"Where do you find a woman fit for a king?"

"Queens!"

Not that I'm looking for that right now, mind you.

I've settled in yet another borough - so far, so good. One of the X's roommates also has a lease on a place out here, and no one's in the place (long story), so I'm helping him out for a month by subletting, and he in turn is saving my ass by giving me a place to live.

The place is cool. I have my own room, which is a nice change from the living room I was sleeping in, and the two guys who are here are very friendly. It's been a long time since I've lived with guys. That sounds like a weird statement, but it's true - it's been something like 3 1/2 years. Nice to have roommates who are just as crazy about sports as I am.

Went to the old Brooklyn apartment yesterday evening to collect the last of my things. Looking around that place, I realized that it was best that I go. The place is filthy, that kind of years-old grime that is almost impossible to scrub away; the cabinets are falling apart; the roof is leaking; the building is in need of a facelift.

And, most importantly, I was never comfortable there. Sure, I loved the neighborhood, and my friends were nearby, but the place itself never won me over. (Part of that might have been influenced by the crazy cats I was living with.) At least here I feel at ease, relaxed. Home. And part of me is excited to come back here in January and find a place of my own, either by myself or with a roommate. If I actually end up back here next year, that is.

My iPod looks like it's ready, so I'm going to try and load my music onto this computer. Wish me luck...

happy action fun time

Oh, folks, it's on. It's SO on!

Why is it on?

Because, my friends...I have my new computer.

It's pretty.

A gleaming new MacBook. Fully souped-up. Picked up Microsoft Office and a new iPod while I was at it, thank you very much.

So...do you know what this means?

It means...that you finally will be able to see pictures from my kick-ass vacation.

Pictures like this. -->

Prize to the person who can tell me what city this is in. Bonus if you can tell me where.

One more thing that must be done - I must name the new computer.

She's the new love of my life (in part because of how much coin I dropped on it...I mean, her; in part because there's no other prospects on the horizon), and she needs a new name. It was tough for me to pick the gleaming white model over the gleaming black model (insert Bright-Eyes' joke of choice here), so it needs an ethnic-sounding name. I'm feeling Egypt right now, so I'm thinking Isis. Check out a pic of the MacBooks and give me your suggestions, please...

Living situation post coming t'm'row...I just had to tell y'all about this one first...

frustrated

Not much to say right now that's fit to print. I've got one place to look at t'm'row; if it doesn't work out, I'm screwed. I can't even describe what this whole episode has done to my mental state. I'm totally frazzled, dudes.

I'll post something this weekend. I'm going home, to Pittsburgh, to see my parents. So I'm sure I'll feel better then. Mom's cooking always does that.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

Univision is the shit. (Hence the Spanish spelling above.)

Like many Americans, I get into soccer once every four years. And I just find the World Cup fascinating. I think my favorite part is how into it the fans get - the chants, the songs, the cheers. Their excitement gets me excited.

The crappy apartment I'm getting kicked out of has pirated cable. The super basically rigged up the channels he wanted to get. So we've got Cinemax and The Movie Channel (for his softcore porn needs, I suppose) but no ESPN or Comedy Central, two channels essential to my health and well-being. The World Cup is being shown, for the most part, on ESPN2. So I thought I was out of luck. Which brings me to Univision.

Univision is one of two Spanish-language channels available in the US (Telemundo is the other), and they've got rights to World Cup games. So I spend my afternoons watching soccer announced in a language I can't understand. You can kind of get the gist of it by listening to the tone of voice of the announcers, so that helps (and here I must admit that I have a fantasy that after several days of immersion that I will be able to speak perfect Spanish), and you certainly know when a goal has been scored, because all of the announcers have these spectacular calls that last around a minute. You've really got to check it out. Trust me, you'll love it.

apartment update

Thanks to all for the concern/couch offers. I know that my roommate and I do have a legal leg to stand on, but we've decided to vacate for several other reasons not really related to the landlord. I'm not going to go into all of them, but one big one for her is that she can go home for the summer, live rent-free, and make a ton of cash.

