like coffee? you'll love this

via e-mail to Maxine - she is a coffee enthusiast

This is about coffee. I think that you will, at the very least, appreciate it, and you may in fact love it.

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/coffee/?em

Bon appetit.

trying to lock down this place

via e-mail, to the lady who's in charge of getting me this apartment

Just making sure that you got my income breakdown. Let me know if it's ok, or if I need to make any changes. Thanks.

trying to get my friend an agent

via e-mail with my friend Suri, formerly of Cowtown - trying to get her the hook up

Keep some time on the 10th open for my guy. Not definite yet. I'll keep you posted...

home again!

The view from my cab, on the BQE.

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leaving Bluff City

Leaving Bluff City tomorrow morning. If you're struggling to remember anything fun about this place, you're not alone. Easily one of the most nondescript places I've been to. The theatre is pretty good, but I don't have a burning desire to return here any time soon. Of course, I'm not really in a position these days (and in this economy) to be turning down any offers.

Back posts will go up later today (if I get my packing done early) or tomorrow (more likely). I've got one month to go with 365, and I'm looking forward to not having a life revolving around a blog. I seriously thought about quitting at the end of the year, but instead I'm going to commit to making one quality post a week. I think I can handle that.

Onwards and upwards, people.

grandma's rolls

Should have brought some of these home...

a mostly good Thanksgiving

Back from my quick jaunt to grandma's for Thanksgiving. It was excellent. We kept my cousin away from the turkey, and it was delicious. We also had nine desserts, for fourteen people. A bit excessive? Maybe.

The only thing that sucked was listening to my blowhard cousin and his wife tease me and Maxine about not being married. I wanted to smack him. Actually, I wanted to put him in his place, but I didn't want to ruin Thanksgiving for everybody. Sometimes I hate being an adult.

Pictures coming soon.

So now I'm back in Bluff City - for three days. Back to NY on Monday, just in the nick of time.

my Thanksgiving work

I seasoned her myself. Isn't she beautiful?

Deep frying is the ONLY way to eat turkey. Trust me.

i had planned to write an open letter

I came home from a museum jaunt (nothing else to do in this town, I swear), and there was a mysterious package hanging from my door knob.

Of course, I immediately thought, "Someone's trying to poison me!"

When I worked up enough courage to open it up, there was a plastic cup full of blueberry cobbler. Still warm.

I decided that good cobbler > being poisoned. I ate it. It was delicious. I decided that I was going to thank the mysterious cobbler-donor on the blog.

But then I found out that Mama made it. (Of course - who else would have done it?)

So, THANKS MAMA!

i am a survivor

I could survive for 1 minute, 35 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds.net

takin' care of bizness

via e-mail, approving headshots and bios:

Looks great - thanks very much!

a questionable Facebook conversation

I became a fan of In-n-Out Burger on Facebook. The following is the exchange that took place with a friend of Ginger's (who flirted shamelessly with me at her wedding).

THE FLIRT: awe, you and i share the same passion! i eat there about once a week. are you [out west]????

ME: [Bluff City] right now, unfortunately...so far away from my beloved In-N-Out. How are you?

THE FLIRT: great, thanks! are you in a show there? what are you up to now? come to cali and get out of the cold and enjoy some in and out with me. :)

i got a new phone (again)

I wish i could actually take a photo of the phone itself...it's pretty sweet. I think the quality of my mobile posts is about to improve...

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my letter to myself

At the camp I work at in Sleepy Hamlet in the summer, we make our students write letters to themselves three months in the future. They're usually writing these letters on the last night, and it provides a nice pick-me-up down the road when they get these great messages from their confident selves.

My kick-ass camp friend and I decided to participate in the exercise as well. Today, my letter arrived. Here's what it said.

[R] -

How's Bluff City? I'm sure that you're having a fun time w/the show, having the ol' crew together. And I'm sure that you're a bit frustrated at only working a little bit each night.

Remember how many people are proud of you.

Remember how much support you have from your friends and family.

Remember how all these students looked up to you.

Remember that you're doing exactly what you want to be doing. Not temping. Not checking IDs. Not sitting at home. YOU'RE AN ACTOR.

