Christmas Time is Here!

And that means excessive amounts of food, sugary desserts, cold weather, frosted cars and of course, a familial gathering in the home of my forefathers....which translates to Mom n Dad's house.

So I'll be leaving you all, my little bloggy minions, for several days. Not that you are terribly concerned, I'm sure, because I have this awful habit of not writing on a consistent basis. Well, nuts to me for failing to be consistent. Unless, I'm merely being consistently inconsistent! Ha! Take THAT!!

But in all seriousness, if you are reading this now, I am wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Jolly Boxing Day, if that's what you're in to. Hopefully I will have a Christmas gift for all of you followers when I return, but we shall have to see what I can whip up in a timely fashion. Or a fashioably late time, whichever comes first.

May your days be Merry and Bright, and may all you Christmases be...All Right!

(Snow me no likey...)

-S.

Micro Stories: Finished

A bit late in the game, I suppose, but whatever.

I don't know if the whole micro story idea was a success or not. I'm leaning on not, since I only wrote less than a handful of them on the backs of blank receipts from work. It's amazing what you can do when there are no customers around to interrupt your train of thought.

However, I did realize one thing: I like writing out on those stupid little slips of paper. I don't know why. Somehow, I feel like I can accomplish a lot more on them than with just typing it out on my computer.

So for the past two weeks now or so I've been using said reciepts to work on some other story ideas I've had kicking around in the back of my skull since...God, I don't even know since when...School, maybe? New Hampshire? I don't know. Anyway, there you go. I've successfully worked out a basic pantheon for a fantasy world involved in one story, successfully killed off the hero in another story (this is a good thing; trust me) and also fleshed out a character in a short-ish story I messed about with for a bit.

Who knows? Maybe one or two of these idle themes will yield a novel. And then that novel might sell. And then I might be rich!

But, for now, I've rediscovered writing by hand.

-S.

Micro Story #4

This one is a bit more compicated. I didn't actually finish it until I posted it here, so, hope it doesn't suck too badly!

"And then what happened?" asked the little boy to his father, who was unprepared for this remark.

"Well, and then they had children, who grew up and had children and so on." The boy's eyes went wide in wonder.

"Forever and ever?" he asked.

The Father considered this. "Yes," he said finally. "I suppose they did."

The boy's face grew puzzled. "But what happened after that?"

The Father felt very put upon by this point. But it was then that he realized that the boy had no notion of Eternity. The word meant nothing to a child whose whole life is lived so quickly. Eiternity only matters once you see what the end of the line looks like. "Son," said the Father, "Forever is a really, really long time. It's the longest time you can possibly think of."

The boy thought for a moment. "So it's like waiting for the Dentist to finish cleaning my teeth?"

The Father chuckled, but agreed.

Emboldened by this the boy continued. "Or like when we're sitting in Church and the preist is saying the closing prayer and he won't say 'Amen'?"

The Father laughed loudly at this and nodded agreement.

Feeling daring, the boy pressed on. "Or like when you and Mommy are in your room and-"

"Son!" said the Father, cutting the child off at the pass. "There are somethings that are meant to take a long time. And some things that you should not repeat. Ever. To anyone. Especially people. Or me. Or Mommy. Ever." The father's blush began to subside slowly.

The boy looked thoughtful again. "You mean, forever?"

THE END

So what'd you think? Too much? Not enough? I don't know. And what I was trying to go for was that the child heard the parents arguing about something rather embarrassing but since children have no concept of embarrassment, the boy brings it up as a frame of reference. I leave the topic of that argument to you.

Oooh! Post creative ideas in the Comments Section! I like that plan!

-S.

Micro Story #3

So I'm not sure how frequently I'll be writing these things. Last week at work was ridiculous and after work was pretty busy as well. Between all that, I couldn't write as much as I would have liekd to and the couple of things I did manage to crank out weren't exactly what I was looking for. But oh well. Here's something from the past week. Enjoy!

As I went alking of an afternoon, I saw a woman with a curious hat. it was perched on head at a precisely fashionable angle and was riveted in place by no less than three silver pins. It was black silk, with a white dove stitched to the side of it. Around the brim a small garland of bright red roses seemed to be growing out of it even as I watched her read a book.

"Excuse me," I said as I passed her. "But that hat is quite remarkable."

She looked up from her book, stared me in the eye and said something unprepossessing in Portuguese. It was then that I realized that she was reading an English to Portuguese dictionary and that I had probably made myself look a great fool. In a flash of inspiration, I bowed to her and said the only Portuguese I knew.

