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Posted under Le Blog by CesuaOld posts that I was able to salvage from the time my blog blew up. Sorry, no pics.
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Aug. 28, 2008
As you can tell, I’m a bad blogger.
I haven’t updated this in almost two weeks and I have so much to share! But, I’ll be kind and do it little by little….
Fun times since I last blogged.
Two Saturdays ago I attended the “improvised wedding” of my friends Shelby and Joe. They’re getting married out of town but wanted to do something cool for their friends here in Chicago.
Because I didn’t properly read the e-vite, I wasn’t sure if this was just a regular party that had a starting time of 9. Everyone’s always late to a party, right?
Holly and I got there around 10, only to notice that there was a ‘ceremony’ going on.
I was lucky enough to witness the last 15 minutes or so of this improvised wedding, and as soon as it was over, I DEEPLY regretted being late.
Just the little that I witnessed was enough for me to know that this was the sweetest and coolest wedding I’ve ever witnessed. Even it was ‘fake ‘ -for the time being.
Joe and Shelby, thank you for allowing me to part of this night, and I’m sorry for arriving late.
After the ‘ceremony’, was party-time. Kishhh….
After a few drinks, to MY surprise, I ended up in a dancing contest in which I made it to the final 3.
I don’t usually do this kind of stuff, but I was surrounded by fun people that are so cool and supportive, that I didn’t feel too embarrassed to act like a jolly fool with my friends.
It’s things like this that make me happy to be part of this community. (More on this later.)
**
I traveled to North Carolina and New York with some very cool friends and colleagues in a span of four days teaching improv workshops to students at Duke University and Columbia in NYC.
The NC trip started off pretty cool. Once we landed, I spotted this young lady with a bunch of US Olympic luggage and was dying to find out what the deal was. Fortunately, she and her Mom had to go to the same rental car location. While she stepped away, I asked her Mom about the Olympic luggage. Apparently the daughter was a bit shy about the whole thing because the Mom whispered to us that her daughter was coming home from competing in the Beijing Olympics. She was on the fencing team and she won a bronze medal!
When the daughter came back I told on her Mom. I then asked if we could see her medal.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the Olympics and only watch some stuff here and there. But I gotta say, looking –and holding- that medal was pretty freakin’ cool.
She didn’t get to attend the opening ceremony because she had to get some rest before her event, and came back early because of school. But she had an Olympic Medal.
Here she is and here’s the medal:
*
I love NC. So green! Everywhere you look is green! As we were driving down a freeway, I remember thinking that I bet people don’t mind being stuck in traffic because the view is always so nice.
“These cops are catching up to me! ….But check out this view!”
“Man, I just got fired…my wife left me….the bank is taking my home…-but I still got this view!”
“Maybe throwing a bag of bees at my girlfriend wasn’t a good idea….-I should drive back to apologize and to also enjoy more of this view!”
*
After a very, very long day of workshops, those of us that had to go on to NYC performed an interactive show for the Duke students at a local bar. (Jam)
A few minutes before we were to take the stage, the lights went out. We waited about half hour in this hot and sweaty establishment, and since part of what we were teaching was adaptability, we decided to light up the place with candles and went on with the show.
Halfway thru the lights came back on to reveal how sweaty and hot everyone was.
So it wasn’t the best of circumstances to put up a show, but we made the best out the situation and tried to have fun.
Some NC pics:
Next up, NYC…
**
NYC is not green.
Still, it has its own beauty in a cool dirty way.
On our evening off, we had a dinner/meeting and afterwards I went to see a show my friend’s from Chicago were doing out there (“Pennybear”) for the Fringe festival.
I love these folks and was glad I was able to hang with them for a bit after their show.
Plus, I got to see a bar fight!
Pad wanted to leave, and I had to get going too. Pad was taking the train and offered to teach me how to get to my hotel on the train.
I’ve only been on a NYC train once and it was an eye-opening experience:
I was on a train, and a homeless lady was walking from one end of the car to the other. There was a guy taking a nap with his legs stretched out in her way, and rather than going around or over him, the homeless lady took one look at him, then looked at his feet, then swung a leg way back and kicked-the-shit out of this guy’s legs. She then went on her way. I remember saying to my friend Jeff, “Yup, we’re on a New York train!”
This time, after Pad got off at his stop, I had to stay on board for another 10 stops or so.
Via movies, tv, books, ior tales from friends, we’ve all heard about different characters that can be found on a New York train. Well, on this night, around 1:00 AM, most of them were on this train. My favorite: An old shirtless skinny man, with a white beard long enough to cover his nipples. He had on tiny shorts, and was jamming to some tunes on his big-ass earphones. Every once in a while he would sing out loud to a tune.
I looked around and smiled all the way to my stop.
Right before I got off I looked over at cool-moe-dee-grampa and noticed he was playing with the cord of his headphones while jamming. They weren’t connected to anything.
