November 07, 2004

GeneralFriday/Saturday Tech Weekend [by the numbers]

"The Visit" Tech Weekend Thus Far:

Hours on Friday: 9.5 (1:00-10:30)
Hours on Saturday: 14 (8:30 - 10:30)
Hours so far: 23.5
Light Cues Programmed Friday: about 85
Light Cues Programmed Saturday: about 85
Total Light Cues: around 170 (counting all the decimals [52.1, 46.5, etc)
Number of Notes to Self written on White Gaff Tape and Pasted to the Wall Above The Board: 4 (thus far)
Number of Non-Dim neon signs: 1
Sound Cues: 50+
Cast: 27
Crew [not including designers]: 15
Number of pieces of Luggage: 50+
Numbers of coffins: 1
Temprature of overly-cramped lighting booth (Farenheit): 85
Drinks on Friday night: 2
Cups of coffee thus far: 4

Number of days until open: 3

Call on Sunday: 9:30AM
Finish on Sunday: 10:00PM

Plays to read for upcoming week: 3
Plays read thus far: 0

Posted by Matthew at 12:35 AM | Comments (1)

November 04, 2004

GeneralThe sun came up this morning.

This will be the last of my political "rants" for a while... again, not directed at anyone specifically, but feelings I keep getting in general. We'll be back to normal tomorrow.

The most irrational hate I keep hearing is from people who had so little to lose with the election. I'm a registered democrat. I lean ideologically towards the left. I wanted a change yesterday, personally. However, to lash out with irrational hate-mongering ideals at the outcome yesterday is so asinine as to border on stupidity. What good comes from hating the so-called "red" states? What good comes from bad mouthing the voters in these other places? All they did was exercise the same basic right that you did. They're different from you: know a different way of life, have their own vision of reality. I tend to see most of my friends in an "elite" class of Americans: college educated (or in college) from comfortable, middle class families. We're not the majority - we instead factor into the minority. We can hope for our own version of the "best", and act to educate others as to why we think our "best" is what's best for the country, but if we force our version of the "best" on people because we "know" it to be "right" then we ourselves become the tyrants denying the freedom of expression and choice that is the most fundamental tenet of our system.

I still have to concede that the decision yesterday reinforces my faith in the system, and my own liberal ideals: the people have spoken within the confines of the system and have made a choice. It's not the choice that I wanted, but the system worked.

This isn't to say that change can't still be worked for. The Constitutional checks are still present in the system for the most part. One can still run for local (or national) office and work to effect change.

It sucks. But the sun came up again this morning, and chances are good that the same will happen tomorrow morning as well.

--
And that's all. For some reason, that's been bothering me the most all day: moreso than the result itself.

In other news, I got "drafted" into working on "The Visit", running lights for all but one show. In 2 weeks, I'll have 2 of the 3 practicums done that I need to graduate, and theoretically could then spend more time devoted to classes coming up. The cast is huge too, (25?) and most of the rest of my class is in it. It's good to be back with them in a non-classroom setting.

Although, it's gonna be tough. "Art" was an hour and a half, no intermission. "Visit" currently runs 3 hours even (with the hope to get it down to 2:40.) "Art" - cast of 3, crew of 5. "Visit" - cast of 25, crew of 10(ish).

So if you need me before Thanksgiving, I'll be at 'Nova, in Vasey, somewhere in the theatre...

I searched for a quote for this entry, and came up empty...I really wanted something from Emerson, Thoreau, Dewey, Rorty, Moynihan that I could work in, but I couldn't find anything specifically by them, so I leave with:


Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness. - James Thurber

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Listening to: "Deja Vu (All Over Again)", by John Fogerty from the album "Deja Vu All Over Again"]

Posted by Matthew at 02:04 AM | Comments (0)

November 03, 2004

Generalunfettered optimism

"It ain't over 'till it's over." - Yogi Berra

It's all a headache. As Dan Rather so succinctly put it, an "Excedrin-sized" headache.

(Dan Rather, btw, has restored some of my faith in the media in this country. Others claimed along side him, notably CNN, that they don't want to make the same mistake as 4 years ago and jump the gun.)

But what happened the last time the country jumped the gun? Why hasn't that lesson settled in as of yet?

Two hours, Two days, ten days from now, I may be wrong. I just see and hear so much despair at this moment in the people I've talked to online....and it's not yet over.

I don't know. I'm always the optimist I guess...

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies."

I'm tired and I want to sleep. This thing hasn't been decided yet. Not with 175,000 (250K?) provisional ballots open in Ohio. Not with problems that are being reported in Iowa. Not with a stalled celebration motorcade sitting outside the White House. Not with white states still on the board. Not with "projected" this and "estimated" that.

It ain't over.

Posted by Matthew at 02:48 AM | Comments (0)

November 02, 2004

GeneralNo regrets...

I usually try and strive for a a daily life without any regrets...it may be my biggest personality flaw (because of the general awkwardness that commences from not leaving things unsaid and the like...but I digress)

However, last night has shaped up to be a bad idea...a mistake for me. It's not a regret, per se, because I can (and I have) learn from it and move on. But it was a dumb idea, and the attempt just made me sick in the short run and has screwed up my timetable for this week.

Today was interesting, getting back on track and vowing never to do it again...I did make it to classes and got my set drawings done for tomorrow, so it wasn't a total wash. But ugh...I'm still hurting from last night's idiocy.

So that's it.

Quote for the day, again from the play for tomorrow, used more for it's fame than it's meaning (which is kind of intimidating...)

"There is no present or future - only the past happening over and over again - now. You can't get away from it."
-Eugene O'Neill, "Moon for the Misbegotten."

[Listening to: "Pain", by Jimmy Eat World from the album "Futures"]

Posted by Matthew at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2004

GeneralFantastic Weekend

Last week was probably the worst week I'd had being in grad school.

It started innocently enough. Strike went smoothly on Sunday, and it was even fun (try and get someone involved with theatre to say that.) The cast and crew had one last real dinner together, which was fun. Monday went really well - the read thru for class on Monday went well. The project for Thursday was winding up incredibly well - it was one of the first projects that I've felt completely prepared and ready to give before the due date.

Tuesday rolled around. I was dreading Tuesday from the start, knowing we would probably get our papers back. This was a paper on Albee's "Zoo Story," an incredibly strange play. It was a 7 page paper; I wound up writing 9 1/2 pages. We did get it back, and it turns out that I completely lost sense of the play around my page 8. I wound up getting a pretty low grade (for me) on the paper, and it really set me into a tailspin.

It was the first major paper we'd had to write for class; for me, it was the first major grad school paper.

Thursday added to the tailspin. We had a major presentation due for Dramaturgy, in which we had to present to the class (and professor) a cohesive idea to unite Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" around. My group, well, just John and myself, chose to put it in brother/sister colleges during 1968. The idea was sound, and we had it all worked out.

Thursday rolls around, and the computer crashes loading my presentation. I start sweating bullets because the presentation is how I had really planned to deliver this presentation. I filled the presentation with every cheesy PowerPoint trick I knew. But the damn computer crashes. The professor lets me work on it while another group goes.

Fifteen minutes later, after the group finished, I get the presentation up and running. We deliver a pretty decent spiel for the concept. The professor, however, as he has done to the groups before us (and after us, it would turn out) asks us the one question about which we can't answer. We stammer on for a few minutes, myself feeling like a blathering idiot, while the professor stares at us and nods in a way that was completely devoid of any knowledge of whether or not we were getting through to him to shore up our idea.

So by Thursday night, I was feeling pretty dumb. I'd been stewing with the grade since Tuesday, and it just made me feel dumber. I'm not used to feeling dumb. It's the one state at which I don't feel like I've ever been in for any length of time. I mean, I don't mean to toot my horn, or inflate my ego, but if there's one thing that I'm not used to feeling, it's dumb.

(relevant sidenote: In 8th grade, I moved to Maryland two months into the school year. Despite this hinderance, I still managed to get a "superlative" in the eighth grade yearbook, in the "That'll be the day" section. My honor? "That'll be the day when Matt DeMizio isn't smart.")

So yeah, dumb. I needed to get the hell out of the city and get home. I had been planning to for a couple of weeks.

I came home Friday afternoon, and worked through the weekend for the upcoming week. I feel so incredibly refreshed and ready to go. I'm ahead on almost everything that I can be ahead on. I feel like I have new insight. I'm rested, and pretty well read for the coming week.

If I have any one fault, it's that I tend to get bogged down with the stupid stuff that piles up in my life. When that happens, I tend to spiral deeper into it, without being able to get out easily. It usually takes something dramatic to pull me out of that state. This weekend wound up doing it for me, thank goodness.

I'm driving back tomorrow, and feel prepared for a brand new, incredible week.

And to shore up my usual tradition of ending with a quote (that, this week has little relevance, and probably defeats my entire purpose entirely...) This one's from Charles-Pierre Baudelaire, and is relevant to my weekend just because it was quoted in O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" which is for class on Tuesday...

"Get Drunk!"

One should always be drunk. That's all that matters;
that's our one imperative need. So as not to feel Time's
horrible burden one which breaks your shoulders and bows

you down, you must get drunk without cease.

But with what?
With wine, poetry, or virtue
as you choose.
But get drunk.

And if, at some time, on steps of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the bleak solitude of your room,
you are waking and the drunkenness has already abated,
ask the wind, the wave, the stars, the clock,
all that which flees,
all that which groans,
all that which rolls,
all that which sings,
all that which speaks,
ask them, what time it is;
and the wind, the wave, the stars, the birds, and the clock,
they will all reply:

"It is time to get drunk!

So that you may not be the martyred slaves of Time,
get drunk, get drunk,
and never pause for rest!
With wine, poetry, or virtue,
as you choose!"

(needless to say, I probably wouldn't choose the wine of which he speaks...

Posted by Matthew at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2004

GeneralOn the closing of another show and a new week beginning

Another show down. Two practicums left to do (or one, theoretically, if I can stage manage something either this or next year.)

It was a fantastic closing week, full of good times with cast and crew. Our audiences were for the most part great - spanning the spectrum from cell phones ringing at all points, to the one guy who, during the final light cues, said quite loudly to himself but loudly enough that the actors could hear, "Nice. NICE. NICE!"

The set was struck in record time, it seemed. 2 hours after it began, the apartment was gone, reduced to a pile of two-by-fours, hundreds of screws and some plywood.

It occurred to me (as it seems to after every show) that theatre is really weird. You go into a production knowing that it's going to close. But for the 2, 4, 8, 16 weeks, whatever, you're working on it, you're making it as permanant as possible. I knew that 15 minutes after the last performance of "Art" was over that the set was going to be struck, and in the case of "Art," not even the stage would be left where the production had taken place.

In my senior year of high school, I took a drama course as an elective. One of the first things we learned - perhaps it was even on the first page of the text - was that the art of theatre was "ephemeral." I don't think I'd ever heard that word before. Part of working in theatre these last years has meant coming to terms with that idea. It's kind of good practice too, in terms of my life imitating art, in that one quickly realizes that life does go on beyond the individual productions we find ourselves in through the years.

I get to be bored for the next couple of weeks. "The Visit" opens (I think...) 3 weeks from tomorrow. I have no association with it. I'm a bit nervous - it was really fantastic being engaged so completely at school again. "Art" was something to look forward to after classes were over. 90% of the core of the first-year class seems to be involved in Visit too, so it's going to test the bonds I feel that I formed over "Art." I'm gonna miss the almost-nightly drinks after shows and rehearsal, and the constant stream of in-jokes that seemed to permeate every rehearsal.

But yeah, life goes on. The next production is right around the corner.

Right now I just need to get through the Shakespeare project that's due Thursday (which is completely on track and ahead of schedule.) I want to go home this weekend, but I don't think it's gonna happen because of a scene I have due next Monday. I want to see about a job this week, although I'm not entirely optimistic about it.

To finish, I leave with another quote, that has piqued my interest in the past couple of days, from a play we're looking at in class:

"Writing is acting is directing is living your life...I see no difference between writing a play and living my life. The same thing that make a moment in my life succeed, combust, move, these same things make a moment in my playwriting have life. And when I move in my writing, I have moved in my life. There is no illusion. It is all the same thing. Acting is the same as playwriting." - John Patrick Shanley, Author's note to "the dreamer examines his pillow"

[Listening to: "Jesus, Etc.", by Wilco from the album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"]

Posted by Matthew at 12:27 AM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2004

GeneralStrangely Depressed Squirrels


cast/crew of "art". (l-r: T.J., Leigh Ann, Josh, Bob, Nick, Me, Baird)
click for large version
Art's run continues. It goes incredibly well. Our beginning problem was cell phones in the audience. We had a string of like 3 nights where a phone went off, interupting everything. It's a small theatre, with a thrust stage, so any distraction is immedately heard and felt all over. The new problem, of the last 2 days or so, is audience members who find the stage doors before they find the doors to the lobby. We had a woman wander through the backstage wings onto the set last night who was looking for the bathroom. The night before was a woman and son who were banging on the back stage left door fifteen minutes into the performance thinking that it was the entrance. Signs haven't seemed to help...

(side note: We still have a bunch of shows left, Tuesday night through Sunday matinee. It stretches into infitinty)

At dinner tonight, Harriet (the director) mentioned that today was the thirteenth straight day of working on Art sans a break.

Yikes.

I mean, La Salle's shows stretched into infinity towards tech week, but then the maximum time would probably be like 10 days straight (tech week of 7 days + a three day run. Give or take.)

We're dark tomorrow, thank God. I can write my paper on Albee's Zoo Story in peace. Tomorrow begins Fall Break too, so the entire school is off for a week. Incredible, eh? A mirror of spring break actually. The only things I really, really want to do are go into the city for a day and just wander like I used to (which is more difficult without the Broad Street subway...) and see a movie. My life has revolved so completely around Art and theatre for the past 2 months that anything at all will be diversonary and amusing.

The title of this entry refers to the squirrels that inhabit the area along Mongomery Avenue along the Main Line on the route I take to Villanova sometimes. I've seen multiple squirrels play chicken with oncoming traffic - waiting in the path of oncoming traffic only to dart across the road seconds later. I even saw one the other day (I kid you not) who waited on the center lines, darted into oncoming traffic, and then bounced off of a minivan's back left tire. Very, very strange.

(And as Dave Barry would say, "Strangely Depressed Squirrels would also probably be a good name for a rock band.)

[Listening to: "Against The Wind", by Bob Seger]
Posted by Matthew at 01:36 AM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2004

GeneralSomeone please just shoot me now...

I made a joke in class today.

It was a terrible joke. I mean, it still got laughs, but it was terrible for multiple reasons.

One was that it just wasn't all that funny - more the best one liner I could come up with under short time constraints (for some reason, this was how my mind was working today...)

The part I'm concerned about is that it was a theatre joke. It was a really nerdy threatre joke . It was a really nitpicky, nerdy, theatre joke.

It was a really nerdy, nitpicky, theatre joke at the expense of Andrew Lloyd Weber.

At least the professor laughed.

(for the record, we were discussing Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" from a dramaturgical standpoint, and talking specificically about what scenes could be cut if it were to be up for a performance. Someone mentioned "the shipwreck" as a possible cut, and I blurted out in the silence that followed, "Not if it's being done by Andrew Lloyd Weber." The class snorted and laughed.)

Yeah, so I acheived new lows of theatre nerd-dom today...all on the way to an M.A....

[Listening to: "Somebody Told Me", by The Killers from the album "Hot Fuss"]
Posted by Matthew at 12:54 AM | Comments (0)

September 30, 2004

GeneralA single, impulsive act

Philadelphia got hit with a terrific rainstorm a night ago. I haven't seen a rainstorm of such magnitude and destruction for a while - the only thing to come close was the remnants of the hurricane last year about this time. I-76 was closed for quite some time because it was under a foot of water in spots, and because of multiple accidents. I, thankfully, being stuck at Villanova, heard about this all as the night went on and did not have to experience this first hand.

Heavy rains had always intrigued me, and I had come up with a single philosophy to cover them. It's quite simple really. Just a manageable realization made in the morning: "I will not be completely dry today, and that is okay." I can then shrug off my umbrella (which, when I almost without fail ALWAYS lose somewhere along the path of the day) and throw on my hoodie and walk stridently through the rain. I mean, logically, think about it: why try and fight against the forces of nature with a thin piece of plastic on a stick? The human body is already made up of over 80% water, so it's not going to hurt a person in the long run. It's pointless to create more stress over something that one has no control over whatsoever.

All of this led yesterday to an act that I've wanted to engage in for quite some time. After class was over, a bunch of us walked over to the Connelly Center to grab a bite to eat before our respective rehearsals (Art, and The Visit.) Problem was, the usual entrance to the Connelly Center was blocked by a large puddle resulting from a blocked drain.

By puddle, I mean small pond. This puddle was a square of about ten feet by ten feet, with about 5 inches of water at the deepest point in the center.

Now, my classmates formed a wall as they came to the edge of the puddle unsure of whether to cross or not. There was another entrance further up a set of steps. Being outside meant being wet for a few more minutes whilst trekking up the stairs.

I looked at the puddle, looked at my friends, and remembered my philosophy. I strode, clearly hearing a different drummer, into the puddle. And began to jump and skip through the puddle.

It was fantastic. I was soaking wet from the waist down. (I was wearing the traditional DeMizio class uniform of a polo shirt and khakis.)

It was a single, impulsive act based on a philosophy that seems to make sense only to me. But it was a wonderful feeling jumping and splashing around to get to the doors. I felt like I was five again, running through the sprinkler in the front yard. I knew now what Gene Kelly was hinting at during the song "Singin' in the Rain" from the musical of the same name.

