Filming Documentary, and off to Chicago on Scholarship

Latest news is that I got a scholarship to go to the Second City intensive training in Chicago. It's been about 21 years since I've been in Chicago, and am looking forward to my return. Second City is famous for the lineup of comedic stars that it has produced: John Belushi, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Tina Fey, Mike Meyers, Rachael Dresch, I could go on and on. And now me. I am attending for improv instruction and comedy writing. getting a scholarship was just icing on the cake. (also now I'll have money to eat and stuff - a bonus)

Our production company is also coming back to town to film us and produce a documentary which will be coming to the small screen in your living room. It's going to be a tool to spark interest in our reality show, which is still being shopped around the networks.

In other news, I am completing the 'how to start and run a paranormal investigation group' book. It started out as the handbook for Pennsylvania Paranormal, but is morphing into this other thing, which will be for sale within the month, hopefully.

I also just got back from a Navy Convention in Norfolk VA, part of my 'regular' job. Some of it was boring, but other things were of interest. Navy Crane Center put it on, and it was mostly about safety and crane application and construction. I've been running and teaching cranes for about 30 years now. God, that's a long time.

About all for now. Youngest daughter graduates in a few weeks, youngest son just turned 16 and is looking to get his driver's permit. Yikes.

Improv Weekend

it was a pretty cool weekend albeit extremely busy and lots of driving. Started out off from work friday because of the 'good friday' thing. That morning I was working on the pool. grr. I drove to Hellerstown to get a good deal on a used pump, saved about 200 bucks doing that. Then got home and installed it. Works.

Friday night we went to Philly to see the NCrowd. Good show. It gave us a few ideas for our shows. The next few rehearsals/practices will involve games from there. If we like, and do well, they could appear in new shows.

Saturday we again drove to Philly to see Comedy Sportz. Interesting concept of two teams competing in a friendly fashion to see who can get more laughs and be more creative. Also recommended. Same deal, sharing ideas and incorporating them soon into our presentations.

Then sunday down to Baltimore for Easter/family stuff. Deb's family actually, although I've been goign long enough that I know most folks there (at least recognize them. Names are gradually coming)

This week is busy busy. Practice with DB Monday and the rest of the week at rehearsals for Driving Miss Daisy. I'm working the sound effects for the opening weekend.

Paranormal

So the latest news in my paranormal world is that two members of our group have splintered and are forming their own group. I talked to one of them and they are looking to ramp things up and do it as more than just a hobby. So the question is, do we want to ramp it up as well? I already have a full schedule and one reality show in the works, do I really want to start working on another one? Does the world need or want another paranormal show? Those shows are personality driven and I have a great personality. (so I've been told) plus I have comfort in front of an audience. hmmm

On other fronts, hockey game this weekend. Last of the season for the Royals. Taking Zack and a few others, I guess. Deb and Steph are doing the Vagina Monologues this weekend, so another fun-filled weekend will fly by.

So with Paranormal and Vagina appearing in this post, how will it come up on search engines? only the paranormal vagina can tell. Oooooh, it's psychic, too. The psychic paranormal vagina, coming to a theater near you. Oops, I said coming. I didn't mean anything by that. The coming paranormal psychic vagina. sounds like a reality show to me. : P

meditation

Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. My parents had this saying hanging on the wall. The words were written on a small plate that was inserted into a tiny cast iron pan. My one brother thought that was the coolest thing and always said that when my parents died and we divvied up the estate that was all he wanted. He's not very materialistic, which is good, because in the past he couldn't take care of shit. Now his motto is 'one day at a time', so you can take the implication and you would be right. He's a better man and the brother I am closest to. In the past I, at times, thought he was the biggest asshole on the planet, and he'd agree, then and now. But, it was the booze talking. most likely beer.

Anyway getting back to the point of this (yeah, some of these have a point) I was looking at a Dale Carnegie book, the "Golden Book" which is his list of 'rules to live by' or something like that, and I came across the rule to live in day-tight compartments. I thought I knew what this meant, but I figured I'd do some research.

It sorta came from the Bible, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34). Now I am not much for the Bible, but there is a lot of good stuff in there. Lots of crap, too, so don't think I am preaching. far from that, but the point is made that you need to live in the moment.

This is big in all the new-age stuff as well. This isn't live for today, for tomorrow may not come, as in live in excess and don't be concerned for the future, but more cherish the moment and the day that you are in and don't let yesterday's memories or tomorrow's potential problems destroy what you have right now.

I am living in gratitude and was meditating on all the good things that I have. Cherishing my wife and children, family, home, job, stuff, possibilities. It's all out there. Do we remember in every moment all the good that is in our lives? no. But we can try. I was gripping my favorite gratitude rock and feeling the smoothness of it. The wearing that has taken place since I've had it.

One birthday present I got from my youngest son a few years ago was a gratitude rock. I knew at that point that whatever else happened to him or to me, in this life, that we had a connection and that I had done some things, probably lots of things, right. I knew he cared about me and actually paid attention to what I was into. that's really cool. It also seems the pod people have returned my youngest daughter. She is back to being more loving and caring and I appreciate that a lot.

"Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come, but we have this moment today." I tried to find who this quote was from, but it seems to be attached to many, so I'll thank the universe for it.

My appearance on “Tuning In” last night went well. The show will be available soon here so if you like you can check it out.

