Hey guys

Really quick,  I am auditioning at the CITA convention tomorrow.  I was also asked to play a role in a two man show at the opening ceremony of the convention.  The show is a two man one act that won CITA’s dramatic playwriting competition this year.  It will be a staged reading but still…  It will be on the same day as the auditions!!!  I am freaking out.  If you have a moment please pray for me. 

You know, it does not seem to matter what I do, I can't seem to write in this thing more than once every three months.  So, what has happened to me in the intervening time between posts?  Well, I am teaching/coaching speech and debate to middle and high school students.  It's a pain.  Mostly because the pay is crap, but it looks REALLY GOOD on a resume, so I soldier on.  I am also still working for the City of Worthington....which is also a pain.  The things that keep me going are threefold. 

1)  Watchng Heroes and Lost. 

2)  Working on developing an RPG with a friend of mine.  (I know it sounds like the height of nerd-dom, but it is actually a very interesting and fun creative process.) 

3)  Hanging out with friends.

And speaking of friends, I visited Geneva a few weeks ago, and it was great!!  Well, I got food poisoning and was pretty much dead for 2 days, but other then that it was fantastic.  I really miss the whole gang at school!  I think my former roommates were a little disappointed that I did not hang out with them more but I had promised Lindsey that I would bring my Lost DVDs and that we would watch as much as we could before I left.  Strangely that was the second time I had watched the First Season of Lost in marathon fashion (we watched the whole season in 4 days) in the last 6 months.  The first time I did it I got through it in 6 days.  So I guess the next time I watch it I will have to do it in 2 days to keep up the pattern.  I will be going to Geneva again in a few days to see the "School For Scandal" so I will be able to see everyone again.  It is absolutely killing my budget spending all this money on gas but it really is worth it.

Well, I think that is about it for me.  I really do have every intension of writing here more often but my part record speaks for itself. So, I guess I will see you all in about three months.

P.S. - The Third Season if Doctor Who will be airing in the UK on Saturday.   I can’t wait.  I love Doctor Who (I will admit that this is indeed very nerdy)

A Long Overdue Update

Letting five months go by without posting is shameful I know.  But, for those of you who do not already know, I have a good excuse.  I lived in the apartments this last semester and my computer would not get the internet.  I tried everything, aside from sacrificing a goat and spreading its blood over my doorframe so that the angel of internet death would pass by, to get the damn thing to work.  About a month into the semester I just gave up and only used my compy for writing papers, which I would then have to put on a jump stick, take to someone else's computer that got the internet, and upload it onto the web there.  It was a pain but I survived.  And you know it's actually really easy to get used to not having the internet for your every whim and desire.  I found that I actually got more school work done this way.  Which was really a good thing because the dreaded Political Science was one of the classes... ok lets be honest: THE class I really needed to work hard on.  And work hard I did. But, unfortunately, not hard enough to get and A.  I did get an A- which, if Geneva had grandfathered those of us who came in on the old grading system (for example a B if it be B-, B, or B+ would still be a 3.0) would have been a 4.0.  So, this means that I graduate with a GPA of 3.9903. 

Let me pause here and just say how much I hate Geneva.  Every decision they make is the most moronic and empty headed choice imaginable.  Think of the smartest thing to do and then do the exact opposite.  Take the new grading scale.                                                  B- = 2.8  B = 3.0  B+ = 3.5  A- = 3.8  A = 4.0  A+ = ___ .    Now, if this was one of those "what should the next number in the pattern be?" questions on the SAT or ACT the answer would logically be 4.2.  But not for Geneva.  They say the answer is 4.0.  Why?  Why would you do this?  It only serves as a disincentive to work hard.  If an A+ was a 4.2 I would be graduating with a 4.0 because the A+(4.2) I got in Intercultural Comm. would have balanced out the A-(3.8) I got in Political Science. 

I know what you are thinking.  "What is he complaining about?  That GPA looks fine to me."  Yes, I see your point.  And believe me I did not think I would get even an A- in Political Science so I am grateful I got what I did.  It just irks me that there the college has seen fit to yet again screw over its students.