The downside was my pants were drenched. They're still drenched tonight, over 24 hours later.

The upside was an affirmation of my philosophy and a few moments of positive irrationality, which is never a bad thing.

To end with, a quote from "Art:"

."...nothing formative in this world, nothing great or beautiful in this world has ever been born of rational argument."

[Listening to: "The Only Living Boy In New York", by Simon And Garfunkel from the album "Garden State"]

Posted by Matthew at 01:45 AM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2004

General"And on we blindly stumble!"

Think of the first performance as the dress rehearsal. If we can just get through tonight- doors and sardines. That's what it's all about, doors and sardines. Getting on, getting off. Getting the sardines on, getting the sardines off. That's fast. That's-that's the theatre. That's life. -Noises Off
It seems as though "Art" is going to test my limits - both in terms of workload and getting essential classwork done, but also to what level I'm willing to work for a production.

So far, I've prompted lines for eight hours while simultaneously taking line notes with no problem. I was asked to run for coffee for the cast and crew. No problem - even brought back multiple sweeteners, both artificial and natural, to the approval and acclaim of everyone.

Tonight, I've found that I've been assigned to counting nuts. Cashews, to be exact.

We have this bowl of cashews, see, and they get eaten during one scene by two actors. Now, the bowl has to be empty at the end of the scene. The plot falls apart if it's not. Believe me. (I'm trying to...) So I have to meticulously count out the number of cashews going into the bowl before each performance, and before each rehearsal. Of course, demanding the most of myself in my drive to succeed in this program, I only pick the most handsome, juciest, whole, perfect cashews I can find in the bag.

13. 13 is the number of cashews we worked through the scene with tonight...

It's going to have to be less I've determined. 13 is still too many.

Gosh, I love my practicum

Honestly though, I love it. I just feel like I'm getting put through these practical jokes to see how much the new guy can take...although I know this isn't the case.

--
In other news, I heard La Salle "rioted" tonight in some sort of mass protest in front of North Halls. Although to be fair to the definition of "protest" it should be noted that it was a very La Salle protest: there were no picket signs, no megaphone, the people only came because free pizza was promised, and the slogans were vulgar and kinda dumb. (I at least wanted to see some initiative on the part of the students here, but was sorely disappointed.)

My feelings? I'm kind of sorry I missed it. Any demonstration, no matter how poorly put together, demonstrates that apathy doesn't permeate every dorm and every student to the core as I so often feared. I feel for the people on community development, the student staff of ra's and ca's who have to put up with this and determine where their true allegiances lie. I feel for the residents. And I feel for the administration, who have the student's best interest in mind, but can't always keep control of every situation, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.

But yeah, I feel for my friends on CD/RSA most. They're the ones who have to deal with this on a day-to-day basis, who'll take most of the crap for it all, who have to put up with listening to the yelling, the complaining and the anger. And they don't have a voice to speak out, as they're "forbidden" from talking to the press (even to the Collegian, which is a provision I fought last year...one does not lose their first amendment right just because they become an RA.)

I don't know what to say to them other than hang in there. Remember why you're doing this. Remember the good.

And remember that it'll all be over soon enough, and things will probably revert to the normalcy that existed prior to the change.

[Listening to: "Bad", by U2 from the album "The Unforgettable Fire"]

Posted by Matthew at 02:09 AM | Comments (3)

September 22, 2004

GeneralThe Given Circumstances

Script Analysis is the class that scared the most out of me this summer.

To a degree, it's still the class that scares me the most. (In conversations with others, this is pretty much a universal fear too...)

The fundamental principle of the professor seems to be that we, graduate students in theatre nearly universally coming from some sort of theatrical background, need to be g how to read a script. We need to re-learn the art of reading the script, so as to better grasp the "given circumstances" present in the text - answering the questions "who," what," and "when" among many, many others. The "given circumstances" chip away at the basic facts of the play in order to better see the motivations and the

It is only after answering these questions that a convincing performance of any contemporary work can be delivered, or can the reader adequately understand what the playwright was going for with his use of language. It's a good idea. But it's daunting. The workload is daunting. The professor is daunting, demanding that we read the plays and understand them (unbelievable, no? ) We're treated as "professionals," I guess, although I don't like that term. We're treated as adults...that works a little better. We're expected to want to get this information that is in the text.

And for the most part, I really do. I want to write plays. I want to have them read, and performed and understood. This is what I (thought) my life should be about. It's at least what I want to (eventually) get paid for.

The problem is it's hard. Reading the plays for this stuff is tough. I just want the plot. Second, I want the images - what can I put on the damn stage to make an audience like the words? By that point, I had always thought I'd exhausted the text.

Apparently not.

I like the class, don't get me wrong. It's just tough as nails going in every week trying to say something intelligent. Or rather, to go in trying not to sound like an idiot, harping on some random tidbit of fact blatently missing the more relevant information.

And the professor, though daunting, is also incredible. She elevates what we're doing to the highest status that art can have in a society. We're not insulating ourselves by reading these texts, we're allowing the texts to be freed and learning how to bring them into the world. She herself has been an (equity) actress, has studied theater at the highest levels, wrote books on Theater, has directed more plays than I can count. It's just daunting, going in week after week.

It's all worth it though, it seems, when she talks off-hand, in general about the class. Like tonight. During a moment in class, she told us:

"Theatre exists to uplift. That's your job - to keep that going. Because when that dies, we're all midgets."

It helps to see this as a higher calling, rather than a path to unemployment, disappointment and waiting tables.
--

It's been a pretty decent week so far otherwise...It's funny when one's initial impressions come out in the company of people you formed them of. Thinking of someone as "the big acting guy." And then finding out that your initial impression is nothing like the person. It's refreshing.

"Art" goes incredibly well. I don't think I've ever worked on a production that's been as far along by this point in the production schedule as this one is. We're further along than many Masque shows were on the Thursday of tech week. Tonight was a night off, and was WONDERFUL. I pump myself up each rehearsal by reminding myself that I'm a part of something bigger, that this is gonna be great, but still, a rehearsal amounts to me sitting on my ass prompting lines for up to 8 hours at a time. It's boring as heck, and easy to get distracted, and I also don't want to screw the actors up in their work.

Wednesday is my day off from classes. There's a late rehearsal, and I gotta run food shopping, but otherwise it's an otherwise unencumbered day. I can't wait.

[Listening to: "American Idiot", by Green Day from the album "American Idiot"]
Posted by Matthew at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2004

GeneralArt

As of today I'm working on Villanova's production of Art.

Specifically, I'm the "prop runner" which boils down to a kind of Asst. Stage Magager that presets props, and moves them on and off as the show progresses (those people in black moving around in the blackouts.)

I'm excited as anything...It's good to be back in the swing of things and doing SOMETHING again. It's a 3 person cast, and a small crew. I spent tonight in rehearsal from 8-11...fantastic.

Show info is here, we open on 10/5 - about 2 1/2 weeks, I think...

Of course, this also means I'm gonna be stuck in rehearsals for the next 2 1/2 weeks as well.

Oh yeah, I also apparently have to stop shaving as well...the cast and crew is predominantly male and all have beards...so I may look a little scruffy for the next couple weeks.

[Listening to: "Bad Day", by R.E.M. from the album "In Time: The Best of R.E.M."]
Posted by Matthew at 01:16 AM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2004

GeneralFor any actors...

It always seems more fun to do it the other way around, however, this really seemed to make sense. From this site:

Every actor eventually is called upon to act drunk. Most do this by slurring their speech, stumbling around, and perhaps drooling a bit. This is what a freshman drama teacher calls “indicating.” A better way to appear drunk is to act very, very sober. Walk very carefully, and try not to let anyone see that you’re inebriated. This is much more subtle and will register on a level the audience won’t immediately recognize.
Think about it for a moment, and picture yourself drunk. Now picture yourself drunk, trying to act sober, and how much drunker you actually seem. See?
Posted by Matthew at 07:52 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2004

GeneralIn morning traffic. In the middle right lane.

This should be an entry about being home last weekend, or about seeing and really enjoying most of "Garden State" or any one of a hundred other more mundane and fun things than what happened today.

My car's battery died Saturday with no warning. I came in from La Salle on Friday night (where I had an awesome time) and parked it. Saturday, it simply wouldn't start. Called for a jump, and it started. unfortunately, the battery wouldn't recharge, even after I drove it around for like an hour.

Flashforward to this morning. I get the call that it can be taken in for servicing, so I call for a jump intending to drive the car the 6 miles to the dealership. One hour later the jump comes. I drive off thinking all is well. Make my usual left onto Manayunk Ave., then down Green Lane to I-76 Eastbound towards the city.

Underneath the bridge prior to the Montgomery Avenue exit (I believe that it is exit 341) my car decides to stall. On I-76. In morning traffic. In the middle right lane. And I can't get it restarted.

I throw the hazards on, call 911 from my cell, and then DESPERATELY to restart the car. No luck. I'm stalled 4 miles from the dealership, after waiting an hour for the jump, in the middle right lane on I-76 in morning traffic.

(I momentarily have visions of John Ogden doing the traffic report and specifically mentioning me by name - "There's a backup on the Eastbound Schuylkill expressway this morning caused by Matt DeMizio, whose car has stalled in morning traffic in the middle right lane.")

About 5 minutes after the car stalls (...in morning traffic...in the middle right lane) a caravan of large yellow/orange trucks comes up in my right lane. I believe they were from PennDOT. Two pull over to the shoulder, and several large men (of the type that one imagine would drive and operate the machinery of the transportation authority of your jurisdiction) get out and begin helping me to the side of the road. A tow truck driver stops and assists me in getting the damn car into Neutral (it locked itself into Park when I was trying to restart it...Toyota owners, take note: if it locks into gear, pry up the little thingie that's on the shifter console, and stick something into the hole to allow yourself to be able to shift.)

(I realize now that this was incredible luck, and am just completely floored by the generosity of the people who helped me out. I know it wasn't much more than helping to keep the road clear, but I complain enough about the DOT in any state to warrant that this seemed above and beyond. I want to buy this road crew a couple of cases of beer...)

As I'm sitting on the shoulder of I-76 contemplating traffic going by me at high speeds, I try and call a few people for laughs ("Hey, I'm stuck on the side of I-76, how are you?") but I'm unable to get in touch with many people.

Eventually the car gets towed; the car gets fixed; Matt drives to 'Nova; class goes well; Matt drives home, and then Matt writes this story down.
---
I mentioned above that I spent Friday at La Salle, and I had a great time. The night began with dinner, then just random meeting after random meeting as I moved from West Campus to Main Campus to South Campus.

I had really missed a lot of people, and I had created this artificial "Because I've graduated, I can't go back" wall between myself and them. I don't know why this is (was?) such an important thing to me. I always joked with people when they came back intoning that "Commencement means move on.

But I realized moving on doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice the part of you that once was; the part of you that still exists with these people. Friends exist at all levels - undergraduate and graduate, and it was my own damn self-confidence or sense of identity that was getting in the way of seeing that.

So that's all... I'm tired, and I want to go to bed...

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
[Listening to: "Friday Night in Philadelphia", by Pepper's Ghost from the album "The $1.03 - EP"]
Posted by Matthew at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)

September 02, 2004

GeneralEverything you thought you knew is wrong

That's how some of my classes have made me feel over the last couple of days regarding what I know of theater. I've been working off and on in theater since senior year of high school, but have always been thrown head-on into whatever needed doing. I learned stage management because nobody else really wanted to do it. I learned lighting the same way - here's a wrench to hang that light and here's the manual to program the board, but never the why I should take a 6x9 ellipsoidal instead of a 6x16 ellipsoidal for that particular wash.

Surprisingly though, the revelation that I still have a lot to learn is reassuring rather than off-putting. I've always known that the way I've worked through things theatrically has been inspired at best and half-assed a lot of the time (take a look at some of the light plots from my junior year...) The reassuring part, I've found is that I know when I'm doing good work, and what good work looks like, and when the production in itself is deviating from that theoretical ideal (not always my fault, I know.)

Actually, a lot of things haven't been my fault. Take something I learned in my dramaturgy class this past week. Theater should always have a purpose. Up until now, the purpose has been just to do theater for those kids that wanted to do theater. But there can be (and I'm starting to believe more and more) that there has to be a reason behind why theater is chosen to be performed. It's great to do familiar, fun stuff, but there should be a challenge involved in it somewhere for everyone involved - the technicians, the cast in creating their characters, and in the audience that they're not just being entertained for 2 hours.

And in general, if those questions as to what the challenges should be are being asked, then there's an inherent type of fun present in the works watching it all come together.

So, in other words what I'm trying to say is that I've had a great week and I feel at home in this program. I feel challenged as all hell, but I feel at home with a decent group of people. I'm starting at the bottom again, I feel, re-learning stuff I thought I knew. In one class, we picked apart a script to get at the underlying structure that was always there but that can go missing on a cursory read. My acting class is a class in acting, (takes place in a rehearsal hall on campus, rather than a classroom) which is interesting as I've not really had an interest in continuing with acting.

The commute is fine, the workload is managable (21 page paper due at the end of the semester for Script Analysis, 4-5 plays to read per week,) the roommates are interesting (and fun to be around) and the parking is going to be treacherous (both on Dexter and at Villanova) but I'm learning the shortcuts, the routines, and the stuff I need to get by.

I'm heading back home for Labor Day, and should be back Monday at some point. I really need to pick up some stuff that I left at home when I left last time...

And finally a quote (what is a journal of mine if it doesn't end with a quote ?) that I first saw on the wall at Villanova a few months ago that has kind of stuck with me:

"Set love as the criterion of all that you say, and whatever you teach, teach in such a way that by hearing may believe, by believing may hope, and by hoping love."-- St. Augustine, "The Instruction Of Beginners"

[Listening to: "Careful", by Guster from the album "Keep It Together"]

Posted by Matthew at 01:36 AM | Comments (1)

August 26, 2004

GeneralExperiments in Wi-Fi

I'm back online.

For me, that's a hefty statement. I've been wrestling with Verizon to get this far in getting connected. The house is great, but it's EMPTY - the girls get here this weekend (beginning Friday, actually...) and there's been no cable, only broadcast TV to get along with. Couple that with remarkably medicore cell phone reception over the last week, and it's been pretty boring here.

There was a reception for the department the other night, which was better than expected. Beautiful lounge, decent food, free alcohol, and a chance to meet the people in the department. I'm pleased with the people I've met. There seems to be a general Villanova stereotype of which I've heard - snobby, rich, etc. The people I've met so far haven't measured to that at all. They're all people who love theater: making it, acting in it, developing it...the professors have the same feeling about them too. I'm excited.

Classes began yesterday for Villanova, today for me. My schedule is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday beginning at 4:30 and lasting until either 7 or 7:30 depending on the day. Today was "Dramaturgy in the Classic Tradition," taught by Father Peter Donohue. Fr. Peter reminds me a lot of my friend Nick at La Salle...with almost the same accent, and almost the same smoker's voice too.

I got to campus today at 3:50, wanting to be early to check out the building and such. I get a water, and sit in this wonderful little cafe on the first floor. I was amazed at this place - there's a whole market (the size of the La Salle Union Market) with hot food, tables, and televisions. It's wonderful. I'm thinking to myself, "This is gonna be great to hang out in before class every week!"

Flash forward a half hour, when we realize (being that there are 3 of us in the assigned classroom at the time the class was supposed to begin, out of a class of 15) that the class has been moved. Not to another classroom, but to another building, on the exact opposite side of campus. Without the nice amenities. And we were twenty minutes late.

Yes. I was twenty minutes late for my first graduate class ever. Sigh...

But it's a good class. It's going to be a heck of a lot of work...it feels like an Honors seminar at La Salle - same number of people, relatively same workload, same circled-desks configuration, same attendance policy.

It was going through the syllabus today that I realized what "full-time graduate" student means. I'm gonna be doing this full-time - even though I'm only in class 9 hours a week. The workload for the one class is gonna be intense - reading up to three plays a week, plus weekly discussions and emails to Fr. Peter. I'm optimistic though - as one of the other people in the class said as we were walking to our cars after tonight's class, "This is stuff we like to do." (She was referring to a discussion from Euripidies' "Bacchae" about what effect the main male character's putting on a dress would have on the audience - whether it would carry the humor that modern audiences associate with cross-dressing, or whether it would carry the necessary humiliation inherent in the text.)

It's going to be a lot of that. Tedious academic stuff related to theater that I LIKE to do. Obscure plays, late nights getting ready for performances, dramaturging anything and everything.

I'm leaving with a qoute from the Bacchae:

"If you take wine away, love will die, and every source of human joy will follow."

Euripides had it right...

[Listening to: "For the Want of a Nail", by Camp from the album "Camp Soundtrack"]
Posted by Matthew at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2004

GeneralOut of contact

I will most probably be out of contact for the next couple of days after Saturday. I'm officially moving to Philadelphia as of Saturday morning, and as of then will be without a dependable Internet connection.

It's my hope to have DSL/cable up and running within a few days, but who knows when I'll be able to get technicians to the house and get everything set up.

I'll also be starting classes on Thursday, so I'll be experiencing the wonderful commute to Villanova via I-76, and I-476.

So, if you need me, drop an email to matt -at- demizio -dot- com. Or call the cell or the house.

I'll post here when I have a more dependable connection in Manayunk.

Cheers.

