Every Monday I'm going to attempt to give a recap on what happened over the weekend. this can be in terms of shows, or politics, movies, sports, life... anything....
1) Good shows this weekend. Crowds were surprisingly strong. I assumed they would be because people are tired of spending time with each other and their families so they come out to see us instead. They can laugh for 1 hour and 45 mins ... or 2 hours and 25 mins as was the case on Friday night. My favorite scene from Friday night was the House scene and Saturday night was strong too. Saturday night was just me, TIm, and Mystery Jeff and so its always a bit more of a struggle to do a 3 person show with our short form format. Long form its a little easier because you can take one idea for a while and develop it for only 45 mins but in the short form format its a little longer show. wierd how that works out. short form is longer than long form. ha. i'm lame.
2) the new england patriots are 16-0.
That's impressive. The giants gave them a run for their money, but you have to play a perfect game against the pats. They will just wait for you to make one little mistake and then score 14 pts on you. I'm glad they are 16-0. i think the 72 dolphins are coming across a little arrogant. They have this mindset as we as collective america care about their record and maybe the generation before us do, but i simply don't care about the 72 dolphins. They don't mean anything to me other than that's the year i was born. two perfect things in one year? what ARE the chances.. haha... let's see how they do in the playoffs.. this is my favorite tim of year... the NFL playoffs. the best athelets in the world competing at the highest level. Lots of fun and surprises.
3) The Closet Organizer.
I got this behemoth of a closet organizer the other day. i find myself interesting in the fact that i'm this highly driven, focused, intense (more on the later) and organized individual in my professional life. I have my own version of organization and it works. To keep something going for 6 years and have the growth we've had tells me that i'm not some unorganized baffoon but i know my system and it works. Personally? i'm a little less orgainzed. i'm a little sloppy. Ok, i'm a lot sloppy. So i'm growing and evlolving as a person. I dont want to get into too many details because i'm a little private. But i realize that now i'm in a house with someone else, its time for Old Jeff to learn a couple of new tricks. So I get The Close Organizer. It's huge. It's metal. Its got shelves which ALWAYS leads one to think of orginazation and order. I put it together last night with my lovely fiance and although i wasn't in the mood to do it. We did. I realized that i'm probably never going to be in the mood to put together The Closet Orginazer, so i just went ahead and did it. It's good to have accomplisments. Those little tasks that one does and grows your confidence and your self-esteem. You look back at something and said... hey... I did that with these two hands. I started to feel like Da Vinci, or Lloyd-Wright, or Abe Lincoln ( I don't know if he ever made anything with his two hands, but if he didn't... then he shouldn't be on the friggin $5 bill.) OR Ben Franklin. As i began to compare myself to these giants of creation, I thought what could be next? Cold-Fusion? desalinization for better drinking water? what about eco-friendly low income housing for New Orleans? What impossiblity could i make possible? I shouted to myself! What will I, ROBERT JEFFREY JENKINS, create with THESE TWO HANDS? THE GODS HAVE REACHED DOWN AND TOUCHED A MERE MORTAL AND NOW I WILL USE THESE TOOLS TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE?!?! I AM LEGEND!!!!!!
then i realized that its just a freaking The Closet Organizer. It organized. It's in a closet. So purpose fullfilled. It may just be that, but it works and it didn't cause my house to catch fire, or my upcoming nuptials to fall apart, or the world as we know it to collapse within. It did what it needed to do. It organized my closet, but it still felt good to put it together.
4) New Pants.
I got some new pants. They are of the cargo variety from Old Navy. Im a big fan of cargo pants, but i will never use all the pockets of the cargo pants at the same time. I can't ever see me needing to fill 10 pockets worth of stuff. EVER. Are they comfortable? Yes. Do they fit? Yes. But do i use them for their fullest potential? No. I will maybe use 40% of the pockets, but not 100%. I think if i have to store that much stuff in my pants, i will have bigger problems. Because at that point i'm probably homeless and i'm using my pants as closets.
5) Moving.
