a gift for you

Because I care about you, my readers, and because I'm a giver, I thought that I'd make good on my promise to post some of my vacation pics. I'm going to do this over the course of a few days - I mean, can't we all use themes? It makes posting easier - and I thought I'd start with my favorite picture of myself.

Now, I know I make a big deal of being "anonymous" on here, not putting my real name or location, even though many of you know exactly who and where I am. (I've explained this ad nauseum in the past, but that's basically because the acting community is so small that I don't want to run the risk of pissing someone off who can get me a job - or torpedo my career.) But I thought that this picture was so good, that I had to put it up. So here it is - my new self-portrait:




Aren't I a handsome man? ;-)

a PSA, because I care

I've had the pleasure of sitting in on auditions the last few days. And I've learned something very important. It's applicable to any presentation, not just acting:

When going in front of a group of people, make sure that you don't have anything hanging out of your nose. Especially when your nose is fairly large. Or if you're a "close talker".

There's really no excuse for not checking yourself out in the mirror before trying to land an important job. I mean, this person had to have blown their nose recently, right? That's the only excuse for...

I can't go on. It's too gross.

Fall

Less than two weeks to go - can you feel the excitement in the air, people?

Can you?

I'm starting to get that overwhelmed feeling, you know, when you look around your room and realize exactly how much shit you really have? It'll be fine - I have plans to tackle the mountain of crap early and often - but packing wouldn't be complete without that little twinge of ohmygodohmygodohmyGOD!

In other, less scary news (and speaking of feeling something in the air), fall is here, and I love it. My favorite season by far. I don't know if that has to do with my birthday, or the arrival of football season, but if I had to live in one thirty-day period for eternity, it would be September/October. It makes me ready to wear jackets and rake leaves into neat piles and drink apple cider and toss around a football and run through those neat piles of leaves at full speed, sending leaves all over the yard.

Off to meet a pretty lady and introduce her to the pleasures of yoga. (No, that's not a euphemism for the Kama Sutra. Or something else dirty.)

she's back!

My laptop, that is.

Now I can once again become a fully functioning member of the blogging world.

Countdown to Cowtown - 13 days and counting...

it's my party...

A word of advice to all of you:

Don't say you're going to do things...and then not do them.

Let's suppose, just for an example, that someone decided to have a birthday gathering. And they asked people to let them know if they would be coming. It would probably be a good idea, if you think there's a chance that you might flake out, that you shouldn't tell them that you're "definitely coming".

Why?

Well, perhaps the person wasn't planning on having a big party.

Perhaps the person announced the party on late notice, and, when several people said that they were unavailable, was thinking of postponing the get-together; but when a few of his friends said that they'd love to come, he decided to go ahead.

Perhaps the person sat by himself in the bar for an hour.

Perhaps only two people showed up at the bar during the three hours he was there.

And perhaps, perhaps, the boy who was throwing this party, normally a pretty stoic guy, was feeling pretty lonely that day, and just wanted to hang out with some close friends. And their absence only made those feelings worse. We might even go as far as to say that the boy's feelings were hurt.

Perhaps.

29

Do other people find that your birthday gets more and more anti-climatic as you get older?

Today is my birthday, and the phone's been ringing, and people keep asking, "What are you doing today?" And my answer feels boring: "Not much. Ate breakfast, checking e-mail, probably go to the gym, and then go hang out at a bar tonight - come by if you want."

It's so strange - the world (of course) is going on as usual, and yet I always feel a tiny bit different. Why is that?

I also feel different because I am staring thirty straight in the face. That means that, at this time next year, I will officially be a grown-up. (In my mind, at least.) It means I've got to get going on my career. It means that I probably need to make decisions about the ladies.

Thank God that's all a year off. ;-)

See some of you at the bar tonight...

frustration

What am I frustrated about?

- My computer. I've gone a week without it. I've been trying to press the old laptop into service, and tonight is the first time I've been able to get it online. Good thing I got a new one, huh?

- My job. Auditions are finally starting to go the way I want them to (meaning, I'm actually doing well in them) but now it seems like they lose interest the second I walk in the door. Another one of those today.

- My finances. I thought that I had reached the point where I wouldn't have to live paycheck-to-paycheck anymore. My bank account is telling me differently. Turning down that job has had massive financial consequences for me.

- Tonight's Steeler game. Nothing going on offense. On the bright side, it's farther down the list than it would usually be.

- My living situation. I miss living by myself, in a clean place. And the knowledge that I have a swank pad in Cowtown just three weeks away makes it even worse.

- (last one, I promise) This blog. I really enjoy posting here, and having people come by and comment. And then, when I don't post for a week here or ten days here, people stop coming by. I really want to be posting four or five times a week, but when you have to go to a computer store to get online, that kind of makes that hard to do. I may actually start posting my old journal entries, just to keep the flow here.