[Listening to: "Sunday Morning Coming Down," by Johnny Cash from the album "The Essential Johnny Cash"]
Posted by Matthew at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2004

GeneralWorst / Best

In RA staff meetings for the past couple years, every once in a while we'd play a game called (I think) "Worst / Best." The idea was simple - you listed your worst memory/moment from the past week, and then your best memory/moment from the past week. The game was always interesting in that the rest of the group would commiserate with you and your experiences and everyone would get some sort of catharsis for your joys and your pains from the past week. It also could become a game of oneupmanship as each person after you tried to either relate how much worse or better their moments were than yours.

Needless to say it was always a lot of fun and a decent icebreaker.

So I have my worst/best moments from the past week. Both happened at work. Both happened this weekend. Both happened on back to back shifts.

(Background: I (used to, as of Sunday) work at a movie theater, Regal Cinemas Hunt Valley 12 as an assistant manager. I've worked there for about 5 years on and off, as I started way back right as "Star Wars: Episode One" was opening.)

My worst was Saturday at work. I'm scheduled for a 2-10 swing shift, which means I'm pretty much damned from the beginning as I don't get to experience either the slowest set in the morning, or the slowest set at night, both of which act as a buffer that I've found allows me to unwind. It means a constant barrage of customers, for which I'm stuck on the floor with escape to the upstairs office impossible. It just gets worse as the General Manager tells me as I walk in 15 minutes early that there were 2 employees who called out, and that "they're going to need help down there."

I should mention that I went in feeling scatterbrained because my sister was coming in from Paris that afternoon and my parents had gone to Dulles to pick her up. I hadn't seen her in 2 months, and was really looking forward to seeing her again before I headed back to Philadelphia (indeed, my staying home this long had a lot to do with me wanting to hang out with her for a few more days.)

I wind up spending the worst shift of my entire 5 years on the floor. I'm stuck in the concession stand for about three hours straight as a constant stream of people come up wanting popcorn and soda. For the entire three hours, the lines stretched in front of the stand for the twenty feet to the box offices (where the lines stretched twenty feet to the front doors.) From this hellish sea of people, I somehow wound up with the line that decided to inform me of how exactly I should be doing my job. It took all my strength of character to fill their wretched orders and not jump over the counter and ram the overpriced popcorn, layered in the middle with butter as per their instructions, and their sodas-costing-more-than-gold-per-ounce, poured over the exact amount of ice desired, down their throats.

The evening continues to degrade by leaps and bounds as I manage to not get much of a break in between the afternoon and first evening shift. Around 9:00 a customer storms out of one of the theaters demanding the right to a refund of his tickets AFTER he watches his movie because kids are "running up and down the aisles" and the movie is blurry and unwatchable. I tell him that I'll look into his charges and he goes back to his film. The movie is checked, and the kids are nonexistent, however, our print is scratched to all hell (in a way that none of the managers on could figure out how, including the head projectionist) but is still pretty watchable, as proved by the fact that his was the only complaint all day.

The night concludes with confirmation that an employee is stealing from us. This is something I've heard about, but never experienced with hard evidence in front of me. It was tough - I'm naive, I'll admit - sheltered, privileged, all that. And I tend to take things too personally. This was happening at 9:30, when I was due out the door in a half hour, and I was already at the end of my rope from prior events.

In the end, everything turns out okay - the customers leave after their movies. The angry patron leaves, satisfied with my apologies and passes. The employee leaves, escorted by a cop. I leave, dinner in hand, just wanting to get the hell out as quickly as possible and never come back.

Sunday was on my top five shifts ever. I'm scheduled for a closing 5-12 shift. For starters, it was my last shift. I get there and check the admission logs and find that we're not that busy. It's an awesome crew for the time that I'm there. I wind up having one of the silliest shifts ever.

It began upstairs when we had three managers helping the one projectionist thread up the first evening set. It usually takes the projectionist about five minutes to get through one projector - we had the entire left half of the booth done in about ten minutes. This quickly led to a threading contest between myself and two other managers - Corbin, and Billy, the head projectionist. I lost, but did damn well considering I haven't touched the equipment in six months. We had a cake and ice cream during out break for Sarah, who was also celebrating her "last" day at work. I had to hustle to clean theaters, but found $14 under a seat.

The crowning achievement however, was the unveiling of an original film after hours that evening. Midway through the shift, Billy decides to splice together all of the reels from films that had somehow become marooned in our booth, castoffs from prints long gone. I suggest we throw on some Regal policy trailers (translated: those stupid "no smoking, in case of emergency..." ads that get added before films) and any random old trailers we have lying around. We wind up with two Regal policy snipes, a couple of current trailers, a trailer for "Baby Geniuses 2" spliced on backwards and upside down so the soundtrack is projected onscreen (we all agreed that this would be the only possible way to see the movie,) and our "lost" reels - one each from "Half Past Dead," "LOTR: The Two Towers," "Star Trek: Nemesis," "Mystic River," and "Tears of the Sun."

As we were leaving at 3:30AM we pretty much decided that it was a fun experiment, but one that sounded better talking about it than actually doing it. But it was done with fun people, and it reminded me a lot of the (now banned by corporate) screenings that used to happen in the first summer that I worked there complete with a 7-11 run to begin the evening.

So I turned in my keys to the building. I'm know I'm gonna miss the people, despite having only been there for about three weeks.

The next step for me is getting the heck out of Baltimore later this week. More on that as it develops.

[Listening to: "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of", by U2 from the album "All That You Can't Leave Behind"]
Posted by Matthew at 02:06 AM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2004

GeneralThe more things change...

...the more they stay exactly the same.

I went back to Regal for a few weeks to make a few extra dollars. The reasoning behind the decision mainly revolved around my thought that I wouldn't be able to find something in Philadelphia that would pay as well as I was getting here and also schedule me for full-time until school started, and then scale back after that. So I went back, tail between my legs, after pretty much promising both friends and family that my days of working at the movies (shoveling popcorn, sweeping out theaters in between showtimes, dealing with pissed-off-at-the-outrageous-prices customers) were over.

Truth be told, I'm liking the job. The people are good. There's a vibe that I haven't felt there since I first started 4 or 5 summers ago - youthful, fun-loving, and few cliques to deal with among the people who matter most, the floor staff. Of course, things have always been good on my returns - this time might just revolve around the idea that I have a firm ending date, and my spirit will hardly be crushed in the few weeks I'm there.

I'm also seeing people that I haven't seen in years there. The first words out of my mouth have been "This is temporary...I'm going to grad school" right after my bright "Hello!" I'm wearing the job like a curse when I see these people - friends I graduated high school with, people I used to work with at the theater who have moved on...I feel compulsively drawn to make sure that people understand that yes, I have moved on. I won't be pushing popcorn forever.

The vibe among management has been pretty awesome too...I'm working on a lot of shifts with a bunch of college kids who, like the kids on the floor, are there to have fun...they see the copious amounts of BS and manage to laugh at the stuff that needs laughing at. And there's plenty of corporate/local policy that needs laughing at.

But still, a lot of things are the same. The same as when I first started 5 years ago. The same as when I last left in January. But, it's a paycheck. It's something to do to get some free movies. It kills a lot of time that would otherwise go to waste.

The more that I work there, the more I'm convinced that I'm going to get a book out of the place. If anything, it'll be therapy for me, but I think it may have commercial value somewhere along the line. As always I just have to put the damn pen to the page.

So the revised plan is still in effect. My sister is home on the 13th. I'm looking at heading back to Philadelphia on the 16th or 17th. I have class starting the 25th, and a reception to attend with the other grad students (!) on the 24th. My schedule is finally posted online - Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoon/evenings from 4:00 - 7:30ish. (which is nerve racking, as I have no idea what the workload will be outside of those classes (the days of the 3-5 page paper are over, I fear)...more than undergrad...plus the 80-hour required practicum working on the shows for the season...)

The classes sound interesting - I'm taking an acting class (as was advised to, because it becomes an "almost requirement" for a lot of later classes in the department) an introduction to dramaturgy class and a script analysis class. 3 classes, 9 credits, full time.

Otherwise, this past week has been pretty uneventful. I saw "The Village." Contrary to popular opinion, I liked it. It's a twist movie. After viewing, you could poke holes through most of the plot. But I was sufficiently intrigued by the plot, and by the twist to actually like the film. The people I've spoken to who hated the film have at least agreed that the cinematography is beautiful and the acting is pretty decent. (Brody borders on being miscast, and Ron Howard's daughter needs to decide in the second half of the film if she's blind, balanced with William Hurt being fantastic) It's not scary. It's a bit eerie, but I wasn't that scary. I went in with the mindset that there was going to be a twist, and wasn't incredibly disappointed. I won't buy the DVD, but it was worth 2 hours of time to see.

Tuesday I had lunch with one of my old high school professors, Mr. Motsay. The strange thing is, I still can't bring myself to call him by his first name for some reason. He's been a mentor to me over the last few years with everything: the film and TV stuff, La Salle in general, and then to what I see as my newest calling, the whole theatre thing. He's as excited as I am about Villanova.

Right now I'm content. My newly-graduated friends are beginning to disperse across the country, and I'm trying to keep abreast of who's going where, and when, although this is proving difficult.

The hardest part is keeping perspective. I found something hopeful doing preliminary research for my "Dramaturgy: the Classic tradition" class. John Gay (who wrote a play called "The Beggar's Opera" is buried in Westminster Abbey under the following epitaph:

Life is a jest; and all things show it,
I thought so once: but now I know it.

I dunno, it kind of made me laugh the other day when I saw it for the first time.

Edit: Was going to leave it there, but found this quote from "The Beggar's Opera" too:

Let us drink and sport to-day,
--Ours is not to-morrow:
Love with youth flies swift away,
--Age is naught but sorrow.
---Dance and sing,
---Time's on the wing,
Life never knows the return of spring.

There. Now I'm finished.

[Listening to: "Tippecanoe And Tyler Too", by They Might Be Giants from the album "Future Soundtrack Of America"]
Posted by Matthew at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)

July 24, 2004

GeneralChange of plans...

This entire summer has been a season of constantly shifting plans.

My original plan, way back in May, put me back in Philly by June 1st. That fell through after some communications got crossed. No harm, no foul, however, as the summer progressed nicely on its way.

There was an intermediate plan that put me back in the city around July 1st. That fell through, just as time continued and things kept happening here.

The most recent plan put me in the house in Manayunk around this week, just after getting back from London. This is going to fall through now after an examination of my finances. At this point, I can afford to move up, but it'd be tight (there's no problem with paying rent/utilities, but just looking at whether or not it's worth paying for groceries and transport around the city) to the point that I kind of don't want to work to make it work. So I'm going to be staying in Maryland for a couple of weeks, probably until the first week of August.

Instead, I've been able to get a crack at going back to my old job for a few weeks, to make some money there. Home is familiar and quite boring sometimes, but it is also pretty cheap, and my parents haven't thrown me out yet.

Incidentally, my sister gets back from Paris in about 3 weeks, and I really want to see her when she gets in. This has been a major part of the decision, I think.

A lot of this has been due to my inability to make plans come together, which is probably one of my hugest faults. I refuse to directly plan for the events in life and often let things just take their course according to fate, the winds, or the decisions of others. A lot of this has also been due to the fact that I was just now able to get a schedule from Villanova for the fall - I'm concerned about taking a job based on not having my schedule planned out for the fall.

(sidenote: I'm registered for 3 classes: Dramaturgy, Script analysis and an Acting class, taken because the playwriting elective was probably not going to happen. I also found out that I owe the department 3 semesters (out of the 4 I'll be a student) of a no-credit, no-tuition practicum that involves working on the plays of the department. That works out to 80 hours a semester...trying to fit a job around that will be quite a contortionist act.)

At this point, I'm just really happy to have something concrete to live with. I want to leave home. It just seems to make as much sense to stay for a few more days in order to get a better leg up.

To my friends in the city, I will be up on weekends, and when I have free days. I even have a (nice) place to stay. I just can't (won't?) make it permanant for a few more weeks.

Like I said, I'm currently happy, and more optimistic than I've been in a long time.

[Listening to: "Float On", by Modest Mouse from the album "Good News For People Who Love Bad News"]
Posted by Matthew at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2004

GeneralLondon, in retrospect


Piccadilly Circus, by night [click for full-size]

London is the clearing-house of the world. -
Joseph Chamberlain, in a speech at Guildhall, London

It was a good trip, an amazing trip. We (my father and I) arrived on Sunday morning at around half past seven, London time (approximately 2:30AM to our minds still set on good old Eastern time.) After wading through the lines for British immigration at Heathrow (which, I firmly believe, is punishment for seceding so hastily from the British Empire over 200 years ago...) we were able to make the transfers to the hotel and to the city itself. The hotel was in Kensington/Chelsea, which was a very nice area and afforded a quick walk to the Tube.

Over the course of the week, I visited most of the typical touristy things around London - Tower Bridge, Whitehall, Trafalger Square, Piccadilly Circus, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey. We did a bunch of the smaller attractions too, as we both disliked the crowds and had tastes that were outside the realm of waiting in line to see the Crown Jewels. We saw the London Theatre Museum, the Imperial War Museum, and the London Transport Museum, all of which were just as fascinating as every other part of the trip. The most fun I had was experiencing the Tube/London Underground for the first time. So like the Broad Street subway, yet infinitely better...except for the overcrowded trains, and the random electrical blackouts underground.

We managed to catch two shows while there as well: Les Miserables, and "The Reduced Shakespeare Company presents the Bible: The Complete Word of God: Abridged." Fantastic stuff - the first was a show that my father and I had already seen and fallen in love with. The Reduced Shakespeare Company has always been a favorite of mine because of their reduced version of the complete works of Shakespeare. We spent a good deal of time in the theatre district, the West End area about Leicester Square and Covent Garden. It's really just incredible to walk through there on a busy afternoon, like a Rittenhouse Square but with ten times the amount and diversity of people hanging around.

It was an incredible week of which the highlight was seeing my sister on Monday when we took a train into Paris. She's studying at the Sorbonne, and is doing very well, despite the fact that she finds herself talking with her hands just as much as muddles through the French language with her mouth. Paris was lovely as well, and even more crowded than London - a fact I disliked.

The thing about London that struck me was how international it seemed. My own visions of London pretty much revolved around the always-stereotyped proper British Gentleman archetype - bowler hat, thick accent, smoking a pipe and drinking tea. London is so much more than that, a city that bursts at the seams with this vibrant color of people from all around the world, both acting as tourists and as it's natives. I remember seeing or hearing bits and pieces of nearly every single British possession while there, whether it was a broken word in another language or accent, or the scrawled writing on a signpost somewhere advertising cheap Indian food. I've been to New York before, and have spent some time there, and it felt even more "international" than New York. The gentlemen of Monty Python were nowhere to be found, except for on the BBC.

In the beginning I made the joke about wanting to seek asylum whilst in London, and at the end of the trip, I'm glad that I didn't actually try anything to this end. London is incredibly beautiful and cosmopolitan, however, it's also incredibly expensive, and despite the fact that my father and I were among the better ones, westerners tend to stick out like sore thumbs. I want to go back, soon, but for now, it's just good to be home again, having not had to wait in any lines or hear overlapping conversations in languages different than my own for something like 36 hours now.

I have photos, and most will probably be uploaded within a day or two.

I arrived home to find paperwork from Villanova: the loans have gone through, which is good, and I also have notes from the theatre department regarding the upcoming semester. It was a fine way to burst my summer bubble, going through a manilla envelope packed with information about the upcoming classes I have to still register for, complete with syllabi and due dates for assignments that seem impossible at this point.

Oh well, no worries. There's still a month left of summer. I should be heading into Philadelphia tomorrow to see a reading at the Borders on Broad Street by Justin Cronin who just had his latest book published. I'm not sure how long I'm staying yet - probably Tuesday or Wednesday. If anyone is around, give the cell a call and I'll drop by.

I've also managed to come back with a cold, so I'm currently under the weather...but oh well. Life goes on.

[Listening to: "Happy Endings", by The All-American Rejects from the album "All American Rejects"]
Posted by Matthew at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2004

GeneralLondon

Just a quick not to let people know that I'll be travelling in London for the next week, so email/phone messages may go unanswered.

I'll be back Saturday, 17th July.

Until then...

Posted by Matthew at 02:30 AM | Comments (0)

July 01, 2004

GeneralDesignated Protest Zones

In order to begin with a more orderly school year, the following protest zones have been established at La Salle. Those protesting are asked to keep within their designated zone so as to alleviate chaos, and reduce confusion.





20th Street Closure Protesters:
Please use the designated area highlighted in red at the corner of 20th and Olney. John (The hot dog guy) will still be on the corner, available to cater your specific protest needs. This remains unchanged from last year. Students will still walk by. They're still looking forward to the guy with the trumpet. Really. And bring back the car-mounted loudspeaker. You're making progress. Really.
Current Allegations Protesters:
In front of the Hayman Center (shown in blue). Near where the action is, and in front of the only people who can fix it, as athletics is kind of autonomous from the rest of the school... Students who want to protest the Basketball team in general should feel free to congregate there as well. This includes the newly formed student group, "SABH," Students Against Billy Hahn.
"The Tree Huggers:"
This is for all those who love the trees on south campus - COM majors, Neumannites, Cake editors - please protest in an orderly manner along the circular drive (highlighted in red) on south campus. This will minimize the impact to the rest of the community (Com Majors only watch movies, and Neumannites, who haven't had to deal with the 20th Street bullhorns.)
Unemployed Alumni Who Can't Read Their Diploma (as it is in Latin):
Please congregate in front of the Administration Building (shown in black). Stare with a confused look into the large glass windows. Ignore the fact that the translation was on the envelope, you clods.
Commuters:
sigh...

I know, you all took a sharp breath when I wrote the "C" word there. It's kind of like shooting fish in a barrel with this one, folks...