And that is how I met your Mother.

It's not exactly what I set out to do, but at least I had fun describing the hat. Can you imagine what the outfit she must have been wearing looked like? What would be accentuated by a black silk hat with a white dove and red roses on it, fixed in place by silver pins? Is she from the late 19th century? It almost feels like that.

Oh well. Live and Learn, I suppose.

-S.

Micro Story #2

This one is a bit more like a story and a bit less like a prologue...Enjoy!

Once there was a land in which the Sun never set. This was a tragedy for the people of this land slept by day and feasted by night.

One day, a clever young man woke up and closed his eyes against the burning Sun. The young man woke his friends, who exclaimed the wonder of his discovery. However, the young man's Mother - who was not born yesterday, rolled over in her sleep and said to him, "Get back to bed, Son. For the Light will surely blind you in its terribly bright and blinding glory."

But the youth stood firm, for he knew his plan would work this time. "Momma," he said, "the light won't blind you if you close you're eyes to it and pretend it does not exist."

And so the people of the land of the Unsetting Sun became blind, for they shut their eyes and saw not that the sun had set and the feast could begin.

It's deep. Like Sicilian style pizza. I hadn't even intended it to be deep. I was hoping for dryly amusing.

-S.

Micro Story #1

Twice upon a time the Sun rose in the West.

Each time, it royally f&$^ed with the weather. All manner of human failings were blamed on the bizarre astronomical occurance. Key scientific instruments failed. Oceans rose when they ought have fallen. The Moon rotated ninety degrees to the right in the sky. Mountains fell, light poles snapped, brassieres twanged and cats & dogs leapt into the sky so far that when they came back down again they fell as hailstones to the earth.

Oh, and most of humanity was destroyed. Both times.

The End!

It's not very good, but cut me a little slack I wrote this on the back of a receipt at work in the space of about twenty minutes.

Story #1: Completed. Enjoy at your own risk!

-S.

Attention! Important News Update! !!!!!

Becuase everyone needs excessive exclamations marks. "Why," do you ask? Well, mostly because the more exclamation marks there are, the more important the news update is. EVERYONE knows THAT! ^_^

Anyways, it's actually not that terribly important, but I totally psyched you out there for sec, didn't I? Ha! Called it!

Back to the issue at hand. Or foot. No, hand. Well, hands really. I won't be doing NaNoWriMo this year. I know, I'm bummed out too. Last year's novel was a success -- meaning I just finished it on time -- but this year, without a computer to write on, there won't be time to write a full fledged novel.

Instead, I think that I will write a few micro stories to work on my arc technique for plot lines. They will be short, sweet and to the point and I already have two written. First one will be up shortly after this post right here, so pay attention to this space for further developments.

Perhaps they will be catalogued for later use by some strange story historian in the future when the intrwebz dies...

-S.

Why, oh why, oh why-o....

...Why did I never seriously consider Ohio?

Granted my weekend visit with the parentals and the brother is almost over and I'm heading back to NJ, but I won't lie here: I always speak the truth, even if I won't tell you what the truth is, I just won't say it. I'm seriously thinking about Ohio. Granted, it would suck at first. I'd move in with my parents into their basement and I'd live off of their kindness until I found a job and an apartment. But on the other hand, OSU is RIGHT THERE. See? I'm pointing to it. Right now. It's like, right over there! And that means the potential for night classes in some undetermined field of study for me to broaden my as yet fairly limited horizons. They have a graduate program for Theatre, which I could get into if I worked at it, hypothetically.

Cost of living is cheaper here than NJ - barring gas prices, I guess. There's a Single's ward I could hypothetically attend and enjoy. There's a city right over THERE for me to meander and explore. I could, conceivably, move here and figure my life out as well as myself and start actually living for real this time.

But what about my dream? (Whispers the nagging voice, reminiscent of a little boy who just got told that Santa isn't real) What about the stage and the Great White Way and the music and the laughter of the crowds who want me to brighten their day through text and verse? What about the kid who wanted to grow up to be Harrison Ford one day?

Hey, don't laugh: I didn't figure that out until I was a freshman in college!

Now you see where I am? See what I have to deal with? This sucks ass! Why can't I just have a simple decision to make?

The nagging voice returns: That's called growing up, Steve; get used to it. (This time it sounds like Nathan Lane as Max Biallystock...)

Grrr...I hate having to wait to make important decisions! It always makes me doubt myself!!

-S.

Sucks to be Someone...

So my boss got fired today. 'Twas exciting.