*
I felt a little weird about the NC workshops, but Mr. Bob Kulhan had a talk with me that made me enjoy the teaching sessions at NYC so much more. I think I can say that thanks to Bob, I am now no longer nervous about teaching and can’t wait to do it again. It was truly a blast.
*
Next up, Back to Chi-Town.
In the meantime, here are some pics from NYC.
After I got back from the NC and NYC trips last week, things got back to normal a bit.
Had a fun show Friday night with my team, ‘Diplomat Motel’, and had to work at iO Saturday and Sunday. I was beat on Monday.
Something pretty cool happened on that Saturday night:
I was closing up and a few people remained in the theater that wanted to watch the outcome of the US basketball team’s quest for Olympic gold.
We watched the game and of course the US ended up winning an exciting game. When the game was over I played ‘Born in the USA’ on the loudspeakers and then Brett took over to keep playing US/America themed songs.
By then only 7 people remained in the theater: Holly, Christina, Shelly, Brett, Rob, John Abbott, and myself.
At one point, as John was finishing up shutting down the bar, Brett played “Livin’ in America “ by James Brown.
The girls were already in their own world dancing on the stage, but the dudes were just hanging and drinking. Then, I can’t recall how it happened, but somehow, Brett, Rob and myself found ourselves dancing along the front of the bar from one end of the bar to the other.
But we weren’t just dancing to goof off or as a bit, we were actually having a damn good time, each lost in his own world.
This stands out to me because I’m not normally someone who lets loose like this. Off stage, I’m pretty afraid of being judged and don’t normally let myself go like this out of embarrassment.
Yet here I was, dancing away having a damn good time being silly, goofy and happy. It kinda reminded me of the week before when Brett and I found ourselves participating in a dancing contest. Fun.
At one point I glanced over to Rob and Brett and realized that they too were lost in the music and really having a good time.
I remember at that moment feeling super happy to be hanging with these guys and of being part of a community that encourages you to not be afraid of judgment.
See, they weren’t looking over for approval or to see how silly the other one looked, they were having a good time and not being afraid of who was watching –just like I was doing.
I don’t know, but that moment made me feel really good about being here and having these guys as friends.
Thank you US basketball team for winning, and thank you Brett and Rob for allowing me to have fun without being afraid of judgment.
*
The rest of the week was pretty good. Had a fun show with Felt, a fun two person show with Holly, a fun show with the Babies, a very fun show with the Dipmos, and I got to see my Mom over the weekend.
I was looking forward to seeing my Mom because I keep forgetting to call her. I know I should and always mean to, but I’m really dumb and very forgetful.
So always for some dumb reason or another I keep letting time go by without calling her back. So it’s not on purpose, I’m just an idiot.
I got an email from her expressing her concern and hurt that I wasn’t returning her calls and of course I felt crappy. As I should.
I’m sorry, Momma. Me just dumb. You should know, you made me.
That sounded weird.
While I’m at it, although I don’t think many people read this, I’d like to take time to apologize to all my friends I don’t properly keep in contact with.
I love you all and believe it or not I always think about you and how fun it is to hang out with you. I then tell myself to call or email you…but then I forget.
So really, in all sincerity, I apologize for being a bad friend. Just because we haven’t hung out or spoken to each other in a while doesn’t mean I’m distancing myself from you.
*
My little buddy Dylan had a good first day of school yesterday. This means nothing to you, but it means a lot to me.
Go get ‘em, “Duvall” !
**********
Sept. 23, 2008
Out of my season ticket package, I had one remaining ticket for the Cubs game on Sunday and was looking forward to either trading my ticket for a Saturday game, or going on Sunday where they would hopefully clinch the division title while I was there.
Because of theater related stuff, hangovers, and just plain laziness, I had to give up or eat a lot of tickets this season. So I was very much looking forward to going on Sunday.
Then three things happened: They clinched the division on Saturday (YAY!), me woke up hungchow on Sunday, and the Cubs decided to rest their starters for the game on Sunday.
No game for me.
But I got my playoff tickets so I don’t feel too bad. Plus, I got to hang with friends Saturday night at my stomping ground, The Holiday Club. That’s where I purchased my Sunday hangover.
Later on Sunday I had to work at iO. which ended up being a good night and a fun time.
Oh, Party Time, you never fail to disappoint me..
Yes, that was an inside joke. No, I won’t tell you. ☺
Party time…Kishhhhh!
*
It was my younger sister’s birthday Monday. She can be a handful sometimes, but I love her dearly. She is easily one of the funnest people to hang with. Yup, I used the word ‘funnest’. I don’t care if it’s not a word. Suck it.
My Mom was going to try to have us over for a little Monday night party, but I couldn’t go due to theater obligations.
I knew I might not be able to make it, so to make up for it, I took a little break from working, grabbed a picture of her and sang Happy Birthday to her.