Seriously though, in honor of your constant protests, and the constant "going in circles" attitude of the administration, please proceed directly to the track, where at least at the end of the day, you'll know how many miles you've walked and can see just how far you've come.
Any other groups wishing to protest any other aspect of La Salle are asked to please register with the school. Forms are available in the Dean of Students Office and also the Office of Safety and Security. Groups are asked to please register their causes quickly, as prime protest space will almost certainly be gone by the time classes begin in late August.

Yeah, top is meant as satire, meant humorously, insert standard disclaimer here.

I'm moving in the morning - at least getting a bunch of stuff up to Manayunk, and then most probably coming back here. I know - it's 2 steps forward, and one step back, but the round trip leaves me with a key, a place to sleep, and most of my stuff in Philadelphia.

Oh, my sister did manage to make it to Paris yesterday. My family couldn't be happier.

[Listening to: "Hallelujah", by Rufus Wainwright from the album "Shrek Soundtrack"]
Posted by Matthew at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)

June 30, 2004

GeneralDates

Upcoming Dates and their corrsepodinging questions...

06/30/04 - Tomorrow. My sister will hopefully depart for France for 6 weeks to study in Paris. Leave it to us until tonight to realize that her passport expired a month ago. Her flight leaves at 4PM. Will she be on it? Sources seem to say that it's all possible, and we're staying hopeful.

07/01/04 - Thursday. I will hopefully be moving into the new place in Philadelphia. Will the key to the house come in the mail tomorrow, so that it will make everything a lot easier? Only time will tell. My money is on yes. Will I rig up some sort of door to cover the opening to my room? I'm hoping to have this taken care of quickly. Doors are kind of important for privacy, and other reasons. If not a door, then a heavy curtain of some kind.

07/10/04 - Saturday. Trip to London begins with a flight from Dulles. Leaving on Saturday, returning on the next Friday. Staying in Kensington, wherever that is. Will I manage to get myself completely and utterly lost on the London Underground? Will English food be as bad as I've read about? Will England be as fantastic and incredible as my imagination has made it out to be?

All signs point to yes.

Posted by Matthew at 12:27 AM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2004

GeneralForm DS-156: Nonimmigrant Visa Application

Yeah, I have way too much free time now. I tend to read anything and everything I can get my hands on. Online newspapers are a boon to feed such boredom.

I came across an article today about a British journalist's harrowing detainment with US Immigration. The US has recently been requiring foreign journalists to declare themselves as such before entering the country, and requiring a special visa clearance.

Curious, I wanted to see what the application forms were like for a US Visa. From the US Department of State, I present form "DS-156: Nonimmigrant Visa Application":


click for larger version

It reads:

IMPORTANT: ALL APPLICANTS MUST READ AND CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX FOR EACH ITEM.
A visa may not be issued to persons who are within specific categories defined by law as inadmissible to the United States (except when a waiver is obtained in advance). Is any of the following applicable to you?
...
Do you seek to enter the United States to engage in export control violations, subversive or terrorist activities, or any other unlawful purpose? Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization as currently designated by the U.S. Secretary of State? Have you ever participated in persecutions directed by the Nazi government of Germany; or have you ever participated in genocide? YES NO

I don't know...perhaps it's a good idea to ask these questions on the Visa form. Knowing the US, there's probably a law somewhere that states that we have to ask. But I wonder if ANYONE has EVER checked the box for "YES." Their choice of terms is kind of interesting as well, whitewashing and equating the horror of mass killing with the past tense of "participate."

(A side note, I know, but further up on the form, it asks if one has ever been "a prostitute, or a procurer of prostitutes." It would be really cool if this one form, this otherwise boring government form, could use the word "pimp." Think about it, the possibility of a pimped-out government form.)

As a public service, I present our current Homeland Security Status:




Terror-Alert.com

Or, in a much more happier, "Muppet-ier" format....

Someday, I'm either A) Running for office, to bring some common sense to the country, B) Moving to Great Britain and praying things make more sense, or C) finding someone to check "YES" to the question.

I'll return to my normal inane ramblings tomorrow or the next day, and quite possibly answer the question "What if I held a party and nobody came?"

[Listening to: "Our Love", by Rhett Miller from the album "the instigator"]


Posted by Matthew at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2004

Generalfrom a conversation tonight...

JMC1371: Why do I think that your version of "Getting a grad degree in theater" consists of hiding in the Dan Rodden catwalks, chucking golf balls at actors for the next four years?
demizio: lol, hey, if I get away that easily I'll take it...chucking golf balls at actors is fun :-)

Posted by Matthew at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2004

GeneralReading

I really haven't been up to much lately. To enumerate, sparsely and chronologically -

I was sick and sleep deprived for most of last weekend. Most of the week was spent running errands around Baltimore. Friday night was a get together at Crit's house, which was fantastic. My "wife" (**cough**, you gotta love the Masque...) was there, and just happy conversations were all around. It was refreshing too, to talk to a couple of other grads who are in the same lurch that I feel I'm in - home, bored, no job, unsure of what's coming next, etc.

Speaking of, my timetable to move to Philadelphia has been moved back...right now the hope is to be completely in by the first week of July. I think I'm still at the point now where all that has to happen is a check-for-key exchange. That, and getting my stuff up to Philly. Hopefully the key will come this week, and I can get some stuff up there before Friday.

These past few days I've also been going through all the stuff that I've accumulated over the past four years. Most of it has gotten either piled in boxes in a corner of the basement (moved there gradually from the piles that were originally in the living room after each successive move-out) and in boxes in my closet in my room. I've found everything from three year old duty schedules, to notebooks from junior english classes, to papers from high school that I was convinced I had thrown away years ago. A lot of it got thrown away, finally. I did manage to relocate all of my play scripts from the past couple of years to my room.

What I have been doing the most of seems to be reading. In honor of Bloomsday being this past week, I picked up Ulysses. So far, so good - I'm about 300 pages (700 total, approximately) in and I'm still going strong. I like books where the author is really trying to screw with the reader's mind, or redefine the conventions of the novel. Joyce seems to do it chapter to chapter - a new experience every fifty pages.

Other that Ulysses, I've been reading a lot of stuff on-line. The more interesting articles are linked under the section "Blogrolling" to the right on this main page.

Blah...life is pretty mundane and boring now...I'm already anticipating next weekend.

[Listening to: "The Boy In The Bubble", by Paul Simon from the album "Graceland"]
Posted by Matthew at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)

June 09, 2004

GeneralRandom Thoughts...

  • On the Tony's...The awards were decent this year. Everyone seems to be talking about "Avenue Q" as David beating out the Goliath. It's kind of refreshing that an organized awards show can still reward the innovative, fresh and bizarre. The best quote I've found describing the reaction to Avenue Q's winning is from Lisa Bornstein, at the Rocky Mountain News: "...the boisterous, uncalculated response of the audience. Awards for Avenue Q brought screams and shouts for the little show that could. Even once they're famous, theater people are still the kids that hung out together in high school." [source]
  • Also on the Tony's...Yeah, so Brían F. O'Byrne's acceptance speech pleaded, nay; begged and demanded people come see his show "Frozen." I'd like to, I really would. However, it's darn near impossible for me to come see it, or any of the other nominated plays, with the cost of Broadway tickets being what they are. Tickets to "Frozen" begin at $80 according to Telecharge. I know people gotta eat, but only having one price bracket?
  • On Assassins...Man, I have nothing but fond memories of Assassins from La Salle. Really kind of cool to have worked on a production that occurred before the production that most will remember. I'm still hoping that they release another cast recording from this version, perhaps one with "Something Just Broke" included. Assassins also suffers from the above complaint, with decent tickets being well over $50.
  • My season for next year...According to the Villanova website, these are the shows that the program is mounting for the '04-'05 season:
    ART
    by Yasmina Reza
    translated by Christopher Hampton
    directed by Harriet Power
    October 5-17, 2004
    THE VISIT
    by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
    adapted by Maurice Valency
    directed by Jonathan Carr
    November 9-12, 2004
    TWELFTH NIGHT or, What You Will
    by William Shakespeare
    directed by James J. Christy
    February 15-27, 2005
    BIG RIVER
    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    music & lyrics by Roger Miller
    book by William Hauptman
    adapted from the novel by Mark Twain
    directed by Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A.
    April 5-24, 2005
    More info is available here I'm kind of excited. Of the shows, I've only seen "Art" before, and that was in New York when Wayne Knight and George Segal were in it. I didn't care for it at the time, hopefully I'll enjoy working on it more than I enjoyed watching it.
  • I finally got the last of my stuff unpacked today from what I took home from La Salle. The boxes and bags had been sitting in our living room, making a huge mess of the place. I had gotten most of the essentials out right after getting home, of course, but the boxes of papers, desk supplies, kitchen stuff, and winter clothing remained. I'm a packrat, but I wound up throwing out a good deal of stuff that I'll never need again. I also found the remote control to my little television which is an incredible help...I had thought it was lost forever. It was a walk down memory lane, seeing all of the papers from the last year: duty schedules, flyers that were never posted, birthday cards, programs, maps, RA conference binders, Masque documents, scripts, notebooks from first semester...
The trip to Philadelphia fell through for today. It was a productive day at home, though.

Just very tired now...not sure what's up for Wednesday yet.

Posted by Matthew at 02:28 AM | Comments (0)

June 07, 2004

GeneralThe FCC

Just a quick link tonight...http://www.pythonline.com/plugs/idle/index.shtml. In his words:

"Here’s a little song I wrote the other day while I was out duck hunting with a judge… It’s a new song, it’s dedicated to the FCC and if they broadcast it, it will cost a quarter of a million dollars."

Gotta love the Pythons...

Posted by Matthew at 01:37 AM | Comments (0)

June 05, 2004

GeneralGallery

Highlight for today was getting some small things up and running on this web site: the main page looks a little different now.

Also configured Gallery, which is a script that helps organize photo albums from large amounts of photos.

Photos from Senior Week (I took) and Commencement (my sister took) commencement are here: http://www.demizio.com/gallery/commenc050904

The main link for all of the galleries is here: http://www.demizio.com/gallery/.

Enjoy; more tomorrow probably...things are slow here for the most part.

Posted by Matthew at 02:23 AM | Comments (0)

June 02, 2004

GeneralPhiladelphia, land of neon bells, miraculous sleep, and escalators that talk in the first person

I spent Friday and some of Saturday in Philadelphia. Took the train up Friday afternoon and met James at 30th Street Station. We wandered around the city for a bit, grabbing dinner somewhere off of Pine Street. Finally had the opportunity to see the Barnes and Noble at Rittenhouse Square which was incredibly huge and somewhere I'll need to drop by again.

Friday night was the Phillies game with James. I have never sat closer to a ball game than I did that night - 7 rows back on the 3rd base line. The game itself was fantastic - it was a beautiful night, and the temprature was perfect. Extra innings concluded with a thrilling game-winning home run at the bottom of the 10th inning by Perez. Incredible... The picture above is from the neon Liberty Bell swinging after the home run.

Went back to La Salle and slept at Graham's for the night. The couch in the living room, despite being seemingly identical to every single other La Salle couch, actually allows for a decent night's sleep. Whereas the couch in Katharine's the summer of Day One duty two years ago allowed for half-hour bouts of sleep, this one allows for a full night's uninterrupted rest. Woke up Saturday morning, completely refreshed, and said hello to Amy, Jess, Chris, and Scott on their way to the shore. I headed downtown to 30th Street Station.

The only real memorable thing about the trip home occurred at 30th Street, on the escalator going down to the train platform. For safety, there was a recording playing at the top and the bottom of the stairs. The one at the top was pretty banal - "Please hold onto the handrail..." - however, the second recording caught me off guard because of its peculiarity. The message ran along the line of "We're nearing the end of the escalator. Please step off at the bottom. Thank you for your cooperation."

I still can't figure out why the recording used "we're" instead of "you're." Why the strange plural of the first person? Is it more reassuring to disembark from this escalator with the idea that this disembodied voice is right there with you going along the way? Wouldn't a strong, commanding voice do a better job? And why wasn't the recording at the top of the stairs done in the same style? It struck me as odd because I've never heard any other safety message (I'm thinking Disney monorails, bus and subway recordings, and those Emergency Alert System messages in particular) recorded in the first person.

I dunno, just kind of odd. But on the whole, Philadelphia was a blast. I can't wait to move back.

Speaking of, I've kind of set a date of June 15th to move my stuff up and begin inhabiting the house on Dexter Street in Manayunk. Now, I'll probably come home and stuff for a couple weeks, just to beat the heat and stuff, but the 15th seems like a good date to get out of here and back into Philadelphia.

Additionally, I've set the date for a graduation party at my house in MD - June 26th. If you're reading this, then you're probably invited anyway - pretty much anyone from La Salle/CHC/my past is invited, as I'm going for a huge shindig full of randomness. I'm going to get a formal invite out to people this week with directions and stuff. Leave me a message on the journal with your email, or drop me a line by email and I'll get you the details.

Other than that, the past couple of days have been dedicated to random errands and catching up with movies I missed. Saw "The Last Samuari" on Saturday, and was incredibly impressed. The acting was very well done...Ken Watanabe and Tom Cruise especially. The intriguing story about honor and devotion was well crafted with the panoramaic views of the Japanese hillside. It kind of felt like a Japanese "Braveheart" with more philosophy behind the characters' actions. After seeing it on DVD, I was sorry to have missed it in the theater, as it would have seemed even more majestic on the big screen.

Saturday, I finally saw "In America". This was one I had passed up at the Ritz for a while, although I had really wanted to see it. It's the story of an Irish family struggling to adjust to the death of their son after immigrating to New York. It's a film about people coming to terms with things, and it's incredibly emotional. The two girls were superb, playing the two daughters. The kids are what makes this film - the film is very much shown through their eyes. One of the most effective devices to this is Jim Sheridan's moving full frame in and out of the viewfinder of the older daughter's camera: we're both seeing what is happening in the present as we experience what will become her memories. It's a tearjerker, which can be good every once in a while.

Finally, saw "House of Sand and Fog". Incredibly well-acted, but depressing in the end. It's a beautiful film - the shots are lovingly crafted, and the acting is dead on. It all works incredibly well. There was a review that I read that talked about the objectivity of Perelman's camera - that no action seems judged, and that things just are carried out as they would happen as though the characters were living real life. It's a definite compliment to the actors to pull that off, and to the director as well, as its hard not to want to be heavy-handed with touches to sway the emotional pool of the audience to a certain side. In the end, it's a great film, but a depressing sequence of events, although I'm at a loss to see how it could have been resolved so that all people could save face and remain on top.

Bah, this was a long entry...But it felt good to write it again. I haven't been typing much since Commencement

Happy June!

[Listening to: "Cindy", by Tammany Hall]

Posted by Matthew at 12:36 AM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2004

GeneralA good mix

Today was just a good day all around because I got a good mix of things done. Last night I finished unpacking the books that were downstairs and kind of reorganized the shelves in my room (I now have a section specifically for plays and drama books...I know: I'm a nerd.) I went for a run just after I got up, which got me awake and ready for some other stuff. Finished off another round of thank you notes to those people whose cards and gifts came this past week. I got my transcript request set for Villanova, and finally did the rebate for the cell phone. Tonight I went for a drive with my father, got Rita's Water Ice, and talked for a bit.

Now, this probably sounds like 5 minutes of work to most, but with what my work ethic has become in the last few weeks of summer, this was a major day of accomplishment. Aside from the running, which I've been doing pretty regularly, I've been a lazy boor these last couple of weeks. With no job, and nothing really to accomplish, my days have passed with friends, hanging out, "Law and Order" reruns, writing some stuff, "West Wing" reruns, jogging, biking, and hanging out with the parents. It's been pretty boring. Excruciatingly boring.

Still, it beats summer school, writing papers, or a job, I guess. Except for the influx of money, of course...I've decided to move into the place in Philly (confirmed, as of a few days ago) in mid-June, which should be at the point where I'll be at my most bored and ready to do the most drastic thing possible to affect the monotony, which is the move itself.

One thing I still need to do before I leave is plan and execute a graduation party here. I want it to be a pretty big event, and want to get as many people as I can down from the greater La Salle area. I'm looking at some weekend in June at this point - any suggestions?

I'm taking the train up to Philly tomorrow for the evening, for a Phillies game with James, my friend and former MATLC supervisor. The train gets into the city around 4pm, and I'll wander for a couple of hours. After the game, I'll crash at La Salle in the townhouses for a night, and head back on Saturday. And I'll be back home just in time for the monotony to hit all over again...

It'll get better, I keep promising myself.

2 links to enjoy: http://nerrbodyindaclubgettintips.com/ and http://dontforgetmyinternet.com/...you have to have your speakers on to get the full effect.

[Listening to: "Alice", by Tom Waits from the album "Alice"]

Posted by Matthew at 01:13 AM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2004

GeneralCrazy party weekend


Dave, Graham, Jezebel and Chris at Ali's this past weekend...(click for full-size)

Saturday was spent in Gaithersburg and (I think?) Silver Spring for Ali's graduation cookout - she herself seems to want to call it that rather than a party, per se. It was a fantastic time...took the usual crap from people about being one who lives in Baltimore but who doesn't eat crabs (never acquired the taste, remember, I'm a transplant) and played a couple of mean games of badmitton.

The party moved to Ali's houses in G'burg, with Scott, Graham, Dave, Jess, Kristen, Dave, Crit and Ali. I got lost and wound up in Northern Virginia for about 20 minutes when I-495 decided to split from 270... found her house eventually, and went inside. Watched "Gremlins" which was as fun as I seem to remember it from way back. The night cumulated in a rousing 2am game of "Never Have I Ever," that was just a lot of fun to play with the gang there.