Now, save some $, read some books, call your mother and your grandmother, and keep your head up. And keep the faith.

- [The Rover] 8/15 lounge, next to my kick-ass camp friend

ps - only 2 1/2 more months of blogging left! you can do it!


Good advice. It's been a tough couple of days, and that definitely helped.

good night for Pittsburgh

via text message to my brother, after a Steelers win

Pens won, too. Good night!

bug spray prep

Question for the group:

Have you ever had to empty all of your cabinets when the exterminator sprays in your house?

The building that I live in requires us to empty EVERY kitchen and bathroom cabinet. I have six cabinets full of stuff. Where the heck am I supposed to put it? I'm leaving here in ten days - can't they just wait until I go?

The worst thing about all of this - I don't even have roaches! Grrrr.

currently, I'm...

...waiting to go on stage...

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our audience is dead

I mean, nary a peep out of them. And this is not a "passive" show, either.

Hey, you win some, you lose some.

Intermission is here.

it is too cold here

via text message; responding to a message from a friend bragging about the weather in southern California

I hate you. I am now going to go build an igloo.

long weekend (not the good kind)

Oh, nothing drastic happened. Just five shows in two and a half days. Not much fun.

Too tired to type. Going to check out a museum tomorrow - nothing wrong with getting some culture.

questions you ask your friends in my line of work

via text message

Hey, did you ever do a show called MANSWERS?

what i do

via text message, to a friend in Bluff City about my part in the play

My role isn't super huge, but my shoes are so clean you could eat off them. :-)

i hate my work internet connection

Is it too much to ask to have a reliable wireless connection at your place of employment? One that won't drop a signal every five minutes? Come on.

(OK, some of this frustration may be related to my inability to stream NFL football or Hulu movies and TV shows to my computer in the dressing room. But, is that a crime?)

my opening night haul

Always nice to get things from people on opening night. I usually wait until I get home to open all of the cards, but I think tonight I'm going to make an exception and get right to it. I'll let you know if I get anything good...

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my grandma is awesome

It's her 81st birthday today, and I just got off the phone with her. I haven't talked to her in a few weeks, so there were two big things to go over.

First, G'ma broke her leg pretty severely back in early August; she was in the hospital for a few weeks before moving to a rehab center. Yesterday, she was finally allowed to go home. And, believe me, she was thrilled. Having privacy, and being able to prepare her own meals...I know she's excited about that.

Second, of course, was the election. My grandma's mind is sharp - better than mine, actually - and I always love hearing her take on things. She was very excited, of course. She said that she hadn't seen crowds like that in Times Square since "the end of the war" - meaning World War II (I found out she was in the Square when that happened). She also talked about the changes she's seen in her world, from seeing "Colored Only" signs and not being served in restaurants and stores to being forced to sit at the back of the bus. "I never thought I'd live to see the day, but I always hoped that you and your brother and your cousins would," she said. It was pretty moving.

She's an amazing woman, and I love her very much.

stuffed

I had dinner five hours ago, and I'm still in a food coma.

There's a woman in the cast we all call Mama ('cause she plays a mother), and she loves to cook. She loves to cook so much that she will throw dinner parties on her day off so that she has someone to cook for.

Tonight, the entire cast reaped the rewards.

We had cheese and crackers and chips and olives and fried chicken and baked chicken and greens and red beans and rice and yams and cornbread and fried catfish and lemon meringue pie and peach cobbler and wine and cider.

Soooooooooooooo good.

Thanks, Mama!

i am re-addicted...

...to Friday Night Lights. I got season 2 on Netflix, and I've been watching one episode before I go onstage, and one episode after I'm finished. It's very weird to be watching DVDs in the dressing room (or using a computer, for that matter, like I'm doing right now) but I need something to kill the time - I just don't have enough magazines!

Anyway, there are a few shows that I really get into (Kitchen Nightmares, Chuck, The Office, 30 Rock) and one that I absolutely LOVE (Mad Men). FNL was one of those shows that had fallen by the wayside for me (like Heroes or ER or Lost). But now...the love is back, baby. Not quite at the Mad Men level, but I am definitely enthralled.

