Things I've been calling our cat lately besides Cheeto which is his official name:

Kitty

The Cheat

Mr. Bones

Mr. Orange

Mr. Machine

Peaches

Simba (his former name - mostly Amanda has been calling him this)

Cymbeline (again, mostly Amanda)

Lou

"We were burnt by the sun...

...having way too much fun. Sleepless downtown overload, did I stay outside too long?"

TWENTY points to whomever can name that tune. No googling allowed.

So, I'm researching for a paper I'm writing on Macbeth and thought it would be fun to do some reading outdoors since it was such a nice day. I now have the most wicked sunburn ever. It hurts like a son of a gun and I know it's not good for you, but I secretly love it. It makes me feel healthy and summery. Anyone else secretly love sunburns? Be honest.

Beardless

Last night I shaved my beard for the first time since Christmas. I feel naked. And I look weird. Actually, I look almost exactly like in my headshot below, which is weird to me but not to you, probably.

Defending gurn champion

So, this is how I "normally" look:



I'm just offering this as a reminder since the photo below is slightly more hideous.

Votes are currently being cast in the UCI graduate drama gurn competition. The gurn competition was something introduced to UCI by the great UCI voice and speech Professor Dudley Knight (who retired last year). A gurn, the way we define it, is a contorted facial expression. It has something to do with the voice and speech work we do in class, but I fear explaining exactly how it applies would be difficult at best and boring at worst. So instead, look, if you dare, upon last year's gurn champion:



I'll let you know how things turn out this year.

I'M SO HAPPY

Finally, after weeks of frustration and trial and error, it's done!

jasonvandebrake.com

IS LIVE!

Go there and tell me what you think. It just went up this morning so if there are any broken links or anything that should be added or subtracted, let me know. Thanks!!!

Bobby and Billy

Here's a photo from our final dress rehearsal. Keith Fowler, our wonderful director, just sent it to me. There should be more to come...

I'M SORRY! Jeesh.

I haven't posted in a while because I was doing a show. OKAY!!???

But now that show is over. I was performing in THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN which I blogged about a few weeks ago. We just closed last Saturday night. As usual, it's nice to have my evenings back and a little hard to suddenly stop performing a show that I rehearsed/performed for six weeks. Being Babbybobby (my characer) was a great experience. He's a nice guy but also has no qualms about dispensing justice by way of physical punishment. As I mentioned in a comment I left in Dave's blog, the final act I performed before leaving stage each night was beating a physically disabled (crippled) boy with a lead pipe. This sounds awful because it was. But it was a great chance for me to practice being a cruel person on stage. Which seems to be the number one thing I need to work on. I'm pretty okay in my everyday life at being a nice guy. I'm non-confrontational, easy-going, generally a pleasant person. And I plan to keep it that way. But it's also an absolute necessity for me to be able to turn into a bastard when necessary. So like I said. Beating a cripple with a lead pipe is good practice.