Woke up late on Sunday, and drove back to Baltimore. Again, I got lost and wound up taking I-270 to Route 70 to I-695 rather than the much easier 495 to 95 to 695, but the drive showed me some pretty country as I made it through like 6 Maryland counties on the way home. Went over to Brendan's apartment for a while and hung out with a couple of old friends, and some new ones. We watched "Love Actually" which despite my initial reservations (predicting that it would be overly sappy) proved to be quite charming. I think the charm came from the overacheiving premise - trying to do so much actually made it a better film.

I finally crashed at around 4am Sunday morning. Came home after going to lunch with Derek and Brendan. Showered, and just kind of hung out for the rest of today. Tonight was spent trying to download "Where the Streets Have No Name" to my cell phone for a ringtone...

I think my goal tomorrow is to finish as much unpacking as is humanly possible. My room from La Salle is still boxed up in the living room downstairs. Most of it can stay boxed until the move, but a lot of it can be filed and packed away.

Oh yeah, if you have yet to see this, please do: Jon Stewart's Commencement Address to the College of William and Mary. Incredibly funny (and kind of touching) remarks.

[Listening to: "Wandering", by Ben Folds]
Posted by Matthew at 01:45 AM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2004

GeneralKeeping busy

I've been kind of busy these last couple of days, finding things to get done and keep busy with. Had my car's oil changed today. Saw "28 Days Later" with Brendan last week (fantastic film. Good times with an old friend) Went to Kinko's to get my friend Tom's stories copied (they're really, really good...he's Writer's Workshop at U of Iowa bound...) Went running every day this week. Went to Best Buy yesterday and picked up the second season of the West Wing on DVD (fantastic..."2 Cathedrals" is probably my favorite episode) Saw "The Godfather: Part 2" last week (wow...all I can say is wow to the depth of the story that Coppola and Puzo create...)Thoroughly cleaned my keyboard today (yeah, I know, I'm a nerd...) I also got a haircut today, so I can finally see out of my eyes without the long straight hairs in the front obscuring things.

I've also spent some time fixing up my father's mountain bike up the last few days, as my bike was destroyed when I learned the hard way that I couldn't pull that far into the garage. It's my hope to get it in a decent condition to take it back on the North Central Railroad trail, and perhaps go a little further than I've been before along it's path. The trail runs right alongside the neighborhood that I live in. My sister and I made it to Monkton one summer, a distance of like 8 miles from our house. It goes into York, PA, and the entire length runs about 40 miles. I love biking the trail - the catch is realizing that the farther one makes it up the trail, the farther one has to travel to return. I would have probably been on the trail tonight, had the rain not hit.

The only thing I've had a problem with fixing on the bike are the brakes. Both are a little loose: the rear one offers no resistance at all, while the front will stop the bike eventually. The trail itself isn't too hilly, however, I would still like to be able to stop at some point.

The other really good return that I've had this week was a return to writing. I finally took some time over the last two days to sit and get some stuff out. I usually complain that I never have the time to write, or that my schedule never permits it, but that's usually not the case. I hadn't been feeling anything recently that I've absolutely had to get out onto paper. The last couple of days have been a return to making myself put something down. What I've written isn't much; it's fleshing out a story that's been in the back of my mind since January tentatively titled, "Yellow Roses." I kind of see being somewhere in the middle of a first draft. I tend to handwrite my first drafts on legal pads and then work through another draft getting it into the computer. The good part is that this one has its opening and conclusion, and what I feel is left fits squarely in the middle all over the place.

Other than that, things have been kind of boring the past couple of days. I'm trying to keep busy because it minimizes thoughts of La Salle, and my friends that are up in Philadelphia. I've been kind of lonely since getting home. It's been tough going from Senior Week - a week of constant interactions with friends - to these last couple of weeks - where my interaction has been mainly with my parents, sister, and her dog. I wish I were working right now just to be making some money, although I'm loving the time off and know that no one here would hire me back for the incredibly short time I'm going to be here (my best estimates put me back in Philadelphia in Mid-June) This weekend should be fun - Ali is having her grad party on Saturday, and Brendan is having his on Sunday.

If the thunderstorms hold off tomorrow, I'll probably hit the trail with the bike. If not, more errands will be made up and run. And yes, more pages will be written.

[Listening to: "Dreaming of You", by The Coral from the album "The Coral"]
Posted by Matthew at 12:49 AM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2004

GeneralLyrics day

Twentysomething by Jamie Cullum

After years of expensive education
A car full of books and anticipation
I'm an expert on Shakespeare and that's a hell of a lot
But the world don't need scholars as much as I thought
Maybe I'll go travelling for a year
Finding myself, or start a career
Could work the poor, though I'm hungry for fame
We all seem so different but we're just the same
Maybe I'll go to the gym, so I don't get fat
Aren't things more easy, with a tight six pack
Who knows the answers, who do you trust
I can't even seperate love from lust
Maybe I'll move back home and pay off my loans
Working nine to five, answering phones
But don't make me live for Friday nights
Drinking eight pints and getting in fights
Maybe I'll just fall in love
That could solve it all
Philosophers say that that's enough
There surely must be more
Love ain't the answer, nor is work
The truth elludes me so much it hurts
But I'm still having fun and I guess that's the key
I'm a twentysomething and I'll keep being me.

It was on the Conan O'Brien show the other night, and I caught it on a rerun on Comedy Central. Fantastic performance, a really interetsing song. I bought the album today - different, but very decent.

Things are well. Update tonight, possibly. Probably going biking right about now... cheers.

Posted by Matthew at 05:15 PM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2004

General3 Things (or: To strive, to seek, to find...)


MT, me, Steve, and Kevin after Commencement (click for full size)

That image is the first one. I personally feel that it's the best one to come out of the pics that my parents took at graduation so far. Maybe it's the quality...more likely the composition of the four of us, friends since freshman year.

Secondly: I think I've found a place to live. After the trip up yesterday, the place in Manayunk looks really good. I need to call and finalize things tomorrow, but I think it can and will work out. The date still feels up in the air although I think I'm shooting for mid-June now - just enough time to get things settled here, and catch up with people before going to find fame and fortune (well, mainly fortune through the form of some sort of employment) in the Philadelphia area.

Finally, a poem...it was on the last episode of Frasier tonight, but it feels relevant now to some of the choices I've made recently.

Ulysses

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,---
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me ---
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads --- you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
-- Alfred, Lord Tennyson


Cheers to all.


Posted by Matthew at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2004

GeneralNow what...?

Freshman year came and went.

Sophomore year and Junior year, in a blur, came and went.

Senior year went.

Senior Week came and went...

Commencement came and went.

The question that I've been asking the most in the past couple of days is "Now what?" The diploma, spelled and annotated correctly, is sitting on the dining room table downstairs, waiting to be framed. I'm almost unpacked - although that probably won't be complete for a while.

My answers have pretty much been along the lines of "Get a job," (surprisingly not just from parents but from friends as well) and "Find a place to live." It's strange though, but until late August, I have nothing to do, nowhere to be. Just as I was getting used to the daily life at La Salle (ha!) I had to go and graduate.

Senior week was interesting at first, and then became more fun as the week progressed. I lost $20 in Atlantic City ($10 of my own, $10 of what we were given) on Monday, but had a great time with the people there. Tuesday was the cruise on the Spirit of Philadelphia. Fantastic time - great food, good friends, and some dancing. Day Done on Wednesday was all right - a good idea, but underattended and more sessions would have been nice. Thursday I got really sunburned at the Phillies Game, but had an awesome time anyway. Friday night was spent in Old City and Finnigan's Wake with my class (and the RD's Kristal, James, and Mike Imperato.)

I'll always remember the week for the random memories - Uno as a drinking game, Club Lounge, shots with James at Finnegan's, beer pong in the lounge (?!?!?!? ), talking with people on the Neumann porch...it was a really, really fun week.

Saturday's Baccalaureate Mass was another good time. Brother Gerry had written in an email earlier on that we'd probably get more out of the mass than the commencement ceremony itself, and that proved to be right, I think. I was really happy to be at one last mass with Fr. Bebe, who has been a friend for the past four years. I had never been at the Cathedral Basilica before, besides a quick visit on Good Friday. Beautiful church, and the Mass was very well done too.

The actual commencement ceremony was also very well done. It was a fitting conclusion to everything that my class accomplished over the past four years. I wound up sitting in the front row of the far left section of everyone on the field, with Steve Martin to my right, and Tom McAllister to my right, with Kevin and the other friends all around. We managed to keep things entertaining through the more boring parts of the ceremony. Pretty much the entire extended family was there, and we had a good time right after before everyone had to get going. Then my parents, sister and I went to dinner before venturing back to the hotel. I left town on Monday.

I'll post pictures up eventually. The film pictures came out better than my digital pics...and there are more of them.

I've been spending the past couple of days getting things in order. I got a cell phone yesterday, despite my earlier vows to never get one. Message me online or through email to get the number. demizio.com is still getting back to normal, and I lost a couple of posts, but the wonkiness should finally be ironed out.

Tomorrow I think I'm driving up to Philadelphia again to take a look at the probable place to live. Besides that, I'll probably drop by La Salle, and not sure what else. It should be a good time though.

Nothing but time in the next two months - nothing but time.

(things could be a lot worse. )

[Listening to: "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters", by Elton John]
Posted by Matthew at 10:40 PM | Comments (1)

May 10, 2004

GeneralI am home

Just a short note to say that I'm home in Hunt Valley now, and will be for a couple of weeks.

I finally got a cell phone as well. Email/IM me if you'd like the number.

Back to unpacking and reorganzing the room - much more tonight.

Posted by Matthew at 04:57 PM | Comments (0)

April 29, 2004

GeneralCom Department Senior Sendoff

Senior Sendoff
Senior Sendoff to the Class of 2004 (click for larger image)

Just the picture for now...I said what I wanted to last night

Posted by Matthew at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

GeneralReflection

My advice

Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

My advice to people at La Salle and in general hasn't changed much in four years:

  • "Follow your bliss," as Campbell said. Find what you're passionate about and explore that until the ends to which it takes you.

  • Do something every day that scares you, even if it's just a little scare (this I stole from the "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen" song from 8 years ago.)

  • Go to your classes - you're paying for them (or you will be) and it's the easiest way to get a good grade.

  • Get to know your professors - more than a few are people beyond their jobs who enjoy interacting with students.

  • Blue and Gold Breakfast is the best meal of the day by far.

  • Don't be afraid to make connections between your classes: realizing those connections is what the whole "liberal arts" thing (which you complain about so much) is all about

  • Make your voice heard in RSA or SGA or through a student organization. They have money to spend acting in your interests, and have clout to get what you want done. On the reverse side of this, help these organizations out with your time and energy.

  • The All Campus Formal is an awesome time for a small amount of money.

  • Never turn down a midnight pretzel run.

  • Get into the city! Learn how to take the subway to get to the parts of Philadelphia that interest you. Go into the city whenever you can.

  • If you have a car, learn how to get to the Wawa in Germantown. This will save you during exam weeks, and probably make you some friends. (For the record: Go out towards the TC Apartments on Chew, and keep going until Chew dead ends. Make a left. Make a right. It's on your left hand side.

And that's it, I think.

The People
La Salle has always been about the people for me. I'm here because of a few chance relationships that I formed in my senior year at Calvert Hall. I first applied on the advice of Bro. Mike Tidd, who had done graduate work here. I met Sid MacLeod randomly when he came to film something in the Honors Center at CHC. He got to talking about the Communication department, and I wound up getting a Christmas card and a random note from him in February asking about how the search was coming. In April, I think it was, I went to an open house here where I heard a professor speak about her experiences here. I was sitting on the far left side of the Dan Rodden Theatre, and she hobbled in on crutches. She didn't even take the stage, but she spoke so eloquently and effectively from where she was at the foot of the audience that I knew I was sold. Her dedication was just so evident - dedication not only to La Salle, but also to her profession and the people that she taught and worked with. That professor, I realized later, was Dr. Gauss, of the School of Business Administration, whose daughter I got to know through the Masque.

I speak about the people now because they're what I'm going to miss. They're what I'm going to always remember - that sense of family that came through on so many joyous occasions - Opening weekend, Commencements, Masses, Carnifalls, CAJHFests, MATLC BBQ's, plays and musicals - and on so many dark days - deaths, gas main fires, power outages. I feel weird when I describe the sense of family that exists at La Salle, but it's there. There's the game of "Six Degrees of Separation" in which one is able to connect a person to any other person on the planet through a maximum of six other people. If the game is played at La Salle, I'm a firm believer that it becomes "One Degree..." or at most "Two Degrees..."

In many ways, I can say that the last 5 months have been some of the most active times in which I've made new friends. Some of these friends I've gotten to know quite well, and others I've barely scratched the surface with. I hope our relationships continue - all of you. I've said that a lot lately: Kiss the Wall, with seniors standing on main campus, talking one on one... Commencement, to me has always meant "MOVE ON;" however, none of us are going to blink out of existence on May 9th at 11am (or 2pm, depending on the rain...) So seek us out; for the most part, you're on my buddy list. Don't be a stranger, and if we've meant something, don't allow us to be strangers either. On the other hand, let us know when we've become annoying and you need us to move on.

I deeply feel that every person that I've met over these last four years has affected me in some way. I remember reading in a great book this theory called "Locard's Exchange Principle." The gist of this principle is that whenever someone passes through a room, they unwittingly leave something and take something else away. I think that the chance meetings that occur every day adhere to this principle - everyone we meet, and everywhere we go, we both gain something for ourselves and give something to someone else. I know I at least feel that way after all of the meetings and run-ins that I've had at La Salle over these four years. Some of my gifts were significant, but many were minimal. The same goes for the gifts that I received: but realize that they have all affected me.

The important thing in the end became not what was said, or what the content of the conversation was, but that it was said, that we were in that place at that moment, together. In a way, life is merely a series of chance meetings played out over time. We make of them what we want and what we can.

I guess what I'm trying to say in my flowery language is thank you to all the people that I've worked with, met, studied with, acted with, talked with, ate with, ran with, whatever - thank you for affecting me and for helping to make me who I am right now. I sincerely hope, and know a great deal, that many people feel the same way. I wish you the best in whatever you want to do - whatever it is that you're passionate about, even if the passion is only for a short while.

I don't know what it is that I'm fully trying to say. My experience will not be everyone's experience. I don't want it to be. Still, there's an overwhelming urge to pass things on. I'm the guy that can't let things go unsaid to people (which has gotten me into some interesting situations, let me tell you...)

So La Salle, thank you again. I'll miss the family, but I still will be around, if distant.

Right Now

I'm done with all of my undergraduate work.

Aside from checkout duty, I'm finished with all of my CA responsibilities.

I am content. No regrets. Nothing left unsaid for the most part. Four years later I feel enriched, happy, content, and ready for what is coming next.

I'm losing my computer on Friday morning, so I will be out of touch for most of the days in the next week. If you're at Commencement, look for me. Drop me an email. Don't be a stranger.

A song that I just heard recently for the first time:
"Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall" by Simon and Garfunkel
Through the corridors of sleep
Past the shadows dark and deep
My mind dances and leaps in confusion.
I don't know what is real,
I can't touch what I feel
And I hide behind the shield of my illusion.

Chorus:
So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And flowers never bend
With the rainfall.

The mirror on my wall
Casts an image dark and small
But I'm not sure at all it's my reflection.
I am blinded by the light
Of God and truth and right
And I wander in the night without direction.

:Chorus:

It's no matter if you're born
To play the King or pawn
For the line is thinly drawn 'tween joy and sorrow,
So my fantasy
Becomes reality,
And I must be what I must be and face tomorrow.

:Chorus:

And one final note: if you're going to comment on this entry, I'd ask that you be kind. I apologize if I've sounded wistful or self-righteous. I do like comments, but keep this last line in mind.