My dogs were confused about this, but hopefully she felt the good vibes.
*
Today I noticed this big-ass fly on the outside of my window. I leaned in to get a look at this big bitch, and I could have sworn it was staring at me.
Oh, it was On.
I stared back.
…
The fly won.
Stupid fly.
*
Last night at poker the lovely Niki Lingdren outdid herself again. It was Brett’s bday this time and she made these little tiny funny replicas of his face for everyone to use as chip holders:
Niki: “Uh, we didn’t sing Happy Birthday yet…”
Jason: “Oh…sorry.”
Here’s Brett blowing out his prematurely eaten cake:
Here’s Tim waiting his turn.
Niki waiting her turn wearing a bunch if hats she made for us last week. (Yup, ‘Made’):
Niki if she were old and bald
*
Lotto time!
Let’s see, the last Lotto numbers were: 04-09-18-22-38-51
I’ll do email this time.
Let’s play around with the numbers and take the second number, 9, then take the second-to-last number, 38.
So I’ll go to page 9 of my emails and count down to 38.
Hold on….
Ok, that lands me on…Jason Shotts. Ha!
I met Shottsie about 3 or 4 years ago and shortly after that found myself playing with him on a team called “Atticus Finch”, at the Playground Theater.
I then had the pleasure of playing with him on ‘Felt’, which was an ‘Atticus Finch’ product, and recently Jason has been sitting in with my iO team, ‘The Diplomat Motel’, which has made playing with the team even more fun and enjoyable.
Jason is one of the coolest cats you’ll meet. He’s also a very talented improvisor and teacher. I’ve always enjoyed hanging with him and playing with him, so I was excited when he agreed to step in and help me out a while back for a two-person show I had with another Jason (Jason Chin).
Chin was out of town and Mr. Shotts helped me out.
That show ended up being one of the best times I’ve had on stage.
The whole experience was super awesome, and getting the chance to play one of those shows with Shottsie just made the run even more memorable.
I think anyone that’s ever played with him or knows him will agree that Shotts is one cool, funny, charismatic dude that you’re glad to call a friend.
Jason Shotts, thank you for being my friend.
(I guarantee you that if he reads this he will call me gay the next time he sees me.)
*
Last night I found out my uncle Rich passed away. He was technically my step-uncle but we always called him uncle Rich.
Truly a great guy that easily made our family a lot more fun and entertaining.
It was truly a pleasure having you part of family, Uncle Rich. Tell me Daddy I said Hello and I miss him.
Hey Death, you’re stupid.
*
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Oct. 23, 2008
Hi!
Nobody cares, but I’m updating this thing.
Aw, man, October can’t be over soon enough. Rough month. That’s all I’ll share so don’t be nosy.
I had a show last night with Felt (a very fun show) where one of my puppets used the phrase “Take the Goof with the Bad and Live in Between”.
So? Well, that just happens to be one of the quotes my friend Steve created. (Remember that post? No? Then go read it)
I bring that up because not only is it a good one to dig into, but also because it’s what has kept me semi-sane this month.
We often settle into moods that seem appropriate based on what’s going on with our lives, and almost feel like we have to conduct ourselves according to what’s going on with us.
Or worse, put on this false state of mind and emotion to our friends and ourselves. I think that’s like avoiding the issue or like living in denial. Right…?
Well, I don’t think ‘living in between’ is anything like that.
I think it’s more like, realizing what situation you’re in, and being careful not to let that situation take over your life and or emotions.
Your lawnmower was repossessed?
“Aw, man, I don’t have the money to get it back.! I’m screwed! I’m going to wake up every day thinking about it and going crazy thinking how to get the money to get it back then worry about how to pay back the money I borrowed to get it back!
ARGH!”
Re.Lax.
The grass-killing machine is gone. You don’t have the money right now. So, until if and when you are able to get the money for it, just try adjusting to life the way it is now and don’t let it affect your mood.
Think of a way to either get it back or learn to live without it, and in the meantime, live in between those two moments enjoying life, friends, and corn.
Or, be miserable and let your situation affect your mood, and then let your mood reflect your troubles so people can ask you ‘What’s wrong’, so you can then feel better about letting people know how bad things are so that people can feel sorry for you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, easier said than done. But it’s seems, to me, that it’s a lot easier to be happy living in between troubles the way you’d like to live, rather than pretend to be happy. Make sense?
I didn’t think so.
Anywho, this month I’ve been living in between the good and the bad, and I’m doing ok.
Friends just make it better, and I’m super grateful I have the friends that I have.
Don’t have friends? Go out RIGHT NOW and introduce yourself to the first person you see and buy that person a vanilla coke.
*
So what have I been up to? I know you don’t care but I’m going to tell you so shut up.
Got to see my friend Rafi’s family, did some gambling, some hanging with friends, had fun shows across the board last week, and on Saturday… I went to Great America!
