Happy 2008!

This is the first post in a long while, and the first of the new year. Now that student teaching is over, I hope to be updating this blog once or twice a week again. Thank you all for bearing with me during my hiatus, and hope you will come back now that I have returned. I was on break from many things, not just the blog, but there is still new material on www.actorsnightmare.com with more to come later this week. Check it out for the latest content from me, as well as our weekly podcast, which is also available on iTunes. There is also a short film on that web site that Nick and I did for the holidays entitled The Apartment. Check it out.

MY TOP TEN TELEVISION PREMIERS OF 2007:
10. Life
9. The Big Bang Theory
8. Chuck
7. Private Practice
6. Reaper
5. Hidden Palms
4. Pushing Daisies
3. Dirty Sexy Money
2. Gossip Girl
1. Damages

Qop! (Pushing Daisies)
Chuck: You can't just touch someone's life and be done with it.
Ned: Yes, I can. That's how I roll.

Lots of Sunshine

Those of you who know me, know that I dislike being outside when it's very hot, especially without a good reason. And standing around watching people have fun is not a good reason. :) Search has been my lot for three days of the past six. I won't go into details, but thank goodness it won't continue. I HATE humidity. That's not to say I don't like to be outside. There are lots of fun things to do outside. I just hate being hot. It's why summer is my least favorite season.
Anyway, Memorial Day was great. We had a big family part at the 'rents' house. Lots of food and good times, and corn hole. Someone was even given the nickname 'The Hole', which I think was rather risque, but that's my family for you.
My mother decided to help one of her nieces get even with her older sister (the kids in question here are in Kindergarten and Fourth grade) by getting some water balloons. They all had a little fun tossing some balloons. Then my 17 year old brother Bob told me he needed my help. I said ok, as long as I don't get wet. He assured me I wouldn't. At first, his plan seemed sound. He and I help up two sides of a big slingshot, while another little cousin pulled it to the ground. The balloons sailed over the house and hit the unsuspecting people in the backyard. And the house is TALL, yet they did make it over. Well, mostly they missed people. But there was intent. Then my Uncle Joe, age 35 going on 11, the youngest of my mom's five siblings, comes running around the house and hits...you guess it...ME with a balloon! My shorts were soaked! So I helped them finish off the bucket, saving one balloon for myself. I start to run towards the backyard, payback on my mind, when my uncle comes running around, too, only feet in front of me. Direct hit to the chest! I left a welt. Oops. No hard feelings, though. Then my brother David, age nineteen, sprays me down with a hose, voiding the me not getting wet further. I managed to get the hose and soak David back. Lots of water was tossed around, and my uncle and I both ended up changing clothes, but it was a good time.

Qop! (from Kitchen Confidential)
Jack Bourdain: Tanya, let's talk. Let me start by saying you're very sweet and stylish. One might say that you... you put the "ho" in "hostess."
Tanya: Why, thank you!

April Fool's

Happy birthday Grandma! 76 years young today.

I walked into Champps tonight to discover a disturbing notice posted on the office door. Apparently there will be a meeting next Saturday morning at 7am, mandatory to all employees. It announced that Champps had been bought out and our location was to be renamed U-Cinema Bar & Grill. Made sense to me. We were right in front of a movie theater, afterall. The notice went on to say there would be hour changes, menu changes, and of course, theme changes. We would each be required to choose three characters from movies or television shows to dress up as. At this point, most of the staff stopped reading and began to loudly complain. Several threatened to work out when they read this. I kept reading and learned that a small stage would be installed, and every hour we would be required to perform skits and scenes. This is when a little bell went off in my head that today was April 1st. April Fool's Day. So as gullible as I am, I didn't fall for it nearly as much as many others, who only half read it. Still, mad props to TJ, for a fantastic April Fool's prank.

Qop!
"She said Paolo lies." ~ Hurley, Lost
(she actually said 'paralyzed' are they dead???)