Looked at my first sublet last night - I had totally forgotten about the Holy Triangle of aparment searches - price, location, apartment quality. This place was really nice, and really big, but the neighborhood was shitty and the price was out of wack with the first two. So the search goes on. I do have a place to look at on Saturday that sounds pretty cool; I'll keep you posted.

just when you're starting to get comfortable...

...the unexpected happens.

Due to an exceptional degree of negligence and ineptitude, the landlord of my building is kicking us out. I found out about this in the wee hours of Friday morning, coming home after a fun evening with a delightful buzz. Needless to say, I was not that happy. We were originally going to be bounced out immediately, but my roommate was able to get the landlord to let us stay for the remainder of the month.

So, I'm going to be moving again. It's probably for the best - this building is for sale, and it's definitely in need of renovations - seems like every time I looked up there was something else breaking, or leaking, or running. But I'm really disappointed because I thought I had a home, you know? I had all these fix-em-up plans...poof! Gone.

Anyone know of a good July sublet? Preferably in Brooklyn?

wait for it...wait for it...

We're in kind of a holding pattern here at F&G, for several reasons. The biggest of all is waiting for financing to come through for my new computer, which will allow me to spice up this blog a bit, as well as post pictures of my super road trip with The Croatian Sensation. I don't feel like I should tell stories about our journey without showing you all of the available photo documentation.

I also feel like I'm waiting around career-wise, which sometimes doesn't make sense to me. I landed an agent on Friday - very exciting news - but now I just sit around waiting for the phone to ring for appointments. I still have all of the normal actor-y stuff to do - reading Backstage, reminding my contacts that I'm still alive - now I just have more help.

I also have an acting job of sorts that begins in two weeks, and as a result I can't land any kind of part-time job - people don't want to hire someone who says, "I'd love a flexible schedule, and I really won't be available to you for the next two weeks." So I may have to go the temp route for a while. I've been resisting it because I want to keep my open availability for meetings and auditions, but, in the words of OutKast, "Baby gotta eat!" (And speaking of my favorite musical group in the world, they just released a new single, "The Mighty O", which is mighty good.)

And, because I'm not flush with cash right now, I'm kind of waiting around to make the apartment improvements that I want to do. I just need some more stuff - a proper bed frame (my mattress and boxspring reside on the floor), pots and pans, a new bookcase, etc. I can live without it - it would just make things a bit more comfortable. I do feel a bit like a grownup now that I've at least got a place where I can receive my mail.

Off to bed...still catching up on sleep from the wedding...

The Wedding Of The Century

I'm exhausted. What a weekend! I've gotten about 15 hours of sleep over the past three days, and I'm headed for the same amount tonight. But it was all worth it. The wedding was amazing. It was classy but comfortable - the kind of ceremony where people make jokes and it doesn't seem out of place or rude at all. And my brother and his new wife looked amazing.

One of the many stories that will come from this day: it was really cloudy here all day. Sis-in-law was processing with her parents through the park to the edge of the water where the wedding party was. She was to follow a path through the park, and then step off the path for the last 20 feet or so. As she stepped onto the grass - and I'm totally not making this up - a ray of sunlight burst through the clouds and literally illuminated her and her parents. It almost looked like theatrical lighting. It was amazing.

The only damper of the day - and it was a big one - was that my father passed out right after dinner. He got up from his chair and literally keeled over. Paramedics were called, they put him on oxygen, took him out on a stretcher and over to the local hospital. He's had spells like this before (including a very scary one in Colorado five years ago eerily similiar to this) but it was still a little freaky. He was at the hospital for a few hours, but they let him go because his tests all came out clean - all they know is that his blood pressure dropped rapidly, but they're not sure why. Very scary, but he's out, and he's ok.

I could tell more stories - and I will - but I've got to get some sleep. Hope that everyone had as good a weekend as me...

I'm alive...

...just too busy to write anything for y'all. In the past couple of days, I've:


- returned from my cross-country jaunt

- moved into my new apartment

- started prep for the wedding

- set up a couple of work-related meetings, landing one gig

- made contact with the ex for the first time in six months - good times, but not THAT good, if you know what I mean


So...lots to tell. You'll probably have to wait until after the wedding for details. I'll fill you in, I promise.

What's going on in blogland?