[Listening to: "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall", by Simon & Garfunkel from the album "Old Friends"]
Posted by Matthew at 02:27 AM | Comments (1)

April 27, 2004

GeneralProfessor Quotes from Spring Semester, 2004

(As a general practice, I try to collect quotes from my professors as the semester rolls on. They are recorded at the top of my notebook pages and attributed with the date. These come from the files...discretion advised for the Bill Wine quotes. )

Dr. Geff Kelly, REL 271 - Travel Study to Ireland

"Dancing with a man...just not my style." (regarding parties while he was in the monostary) - 1/23/04

"We weren't allowed to look women in the face...of course, we all did, what the hell..." -3/19/04

Dr. Joseph Volpe, HON 330 - Democratic Vistas

"That marker's pretty potent" - Steve Martin
"Yeah. I'm getting high." - Dr. Volpe - 2/24/04

"California. It's deadening." - 3/9/04

"It's our last class so I can say things that are exceptionally stupid." - 4/20/04


Prof. Bill Wine, COM 204 - Film as Art

"Shut the hell up you liars! You wanted to see it as much as I did!" - 1/21/04

"When did you fall in love between fucking gunshots?" - 1/28/04

"You're gonna get good drunken acting out of drunken actors." -2/4/04

"Neo, get the fuck up in the air about five minutes earlier!" (On Neo fighting Agent Smith in the Matrix) - 2/9/04

"That's God doing his work through me. Sorry, I just sat through a Mel Gibson film." - 3/8/04

"He's got a stack of blue books, he's probably drunk, put some fuckin' effort into it!" - 3/5/04

"I'm not sure why I'm laughing. Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you." -4/19/04

Prof. Bill Wine, COM 324 - Film History

"Would you pull the doors closed? I may want to curse." - 1/29/04

"The review ends and the idiot anchor across the desk says, "Just tell us Bill, is it a chick flick?" And you just want to say, "Eat shit and die." -1/29/04

"Steal from everywhere" (on sources for the essay) - 1/29/04

"Well, I'm sadistic, and it pleases me." (on making what could easily be a 5 page paper no more than one page) - 1/29/04

"This is me getting back at the world for having to do one fucking movie in one minute." (again, about the paper) - 1/29/04

"Fox...I always leave Fox out...what an amazing Freudian slip." - 2/18/04

"After film noir, you may feel you need to take a shower or see a comedy or a musical." - 2/19/04

"Film noir...people getting in touch with their emotions at the most inopportune times." - 2/19/04

"When 2001 opened, people thought it was beautiful. I mean, most of them were stoned, but..." - 2/26/04

"About a year after I die, mail them to me in hell." - 3/18/04

"Did you buy that shit-eating smile, or was it here when you got here?" - 3/25/04

"Are we lawbreakers? Look to my left - she's stoned. Look to my right - he's stoned. Yes!" - 3/25/04

"Plagarize your little asses off. Just tell me who you're plagirizing from." - 4/15/04

"I'm not looking for a hip-hop treatise." - 4/15/04

"That movie is about telling your brother to punch you in the face." (on Raging Bull) - 4/15/04

"All right, Joe, everyone has to answer the questions except you. (a beat) Fuck you!" - 4/22/04

"So if you had a paper due, or you're a thoroughly irresponsible human being..." - 4/22/04


Posted by Matthew at 03:23 AM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2004

GeneralMATLC Big Fun Thing


MATLC Staff, '03-'04 (click to enlarge)

I put the pictures that I took from the TCLAM Bake...aka, the MATLC Big Fun Thing (to me, as I dislike the other name) online. Click Here For The Pictures.

That's all for right now. Masque Formal tonight. Professor Quotes up here sometime this week. The end approacheth.

Posted by Matthew at 06:38 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2004

General"Long Live God...Prepare Ye the Way"

(again, I know, my webhosting company is being flaky. Bear with for a while...)

Godspell proved to be the time of my life. I loved every single moment that I was on stage - despite the sweat dripping on my brow, the constant stress and falling down during the dance numbers, and all of the negatives that I percieved in the back of my mind. My parents said that they never saw me as happy as they did up on the stage, and I believed them. It was a ball. The show proved to be 2 hours of fun with 9 other people that were having the time of their lives.

I fell for the first three nights we ran the entire show (dress rehearsal, thursday, and friday.) What struck me was how quickly I got up again - the thursday fall was after bows, when I ran smack into a support beam (painted black) that was holding the ramp up. I fell, stood up, and was still smiling, and continued smiling running out of the theater. The adreneline carried me. Ditto went for Saturday, when I plopped onto my ass during "We Beseech Thee." I got back up and was back into the song as though nothing had happened. Why I mention these, I don't know, but it may work out to be some huge life lesson about getting back up again - I don't know if I would have done as I did - smiling - 2 months ago, before Godspell.

To the cast, thank you...we made magic together, and had fun doing it. To the crew, I meant what I said, you are the consumate professionals of the theatre even when the rest of the actors were goofing off. You rock.

If you came, thank you...you were such a huge asset to the entire show - the audience. Every night was wonderful, every night was different, but each night the audience fed us the energy we needed to make the show great.

I don't know if I'll ever act again...everything with acting is so focused - where are my hands? what's the next line? what's my next line? where should I be standing? - Everything becomes so deliberate. The trick becomes getting it to be second nature, it seems - so that every action and every line becomes instinctual and inherent to the one before it.

I really can't believe it's all over...I keep expecting another another call, another show, another night with an audience, and it's not happening.

I have no regrets about never acting before this, just as I have no regrets about anything that I've done at La Salle. Things have worked out too well for me to complain and nitpick - I would never have believed how far I've come in four short years...the things I've done and tried, the people I've met, and just the random minutae of college life that just happens!

But now I seem to be babbling quite a bit..

My (rather wonderfully pathetic) end of the year countdown:

  • 3 Nights of Duty (Thusday, Sunday, Wednesday)
  • 2 exams, both on Monday (Film as Art, Film History)
  • 1 reflection paper for Volpe (5 pages...easy as pie...)

[Listening to: " Finale ", by Godspell Spring 04 CD]

Posted by Matthew at 02:12 AM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2004

Generaldemizio.com flakiness...

The last couple days have seen my web hosting provider switch without my realizing. As a result, things seem slow on the site and thnigs were unavailable for a while.

I think the majority of the problems are over now, however, I'm not 100% sure.

Updates should continue later tonight.

Posted by Matthew at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2004

GeneralOpening night...

I've never really acted in front of an audience before. My theatrical experience has always been behind the scenes - usually lighting.

Tonight was an experience.

To begin with, I was positive that I was going to forget every single one of my lines once I saw people - any people - in the audience. I had convinced myself that I could do the show as long as no one was looking up at me. The eyes would completely throw me off.

For Godspell, Louis has given the cast free reign to wander the audience before the show, and during intermission. "Great," I thought, "Now I'll know exactly who's watching me."

I was doubly screwed...

But it all came off without a hitch. Or without a hitch that would destroy the show. Sure, lines were flubbed and dropped, entrances were late, and the light cues may have been off for a bit (it's amazing how I didn't notice AT ALL because I was so into what we were doing...)

It went wonderfully. We fed off of the audience's laughter, we held for applause. The show went fantastic. People clapped along. People sang along (I think)...people were in tears, or near that point (as they told me later.)

It was a fantastic night. 3 more left.


The Masque of La Salle presents...

Godspell


Book by: John Michael Tebelak
Lyrics by: Stephen Schwartz
Music by: Stephen Schwartz
Based on The Gospel According to St. Matthew

Dan Rodden Theatre:
April 15, 16, 17 @ 8PM
April 18th @ 2PM

[Listening to: "Glory Days", by Bruce Springsteen from the album "The Essential Bruce Springsteen"]
Posted by Matthew at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2004

GeneralGodspell Information

The Masque of La Salle presents...

Godspell


Book by: John Michael Tebelak
Lyrics by: Stephen Schwartz
Music by: Stephen Schwartz
Based on The Gospel According to St. Matthew

Dan Rodden Theatre:
April 15, 16, 17 @ 8PM
April 18th @ 2PM

That's pretty much all for now. Easter was wonderful. Rehearsal was exhausting. Bought my cap and gown today, which only fuels my lack of desire to get any work done from now until the end of the year.

Posted by Matthew at 11:34 PM | Comments (0)

April 08, 2004

General2 Quotes from a favorite author...

All I have tonight are 2 quotes from my favorite (probably) author, Pat Conroy (both seemingly indirectly related it seems):

"I wanted to become the seeker, the aroused and passionate explorer, and it was better going at it knowing nothing at all, always choosing the unmarked bottle, always choosing your own unproven method, armed with nothing but faith and a belief in astonishment."-- Pat Conroy, The Lords of Discipline

"Loss is a fiercer, more uncompromising teacher, coldhearted but clear-eyed in its understanding that life is more dilemma than game, and more trial than free pass." --Pat Conroy, My Losing Season
[Listening to: "Troubled Times", by Fountains Of Wayne from the album "Utopia Parkway"]
Posted by Matthew at 01:04 AM | Comments (0)

April 06, 2004

GeneralRehearsal Highlight

So, the highlight of rehearsal tonight came when, during "We Beseech Thee," I stuck my right foot forward intending to pivot, and instead, catch my left foot and fell down on the stage. Louis, in all of his director's sarcasm and glory, walks from his seat in the center of the house to directly in front of me and asks me, politely, "Please try not to ruin the show."

I'm laughing about it now...I laughed then too. I have two left feet, and they were even more unresponsive during rehearsal today than they usually are. I'm getting used to laughing at myself a lot more lately after doing this play. My outer shell is cracking - a shell that I'm not sure I fully realized was there, let alone the people around me.

I'm off to sleep now...the quote was probably the most memorable thing about today.

Quote:


"If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music in which he hears, however measured, or far away." - Henry David Thoreau

[Listening to: "She Will Be Loved", by Maroon 5 from the album "Songs About Jane"]
Posted by Matthew at 12:39 AM | Comments (1)

April 01, 2004

GeneralTangents

Tonight's entry is brought to you by the fine people at "Random Thinking Inc. - Where Lines of Thought Don't Have To Make Sense."

Yeah, I somehow made a new friend tonight at La Salle - another senior, who I don't believe I had ever seen before tonight (that's the weirdest part I think) when I visited someone else tonight. It's refreshing...and kind of strange, that even with an institution as small as La Salle is, there are still people that I've never seen. Strange and humbling, I guess...I thought I knew, or could at least recognize most of my class, or at least be like "Oh, she roomed with my friend's tennis partner during the first semester of sophomore year."

So, what else of my life? Life has been class and rehearsal pretty constantly these last couple of days. Class is class...everything is going well, the grades are good. Saw "The Godfather" for the first time tonight, for Film History. It's one of the best, if not the best, films that I've ever seen. I'm finally caught up in my reading and writing assignments for Democratic Vistas...more on that below.

Godspell continues to come along. I continue to both amuse and amaze myself with the show: amuse myself at not being able to learn the choreography on the first try, and then amaze myself a few tries later when I nail it...only to forget it a few seconds later. We still have a heck of a lot of blocking to do, and we open 2 weeks from tonight. I'm nervous, but enthusiastic and confident, and the cast seems to feel the same way, generally.

I mailed my acceptance off to Villanova today - filled out and signed their little postcard and dropped it in the mailbox at the corner of 20th and Olney. I've made a decision, I think, and a large part of me is relieved and grateful that there is now some certainty to the next couple of months. Until I have to find a place to live. Until I have to find a job. Until whatever little decision has to be made is made in order for the huge decision of Villanova to work is made.

On another idealistic tangent... (This came up tonight, I swear.)
The most beautiful sound that I've ever found is the sound of a person's true laugh - that sound that you can tell eminantes from deep within a person's soul and escapes the mouth with absolutely no self-consciousness, self-awareness, or judgement to echo and explode with others around to hear it. Whether it be a cackle, a roar, a snort - whatever. It is, in my opinion, the most beautiful sound in the entire world. You can tell when a person is holding back on laughing, or when self-consciousness enters the picture...or maybe it's just me. I tend to notice sometimes...I guess its as good as currency for someone involved in the theater. One of the quotes in my email signature file is: "The applause of a single human being is of great consequence." -- Samuel Johnson I think laughter falls along the same line.

Finally, some quotes from Richard Rorty, the current theorist that we're reading and debating in "Democratic Vistas." (Hey, I did this with Emerson too...)

In his essay "Education as Socialization and as Individualization," Rorty states,

"The point of non-vocational higher education is, instead, to help students realize that they can reshape themselves - that they can rework the self-image foisted on them by their past, the self-image that makes them competent citizens, into a new self-image, one that they themlselves have helped to create."
further on, in the same essay:
"Socialization has to come before individuaization, and education for freedom cannot begin before some constraints have been imposed. But, for quite different reasons, non-vocational higher education is also not a matter of inculcating or educing truth. It is, instead, a matter of inciting doubt and stimulating imagination, thereby challenging the prevailing consensus. If pre-college education produces literate citizens and college education produces self-creating individuals, then questions about whether students are being taught the truth can safely be neglected."
and finally, further on:
We Deweyans think that thge social function of American colleges is to help the students see that the national narrative around which their socialization has centered is an open-ended one. It is to tempt the students to make themselves into people who can stand to their own pasts as Emerson and Anthony, Debs and Baldwin, stood to their pasts...To hope that this way will only be somewhat different is to hope that the society will remain reformist and democratic, rather than being convulsed by revolution.

Rorty is an advocate for reform rather than revolution in a democratic society. What strikes me from the quotes, which I don't claim at all to completely understand at this point (they require some reflection and discussion tomorrow,) is the idea of ownership of education, and the idea of education as the development of the individual away from the societal mores that are imposed as one grows up. To me, he reads quite similarly in this vein to Emerson, my current intellectual/philosophical great, in these regards. Rorty also is an advocate of a simple four-letter word called hope - in the essay's case, hope in the future of democratic society. If there's anything that I've learned in my 22 years, it's that hope is probably the most important belief for any thing - a group, a person, an organization, whatever - to have.

Man, this was an incredibly tangiental entry...but I've said what I wanted to say.

Quote for today, as it's been kind of a rough week to this point:

"In three words, I can sum up everything I know about life: It goes on."
- Robert Frost


[Listening to: "Yours And Mine", by Fountains Of Wayne from the album "Welcome Interstate Managers"]
Posted by Matthew at 01:33 AM | Comments (1)

March 27, 2004

GeneralCongrats to the Masque Class of '04


click for full-size image

Aren't they cute? A fun evening was had by all, including some of the funniest and dirtiest moments that I can remember ever seeing (at inductions, or otherwise.) Congrats to all. Aside from a few small issues, the night was highly successful.

Last night was the "Real World" event also. RSA brought 2 former cast members to campus to talk about their experiences. I only went because I was working the lighting (Yes, I am a whore...) By 7:00, when I got there (event at 8pm) the entire lobby was full of people. The theater was pretty packed by the end...

It was one of the "Best and Worst" moments of La Salle that I've seen. Best: It was a well run event. From RSA's point of view, it was a great opportunity to do something different that the campus hasn't seen much before. It also appealed to groups on campus who otherwise aren't reached by RSA. In short - it was a non-typical La Salle event, which was awesome. The worst parts of the evening concerned our audience, who for the most part, showed up drunk and disorderly, only coming to shout the name of their group or promote their party or whatever. Both of the cast members are to be applauded somewhat for trying to keep the event on some kind of track. But the audience was determined to run it off that track...

RSA should be applauded for the event - for bringing something new to campus, and for handling it as well as they could. As much as I make fun of RSA, this was a wonderful event, and they don't deserve to be crucified all over campus for the actions of the individual audience members.

(At some prodding from friends, II also wound up getting a photo with Cameran, one of the current cast members...the image is posted here...)

Personally, things are going better. We are getting a fifth roommate, which is tough at this point in the game, but we're trying. My level of stress are dropping significantly this weekend - some of that due to the roommate issue getting finalized, some of it due to the good weather, some of it due to just having the week over.

The first "meeting/in-service" was held today for next year's Community Development staff. It felt strange and gratifying not having to attend. It's the first in-service that I've missed in three years... another chapter closes...a new chapter opens.

Random lyrics of the moment, in lieu of a representative quote:
Van Diemen's Land, U2
Hold me now, oh hold me now
'til this hour has gone around
And I'm gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen's land

It's a bitter pill I swallow here
To be rent from one so dear
We fought for justice and not for gain
But the magistrate sent me away

Now kings will rule and the poor will toil
And tear their hands as they tear the soil
But a day will come in this dawning age
When an honest man sees an honest wage

Hold me now, oh hold me now
'til this hour has gone around
And I'm gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen's land

I dunno...reading too much into them as I always seem to do, but it's an interesting song anyhow.

Off to do some reading and have a fun-filled Saturday evening.

[Listening to: "All Along The Watchtower", by U2 from the album "Rattle and Hum"]
Posted by Matthew at 04:11 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2004

GeneralTorn...

This week has been probably the most trying week of my college career for many reasons. I'm very stressed, and feeling underappreciated. And the worst part that a lot of it, from my point of view, is coming from La Salle as an institution.

So, if you've talked to me this week and I seem disjointed or out of it, I apoligize. I'm sorting through a lot of stuff now, and it's not working out the way that I hoped.

The worst part that a lot of it seems petty and unimportant...sigh.

Right now I just really want to get to May 9th, get my diploma, and head out of here...this is a different school, I feel, from what I came into, and it's changed for the worse. Don't get me wrong - I've had a hell of an education and have met some really really incredible people (students and faculty) but right now is about the right time to be getting out of here.

Sigh...this makes things seem a lot worse than they are. I'm stressed, but am coping. I kinda just need a warm weekend right now.

[Listening to: "American Skin (41 Shots) [Live]", by Bruce Springsteen from the album "The Essential Bruce Springsteen"]
Posted by Matthew at 01:31 AM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2004

GeneralOw.

Nothing of import from today other than the fact that rehearsal went really well, until Louis choreographed our jumping off of the stage into the house.

It went well the first couple of times, however, on like the last time we did it for the night (being the uncoordinated person that I am) I landed badly on my right leg. Now it hurts...

And of course, the question was posed afterwards, "Well, if Louis had told you to jump off of a bridge, would you?"

Ow...

It's not swollen and I can walk...it's like an ankle sprain, only farther up in the calf muscle.

I'll be fine.

Posted by Matthew at 02:27 AM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2004

GeneralFell in love with a place

I fell in love with a place yesterday, as much and as hard as I think I've ever fallen for any place, anywhere. My hope is that the other party keeps exceeding my expectations.

I went to visit Villanova yesterday with my father. (Yes, I applied to a place without having ever seen it. I did the same with La Salle - sent in the application, check, and everything on the basis of what I had heard about the program and school. It worked for La Salle. My fingers continue to be crossed.) What I saw, I liked. It feels like a college campus: a pretty big one, actually, a step above La Salle, in size. We walked around for a while, and I kind of liked the general feeling there. I saw a little of the theater, walked though Vasey Hall, where the theatre department is located, and again liked what I saw in both places. I also found the building where the interview is...an incredibly impressive building actually.

