Puns and Procrastination

So much for my daily posts. Oh well...not having time to write a blog once a day isn't the worst thing in the world, right? Me and follow-through...sometimes we're not friends.

This weekend = pretty great. Fun CSz buyout, even though I got up at 7:30 to be there; pretty awesome PatchCo show in the afternoon; then partytown. Sarah and I had a kickass girly dinner at Cesar's, where margaritas and feelings were shared. I then went on a whirlwind tour of Lakeview and Wrigleyville before landing back at CSz for the Hot Karl. Fun show, Megan!! Back at home to pass out and sleep late today. Too late, but hey, I never get to. I needed it.

My hooray of the day(!) is this guy...



Vinnie Lacey. He's one of the very few practicing Catholics in the improv community, and I've been lucky enough to exploit that for my professional gain! We've been writing a show together essentially since last January and it will finally be realized this summer with the help of Anthony LeBlanc and Joel Esher, two other delights. Vinnie's humor, intelligence, kindness and endless patience with me makes him one of my favorite people. Especially today...we spent the evening together trying to put a name on this show and it's way harder than it should be. Some of the gems we came up with over tea in his kitchen:

Catholic Schmatholic
Reconsillyation
Benaddiction
Immaculate Misconception
Tale of Two Sinners
Punch in the Faith
Down and Devout
The Reckoning (personal fave!)

We did come up with some valid possibilities. I'm keeping those to myself for now. It's been tough, but it truly is a labor of love. Neighbor of Love. Love Thy Neighbor. I have to go call Vinnie.

Laaaaate

I didn't post my hooray yesterday. Too busy. Boo. So much like skipping medication, I'll double up today. First one...



Scot at work loves to send this picture out in office emails. It's become my favorite email bit (there are A LOT of bits to choose from at work, so that's saying a lot). It has been used to punctuate a myriad of emails from birthdays to early departures. I'm like a child whenever I see it.

Fair Trade Chocolate

Hooray of the Day!



Ginger dark chocolate from New Tree. Not sure what makes it "Sexy" other than the fact that it's delicious chocolate, which is inherently hot. You Chicago folks can find this delicious treat at your local Intelligentsia.

Will all my "hoorays" be food related? Highly likely...

New Tradition

So I'm trying to motivate myself to write everyday, for my own sake and for the sake of my many, many fans. Oh, there are so many... Anyway. I'm instituting a daily installment in my blog...HOORAY of the DAY! I will showcase something each day that really delights me. Could be something that always gets me, or something that just happened to strike me that day. My innuagural Hooray of the Day...



Guy Fieri!!

I love this guy (pun, as always, intended). He was the first "Next Food Network Star." I'm not the biggest fan of his cooking, per se, but for some reason watching this guy eat and talk about food kills me. He's the "funny" one with Marc Summers on Ultimate Recipe Showdown and he hosts my new favorite Food Network show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Watching him eat the greasiest, fattiest and sweetest foods this great country has to offer is oddly satisfying and entertaining. Thank you, Food Network, for this gem.

In other news, I failed to report on my Easter. In short, it was great. I joined International Stinger for Jesus Christ SuperBrunch. They were kind enough to have me for fun, food and some Andrew Lloyd Weber. For me, it doesn't get better than that. I was a jerk and forgot my camera, so I'm working on stealing pics from Biddle. Yeah, Chris. You heard me.

Happy Easter season, everyone! And watch Food Network. For real.

Holy Week, Batman!*

Another Lent comes to a close and we enter into Holy Week and Easter. Happy Spring! Wait...what?


Where I spent my Good Friday. It snowed on Jesus. You'd think he'd been through enough on this day already.


The Methodists know...Jesus loves efficiency.


Happy birthday, Sarah! Way to slip into the festivities, Goody.


So this year's Holy week was different from others before it. I was busier and had to compromise some of my sacrosanct mass time. Adoration only on Holy Thursday, mid-day working man's Good Friday mass, and a new church for my beloved Vigil. Went next door to Mt. Carmel rather than making the trek (upwards of a 20 minute walk!) to St. Clement. Yes, it truly is a whole new world for me in 2008. But thanks to my "universal" faith, things never really change. I walked into vigil tonight, took my order of service and clever little plastic cup candle holder and bounced giddily to a pew lovingly embraced by a cloud of familiar incense. Roughly 3 hours, 5 old testament readings, one epistle, one gopsel, one wax burn, several baptisms, a couple jarring drum rolls, and many latin litanies later, I returned my much shorter candle and order of service, shook the hand of a bishop, and overheard one priest say to another priest in all earnestness "We're going to [local bar] Town Hall after this, right?" Not a bit. I loved it. Highlight of the mass for me: I actually got a little misty at the beginning of mass when we passed the light from the Pascal candle down the rows...the flame going from one candle to the next, causing the light to grow in the dark church...the symbolism hit me harder this year than usual. My advice to everyone for 2008...pass the light.

Speaking of the ol' church...Vinnie and I premiered some of our material for our Catholic sketch show at the Playground's Grafitti this Friday. What better night than Good Friday to showcase our satirical take on the Church?? It went really well and we couldn't be more excited to put the show up...as soon as we have a space. There goes the Lord and his mysterious ways again. That guy...

Happy Easter!

*I'm sure I've used this "joke" before. Oh boy. I steal my own bits and they're not even great.

This Weekend Was...

...the weirdest in recorded history. Or at least since I got back from the ship, which I feel like is all of recorded history. So there it is.

Welcome back to Chicago for the weekend, Andrew! OK, stop talking politics for 5 seconds...


