I Am Jacks Wasted Life

What Renaissance Performer are you?
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Ah yes, the Renaissance Festival.

Two weeks ago, I went out at the request of my former Puppet Troupe compatriots, and we had an “old school, kick your ass puppet shift”. Butch, George, Eric and I ran around for almost an hour in ye olde body puppets. It was an inordinate amount of fun.

Butch pulled out the Drunken King, a bit which has been known to cripple me with laughter. Butch & George also did the bit where the King is presenting Shirley the Jester’s jokes, and then explaining them… my favorite exchange is this:

Shirley: “Knock, Knock.”

Patron: “Who’s There?”

Shirley: “Chinese interrupting cow. “

Patron: “Chinese interr…”

Shirley: “MAO!“

King: “You see, Chairman Mao, of China, is outside your door, AND HE’S A COW!!!“

I had a good time with some of my old bits as well. I have always liked just playing with the physicality of the puppets. I mean, as Butch says, you’re 11 feet tall! It’s amazing how funny it is just to see someone in a puppet just swinging their arms while they walk… I usually try and find a way to lay down….. after all, the Wizard is OLD.

The two subsequent weekends have been less eventful. We’ve been trying to get some of the multitude of house projects under control. One of said projects is an outdoorsy activity, and the weather has not really been cooperating. AT ALL.

Well, no part in Taming of the Shrew for me. S’allright. I think I will look into taking a Java Programming class at Saint Paul College instead. I’m getting new benefits this year (thanks to the acquisition of my parent company) and I intend to squeeze every last drop out of them I can.

Some of the aforementioned squeezing will be making up for lost time on a couple of goals from last year. Specifically, I am going to be making appointments for Orthodontics and an Insulin Pump as soon as humanly possible.

It’s really getting to be darn near Christmas already isn’t it? The bulk of the shopping that needs to be done is done. There are a few loose ends yet of course and I doubt that the packages that need to be shipped will arrive in time. Oh well. Best intentions right?

Raven & I just had a nice gathering of peeps over to watch Love Actually. Such a good film. I watch a movie like that which has so many plots and so many characters and I marvel that it is possible to pull off such a great film when so many others can’t escape something that disappoints me. Are my standards that high? (For films anyways….smart asses….)

We’ll talk again soon. For now, please enjoy this fine meme:

Go into your archives and look at your first post of each month. Choose the last sentence (or last “line”) of each entry and post it next to the correct month.

January: So I guess I’ve got some work to do…

February: Now if only there were a handy set of explanations for what I should do now….

March: I don’t know what I’m going to do after Season 10 comes out. I’ll have to start buying her some other series or something!

April: <Technical Difficulties>

May: I will be returning to the stage, in a production of Elizabeth Rex for The New Place.

June: GO SEE IT

July: I haven’t a great deal else to talk about just now…. but I’ll see if I can’t have something new up on Monday…

August: We wanna win that trip to Los Angeles to see U2!

September: Remember: It’s always darkest just before they turn on the lights.

October: (There actually are none… but honourable mention goes to the last entry of September.) Fuckin’ A

November: Therefore, maybe we should give the west coast a try?

December: I certainly don’t believe I’m too old for the part I’m interested in, but then again, I am not the director….

I stole this one from sageincave.

Ten Things Google Thinks I Need

1. Geoffrey Needs A Date
2. Geoffrey needs to present the new public procedure to Gary and get his agreement.
3. Geoffrey needs no introduction to Newington as he is a regular visitor here and
   every time he just keeps getting better and better.
4. Geoffrey needs only to translate this book of mysterious origins.
5. Geoffrey needs help fast.
6. Geoffrey needs some adult involvement in both his solitary and group play, at least for a while, in order for him to make the most of those experiences.
7. Geoffrey needs to get info on the refurbish program.
8. Geoffrey needs to see his general practitioner
9. Geoffrey needs to marry for money
10. Geoffrey needs to curb Mark’s philandering ways.

Geoffrey needs to update his blog more than once a month…..

