Just 'cuz
OK, so my last update was a fair bit shorter than I'd wanted it to be. However, at the time, laziness took over and I decided not to actually post--so here's what's going on.
Christmas was an absolute blast. It didn't start out that well, to be honest. As usual, O'Hare was backed up, so I was about an hour late out of the gate, and then they stalled for another forty minutes while we were on the plane. But our wonderful airport system proved later to be worth it's weight in shit the next day, when a reportedly drunk pilot managed to MISS THE RUNWAY. That's right--at the intersection of Richmond International's two major commercial runways, some jackass managed to drive his plane off the road and into the mud, which cancelled numerous flights (including my grandfather's), and brought the airport to a standstill on December 24, for over six hours. I don't know about you guys, but I am impressed. Fortunately, my immediate family was all together, and we managed to have a good time. On December 25, we managed to start drinking at 7:30 am. All of us...
Which is mostly my fault. True to form, my sense of humor kicked in on Christmas eve at about 11pm, when I asked my sisters if they'd be willing to wake up at 6 am and wake my parents up (y'know, like we used to do when we were kids). Unfortunately for my parents, all three of us have the same general sense of humor, so my sisters thought this idea was only just shy of pure genius. Then we slept in...until 7 am. At this point, we all went downstairs, crept up to my parents' bed, got right next to their faces, and started whispering "mom, dad, it's christmas" over and over until they woke up. They weren't terribly happy, but when we offered them bloody maries and mimosas, they perked right up. And thus it was that the Pilkingtons began drinking well before noon. I am personally very proud of that-because it's all my fault.
So we opened presents, drank, and had a good time, until about 3pm, when we went to see "Phantom of the Opera". I can sum it up in two words: let down. Gerard Butler is an OK actor from what little I've seen of him, but a singer he is not-which proves to be a problem when he's playing the Phantom. Emmy Rossum was pretty damn good as Christine, if you ask me--she's the only Christine I've ever heard that hit the last note of "Think of Me" in a way I really just enjoyed listening to (I'd even say that Sarah Brightman gets a little screechy, but she pulled it off quite well). Patrick Wilson was alright as Raoul. Billy told me he'd heard Wilson sing in "OKLAHOMA", and he's wonderful, so I'm gonna split the fault right down the middle with the actor and the musical direction, which resulted in a rather whiny and slightly effemitnate(sp) Raoul. That, and they added a lot of footage that I think was just Joel Schumacher saying "hey, wouldn't this be cool?" and a bunch of sycophant's following him around going "yeeesss Mr. Schumacher". Minnie Driver was absolutely hysterical as Carlotta, even if a little over the top. I give it 1.5 stars.
I saw a couple of old friends, one of which is currently over in Germany with the army, and will be moving to Iraq in the next year or so, and it was good to see him one last time before he shipped out. The other is in the secret service, and had more than a couple of fun stories to tell about that training (my favorite was the pepper spray story). It was good fun.
New Year's wasn't that great. I couldn't afford to go to any of the big parties, and the group I was hoping to spend it with had been invited to another party, and there wasn't room. Next year I'm definitely planning a little farther ahead.
And now for the real fun of the update: I'm only working three days a week at the insurance gig, and doing actor stuff for the rest of it. I'm currently in search of a bartending/tablewaiting gig for the weekends, so I can make the money to have a little bit of fun while doing the actor thing. I've had two headshot photographer interviews, and Managing a Performance Career has definitely helped. I think they were more nervous than I was, as I'd done more than a little preparation for it. Unfortunately, I'm probably not going to use either of them, but at least I got a little practice with the photographers that I didn't really want to use, and I'm more than ready for the photographers I really liked, who I'm interviewing tomorrow and Thursday. Emily Glass told me once that the best classes she took at CNU were Voice I and Managing a Performance Career, and, from my own experience so far, I can only say that she is one very smart lady.
It's really odd. At this point, my financial situation is the most up in the air it's ever been, and I'm infinitely more happy than when I was stable and working full time in a job that I hated. Funny how that happens, isn't it? Seems to prove my point of going after what you love in spite of poor odds--at least the pursuit will make you happy, and I'm ecstatic!
And now, another movie review: Meet the Fockers was great, I think. Yes, it's a Ben Stiller movie, but the situation was just funny, and I've never seen Dustin Hoffman or Barbra Streissand that damned funny. It was a blast. Not what I'd call 'high quality cinema', but very entertaining, nonetheless.
Bryan and Kim came in town last weekend, and we went out on the town for a while, which was great. We got to see a Second City show, and it was lightyears beyond the last SC show I saw. I almost laughed myself to tears. It was a great weekend. Next weekend, another old friend is coming to visit. I haven't seen him in four or five years, which is kind of odd, and for about 3.5 of those years he was out of contact, but he suddenly popped up in Iraq a few months ago, and he's out on leave, so he's coming in and we're going to play catch up. I'm really looking forward to it.
Lastly, is the weekend of the 22nd. My dad is coming up to town, and he, Bryan and I are going to see Spamalot. Our seats are three rows back in the orchestra on house right. You can envy me now, hahahahahaa.