All right, I need to start getting ready to perform. Sounds like a good house tonight.

i like this drawing

Drawn by Patrick Moberg

getting another chance

written in my journal

Just finished my work for the evening. Oh, the show still has an hour or so to go, but my character is gone. I've been in the last scene of most of the recent plays I've done; I'd forgotten what it feels like to be finished and have the story continue.

Tonight was our first audience; waiting backstage before my first entrance, I heard the familiar music. and I was immediately transported back to Steak City. I remember, during that last show, trying to capture that moment, because it would never be recreated. It's very rare for this kind of thing to happen. But I'm so glad to be a part of it, despite all of my prior complaints.

Back to my phone - I get the NFL Network on it, and the Browns and Broncos are starting the third quarter shortly.

what now?

I've dreamed about this day for a long time, and I've been thinking a lot about what I would have to say. I think that this e-mail I wrote to my girlfriend (who is in Chile with her father for a couple of weeks) earlier today sums up most of my feelings pretty well.

[Maxine] -

It's only now, half a day after the fact, that I'm able to gather myself enough to string together a few sentences to you. And that, quite frankly, is still difficult.

I just feel so full today, of life, of energy, of optimism (and, unfortunately, of alcohol - we really cut loose last night), and for so many different reasons. I think we elected the right person for the job. I'm excited that our country has a chance to regain our standing in the world (although your article pointed out that we have a tough road to hoe). I still can't believe that someone who looks like me will be leading this country - my country. I feel an ownership of America that I've never quite felt before.

They always say that it's darkest before the dawn. And I don't want you to think that I'm thinking of Obama as some sort of Messiah or something (although my father made a great analogy about following Jesus Christ "no matter what he looks like" last night), but the last eight years have been as bleak as you can get, with hijackings and bombings and wars and the economy in freefall and unchecked greed...it's been very, very dark. Last night, I think, was the crack of light appearing in the east, the one that leaves you breathless when you see it.

[One of the guys in the cast] sent me a text this morning: "What now?" which I think is the perfect question. I think that the only way that Obama fulfills his promise is if WE all band together and help him, you know? It's going to require sacrifice and dedication and hard work from the entire country to pull us out of this mess, and I just hope people are as committed to what comes next as they were to getting us to this point. I think it just might happen.

One last thing. [Our director] yesterday came into the dressing room and said something to the effect of, "Hey man, we don't have any excuses anymore! We got to pull ourselves together," which was super ironic, because I had been having those exact thoughts the other day (and [the director] and I NEVER agree on anything). I'm really interested to see where my people go from here, whether we can use last night as a springboard to propel ourselves forward or not. Judging by the faces and emotions I saw last night, I think this could be a seminal moment in black history.

OK, enough pontificating. What a day yesterday was! It was funny to get all sorts of messages yesterday from people. [A friend] said there were people cheering in the streets, and apparently 125th Street was crazy. [Two other friends] said that Brooklyn was jumping. [A third friend] was chest-bumping [a very famous actor] (he's got a recurring role on [a tv show] this season, as if I needed another reason to watch it).

I was sitting at tech all day yesterday, not being used (GRRRR), trying unsuccessfully stream TV coverage on my laptop (GRRRR) before watching a crappy feed on the phone. I don't think I started crying until I started thanking God.

[My castmates] and I raced back to my apartment to watch Obama's speech and have some celebratory drinks, and then we went out and drank too much. But I still feel great. I'm excited for you to come back so that I can see you face to face and you can pinch me and tell me that this isn't all a dream.

so close

written in my journal

I'm at tech for [my show] in [Bluff City], sitting in my dressing room frantically trying to keep up with election results. I just got off the phone with my brother, who told me CNN says there's almost no way McCain can win. Still, my guard will stay up until Obama reaches 270.

I feel as though I'm about to burst with so many different emotions.

election eve

It's finally here.

After all of the speeches and attack ads and pundits and town hall meetings and debates and SNL sketches, we have arrived.

It kind of feels like Christmas Eve, you know? I have the same kind of anticipation bubbling in the pit of my stomach. It's a good thing that I have tech tomorrow, because I couldn't take sitting around in my apartment all day.