I can't legally reveal any information regarding why he no longer works for Sovereign Bank, a subsidiary of Santander, but this largely means that until a replacement for his hours is found, we are a man short and that means more hours for me! W00t! Maybe I won't have to raffle off a kidney after all!

Not that selling an organ on the black - or at least slightly off-white - market was ever a practical option, but it does mean more money to pay back my sister, pay my bills, and save up a bit for the Big Move in May/April.

This is a big deal, y'all. Real big. There's even a small chance that I will be able to apply to be trained as an assistant Head Teller since we already have a woman who would be perfect in the Head Teller position and, frankly, I am not experienced enough to be a Head Teller anywhere. Much less a bank that requires me to sell all manner of devilish financial products for no good reason beyond that we need to keep sales up and retention high.

I'm getting the hours I need! Sucks that it had to be at my boss's expense...

-S.

Impromptu Weekend

It's a day late, but this is a thank-you to all my friends back at SVU. I mean, I really appreciate everything everyone did for me, especially since it was all so last minute. Now, i won't be able to come back until next semester, so I'd like to come back for a concert or a show or something. Not that I don't love visiting with friends and everything, but I'd love to see the choir in action again. And be able to join in for Shenandoah as an Alumnus.

Keep me posted y'all!

-S.

Life Outside my Apartment

So my sister and I had a fight that ended bad.

My Sister and I are heading for a small feud.

My sister and I won't be living together come May. Oh yeah.

Because my sister is now turned into a total bitch!

All that, by the way, is supposed to be hummed to the tune of "An Act of Desperation" from Chicago. I didn't mean to write it that way, but that's how it turned out. Funny, no?

Anyway, I'm not making this crap up. Because she refused to meet with - just meet and be formally introduced to, never mind get to know! - my friend Jared on the grounds that he was my friend and she wants nothing to do with me or my friends - I know! She's a wench, right? - I'm pretty much waiting for her to push my patience just far enough for me to actually have enough grounds to leave and ditch them both with the apartment.

And I don't care any more. I'll admit that she and I got into an argument. I was childish at some points. I should not have yelled. However, I wanted to share something that was important to me with her and she just shut me down for the worst reasons out there. Because of me.

Damn, now I've got Stone Tables playing in my skull....Oh well. Doo do doo do doo, doo, doo, doo....

So come May I'll be moving out and on my own. I don't know if I want to move down south, where the living is cheap and many of my friends still are, up north, where New York is and my dreams of the Theatre, or to the Midwest where my parents and younger brother are. I'm pointed at NYC at the moment. Life, however, may intervene and point me elsewhere.

But! If Alanna pushes me the wrong way again, I will leave and I will apologize to Stephanie for ditching them with the Apartment. I will not abide with a person who hates me. It is not fair to either party and it's not healthy in either case.

Fortunately, I live in NJ, where there's plenty of places to meander and wander with a relatively low cost to myself. Boardwalk here I come!

-S.

Cash-Flow Problems

So Memorial Day Weekend, I said that I would try to make it out again to SVU to see the Opening Show, Songs for a New World. Yeah. That didn't really happen. Not so much.

There are a few things I blame particularly for this misshap:

Sovereign Bank - for not paying me enough nor giving me the hours I need.

the State of New Jersey - for having so many unemployed people that finding a second job is next to impossible through the conventional methods

Myself - for not realizing that the show opened Labor Day Weekend and I had, with Saturday off, a four day weekend and I didn't even realize it.

But mostly I blame the first two because without those I couldn't go down anyway.

So instead, I think I'm going to try going to NY ComiCon in the middle of October with a couple of geeky friends up here. We'll see how that turns out, but here's hoping for the best!

Still need a second job or at least full time hours at the bank...

-S.

Present Tense

So Monday evening greeted me with an email from the director of Doubt that I had auditioned for the week previous. I did not get the part, which was no surprise really. The basic rule of community theatre, as I understand it, is that if you are not part of the typical clique of community theatre-auditioners, you will not get a part purely because you are new. It takes several failed attempts to get a part to actually land one.

On a side note, I've found a new friend here in NJ. It was kind of random, that meet-cute. But he's got this whole circle of friends who are dorky like me and I think I've finally found a new group to hang out with besides my family.

Don't get me wrong; I love my family and I will always place them first in my heart, but sometimes I need my dorkiness to go appreciated as opposed to just kind of lived with.

Here I go! Into a bold new chapter of my life!

-S.