So, umm. that's what's up in Chicago. You wonderful people from NN and NOVA should come visit. It would be fun. Til the next update!!!
Christmas was an absolute blast. It didn't start out that well, to be honest. As usual, O'Hare was backed up, so I was about an hour late out of the gate, and then they stalled for another forty minutes while we were on the plane. But our wonderful airport system proved later to be worth it's weight in shit the next day, when a reportedly drunk pilot managed to MISS THE RUNWAY. That's right--at the intersection of Richmond International's two major commercial runways, some jackass managed to drive his plane off the road and into the mud, which cancelled numerous flights (including my grandfather's), and brought the airport to a standstill on December 24, for over six hours. I don't know about you guys, but I am impressed. Fortunately, my immediate family was all together, and we managed to have a good time. On December 25, we managed to start drinking at 7:30 am. All of us...
Which is mostly my fault. True to form, my sense of humor kicked in on Christmas eve at about 11pm, when I asked my sisters if they'd be willing to wake up at 6 am and wake my parents up (y'know, like we used to do when we were kids). Unfortunately for my parents, all three of us have the same general sense of humor, so my sisters thought this idea was only just shy of pure genius. Then we slept in...until 7 am. At this point, we all went downstairs, crept up to my parents' bed, got right next to their faces, and started whispering "mom, dad, it's christmas" over and over until they woke up. They weren't terribly happy, but when we offered them bloody maries and mimosas, they perked right up. And thus it was that the Pilkingtons began drinking well before noon. I am personally very proud of that-because it's all my fault.
So we opened presents, drank, and had a good time, until about 3pm, when we went to see "Phantom of the Opera". I can sum it up in two words: let down. Gerard Butler is an OK actor from what little I've seen of him, but a singer he is not-which proves to be a problem when he's playing the Phantom. Emmy Rossum was pretty damn good as Christine, if you ask me--she's the only Christine I've ever heard that hit the last note of "Think of Me" in a way I really just enjoyed listening to (I'd even say that Sarah Brightman gets a little screechy, but she pulled it off quite well). Patrick Wilson was alright as Raoul. Billy told me he'd heard Wilson sing in "OKLAHOMA", and he's wonderful, so I'm gonna split the fault right down the middle with the actor and the musical direction, which resulted in a rather whiny and slightly effemitnate(sp) Raoul. That, and they added a lot of footage that I think was just Joel Schumacher saying "hey, wouldn't this be cool?" and a bunch of sycophant's following him around going "yeeesss Mr. Schumacher". Minnie Driver was absolutely hysterical as Carlotta, even if a little over the top. I give it 1.5 stars.
I saw a couple of old friends, one of which is currently over in Germany with the army, and will be moving to Iraq in the next year or so, and it was good to see him one last time before he shipped out. The other is in the secret service, and had more than a couple of fun stories to tell about that training (my favorite was the pepper spray story). It was good fun.
New Year's wasn't that great. I couldn't afford to go to any of the big parties, and the group I was hoping to spend it with had been invited to another party, and there wasn't room. Next year I'm definitely planning a little farther ahead.
And now for the real fun of the update: I'm only working three days a week at the insurance gig, and doing actor stuff for the rest of it. I'm currently in search of a bartending/tablewaiting gig for the weekends, so I can make the money to have a little bit of fun while doing the actor thing. I've had two headshot photographer interviews, and Managing a Performance Career has definitely helped. I think they were more nervous than I was, as I'd done more than a little preparation for it. Unfortunately, I'm probably not going to use either of them, but at least I got a little practice with the photographers that I didn't really want to use, and I'm more than ready for the photographers I really liked, who I'm interviewing tomorrow and Thursday. Emily Glass told me once that the best classes she took at CNU were Voice I and Managing a Performance Career, and, from my own experience so far, I can only say that she is one very smart lady.
It's really odd. At this point, my financial situation is the most up in the air it's ever been, and I'm infinitely more happy than when I was stable and working full time in a job that I hated. Funny how that happens, isn't it? Seems to prove my point of going after what you love in spite of poor odds--at least the pursuit will make you happy, and I'm ecstatic!
And now, another movie review: Meet the Fockers was great, I think. Yes, it's a Ben Stiller movie, but the situation was just funny, and I've never seen Dustin Hoffman or Barbra Streissand that damned funny. It was a blast. Not what I'd call 'high quality cinema', but very entertaining, nonetheless.
Bryan and Kim came in town last weekend, and we went out on the town for a while, which was great. We got to see a Second City show, and it was lightyears beyond the last SC show I saw. I almost laughed myself to tears. It was a great weekend. Next weekend, another old friend is coming to visit. I haven't seen him in four or five years, which is kind of odd, and for about 3.5 of those years he was out of contact, but he suddenly popped up in Iraq a few months ago, and he's out on leave, so he's coming in and we're going to play catch up. I'm really looking forward to it.
Lastly, is the weekend of the 22nd. My dad is coming up to town, and he, Bryan and I are going to see Spamalot. Our seats are three rows back in the orchestra on house right. You can envy me now, hahahahahaa.
So, umm. that's what's up in Chicago. You wonderful people from NN and NOVA should come visit. It would be fun. Til the next update!!!