DAY 179 - Art in the city

Today we got some culture in, we went to the Salt Lake City Art's Festival.  It was a good time, however I don't have a spare 10k for a rusty metal junk skeleton, it is what I've always wanted, I'll have to save up for next year I guess.  There were some things a little more affordable I would like to have.  I need to start collecting some original art, I'm not a fan of all my home decor coming from Target.  I'm suppose to be a little more artsy than that.

After the arts fest, we drove around a little bit, Mish wanted to go find one of her friends old houses in the Avenues, then we drove up new Ensign Peak and took some pics.  My sisters have lived in Utah most of their lives, but for some reason they wanted to pretend to be tourists this trip.  Its OK with me, I love hanging out in the city.

DAY 178 - Tastes Great...Less Filling!!!

Today was my works Lagoon Day, I brought Kelli along to enjoy the fun that is Lagoon.  We ended up not going until later on in the evening, it was perfect!  Lines weren't too long, and it wasn't too hot.  I love Lagoon even after all these years.  My favorite ride is the Tidal Wave for some reason, and it has to be ridden at 10:30 right before the park closes, so you can jump off, run around and ride it again without waiting in line, and you have to be on the very back row...these are the rules of the Tidal Wave.  We even tried to get things going with yelling "Tastes Great!" as the other side is suppose to respond "Less Filling" but apparently the kids these days don't appreciate a good beer commercial, they had no clue, but it brought back great memories.  Loved today!

DAY 176 - Lets get together, yeah yeah yeah

YAY, we're all together again!!  So lets check out what each other are doing on Facebook!!  Kelli got in tonight, I went home after a late, late night at work... didn't get off til almost 9pm... It sucked!!  I was so excited to see Kelli, when I got home this was the sight, everyone sitting around staring at their laptops.  So much for interpersonal communication.  Who needs to spend time in person, we can just update our status on Facebook and it saves on airfare.

DAY 172 - Papa's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!  And mom's birthday...  However, we've decided to wait for Kelli to get home to celebrate mom's b-day, and mom wasn't feeling so good today.  So we just celebrated Father's Day with a little steak barbecue, and of course any reason to bake.  I made lemon cupcakes with lemon filling and cream cheese frosting....yum!

DAY 170 -SISTA

YAY!!  Mish is here, picked her up from the airport late tonight.  She'll be here for a little over 2 weeks.  So excited.  Kelli will be home next week, we'll all be together.  There were never such devoted sisters!

DAY 169 - Angels and Demons

Movie with Max... went to see Angels and Demons...  was pretty good.  Don't want to give anything away, but what's with that helecopter scene above the Vatican, kinda went a little too Sci Fi for me at that point.  But a decent movie overall.

DAY 168 - Aint this the kind of wether for slappin leather

Alisa is a super star, she sang the national anthem at the Buzz game. After her little song I waited around for an hour for the game to start...only to realize the game had been going for 50 minutes.  Its so hard to tell with baseball.

DAY 165 -

Lance, Nick, Me and Brandy having a little brunch at the Oaks up Ogden Canyon.. 

Then we got to sample some of the specialty drinks at th

e new and imporved Kaffe Mercantile.  So excited for those boys, such a cool little shop!  All craftsmany feel like Frank Lloyd Wright tossin' back some Chai!

DAY 164 - Saturday is a special day

Today was a super saturday started off at Farmers Market with Brandy, then to Ruth's Diner for brunch...  A little disapointed in Ruths' makeover, it has turned into a Village Inn in a quaint location.  Strongly disagree with the vinyl booths and teal and tope decor.

I left my tamales I had ordered from a lady at work, in the work fridge.  I really wanted to have one for lunch, so I took a drive to Sandy to pick them up...  I didn't realize I would be risking my life in the scariest thunderstorm ever.  The rain was coming down so hard, all of us on the freeway, just gave up and stopped the windshield wipers just couldn't keep up. 

Later in the evening Nick and Lance were in town and stopped by to say "hi."  We made plans for brunch and a preview of the coffee shop for tomorrow.

DAY 163 - Take a chance, Take a chance...

Friday night movies in the park...  Love Mama Mia, and so do the little boys, they can sing every song...  Too bad it has freaking rained on every outdoor event this entire summer.  I blame Al Gore.

DAY 162 - WHOA Kelly Clarkson

 Yay!  Kelly Clarkson concert... or a small selection of songs, don't know if it qualifies for an entire concert.  It lasted less than an hour.  But it was well worth it!

DAY 161 - What's New Buenos Ares? Anything? Well good to hear from ya.

Hump day! Yay!  Today was a day.  No real highs, no real lows.  I did find out I made it into the ensemble of Evita...shocker!  Chatted on Facebook all night with Alane, so it wasn't a big surprise.  There are going to be amazing leads, I'm sure the show is going to be really good.  Its not done much, so hopefully people will go see it. 

I was so unproductive all night, I sat on the computer and watched TV.  I was going to clean...didn't... was going to work on videos....didn't....was going to solve the national economic crisis.....didn't.  Why does being productive have to be so hard.