My buddy Brett invited me, so I went! I rode with Molly and Tristan and was treated to a ride of songs from Musicals I never heard of. Not as bad as you’d think.
I only got on two rides and while my friends were in line for TWO hours, I played video games, won some prizes for my friends, saw a 13 old skinny white kid do a mean version of Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ at the open kareokee. That kid killed. But maybe the joke was on him a little.
I have a bunch of pics but I’m going to post them to Facebook instead so I can start getting used to that devil-online-service.
Oh, April got detained by a little kid with a huge badge for selling some passes to rides. After giving up the cash she got for them she was released. That little hoodlum.
Shout out to Tristan, Molly, April, Bess, Brett, and Gilley!
Money cape!
*
This is a cool pic I took of Tim at poker this week.
*
My niece got good grades! Yay!
*
I guess that’s all. Not very exciting, but I’ll try harder next time.
**********
Nov 5, 2008
Change
When I was younger, I never bothered to look into becoming a citizen. As a young punk I was caught up in the mentality that you need to be ‘loyal’ to your country and becoming a citizen was considered somewhat of a betrayal to your country.
The only reason I decided to look into becoming a citizen was because when I first got hired by Second City, I heard that if you ever made it to the resident stages (“Etc” and “Main stage”), that the actors playing on those stages needed to be equity members, and to be equity, you had to be a citizen.
Somewhere around that time I went on a date, and while chating, I bought up the citizen stuff. She informed me that she actually worked for the INS dept and at the time was actually working with the Sammy Sosa family about citizenship stuff.
She later helped me figure out the whole process and it turned out that due to certain conditions that existed in my family, at the time I fell into a weird loop-hole where all I had to do was present proof my Mom was a citizen and…Presto! I was a citizen.
Weird, huh?
Still, even after I became a citizen, since I was never into politics, I never bothered to vote because I didn’t think my vote was important or mattered.
It was around this time that my good friend Steve introduced me to the joy of Baseball.
(I was never into it and thought it was boring.) Steve took me to my first Cubs game and I instantly became a fan. Year by year I learn more and more about the game and like it more and more as well. (been a season ticket holder for about 7 or 8 years now)
I don’t know when it happened, but the singing of the national anthem at the beginning of the game became real important for me. To this day I don’t like to miss it.
It didn’t happen in one day, but over the course of several games, I would glance over at people and see the pride they had in their country, and it would make me think about what this country has given me to opportunity to do and hope for. Every game I would steal a moment during this time to think about this and every game I learned to become more appreciative and thankful for being here.
Although I am proud of my heritage and of my country, I know I would never be able to have the chance to live the way I have lived here and hope to live in the future according to the profession I have chosen to pursue.
Amongst the MANY things I can say I’m thankful for as a result of me living here, I can honestly say that the best thing has been the people I have had the chance to meet and the honor to call Friends.
Because of most of this, I cast my first vote 8 years ago.
I voted yesterday and later in the evening headed to the iO theater where they were having a show/party for the election.
Once the results were announced, the place went nuts and I remember feeling proud I was part of the process.
I saw McCain give his speech and actually found him very likable and gracious in defeat. He gave a great speech.
I saw Obama give his speech and it was pretty moving.
This night, at that time, I realized once again that this country made me who I am, gave me the chances I’ve had, and allowed me to believe in my hopes and dreams.
Because of this and more, I am honored to call myself a citizen of the United States of America.
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Nov 19, 2008
Hello those-of-you-that-read-this!
Besides my election-induced post, it’s been a while, huh?
It’s been a combo of laziness, procrastination, and life dealings that have kept me away from my little blog, but I’m here now so…..well, I’m here.
For the most part, not much new; Still enjoying my shows, my friends, and party time. Kssshhh!
One of the things that stands out since I last posted is Halloween.
Halloween was fun. Went to the iO theater and hung out with friends ‘til waay too late.
I didn’t have a costumer ready so I looked around my place to see what I could come up with and decided to be “That creepy older dude that’s always at clubs and shouldn’t be there”.
I found a fake mustache, soul patch, some aviator glasses, a cowboy hat, an old double breasted suit jacket, a “booby inspector badge,” and I slapped them all on me:
As you can see, turns out I was simply “older Cesar at a club hanging with chicks he has no business hanging out with”.
As always, lots of great costumes at the theater and on the streets. One of my favorites was friend Matt Owens: He MADE a photo booth costume. Once he took your pic, he would have you write your email on the side of his costume so he could email you the pic. He was a huge hit on the streets and at iO.
But my hands-down favorite was Tristan Tanner’s costume. Here she is sandwiched by Laura and Kristen:
Don’t know what she is yet?
She’s Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird” dressed as a Ham.
If you didn’t guess the costume don’t feel bad because I didn’t understand it even after it was explained to me because I never read the book or saw the movie.