I am a little sad that I'm on the road for this. I would love to be watching this with my parents, or my brother, or my girlfriend. The cast is great (and they certainly have an understanding of what's at stake), but I would really like to be with people I love tomorrow. It will be a little lonely if I'm watching election results alone in my apartment.

Tomorrow, it ends. And begins. I am looking forward to it.

by the way

I am officially up to date with my back posts. As I've explained before, there are some days where I decide that I'm going to use text messages as my post, and my phone has a habit of eating my messages. It's happened seven times, and I have a reservoir of links for those purposes.

So...58 days left. I've already decided to take a week off of blogging after 365 is over.

this. fucking. election.

This just about sums the whole thing up.

Brilliant.

ah, soul food

The rest of it had been fried chicken and collard greens. Mmmm...

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getting caught up, slowly

written in my notebook in the back of the rehearsal hall

Couple of posts I wrote a while back that I just got around to posting the other day. I think they're worth a look, so check 'em out.

September 27: debt

October 9: only in new york

Happy birthday, mom!

when will i be back home?

via text message

I'll be there all dec. Leave jan 1.

now i miss her

My girlfriend is currently sitting in an airport in Toronto, waiting to board a plane that will take her to Chile for three weeks. I will, most likely, not speak to her while she is gone, and will only have sporadic e-mail contact.

Is it strange that now I really miss her? I mean, there isn't that much difference between hundreds and thousands of miles practically, but psychologically it's a big difference.

this show

I find myself thinking about the past a lot these days. The show I'm working on now is a remount of the show I did in Steak City a couple of years ago. I also worked on a production of this during my Sleepy Hamlet days. I was also supposed to do a production of this show in another city, but I ended up backing out a couple of months before. I even drew up a set design for this play in a class back in undergrad.

Obviously, I have a long history with this play.

I don't have a very big role in the show, which means I spend most of my time at rehearsal watching and waiting. I always feel pressure from others in the room to watch the play, but, frankly, I can't do it. It isn't that the play is bad (it's great, and this group does an amazing job). It's just that I can't ride the emotional roller coaster six days a week, and I have no interest in hearing debates about character that I've heard before.

I spend a lot of time wishing I could play the lead (which I'm still too young to do, although the place I turned down wanted me to play that role) or direct the play myself when I'm in the room. It kind of drives me crazy. So, instead, I download music, or surf the internet, or read my magazines.

Or write blog entries.

movie monday

Another Monday, another movie. Yesterday I went to see Miracle at St. Anna. The movie definitely has its flaws (very slow at points, somewhat formulaic), but overall I enjoyed it. It tells a side of World War II that doesn't get enough play.

Next week I'm hoping my local theater has Zach and Miri Make a Porno. I love Rogen & Banks. Any other suggestions?

my hero

It's like someone read my mind and stole all of my tactics. Uncanny.

a depressing day

Steelers lose.

Mad Men has its' season finale.

Sad.

big game decisions

via text message, to a friend of mine who is from southeastern PA

So, which would you rather watch tonight: the phillies or penn state?

friday night

Sitting in my apartment, bored.

Just finished dinner (a meal from Whole Foods, good but way too expensive).

Bored.

I am soooooooooo cool.

a very short story through Facebook status

written on my Facebook page

12:55pm
THE ROVER is wondering when his absentee ballot will arrive.

6:43pm
THE ROVER got his absentee ballot today - no need to panic. Democracy wins again!

you know what drives me crazy?

When I'm taking a shower, and the water goes from "pleasantly warm" to "scalding" with no warning. I actually jump out of the way. I'm afraid that one of these days I'm going to slip and fall.

I think, however, that may be the only complaint I have about this place. Well, that and my five inch television. Otherwise, it's Kool and the Gang.

pity party

How long should I let someone (specifically, my girlfriend) wallow in self-pity before telling her to snap out of it? I mean, while annoying, these aren't huge things that are happening to her...

W

Just saw it. Um...I'm not sure what to say yet.

Josh Brolin is spot-on.

It was kind of like watching a history lesson.

I think...that...I liked it.

