ach! the nyews

I just got back from an awesome weekend with my friends at my parents' cottage. It's always a bit hectic to plan for 8-10 people staying (or not staying) overnight and coming and going at various times and coordinating meals and whatnot, but always fun and always over way too quick. I love you guys, and thanks for all your help. I swear one of these years we'll have nice enough weather to go to the beach; we've struck out three years in a row. But that's nothing four hours of Apples to Apples can't fix.

Next order of business: Camelot! The last musical I played for was Schoolhouse Rock!, which ended in May of 2004. After that, I was determined to go on a theatre hiatus, just because I wasn't willing to give the time commitment and wanted to get my graphic design career on track first.

Not long after that, cancer happened, which pretty well kept me out of commission until late 2005. I was tempted to come out of my hiatus with a chance to play for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in Medina, but that project fell through. I haven't had to actively turn down gigs, but haven't really been seeking them out either.

Well, the hiatus will officially end this October, when we hold auditions for Camelot at Olde Towne Hall Theatre in North Ridgeville. Is my graphic design career "on track" yet? Hardly -- I'm still working at the same place I was then, and have experienced very little advancement in my ability as a designer there in the last two years. Most of my artistic growth since 2004 has come from my freelance projects, honestly. I did finally get a raise in January, but the threat of being cut back to part-time employment has been looming over me since March, so I've yet to move out of my parents' house. And the last few weeks at work have both been a self-esteem boost and made me more disoriented than anything else. So no, I wouldn't exactly say my career is on any specific track at the moment.

Nonetheless, Camelot is an opportunity for me to music direct. Yes, that's right -- Bryan "I don't know how to teach" Bird will be music directing his first show, after all these years! Camelot isn't exactly the most thrilling show, but the director is my friend Allen, with whom I've worked before (Cabaret, also at Olde Towne Hall), and it's a venue I'm familiar with, less than a 15-minute drive from home. The show will be the last two weekends of February and the first two weekends of March.

And lastly, I'm on a much-needed (see reference to work, above) vacation this week. I'm not going anywhere and have no specific plans or responsibilities, which is my definition of a vacation. My goals are to get a full eight hours of sleep every night and tackle some small projects that I've let pile up over the last few weeks/months/...years. I want to clean my trombone and play it, something I haven't done in over two years. I want to continue packing up my Snoopy collection to put into storage. I want to finally put my graphic design portfolio -- the updated one -- on my web site. I want to go to Dave & Buster's and see if I have enough tickets to get a free TV. Oh yeah, and I need to buy a new TV too -- my ol' reliable 13" TV died. That guy has been with me since aught-1994* and kept me company while I did homework in high school and went to college with me.

*Yes, I know that's not the proper use of "aught"; it's just an old-fashioned word I use to make a rather recent year sound ancient in an ironic way. So don't get all squirrely on me, OK?

I'll let you know a week from now if I accomplished any of those things, or just played Civ 4 all day...