It at least felt like a good fit, atmosphere wise. Not the same exact feeling as when I got to La Salle. More optimism on my part I think - I was in one of those moods where my eyes wouldn't focus on anything in particular, so my head kept bobbing around, looking at everything and everyone there

I'm optimistic. My father is optimistic. My entire family seems optimistic. I remain optimistic for assistantships, as they would help immensly. I'm optimistic, though, in general, because I know I could make this work, and it seems to be what I want to do.

My only negative thoughts come from the reputation that I seem to percieve that the school has - the "Vanillanova" image, and the snob image. A friend pointed out tonight that the simplest solution is not to let the images corrupt me. So what. I am who I am, and I'm stronger than what these stupid stereotypes seem to say. The people I know who have gone through the school for theater are the exact opposite of the stereotypes as well.

Rehearsal went very well today. I was grateful because we did more vocal stuff, working through "We Beseech Thee" and a few other songs rather than choreographing something. My legs were still sore from walking around town yesterday, and from the BBall marathon Friday (Yeah, Collegian!) I'm finally starting to remember some of the harmonies in these songs rather than just the melodies. A minor, but necessary accomplishment. I no longer feel like I'm messing up everyone elses' melodies now: I've realized that we're all singing exactly the right notes to screw everyone else up.

I spent the evening cleaning up a bit. Our kitchen and living room are disgusting, surpassing even the levels from earlier this year. The problem is that I know most of the mess isn't mine. I cleaned it up once this year already, and it was pristine for a few weeks, but I kind of am refusing to touch stuff now before someone else does. The problem is we're getting ants in the kitchen (like a lot of other people) and the roommates don't really care. My roommates rock, but just this once...grr.

The week is looking up...bring on the 60 degree days.

EDIT - 12:12AM 3/22/04 -
I meant to end this with a quote I just found, that made me think. It was on the back of the shirt our director, Louis, was wearing today...
"You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you
are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt
the world or even seriously distress her.
She was meant to be wooed and won by youth."
-- Sir Winston Churchill

Kind of made me think back to the whole "2 months left, say what you mean, be who you are, follow your bliss" ideal.

That is all.

[Listening to: "This Love", by Maroon 5 from the album "Songs About Jane"]
Posted by Matthew at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2004

GeneralI'm probably the only one saying this, but...

...I'm hoping the snow holds off tonight. *

It was 60 degrees outside a few days ago (Sunday?) It's mid-March and snow storms should be over by now. I just really, really don't get it. I'm the kind of person that, once nice weather has hit, needs the nice weather to continue. Especially this time, at a point when I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy the nice weather when it was here.

Today was the annual La Salle Charter Dinner, a culinary feast given in honor of La Salle's birthday. I believe the school is 141 this year, if the ice sculpture behind Bro. Mike was correct. The dinner is the best free food the university prepares, the likes of which go unknown for another year until the next Charter Dinner. Sentimentally, the event has always been nice because it's a crowded and well-attended event, and I feel this incredible sense of community and family when we're all crammed into the Ballroom devouring pasta and turkey sandwiches. It's really something to have a President who's willing to dip strawberries in chocolatea and a department chair (my department chair) talking to students carving turkey for sandwiches. I dunno; it's really just reassuring to me about the choice I made 4 years ago to come here.

I wasn't called tonight, so I spent the evening playing through a bunch of my old CD's. I was looking at a copy of U2's "Rattle and Hum" in a friend's room tonight, and that's what got me started. I played through most of my old U2 - "Joshua Tree," "Pop," and "All That You Can't Leave Behind." That led into my R.E.M. CD's - "Reckoning," and "Automatic for the People." It was a really mellow evening - just kind of lying down, thinking about everything that's happened in the last two weeks. There's no special meaning to the CD choices other than I hadn't heard them in a long time. All of them had migrated out of the "frequently used" CD binder into the "permanant storage" binder.

To close, as has been my tradition of ending with somewhat meaningful quotes:
"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity."
-- Henry David Thoreau

[Listening to: " (Don't Go Back To) Rockville ", by R.E.M. from the album "Reckoning"]

* - (Having said all of this, of course, means that the snow will come and it it'll come hard. Forget 5 inches, or 8 inches; the headlines will read "Philadelphia Buried Under Foot of Snow")

Posted by Matthew at 11:45 PM | Comments (1)

GeneralA.G. (After Graduation)

The big news of the last few days has been that I made it into the Graduate Theatre program at Villanova. This is my first choice for paths to take after graduation - the other options being trying for an RD-ship somewhere, going into the La Sallian volunteers, and trying to break into teaching.

...this doesn't mean that the other three options won't happen. At this point, I have no clue how to pay for graduate school. I'm hoping for an assistantship (interviews are in a few weeks) or scholarship or something...some miracle. Whatever though; if it's where I was meant to be, then there will be some way for it to work out.

Godspell continues to go well. The hardest parts for me have been learning to sing to the harmony, and learning the choreography. I have a hard enough time with singing the melody sometimes while not tripping over my feet...

I'm having the time of my life though, I think. The cast is great; we're kind of bonding with each other before, during and after rehearsal. The music is still pretty good, not having reached "annoying" proportions yet, which I'm sure it will with time.

This week has really been a good one. I didn't fail the film history exam that I thought I did, instead getting a 93 on it. I'm gonna try and see "Eternal Sunshine" this weekend, which is a film I've been looking forward to seeing since I first saw the trailers for it.

I guess that's about all for now. I'll end with another random quote from Yeats:

"I have believed the best of every man. And find that to
believe is enough to make a bad man show him at his best,
or even a good man swings his lantern higher."
--William Butler Yeats

[Listening to: There's A Fine, Fine Line (Reprise) / What Do You Do With A B. A. in English? (Reprise) - Original Broadway Cast - Avenue Q(1:45)]

Posted by Matthew at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2004

General7:30AM

It's 7:30AM, and I'm still stuck on Irish time, so I'm very much awake. The jet lag has redefined my schedule: I've been a morning person, waking up at like 8am this past week, and crashing each night at like 10 or 12 midnight. It's working pretty well - I'm getting a lot of stuff done in the mornings, but it just feels weird to be back on the schedule I kept in high school.

Ireland was magnificient. I don't know what words can adequately describe the scenery and the events we witnessed. Sligo was beautiful and reminded me of how much I loved W.B. Yeats back in high school. Galway was fun - the pubs there were really nice. The city was larger, but still retained some sort of a small-town charm. Dublin was interesting for a while - some cool shops, and some really beautiful greens and museums, but it felt like it was too large of a city. There were other cities that I don't recall the names of right now...the most awe-inspiring sight I encountered was the Long Room at the Old Library at Trinity College, Dublin. Just the sheer number of books was daunting, and the incredible space that they're housed in done in the dark wood. The picture doesn't do it justice.

There's this amazing laid-backness that permeates the entire country which was really refreshing to experience. A good time was had by all. It's a country that I want to visit again...and possibly live in. (eh, a guy can dream, right?)

I'm in a state of shock right now, because by some miracle, I was cast in "Godspell." I'm nervous as all hell right now - both having to LEARN LINES for the first time EVER and also having to JUGGLE this rehearsal schedule in addition to being a CA. I think I can manage it. I have a meeting with my supervisor to discuss it all today and just make sure that he's cool with it all... I'm excited. I'm ecstatic...I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. Godspell is one of the most fun shows I've ever heard, and it's such a great opportunity just to do.

I feel like someone will pinch me and wake me from this incredible dream...but I'm riding it out to the end.

I close with a poem from Yeats:

A Drinking Song
WINE comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.


[Listening to: All For The Best - Stephen Schwartz - Godspell (2:33)]

Posted by Matthew at 07:43 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2004

GeneralMy life with Laramie

Laramie is over...

After a fantastic run that horrendously started with a bang, we closed the show that we all thought the school didn't want us to do. In the end, La Salle came to appreciate Laramie, came to praise Laramie, and most importantly, came to Laramie. We had a run of 5 shows, with a total attendance of 601. While not spectacular in the world of professional theatre, for us it represents a milestone. Straight shows don't sell here. We packed the house last night (with 206) and tonight (with 166.)

Personally, I feel like I wasn't truly involved with the show until tonight, and there's a lingering guilt about that. I feel lucky though, having finally experienced it tonight, because it was a majestic thing to behold...one of the characters, the Catholic priest in the show, urges the Tectonic troupe to "say it right." We said it right. We said it right. We said it right.

To everyone who came, thank you for sharing the experience with us. To my friends who came and who talked with me afterwards, thank you too... Thank you for being with us through one of our toughest projects, through one of our most difficult times, but also through one of our greatest successes. Thank you for being more than was expected: for reacting with intelligence, tact and respect.

My distance from the show came from a couple of different reasons. I took a different position than I usually would have by doing dramaturgy. My reasoning was to just round out my experience here, figuring that I would enjoy doing the research and background into everything that came up. Once again with the connections - it connected my meticulous nature, English and Communication majors, and my desire to teach. The downside to the position is not having anything tangible to do during the show: no buttons to press or ropes to pull or props to set. The other reason I felt distant came from missing tech week due to duty and sickness. It was kind of nice getting sleep though, for a change. Back to the grind with "Godspell"

Laramie, you were fun and I will miss you. I learned a lot, and you are an incredible play. But it is good to move on...

I've spent the previous two afternoons exploring Philadelphia, attempting to make up for four years of not leaving my rooms. The past two days have been beautiful - a little cool or breezy, but still just wonderful walking weather. Thursday, I took the subway down to 5th and Market, and walked to Penn's Landing. I just sat there for a while, experiencing this weird peace that I didn't expect, nor do I think is deserved in an area so close to Columbus Boulevard and I-95. The picture was just incredibly serene - a tug pulling a crane up a choppy waterway...no one around but a handful of people just staring into Camden it seemed. From there, I wound up walking over to the Borders on Broad Street, just south of City Hall. I took a route down Chestnut Street that wound through some bits of Old City. Then I decided to head over to Rittenhouse Square just to take that in as well. I caught the subway at City Hall and made my way back to La Salle. (Let me just say that the express train rocks.)

Saturday I got off the subway at City Hall and broke the surface to hear someone playing on a recorder flute...let me just say that the center of City Hall where the train stairwells are is also one of those incredibly undeservedly peaceful places in the city that I've found. The flute was clear and loud, although I couldn't place the tune. I had plans today though, and made my way down Market Street east to the Ritz at the Bourse to see "The Triplets of Belleville." My stops today were at Reading Terminal Market, which was packed with people, and the Gallery, which is a place I've passed by and never stopped in to. I walked pretty much every floor of The Gallery, just enjoying walking through it all - reminded me a little of the old Cumberland County Mall from my Millville days. I thoroughly explored most of the place while I was there, got lunch in the food court, and headed down to 400 Ranstead Street for the movie.

"The Triplets of Belleville" was like nothing I've ever seen before. The animation is beautiful: every single frame deserves a place in a gallery somewhere. The plot is fantastic and off the wall, but it sucks you in with it's cheerfulness, insanity and humor. Dialogue is almost non-existent (I only remember one subtitle, giving the name of the film) and is unnecessary. The music fits the picture well, and feels organic to the rest of the production. I wondered what came first in the head of the director - the plot, the music, or the jokes.

And so I end another fantastic week, poised to enter another one. Thursday, I leave for Ireland. Until then, there's a screening or two, and a couple of classes. Maybe another trip into the city - this time


[Listening to: Land of Hope and Dreams (Live) - Bruce Springsteen - The Essential Bruce Springsteen (9:22)]

Posted by Matthew at 02:37 AM | Comments (2)

February 18, 2004

GeneralIf...

Stolen from http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/verse/p3/if.html

If - Rudyard Kipling

IF YOU can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son!

Posted by Matthew at 12:43 AM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2004

GeneralThe incredibly long week...


you can see the flames over College Hall in the distance...(click for larger image)

A bulldozer hit a gas main down at Ogontz and Olney this afternoon at around 5pm. The intersection is about a block away from La Salle. The flames were reaching at least a hundred feet in the air, and went on for a couple of hours. The full news story can be found here. The miraculous thing is that nobody has been hurt, and that the buildings survived too.

I got an instant message from John Ogden at about 5pm about it...and then Graham came into my room and said the same thing. I grabbed my camera as I was leaving, and almost took it with me, but decided at the last second to leave it. I'm not sure fully why. I'm glad I didn't because I wound up wandering down there and just watching the proceedings with my jaw open. Standing on the corner of 20th and Olney with a couple of dozen people just watching the flames lick the sky and wondering how the hell it was going to be put out. It was the capstone to a memorable week, one I'm not sure that I'll be able to forget, whether or not I want to.

I wound up taking the image above at around 6:30PM, after watching the news for a while...it was taken from inside of the St. Miguel townhouses, right by the daycare center.

From Wednesday on, it seemed like this week had it out to get me. With any luck, I will never have three nights of duty in a row again. I got hit with a really nasty stomach virus on Wednesday into Thursday, and I'm still recovering from it now. I missed most of Laramie Tech Week, which was really strange - being the first time that I've not been involved with a tech week since I got to La Salle. Laramie was cancelled for tonight, by the way. I had no problems with it, keeping the perspective of what the heck was happening a block away.

My parents are coming up tomorrow for Laramie/my birthday (hopefully...assuming we can get a car near the school)...the weekend is looking promising.

[Listening to: Happy Endings - The All-American Rejects - All American Rejects (4:18)]
Posted by Matthew at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2004

GeneralWhat I learned at the Community Development In-Service tonight

What I learned at the Community Development In-Service tonight:

it was a fascinating presentation. I learned to love myself in spite of my flaws. I learned to love others and accept them for their flaws. I learned how to knit. I can now fly most Boeing aircraft. I can prepare delicious dinners made only of carrots. I learned that La Salle is a wonderful place full of wonderful people. I learned that I should wear sunscreen outdoors. I learned that residents are people too, and that barbecues stand for building people up. I realized that nature is beautiful. I learned that community development loves me, and that is the most important thing.

(FYI: I respect RSA. I really do. However, they're fun to poke fun at...as I did with a certain person when I developed an idea to call them the Barbecue Student association. See? Because they only ever present Barbecues. Or they do Barbecues really well... its all in fun.)

Barbecue Student Association upcoming events: "Propane vs. Charcoal, which is better for your community?", "Hot Dogs, Weiners, Sausage and Kielbasa - Learning to Embrace Ethnic Diversity", "Sh?% That Grill's Hot! Safety Tips You Should Know", "Tongs in a Spatula World: One Woman's Story", and "Condiments - Relish'ing the Refreshment"

Stop by the grill pit to sign up.

(but not really)

Time marches forward...

Disclaimer: RSA is a fascinating and wonderful group of student leaders who come together to present some amazing and dynamic programming. Anything presented here is given only for humor value. RSA rocks. Not just barbecues.

[Listening to: Light of the World - 2001 National Touring Cast - Godspell (3:13)]
Posted by Matthew at 12:43 AM | Comments (1)

February 10, 2004

GeneralFuture

A monumental day for me. I finally got my grad school application together and in the mail. I've spent the last couple of weeks getting people to write reccomendations, and just wrestling with the application itself. I'm applying to only one program currently, the Masters in theater at Villanova. I'm hopeful - I have good references, my GPA is at a point that I'm happy with, and the GRE scores were decent.

If I'm rejected, then I still want to pursue a Masters, and would really like to get into Residence Life somewhere to do it. I could really see myself being a Resident Director (or a Graduate Assistant, or whatever they call it at whatever institution would take me.) In that case, I'd probably broaden my field to something like English or even possibly continuing in Communication. I'm not 100% sure on how this all works to become a RD, but from what I hear, the deadlines are still very much in the future by a month or so.

Today was also just a fantastic day in general, just because I told myself that it was going to be a fantastic day. There's this mailing list that I'm on, "Ripples," that grew out of a motivational speaker that La Salle hosted recently. This week's email said something about practicing smiling. I gave it a try...it's amazing what a positive mental attitude can have on an otherwise boring day. It just became a really, really, really good day through everything - classes, meetings, and just randomly meeting people as the day went through.
Also from the email was this quote:

Every time you smile at someone,
it is an action of love, a gift to that person,
a beautiful thing.
-Mother Teresa

The rest of the week seems like it'll be pretty decent. It's all heavily weighted towards community development though, which will drive me insane - Tuesday - duty at 6pm, In-service at 9:15PM. Wednesday - duty at 6PM, RSA Meeting at 9:15, staff meeting at 10PM. Thursday, duty at 9.

This coupled with Tech Week.

But I keep telling myself that it's going to be a good week. And you know what? It will be.

Currently reading: O Lost, by Thomas Wolfe
[Listening to: Buy Me A Rose - Kenny Rogers - (3:48)]
Posted by Matthew at 12:54 AM | Comments (4)

February 09, 2004

GeneralLaramie Tech Week Begins...

Laramie Tech Week began today. It went really, really well for the first run through. We were running without sound and video, though, which will probably throw a wrench into everything tomorrow or the next day.

Additionally, I got a mountain of research done, and have almost everything I feel I need for the study guide, save for one section. The one section, "Media Response to Laramie," is probably the one that should have the most original content from me, however, so I'm still floundering somewhat.

I feel like I've been stressed for the later parts of this evening unfortunately...I haven't been communicating well, for some reason, and that's kind of annoying. I'm trying my best to not be stressed right now, but meh, it's happening.

It was a fantastic weekend, actually, and this week is looking pretty good.

17 days until Ireland

5 days until Laramie

6 days until my birthday.

Its going to be a good week.

Posted by Matthew at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2004

GeneralFala's 21st.