Meredith and Abby can be summed up by...


Tamara's and my last few weeks can be summed up by...


And finally, Lent is nearly over. Hello, Palm Sunday...


I love Palm Sunday. It is my favorite mass of the year running VERY close to Easter vigil. I think my fondness for the day has a lot to do with my churches growing up. A lot of them went the congregation participation route with the Passion gospel, and there was this dramatic thrill I got as a theatre-loving child to be given a line in the mass. Even if that line was "Crucify him!" Either way, even as a child, I appreciated how poetic it was for the church congregation to assume the role of the angry mob calling for Jesus' crucifixion. There was a church I went to in Vicksburg, MS that had a unique Good Friday tradition. Each person was to take a nail and drop it at the foot of the cross when you went to genuflect. No one ever accused Catholics of not being morbid or guilt ridden. Honestly, it's the rigidity of the Catholic church in its principles that draws me in...I think because it's something I need in my life.

What sucked this weekend? Being sick. I was completely nonfunctional all of Saturday and much of today. Made it out for Andrew brunch and palm night at the stadium. Now I'm fighting with myself about doing laundry. The Not side is winning. Laaaaazy.

All in all, this weekend gets a C. High on friends, but also high on drama. Short story: I had a lot of praying to do in mass tonight. Bring on Holy Week...

I Heart CSz

First show back last night. I was running on fumes, as I am now 100% cold-ridden. But I squeezed out the last ounce of energy I had for the new stage. Oh man. Totally worth it.

The show was these rockstars...


Vs. these jerks...


OK, they were rockstars too. The show was crazy and loud, as the audience was mostly school groups. But man...I remember how fun it is to play with these guys and the new space...just stupid awesome. I think this was the missing piece to make me feel back at home in Chicago. Hey thanks, Pat, Alida, Deanna, Rich, Josh, John, Matt, Tamara, Rene and Jen.

Good to be back...bad to be sick

Stayed home sick today to battle a cold. Gross. The best part: my first CSpo show back is tonight. Had to save my energy for it. So I'm crossing my fingers that all I needed was the 13 hours of sleep I got. Hooray! Here's how excited I am to be back in the ol' CSz jersey...



And here's how excited Kat is to be dressing full-on business casz these days...



And just for good measure, this is how excited I am to be home in Chicago. I even missed my train commutes. (Psst...that's me in the window.)

My 9-5

This exchange happened today. It was so funny to me that I emailed myself about it so I wouldn't forget.

I'll change names to protect the innocent,

(Dance music plays on my computer)
Schmankie: I think I heard that playing in Schmarah's office yesterday.
Schmarah: This song? I don't know. I was drunk.
Schmatt: What? When.
Schmarah: Uh. Like, everyday.

I. Love. My. Office.

Procrastinating....

So I'm trying to do some writing for my show, but instead I'm watching Food Network (like I do) and enjoying some Iron Chef America. It's Battle Rabit. So all I want to see is one of the judges say, "Excuse me, Alton...there's a hare in this." Oh boy, I have fun...

What do you think, Tamara?

Office Bits

Frankie can't take your call right now. He's in a box.

BLOCK

Oh boy. Serious writer's block. It was overcome briefly by a small fit of rage. But now I'm just sleepy and frustrated. So I started to think of things I really enjoy to distract myself. The following are things I always get excited about, no matter how mundane and repetitious they are...

Happy Birthday?

Kat's birthday was Saturday, and we celebrated in the office Monday. Rho ordered some amazing cheesecake, as per uszh (I'm guessing that's how you shorten usual). Rho panicked when this happened, but it was really no big deal. 1. It still tasted the same; 2. It was the best indicator that we were dealing with fresh, real whipped cream; and 3. It's highly indicative of how Kat's actual birthday night went.

Happy Birthday, Kat!

Flight of the Conchords

These guys are AWESOME. Erin and I just started watching the DVDs, and I can't believe I haven't started watching this earlier. It makes me want to stop doing everything else except comic songwriting.

I Support Hillary!

Who's excited that Hillary won Ohio???

Firsts

So I've been back on dry land for 12 days. Oddly enough, I started my ship blog 12 days before I left for the ship. So I'm calling it fate and getting this off the ground today.

This week has been crazy. I had my first day back at work, I had my first improv show back in Chicago, and I had my first ever PatchCo show on the Second City mainstage. HOLY BALLS. It has been a lot of fun.

Welcome back to Chicago, Natalie!! This is your boss/castmate/co-worker, Kat-tastic (what I'm dying to call her every morning at work)

The SAMily. Yeah, you read it right. Like family.

So I'm totally leaving this picture sideways. Take that, Windows Picture Viewer. Great first show, Sarah!!

TJ and Jason: The Musical. Seriously, Shandogg, it was great to see you back on land. Jason, go get me coffee.

Oh boy! The best cast since the NCL Spirit! I had a lot of fun with these guys in my very first time on the mainstage. Thanks, Steve, Brendan, Edgar, Sayjal and Colleen (and our illustrious director, Piero). Except for me completely omitting the word "pantomime" when introducing Debate, we NAILED it!!

OMG

I'm a huge nerd. So I'm starting this blog to have a place to go and be a huge nerd about everything that makes me a huge nerd. No apologies here, ladies (yes, that's you). Just a lot of OMGs, holy balls, and awesomes. If you've ever looked at anyone get super excited about something and go, "Wow, gross" (you know who you are, Peter Fluet), then you may want to move along. If not....holy balls, let's do this.