newsflash!

"I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream."

let the ass jokes begin - i shall be playing nick bottom in shakespeare in sharonville's production of midsummer night's dream.

clear your calendars, first two weeks of august.

more when i return from my roadtrip.
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next stop: lansing

so should be in bed. not that it's really going to matter since i probably won't sleep more than four hours anyway. i'm not sure why i'm not sleeping, i only know i'm not. which means my trip to lansing could be quite the long one tomorrow....

just returned from seeing X3. bleah. the director just didn't get it. the writers were hacks. the performances were phone in. not quite highlander 2 realm, but there were moments it came awfully close. convinces me of the power of a good director - when the director gets it, it makes all the difference in the world. ah well, at least i have the first two.

had my "date" tonight with jessica. why in quotes? not sure - really was simply dinner at dewey's as she had previous plans. how'd it go, you ask? 'twas much like sunday's meeting - pleasant enough, but a bit strained. honestly, i just don't think she's interested. and this isn't my usual, why-would-anyone-like-me crap. there's nothing there. gina mentioned perhaps she is interested, but is too shy. possibly. unfortunately, i basically need a big neon sign and a smack upside the head for me to "get it," so i'm not too hopeful.

actually at the moment i'm bordering on hopelessness. but it will pass.

callbacks for midsummer are tomorrow, which means i should find out what part i got tomorrow or sunday. again, trying not to get my hopes up too high and i'll have a good time regardless of the part i get. but the dream is to do bottom, which i know i could nail. but it's out of my hands at this point.

as mr. petty sings in the background....

did i mention i should be going to bed and/or packing for tomorrow? but no, here i am, filling cyberspace with my meaningless meandering musing. yes, i like my alliteration.

there's something important inside of me wanting to come out, but it can't seem to do it right now. i know i can't only have these shallow thoughts to share. i can't. but it's all that seems to be coming up at the moment.

seriously, i need to go. i have to be on the road before 7:00 so i can get to lansing in time to enjoy me some el azteco before the wedding. so looking forward to those chips and salsa and those enchiladas. hmmmmm. been too long.

oh yeah, and seeing gary again. and whomever else might show up. haven't really given it much thought, but i at least hope to see josh and emily again. nto sure what other spectres from youth groups past might appear. fun.

ok, just checked the shipping status of my new computer and it looks like it left lexington at 12:26 am. see, this is what i was afraid of. it'll probably show up on my doorstep while i am gone in lansing. i gave gina a key and asked her to drive by, just in case it does get here. would be nice to have it waiting for me when i get back, but would also be nice to not have it stolen from my porch while i'm gone. i think i'm safe - my guess is it shows up on monday, which is still earlier than i thought it would arrive.

sorry, i'm starting to geek out a bit.

yeah, yeah, i know, i'm going to go pack now. i'll update when i get back from michigan/ny state.
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Tunes: josh ritter - thin blue flame

working for a living

well, for some extra spending cash, anyway. yep, at the auditorium again, this time babysitting acting up!'s production of honk jr. haven't had the courage to watch any of it - too occupied writing e-mails and reading greenblatt's will in the world which was kindly left on my doorstep last night by lori. nothing like a little shakespeare to suck me in. quite entertaining.

so this weekend just got a bit more interesting - gary, whose daughter's wedding i am driving to in lansing, wrote and wondered if i might be able to join him for a nine-hour road trip to help his other daughter keep her ranking as the point leader in jet-ski racing. yeah, i know. anyway, looks like we would leave after the wedding saturday night and return sunday night or monday. and as i have...wait, let me check...nothing going on, i told him it would be great. might even curb my craving for a road trip, at least for a bit. good thing my priceline bid failed for the hotel room - if we're leaving saturday night, no need to get a room.

been avoiding any deep thinking lately, so i have no great insights to share with you, my faithful readers. i could wax eloquently about the whole gay marriage amendment, but really, what would be the point? haven't heard back from ryan about the whole emergent church, so no go there. plus, i'm not sure i could articulate what i think at this moment anyway. i do wonder sometimes if once school is out if my IQ suddenly drops several points. i call it going into conservation mode. others call it laziness. history will prove who's right.

the great swimming experiment is going well - been able to pull myself out of bed every morning this week and get a few laps in. had to adjust my schedule a bit since they moved morning prayers to 7:30 (which explains why no one was there monday and tuesday when i showed up at 7:00). not sure the wisdom in getting up at 6:00am and i'm not sure how long i'll be able to do it, but for now it's a good way to start the morning - a quick swim, prayers, breakfast.

sorry to inflict on you the tedium of my vacation-life.

tomorrow i'll be doing a bit of domestic work - cleaning up around the house. since it's official that i'm getting a new computer, i need to make sure my space is ready to go for its eventual arrival. will at least keep me busy for part of the day and keep me from wasting away in front of the tv watching BSG seasons 1-2 (yes ellescriba i watched the miniseries last night. we'll have to talk).

wow. i've bored my fingers into slumberland. time to go. sorry.
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Tunes: death cab for cutie - marching bands of manhattan

anatomy of a set up

first, the preliminaries - i almost didn't go. drove the four hours back from weirton sunday morning and made good enough time that i figured i'd take a short nap. mistake. didn't sleep much and it just made me grouchy. not the best of moods if you're going to meet someone. add to that major wardrobe crisis mere minutes before leaving, and i was a bundle full of fun on the way to the wedding. horrible frame of mind. had i not promised, i would have just stayed home. but i went, met bea at starbucks, drove to meg's then to the wedding.