So why was it my favorite? Because of the effort, dedication, and pure imagination it took to pull off this costume.
Tristan would always tell us she was going home to work on her costume, and although she explained what she was doing, I never quite got it and had a completely different idea of what she was trying to do.
But when I saw her in costume, I was completely blown away. Like others, I was astonished at the amount of work she put into the costume and the result.
I was even more blown away when I heard she walked from her place to the theater IN costume. She doesn’t live close to the theater and the costume had no arms, so the thought of her doing that just blew me away big time. That night I grew to admire and respect her a whole lot more than I already did.
Plus, it made me want to read the book, which I guess I should have done ages ago since I like to read.
**
The other thing that stands out as notable was that I got see my niece this past weekend!
I haven’t seen her in a while, partly because of car trouble, and mostly because I’m dumb.
Like I do with everyone I care about, I stupidly put off calling her to say Hi or to catch up. I just hope she knows it’s not on purpose and that I love her just as much as I have ever loved her.
Got to see my Mom, sisters and lots of other people I care about as well, but seeing Analie was the highlight of the night –heck, week.
A close second was the weekend in general with some real cool company and the two shows I had Saturday night.
**
Don’t worry, be Happy.
Ah, an oldie but a goodie. But it makes sense, no?
I had a chance to chat with an old friend this past weekend and he shared how he and the lady are going thru some rough times financially. Aren’t we all?
Oh, you’re not? Well, ex-cuuuse me. I hope a cult of angry bees decides to take a shower on your face.
I know it doesn’t make sense. Shut it.
Anyway, he mentioned how the missus was understandably upset and worried, and how he has tried to have her not think too much about their troubles.
Something he told her made me laugh: “Ok, so we have bills and our credit is screwed, but that’s it! –They’re not going to come find us and Kill us”.
It made me laugh but in a weird way it kinda made sense in terms of not letting things worry you.
What’s done is done and there is no sense making yourself sadder about it. Keep your chin up, be optimistic, and know things will be better soon. You’ll be a happier person if you give life’s hard times the finger. (I’m looking at you, Tabs)
**
Having an interesting week so far, but since I’ve rambled enough, I’ll wait til the next post to share it.
For now, enjoy some interesting pics I took since I last posted:
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Dec 8, 2008
Last weekend marked the end of the run of the show I was doing at the Second City Skybox Theater, “The Audacity of Dope”. I had a lot of fun doing the show and I hope I was able to do the material justice throughout the run.
Hopefully this will result in better opportunites at rhe ol’ SC, but I guess only time will tell. * sigh *
*
Surprises can be fun. Can be.
Our annual Toys for Tots party happened last weekend, and I think I remember most of it.
As always, it was a blast seeing a lot of friends I don’t get the chance to see very often, and seeing the place jammed with people donating toys and getting crunk.
This was one big night of party time. KKSSHHHH!
Every year we raise more and more toys and the next day or so they are taken to the Marines who I think take care of making sure they get to families and kids that are way less fortunate than you and me.
It must be pretty cool to surprise people with this sort of generosity. Sometimes I wish I was one of the people making these deliveries to truly enjoy the whole process of what we try to do year to year.
*
This year I was able to be part of another cool surprise, The Second City’s Letter to Santa 24hour improv marathon/show.
Every year the Second City does this event where improvisers from around the city perform for 24 hours straight to help raise money for families that can’t afford to have a good holiday. All proceeds from the door are totaled, and then the owner of the Second City matches that amount.
Pretty cool, huh?
So it felt nice to be part of two holiday related surprises in one week.
*
There was one, there was two, so there had to be three, right? Correct.
This week I was given the tri-fecta via info that left me a bit dumb-founded. And not in a good way.
I was rocked, but I think I’m doing a good job of staying on my feet and making it through this round.
Lucky for me I have some super cool friends that helped make this weekend very fun and enjoyable.
*
Today I caught the second half of the Will Smith movie “The Pursuit of Happiness”.
Ever seen it? I saw it once and it was pretty cool to stumble on it today.
I guess like lots of people that enjoy the film, I like the message of never giving up on yourself and to never give up, and never loose sight of what’s important to you –especially your family, no matter how hard things may be for you.
What is your pursuit of happiness?
Is it a goal? Is it the acceptance of your friends? Money? Love? Materials? Candy? Toys?
I guess we all have our own little pursuit of our kind of happiness.
Mine is to one day be able to earn a living doing what I love –or something involving that.
The bonus would be to be able to provide for a future family, and the extra bonus would be to be able to help the rest of my family.
*
I thought about doing Lotto Time!, but in the spirit of the holiday season I’ll just say to ALL of my friends, Thank You for being my friend.
Even if I don’t get the chance to hang out with you often or we haven’t seen or heard from each other in a long time, make no mistake: I truly am thankful to have met you and to consider you my friend.