Anyone else seen it?

my favorite tree

This is in my backyard at home. There are a bunch of trees in my yard, but unlike the rest of them, who were shedding their fall foliage all over the yard (and giving my father a bit of work-out and forcing his to contemplate, for the umpteenth straight year, whether or not to buy a leaf blower), this one was clinging to what was left of the warm weather.

I remember when it was ten feet tall. Now, it's twice as high. It's almost like we've grown up together.

must see tv, sort of

via text message to Maxine

Palin is supposed to be on SNL tonight. Think I'm going to watch her segment. Can I call you after?

Mmmm...

Coming home is nice!

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housekeeping note

My beautiful laptop is looking not-so-beautiful these days, so she's going to the Apple spa for the weekend. So you probably won't get any posts from me for a few days. (I am spending the weekend at my parents', though, so I may be able to sneak online for a few minutes.)

Hopefully all of the back September posts will be up in the next week. I have to transfer everything from my cell phone, which can be a time consuming process. :-(

Hope that everyone has a great weekend!

reprieve

I was supposed to rehearse today from 1-7.

In these two scenes we are rehearsing, I am onstage for ten minutes.

Thus, I was preparing for a lot of downtime today. I was bringing food, magazines, my computer - if it would entertain me, I was bringing it. Because there's nothing worse than watching the same ten lines thirty times, no matter how good the play is.

So I was pleasantly surprised this morning when my stage manager called me and said that she goofed, and that I didn't have to come in until 5:30! Yay!

Um...

...now what am I supposed to do?

my new favorite things

Mini bell peppers from Trader Joe's. Cheap! Tasty! Cool!

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the new (temporary) digs

ok, we're back

written at a cute coffee shop around the corner from my apartment

I've been SUCH a slacker at getting my posts up lately, and that's probably because I was doing a thousand things. Between working two jobs, and hustling for more jobs, and packing for Bluff City, and packing to move in December, and trying to spend quality time with my friends, and trying to spend some type of quality time with Maxine...well, it's no wonder that I was ready to get out of New York.

But now I'm on the road.

I kind of love being on the road.

First of all, my apartment is AWESOME. It's kind of an old '50s style building, with wood floors and old appliances. It's the perfect sized place for me. The TV could be a little bigger, but otherwise I have no complaints.

Mostly, though, what's nice about coming on the road to do a show is that I can completely focus on what's important, on the task at hand. The only job I have to do is the show. Everything else is secondary. There are no distractions - friends wanting to hang out or make out or whatever. I LOVE that. My life becomes very simple - eat, work out, watch TV, surf the internet, rehearse/do the show, drink, sleep. Rinse, repeat.

Hopefully, for at least the next couple of months, you'll see daily posts actually appearing the day I wrote them. So it's ok to come back here on a daily basis again. ;-)

Happy Monday to all!

bluff city

I'm here. I'm exhausted, but I'm here.

Seems like a nice place so far. I did see a woman with a full out mustache in the grocery store - like, thicker than what I can grow in a couple of weeks. And, when I went to the deli counter to get a half dozen fried shrimp, the guy working there kept loading them in the container (I think I ended up with ten or so), saying, "I ain't even countin', 'cause that's just how we do things 'round here."

More stories to come, I am sure. Now I'm going watch some Sunday Night Football (it's been a CRAZY day in the NFL so far) and sleep. I totally busted my ass this weekend.

Super-Bam!

Saw this image while out on a scavenger hunt. Fitting.

the moon

Weird to see it in the city.

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only in new york

I'm walking by Madison Square Park, headed home, and I keep seeing these flashes. At first I think that maybe I'm catching the headlights from an oncoming truck - the flash would be after something passes between me and the light, right? But then I start to realize that they're still coming. Maybe I'm tired from work, from not sleeping enough, from too much stress from packing. Maybe I'm losing my mind.

Then there's one right in front of me. POP! It's dazzling. And I realize that I was right, it was a flash, there is a guy standing on the fucking street corner at 23rd and 5th with a camera and a huge flash thingy, shaped like an umbrella, facing uptown.

And what is he taking a picture of?

I look to my right, across the street, just in time to catch a glimpse of a woman in a trench coat and heels. She's wearing a bikini. Actually, to be more accurate, she's wearing what appears to be bikini bottoms, and a tube top, which she has just pulled up over her breasts.

