This blog's reading level

Not too bad I guess. Of course, the noticeable stupidity of most college undergrads doesn't really prove that this level is too far from high school (or even middle school).

--David

Fat-Bottomed

Girls can be confusing.

News of the century right here folks.

I'm not going to bother attempting to delve into the topic any further than that, as I just needed a sentence to go along with my song title pattern. That doesn't make it any less true though.

With one month left before the end of the semester, I remain in fairly average spirits. Nothing too bad has happened, but there are several things that I wish could have turned out better than what they are now. It happens, but I look towards the future with a newly-found vigor that comes from God knows where.

Maybe it's Roger Daltrey's powerful scream playing in the background that has me in such an energetic mood. I've said it before many times, but it is always worth a repeat: The Who are the greatest rock band to ever live. Ever. Bar none. Do not even argue with me, as your efforts will be futile. They are the greatest band EVAR.

Off to work now! Candide's been keeping us all busy and on our toes, but it's a fantastic show, so the effort is all worth it.

I shall post my pictures of the All Soul's Procession on Photobucket soon. I just have to head home after work to do it.

Bon journee,

--David

Paint it

Black pants are torture to wear in Arizona, even in the autumn months, where the temperature is ideal to the point where I almost regret thinking about another location to live. Almost.

Thankfully, it's Halloween tonight and in roughly an hour, I shall spend my evening perusing the local hotspots with some buddies of mine. Whether or not I choose to wear my Peter Petrelli, TF2 Spy, or Patrick Bateman costume remains a mystery. The thematic element of our group is superheroes, so it is looking like I shall be doing something extraordinary alongside Beast and Gambit. Now, should I go to La Cocina tonight or not? Maybe... I don't know. We'll figure it out.

Why do I feel like I'm missing something right now? What an odd feeling...

Your friendly neighborhood Guitar Hero,

--David

Lazily I Submit an Entry

This must be one of those rare times people experience when they're just completely disappointed with themselves. What could be the cause of this? It's probably a multitude of things, but why now?

Perhaps I am confused by something...maybe it's loneliness finally catching up to me...I have no idea. The only real bright spot of today was having lunch with Mackenzie. I could talk to her for hours and not care if I missed anything. Other than that, my day today has been pretty below average.

I need some sleep. Or a hug... something....

--David

I Want

It all seems strange when you are stuck in a computer lab at 9pm at night trying to wait for the printer servers to reset so you can get that French journal entry finished. Another world carefully unfolds like delicate, brittle paper. Sometimes, you get lost in your thoughts and in the soft sounds of hard drives humming, keys on the board being depressed, and the almost musical light show of monitors turning on and off.

Of course, this is all just baseless ranting without a purpose; a personal exercise if you will, conjured by extreme impatience. I just want my damn paper printed out!

Several things occupy my mind at this moment besides a journal entry for my class. Mulling over the idea of having a relationship right now fills me with an odd feeling of...well, I'm not sure what to call it, but the best words that comes to mind would be "togetherness without tricks." It's difficult for me to find a person that I would feel comfortable trying out romantic things. It's not out of a lack of wanting to, it is more of a matter of meeting someone who would want that. I'd prefer to do these things, no questions asked, and preferably on the spur of the moment.

Longing for those relaxed, casual conversations between two kindred spirits tugs at me sometimes softly, other times agonizingly hard. Holding each other in our arms, softly petting each other... deep sighs of hope follow those thoughts when they sidle my way into my idle mind. It may not be as extreme as Poe has described numerous times, but it is certainly a help in understanding where he might have come from. Yet, my thoughts remain on the positive side as hope keeps me striving towards that day when these thoughts can be made a reality by someone who seeks to bring them back into their life as well.

With that out of the way, the other thing that keeps my mind processing is the release of Valve Software's The Orange Box.



Over the past few days, I have had a chance to play the second episode of Half-life 2 (more like H-L 3 to myself and the developers), along with Portal. Having the ability to play the beta version of Team Fortress 2 before the full release of The Orange Box, my thoughts on that game shall be first.

It is rare that a game comes along where it is fairly easy to begin, yet hard to master. This quality has kept games alive, not just video games, for many centuries. For many games to be considered even remotely good, it is a necessity. Team Fortress 2 is an excellent example of taking this simple dynamic and blowing it up to a visually stunning, funny bone-jarring, and action-packed environment. Counter-Strike would do well to bow down and hand its crown over to this game, since nothing else can compare in terms of gameplay variety, depth, and pure unbridled fun.

Portal's fresh way of puzzle solving and witty humor was a welcome slap in the face. I can't really say more than that. Valve continues to outdo themselves, and Portal is a giant leap ahead, for gameplay and storytelling.