I hope your year ends on a good note and that the new one starts off in the right direction.
“Oh I doubt he’s talking about me” – Yes, I’m talking about you too.
**********
Jan 8, 2009
OOOhhh, so much to share! Yeah, yeah, yeah, happy new year blah, bleh, blergh.
I should have at least 5 updated posts since I last posted here, but as you know, me a procrastinator and dumb, so…
In order to not make this seem long-winded, I’ll try to be good and see if I can post daily until I catch up.
Normally the latest stuff is what gets shared last, right? Well, not this time.
This time the latest –and coolest- thing to share is going first.
I became a great-uncle on Jan 6th.
Nine months ago I wasn’t looking forward to sharing this info because it was a tough thing to find out from someone that you see as almost your own daughter.
My niece is one of the most important –if not Thee most important- person in my life.
So finding out she was pregnant at such a young age wasn’t fun.
Babies having babies. Ugh.
But, I tried my best to deal with the situation, and be positive, especially for her.
Drama, drama, drama, and nine months later a beautiful baby girl is born.
I felt horrible –HORRIBLE – that my phone wasn’t nearby to help notify me that my niece had gone into labor, but was happy to know that most of my family was there for her, including the father, whom I did not expect to be there.
I got to the hospital, saw my niece, saw her daughter, saw the Dad, and balled.
See, my niece has had as rough life. And like most teenagers, the Dad freaked out a bit and there was drama early on.
The Dad just so happens to be the son of one my best friends. So it was a unique and weird situation to find ourselves in early.
All indications pointed to him not being a part of this, but when I saw him at the hospital ready, willing, and excited to be a part of this, I was VERY happy for my niece.
Hard to explain.
So it was a weird joyous event, for me, to see my niece ok, see her beautiful baby girl, and see the Father whom I care for very much present. So yeah, I cried. Suck it.
Babies having babies is not ideal or full of fun. I’ve seen it too many times around me, so I know my niece has a tough road ahead of her.
Despite the obvious hiccup, my niece really is a smart person, so I know that she will be a great Mom. Plus she has the support of many to help her down the line.
For a long time I alluded to being affected by this and never really thought I’d share this moment for fear of how people would perceive my niece.
But ultimately this turned out to be a joyous event, so I couldn’t help sharing.
Say and think what you want. I love my niece, love her daughter, and I’m super proud of her baby’s Father.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Natalie Gamez.
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Jan 13, 2009
So much for trying to update daily.
Ahh, how did the year end….oh yeah –Crazy.
The iO Holiday party was on the 16th and Party-Time was in full effect.
I had a great time and then stuff got blurry. Then smoky. For Realz.
I have no idea what time I left iO, but I know it was late, and that I was hungry.
They had food at the party and I remember grabbing a bunch of chicken, putting it on a paper plate, then heading home to munch on said chicken.
It snowed pretty bad that night and when that happens, I get very cautious about what’s under the snow, as in ice that I can slip on.
But in the state I was in, Ice was my bitch and it ran my errands -like groceries, and shit.
So, I remember running down my block with reckless abandon, holding my plate and yelling “I got chicken! I got chicken!”
….then I woke up on the couch to someone knocking on my door at 8ish in the morning.
I answered the door in a confused/sleepy/groggy/hungover state and saw my upstairs neighbor. He asked if something was burning, I said No, and sent him to work.
As I was making my way to the bedroom, I thought I smelled something funny.
I went to the kitchen and saw that my microwave had died.
The microwave was singed all around as if at some point flames had shot out of it.
I opened its door and saw the definition of something that had been “nuked”.
The chicken that I apparently had put in there was burned beyond recognition, and although the paper plate was singed, it was not burned.
So apparently I got home, put it in the microwave for god-knows-how-long –or at what power, to the point it destroyed the microwave.
Then the smell hit me. Hard.
Windows were closed and the central heat had been going, so whatever nasty-burned-chicken smell this made, was now in every corner of the apartment, including the vents.
Even clothes that was nicely tucked away and folded had been attacked by the smell.
So for a about two weeks I walked around smelling like burned chicken while I tried to hurry up and do loads of laundry at least twice.
Even now the smell is a bit present in the place, so you know it was bad.
So I almost burned down my place, but I’m still here, so suck it chicken!
I haven’t been that wasted in a LONG time. I guess that’s what an open bar of PBR and some shots will do to me.
My birthday happened. I took it easy, had a show that night and hung out with some of my favorite folks at the theater. All in all a pretty cool, mellow bday.
The only thing I didn’t like about my bday and the holidays in general, was I wasn’t able to spoil myself this year.
I’m used to spoiling myself a little every year, but this time cash has been tight so I wasn’t able to be nice to myself, or my family. I don’t mind me, but not being able to get the usual presents for family and my extended family (The Resendiz Crew), made me pretty sad.
I hope this is a better year.