I'm an Ungreatful Prick

So the jury is back. I'm an ungreatful prick. Seriously. I have never considered myself thus before, and am having trouble considering myself that now, but after a truly rotten Christmas, and a ton of alcohol, the conclusion is made. Why is it so? Here is the COMPLETE story, not the ones my relatives seem to be getting. BTW, I am more than a bit drunk as I type this.
Every year ALL of my presents, at least the last few years, have been clothes. Those of you that know me know that I don't like clothes. In fact, I hate clothes. i only buy them when I absolutly need them. At the moment, I have a pretty good supply. So I have told me mom before that I hate getting just clothes, but the last few months, I have emphasized this point to her. While I would prefer no clothes at all, I begged her to just let one present not be clothes. one book, one cd, on dvd, SOMETHING besides the clothes that I hate to get. I said I would rather have money or nothing at all than the endless load to clothes that I hate. So Christmas morning arrives and I open, not just clothes, but really sucky clothes. Present one was white socks. WHITE socks. I wear black sock six days a week because I can ony wear black to the schools or to Champps, and have plenty of just fine white socks. Yet she buys me many pairs, unwrapped, so i can't even return them. Then comes a pair of black dress shoes. The EXACT same dress shoes that were my sole birthday present last march. No, they ar ejust fine. actually, she bought me ugly dress shoes and i returned them for the ones i currently wear. So she bought me anothert pair, even though I don't need them. Then comes a p[air of blue dress pants. Now she knows (I hate blue. I have NEVER worn blue dress pants. EVER. I HATE them. Then a pair of blakc dress pants that I kinda of need, but will take back because of all the clothes. I'm not happy about it, but I don't sitr abnd bitch endlessly about it either.
I take all; the hate dshit to me room and stay away. Yet I am bad mouthed constrantly all day. When the aunt i thought understood me very well told me i should hgave just said thank you and forgotten it, I left. Granted, I had consumed enough alcohol to put me in a decent mood up until then and I shouldn't have driven, but I did, and I made it home just fine, thankfully/. Yet, obviously I am just a selfishprick who should take what I get, even when UI specifgically ask her nbot to get it. Obviously.

Oh, anmd btw, the same 'adult' gift exhancge I have participated in the last four yearts in my family once again ended with me getting nothing. Literally this year, as I let my 5 year old cousin ahve the stuffed snoopy i ended up with. I think I just won't do it next year. And I plan to have a new apartment by feb. 1st. Anyone want to be my roommate? I could really use one.

Qop!
None. I am too angry.

You're A Mean One, Mr. Jim

I am writing this at a quarter til nine of Christmas morning. This is the latest we have EVER opened presents. Most of the house is still asleep. The last few years, my sister has been waking us up around 7. It was a bit annoying, when my brothers and I tended to stay up hanging out and having fun on Christmas Eve. Last year I came up with a devious scheme to sneak into Malissa's room and set her clock back several hours. She finally came out of her room well after the time Mom and Dad told her she had to sleep to and asked if she could watch tv until it was time. They laughed and told her that it was later than she thought it was. To put it mildly, she was furious. Everyone else thought it was the funniest thing ever, including all the relatives we saw later in the day.
This year, we knew that wouldn't work on her. I convinced my parents to let me keep her up last night watching tv so that she wouldn't wake us all up so early. They agreed pretty easily, probably wanting their sleep, too. So I kept her up until about midnight, let her drink pop and stuff, then I went to sleep, leaving her still awake and wired. When I woke up just a few minutes ago, I crept past the sleeping house up to her room and shook her awake saying, "Hurry up! Get up! Time to open presents!" When she jumped out of bed I laughed and said, "Just kidding! No one else is up." Now she's up earlier than she wanted to be and still can't open presents.

Ain't I a stinker?

:) :) :)

Qops! (courtesy National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation)
CLARK: Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse.

CLARK: Hey. If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is. Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where's the Tylenol?

Feliz Holimas

Ok, so I promised to post more this month than last, and I think I fulfilled that obligation. This is my 4th posting this month, wheras in November I only posted twice. This month you get TWICE as many of my thoughts. Considering some months I posted 10 or 12 times, this makes me sad. However, considering that that was during my brief period of one job, no classes, no life, I don't think it's fair to expect 10-12. So I am setting my 2006 goal at once a week. You'll get 4 or 5 posts a month. Fair enough?

So I probably missed the boat on the Holiday / Christmas debate, but I want to throw in my two cents worth: Holiday means Holy Day! How does that stop offending people? If you were afraid Merry Christmas offends, than you are probably still offending. Besides, Christmas is part of the American tradition. It has been going on for centuries. Suck it up people. Deal with it. It is laregly celebrated in this country as a secular holiday anyway, focusing more on Santa Claus, presents, and family than Jesus Christ. So how does it offend? Plus this country was based on religious principals "In God We Trust" "One Nation Under God", etc. Get over it. We let anyone freely practice their religion, don't take away American Christian traditions from the rest of us. My grandpa said he was going to go into stores and say "Oh, you have Holiday trees / presents/ whatever? I was looking for Christmas trees/ presents/whatever." and walk out. Good idea. :)

And while we're on the topic of tradition, I am very sorry we never made English the official language. I am no opposed to legal immigration. Illegal...well we need to do something about the Mexican situation. But anyway. The thing is, you come into America, LEARN ENGLISH! I can even see Texas and California and such with their semi-bilingualness. Those lands used to be part of Mexico. But if you're working in Columbus, Ohio in say, I don't know, the kitchen at Steak N Shake, you need to learn to speak English! Us Caucasions are rapidly heading towards minority status, and tell us it will happen in the next few decades in this country. Let's make Enligh the language now. We've alwasy spoken it. If I went down to Tijuana and got a job I'd learn Spanish. Come on people!