August

So it's been three months since I last wrote and I'm a total moron for not writing earlier. This is me being a moron. See how stupid I look! Wheeeeee!!!

Anyway, nothing too major has happened, except that my parents sold their old house, bought their new house and I did my first audition in nearly three years.

The last is the biggest piece of news yet.

So, I was checking this website for auditions in NJ, looking around for something in the area, and I saw a thing go up for Doubt - which I love! - and I decided to go for it. I seriously doubt - no pun intended, I assure you - that I'll get the part of Father Flynn, simply because I'm only in my 20s and I didn't know the director, but I feel like I totally blew the competition away in my audition. It was open and we performed in front of everyone, which I think was bad form, but the space was very small. Like, 20 seats small. We are talking black bread box space. I think my apartment is larger. Half my apartment is larger! It was ridiculous! But doubt deserves an intimate setting. And you don't get much more intimate than twenty folding chairs in front of a raised dais in a twelve by twenty room with an eight foot ceiling.

Anyway, space aside, the competition was varied, and I think my biggest competitor has me beat on look alone. he actually looks like a middle aged pastor who might or might not be a child molester.

Wow. I just realized what I wrote down. Only in theatre can that be a good thing.

Well, I shall know by Monday evening if I got the part or not. Here's hoping!

-S.

Buena Vista Getaway mit Singen und Tanzen!

Big shout-out to all my friends in the Beev for an awesome Memorial Weekend. It seriously felt like I had never left. I thank God I've got friends who make me feel welcome even if I haven't been the best person in the world.

The show was "Annie, Get Your Gun!" and the night was balmy and warm. Well, muggy and warm anyway. In the best of SVU tradition, something unspeakably awkard happened onstage that the cast handled perfectly. Despite the valiant efforts of the Technical Director/Rigger, a small-ish piece of flown scenery fell behind the actors on stage. Right int he middle of the show. To the actor's credit, not a single one of them broke character or acknowledged the incident, thereby allowing the house to stay at ease and to continue enjoying the show, regardless of technical difficulties. Three Cheers to the cast and crew! Huzzah! Hurrah! Exuberance!

Despite technical difficulties, the show went well, I thought. The mics are always bad, the orchestra is always a little loud, but despite these usual hurdles the cast met them adequately, if not spectacularly. Favorite Scene: the second Shooting Matche between Annie and Frank, including the song, "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)". Annie was a joy to watch and Frank was great to hear. Kudos to you both for a solid performance.

In my humble opinion, though it may not be the best SVU has ever done, it is certainly good and definatly worth seeing!

It seems you CAN get a man with a gun...

-S.

Moving Day

My parents sold their house.

Granted, they sold it about a month ago and it's been in contract this whole time, but the biggest issue that I was most worried about was where we - my siters and I - were going to live. About a week ago, we found an apartment, and by Sunday, we will have moved into it.

Moving sucks. Packing sucks. But once it's done, I won't have to worry about moving myself at least for another year.

This is a big deal for me. I don't really remember the house I lived in when I was little. Since I was about three or four, I've had only one place to call a home. About twenty years for me at a single address.

I heard once that the ties that bind sometimes hold you back. I don't know if I agree with that. I will say this though: Sometimes, the best thing you can do, is make a drastic change to your life. It sucks sometimes, but once the change is done, your whole life is different, even if you aren't aware of how much it's different. That difference is sometimes good and sometimes bad. But there's no way to tell until after it's done and the dust has settled.

The frost is off the ground and Moving Day is at hand!

-S.

Spays Invaydrz!!!1!!!11!1!!

So apparently a meteor burned through the midwest the other day.

No lie. It's on CNN. Check it out.

I'm telling you: Interstellar war willt ake care of our economic problems. We'll be too busy fighting off aliens to worry about trifles like health care and Isalmic terrorists in Iraq. Maybe if we get really lucky, we'll even jank their technology so we can finally colonize the stars! Just like in Firefly! Because who doesn't want to cruise the galaxy speaking random Cantonese instead of curse words? I know I do!

In all seriousness though, I was just amused by the reports of a meteor landing in the midwest. Maybe one of those freaky sci-fi movies about aliens crash landing and taking over our planet will be accurate. Maybe not. Who knows?

Oh. And one more thing: We haz spays invaydrz!!!!1!!!!!111!1!11!!

Lessons in Talent Finding

The last couple of days have been fairly eventful.

It all starts with me finding a talent pool company - because they are not a talent agency, they claim - on the web. after searching for talent agencies, mind you. so I find the company, check out the website, tour around it a little and I decide, on a whim, to give them my name and some basic info, becuase what's the harm, right? I mean, it's a legitimate company and they're based in New York. Maybe they'll pour over their submissions and call me back in a week or so.