Still a little sleepy today. Went to the 12:01 showing of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe last night. I thought it was a pretty good effort. I was not as impressed/awed as I was by LOTR, and there were some choices made that confused and/or confounded me, but it was enough to make me want to dust off the old books and eagerly anticipate future big screen adaptations.

Coincidentally, that last paragraph would pretty much sum up my thoughts on the celluloid version of Rent. A good effort yielding an OK film experience that really just makes me want to see a good touring production again….

In other news, I am still waiting to see if my auditions for Taming of the Shrew will bear any fruit. I’m a bit mixed in my thoughts on it, because while I would love to have a good part in the play, I would also love to take some classes this year whilst my employer will foot the bill. Therefore, I am less interested in taking a part in the show that I’m not all that jazzed about, which I believe, is probably all that’s on the table at this point anyway. I certainly don’t believe I’m too old for the part I’m interested in, but then again, I am not the director….

Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
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That’s right, we don’t care about nothing!

No, no. That’s not really true. And I love fluffy kitties….

Well, here’s the thing. I’ve been busy, busy, busy, and I’ve been emotionally drained as well. So, I haven’t written. And the longer it takes me to get an entry entered, the harder it is for me to start.

So if you are still here, buckle your seat belts, ’cause here we go!!

As you may recall, I’ve been a busy actor of late. We started rehearsing Zoo Story right after Night of January Sixteenth opened. Both Raven & I have had health and stress issues that have taken some time and effort to clear up.

I’m really proud of my work on Zoo Story. It’s my favorite play, and I’ve done it once before, but I still feel like I was discovering new intricacies with each performance. When ZS closed, my attention turned full-time to the preparations for Raven’s 3rd Annual Golden
Birthday Party and the return of the Fire Inspector who apparently has too much free time on his hands. It was also around this time that my co-worker who’s position I am assuming actually left the company.

This also coincided with Raven and I having what I can only describe as our most difficult time during the 6+ years we have been together. We had a couple of real long nights, and I had a couple of really bad days. I think it’s fair to say that we have persevered and are even stronger now than we were. It hasn’t been a fun few weeks, but it’s worth the effort.

In other news, It looks like I will probably only have a day job through 12.31.06. Our parent company was acquired, and our product is no longer being sold. So we are providing support through the end of next year. At that point, I may try and find another position witihin the parent company, or it may just finally be time to pull up stakes and try out a new locale.

Speaking of, we had our Movioke Idol trip to Los Angeles last week which was a great deal of fun. It was unfortunately, painfully brief, but we were able to visit Travis, hit up the Bondage Ball, and see U2! Ironically, the part that almost didn’t happen due to scheduling conflicts, the hanging w/The Trav-man, may have had a longer lasting effect than anticipated.

See, Chicago has been the next step in our plans for a long time. Now, we’re starting to seriously consider Los Angeles. After all, if we’re going to try and be movie stars, we should go while we’re young (or young-ish) and we know we’ll love Chicago, maybe even want to settle down there for child-rearing and such. Therefore, maybe we should give the west coast a try?

What Dogma character are you?
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The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.

– Lady Bird Johnson

People at my new job keep asking me if I get nervous before I go on stage. I think it’s interesting, because I am almost always completely calm backstage.

Sometimes, right before my lines or a big scene, I’ll get a little churn in the old tummy, but generally I’m cool. It’s the same thing with Movieoke. Karaoke however, is an entirely different story. It generally takes a lot of self-administered pep-talking to get me to get up and sing in front of people. And yes, it must and can only be self-administered. When people try to coax me into putting in a slip I always get self-conscious and slip back a confidence notch or two.

I dunno why that is. Part of it is obviously rehearsal. By the time you have an audience for a play you’ve (hopefully) had it down for a couple of weeks. That would explain my karaoke reticence, and yet, I’ll hop up and do a Movieoke scene I’ve never done before with little to no trepidation.

<shrug>

Speaking of Movieoke, the final day of Movieoke Idol is this Sunday. I’m trying to approach this the way I approach most things, which is my patented blend of positive cynicism. I’m certainly hoping that we win, but I also realize and acknowledge that there are many reasons why we may not.

Oh well. Please send us any spare positive vibes you may have laying around this Sunday night! I’ll post the recap of the event on Monday!