Jono Jono

Jono & I have been besties since my junior (his senior) year of high school. Man, oh man, we have had our ups & downs. Including a year where we did not speak.
But in the way of true friend-ness, we got over our differences (I hope).

In all the time I have known Jono, he has been many things; a comedian, a writer, a pizza deliverer. But the one constant has been his passion for music.

Last week he told me he would be touring England with a friends band, as their opening act. After this he will be moving to Austin, where another friend (an already established musician) will be helping him open a recording studio.

Jono is known to have many problems with anxiety and the like. Yet here he goes, facing his fears.
Although I will miss my dear friend here, I can't be anything but proud of him.

If one person takes a step by himself, he walks alone.

If one person takes a step and others follow, he is a leader.

If everyone takes a step together, they are a team.

No Job No $

I think an English as a second language class meets in the same building as Annoyance classes.

In the hallway, there are several displayed projects that the students have done. The theme seemed to be: tell a story using pictures of emotions, then write a sentence describing why the person was feeling a certain emotion.

Most of the people were women who were sad because they did not have jobs. Or happy because they had jobs.

There was only one that was different.
"He is sad because he has to finish English class."

An Open Letter to a Friend of a Friend

Dear Friend of a Friend,

I am sorry that we are not friends.

I can't believe I get paid to improvise.
I can't tell you how lucky/thrilled/grateful I am.

Granted, it's not enough to live on, in any way. But an extra chunk of change every few months is nice. I think I might buy an iPod, even though I feel really guilty about it. I was looking at the eensy ones that play videos at the mall this weekend, arguing with myself that I don't really need it and that all my extra money should go into my savings account.

Adal: If you want it, you should get it.
Me: I don't know...
Adal: You just got paid a bunch of money for nothing.
Me: Hey! I played pretend really hard for that money.

The Texas Trip

Friday
The 5 of members of Insult to Injury met up and headed to the airport. The flight was a little delayed, but nothing terrible.
The terrible part came later when it took us 2 hours to find the hotel. We were staying at a Comfort Suites, off 114. Around 1:30 we found a Comfort Suites off 114. We all started cheering and went to the front desk.

Hotel Employee: I'm sorry, we don't have a reservation for you.
Me: Here's a copy of our confirmation.
Hotel Employee: Oh, this is the wrong Comfort Suites.
Dan:(beat) It's because we celebrated.

We did eventually find the hotel and it was very, very nice. But we didn't celebrate til we were in the room.

Saturday
We went to our favorite Texas restaurant, Razzoo's. It's cajun food and everything on the menu is unbelievably good.



We had more than a little to drink.
We even stopped at this bar in the woods I had told Matt about, the boys went in and just loved it. Andi and I sat in the car and watched a girl drive up to spy on someone. Uh-oh. That guy better watch out, Cheaters films in the DFW area.

That night we headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards to watch the rodeo. That's right, a real live, bronco ridin rodeo.


During this particular rodeo, a woman would come out and sing between events. She sang along with a karaoke track, but she was a little off and the back up singers were at a different part of the song when they came in.
Me: The best part is, they said she's singing a couple of songs.

Also, since we were in Texas, before the National Anthem there was a singing of 'God Bless the USA' and a prayer. Then the woman came back out to sing the Anthem. At this point Dan could not stop laughing and people were starting to turn around and stare.
Me: Dan. Stop it.
Dan: (through giggles) They're using a fog machine.


Sunday
We spent our Sunday at Six Flags. We split up, because Adal & I hate most rides and Dan, Andi, and Matt love to feel close to death.



They rode the Mr. Freeze, which is terrifying to think about.
Dan: We waited in line for over an hour, for a 40 second ride. Believe me, they packed as much as they possibly could into that 40 seconds.




Adal and I stood and watched people ride the Batman. It's one of those harness rides where your feet hang out. At one point the ride is upside down for awhile and peoples legs flail above their heads. Until we watched, Adal had been considering riding it.
As soon as it went upside down, Adal: No. That makes me furious.

Waiting in line for the Judge Roy Scream, a goose ran up to the railing, stuck his head through the bars as far as he could and bit Adal's leg.
Adal: (laughing hysterically) Aah! Why always me?
Me: They can smell that you like to get picked on.

After Six Flags, we went to Joe T Garcia's for some Mexican food with my Dad & Sharon (my step-mom). The food was fantastic and just a reminder of what I can't have living away from Texas.

After food, we drove 4 hours to Big Spring. As predicted, the town was straight out of a nuclear fallout movie.


Monday


Our entire Monday was spent teaching workshops and doing a show at Howard College in Big Spring, Texas. Above is a copy of the itinerary that had been posted on the info board outside the theater.

The kids were great. Fantastic. They had never done improv before, outside of some of the warm-ups that we share with theater. We taught both high school kids and college kids. At the end of the day, the high schoolers opened the show with some short form and the college kids did some 2 person long-form scenes. Then our group performed a Harold, the first and only one the kids and audience had ever seen.

Teaching the workshops was rewarding and both groups learned the building blocks to both long & short form.

