IT BEGINS!! A list..

Yes. The January we all knew was coming. It should be fun. Let's do this!

a) Six Ring Circus begins again! (good god, there's a myspace page) Students and graduates of the Brave New Institute perform improv for a nominal donation.. it's awesome.

The team I coach, Dr. Rocket, just gained three more members. This team's collective I.Q. is intimidating. Thankfully, they use their powers for good. They're up tonight at 7:30 p.m., at the Brave New Workshop! $1 donation! w00t!

b) We Gotta Bingo opened last weekend, and got a really nice review. Thursdays - Sundays at Hennepin Stages, through February 6th! W00t!

c) OMG! This Friday ONLY at the Mixed Blood Theatre, 11 p.m., $5 - - lovely improv ladies recount awkward stories of their adolescence. It's brilliant.

d) Improv A Go Go this Sunday at the Brave New Workshop, 8 p.m., $1 - - Explorer's Club returns!! Along with the mysterious Snakes & Cakes.. All of which makes me giddy.

e) If you're at the MOA, myself and co-worker Rebecca will be performing at 12noon, Saturday - Monday, as part of their eCommunity event. We will be dressed like caffeinated water droplets, as that's basically what we are.

If you're a performer in the Twin Cities, you will probably end up performing at least once at the MOA. As Mr. Doughty says, 'we're all going to Reseda'. The MOA might be my Reseda.

BUT, it's an adorable show (directed by the awesome Shanan Custer, no less), and we will teach you about the hydrologic cycle. See?

.. and then we'll go to Nordstrom's Rack. Just cuz.

f) I start teaching again. Yea!!!! It's the sum total of 6 hours of my week, but it's what carries the most weight for me. It requires the most preparation, and also the most fuck-it-all. It feels like going to war. But a really silly war. Perhaps just a police action. I'm excited. Wish us all luck.

Also...

I can't make it, but you should go... My bf is performing at Rick Bronson's House of Comedy at the MOA, tonight at 8 p.m.. Auditioning for the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival. THIS IS SO COOL. And the comics involved are just plain, stupidly awesome.

Come out Tuesday Jan 12 and see 12 professional comedians audition for a spot on the biggest and most influential comedy festival in the world: The Montreal Just For Laughs Festival. Show starts at 8pm. Each comic is doing six minutes of time. Please come out and support the Twin Cities scene and laugh your ass off.

Hosted by Rudy Pavich and featuring special guest John Conroy. Here are the comics who will be performing for a spot in order:

Gabe Noah
Jamie Blanchard
Dwight York
Maggie Faris
Mike Brody
Bill Young
Steve Gillespie
Kjell Bjorgen
Patrick Bauer
Tommy Thompson
Chris Maddock
Jessi Campbell

Madness! Really cool stuff, honestly. I feel like I've been typing in exclamation marks for the entirety of this blog.

Final cool things:

a) Streamable MS3TK on netflix.

b) Streamable Anthony Bourdain on netflix.

c) The Cleveland Show is still funny (and on hulu).

d) If your pasta dish tastes boring, add salt and bake it.

e) Clementines are in season.

Hoping your Tuesday is lovely! (I have 4 minutes to shower)

Onward.

That image made me very happy.

But not prefacing it just made it jerky. So sorry!

So to temper this, I am including a posting from "The Daily Puppy". It's very important.

His name is Darwin, and he's "quite the little social director whenever in a group of other puppies."

There. I feel better. Good morning!

Onward.

heh. :)

Bad kid!! Bad kid me!!

Ohhhhhh. I've gotten back into the once-a-month posting habit. Which, as we know, is bullcocky. But thank you lovely people!! For reading and things!! YOU ARE AWESOME!!! Sending hugs at you right now, wherever you are!!

My mom was in town. For nearly a week. (Given the xmas snow beating we took, she waited until routes were pronounced clear by the weather gods. Or at least pronounced non-apocalyptical. Which is fun to say.) I had taken the week off around xmas to hang out with her. For better or worse, she arrived as my schedule was kicking in again. Ah well..

The time she spent was wonderful and so generous of her!! It is also the interruption of quasi-normal routines, and acknowledging that I spent all of 30 minutes of the week alone. (During that time, I tried a exercise routine off of the hulu.com. This is what might do, if you are 34.)

What we did:

- Take Your Mom to Work Day! Luckily, I work in a museum, so there is much to see, and many nice people to show your mom off to. The steps to showing off your mom involve:

a) "Hey, this is my mom!!"

b) Everyone says nice things.

Win!!

- Snack! We destroyed boxes of Triscuits. I could not be happier. We did not snackrifice.

- Wallpapered the kitchen ceiling. There is nothing more terrifying than taking a wet, sticky patterned yard of paper, and matching it to another wet, sticky patterned yard of paper - - above your head. Why?! Neither of us wallpaper -- Neither of us were raised that way*!

But it's done. The kitchen ceiling looks lovely. We didn't swear that much. We faced our fears. It was the hero cycle over and over.

- She came and saw "We Gotta Bingo** ***". Which was so awesome of her. (and Sue and P-Bau!! Thank you!!) No one should have to experience interactive theater unless they really really want to. I don't know if any of them really really wanted to, but they did it!! Thank you!!!

And now she's safely back in Sux City. Merrr..

Things I'd like for 2010:

- Gotta see family more. I don't have that much family. This should not be that big of a deal. Mom needs to be seen at least once a season. I need to get down to AZ to visit my sis. Or, better yet, meet them someplace fun. Which brings us to...

- Keep the travel bug alive. It's so easy to get caught in schedules - - make the time, save the money, make it happen.

- Listen to more classical music. Oh man. I technically have a degree in music. The last twelve years of my life have been orchestra-free (which the previous ten years of my life involved a lot of youth symphony. And college symphony. And pit orchestras. I caught the youtube clip of Amanda Palmer playing Tchaikovsky.. I know this piece. I've accompanied this piece. It's big and show off-y. And lovely.)

So, yes. More classical music. Maybe start with the easy stuff - - which is Dvorak and Copeland for me. Big, gorgeous, melodic picturesque shit - - with lost of brass. And then move into the brainier stuff. A woodwind quartet (which sometimes sound like really talented ducks). A stuff-up-your-shirt minuet. I can feel that this may be like going to the gym.. but I'll feel really good afterwards, honestly.

- Blog more. More blogging makes for better blogs.

Speaking of, this one is running long. And blabby. Happy January thaw, lovely people!

Last note: I dreamt last night that I died. And as they were throwing the dirt on my face, I was just trying to convince myself to let go, and I couldn't. Macabre dream #256.

Onward.

*Honestly. I was raised warned about the terrors of wallpaper. It's a bitch to take off. It's there forever. It's not worth the effort. I was similarly warned about democrats and ear-piercing.. and non-land-grand universities.

**"We Gotta Bingo" is open until the first weekend of February! W00t! This weekend was our opening weekend - - we're all exhausted. A four show weekend is awesome. A four show weekend following a week of rehearsals (plus real life) is tuckering.

*** I love being part of a cast which is mostly over 30. We do our job, we have fun, we support each other, we maybe go out for a drink afterwards, we have kids, we have jobs, we go home. There's a normalcy to it and to this group of people. Even if we play dress up. So very lucky.