I moved the rest of my stuff this weekend. I have a lot of crap and i don't know why. They biggest concern is i think alot of the crap i have is not mine. I have no idea who's it is and why i have it. I threw a lot of it away. Its just easier that way. Sometimes im glad I have no soul and can distance myself from the struggle of cutting ties with things. I can just walk away. It's just easier that way. I never got into... "will i ever need this again?" Call it what you will, but i'm not afraid to throw something out. I dont mean that as a warning or a subtextual message to someone.... or do I? MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Tonight is New Years Eve. Big deal. But at least i get to perform.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
the word thEir
i'm sitting at my desk in the luxurious world headquarters of The Skinny Improv and UpSide Down Creative Group. I sy luxurious because my desk is next to a window that overlooks a parking lot, and is located directly over a dumpster that has found a way to reproduce its own smell depsite being dumped nightly. I'm working on a letter to mom groups located in the ozarks to let them know about The Springfield Playhouse, the children's theatre arm of our little empire. We have a new production this weekend coming up called "Murray, The Dragon Who Saved Halloween." It's about this dragon named Murray who has to save halloween from the clutches of Lord Messypants Von Apple Struedel. You should come see it. It's funny. Anyway... as i'm writing this email i notice that i really suck at spelling the word their. Now i know i suck at it so i'm fixing it by spelling it t-h-e-i-r, i used to spell it t-h-i-e-r. I've been doing this for years. I was first pointed out to my flaw by a friend who read a press release i sent out and just kindheartly let me know i was wrong. Now im super sensitive to it. I've been doing it wrong for years, normally if i'm writing or typing and im not sure how to spell a word i'll just pick a new word rather than look it up and learn it. i dont' know if this is healthy or not. Plus side, i'm learning alot of new words... down size... i dont know how to spell and i'm not getting smarter.
So it goes back to their. i ask myself... what else did i thought i was good at only to find out that i suck at it. this their word could be the unraveling of a sweater of comfort that ive worn for years. let's ride this sweater analogy to the ground.. shall we? i made this sweater, this sweater of thier... i spent hours and years crafting it, making it my own, weaving it into something i can always fall back on. but now? now a huge effing searchlight has shown that my sweater sucks. that what i thought was a subtle but powerful part of me, looks like a drunk bear on vicoden made it in the dark. self-reflection is tough. but one good part of me is that once i see a glaring weakness i work my best to fix it. so now i find myself stopping and asking... did i spell it right? and eventually it will become habit and i won't have to worry about that speed bump anymore... i can just fly by in my sexy spellchecked speedster laughing at the morons who can't spell... yes.. that will be a fine day where i race through the streets and bask in my rightness of writeness. Until i run smack dab into a wall called cinamon.. or is it cinamonn.. or... crap... i hate that word. so... now i'll just change it to "a wall called something that tastes good with apples and can be used to regulate my blood sugar in addition to my daily medicines"
there problem solved, that's much easier than actually learning how to spell a word. yes. that's much better, it should really make me a better person.
ok. back to emailing random moms.
So it goes back to their. i ask myself... what else did i thought i was good at only to find out that i suck at it. this their word could be the unraveling of a sweater of comfort that ive worn for years. let's ride this sweater analogy to the ground.. shall we? i made this sweater, this sweater of thier... i spent hours and years crafting it, making it my own, weaving it into something i can always fall back on. but now? now a huge effing searchlight has shown that my sweater sucks. that what i thought was a subtle but powerful part of me, looks like a drunk bear on vicoden made it in the dark. self-reflection is tough. but one good part of me is that once i see a glaring weakness i work my best to fix it. so now i find myself stopping and asking... did i spell it right? and eventually it will become habit and i won't have to worry about that speed bump anymore... i can just fly by in my sexy spellchecked speedster laughing at the morons who can't spell... yes.. that will be a fine day where i race through the streets and bask in my rightness of writeness. Until i run smack dab into a wall called cinamon.. or is it cinamonn.. or... crap... i hate that word. so... now i'll just change it to "a wall called something that tastes good with apples and can be used to regulate my blood sugar in addition to my daily medicines"
there problem solved, that's much easier than actually learning how to spell a word. yes. that's much better, it should really make me a better person.
