are gone now. It was my pledge class talking to the young guys who didn't know him. Jason asked them to keep the tradition alive. I plan to be sitting out on the dam next October 27. Please honor his memory if you knew him and do the same.