As I’m sure I mentioned before, I’m really bad at returning calls and keeping up with my friends and family.
So, check this out: late in December, my Mom had called a few times and I forgot to return her phone call.
So on a Monday, my iO team had a holiday party at Kirsten’s place where we had drinks, food, and played rockband and Murder (don’t ask, muggles).
My Mom called while we were in the middle of a game, so I didn’t answer. But then a few minutes later my sister called.
Oh-oh, some shit must be going down.
So I stepped aside to call my Mom back.
She asked if I was ok and where I was., so I told her I was ok and that I was at a friend’s place. She asked if I was in Chicago and I said of course.
Turns out, some of my family thought there was a small chance I might have been kidnapped.
Kidnapping is pretty common in Mexico, and it’s not a surprise that sometimes cops are involved.
So apparently sometime over that weekend, one of my uncles in Mexico got a call late at night.
The following is a translation of what I think the phone call was like:
Uncle: Hello
“Me”: Hey, it’s your nephew from the U.S., I need your help.
Uncle: Charin? (that’s a family nickname that you’re not close to pronouncing correctly)
“Me”: ….Yup, it’s me. Listen, I’m being held in Toluca by some cops because I didn’t declare the US currency I brought with me, and now they want more cash to let me go. Here’s the address, blah, blah, blah.
Uncle: Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out. Call back when you can.
So, again, because kidnapping has become a bit of a problem down there, my uncle wasn’t sure what to do. He told his brother, and that uncle was like “Fuck it! Let’s go get him!”
Apparently they both were kind of gearing up stuff to ‘rescue’ me, but then calmer heads prevailed. So they decided to call another other uncle, Felipe, one of my Mom’s brothers.
So they call and tell him the story, and after hearing the story, my uncle Felipe was like: “You crazy? That boy ain’t got no money! What’s he going to declare?”
So after a brief discussion, my uncle decides to call my Mom up here and casually asks if I’m doing ok.
My Mom tells him all is cool as far as she knows, so my uncle tells her the story, and my Mom was like: “That boy ain’t got no money! What’s he going to declare?”
So it was a scam that thankfully nobody got involved in. Still, my Mom started to get a teeny bit nervous when I didn’t return her calls that weekend.
Weird huh?
I know, I know, I should call my Mom more often and try to be better and calling her back.
Ok, I got a bit more, but I’ll stop here for fear of boring you. (Like you really care anyway)
Next post should be fun because Lotto Time is back along with a new project that YOU will help out with.
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Jan 18, 2009
Well, it happened.
I’m sure everyone is blogging about this and since it’s a big subject, I’ll provide my take and make it brief.
If you didn’t vote for the guy, I hope you are able to put that and whatever other negative feelings you may have about this historic day and move forward the best way you can.
Not everyone voted for the last guy and for many, the past 4 to 8 years have been a mess.
But those that didn’t vote for ol’ W moved along and tried to cope the best way they could. Even with a grimace they never wavered and accepted the outcome and just hoped for the best. They had an opinion, but they never let that opinion change make them give up on their country.
So if you didn’t vote O-Dawg, I suggest you do the same of what the other side did; Keep your head up, Have faith that things will get better, Have an opinion, but don’t let that opinion change you or the way you feel about this country, and be proud that your are part of a nation that in the end always embraced change time after time and has always come out on top.
And as historic as this because of who he is, please try not to keep making that the main topic or issue of conversation when referring to this day.
Here’s a great quote from Sun-Times Richard Roper column in today’s paper:
“Barack Obama wasn’t elected president because he’s a minority. He’s a minority who was elected president because a greater number of voters felt he was the best person for the job.”
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I think this post should pretty much bring me up to date.
A couple of weeks ago I went to NYC for a gig. It was only a day but it was fun.
Jason Shotts and I went to hang with New York’s newest resident, Ed Illades, and after some weird Cuban food, we went to The Pit improv theater to see a show. We stuck around to later see our other recent Chicago transplant-friend, Lauren Lapkus play in a mini version of the Cagematch ( which is basically improv teams ‘competing’ week to week with the ‘winner’ defending their crown week to week.)
Since anyone could sign up, Jason, Ed and I decided to enter the competition.
We ended up having a good time. We didn’t win but were happy to see Lauren’s team win. Then it was party-time at a local bar. Ah, fun times.
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Why can’t people just enjoy movies? Granted, there are some shitty movies out there, and some blatant bad acting, but there are plenty of good movies that are either just a nice story or cool eye candy.
Sometimes it’s fun to just suspend judgment and dive yourself into the world that’s being created for your entertainment pleasure.
Again, sometimes this can be hard if the acting is really, really that bad or the story being told really just doesn’t make sense no matter how much you try to get into it. (Ever see “The Lakehouse”? Yup…)
If a story is plausible or nicely imaginative, and the acting is decent, then I try to enjoy it and give into what the makers of the movie are trying to do, which is just entertain me.
