I received an email from my college roomate.  It has been 28 years since we graduated from college, and we still try to stay in touch.  He was a religion and history major in school with an avid interest in music, theater and comic books.  I was a Math/Computer major with an interest in girls and role playing games.   How the two of us ever got along is a mystery to me.  I was on stage once and vowed never to do it again.

Today, I’m a computer nerd (yes, I get paid for that), father and theater geek.  He is a minister in Chicago and hasn’t been on stage since College.   I’ve been in many shows since 1997, and I’m involved in another as I write this.  The email from my roommate today was a surprise for me.  He tried out for a local Chicago production of Cinderella.    He got the role of the King.  He always had a wonderful singing voice and good acting skills.   I may just have to make the trip to Chicago to watch it.

Anyone up for a roadtrip?

What was that game?  The one I liked?  I remember what it was about, sort of.  No that wasn’t the game, but it was like that one.  I think this is it, but I don’t remember that rule.   

Ok, has that happened to you?  No?  I guess you don’t play any of the large variety of trivia/knowledge games available.  I’ve noticed that there are so many of these types of games, it is very possible to confuse which one you played last month, or even last week.

I bring this up because  my friends and I play a large number of games.   A good percentage of those games are the trivia/knowledge games.  There are some that are very fun, and other not as much.  Some even have a few of the same questions as other games, but the rules make a difference.    I think what makes the game fun is when giving the wrong answer is as much fun as getting the right answer.  

But then again the fun of games is that we get to enjoy time with others.  Ways to relax, have fun and enjoy the company of others is very important for our mental well being.  This week I have two opportunities to share time with family and friends.  I’m looking forward to it.

jamaihsh, I found some guacamole pringles….

Tuesday night is date night – where Lisa and I go out together.  This week’s night started a bit early with a trip to the medical center where I found out that my nasty Oscar-Night fall left me with no broken bone…   But with a bleeding kidney.  I will get an ultrasound on Thursday and hopefully all will be fine.

But something else happened tonight at our local dollar store.  There was a song playing, I now cannot remember what it was (maybe Lisa will in a comment)…  The “groove” got to me and as I rounded the corner of an isle I said to Lisa “Hey Lisa, look at this!” and I proceeded to do a silly dance.  When I turned around, there was Lisa — staring at me.  But it was not my Lisa.  It was another Lisa.  Yes, stranger than fiction there was an unknown lady behind me with a name tag around her neck that read “Lisa”.  She looked in stunned silence as apparently some strange man just told her to watch him do a little dance.

I quickly made a b-line for my Lisa and she began to wonder why I was in such a hurry to leave the store.  Boy, was that embarassing.

Somewhere on the web there is probably a blog post, by Lisa, about a strange event where some freaky lookin dude told her to “look at this” and then did a little dance for her.  So, (other) Lisa, if you are reading this — now you know.  You got an insider’s look at the kind of stupid nonsense my Lisa has to put up with daily!  Ohhh.  Poor Lisa.

In lieu of a new Office episode tonight (another rerun, GROAN!), I’ll supply the following youtube.com Office video, “Ryan Started the Fire” for you to watch.  I read about it in a suburban Chicago newspaper who featured the story because the video was made by some local high school students.  It’s well-written, nicely sung (good Billy Joel impression), and very well edited.  The video was featured on Jenna Fisher’s blog (the actress who plays Pam Beesley), and I can see why even a celebrity such as herself took notice – it’s a great tribute to my favorite show!  Before you enjoy it, however, I should warn you that it contains events that took place in the series in the current season, so SPOILER ALERT!  If you don’t want to know the current happenings in The Office, I guess you’ll have to wait to see this video!  Otherwise, ENJOY!

…but also not that motivated right now to post.  It’s probably my sleep cycle right now that wakes me in the middle of the night and keeps me up for the next hour before I can fall back asleep.  Hopefully tonight I will sleep longer.

Tonight a message on Worthy led me to a discovery of a few things.  First off, remember Weird Al?  Well, there is now a Christian band called Apologetix that parodys popular songs, replacing the lyrics with more Godly lyrics.  As I write this, I am listening to Enter Samson, a parody of Metallica’s Enter Sandman.  They have parodies of  songs from artists ranging from Elvis Presley to Eminem.  Apparently they have releases dating back to 1994.  I am of two minds about this.  One one side, I am happy to hear Biblical lyrics to popular songs instead of the sometimes not-so-family-friendly originals, but on the other hand it’s just not the same as true worship music.  When listening to these songs, who doesn’t think of the original if known?  So even while listening to the new lyrics for Enter Samson, I am still thinking “Exit light… Enter night…” which is diametrically opposed to Christianity which would turn those phrases around.  With Weird Al, there is no problem since his songs aren’t any more Christian than the originals- just a lot funnier (speaking of which, have you ever heard Bob?  The lyrics are all palindromes!).  😀

Going to the video in the message’s link led me to another discovery when I decided I wanted to post the video here for you.  After noting this was on tangle.com, I wanted to find it on Godtube.  So I typed “godtube” in the url bar and ctrl-clicked to add the www prefix and com suffix.  Tangle.com loads.  Wait- what?  Did I type that right?  I am tired after all.   Tried again, same thing.  Well, apparently Godtube rebranded itself as Tangle.  So I figured the embedded code might still work on this blog, which led me to discovery #3- the tags C added, Godtube and Teachertube are no longer there.  They must have been lost in the last upgrade.  Well C, when you notice this post, please add them again.  Except of course, change the Godtube tag to Tangle.  The current embed code looks like this (example video):

<embed src=”https://www.tangle.com/flash/swf/flvplayer.swf” FlashVars=”viewkey=981d5415aa832f57770a” wmode=”transparent” quality=”high” width=”330″ height=”270″ name=”tangle” align=”middle” allowScriptAccess=”always” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” pluginspage=”https://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer” /></embed>

Let me see if I can dig any of these up on Youtube since that is one of the default tags and hence is still there.  Ah, here we go:

Baa!  We’re Lambs

Devil Went Down to Jordan

Enter Samson

And for C, Found God! 😛

There usually is a point during show rehearsals when the cast and directors know they have a show. Sometimes that point doesn’t come until the last dress rehearsal, and there are times it never comes. The show I’m in now had that point twice. Because of our extensive scene changes (they are getting better, and we got more help), we split the show into two nights to work on both acts. Both acts came together this week.

