Happy Mama's Day!

I'd like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my lovely wife, Lisa, and my lovely mom, Marsha, and to all the other mothers on this very special day.

Last night Lisa, Collin and myself spent some time at the Spirit of Mission Days' carnival before heading to the Salsa Grill and Mission Bowl for our friend Marla's birthday.  This was Collin's first carnival. Both Lisa and I have fond memories of little carnivals like this one. The fact that it rained off and on just kinda seemed right for the occasion.  We all rode several different rides. Collin and Lisa started things off with the flying elephants, before Collin dared something bigger.  He and I went on the scramble despite my sensitivity towards motion sickness.  After a minute of Collin screaming "Too fast, TOO FAST!", he relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the ride.  The carney let us go around a second time for free with out even asking or noticing the paleness of my face.  Lisa took her turn on the scrambler with Collin after he rode a couple more of the smaller rides.  I could tell by her face that even she did not expect the speed at which those turns were going.  

The night was very special.  We won some prizes, ate some funnel cake, and most importantly, Lisa got to ride the ferris wheel with very very special little boy.

This morning the three of us went to breakfast at Mama's on 39th street.  This was only Lisa's second time there.  We used to go all the time when it was Nichols Lunch.  Anyway, this place is great.  It's even been featured of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. They've got over 60 omelets on their menu.  I thought I was just going to be getting the standard biscuits & gravy, thinking that there wasn't going to be a single omelet to catch my attention.  I was wrong.  Number 42.  That number will forever be sacred to me as the country fried steak, onions, and gravy omelet.  It was so tasty that I wasn't able to save any gravy for my biscuit on the side.  Lisa got a crab and broccoli scrambler which was tasty as well.  Collin got the chocolate chip pancakes.  Yummy!

To finish off the night, when Lisa gets back from going nursery shopping (the garden kind!) with her mommy, the three of us will head to Union Station to check out an IMAX film about oceans.  But first, I must go search for my stash of dramamine.

"Phone's ringing, Dude."

"We want the money, Lebowski!"

Yeah, That's the Ticket.

I was pulled over this morning for expired tags. They expired at the end of March and I have been taking baby steps towards renewing them. The reason: Everything that goes into registering your car in Missouri. I need to get it inspected, but before I could do that I needed to get my tail light fixed. The tail light is now taken care of, but between Lisa's work, Collin's school and only having one car, it's hard to find time to get it all done in one day. Plus, I don't even know where to go to register. My guess is somewhere downtown, but someone else told me that I should do it in Grandview. Anyway, so like I said, I've been taking baby steps. Thanks to the ticket, I will now be taking grown-up steps in order to reduce the fine.

I have gone a year without renewing my tags once. A full year. I had always known that at some point I was going to have to renew them, but once you hit that three month mark you start asking yourself, "I wonder how much longer I can go?" It ended up being a little over a year. I was actually pulled over twice in the same day. Once on my way to work and once on my way home from work. I should my first ticket to the second cop to prove that I had already been stopped that day. He didn't care. He said something like, "You've gone this long with expired tags that I seriously doubt you intend on taking care of this any time soon." So I smiled, took the second ticket, and got everything straightened out a couple of weeks later.

Oddly enough, It felt good to finally get stopped. I had felt like I had beaten the system for so long. A part of me wanted to say, "It's about time" to the police officer that pulled me over the first time. But I didn't, I may not have been in right state of mind.

Anywho, I think we're going to get the car taken car of next week. The inspection, the registration, the works. If we wait until after May 9th, then President Bush will pay for it all. That will feel good. I think we'll do that.

It's Fun To Stay At The...

So, Lisa and I joined the local Y.  We've gone three weeks in a row now and it is a lot of fun.  There is a television built in to every single piece of workout equipment.  If there is one thing I've learned about exercising, it's that it is a lot easier when your mind isn't focused on it.  I actually spent twenty minutes on the bike just by watching the scores run across the bottom of ESPN. Fantastic!!!

My personal goal, to make it off the basketball court without my face looking like a tomato.  I haven't hit the court yet, but it's calling my name.  I am going to give myself at least one more month of treadmills, exercise bikes, free weights, and stomach crunches before I impress the locals with my sky hook.

Look out!!!

What Makes A Good Troupe?

