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mrlich: (fantasy artist)


(insert obligatory "it's been way too long" bit here)

I really do mean to post more, but then Life happens. I suppose that falls under the category of "good problems to have".

Anywhoozle - here's a brief wrap up to my recent past:

*Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson - This was a really fantastic experience. A long time ago, [livejournal.com profile] xtingu and I discussed the idea that I should get back into theater in some sense. Get back into is a very loose phrase here. Last time I did anything theater related was in high school, but I still had a hankerin for it every now and then.

I'm so very happy that I did.

The cast and crew were fantastic. What's more, they made me feel instantly welcomed and a part of the team. I don't know how (un)common that is, but it was really something I felt like I've been needing in a big way.

The show itself is... odd, but really fun. I reserved my judgement on how we did for a bit. I thought we were doing great, but I recognize the extreme bias that I had. That changed though, when I realised that review after review weren't just saying "Hey, this is fun - go see it!" or some equally generic, but positive message. Reviewers were using terms like 'game changer' and 'best' and other things that really bolstered my esteem.

By opening night, it seemed - well - fucking awesome.

I plan on doing more with City Theater . Possibly a lot more. The only question in my mind is: Am I now spoiled?

*Visiting w/ Family - This past weekend, I got a chance to spend some quality time with my family. Both of my brothers, their wives, and both of my nephews, and even Lucy were home for the weekend (at least in part) to celebrate Mother's Day. With that being the closing weekend of BBAJ, the visit was entirely too short (I was only able to come home for a few hours on Sunday) but it was another 'just what I needed' kind of thing. The kids were (as always) completely adorable, and Lucy shared her pen with me for a bit and let me snorgle her.

I was yet again reminded how phenominally lucky I am in the Family department. That's one of those things that never gets old, and I hope that I never, ever take it for granted.

*Jury Duty - Back on 4/18 I was selected for jury duty. I had a mixed reaction to the whole thing. One part of me was thrilled because I'd never gone through the process before and I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about.

I know, I know. I'm nuts like that. But it's the truth. It's a huge part of our society, and the idea of 'innocent until proven guilty' via a trial of your peers. Well, that just means something to me, as I think that it should to all Americans.

The other part of me - the one that DIDN'T want to take part was frustrated mostly by the timing of things. We would be heading into the trial right as the show was opening. That made me useless to the gang when it came to the show and meant we would have to find a backup.

Anyway - I was selected for the jury, and they said we were going to trial. It would start the following Monday (4/23) but when I called on Sunday night as instructed for the final "are you absolutely sure we're going to trial - no ifs, ands, or buts..." check, I was informed that we need not report. I'm assuming that meant the case was settled.

So Poop... but Yay!

*The Tardis - A friend of mine has a father with an impressive set of skills in the maker department. He built a large Tardis and she wanted to put it in her yard as a decoration. I volunteered to help with the prep work to make space for the Tardis and the drop off. The prep work proved to be a bit of an eye opener.

It had been a very long time indeed since I've done any kind of seriously physical work. I helped my friend by ripping out some shrubbery (insert Monty Python jokes here), removing/replacing some chain link fence, and tilling some soil. Good, sweaty, labor work.

Best day I'd had in... a long damn time.

I really made me realise just how much I'd missed making/building something with my hands. I took careful note, and this was part of what pointed me to BBAJ. Now that the show has ended, I'm looking around and trying to figure out how I'm going to get my 'physical fix'.

*Arden Soirée Part II - While I wasn't able to attend personally, the second Arden Soirée went extremely well. Tickets sold were just under the sold old level, and I'm hearing good things. It's impressive to see how much more 'simplified' the process of preparing for this one was, but I'm fearful that I may be looking through rose collored glasses because of my reduced pressence for this one.

* Grandma - I put this one down here because I really do not want to talk about it, and I'm not looking for sympathy responses.

Here's the short version: My father's mother - an absolutely amazing woman - passed away on April 24th. I will simply say this: If I can live a life even half as full as she had by the time I'm ninety and one half years old? I will consider my life to have been one well lived. You will never find someone who was more honest, hard working, and generous. They just do not exist.

mrlich: (fantasy artist)

Road tripping with my parents and Grandma to see more of the family and celebrate a first birthday.

 

Fall foliage is beautiful, the sun was in the sky, and Mother Nature seemed to be unabashedly strutting her stuff in the breeze.

 

Good day.

mrlich: Photo with great thanks to Joe del Tufo - http://www.deltufophotography.com (Default)


Some brief plans for the week in case any of you care to join me:

Monday:
-Be there at 1100 when they come to pick up my old pick up. Make sure that the tow truck driver stays very far away from my motorcycle. If not? Break him - many times.
-Draw.
-Work on the new and improved Dragonbones.net. Shhhhh - it's a surprise.

Tuesday:
-Open Figure Drawing from Life at DCAD.