Anyway, Feliz Holimas. See you all in 2006.

Qop!
"We're sorry Monica. Chandler's cheating on you. We saw him go into a house with a blond woman and they came out in 45 minutes looking pretty happy."
"I'm devasted. What did you think of the house?"
~Friends, the gang to Monica, when they catch Chandler with the realtor, which Monica and Chandler have kept a secret

Bonus Qops!
"What a surprise, I like proposals!" ~ Ross, referring to his 3 marriages

"You should give the money for your next wedding to charity."
"No, the fourth one will be in Hawaii at sunset. Maybe the 5th." ~ Friends, Phoebe and Ross

Holiday Cheer

I am right now pretty...under the influence...at my friend Lisa's Holiday Cheer party. She has been calling it that for years, and it has nothing to do with this absurd campaign to insult Christmas, so don't think that. Anyway her shots and wonderful punch have left me feeling happy so I figured I would wirte something. I got champagne and Godiva chocolate in the gift exchange. Yay! I am correcting all my typos (I think) so don't hate me if I make one. Go buy my book! Also, John Spencer died. He played Leo on The West Wing. No more Leo. I am so sad. Who's gonna be Vice President now? Anyway, back to drinking some more. Merry Christmas!

Qop!
"Where's Leo? Has anyone seen Leo?" ~ people on The West Wing when they couldn't find Leo last season cause he had an attack in the woods after he was fired

Should Auld Aquaintance Be Forgot...

I know it's been a very long time since I've updated but I've been swamped. In honor of New Year's, I'm going to list recent disappoinments and pleasant surprises. Not a recap of the whole year, but a brief summary of the last few weeks.

Pleasant Surprises:
Entertainment - DeLovely on DVD - I love that movie, not really a surprise, but glad it's out
Blade Trinity - Ryan Reynolds is hilarious! Still haven't seen the first two.
Modest Mouse - they rock
Ben Folds - finally enough bad memories gone to truly enjoy him
BNL Christmas - wasn't really a suprise!
24 - Amazing! Almost done with Season 3. Season 4 premieres in a week and a half.
Ocean's Twelve - all I can say is awesome!
Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical (see above comment)
*Seeing The Producers tomorrow! Will update on that!
Other stuff - Black Cherry Smirnoff - mmmm!
I can get along with two of my three brothers awesomely!
Fun New Year's especially at Kristen & Amanda's
Actually dating again
Harry Potter 6 - July 16
Lemony Snicket
getting inot better shape

Disappoinments:
Watermelon Smirnoff
Christmas With the Kranks
not doing the New Year's Eve I planned
certain alienations from friends
not getting in shape as fast as I wanted to

And the biggest thing on my mind these past few weeks... Marriage
I am currently 17 months younger than my mom was when she got married, which was the age I always planned to get married. I figured date a couple of years, be engaged a year...obviously that timeline is shot. I thought I had accepted it. Then I found out my cousin, three months my younger, is getting married on June 24, 2006. I am happy for her. Her guy is great. Still disappointing. I should be first. My parents only were together 11 months before marriage, but I don't see myself rushing into anything that fast. Although I guess you never know. Still, with my cousin getting married, it's weighing heavily on me. I'm finally dating again, but I wouldn't say anything is even close to looking at long term, which is a disappointment to me because I really want to be married now. Of course, I could only marry someone I was in love with, so that hurts things. Plus I need to know they are the one, and I honestly don't know if I've met that person yet. I have two ex's, both of whom I was in love with and considered marriage. The first is getting married soon to someone even younger than I am. I'm happy for them, but it still hurts. The second I was really really really serious about, and I still detest her, and yet I can't help but being emotionally happy that she is happy with someone else. That has been my biggest surprise, since I have so many negative feelings towards her. Yet I think those are from the positive feelings I felt and the way it was ended. I'm still in love, even if I don't like. That sucks. Now I need to find the one...don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining so much about my dating situation, since I am dating a wonderful girl. I just want to know right no who is the one for me for the rest of my life and be with them.