On Sunday, I wasn’t sure if the show was going to be there. There was a problem or two that just had things feeling wrong. The hows and the whys are unimportant, but that was a bad feeling for the show. I’m glad things came together this week. Since our show starts in a little over a week, it is nice to feel good about the whole thing.

I’m actually looking forward to our double tech Sunday. For those not in the know, it is the day we work out most of the last kinks. Technical kinks, wardrobe kinks, and even the acting kinks. We run through the complete show twice. It makes for a very long day, but when the show is going well, it goes by quickly.

First audience will be Wednesday (some school kids I think), and Opening next week Friday. All signs are pointing to an enjoyable show. I hope some of my readers can make it to a show. Check the side bars for the link to the playhouse.

Shortly after this blog post is published, the countdown timer on my site will change – but that’s a great thing.  It used to count down until the Chicago Cubs‘ first game of 2009 Spring Training, but since that game is TODAY (!) that countdown timer will soon be edited to count down until the first real SEASON Cubs game of 2009 – YIPPEE!  So here’s to hoping the Cubs win today (and every day!), even though it’s just spring training!

Now I have to go see if I can find the first game of spring training on a tv channel in the rural expanse of Northwest Ohio!  GO CUBBIES!!!

I dunno… the past day or two I have just had this burst of creativity or energy or excitement as the days count down. Tonight, we actually went through the entire show start to finish for the first time without stopping only for notes between the acts. All in all, it went pretty well. We started at 7 and got done around 9.30. To me in my vast experience, two and a half hours for the first full run through is very good. The director was impressed. The last time we did ACT I alone, it ran an hour and a half. Tonight, it went an hour and ten minutes. Another run through awaits Thursday night with the dreaded tech rehearsal Sunday and then the adrenaline-filled, excitement of dress rehearsals and finally the THREE performance run wlll soon be upon us!!!

Grandpa’s notes were decent. My energy for the opening title song were great. Full of energy, perfect characterization. A round of applause from the cast. I’m not sure how many shows this makes me on my resume. I will check that out in just a second. Only my twelfth since 2002 and my first since last summer… MUCH TOO LONG A BREAK FROM THE STAGE!!!

Not to sound (not sure what the word is but really negative), but I really hope that some of my best friends will be able to come and Meet Me in St. Louis but I know that if C is doing well every effort will be made. Hope you get well soon, pal.   And once again, to J and the rest of the cast of Lion in Winter… Break a Leg!

I received an email forward full of “Creative Puns for Educated Minds”.  Some of them are really cute, so I decided to publish them here on the blog.  While reading these, you will groan at least once, but if you don’t smile or even laugh out loud, you might be a little bit crabby and should probably take a nap instead of reading the rest of the 22 puns below.

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.
7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’
14. I  wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’
16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.  When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’
17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
18. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
19. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
20. A backward poet writes inverse.
21. In democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.
22. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

Although there is just as much excitement and hard work involved in producing a non-musical, there is simply nothing like the thrill I personally get when involved with a BIG musical. Not only is there lines to memorize, character to establish, blocking to perfect, and everything else involved there is the added excitement of song (ok… and dance… there I SAID IT… I don’t have to like it, but have to ACT like I like it). The cast of Meet Me in St. Louis is composed of stage veterans but also a lot of stage newcomers even in the major roles. The young man playing John Truitt (the male lead) has never before stepped on stage. The head of the Smith family also has had no previous stage experience. Perhaps one of the youngest actresses (age 12) has SOME of the most experience behind her. “Agnes” has had roles in The Music Man, Aladdin, Schoolhouse Rock, Jr., and Hicksville, the Musical. The gentleman playing Lon stated that his favorite role has been as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors (hmm….) plus he has directed M*A*S*H and Murder by Poe (sounds interesting… right up j’s alley).

Tonight, before rehearsal began, we were shown a copy of The East Allen Courier (a small-town publication of Northeast Indiana) with the first press release from the show. Here is what my portion included:

JS(Grandpa Prophater) has done a lot of shows with the Williams County Community Theatre, but this is his first production with the Village Players. He majored in theatre at BGSU. His favorite roles have been Rooster in Annie and Morat Notborat Nichkor (honestly, I wrote the name out for her when I was interviewed and she still didn’t get it correct) in Idol Night at the Karaoke Place. He is enjoying playing a character much older than himself and looks forward to the makeup that will surely be used to age him. He will be heard singing in the title song (and its many reprises), “Whenever I’m with You,” and “A Day in New York.”

Actually, with a cast full of newcomers as well as many stage veterans, we have come a long way since the middle of January.  I’m sure that within the next week and a half we will have a fabulous musical in a gorgeous theatre.  But after coming to see this production, be sure to check out WCCT’s production of Lion in Winter.