the wedding itself was lovely - simple, straightforward and very, very crowded. beth knows everyone. there were TEN bridesmaids and TEN groomsmen. just a bit of overkill, but who am i to judge. oh right, someone who's been to far too many of these things. anway, i spent much of the service scanning the crowd looking for jessica. now i didn't know much about her - artist and relatively young. beyond that, nothing. beth was just a bit vague in descriptions. didn't see anyone who matched my preconceptions. so when we finally were dismissed (you know, there's no good way to do this - especially if you're stuck at the back waiting waiting waiting), beth leaned over and said she was in the back on the left in a blue dress. so i looked on my way out. didn't see anyone matching that description. not good.

so we head over to the reception (they had rented out ault park - beth's parents are not poor) and i had pretty much given up hope. i was in a bad mood, i didn't know who jessica was, beth was busy doing bridey stuff, so i was ready to write the afternoon off. then we went to talk to annie, who i had forgotten had actually me the mysterious jessica at a bridal shower. and it was through her i actually was introduced.

first impressions: not at all what i expected. much quieter and subdued - more the contemplative artist than the wild and crazy artist. she was wearing a bluish dress, which is why i didn't find her earlier - i was looking for solid blue, this was more of a patterned dress. we joked early on about beth's pushiness and then she joined us at the table we had commandeered when we arrived.

(aside: i got to spend the day with three beautiful women - meg, bea, kelley. i must have looked like quite the stud sitting at a table, the only guy among all the lovely women. sure, they're all taken, but 'twas fun nonetheless)

we talked, chatted, asked questions - all those things you do during a set up, trying to separate the preconceptions from the truth. and as we talked i came to a startling conclusion...

she's me. in many ways.

not sure how i feel about that. we're both strong introverts, evidenced by the lengthy gaps in conversation at times. we both have elitist tendencies (hers certainly can't be as annoying as mine, but i did get the sense). we both are uncomfortable in large groups and hate talking on the phone. and while it was great meeting someone who understood a lot of my quirks, there's part of me if it might not be too much of a familiar thing. but i'm withholding judgment for now, until we can get together again under less contrived circumstances (though aren't all "dates" contrived?).

so no, it wasn't the miserable experience i feared it might be on my drive there. was quite a pleasant experience. and while there were no fireworks or bolts of lightning, it was a fine way to spend an afternoon/early evening. and we'll see what comes next.
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Tunes: over the rhine - my love is a fever (acoustic)

U2 - get set for summer

let's do this

monday morning. woke around 6:00am - much earlier than i want to. but i figure it will take at least a week to shift out of my school schedule. of course with my sleeping record, who knows what will happen. wandered to st. e's for morning prayer, but alas, no one was there, which leads me to believe it may have been next door at the brownhouse, but by the time i figure it out, 'twas too late, so i prayed a bit on my own, then wandered down to the Y to begin what i hope will become a morning ritual this summer. i swam for about 30-40 minutes, then walked back home. felt good being active, though i've definitely lost my cardio ability. drawbacks of growing old. heading over to the barr's to help get their new sofa/sleeper into the house - ran into dave on the way home from the Y.

those of you looking for a recap of my wedding experience, be patient. i'm working up to it.

i'm going to hate this week. auditioned friday for midsummer and now i have to wait until friday at the earliest to hear what part i got. i REALLY want bottom, but i'm not sure i sold it in my audition. trying not to get my hopes up too high, but it's hard. such a great role. i should have done more prep. i had the whole character in my head, but needed to focus more on bottom's "acting." ah well, it's over now and i just have to wait. and wait. and wait.

the quickie road trip to see brent went well. good driving both ways (which basically means few annoying drivers - the benefit of leaving before 8am) and we had a good time. seems ikea has discontinued the bed frame i was going to buy, so i'll have to look elsewhere. did finally score my STEELERS SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS long sleeve t-shirt. was going to get the "got rings?" shirt, but forgot to bring cash with me. brent said he would pick it up for me, though. figured it would be appropriate to wear here in cincy - nothing like a little dig.... we also watched reefer madness, which was quite entertaining. fun watching kristen bell sing and dance - i'm waiting for the big musical number on veronica mars soon. there's a great song called romeo and juliet all about shakespeare. hilarious. would be fun to play for my classes when we do good old bill. also want to think about dropping references to the film since i get the feeling many of them have seen it, at least certain ones anyway.

moment of panic this morning....sat down last week and priced out a new computer. spent time figuring out how i would pay for it. went back today, pulled up my wish list....and it was gone. lovely. so i used dell's chat feature and was directed back to the page and "rebuilt" the computer i want. should only cost $737, which i can certainly do. think i have everything i need with it, too. will probably order it tomorrow, since my mortgage payment went out today and i get paid tomorrow. be nice to have the upgrade. be nice to have a monitor that i can actually see pictures on (wow, was that a horribly constructed sentence).

ah, will you look at that? time for me to go help dave. and after that i think i'm going to go ride my bike. so i guess my reflections on the wedding will have to wait. probably need to think about it some more anyway.....
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Tunes: old 97's - wish the worst