I get annoyed when people complain about how much they hated a movie because plotlines annoyed them, they didn’t like the “choices” made in the filming, they didn’t agree with the directing (really? Really??), it was “too predictable”, it was “too Hollywood”, or any other weird reason to just nitpick the crap out of it because it makes them feel smart or something.
What happened to the inner child in us? Why can’t we enjoy things because they were meant for us to enjoy without stepping out of the story to poke holes in what we’re seeing?
Would you have liked it if as a child when you were watching something like Bugs Bunny, if some older person sat next you and just poked holes in what you were enjoying?
“Rabbits don’t walk upright! How can you believe that this walking rabbit is talking?
That tiny hunter didn’t die from a shotgun blast to the face?? Really?? Aw, C’mon!!!”
I think Mick Napier has a nice little thingie about suspending judgment; I may be butchering this, but imagine watching two kids play with Batman and Robin toys.
Their having fun and all of a sudden one of the kids picks up Batman as if he’s flying, then the other kid does the same with Robin.
These kids know Batman and Robin. They understand them well enough to know they can’t fly. But they are so into playing that they don’t stop to judge what just happened. The other kid doesn’t stop things by saying, “No, Batman doesn’t fly”, he goes along with the flow and joins in.
They enjoy the moment without stepping out to criticize what’s happening.
We’ve all had our encounters with those smart-ass kids while growing up, and chances are they didn’t end up being good friends because of their douchie ways.
So enjoy the movie. Try to give in to your imagination and don’t be too quick to judge. You never know, you may end up enjoying things a little more if you made more of an effort to stop yourself from being too judgmental and just tried to view the movie with the imagination and glee of a child.
Unless it’s “The Lake House”, fuck that movie.
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Go see “Slumdog Millionaire”.
I challenge any movie this year to impress me more than this movie did.
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Jason Chin and Jeff Griggs used to run a video contest called “Vidiocy”. People would pay an entry fee of 20 bucks, were given a random title, and they then had 30 days to turn in a 10 minute -or less- short film. The top 10 were screened and cash prizes would be given to the top 3 films.
Jeff has been on a sweet cruise gig for a while so we haven’t had Vidiocy in a long time.
I really enjoyed this local contest partly because it pushed me to do create short films, which I really like doing, but just don’t make myself do too often.
So, I decided to have YOU push me in what I am calling “Mediocy”.
Here’s how it’s going to work, I’m going to have you submit random titles thru the comment section of this thing. I will then take these titles, put them in a hat, then take them out one by one until I get to number 12.
That 12th title will be the title of a short film that I need to create in less than 30 days.
Because I know not many people read this thing, feel free to submit more than one random title. (if I don’t have more than 12, I will just keep tossing them in the hat and keep picking until I get to 12)
Just don’t try to be too wacky and submit something like “Penis Face” or something like that. Challenge me to do your title justice.
Oh, aside from random titles, you are also free to suggest I re-create a scene from a movie using the cast of Felt like I did with “Scarface”.
Let the submission begin. Just click on the comment section of this post.
I will stop taking submissions on
Ok, the last Lotto numbers were 09-13-14-26-27-52
I’ll do phone list.
So, let’s take the first number and assign a letter to it. That’s 9, so that makes it “I”.
Now let’s the second number, which is 13, and scroll down to the 13th entry and we have…
Nobody! I only have 7 entries under “I”.
So let’s make this work and just combine the 13, to make it 4.
So we go to the 4th entry and find…
My nephew Ivan Franco.
Ivan is actually my first nephew and I’ve had the pleasure of watching him grow, especially as a child.
Me and my friend Rafi used to baby-sit him a lot and unfortunately for him, we often were getting drunk in the process.
So this led to messing with him for the sake of missing with my sister. But it was all in good fun.
One of those times that stick out was when after a few beers, Rafi and I took off his diaper, grabbed a permanent marker, and wrote on Ivans’ tiny butt “I Hate my Mom”.
The next day we both got an angry phone call from my sister Paty about not only the surprise on Ivan’s butt, but the fact that she had to rub that stuff off, which I think just made Ivan cry.
Ivan is now taller than me and I won’t dare write on his ass. Unless he’s really passed out.
Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to spend with Ivan because of normal circumstances like distance, work or theater related stuff, and the fact he’s a teenager.
I recently got to spend some alone time with him and his sister and I told him I was proud of him.
He didn’t grow up in the easiest way and had plenty to distract him from going in the right direction. I’m surprised and proud at how he has handled himself and the choices he’s made –especially being a teenager.
I hope he continues on that path and keeps learning from the little missteps a teenager goes through. He has a good head on his shoulders and I’m always glad to see him no matter how short of a time that is.
Ivan, I love you. Thank you for being who you are and the brother you are.
Oh, and sorry for writing on your ass.
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