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.

Yeah, right, I wish

Being a robot would be kinda wicked-awesome methinks. However, I am not. I am a fragile little human who is slowly but surely getting old.

OK, and now for not quite so much of a secret…

I’m a bad blogger.

No. Really. It’s been like a biollionty years since I’ve been here. (Don’t look at the actual dates, just go with me…)

But truly dear reader ( yes singular), it’s not you… it’s me.

I get all busy and then I get all worked up about making something interesting… but if both William Gibson and Kevin Smith can fall off teh blogging wagon and get right back on then so can I. Right?

Rhetorical question, smartass.

Anyways, what’s up all? It seems like I’ve been running around like crazy lately. I ended up working a full-time contract at a company that turned around and outsourced their helpdesk to India. Le Sigh. This is getting a little tiresome no? (see Rhetorical, above)

So, I now have a new contract doing some spiffy Security Adminstration work. They are actually talking about changing our job title to System Administrator, which I have no complaints about. (Resume is being update in Word as we speak…)

Speaking of bad bloggers, The Brother got married. I don’t know if he’s updated his page in any less than a billionty years himself, but we make allowances…

However, for better or for worse (see what I did there) I am going to endeavor to maintain my online presence a bit more in the future. In part because I have a new part time gig to promote… ….

wait for it…

I’m DJing Karaoke at the Chatterbox Pub on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday nights!!!

Ok, maybe I built that up a bit too much…

Nonetheless, It is so, and I’m enjoying the hell out of it. So check out the MySpace page for the calendar to see if I’m at your favorite local watering hole that night.

And check back here frequently, because the internets are for pr0n communicating! And leave a comment or two for chrissakes! This ain’t no radio show!

A little double-meme action for you today. Above you see a little shout-out to my LJ peeps, and below is the New Years meme that everyone’s all jazzed about…..

1. What did you do in 2005 that you’d never done before?

Won a trip to Los Angeles to see U2.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I think I did about 50 percent. I am excercising more, though only for the last couple of months. I managed to finish The Dark Tower before reading the new Harry Potter. I do not have braces or an insulin pump but I have appointments scheduled for both and I am armed with a Flex-Spending account to acquire them! And we’re not ready to move and I haven’t gotten anywhere near my posts goal….but by this time next year….

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope. Too many geeky friends I guess.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No. Thankfully.

5. What countries did you visit?

None. But we got to go to L.A. and there’s a trip to France on the books for this coming September!

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?

I’ll settle for the braces and the insulin pump.

7. What date(s) from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I’m not big on dates.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Finally got a full-time job with benefits that don’t suck!

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not living up to my own expectations.

10. Did you suffer any illness or injury?

This year’s theme was esophageal tear. Coming to DVD this spring.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My Wife’s Bride of Frankenstein Dress

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

I think I will single out The Seamster. For listening to me ramble on about my problems while still facing overwhelming problems of his own, and never failing to be the upbeat and positive person he is.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

They know who they are.

14. Where did most of your money go?

The usual jackals and creditors. With a surprising amount also being spent on beer, for which I completely blame the Fab Five.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Batman Begins, My New Job, and Winning our trip to Los Angeles.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?

Tear You Apart – She Wants Revenge

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder? about the same

ii. thinner or fatter? fatter

iii. richer or poorer? about the same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Skiing, Reading, and Acting

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Fretted over things beyond my control.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Stayed home with the wife and cats and did pretty much nothing all day.

21. Did you fall in love in 2005?

No, I’ve been good in that department for going on seven years now…..

22. How many one-night stands?

They’re all one-night stands…. they’re just with the same woman….

23. What was your favorite TV program?

My Name is Earl & The Office

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No. I don’t hate anyone. I do wish I could vote a few people off the island though.

25. What was the best book you read?

I think I’ll go with Song of Susannah

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Zeromancer

27. What did you want to get?

I’m still pining for a nice Digital Camera….

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

BATMAN!

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 29. Had a nice dinner @ T.G.I. Fridays in Michigan with the MI Fam.

30. What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

DVDs, Books, & Video Games

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?

In private I’m a T-Shirt and Black Jeans all the way. In public, I just try not to look like a hobo next to my gorgeous wife.

32. What kept you sane?

Raven & Lucifer

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

In terms of pure fancy, I would say Jennifer Connelly still gets the nod. However, Naomi Watts is climbing the charts…

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

The Saint Paul Mayoral race. I also continue to be peeved about the smoking bans….

35. Who did you miss?

Pretty much all of my family has abandoned me for warmer climes. I also miss our goth cohort Leanna.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

It’s a tie…Benq and Eduardo

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005:

You can’t control everything. Sometimes all you can do is give it your all and hope for the best.

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….