Long Freakin' Update

I am so sorry that I have not updated in so freakin' long. I guess I had better things to do. :) Let's see, last weekend I went to a couple of Christmas parties and directed the WJHS Alumni Band in a one hour outdoor concert. It was too freakin' cold. Then during this week I worked and finally got into 24. I am almost done with freakin' Season One. I still believe I can finish all 3 seasons before the new one premieres. We'll see. Then this past Friday night I had freakin' fun at a party playing Apples & Apples, then went and saw Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortuante Events. It was really freakin' good. It drew some stuff from the later books that happened during the first three but weren't explained until later (I think there will only be 1 movie :(), but It was good. I saw it again on Saturday. Then I directed the 3 hour WJHS Alumni Band concert at Flyer's, which was pretty freakin' fun. Then I went to Lisa & Michael's party, which was freakin' freakin' awesome!!! I got pretty drunk, but I had so much fun hanging out with all those people, including some I haven't seen in awhile. Then I sat here and added lots of freakin's to my journal entry just for fun. :)

I Hate My Dad

I do hate my dad. I thought about putting a big long rant on here about our conversation today, but what would the point be? It's not going to change anything, and it's just airing personal crap on the net, which I swore I would never let this blog turn into a place to air my personal emotional issues. Just things of public interest that tick people off :), as well as events of my life. So instead I added a subplot to my book (will be done with my editing by Christmas! Who wants to be my next editor?). Is that wrong? I mean, I used exact words and everything. You think if it gets published, and he reads it, he'll be angry? Ah, well. He's a jerk anyway. Ok, I guess that's all I have for today.

P.S. I am having a small gathering on New Year's Day about 9pm. I don't know why I'm doing it after New Year's Eve, but I am, so anyone that reads this is invited. Cool? Old Commons, IIF. BYOB (or A or just plain beverages because I'm poor) and I'll have some snacky food. Ciao.

Another Great Day

That headline doesn't refer to today, although it certainly ended well with a nearly two hour phone conversation to the girl I was out with Friday night. :) Other than that, I worked 12 hours. Yesterday, however was great. After my awesome late Friday night, I slept in until nearly noon on Saturday. Then Tim and I became Manly Men and went out and cut down a tree from a tree farm. Arrg!, as we kept saying. We cut it down, drug it back to the truck, and headed home where we preceeded to act girly again and decorate all day, including a big construction paper fireplace on our wall. So to feel more manly we made a sign with markers that showed how fierce we were with our saws and the tree cowering in fear. Manly, right? LOL. We had a ton of fun decorating until midnight. Nick even came over and made a lifesize Nick from his comic coming out of a gift wrapped box. It is totally cool. And we put lights outside to scare our neighbors. :) So, come check our place out. Bedtime soon. Got to get up. Maybe a little 24 first. I'm not moving nearly fast enough on that. Gotta get through three seasons by the end of the year.

This Update Has A Happy Ending

So I need to update quite a bit. It's been an eventful week. I finishied my exams on Monday and my last project for the quarter on Tuesday. It was a paper about Music and the Holocaust. Very interesting, but if I start typing about it now, I'd put in half the paper, so never mind. :) It's a relief to be done with classes for awhile, but now it actually is fully sunk in that I will be leaving Otterbein in two quarters. It is extremely sad. I will very much miss it.

So Wednesday I worked 8-8 as it is the busiest night for pizza in the year, plus cooked three turkeys, pies, and all the fixings for about 100 people. How fun is that? Then I picked up my little sister from her basketball practice and went out to my aunt's house fully expecting to have more Thanksgiving prep to do (but not really wanting to as I was tired). Luckily my two littlest brothers had been there and did all the cleaning and table setting and stuff. One was still there. My uncle arrived about the same time I did (not the one that lives there - he was driving his truck and didn't get home until 5am! but the one from Kentucky that I don't get to see that often). Then his wife and their twins came home (sans their little sister) and we all played Euchre and talked and drank until late (I was overserved!). My aunt had bought Smirnoff for me. Devil. I have cut back on drinking but I would have felt guilty when she bought it for me if I didn't. So I got up kinda late (10:30ish) on Thursday and helped her in the kitchen getting ready for the big 35 member family feast. Then of course the feast, all my mom's family showing up (we're all very close), good wine, good food, good conversation. I finally left about 10pm and headed home, where Tim & I arranged our apartment for the tree.