Okay, this is my second installment of the Kansas City improviser's monthly blogging experiment.  The topic is the title:  "What makes a good troupe?" Having voted on this blog subject, now I wish I hadn't. There are so many aspects of what makes a good troupe that it would kill my fingers to sit here and type them all out.  Not to mention my brain, it would explode.  Literally. Boom. 

I'll try anyway.

I think a good troupe is a collaboration of people who are all comfortable with themselves as performers.  By being comfortable, I mean hitting the stage with no worries of your own performance as well as no worries of the others you are sharing the stage with.  Even though this doesn't in anyway factor into shows being bad or good, it can factor into a group dynamic.  

In Mick Napier's Improvise he talks a lot about taking care of yourself first in a scene.  Doing this will allow yourself to react and respond naturally to whatever comes your way.  It's as simple as telling yourself, "I'm going to be angry in this next scene no matter what" and then just doing it.  The more you take this approach, the more comfortable you will start feeling in scenes, and more importantly, on stage.  Get a whole group of people that attack the stage with such ease, and you've got the makings of a good troupe.

Being comfortable does not only fall into the verbal performance category. How many shows have you scene where one or two people are the only ones setting up games?  Or editing scenes?  Or even starting scenes?   You'd be surprised if you didn't think the audience doesn't pick up on this sort of thing. They see it better than you do. They actually respond more to the ones that are jumping out there. It oozes confidence, and the audience will eat that shit up. If someone generally sits in the backup line and waits for others to start scenes before they join, the audience notices that as well.  So, when everyone in a troupe equally contributes to all aspects of the performance, the dynamic will grow.

Okay, one more thing.  Back when I performed with Lighten Up/Funny Outfit we had two separate troupes:  A young one and an old one.  Even though both groups rehearsed together, they did not perform together.  Why?  A lot of the oldies were thrown off by a lot of the youngins during scenes.  Or the youngins were too weird and the oldies were too wordy.  I performed with both groups so I heard it from both ends.  This problem eventually lead the to troupe's death. People were only comfortable with performing with certain types, their own. They steered away from the challenge of performing with someone not like them.  The greatest thing about improv is that it should allow you the ability to perform with anyone at anytime, no matter their age, gender, or even experience.  

In summary, I guess, when a troupe as a whole is individually comfortable with themselves, comfortable with the performers surrounding them, and comfortable with every aspect that goes into a show, then that the makings of  a good troupe.

Playtime.

Oak Park Mall has a new indoor play area for kids.  It's pretty fancy.  I think it is sponsored by some automotive dealership or something because there are a lot of cars to climb on.  Anyway, Collin enjoys it so we go there from time to time.

The other day Collin and I went after school.  He was to play for twenty minutes then we would go to the food court for lunch.  While we were there I noticed this foreign guy with his two boys, probably ages three and six, who seemed as if the last thing he wanted to be doing was hanging out in this play area.  And the kids seemed like holy terrors.  Needless to say, I kept my eye on them.  The three year old was making a habit of hitting every kid that came near the slide. This little brat hit Collin in the back once, but Collin didn't let it bother him and moved on.  But this kid kept on hitting.  A few times the dad would notice his son doing this and go scold him for a second, then get back to sitting and looking miserable.  Now, I'm not going to tell anyone how to discipline their child, but if Collin ever acted this way I would have him outta that mall in a heartbeat.  Not this dad. We made eye contact after one of his "lessons in friendliness" and gave me a look that signified, "Kids, what can you do?"

The hitting continued to happened throughout our time there.  I was surprised that the other parents there weren't noticing this.  Sure, I didn't do anything when it happened to my boy, but he moved on. Other kids kept going back as if to stand their ground.  Only one parent, after witnessing their child get knocked in the head, did something.  She tried to make her little girl go and tell the boy not to hit her.  I could almost see the three year old boy's fist clinch as she approached him.  That was enough for me to see, so Collin and I left to go eat.

The whole time I sat there and watched this father literally do nothing while his turd of a monster child marked his territory near the slide, I did all I could to not go over and say something to him. Even if I would have gone over to him, who am I to tell another person how to be a parent?  I should have just gone with my gut instinct, which was to tell Collin to go punch that three year old in the face.

Thank You For The National Title!

KU's Rush, Arthur headed to NBA

I don't know anyone who didn't see this coming.  But good for them. They both won a championship, now they are ready for bigger and better things.

On a side note, Mario "Greatest Shot In The History of Kansas Basketball History" Chalmers was not present at the press conference.