ok. back to emailing random moms.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
when you know you really should be ashamed of yourself
i'm not sold on that title for this blog yet. i may change it but i probably won't. ok. here's what i mean by that title. i just read a little story on si.com about how michael vick's high school has taken down his jersey from the trophy case at his school. that sucks. i think that's when you know you should really be ashamed of yourself. granted he should be ashamed of himself when he let his cousin or uncle or whoever talk him into buying a house JUST FOR DOGFIGTHING!!!!. i know this blog doesn't seem to be the most current bit of vick dogging. no pun intended, but this has struck my heart and since i just started blogging, well... you get to hear my rants. so there.
like i said... there is a lot that he should be ashamed about. buying a house for dogfighting, paying for dogs to dogfight, gambling on dogs to dogfight, dogfighting, and then killing the dogs for dogfighting. the first rule of dogfigthing... don't talk about dogfighting. no. that's not right... the first rule of dogfighting is... effing don't dogfight... ok... so we've established that the last few years were not the strongest in the deep decision making of mike vick's life.
but lets get back to the shame part. not only has he become one of the most hated men in america, i once got booed at a springfield cardinals game for knocking a girl out of an inflatiable chair during a game of musical chairs i think that's what vick feels, ok... not really... but that's still a funny story. anyway back to the shame. So vick is outsted from football, loses his 20 million dollar bonus, is going to prison, and now faces additional charges from the state and possibly more jailtime, and throws away millions of dollars, loses endorsements form nike, but i think the worst thing is that his jersey is being taken down from his high school. why? because that's when it was pure. that's when he was dreaming of being great. that's when someone realized that he could one day be a pro football player. if you've ever played as a kid we all have that dream. we all have that idea of being on a field in front of thousands and doing something bigger than ourselves. he had it. he lived it. he became the grown up version of a little kids dream. and then he destroyed it. he did one of the worst things a person can do... he made himself into a monster.
I can only imagine him remembering walking by that trophy case and looking in and saying one day i'm going to leave my mark, my jersey will be displayed there and others will know and remember who i am. well, mike. you've done it. they know you, they remember you. not as a great football player but as what not to be in life. how arrogance and bad decisions can lead to failure. hopefully some kid will look up at where your jersey used to be and know that with greatness comes incredible commitment. heck i'll steal a qoute from spiderman... with great power comes great responsiblity.
what would the high school mike vick say to the future mike vick. i hope it would be... "thanks... thanks alot for screwing up everything i've worked so hard to accomplish. we had our dreams and now they have turned into a nightmare. you know, future mike? you really should be ashamed of yourself."
i'm not perfect. i make mistakes, i screw up a lot. but i think my high school self would be ok with my future self. but maybe he would tell me to watch out freshman year of college and not put on 35 lbs.
well, high school self. this is future self saying... you know... we haven't done that bad. except for the early nineties. those sucked. well and 97-99, those werent to hot. but except for a 4-6 year span. we've done pretty good. something i learned awhile back... never do anything today you don't want in the paper tomorrow. no one is above accountability.
so... future future self... hope we're still groovy.
man, this blog has turned into a lord of the rings movie... it has like 6 endings. so i'm going to end it now...the blog... not everything. that would be sad. this blog has a happy ending... its and they all lived happily ever after... except michael vick... becausec he's a d-bag.
like i said... there is a lot that he should be ashamed about. buying a house for dogfighting, paying for dogs to dogfight, gambling on dogs to dogfight, dogfighting, and then killing the dogs for dogfighting. the first rule of dogfigthing... don't talk about dogfighting. no. that's not right... the first rule of dogfighting is... effing don't dogfight... ok... so we've established that the last few years were not the strongest in the deep decision making of mike vick's life.
but lets get back to the shame part. not only has he become one of the most hated men in america, i once got booed at a springfield cardinals game for knocking a girl out of an inflatiable chair during a game of musical chairs i think that's what vick feels, ok... not really... but that's still a funny story. anyway back to the shame. So vick is outsted from football, loses his 20 million dollar bonus, is going to prison, and now faces additional charges from the state and possibly more jailtime, and throws away millions of dollars, loses endorsements form nike, but i think the worst thing is that his jersey is being taken down from his high school. why? because that's when it was pure. that's when he was dreaming of being great. that's when someone realized that he could one day be a pro football player. if you've ever played as a kid we all have that dream. we all have that idea of being on a field in front of thousands and doing something bigger than ourselves. he had it. he lived it. he became the grown up version of a little kids dream. and then he destroyed it. he did one of the worst things a person can do... he made himself into a monster.