About 11:30 my friend Max texted me.  He had moved to Iowa a month or so ago, but things didn't work out so he's back here now.  He wanted to hang out.  And since I recently found out I would be in Evita I thought it would be good to go do some research with my authentic Argentinian friend.  ;)  It was a good time, we just hung out at Coffee Break til far too late, got home around 2:30 am, I'm such a wild one!

DAY 160 - Dancin, Dancin, Dancin

There seems to be a lot of dancin in my life lately.  I don't even know what that's about.  Tonight we watched Vegas week of So You Think You Can Dance...  I still am not sold.  Some of those judges are mean, for some reason the blond choreographer lady went of on this guy, who seems amazing to me, then they cut this girl who I though was TONS better than a lot of others they showed.  I don't get it at all, and only one of the tap dancing brothers made it...  It seemed like a lot of people had shocked faces tonight, there was some definite drama going on as some of the favorites didn't make it through, we all put on our best shocked faces to commemorate the occasion... I spent a lot of the time reading magazines off Brandy's coffee table.  I found a few new recipe's I would like to try from Martha Stewart Living, Pound Cake done 10 ways, Lemon, Strawberry Shortcake Cookies, YUM!!  All this dancing makes me hungry.

DAY 159 - The rhythm finally got me

I guess Gloria Estephan was right...the rhythm finally got me... Tonight was call backs for Evita, we had to do a short little dance combo thing.  I was really worried, I'm not what you would call a dancer.  But it was really easy, a few cross over steps a jazz square and some spins... I do that while walking down the street, this aint no dance number?!  After that we had to learn parts to one of the songs, then stand in a line and be the only person on the specific part singing, plus we had to learn two parts.  I did the baritone and bass.  Once again...I'm not a singer, I didn't do well.  But due to the fact there were only about 10 men there, I'm pretty sure I have a good chance... Who knows, maybe I shouldn't be so cocky about it.  To be honest, I'd be fine either way, Evita is by no means my favorite show, and there is nothing for me in it.  I'll be ensemble, which is fine, but I have more fun doing shows where there is a little bit of comedy.  I'm thinking maybe musicals aren't my thing.  My new goal is to go to one of the theaters downtown and try to get in to a play someday.  Don't know if that's really my thing either, but I've never done it.  

After I got home from the call back, I walked over to Clete and Greg's and watched the season finale of Ugly Betty, never saw it, just gettin caught up.  It was a nice night for a walk, got sprinkled on a bit, but not too bad.  Once again... I'm going to miss living down here.  Hopefully I won't be gone long!

DAY 158 - Don't Rain on my Parade!

Today was the Gay Pride Parade in Salt Lake, it was just blocks away from my house, so I 

thought I'd go meet Clete, Greg and Brandy to chec

k out the freaks.  I mean how often do you see giant chinese dragonesque condoms dancing down the streets of Salt Lake City.  It's sad that gay pride seems to focus on the weirdest, freakiest sector of the gay community.  But it is still quality entertainment.  

The skies were really dark this morning but it wasn't raining when I left, as I started to walk it

 began to sprinkle.  By the time I met up with everyone it was full on downpour.  The streets were flooded with water and sequins. 

  

After the parade we went and looked around at the festival.  It was pretty boring, just more like a trade show.  Just a bunch of booths advertising something.  One of my favorite booths, however was the "Temple Squares" an all gay Square Dancing group, gives new meaning to the   allemande.

It was nice to see a lot of "normal" people there, people had kids and families.  I think that's really cool.

After the festival I went home and tried to take a nap, to no avail.  I keep hearing about these Sunday afternoon naps people enjoy so much, wish I could be a part of that world, they never work for me.

Then I met up with Clete, Greg and Brandy again to go to a barbecue for John Carlisle who got married a while ago.  There was some good food from Sugarhouse Barbecue, but it was kinda cold and drizzly, pretty sad, but a nice time overall.

To top off the day it was the Tony Awards!!!    Watched part of them with Clete, then went to a little Tony Party I was invited to and watched the last little bit.  Made me want to go to New York really, really bad.  I wanna see West Side Story, Hair, Next to Normal, Billy Elliot and 9 to 5... See a 5 day trip and I could get them all in.  I gotta figure out a way to make it happen.

Well it was a packed full day, was nice to be busy and have some fun...Now the dreadful work week is looming.... only 3 full work weeks until the 4th of July!!!

 

DAY 157 - Don't Cry For Me Paula Poundstone

So I dusted off my vocal chords and jumped back into the theatah world..  I auditioned for Evita at Rodgers Memorial Theater this morning.  It wasn't really a big deal, Alane, one of my best friends, is directing it and they usually need guys.  So to tell you the truth, I probably would have gotten in even if I would have sung Merrideth Brooks hit song "I'm a Bitch" a half step below pitch.... Which isn't too far off from what I did.  I have severe anxiety over singing in front of people.  I can practice and practice all I want, and sound OK, but getting up and doing it in front of an audience freaks me out, even just Alane, Scott and Peter, whom I've known for years.  Oh well, its done.  I have to go do my dance call back on Monday.  Woot, woot.  Gotta get my hips warmed up for some Argentinian Samba.