My favorite part of the day was this: Andi & I were teaching the college group some long form excercises and had just moved on to 2 person scenes. After the first few scenes one of the kids whispered: Oh, so short form is games, but long form is a lot more.

The shows were amazing. I was so surprised and delighted to see the kids not only do great, but for beginners they were phenomenal. They killed. The long form group had some dramatic scenes that were so touching and even though they were not funny persay, the audience was on the edge of their seats.

Our show was awesome, it was the best Harold we had done and we even received a standing ovation. A copy of the show is supposed to be mailed here, hopefully I will be able to post it.

Tuesday


All packed up and ready to roll from our hotel. I think it was one of the most relaxing, satisfying feelings I have ever had. Good job boys. That'll do.

Insult to Injury: Under Attack!

Something must be in the air, because the members of ITI are dropping like flies.

On Tuesday evening, I was driving home from Target when I was rear-ended by a car that was rear-ended by the car behind him. The instigator of the crash took off. The car behind me was totaled, but my car had no damage. Since I didn't even see the hit-and-runner, I declined filing an accident report. About 2 hours later, every reoccuring pain I've ever had came back at full force. Luckily, I still have my anti-inflammatories for my knee or I would be screaming.

Later on Tuesday, Andi slipped in our living room and caught her arm on a little end table. Her body when down, but her arm went up. Now the back of her shoulder is swollen and the front looks like it's caved in. She is supposed to be going to the doctor today, my guess is that it's partially dislocated.

Wednesday at work, Matty started throwing up. Then he couldn't stop. He even threw up any water he drank. I talked to him in the evening and he said he was feeling a little better, but running a fever.

Since each thing seems to be a little worse than the last I can only imagine what will happen to Adal & Dan.

We are supposed to leave for Texas on Friday evening. I'm hoping this stuff isn't a warning to not get on the plane, ala Final Destination.

The Ruins: A Movie Review

This movie is billed as a "horror" movie. But is it?

The movie follows 5 attractive young people who make their way to hidden Mayan ruins where an archaeologist is doing a dig.
When they arrive, some natives show up, scream at them, and force them up the temple, effectively trapping them. The natives also shoot the character who doesn't matter or speak english.
They reach the top of the temple, where there is a campsite but no people. They start to realize that the vines on the temple are alive and after them.
Sounds like a horror movie, right?

But wait...

The focus of the movie is less on the vines that intend to devour and kill them. It's not really even focused around the interesting group dynamic that reveals itself when one of the girls gets vines trapped under her skin and starts acting insane.

No. This movie is about injuries. Grotesque injuries and how people deal with them when they have no way to get real medical attention. Even though one of the characters is going to med school.

I hate this kind of movie. I call it a torture movie. It bills itself as horror and turns out to be just horrifying. It started off promising, but...

One of the characters scales down a shaft into the ruins, looking for his brother and the archaeologist (prompted by a cell phone ring heard down the shaft). Uh-oh, the rope snaps.
Now one of the lighter ones (read: girl) has to go down after him and see if he is okay. The rope makes it down, but not far enough. She has to drop from the rope. She falls, her lantern smashes and gouges her knee. Close up on her pulling an enormous piece of glass out of her knee. Lots of blood.
This should have been my first clue.

Now we see the guy...uh-oh. He's alive. What? This is a second clue, a horror movie would have a)killed him (making the girl's journey pointless) or b)he would have been completely fine, but acting creepy (infected with plant).
But no, he just broke his back.

I won't explain the rest of the plot in depth.
But here is a list of injuries:
The plant crawls inside the injured characters wounds with close ups on them pulling the long plant stems from these wounds.
The plant eats Mr. Paralyzed's leg flesh.
They amputate Mr. Paralyzed's legs with a rock, a hunting knife, and fire. (This scene is particularly long.)
The plant crawls down someone's throat, choking him.
The plant is under the girl's skin, so they cut it out with the hunting knife. Close-ups of the long, bloody vines being slowly pulled out.
There is still more under her skin, so she sneaks away and goes to town cutting herself. Pretty much cutting away her entire upper thigh.
Someone is stabbed (this one was relatively painless, a pretty typical through the heart horror movie stab).
Someone is shot with arrows, and then with a gun.

I basically just told you the entire plot.
Injuries aren't plot, you say? Well, you're right. But this movie isn't about anything else.

On the upside, there was a preview for Iron Man.

Rabble Reflections

The Rabble had a super fun, good show last night. One of our best.
The suggestion was syphilis and the show's theme ended up being abstinence.

With the addition of two lovely ladies, we seem to have gained something we were lacking.

With the addition of Annoyance classes for me I think I have gained some confidence and better character work. Thanks Annoyance.

Our next show is this Saturday at midnight, in the improv rebellion. Last time we played sexist people in the 50's for the opening and then transformed (read: stripped) into punk characters.
This time we are opening as characters in an office, to play on how people behave at work. Then we will transform into our after work "true" personas. We have agreed to keep our after work personalities a secret from each other.
I haven't picked one yet...but I am excited about it.

Happy April

I'm pretty sure everything today is a prank.
Watch out.