Friday I had to work 8 hours, but the worst part of Friday was when I found out my car repair is going to be $2000! So it's not getting done. I don't have the money, the car is only worth about $3000. Problem is I still owe $1600 on the car. So I don't know how I'm going to afford a new car while staying paying the old one. I tried to tak my dad about it, but he's still a total asshole sometimes, which is a shame because we haven't fought in awhile and it was nice to have a little peace with him. Anyway, I am still driving his pickup and I have no idea what I'm going to do.

Lucikly Friday night is the capper and was very fun. I went to the zoo with someone and then we hung out at Steak and Shake until 3am. I really don't want to say much more because I don't know where anything is going, but I am happy that the one and a half year streak is over, and that I had so much fun with this person. It made me completely forget about my other problems and she is extremely cool. Anyway, talk to you all later!

Interesting Concert

So, I feel bad about letting it go 6 days between the last two posts, so I thought I'd rush another one out. The headline does not refer to last night's concert. It went fine. And I also finished Lemony Snicket Book the Third in between warm-ups and the concert. Books 4-9 are in the mail to me. And than afterwards I hung out with a friend I hadn't hung out with in awhile. We seem to get along really great. I wish I saw her more. We hung out a bit last winter and spring but I hadn't seen her since then.

Anyway, back to my headline. I played a 'concert' at the City Center this morning. Everything that could go wrong did. My clarinet was in my car, which is broken down at my mom's house. Kristen let me borrow hers, though. Then I parked on the top floor of this really scary, steep parking garage that made me to dizzy to go down from. They had told us to be there at 10am, so we were there by 9:40. When we got there they said they didn't need us until 11, although it was almost 11:20 before Santa showed up. Then they were upset because we weren't in uniform, another fact no one knew anything about. So they gave us red City Center t-shirts and little antlers with bells attached. Then they say they wants us to play "Here Comes Santa Claus" and nothing but "Here Comes Santa Claus". Interesting, because we had only brough a medley of Jingle Bells, White Christmas, and Jolly Old St. Nicholas. Luckily we were there an hour and a half early and Nathan managed to write out the melody and even add a slight bit of harmony and a few cool things for "Here Comes Santa Claus". So we wait outside for 'Buckeye Santa', who we then follow all around all 3 floors of the mall. It's a big mall. Playing nothing but about 16 bars of "Here Comes Santa Claus" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and...you get the picture, right? BORING!!! Then we played out medley twice and left about noon. What a morning. My first day off in a month and a half...ah, well. They did give us free passes to a sneak preview of "Christmas With the Kranks" for Tuesday night. Ok, time for more television because that's what I do when I have an exam Monday morning, have to work 16 hours on Sunday, and have a huge research paper I haven't started due Wednesday (I have to finish Tuesday because I work all day Wednesday). Maybe some daquiri tonight too. I've been off my alcohol. :( Which is another reason I should hang out with my friend I hung out with last night more: She loves alcohol as much as I do! :)

Sorry So Long

Sorry it's been so long since I updated you. I'm sure you were all hanging on edge to find out what's going on this week in my exciting life. :) j/k So it's been hell. Week 10 is over, but I still have an exam Monday morning and a big paper due by Wednesday. Of course, I am working 8-8 next Wednesday and cooking a Thanksgiving buffet dinner for about 100-120 people, so... I have 3 turkeys, pies, and all the trimmings. Yay. Can't wait to switch my job and get out of the kitchen, possibly as soon as the end of this year! Yeah right. It'll prob be like summer, but here's hoping.

So my car died this week. The timing belt or some such thing blew and it's a very expensive repair, so I got the bank to 'refinance my car', which was almost paid off, and I'm going to have to do like an extra 4 car payments at the end. And without a co-signer! Yay! Not too bad because at least it'll get fixed. Plus I get to drive my dad's truck until it's fixed and even though I hate parking it because it's huge, it's a 4 door and a 4 door pickup is pretty cool.

TV wise I finished Boy Meet World Season One and was about to start 24 Season One, but stopped after 1 episode because Friends Season Eight came out. Don't worry, I only have 6 episodes left on it and I will be well into 24 by Thanksgiving. Of course, I need to get Smallville Season 3, and watch Lost which I've been recording since it premiered but never watched it.

Reading wise, I feel bad because I did very little pleasure reading this quarter. I just finished a John Grisham novel (he's really cool) and two Lemony Snicket books in the last couple of days. They are short but great. Read them before the movie hit theaters! My book, I just finished my first edit! I am so excited! I want to work hard and get the second edit done in the next week. It should be much quicker. I want to get the damn thing published! I'm kind of hoping it'll solve all of my money problems, but not really counting on it.

Ok, onto dinner and the Wind Ensemble concert! Adios my amigos!