Yup.

Naked pics. On a busy intersection, at eleven fifteen on a Thursday night, with traffic streaming by and a barrage of cops not even half a block away. Probably watching the whole thing.


It's times like this that I love my weird, wild, crazy city. Going to Bluff City on Sunday sure will be a letdown.

a bathroom sign at my temp job

In their defense, people at this company have REALLY bad aim.

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oh dear

I really am a bad blogger.

In my defense, though, I've got a lot going on.

In case you don't remember, I'm leaving on Sunday for what I'm going to call Bluff City. I'm doing a show there for seven weeks. So I have to pack for that. And, theoretically I'm moving into a new apartment when I get back in December. So I also have to pack for that.

That's a lot of packing.

Add to it temping (which I've been doing about 20 hours a week for the last couple of weeks) and working at my other job (10 hours) and trying to see my girlfriend...well, let's just say that a lot of my blog posts are sitting in my notebook. Or on my phone.

Fortunately for the two or three of you who have hung in there with me, I'm going to have LOTS of free time in Bluff City. So that means more posts! (I think.)

OK, I have to go do some laundry - so that I can continue to pack.

anyone wanna buy a couch?

Like new! $500!

how do i react to a steelers win?

via text message to my dad

YES!

another boring night at work...

Thank God I'm leaving town soon...

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it's hard to communicate with texts - no tone

via text message; my response to an unusual birthday gift

That's weird...um, is that some kind of inside joke?

debate frustrations

via text message to my father and girlfriend, about Palin's performance during the VP debate

she's not answering any questions!

receipts!

I'm drownin' in 'em.

For tax/record purposes, I try to catalog every dollar I spend. This is not easy. Usually I enter everything into my computer every week or two, so I don't have a whole mound of paper to deal with.

Unfortunately, I'm TWO MONTHS behind.

And I'm leaving in ten days.

I have NO idea when it will get done.

their anniversary

via text message, to my brother

By the way, it's mom and dad's anniversary today. 35 years!

steeler anxiety

written via text message to my brother before a Steelers MNF game

I'm nervous. I'm not gonna lie.

my fortune

from my after-dinner fortune cookie

"Don't waste time on what might have been."

debt

Reading about our economy going into the tank - something I've been doing a lot the past couple of weeks - has me thinking a lot about my own financial situation. You see, I have a lot of debt.

Like, a lot.

Like about six figures bad.

Most of my debt is "good" debt, from grad school. I have no idea when that will be paid off. My parents are helping me with some of it, but it's going to be a long time before I pay that off.

I do, however, have a sizable credit card debt. I've been trying to pay it off for almost ten years, but it keeps growing. I made a real dent in it 2 1/2 years ago, but it's swollen up again, to unprecedented levels.

Watching the government struggle with debt makes me realize that I have to get serious about paying mine off. I know that part of the problem is lack of steady work, which shouldn't be a problem for the next few months - but I also need to make some lifestyle changes, and make paying debt as much of a priority as paying my rent, or my phone bill.

I know I am capable of doing it. I just need to focus.

bathroom woes

written via text message

ME: any news on the bathroom?

MY ROOMMATE: kinda, waiting for a roofing guy to come by tomorrow.

ME: Awesome. And by awesome, i mean this sucks.

bite

I have a HUGE spider or mosquito bite on my right arm, just below the elbow. It's really like eight bites; either some insect decided to feast at Chez Rover, or I rolled over it in the night and it was trying to escape.

Either way, it (a) grosses me out, and (b) itches like a sonofabitch.

i forgot my cell phone at home today

...and I felt so lost.

Cut off from the world, even.

Now, I was at the gym for two hours - where I wouldn't be using my phone anyway - and then I worked for five hours - where I couldn't use my phone all that much - but still.

I kept hoping that I wouldn't come home and find out that I had missed a super important crucial message. Then I would figure that I wouldn't have any messages at all. (For the record, I missed four calls and one text; there are two voicemails that I have to listen to.)

Leaving my phone behind also meant that I haven't checked my e-mail in six hours (because I sneaked a peek at the gym).