Three hours later, I get a phone call asking to set up an interview at their offices in New York. I set up a time, wait for the day, and drive myself into the big city for the first time ever on my lonesome. Bully for me! When I get there - very early, too - I find out that it wasn't an interveiw so much as a cattle call. I am surrounded by dozens of other would-be actors or advertising models who are all looking for the same thing: easy money and a foot in the door to the entertainment industry.

I go through the 5 minute interview - not so much an interview as a snap-shot and glance over - and get a call back. I think, Cool; they like me.

I just got back from this second interview. Let me tell you what i learned:

1. Never park in Manhattan. It's bloody expensive and not worth it. Just take the train and walk or subway wherever you need to go.
2. Peak hours for the train - because it changes the fare - are between 4PM and 7PM Monday thru Friday.
3. No Talent Agency worth your time asks fro $500 up front with a monthly fee of $40 to keep your name current and in the open.

These are all valuable lessons to learn, because i now realize that to really get into acting, I need to actually be in or much closer to NYC for me to be able to get the contacts I'd need to start. The place didn't seem shady at all, but they wanted I cannot and will not provide. I am talent - to a degree - and I should not have to pay any agency for the right to be presented. Granted, if all they wanted was the $40 a month to look for jobs for me, I probably would pay it, because I can afford something like that. Not really, but I could swing it.

What chaps my hide the most is the fact that they wanted $500 to throw together a composite card - like a resume and headshot, but for a model - for me which I could make myself in about an hour. To their credit, they were not pushy or trying to sell me the idea. I applaud them for it. But I still feel like I would have been taken advantage of if I had agreed to their ridiculous terms.

Now, I've learned my lesson. Time to put it into practice!

-S.

Snow Day

Today is a day that shall live in infamy. A day that shall be remembered.

Today was a snow day.

So I wake up at about 7 AM this morning to a phone call from my manager at work and she tells me, "Hey Steve. guess what? We're closed today! Have a nice weekend!"

You can imagine the elation I felt at hearing these words, but mostly it was a kind of relaxed numbing feeling you get when you realize that you can actually sleep for a bit longer and you won't be penalized for it. I put my phone down, leaned back, and collapsedblissfully back into my snuggly warm blankets and pillows and resumed sleep mode.

Then i realized - once I had woken up for real - that I would have to be shoveling out the walkway and the drive way today once the snow tapers off a bit more.

Pros: Extra sleep, still in my pajamas, decent amount of time to relax this morning, no work, excersise.

Cons: Shoveling cold wet piles of snow, physical exertion, home-locked for the rest of the day with my sister.

Price for everything I suppose.

-S.

Update: Progress

First off, I start running/walking next week. About 2 miles five days a week if I can manage it. I'm not looking for stamina so much as activity to help burn the excess calories floating around in my system. Working over the summer forced me to eat less while working more, so I lost a lot of weight that way. Now, I lead a much more sedantary lifestyle. No hard work every day and less of a limitation on my food intake. So, I'm walking. A lot. I've got music and I've got a jacket, so unless the weather really sucks, I'm going for a walk after work.

I started doing push-ups every morning before my shower as well. Not much progress there. I can't do a real push-up so I've been leaning against the edge of my bed. Don't laugh, because it just shows how weak my arms really are, but I started at about ten and now, after a week or so, i can do about fifteen before my arms fold. I'm keeping it simple and I'm not pushing myself too much, but I am making a little progress.

I talked to an Air Force recruiter the other day. He said that apart from my body weight I shouldn't have a problem joining. Just get the weight down and then come back was the gist of what he said. Hence the walking mentioned above.

Self-Improvement is coming slowly. I'm working on my vices and putting them in check. It's tough, tougher than I think most people realize, but I can say that I feel empathy for quitting smokers. I feel your pain, people!

Girlfriends are merely fanciful imaginings for me. I'm too shy to actually ask a girl out. But I am undaunted. I will make an effort as I'm making an effort in everything I'm doing right now.

Each day I try to take a little more thought into my decisions when they really matter. I mean, I can't just barrel through life like I used to. I have to wait and plan and be patient and all of that hinges on thinking before I act. Living wisely is about the same as it was before, but I'm not quite as rash as I used to be, I think. Could be wrong though.

Well, I've got to do things my own way, even that means doing them the hard way. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.

Here I am in 2010.

-S.