Story behind the story. I showed up rather early, around 530, because the tech manager at the station said they could use a little extra time to grab the jpeg’s and the movie clip off my flash drive. No big deal I can do that. So I get to the station and no one is around. I can hear the ‘bees’ droning but have trouble finding anyone. A couple guests for the “Issues in the African American Community” are sitting around, but no one officially from the station is there.

So Elaine and Kenny, from our ParanormalPA group, show up and Elaine and I start wondering around the station. No one is around. We walk through studios, poke our heads into offices, no one. Now in case anyone’s getting ideas, there are security cameras everywhere, probably taping our every move. But no people. Finally we find some technician working on a board, and he directs us to John (or some other name) who takes my flash drive. He has a puzzled look on his face as I explain what’s on it.

Now this flash drive isn’t dropping from Mars with no explanation. I had talked to the tech manager and he had assured me they could use it, if the files were in the format they used. I took care of that, but John is slowly shaking his head. ( I can tell inside his skull he’s thinking, “I dunno bout this”)

But he says he’ll see what he can do. (I am not faulting John in any of this, just the organizational skills of the station in general, maybe) Soon he returns to the lobby and tells me that the laptop is having a malfunction and they can’t get to my files. I guess no other computer has a USB connection. That is cutting edge technology. Not.

Luckily Elaine also brought 8 X 10 photos of the things we wanted to share, so they could scan them, or whatever they do. So we were able to talk about them on the air and the audience(??) could see them. I put the question marks in, as I don’t know what the audience is like for any BCTV show.

Anyway, the show went well, Bob Moyer is a hoot, like always. Very personable and amusing, and his deafness just adds to the charm of the show. No really, that wasn’t sarcasm, I mean it.

Publicity for the group is good and more information can be found on our website. Gosh that’s a lot of links for one entry.

Anyway I’ll be bloggiing next time about my appearance on the Y102 morning show tomorrow. Talking bout the Blitz and the show at Reading Community Players.

Hey You're doing that wrong!

Here is a question that I posed on another website that I write for: How do you approach someone to tell them that they are doing something improperly, especially when you are not in a supervisory position, or perhaps even if you don't know them? If you don't approach them are you, in effect, endorsing their negative or perhaps harmful behavior? I am not talking about anything illegal or immoral. Pause, and think about that for a moment and then move on to the next paragraph.

Ok, what I was talking about was someone at the gym improperly lifting a weight. Now they have poor form and the exercise is not going to benefit them, certainly as much as it would if they performed it correctly, and doing it their way - poor ergonimic form, could potentially hurt them.
a) you tell them about it, treading lightly, and they tell you to mind your own business.
b) you tell them about it and they thank you and do it correctly (nearly never happens)
c) you don't tell them about it, for fear of response, and they end up hurting themselves.

If C, do you feel guilty? Are you enabling them?
If A, do you ever approach anyone again? Some people appear more approachable than others, so you may tell the sweet old lady, but not the gorilla-like gym rat. Does that serve your fellow man/woman? Why are people so scared to talk to other people, even if they are not selling or telling? I have occasionally thought to myself, hey that person has really made improvements. But I don't tell them. Why? Women would think I was hitting on them (in the past this might be true) and they might be offended or worse they might like it, and then I have to say, no, no, I am happily married, not interested. Men, I am not going to tell (unless I know them really well) because they might think I am hitting on them, or (same situation as A, except, no no I am hetero)

So you don't tell people much of anything. They sure wouldn't want to hear 'hey have you gained weight since you started here?' They won't think you are hitting on them (probably) but they won't be happy to hear your news either.

So take this another step, if you dare. Now, do you tell your spouse that they are doing something wrong? Or that their cooking isn't that good tonight? Or that they are too skinny, too fat, too obsessed with ___, drink too much, smoke too much, are addicted to ____. etc. How do you tell people you love that something is negative or harmful or whatever, without hurting them?

How do you get your kids to take school more seriously, knowing that it really doesn't matter what their grades are, it matters how they approach doing things. You don't want to nag them. Especially if they are good kids (as mine are).

Communication is one of the toughest things on the planet. Unless you are working with someone to do a specific task, and you are working as a cooperative team, on a 'right now' task, communication is a frickin bear.

Don't believe me (OK I know you do. You know what I am talking about here.) There are more communications workshops available than any other type of training. It's the only training you can do over and over again and still not really improve. Learn how to drive a car. Do you repeat that training every year? Some people maybe ought to. But no. Only communication workshops are 'wash and repeat as needed'

Help, my daughter was replaced by a pod person. An evil pod person

I had someone at work recommend a book called, Your teenager is crazy, or something like that. It's written by a guy who has his doctoral degree in psychology, and his premise is that teen brains aren't developed until after puberty, and that this causes much of the wacko anti-social behavior they exhibit. The book supposedly goes into detain on how to deal with the situation without driving yourself, or them, to murder.

Now the reason they mentioned this book was because I said something about my youngest daughter driving me crazy. She vacillates between being a great kid and acting like she can't stand me. Her big thing is mornings, but really pretty much anytime, she has multiple personality disorders and all the personalities suck, unless she wants something.

Saying I am not a morning person does not allow one to be an ungrateful ungracious human being. As we all do, she needs to get over it, and act civilly. Anyone, no matter their disposition or mood, can manage to behave tolerably for a short period of time. Therefore, she can act tolerably for a short period of time. Enough to say, good morning, or mumble something somewhat coherent, along the lines of a greeting. I'm not asking for much.

I have vented on this two entries in a row, so now I am done with it. I will eventually probably talk about the book, if it helps, and if it does, I will provide a link, so anyone out there can check it out.