Episode 2's strongest point, (its lesser points should hardly be called lesser) would be the storytelling. Through the thick of action and in wide areas, there is still a wonderful emotional connection to these characters. One moment you could be chuckling along with fellow rebels, the next minute you could be brought down to the ground, emotionally and physically.

The world of Half-Life 2 and its subsequent episodes could hardly be covered by my measly little review. Go. Play these games for yourself. They are what every game in this genre should strive for.

With that out of the way, and my stupid journal not printing, I am forced to relent to the fates and head to my apartment to copy these down in my journal by hand. Perhaps I shall get in a quick game of Portal or TF2 after I practice my guitar scales.

Au revoir for now, faithful readers...

--David


Addendum: Success! I can print out my journal using the $0.10 left on my CatCard Chip at the library. More time for Portal and/or TF2 is truly a fantastic thing. Looks like the cake isn't a lie.

Wanted Dead Or

A live performance of "Sideways Stories..." for an elementary school this morning has left me all but completely drained of energy. With the moving of the set, the changing, and the fact that we'd be having a new audience to perform for, the eventual result of my near fatigue comes as no huge surprise. Yet, in spite of all that, it was still worth it to have the 500 kids be entertained and enjoy the show. I must remember to bring out the wig for next week's performance.

With my evenings now free, I can finally get back on track with capoeira training and with the responsibilities I have as the club's president. Some of the ideas Patricia, the Dean of the Honors College offered me were fantastic and definitely excellent starting points for raising funds for the Batizado in April.

Now I must figure out who sen me a quite provocative anonymous facebook message. I'd post it here, but I'd rather not. Let's just say that I'm all for it...


--David

Whip

It's good that I didn't contract my stuffy nose during the weekend run of "Sideways Stories..." or it would have been torture!

With the on-campus run of the ETC show done and done, we come from our show tired, yet ecstatic and and excited for the tour around Tucson's elementary schools. Many people enjoyed the performances, so it is exciting to have that and carry it over through to the touring shows. Here's the obligatory picture of myself as Mrs. Gorf. Pictures on the actual set will be coming soon.




In other news, my former mentor and instigator for learning Capoeira is traveling across the states in an experiment he calls The Homeless Comic. Read more about it here.

Here's the note he posted on facebook not too long ago:

The purpose of this note is to tell you about The Homeless Comic Experiment. (http://homelesscomic.com/who-is-this-bum) In starting what i hope to be a sustainable comedy career I have decided to go about it in the following way. It is part social experiment and part comic adventure, peppered with a little bit of service to humanity.

I have recently given up all of my unimportant material possessions, meaning I kept my good denim and my laptop, and am living in my car traveling the country doing stand up. Since I am just starting out I don't have a fan base to support me, so I am building one, one couch at a time. I am hoping the people I know (you) believe in my ability to make it enough and are willing to spread the word about my project. Word of mouth is all I've got right now if you don't count myspace, facebook, and my website www.homelesscomic.com.

My goal is to make across the country and back doing stand up. I am performing at some clubs that pay but not many. In between the 2 paid gigs I've booked I am "working" for food and shelter by providing an in-house comedy show in exchange for a meal and a couch (or floor, or barn). I am documenting as much as possible by keeping a travel blog of events that happen along the way with pictures and videos of places I stop. I am collecting stories from people I meet especially homeless people. This is where the service to humanity comes in. My personal philosophy is that it is not worth being able to to what you love to do for a living if you can't give back in some way. For example, last night I met a homeless man named Lincoln in Tulsa, OK. He was a poet so I bought a poem for $20 bucks and gave him a ride to Wal-Mart. I will soon feature Lincolns story and poem on my website. I also have t-shirts that I sell at shows in which I want to start donating a % of sales to charities that help homeless people. I have bigger ideas for this project but I won't bore you with them now. If this interests you at all and you want to offer anything from advice to assistance I am open to it.

This is brand new and I am figuring it out as I go along. I'm just 4 weeks into it and about 1100 miles away from what i used to call home. Now home is where I park the car.

I will be heading from Tulsa, OK to Vermont next week. If you or anyone you know would be willing to have a show in exchange for a meal and a couch. Let me know or put us in touch some how. It has been great so far, meeting people, having fun, and livin' the dream!

THANK YOU! to everyone that has come to see a show or has in any way supported my crazy comedy fetish over the past couple years. Feel free to contact me with anything. All questions, comments and feedback are welcome, even if it just to tell me to piss off.

all of the best,
Brian

I wish him the best of luck and that he doesn't starve.


--David

Opening Day!!