Looking at these statements, it's amazing how plugged in I am. Maybe I should try to take a break occasionally...

a new voting tactic

This is...um...mildly disturbing, I suppose, but kinda funny. Enjoy.

i must be getting old

...because my gym workout this evening felt like the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. At the end, I had nothing left.

You know how they talk about athletes gutting something out, scoring a goal or a touchdown because they wanted it more?

That was me.

Off to see my girlfriend.

31

Another year older, another year wiser.

I had a good birthday - went to see my sister-in-law in her Broadway debut, following by dinner with her and my brother and Maxine and one of my best Sleepy Hamlet friends. The only fly in the ointment? The Steelers lost. But that's how it goes.

I'm hopeful that 31 will be as good as 30 was. We'll see...

crack heads

Due to overwhelming demand...

I don't live in a "bad" part of Brooklyn, by any means, but it could be said that I border some "questionable" areas. Generally, the biggest problem in my neighborhood is the sheer amount of trash that is everywhere. It drives me crazy.

Lately, though, we have had a number of crackheads patrolling our streets.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of dealing with someone who is on crack, it is quite an experience. Basically, they're like human zombies. They're totally operating in their own world. They're constantly in search of money for their next high. And a lot of them will do...um...let's say "inappropriate things". For example, one time I was on a subway somewhere in America, and a crackhead was violently scratching her crotch and/or masturbating on the train. For twenty minutes.

It's quite sad.

Anyway, I've had two encounters with crackheads lately. The first was at one of my local cafes. I was ordering something at the counter when a crackhead came in asking for something: money, food, I can't remember. The guy at the counter said no. The crackhead then flipped out, yelling and stomping her feet. She then defiantly walked over to the spot where all of the coffee accessories were laid out, pulled out a bunch of sugar packets, and ran out.

The counterman's response to all of this? "She comes in here every day. And every day it's the same thing."

The second experience was far more disturbing. There's a fast food restaurant on the corner of my block, and I generally cut through the parking lot on my way to the subway to save a minute or two. Occasionally there are people leaned up against the building, or sleeping somewhere next to the restaurant.

HOWEVER:

the other day, as I turned the corner into the parking lot, there was a man laying down, half on the sidewalk, half in the drive-thru lane, slowly rolling from his back to his right side. He was mid-roll when I saw him, and the first thing I noticed was that his pants and underwear were pulled down to about mid thigh. When he started over towards his side, however, I noticed the truly disgusting part - a sticky brown line extending from the pavement to his buttocks.

The man was taking a dump.

Next to the restaurant.

While lying down.

It may have been the grossest thing I've ever seen.

And that, folks, is my neighborhood. No wonder I'm psyched about moving.

par-tay!

(I can't put the pics up until I blur out some faces - you're gonna have to be patient)

does this belong to you?

Trying to find the owner...

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i feel like the worst blogger ever

Every day I think of these great ideas that I'm going to post. And then I forget to write them down. Then I try to send people clever texts so that I have something to put up. Cheap.

Sorry. I'm tired.

I'll have a better story to tell tomorrow, like the one about the guy taking a shit in the street in front of me the other day...

trying to get the hook up

a e-mail to a book agent friend

What's doing? How's your life? Hope everything is a-ok. I'm treading water until my next job, just hanging out and living the dream.

I wanted to ask a favor of you. My friend wrote a novel a few months ago, and he's just now starting to show it around a bit. I've read it, and I think it's pretty good. Would you take a look at it, or hand it off to someone who could? I can provide you with a plot summary, if you want.

I'm around until October 12 - let's get drinks before then...

one of the stranger moments i've had recently

...is watching your little brother ride off on a motorcycle. It's so cool...and a little terrifying, honestly.

He really is a grown-up.

another cheap post

an e-mail to my girlfriend - probably the only thing i actually wrote that day

spiegeltent - When are you going there? I can get discount tix for this on Goldstar...

Fried Fish (the missing link edition - pt 7)

Leftover from the writers' strike, but still worth checking out, I think.

speechlesswithoutwriters.com

Fried Fish (the missing link edition - pt 6)

This is something called The Ladder Theory. It is supposed to explain attraction in some way - but I don't get it. Check it out and let me know if you do.

www.laddertheory.com

based on a true story

written in a workshop - i had to tell a quick story about injustice

Once upon a time there was a handsome young black prince who wanted a romantic date for the prom.