Ok - Rant over.  On the up side of things I had a very nice Christmas with family and friends.  I went to see Storybook Like Stars ( www.myspace.com/storybooklikestars ) concert a couple of days before Christmas and that was great.  I still don't actually have my Wii.  Mark still has it over at his house.  I, foolishly told him that he could keep it until he beat Zelda.  So, as a result I have not played it more then about 2 hours in the whole time I have been home.  But it is cool to be one of the elite.  The few and proud that actually own one.  I know at least 4 people who got a Wii I.O.U. for Christmas because you can't get one anywhere right now. 

Well, I hope that this post was not to boring for you, my faithful reader.  I will try and keep you updated about what is going on with me. Bye now. 

Thank you all for all your kind words of support for me.  It really meant a lot to hear from all of you.  Things have not changed a heck of a lot since I last posted.  I am still spending a lot of time over at grandmother's house going through her stuff and preparing for an estate sale.  I am also working 4 part time jobs.  So, I basically just wake up, go to work, work, come back home, eat, go to sleep, and repeat.  Up until this week I have not had a day off in almost a month.  I am actually looking forward to going back to school so that I will have some FREE TIME.  Tomorrow I am leaving to go up to Michigan for a couple weeks before I come back to school.  At least I will have some relaxation time up there.  It will be nice birthday present from me to me.  This may sound like an abrupt change, but how hot is it where you people are?  It has been over 90 degrees with humidity wavering between 70-90% for about a month.  Since all of my jobs involve some if not all outside work I have been DIEING.  Remember, this is coming from the guy who wears shorts in the dead of winter. Mom is setting next to me as I write this and she says that setting next to me is like setting next to a furnace.  She just turned on the fan and pointed right at herself to cool off.  I choose to think that this just goes to prove that I am one hot guy.

Anyway, I will see you all (well most of you at least) soon.  I am proud of myself for actually having a decent size post.  Hay me!!  Love you all......except for you Kevin Grumble.

My Grandmother died a month ago.  Life is a less happy and interesting without her around.  It’s strange to say that she is dead.  I still go over to her house every week like I used to when she was alive.  Except now, instead of doing all of the fun things I used to do with and for Grandmother, I clean out closets, go through old pictures, and box things up for sale or storage.  We used to have a lot of fun together.  She used to take me to the State Fair every year.  It would be a 2 or 3 day event.  We would go and see the lumberjack show, the art displays, and buy stuff for people for Christmas.  Each day ended with us getting ice cream and watching that state marching band play in the equine arena (the house barn).  One of my earliest memories of her is from one of these events.  We had just finished the first day at the fair.  I was spending the night at her house.  She came in to tuck me in and scared the living crap out of me.  She had false teeth but I did not know that at the time and this was the first time I had ever seen her with out them.  So when she came in looking slack jawed and, to my young eyes, like and evil twin of my loving Grandmother, I nearing wet myself.

Now I walk around the house that she used to inhabit and I see things and remind me of times we shared.  I also see things that I have always wondered why she kept, like and ugly sculpture of a fruit basket, and about 50 books about the Kennedy Family. Now I will never know.

I went down to her basement the other day and looked at all her videos.  She always said she wanted to have a movie theatre in her own home.  Although she did not have a big screen to watch them on, she had enough films to…well, Let me put it this way.  I know this will sound like an exaggeration but it’s not.  She has more movies then the Media Center at Geneva does.

I saw her a few days before she died. She was in the hospital bed that we had bought so she could stay at home (she always said that she wanted to die in her own home).  She was in pain from the throat cancer that was swiftly moving to her brain and from a crushed vertebra in her back.  She did not like to open her eyes because the light hurt them.  I had been sitting by the bed and holding her hand for a while but I don’t think she knew I was there.  The pain in her back was getting too strong and she needed to be shifted in the bed.  The nurse came over and told Grandmother that we were going to move her.  Grandmother opened her eyes, looked at me, smiled, squeezed my hand that was still in hers, and said “God bless you.”  Those are the last words she said to me.  That is how I will remember her: Smiling.