And the rest? Well, I haven't quite figured the rest out yet. I'll let you know when I do.
mrlich: Photo with great thanks to Joe del Tufo - http://www.deltufophotography.com (Default)
Wow. What an awesome weekend.

For any of you who managed to not catch [personal profile] xtingu 's weekend summary post...

Friday September 7th, 2007:
I worked a little late. Ok - maybe not worked so much. A co-worker sold me a motherboard and cpu to update my sorely antiquated home PC. It took a little work, some prayers in long dead languages and a couple of virgin sacrifices, but we got it working. The power supply, in fact, wasn't the right pin out, but my handy pocket knife explained the situation to the cabling, and now it sees the error of its ways. Now I'm able to do things like play music AND browse the web at the same time. What a concept.

After that, I swung by my place, dropped the pc off, got packed up for the weekend and headed over to see [personal profile] xtingu for a nice relaxing evening of 'chill with my girlfriend' - which is not a euphemism - it's just really good.

Saturday September 8th, 2007:
We headed up to my folks' place to celebrate my brother and my birthdays. Our middle brother and his lovely wife came down to join in the festivities. Brunch at Pickles (more on that later) and then we lost Josh, Ben, and Trina to other plans. My folks, [personal profile] xtingu , and myself headed back to the house to drop off crap and consolidate vehicles, then it was off to the Allentown Art Museum to see the Looney Tunes Exhibit.

After a delightful time at the museum (which included sitting and watching cartoons with my Mom and Pop in the 'kids section' and getting bemused looks from security guards) we headed to lunch and to do a little shopping. I needed to update a couple things in my wardrobe pretty badly and I annoyed Llij and my Mom with my efficiency in that department. To illustrate:

Step 1: Walk into the shoe store.
Step 2: Grab the first pair of shoes that I like after a quick glance.
Step 3: Try on one other size in the same 'model' shoe.
Step 4: Pay for shoes.
Step 5: There is no Step 5. Nor is there any spoon.

I did much the same thing with some other clothes, a new tie, and so forth. Since I was going to a wedding reception with [personal profile] xtingu and I both seem to really just enjoy the hell out of  'farting around' with my folks, and this was some good time with them that we don't get nearly often enough. My brothers and their significant others were sorely missed, but Ben and Trina were at a good friend's wedding and Josh doesn't get to see enough of Angie these days, so he was visiting her, so I guess we can forgive them.

Later, [personal profile] xtingu and I caught up with [profile] kar0na at The Starlite Diner (which - as a side note - is INcorrectly located on Google Maps) for some munchies. We called it a fairly early night because my Rock Star Girlfriend had a date with a recording studio on Sunday. I won't point out that I'm getting to be an old man and really like to get to sleep at a decent hour myself or anything.

Sunday September 9th, 2007:
We got up and spent a little time just nibbling muffins, drinking freshly brewed coffee, and chillin with the fam. Again - good times. The folks even brought out the photo album of my < one year old baby butt. [Insert 'Awwws' here.]

After Llij took off for her studio time, I got ready for the reception with [profile] kar0na and then headed out. We got some good hang time with good peeps at the party (which was at the Sheraton Jetport). First a couple drinks at the bar with munchies - then to the banquet hall where people with much more nimble feet than my own danced after we ate a delightful meal. And had a couple more drinks. (Don't worry kids - Yours Truly was exceedingly well behaved since I knew that I had a lot of driving ahead of me.) [profile] kar0na looked lovely, I got to meet some new folks as well as see old familiar faces, and I even got to snap a couple pics/vids. All in all? I had a pretty damn fine time.

Headed down to Delaware and more or less collapsed - only to get up entirely too soon for work since I'm 'the early guy' this week.

Ugh. Can't we go back to the weekend?
mrlich: Photo with great thanks to Joe del Tufo - http://www.deltufophotography.com (cloak_and_dagger)
In something that alarmingly seems like productivity, I finished another strip for 1100. By all means - check it out and let me know what you think!
mrlich: (mirror)

Friday Night - Company Party
Got to the party kinda late since I got back to town late from work. There's irony in there somewhere, I think. Got to see [personal profile] xtingu looking absolutely stunning. I get to see this more often than you poor mooks, but this was exceptional - even for her. Best part? I got to walk into the place with her on my arm and thumb my nose at all the other doods in the place. I soooo win at girlfriend.

Saturday - Got up at an ung-dly hour (6:45am) and led my coworker Larry to the Lehigh Valley to meet up with my brothers and some friends of theirs. Once the gang was all together, we made our way to Skirmish for a fun filled day of paintballing adventures. I had a complete blast and now I'm paying for it. My adventures at the base of the castle towers left me with a slightly wounded pride and welts on the very top of my skull, but it was totally worth the adrenaline rush.

After returning from paintball and bidding adieu to my coworker, I had a great sit-down meal that's about as manly as my day had been - meatloaf and potatoes with green beans. I know that [personal profile] jeremym would have gone ga-ga. After dinner, Mom (as always) spoiled us with an award worthy apple crumb bake a la mode.