Later on, the same day...  I was so excited!!!  I got to see Paula Poundstone live.  Sister Dottie Dixon introduced her and gave her a Zion gift bag which included a Moroni Statue, a Book of Mormon Mace holder, to be used with over zealous missionaries, and various other Zion must haves... I've been a huge fan of Paula for years.  My sisters and I had her HBO special memorized, still to this day she is quoted regularly when we all get together.  It was a great show, went a little long.  There was a time that I wasn't sure if she was still doing her show, or if she was simply rambling about the problems with her children's school system.  But none the less she is still one of my favorites.  She is so talented, I love how she can just interact with the crowd, and go off forever about someone in the audience.  Cracked me up.

After the show we were hungry, the Dill Pickle Slushy I tried at the festival didn't quite fill me up, so we went to Stone Ground for dinner, yum!  Then I walked home... I love living in the city, a whole night out on the town and I never even got in my car... Will be so sad to leave.

DAY 156 - Friday Night Apathy

FRIDAY!!!  So excited, but realized I had nothin to do.  I hate that, but kinda like it, I argued with myself about what to do, part of me wanted to just sit home and do nothing, but another part wanted to find something to do, I don't really know which part of me was fighting for which, but my elbow is usually a home body so he was probably the one fighting for a night in.  I ended up going over to Clete and Greg's and watching a movie.  We "watched" Son of Rambo, I fell asleep so I can't give a very comprehensive review.  I'm sure its a quality movie, I was just all tuckered out from my long day of doing nothing at work.  It's grueling I tell ya.  The photo above is me looking at the latest Entertainment Weekly...those poor Goslin's.

DAY 155 - So...I guess these people can dance?

So I can totally dance... The dance craze continues as we watch as the multitudes of dancers are slowly whittled down on So You Think You Can Dance..  I'm stickin' with it for now, but still pretty much confused by what makes a good dancer.  The only ones I've thought were really awesome so far are the two tap dancing brothers.  I'm told it gets better after the top 20 are chosen.  I hope so, so far I'm just looking for a stellar grapevine, ball change.

DAY 154 - Back to the future

....just took three banana's and a tube of chapstick!!!

(possibly the punch line for a hilarious story I appear to be telling in the photo above)

Tonight I spent the evening in Ogden with Alane and the gang.  The gang being Nate, Amy and Kristie and Chad.  We did a little grilling, then watched selected scenes from Jekyll & Hyde that Alane directed last year at Rodgers, Nate hadn't seen it yet.

After the reminicing was done, we began searching for a song for me to sing at Evita auditions Saturday.  I guess I'm going to do a show again.  Its been a few years, and I have been in the mood to do something lately.  Evita would not be my choice, but its there to do, so I guess I'll do it.

I feel a little bit like I have just gone from going 20 mph in the fast lane of life, to slamming the car into reverse.  Last year I made some advancements, I graduated from college, moved to Salt Lake, was trying new things.  Now it looks like I'm headed back to Centerville, doing a show at Rodgers, and my high school choir teacher is going to be playing the piano for it.  I am quickly regressing to 16 years old again.  That would be great, if all the debt, male pattern baldness and beginnings of crows feet were to fade away.

DAY 153 - Maybe far away, or maybe real near by....

Here I am, looking out the window longingly on the drizzly summer thunderstorm yearning for my biological parents to bring that locket that proves I was once loved.  Or I'm just wishing for a Diet Coke, a love that knows no bounds.

Today was a day like any other.  After getting home from a moderate day at work, I worked out and began my editing.  But of course, like all major projects I start, it is flawed.  The tape didn't capture correctly and the audio only stays on sync for a few seconds then gets off.  I know my camera needs servicing, but the video is from the tape of the camera I borrowed.  I don't know why I've had so many problems with this lately.  Maybe its time I retire from the High School Musical video editing biz.  It was a glamours ride, but there's a time to step down and let the younger generation feel the glory.

DAY 152 - I'm a TOSer!

Mondee... Goin out on a school night!! I went to a movie with Brandy, Clete and Greg and Brandy's friends Michael and Krystal, We went to the Broadway Center, it was raining, hence the squinchy faces. We saw Brothers Bloom, it was all right, sort of quirky, but not quirky enough. Not as quirky ad Brandy's friend Micheal's hair, you gotta respect a big guy with blue hair and lots of tiny pink barrettes. You just have to admire someone willing to make that statement. Actually I think I remember seeing him in a Strawberry Shortcake cartoon, he played Strawberry Shortcakes field hockey coach Blueberry Butch.

Today at work was ultra boring, I spent most of the time on You Tube watching my new favorite thing, the [title of show] show. Here's a link to their web site, watch the little video open thing, it cracks me up, I don't know I why love this so much. I guess I really am a theater dork, except I don't do that much theater, so I'm a wanna be theater dork, which is even worse.

www.titleofshow.com/fans.html