I am currently in the process of maybe getting hired in 5 places.

All I had to do was lower my standards! Yay!

I guess having too many to choose from is better than not having any at all. I don't think it'll be a tough decision which one (or two) I choose, but it's always awkward doing something like that.

I do know, however, that Safeway's going to be one of the ones I don't keep. Fuck Safeway, that's all I have to say about that.

Astoria to Portland

We left Astoria in high spirits. The evening was great, and the town was cute. On our way to Portland, we stopped at Fort Clatsop, the turminus of Lewis and Clark's trip. It was BEAUTIFUL, and a cool recreation of the fort.

The fort. Sort of a hippie shot, but it happens.

Here's where they landed. Gorgeous. No wonder they stopped.

The trip, for the most part, was uneventful and beautiful. Pacific Northwest is gorgeous, as a rule, I think.

Our Portland plan was to head to Uncle Mike's house, and rock out the whole mooching off family thing, and since his son, Monica's cousin, Zach, was having his birthday during our stay, we stopped at a foodie place to get a gift certificate. It was a cool place, but I learned my first lesson of foodie culture: you have to wait a long time while the snarky clerk talks on the phone.

Anywho, we made it to Mike's, were made right at home.

Here's one of our hosts:

Coos Bay To Astoria

It was bittersweet, leaving Coos Bay. It's a nice place, albeit a little sleepy for my tastes. After seeing Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original) at an awesome classic theatre in the town, there wasn't much else to do, aside from sit around and eat, which, honestly, is a really cool thing... that gets repetitive after a while. So off we went!

The next two days were basically a Goonies pilgrimage. We went to haystack rock, (way in the distance)

And the Bowling Alley from the movie:

And the jail where the Fratelli's escaped:


It was pretty awesome, and I actually watched the movie that evening, so I knew what we were talking about.

Also, on the drive, we went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. THAT. WAS. GREAT.

After Ashland we headed West, to Coos Bay, OR. (Check out Grilla Bites if you ever are in Ashland, organic and healthy, not too expensive.) It's actually a really quaint place, and we have some very good friends there, so the road trip took a nice early 3 day break of just relaxing and watching youtube with people our age. We also ate at a Thai restaurant and I got to play some FPS that I thought I never would with a pretty reasonable coplayer. He didn't kill me. How nice of him!

The Oregon coast is amazingly beautiful. Reuben took us to see some hidden bays and coves where he used to kayak with his dad. It was magical, wonderful, perfectly clear. There were a lack of dogs (which was nice) and the water was surprisingly warm (which is even nicer). It was a good little fun stay at home thing. Staycation almost, except we drove bunches of miles to get there. I miss it.

Life lately has been lots of ups and downs. I think that's what comes with unemployment. If I was employed, I wouldn't have had such a wonderful summer, but I'd have money. Anyway. Not being in a show has been nice, even after dropping out of Pirates. Yep, dropping out of a show made me feel good. What does that say about me? What does that say about my art? That I want to drop it? It's just so hard. I don't know what to say about that, but I think this really comes from the area I'm in. More and more I feel I'm wasting my time (and my youth) in a horrible area for art. It's an old area, one that sucks your soul. Then you spiral down and think that you're a bad actor. You know, it all just goes downhill. Boo!

I've been on a road trip for the past 16 days. Right now I'm in Missoula, Montana at the Windam (?) hotel. They have waterslides, which I really want to go, but my body says a nap might be a little better. We started in Marin, and left to go to Ashland to the Shakespeare festival. The car we rented is a white beast of a thing. It's pretty magical in bad weather and on bad roads. I now know why people buy those big ass stupid cars. Not that I will ever, but hell, I can be a hypocrite for a month.

Anyway. Ashland was lovely, and the drive up was beautiful. Even though it's in Oregon, it felt more like Northern California, especially places like Carmel. Rich, elite. It was a little different because it was a university town; there were some pretty cool book and game stores in the shittier neighborhoods of town, but downtown near the Shakespeare festival was very much for the rich and the tourists. And "Throne of Blood" was pretty bad, but that seems to be the consensus that comes from everyone when one goes to Ashland to see the shows. Pity. We also saw "The Social Network" at a movie theatre there. Good. Not great, but it made me want to join Diaspora when it comes out.

We camped in Ashland for two nights. It was fun, but there was a Creepo two sites over that looked like he slept in his very dirty car. I'm glad we weren't killed. Mostly because we were able to enjoy the campsite better. Camping's fun, if dirty.

There's a lot in between Ashland and Missoula. 14 days, in fact, but I'm feeling a little homesick, so that'll be saved for later.

Buddha.

Lunch today.

My Summer

My days have been filled with a shit ton of rehearsal for this summer repertory theatre that I'm doing in Santa Rosa. It's incredibly fun to be doing nothing but theatre for the summer, and there's a part of me that wishes I was doing more than one show with them. But then my rational mind remembers that it's not that much money, and I'm not housed full time up there like everyone else, and my part time housing roommate is kind of a flake. So that's fun.

For the most part, it's amazingly fun! Yesterday we learned Michael Jordan's Ball for 3 hours, and while that is a little much for one rehearsal, it was a terrific workout, and I'm sore as hell today. If only something like that could happen every day, I wish I could dance every day and not have to pay for it, that's really the thing, isn't it?

The rest of the process has been great, except for the director and I have a conflict on You Rule My World. I'm right, and that's not just me gloating; I know the song and have been studying it for about 6 years as an audition song. I did eventually convince him partially, but he has an idea, and since I called him on it, he backpedaled and realized I was right, but with his idea wrapped in there, saying that both can work.

I knew it would be like that, I knew that he would take my idea and make it his own. He's not a bad director, but he is definitely the type to rely on the talent of the actors and then take all the credit. Fine with me really, as long as I get to make my art and it's nourished rather than hindered by the director. That and he kind of talked to me like I was an idiot. He did backpedal on that today as well, when I talked to him, he said I was a very talented actor. So that was pleasant.

In any case, I'm just going to do my thing and see what happens. It might just end up being exactly what he had in mind. Wouldn't that be fun?

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Also, I'm currently signing up for Tai Chi classes. We'll see if I like them. I kinda hope that I do. And I also hope it's not full of old hippies. That's my biggest worry, I think. And my goal for after the show is to start eating better and working out. Dammit.

And I'm making a lot of new friends at SRT. So that's neat.