I can only imagine him remembering walking by that trophy case and looking in and saying one day i'm going to leave my mark, my jersey will be displayed there and others will know and remember who i am. well, mike. you've done it. they know you, they remember you. not as a great football player but as what not to be in life. how arrogance and bad decisions can lead to failure. hopefully some kid will look up at where your jersey used to be and know that with greatness comes incredible commitment. heck i'll steal a qoute from spiderman... with great power comes great responsiblity.
what would the high school mike vick say to the future mike vick. i hope it would be... "thanks... thanks alot for screwing up everything i've worked so hard to accomplish. we had our dreams and now they have turned into a nightmare. you know, future mike? you really should be ashamed of yourself."
i'm not perfect. i make mistakes, i screw up a lot. but i think my high school self would be ok with my future self. but maybe he would tell me to watch out freshman year of college and not put on 35 lbs.
well, high school self. this is future self saying... you know... we haven't done that bad. except for the early nineties. those sucked. well and 97-99, those werent to hot. but except for a 4-6 year span. we've done pretty good. something i learned awhile back... never do anything today you don't want in the paper tomorrow. no one is above accountability.
so... future future self... hope we're still groovy.
man, this blog has turned into a lord of the rings movie... it has like 6 endings. so i'm going to end it now...the blog... not everything. that would be sad. this blog has a happy ending... its and they all lived happily ever after... except michael vick... becausec he's a d-bag.
Monday, October 8, 2007
An Open Letter to TonicUltraLouge
Dear TonicUltraLounge,
At first I didn't want to like you. I'll be honest, I thought you would come slamming in on Park Central East with your hip vegas style club, your really cool decor and your ultra way of doing things. I thought you would be shallow and pretentious. I thought you would be all flash and no substance. I thought you would be just another diamond in the seemingly cookie-cutter club scene that downtown springfield is somewhat turning into. I was wrong. I didn't want to like you, but i do. My friends and I are making it quite a ritual to hang out at your place every weekend for only a few minutes and when they first suggested it... i laughed. I saw it as a lark, or a joke, or a way to guffaw at the pretty people in a new way. But your friendly staff and great atmosphere changed it all. I like you. I look forward to your sweet embrace every weekend.
The several times ive been in there your staff has bent over backwards to make sure our trip was ultra. its more than a lounge to me... its an ultra lounge. From your waterfall as you come into the door to the chroegraphed light display, to the open feel of the seating. All of it has been a pleasant surprise. My friends and I were trying to figure out your light display timing the other night and the best we could come up with was that you simply hired a person to work it while reading a book and everytime he comes across a word he doesn't know, he changes the lights. that signals one of the staff and they come and help him out. this is one of the things that makes you so ultra, not only do you have really freaking cool lighting... but you're helping people learn to read.
i could go on and on about who i thought you were going to be and who you turned out to be. but i won't. i'm excited that you're in my nieghborhood and I'm looking forward to where you're going, but please don't get to uppity. We need lounges that are nice and accesible. You make us feel sexy. Well not as sexy as Kai does, but Kai is a sushi place and you're a lounge. An ultra lounge.
ultraly yours
Jeff Jenkins
At first I didn't want to like you. I'll be honest, I thought you would come slamming in on Park Central East with your hip vegas style club, your really cool decor and your ultra way of doing things. I thought you would be shallow and pretentious. I thought you would be all flash and no substance. I thought you would be just another diamond in the seemingly cookie-cutter club scene that downtown springfield is somewhat turning into. I was wrong. I didn't want to like you, but i do. My friends and I are making it quite a ritual to hang out at your place every weekend for only a few minutes and when they first suggested it... i laughed. I saw it as a lark, or a joke, or a way to guffaw at the pretty people in a new way. But your friendly staff and great atmosphere changed it all. I like you. I look forward to your sweet embrace every weekend.