The morning performance for "Sideways Stories..." went pretty darn well this morning. The excitement the cast absorbed from the whole elementary school coming was beyond measure. I'm still in a sort of tizzy from the excitement of the first show in front of such a great audience. I'll try to add more information and cool things later, along with some pictures backstage. For now, let's just say I believe we rocked!


--David

Come together

Right now I'm in a mixed state of excitement and fatigue, the latter the obvious result of waking up a few minutes ago. The 85 push-ups and sit-ups in stage combat class certainly added their own flavor to the mix. As the class progresses, I strive to look inward more often with each new move or skill we pick up. It is frustrating when I lose that inward emotional control during a sequence, so my efforts in concentration must be doubled to truly grow as a stage combatant. Hell, as an actor and as a person, too. Perhaps before the class, I'll take the time to do some pre-meditation to concentrate on my breathing, and not just rely on the ones after class.

"Sideways Stories from Wayside School" opens tomorrow morning with a show for an elementary school. Jazzed does not begin to describe my excitement for that show. We've been doing great during all the runs, so there's no doubt we'll rock the house on all the shows.

Time to study for French!

--David

Quotes from the Director lady

"One person goes up, one person goes down. So it looks like we're being blown."

"Oh this is good... oh...huh? What's in my mouth?"

"Use your mouth."

"Grab your potatoes and sit down!"

"Ok. Let's try it with the bunraku hoods."

"It will be your turn to touch your understudy."


--David

Half-asleep rants by David

Please excuse the spelling, mistakes. I am functioning on little energy right now.

Screw this entry! I'm headed to sleep.

Night,

--David


NINJA EDIT:

Now that I'm slightly more coherent and awake in comparison to last night, my post will contain more content. Though that is a challenge when they had no content to begin with.

The Team Fortress 2 beta is out around the internet and from what I've played so far, this game is loads of fun. Perhaps I can actually play through a full round sometime before my computer freezes up . I've installed the latest ATi Catalyst drivers, yet it still freezes/crashes. I'm going to turn the settings down to medium, but if there's a way to have it not freeze at high graphic settings, I'm all ears.

Once again, pictures will be incoming from the show soon.

Midnight madness

Free wireless internet at my apartment complex is a fantastic tool, that's for damn sure.

It's about a few minutes past midnight here in the Old Pueblo, and my efforts to post something at regular intervals is off to a decent start. My state of drowsiness will be a fantastic assistance for keeping this post short.

Good things today:

• I contributed some pretty decent stuff today in French 202. With the friends I have in that class, and the new people I've met who are really good with French, it's been a great help with my improvement.
• Team Fortress 2 is preloading right now over Steam. I'm very excited to try out all the classes in the game to see which fits my style of play better.
• We're moving on to scales in guitar class. It's nothing too exciting, but with practice, it will definitely lead to something

Alright things/Bad things today:

• I had a quiz in directing class today. It was tougher than I thought it would be, but I knew enough to answer as well as I could.
• Lolo's been having trouble with her essay and editing it to her teacher's "recommendations." It's too bad she has to edit it, because I really enjoyed it and it was a pretty damn creative story.

There's probably a few more things I could include, but I am tired and need rest for tomorrow.


--David

Genesis Part 2

Here I am once again.

This will be a fresh start for my blogging, since certain things happened that changed my outlook on life somewhat, leaving me to summon a new page from the depths of nonexistence. Nothing bad happened, mind you, but changes that have hopefully made me a better person in the end.

Once in a while, you have an epiphany about yourself, a realization of something that you knew you were, but didn't have the heart to admit or to actually follow through with in real life. Sometimes it comes with age and, in the case of myself, it comes with the eventual onset of a chapter of your life coming to a close and with the admittance of feelings that you have had all along, but denied because of how odd it must seem to the general population.

When you've known someone for five years, you get to know them pretty well. Especially if you happen to be the main reason they became involved in the fine arts. There's an underlying sense of responsibility and a unique connection between you two, as if you've known each other for longer than five years. Now when I say responsibility, I mean that that person has dedicated themselves to a pursuit in life because of your influence and, as that influential person, you want to see them succeed in their pursuit, as well as bettering yourself day after day in the hopes that you set a positive example. It is a mutual responsibility of equal measure.

So what categorizes this situation, this relationship, as odd? That will have to wait until my French 202 homework is finished. Cliffhangers are the devil's plaything.

With the Educational Theatre Company show's rehearsals more than halfway through, and with two weeks left until the on-campus performances, the cast and crew are in high spirits, which is always uplifting. We've all done some fantastic work for such a long and challenging play for young audiences. With photo calls and tech run throughs coming up in a few days, sustaining that will be essential. I'm sure we can get through this unscathed.

Expect pictures from the show to be posted on this blog in a few days. Until then, it is off to "le monde du Francais."

Au revoir,

--David