Hoping that the laptop will be back soon...

cpu issues

It's been a crappy couple of days. I'm actually writing this from the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. That's because my new MacBook is having massive problems, and they told me that it could take a week to fix. Of course, this happens two days after I get a job that relies on my possession of a computer. Good times.

Wanted to put up a 9/11 post, but I just couldn't deal with it. When I eventually write it, I'll postdate it and let you know when it goes up.

Also had an asthma attack at the gym this morning - that was pretty scary. And it totally impressed my trainer.

Only bright spot is that I'm being taken to see Usher in Chicago this evening. I'll let you know how it is...

alternative direction

Spent all day watching football - the first day of the year is like Christmas for me. What made it even better was that, for the first time in years, I was able to do it with family. I went up to my brother's place in Westchester and we gorged ourselves on pizza and wings and Sprite and football. Good times.

Now, normally, would I feel a little bit bad about spending my entire Sunday watching TV? Yes. Even though I've been a football fan since birth, there's always something a little odd about spending 11 hours in front of the boob tube. It kind of makes me want to run-not-walk to the nearest gym and do crunches until I throw up.

But today was a little different.

I've been hired, on a provisional basis, to write about football by a new website. And not by some amateur effort, either - these guys are honest-to-goodness professional sports journalists. I'm going to do a few trial assignments for them and then, if everything goes well, they'll move me up to the big time. There's no pay in it for me yet, but there very well could be in the future, if things work out the way these guys want it to. And they've got a pretty good plan.

I've really been looking for something creative to do that suppliments my acting income. Writing is something that I've always dabbled in, and it's really flexible (a must, with my schedule), so it was natural to look for something in that area. And to get to write about football? It really doesn't get any better than that.

This won't take away from my blogging (or lack of it, ha ha); I'm hoping that it will actually push me to write on here more often, in an effort to keep the engine warm. Once things get going, I'll post a link to the site, so that you can read my (hopefully) insightful comments.

So, you see, my little football-watching orgy was totally justified. I'm still going to the gym t'm'row (more on that later), but I won't be working off the guilt. And that feels great.

Hope that everyone had a great weekend.

Steelers win!/a weird feeling (not related)

New season, same result. I am a very happy boy this evening.

Just finished writing an e-mail to my old roommate in Brooklyn. Here's the situation: she told me that I needed to pay her for my share of the bills. I paid it online. The money disappeared from my account. Now she's telling me that she never got the money, etc.

She's a nice girl, but my bullshit detector is going off - something just isn't right about this. I'm trying to work through my bank to get this resolved, but I'm refusing to give her another check, because (1) I don't have a good feeling about this, and (2) even if I didn't, I can't afford to. I'm barely scraping by as it is.

Chalk another one up to the heartless bastard! ;-)

Two parties this weekend. I like parties because I don't have to spend money at them. Probably won't be as adventurous as last weekend. I'll keep you posted.

on the road again...again

Another airport post. Ho hum. Second nature by now - this is my fifth flight in the past three weeks. Once I get home, I get to go five weeks without flying. Or packing a suitcase. How exciting!

Went to a friend's wedding in Denver this weekend. I really like Denver. Spent a few summers here. The city's got a great vibe, and I have more friends here than I think. I'd jump at an opportunity to do some work out here - anybody got anything?

The wedding was a lot of fun - I met the coolest woman ever. The bride (my old friend) had been telling me for years that I needed to meet this lady - "Have I got a girl for you! You'll love her!" And, of course, I did love her. I hate it when my friends are right. Another reason to work out here, right?

Also got a chance to hang out with Little Miss Runner Pants this weekend - she was in town visiting an old friend. We went to a "dueling piano bar", which is much more fun than it sounds, and then braved drunken crowds and horny drunk guys (her friend gave out her number twice in five minutes, and we also managed to get some free fries) at a diner.

I drank copious amounts of alcohol on both nights and got about 11 total hours of sleep. So I'd call that a successful weekend.

A handful of random thoughts:

- Thanks much for the kind words of support. I'm no longer guilt-wracked, though I do feel badly. The decision was made for the right reasons, and I try to remind myself of that whenever I think that I'm a jerk.

- Is my football team star-crossed or what? Big Ben has to get his appendix out and is going to miss two games. Crazy. Even though they won the whole shebang last year, I still live and die with this team. Incredible.

- Speaking of football, I watched three episodes of "Two A Days" on MTV yesterday while I was waiting to get pretty for the wedding (I was trying to nap, but it just didn't happen). I highly recommend it. You get the inside look at high school football, plus all of the high school are-you-looking-at-my-boyfriend drama. I'm totally hooked. Just when I think MTV is starting to pass me by...

- My birthday is coming up, and I'm looking for a fun group activity that won't cost an arm and a leg, and also facilitates conversation. Any ideas? Is bowling still considered fun?