He first asked a girl he was seeing. She said yes, but three days later her evil father said no, because the prince was black.

He then tried another girl, but her evil parents said no for the same reason.

So the prince ended up going to the ball with a boring girl that he didn't really like.

The end.

story of my life

an e-mail to my agent

subject: i'll deliver the headshots on Monday

Sorry - I got tied up with a lot of random crap today. Unless you guys have a mail slot or something I can leave them in this weekend...

seven years later

written in my journal, in my room

I don't write much in here anymore (much of that is due to the fact that I'm blogging every day) but there's something about today that makes me want to put the pen to paper, like I did seven years ago.

I can't believe it's been seven years.

It feels like so long ago, but when I start watching the news, seeing the parades and the speeches, the gathering of the families at Ground Zero, the Democratic and Republican candidates paying their respects together, the reading of the names and the pictures of the dead; and then, the footage.

It all comes rushing back, all of those complicated emotions, guilt and sadness and fear, and I don't know quite what to do with myself.

You know the thing that really drives it home for me? The lights, that emanate from from the footprints and go up forever, just like the Towers seemed to do. I look forward to their presence every year - but seeing them makes me ache for what we lost that day.

utility woes

My utility bill is normally in the neighborhood of $80.

So why, last month, was the bill $185.89?

That's one hundred and eighty-five dollars.

I was gone for most of that month. What were my roommates doing? And how badly am I allowed to hurt them?

trade talk

via e-mail - probably not interesting if your fantasy team wasn't involved

The problem is that your needs and my needs don't seem to match up.
Every scenario I look at ends up being some complicated 7 or 8 player
deal, and I'm just not sure that I'm going to get an even return.
I'll tell you that the 2 guys I'm looking closest at are Colston and
Graham. But I just don't see fair value on your roster for Anderson.

Would you trade Graham for Anderson, straight up?

it's ba-ack...

And they won, too. I love NFL Sundays...

monday morning must reads

an e-mail to my brother; I'm explaining to him where I go to get all of my NFL info on Monday AM

Peter King's Monday Morning QB is at www.si.com

Archives at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/writers/peter_king/archive/

Michael Silver writes for Yahoo! Sports; he writes a couple of columns a week. The Monday one is called the Morning Rush. You can find it at http://sports.yahoo.com/

Archives at http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/expertsarchive;_ylt=AtWDbyJx2tn..Oe5JeaI15.r0op4?author=Michael+Silver

And, of course, there is the fantastic http://www.profootballtalk.com/ - use it, love it. There may be more - I'll send them to you if I think of them. But these guys are the two best.

hot streak

This is the second week in a row that I've gone to the gym six times. I've also been remarkably consistent in my healthy food consumption. Honestly, I look like a new man.

Still, they say it takes 21 days to form a habit...

bathroom woes (visual evidence)

enough politics

Thank GOD this is the last night of convention coverage. I can't take them anymore.

a day at the beach

Ah, Coney Island.

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my super sucks

My bathroom had a leak a couple of weeks ago. Now the leak has gotten worse. There is no water in my bathroom yet, but you can hear the constant patter of the water in the ceiling. And now the ceiling is starting to show signs of water damage, and plaster is actually falling.

I waited around ALL DAY today, because my super said that he was going to come by and check out our bathroom. I had several errands to run, but because he said he was coming by "first thing in the morning", I decided to wait.

It's now six thirty in the evening.

Have I seen him?

No.

He's an asshole.

I did call my landlord and complain, though. I feel a tiny bit better knowing that the landlord will chew the super out. But I'd feel a LOT better if someone would come fix my bathroom.

my other fantasy football team

QB J Cutler; D Anderson
RB M Jones-Drew; T Jones; J Stewart; S Slaton
WR L Fitzgerald; S Smith; D Driver; L Evans; J Porter
TE T Heap; J Carlson
K J Scobee
DEF Giants

(the teams look pretty similar, no?)