The several times ive been in there your staff has bent over backwards to make sure our trip was ultra. its more than a lounge to me... its an ultra lounge. From your waterfall as you come into the door to the chroegraphed light display, to the open feel of the seating. All of it has been a pleasant surprise. My friends and I were trying to figure out your light display timing the other night and the best we could come up with was that you simply hired a person to work it while reading a book and everytime he comes across a word he doesn't know, he changes the lights. that signals one of the staff and they come and help him out. this is one of the things that makes you so ultra, not only do you have really freaking cool lighting... but you're helping people learn to read.
i could go on and on about who i thought you were going to be and who you turned out to be. but i won't. i'm excited that you're in my nieghborhood and I'm looking forward to where you're going, but please don't get to uppity. We need lounges that are nice and accesible. You make us feel sexy. Well not as sexy as Kai does, but Kai is a sushi place and you're a lounge. An ultra lounge.
ultraly yours
Jeff Jenkins
Saturday, October 6, 2007
its saturday... again
so its saturday. i don't know why i feel the way i do on saturdays. most people are relaxed on saturdays but my saturdays are usually work days so i guess i get a little stressed. i used to never be stressed. then i opened my own improv theatre. its nice most days, but sometimes i just get tired of it. last night was art walk and i don't think i've been to an art-walk before 9:30 since 2004. i used to love to go and walk around and be somewhat normal. should i feel bad about complaining? i have a great life... i get to do what i love but the grass is always greener i guess. sometimes i wish i made more money, or worked somewhere where every decision i made didn't affect the course of the company or the people who give up there time every weekend to make the funny.
someone said a few weeks ago, i need to stop giving so much away... that's been on my mind a ton lately. have i given too much away? not saving enough to last a long hard winter? i dont know. i wish i could be less worried about letting others have thier time, but then that wouldn't be me. part of why i do all of this is that so others can learn about not only the craft but also themselves. but its such a bleeping headache at times. especially when i feel that several of them take for granted the great opprotunity that we have here. every night i get to take the stage i feel it is an honor to have an audience to perform for. i look out and see thier faces or hear the response when you pull something magical out of the air. when they think that it can go no farther, you find a small opening and bust through it to make it even more special. its amazing and then to actually have people come EVERY friday and saturday night to see it. wow.
i've said it before... i'm lucky. i'm blessed. i'm whatever else word fits in here.
i dont' see this as a depressing or sad post. i hope that my first one won't be, but as one that reminds me of where i am and why i do what i do
what kind of stuff will be on here? who will read it? i don't know.. maybe this will be a theme. will it be funny? possibly. will it be entertaining? not my goal... then what is? why do i, such a private person, decide to throw all my thoughts out there for the world to see?
i don't know. i guess an experiment of sorts to sort out the sort the out of sorts thoughts i sort through everyday. i've never used the word sort as many times as i have in the last few moments. sort of wierd.
ok. its saturday and i'm going to go work. sort of.
someone said a few weeks ago, i need to stop giving so much away... that's been on my mind a ton lately. have i given too much away? not saving enough to last a long hard winter? i dont know. i wish i could be less worried about letting others have thier time, but then that wouldn't be me. part of why i do all of this is that so others can learn about not only the craft but also themselves. but its such a bleeping headache at times. especially when i feel that several of them take for granted the great opprotunity that we have here. every night i get to take the stage i feel it is an honor to have an audience to perform for. i look out and see thier faces or hear the response when you pull something magical out of the air. when they think that it can go no farther, you find a small opening and bust through it to make it even more special. its amazing and then to actually have people come EVERY friday and saturday night to see it. wow.
i've said it before... i'm lucky. i'm blessed. i'm whatever else word fits in here.
i dont' see this as a depressing or sad post. i hope that my first one won't be, but as one that reminds me of where i am and why i do what i do
what kind of stuff will be on here? who will read it? i don't know.. maybe this will be a theme. will it be funny? possibly. will it be entertaining? not my goal... then what is? why do i, such a private person, decide to throw all my thoughts out there for the world to see?
i don't know. i guess an experiment of sorts to sort out the sort the out of sorts thoughts i sort through everyday. i've never used the word sort as many times as i have in the last few moments. sort of wierd.
ok. its saturday and i'm going to go work. sort of.
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