Post chill-time with the family, I headed to [profile] metikulos and [profile] kar0na's for some festivities making. Got to see a lot of dear old friends that I don't get to see nearly enough. Stayed late and headed home surprisingly sober (what can I say? they bring out the hellion in me). They always do such a great job of making me feel at home (and the food's never shabby - which just does not hurt one little bit).

Sunday - Today I woke up (relatively) late (9:30) and headed to a great brunch at Perkins with my family. Still seems funny sometimes going with my family to the Perkins that I used to wait tables at so many moons ago. After breakfast, I headed back to the house, loaded up my stuff, talked with Josh about some X-Massy stuff, and headed home here to good ol' Smellaware.

As I arrived in town, [personal profile] xtingu found herself craving sustinance, so I joined her in a lunch at our beloved Golden Monkey. What can I say? I'm an eating machine. After lunch, I hit B&N for some more X-Mas presents and stuff, came home and got productive, and then headed to xtingu's place to lend a hand with some minor crapola, then back here to finish this post/my todo list.

Oh, and I got some laundry done.

Damn it feels good to get shit done.

Edit (again): Almost forgot - when xtingu and I were leaving the Monkey, we ran into a waitress there who wants a tattoo designed by Yours Truly. She and I made arrangements/discussed the design, and work has begun. Before long, I should have another tattoo cred. to show you all!
mrlich: Photo with great thanks to Joe del Tufo - http://www.deltufophotography.com (Default)
You know something? I've always found it funny how deeply movies seem to affect me. Tonight, on the long ride home from Va., Jimmy let me watch movies on his laptop. Two, in fact. It had been a very long time (for me anyway) since I had just sat down and watch a movie. Or two.

The two in question for the evening? Well, the first, I had actually already seen, but knew to be fun - Hitch starring Will Smith and the ever stunning Eva Mendes. Corny? Yes. Hoaky even? Absolutely. But I enjoyed it immensely.

The second? Equally cheesy, and at least as 'bad' - but these are the things I love - Click starring Adam Sandler. It's basically a re-telling of It's a Wonderful Life, if you ask me, but it really kinda did move me. It caused me to start thinking about the changes that I've seen in myself since I moved to De. and to the direction of my life. Not in the catastrophic sense that the movie portends, but rather in a 'watch the pendulum doesn't swing too far there Capt. Extremist' way.

Yes, I realize that I wasn't really in any danger of becoming a 'workaholic' or anything like that. Perhaps it would be better to say that it was what I needed to re-focus on the plus side of my life and re-notice all the amazing gifts that I have been given. Every day.

If you are reading this? I want to thank you for being a part of that.

/end Cornball
mrlich: Photo with great thanks to Joe del Tufo - http://www.deltufophotography.com (Default)
Just 'finished' getting ready for California. One of these days I'll learn to get ready in advance. Flight's at 6:30 Tomorrow:)
mrlich: Photo with great thanks to Joe del Tufo - http://www.deltufophotography.com (Default)
Heya kids.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I think that I am going to revert to a predominantly public journal again. For a long time I was doing almost exclusively private posts with the exclusion of art dumps and stuff that I specifically wanted out in the ether.

Why go back you ask? Well... today I was looking through old posts. As in - the first few posts I ever made in this journal. I really enjoyed the sense of just cracking open my ribcage and showing the world my guts. I stopped when I decided to embed this journal into the front page of my site in order to utilize it for 'news and updates'. I wanted to keep the length of that page to a minimum to keep it within the size constraints of an 800x600 viewable screen. I still wish to keep within the 800 parameter, but the 600 just seems a bit inefficient, so we're going back to not worrying about it.

Yes, I realize that I was posting pretty much exclusively for the every lovely [livejournal.com profile] kar0na and her most excellent husband [livejournal.com profile] metikulos at the time, but it's the concept that matters here. The concept that it was given freely and there for anyone to read if they chose to.

I will, of course, occasionally write a 'friends only' or 'private' post - but for the foreseeable future, it's back to being public for Yours Truly. If you would like to see what you've been missing and you have a livejournal account, feel free to friend me and let me know and I'll likely (though don't be offended if I decline) friend you back so that you can read the backdated stuff. (I won't be switching the friends only posts to public.)

Will the world really want to hear all of the rambling gunk that my friends have been subjected to as of late?

Probably not, but here it comes anyway. ;)
mrlich: Photo with great thanks to Joe del Tufo - http://www.deltufophotography.com (Default)
In attendance tonight:

Mark, Katie, Krishna, Margaret, Ian, Elizabeth, Wes, Doug, and myself.

On the way:

Jeanine and Jill.

Life is good. I love these people. I love the way that they make me feel. This is the family that I have chosen for myself, and I have to say that I am more than a little proud of my selection.

More later.

August 2021

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