Fala's 21st....the memories:

"where the hell is balloon man?...we killed the girl scouts...whipped cream to the face..."no balloons, no peace!"..."let's corrupt the balloon man!"..."we have a new disciple of evil! who do we corrupt next?"..."penguin booty!"..."my milkshake is better than yours!"...slut makeup..."sugar, spice, and greg fala!"...

yeah, I could fill in the blanks, but meh, a lot of things are better left unsaid

Besides, there are the pictures...

(the pictures I have; instant message me for them)

Posted by Matthew at 01:54 AM | Comments (2)

January 27, 2004

GeneralSelf-Reliance

"Ne te quaesiveris extra."
(translation below)

If there's anything that I've ever learned about myself that has held true, it would be the idea that I tend to see the "big picture." I see the connections between things. I see, and often choose to connect, the pieces of my life so as to form some sort of order from the randomness. I think that it's a good thing, personally, but that's because I've learned to work in that context...it's a gift usually, and sometimes a hinderance. People yell at me for reading into things too much sometimes, but its usually under control. I'm often astounded at the parallels...

And so tonight, I had the opportunity to read some of Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays for "Democratic Vistas" and had the chance to connect them to my own life. First off, read "Self-Reliance" by clicking here. It's a fantastic essay...basically making the point that self-reliance can be one of the strongest traits that a person can choose to develop in their own life. Boiled down, it comes to being true to oneself. As Emerson writes, "Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him. No man yet knows what it is, nor can, till that person has exhibited it. " On finding yourself: "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."

Emerson calls upon the individual to develop fully before society can be developed fully...indeed, goes so far to say, "Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not. The same particle does not rise from the valley to the ridge. Its unity is only phenomenal. The persons who make up a nation to-day, next year die, and their experience with them. " It's an interesting statement when viewed in the context of society today." Further, on the disruption of society and of the normalcy that it brings: "Let us affront and reprimand the smooth mediocrity and squalid contentment of the times, and hurl in the face of custom, and trade, and office, the fact which is the upshot of all history, that there is a great responsible Thinker and Actor working wherever a man works; that a true man belongs to no other time or place, but is the centre of things."

One of my greatest fears and faults is not putting enough of myself on the line in my life. I tend to stay the course and keep my mouth shut rather than be outspoken. Consequently, I keep things unsaid, and that grates at me after the opportunity passes. I need to be more assertive sometimes, need to realize that conflict does not equal destruction; that argument does not equal negativity always. To have this stuff come along in such an easy to understand package and for a class is helpful in some way. The big picture still exists and everything keeps getting tied back to it in its own way.

This isn't stuff that is particularly bringing me down currently, it's just always in the back of my mind.

It was actually a pretty decent day actually. The snow cancelled class. I slept in, and then pretty much hung out with Katie in the house for a while today playing video games, watching television and talking. We did watch "Wonder Boys" which is one of my favorite films. I worked on a Collegian redesign for a bit (if we ever get permission to publish on the web again) integrating the new PacMan (chevron) logo into the design. It looks interesting...would love to see it live someday.

Again, I find myself praying for snow for tomorrow. Or sleet. Or hail, ice chunks, frozen penguins or any other "significant weather event" that would cancel classes...solely because I have more classes tomorrow than I had today.

But the smile I spoke of yesterday continues.

TRANS: Do not seek yourself outside yourself.

Posted by Matthew at 12:15 AM | Comments (1)

January 26, 2004

GeneralIt's funny...

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies...
-The Shawshank Redemption

The quotes to open these things up have been helpful lately...they seem to keep me on some sort of mental track, which has been helpful.

It's amazing how an hour can really change a weekend. Today proved that to me. This was my big "duty free" weekend - no duty at all...no duty actually, until Thursday this week.Friday must have been uneventful (oh! Laundry!) because I don't remember doing much. Saturday was kind of annoyingly boring. I was supposed to hang out with a group of people and see "Girl with the Pearl Earring." It got cancelled due to cold and other factors...from there, a cascade of plans that I set up really fell apart quickly. It wound up being me and Scott playing Halo for a bit, and a Wawa run, and people coming over for a while...I had forgotten about a party that was going on until it felt too late to go over -slash- I didn't want to leave the house at the point that it was. It wasn't all bad; Scott and I came up with a skit involving two older Russian gentlemen giving out love advice...kind of a communist Dan Savage, I guess...

I had been really looking forward to "Girl With..." to just hang out with some people and stuff...you know, to just get out of the house for a while. A duty free weekend is a rarity for me (especially in Miguel, for which I can't complain - the benefits put the duty to shame) and I wanted it to be special...

Today and tonight really made the weekend special. The day was just really quiet and enjoyable, spending time with old and new friends...rehearsal, "brunchinner" at the union with suzy, production meeting, and tv tonight...it was just kind of nice being with people for a while...

I'll have a smile on my face for the entire week...probably

But for now it is snowing...and it seems like our best chances for a snow day yet this year...so I hope it keeps coming, and freezes tonight...who couldn't use a Monday off?

[Listening to: Keep Me in Your Heart - Warren Zevon - The Wind (3:28)]
Posted by Matthew at 02:06 AM | Comments (1)

January 22, 2004

GeneralSo what's new?

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether
that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. "

-David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

The week has been running well thus far. "Democratic Vistas" provides for interesting discussion. Tuesday went a lot better - the discussion was a lot more even, and it felt like it was more academic rather than griping. "Witness" was interesting for Film as Art...one I'd seen before, but one that (I guess) was worth watching again. "Frankenstein (1931)" proved to be much more comedic than horrific in Film History. I now know more than I ever wanted to about the eating habits of Celtic monks in ancient Ireland.

Yeah, it's been one of those whirlwind weeks.

I keep running into people that I haven't seen since before break. Somehow the discussion always goes along the lines of "where has the time gone?" It's only January and I'm already getting wistful about the whole graduation thing. Oh yeah, still nothing done on grad school apps at this moment. I'm feeling more and more like I may try to do an RD position somewhere and take my RA experience with me. It's a path that I think I'd enjoy, and it would probably help me get in gear to get the Masters.

Random moment...talking to my father in a heated discussion on the phone yesterday, he told me "You talk too much. Just do." Yeah, I agree...that's all I have to say about that.

Right now I'm just really hoping for the weekend to get here. No duty for a change, and plans on Saturday and Sunday. What more could anyone want?

Posted by Matthew at 01:07 AM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2004

GeneralThe tradition continues...

I think I wrote about this last year, but the tradition of the mysterious Poe toaster continues...

Posted by Matthew at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2004

GeneralBack to the Future

I've finally seen Back to the Future.

A bunch of us watched it last night. Strangely, nothing bad happened - the world didn't suck me into a vortex, the apocolypse didn't happen, etc... it was just a darn good movie.

Yeah, so the teasing can finally stop...the 21-year old film major who hadn't seen BTTF has finally seen the first two movies.

woohoo!

Posted by Matthew at 01:06 AM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2004

GeneralJust a really nice day

The snow didn't come down enough for a snow day today, but it was just a really pretty day overall. It was incredibly fluffy, and easily cleared.

Democratic Vistas got bogged down in conversations that I thought were off topic, but still managed to maneuver back onto topic for the end. It's tough to talk in philosophic generalizations, but the class really needs that. Specific issues can't be discussed as universals, and people kept trying to. Frustrating...I'm a nerd, I know...but it felt more like listening to the priveleged few whining about their own personal political disillusionment rather than genuine philosophic discussion.

Just a damn good day overall in the end too...just a really wonderful, wonderful day.

[Listening to: It's Hard To Be A Saint In The - Bruce Springsteen - Tracks (Disc 1) (0:-1)]
Posted by Matthew at 01:33 AM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2004

GeneralAnother semester begins...

The semester seems to be getting off to a good start. Classes are pretty cool. The lowdown:

  • Democratic Vistas - My final honors class, taught by Dr. Volpe. Volpe is a pretty cool guy, very mellow, very much set in that education is a personal experience best left up to the student. Lots of independent readings, many different points of view, all in the vein of attempting to get some greater truth. The material is going to be difficult, but I like the authors; I think Emerson will be among them...its a large class, and my earliest class starting at 11am on T/R.

  • Film as Art - This is the weird one this semester. I'm retaking to erase the "D" that I recieved 2 years ago. I'm in class with freshmen and sophomores mainly, and I really don't know anyone. It's Bill Wine though, who is pretty easy to please if you're able to coherently state your viewpoint. He's hysterical too, which helps.

  • Film History - My other class with Wine. Looks to be interesting - not a lot of work, but some really interesting subject matter. This is the class with everyone from Film Seminar last semester, which makes conversation interesting and worthwhile. There's also a few seniors taking it as an elective - they should be interesting as the class pans out.

  • Travel Study to Ireland - it meets Friday, so I haven't had it yet...but how bad could it be? We're going to Ireland for spring break! What else is there?

In other news...had a random night with Cristin, Danielle, and Melissa earlier this week...went up to fix Danielle's computer, but couldn't (anyone have system restore disks for an HP 7200 model computer?) and so we just got to talking. About wine. And I professed a like for wine, and a desire to try more. They have several cases of decent wine, and Danielle proceeded to open up a bottle, and we three polished it off in a few hours while just talking. And there was a small bottle of champagne too, and that was cool...we just had some really random conversations, and I saw many many scrapbooks from previous summers and school years. It was one of the most random nights I've had at La Salle (right up with Dave and the leather pants) but it was one of the best.

In other aspects of my life, I continue to be as apprehensive and nervous about things as ever. More on this later, as I finally realize that there's five months left to say the things that I need and want to say to the people around me. Nothing serious, mind you, but hell, sometimes you have to look at life as a time to say what you want to, because there's really nothing to lose in the end that you wouldn't have lost anyhow.

Laramie progresses. That's about all I can say, having worked on some research, but not having seen any rehearsals.

I'm currently praying for a snow day for Thursday. 3-5 inches, come on down!

Posted by Matthew at 02:37 AM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2004

GeneralSome interesting ads...

A quick link to MoveOn.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds" ad contest.
http://www.bushin30seconds.org/index.html

Interesting if your politics don't completely mesh with those of the current administration.

Posted by Matthew at 06:41 PM | Comments (0)

GeneralMagnolia

The book says, we might be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.

I'm back at La Salle. I say it every year, but its hard to believe that the break went by as fast as it did. Blah - less than a month, and most of that month was spent at Regal working forty-hour weeks. I'm not complaining - the price of not working is boredom, which is ten times worst, in the least.

At the advice of my parents, I stopped by Calvert Hall yesterday to see some people. Teaching may be in my future for a while (hey, theres plenty of time to write, and there's time for grad school as well...) and there was some interest expressed that maybe I would go back there and teach. I'm growing into the idea - not completely sure yet - but its an idea. I spent a lunch with Uncle Mike Magrogan, talking about a lot of different things, from grad school, to theater, to race in the cities. I stopped in on Mr. Motsay too...strange, I think, how I'll never be able to call these people by their first names...he's doing well, his kids are excelling everywhere. It was just a good time - I went in kind of reluctantly, and came out really happy I had gone.

I made the drive this morning in about an hour and a half, which seems to be the best time I've ever made. The day was spent in a retreat with the CA staff of MATLC over at Gwyned Mercy College. It was very laid back - we played Cranium and other board games, and just talked. Training begins tomorrow night and lasts until around 4 on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it - its my last training ever, and I'm presenting. My presentation isn't finished yet - I have a beginning and an end, and need a middle. (no sweat, right?)

I spent tonight working through a "CDP" - the "Community Development Plan," a document that is supposed to outline half of the semester in terms of what I want to accomplish. Except I don't know what I want to accomplish through Community Development. I've been away for a month in the real world dealing with real problems, not worrying about people's clothes not drying and whether or not we need an ice cream social. My focus hasn't quite shifted yet, as you can see...I'm enthusiastic as to seeing what will happen. The CDP is a lot of excess paperwork though, and I disliked doing it - I know I'm going to get it back for revisions and requests for specifics that I don't have and don't want to set yet.

I was talking with an old friend while working through the CDP, Pete. Pete and I worked on two plays at CHC - "Complete Works of Shakespeare: Abridged" and "Me and My Girl." He acted - I stage managed. I actually ran into him at CHC the day before, completely spontaneously. He brought up the shows we did, and the people, and how we should all get together. I'd love to - if anyone out these sees this who worked on those plays, get back to me. They were my introduction to theater, and I loved every moment - painting the stage at 11pm the night before open, learning fencing moves for "Shakespeare...," figuring out how the hell to stage manage...ah, memories.

Overall though, I'm feeling optimistic for the semester. I can't wait to see everybody again - it was great seeing Scott today in the house. I have a lot of fear about what's happening past May - I brought the applications I have with me to work through in the coming week. Laramie should be interesting. I've promised my parents I'd audition for Godspell. It's good being back.

And as we move through this life we should try and do good. Do good... And if we can do that, and not hurt anyone else, well... then...

Posted by Matthew at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)

January 02, 2004

GeneralNo resolutions as of now

Happy New Year everybody. I don't have a lot to say - I'm coming down with a cold, and the NyQuil is kicking in right now.

I have no resolutions as of now, as if anyone would really want to read them. Resolutions should be private anyway, making it all the easier to forget about them/refuse to do them later on.

My life has revolved around work, pretty much, for the past week. Tomorrow will mark the seventh straight day that I'm working, although it breaks the current streak in that the shift is under 8 hours. Sigh...I could complain about working, but I won't. It's keeping me busy, and is paying for a lot of the trip to Ireland/books/next semester in general. The theater took me back, and with a pretty decent raise to boot.

I'm looking on the bright side of eveything.

Maybe that will be my resolution - work on staying positive, and keep looking on the bright side of things. Probably just a continuation of everything else, I guess.

I'm back at La Salle a week from Thursday. This break went by so fast, although I've done so little. Grad applications aren't done - going to try and work on them starting on Sunday. There aren't that many that I want to send out. If I make it, I make it, if not, something else will come along.

Something always has.

Bright side, remember?

One week left, and so much to do.

Posted by Matthew at 01:58 AM | Comments (0)

December 25, 2003

GeneralMerry Christmas

Christmas for my family has always been just a quiet time to ourselves. Back in Jersey, for the Christmases that I can remember, it was really just spent between the four of us - mom, dad, chris and me. Tradition had us waking up somewhere between dawn and 7am to go downstairs to the tree to open gifts. We'd usually do Mass later on during the day. In the afternoon or the next day we'd drive to the relatives' houses for visiting - usually the trek was to North Jersey (Elizabeth & Monroe Township) from South Jersey, along the Turnpike, or more recenlty, from Maryland to North Jersey.

The last couple years have been different...I've been working and haven't made it up to North Jersey in a long time. I've been working over the holidays, and getting time off just wasn't possible.

So it's been a really happy time here now, with a few additions to the family for Christmas. My grandmother came down yesterday with my father from Monroe Township. We had dinner tonight with my uncle and my cousin, whom I haven't seen in close to six years. I think the dinner tonight really made the holiday something special...it's just really good to see family again.

I won't be able to make it up to Jersey with the family though; I'm working again. So far, so good...it was incredibly weird going back, and having to relearn my job again since the takeover earlier this year. It's for the better - there appear to be a lot of improvements, but its still hard...my old (and not so great) habits are dying hard there...

My sister just got a puppy as well. The darn thing's been running around the house chewing on everything including my socks and the legs of my pants. The dog is the hardest part of taking this Christmas. I'm just so ingrained to not having it around that its presence is just annoying. I thought my family was complete with just the four of us...this little four legged runt is now being forced in. I haven't seen my sister this happy in a long time though; and the stupid thing is really, really cute. I haven't completely made up my mind yet.

That's what's happening here...I'm off to bed now, Have a Merry Christmas all!

Posted by Matthew at 01:34 AM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2003

GeneralBack on Dean's List!

COM 400 02 Day Communication Ethics - A
COM 403 51 Day Film Seminar - A
ENG 307 A Evening Playwriting - A
ENG 355 A Evening Contemporary Drama - B+
HON 352 41 Day The 60's:A Perspective - A-
HON 385 41 Day Creative Process: Art - A

I finished the semester with a 3.83, which raises the cumulative to a 3.40. My most surprising grade was the Contemporary Drama, which I was sure was a C or a B-...I love Harty, what can I say?

I'm ecstatic. It's been a great day.

I spent the day with Brendan, Derek, and some friends of theirs from Washington College. Brendan had been planning this "Dorkfest" for months - we were going to get to his place at 9:30AM, watch the Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition DVD, then the Two Towers Extended Edition DVD, and then go watch the Return of the King at White Marsh. We made it through 90% of Fellowship, and maybe half of the Two Towers, and went to see ROTK.

ROTK is fantastically done. Despite some omissions, it remains very true to the book, which is an incredible thing. The battle sequences were all that they could be - fantastically generated and beautiful to watch. This is a completely satisfying ending to the trilogy, and worth watching for anyone who has invested time in seeing the other two. See it on a big screen too - the cinematography, as in the last two, requires the huge screen.

Other than that, I lost $2 in poker at Brendan's after the movie (eh...)

The GRE's were tough yesterday, but I did better than I expected to. The test was the most draining and grueling test that I've ever taken - they offered a 10 minute break after the writing section, and I was ready to collapse. The test gave me a lot more to think about - the score I got actually makes me realize that I could and should do grad school while I can...that I'm not an idiot, and that I can do the high level work that would be required.

Other than that...I start work Thursday night again...I need cash for Christmas, next semester, Ireland...you name it.

Man...so freaking happy right now!





Posted by Matthew at 02:26 AM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2003

GeneralAn end; another beginning

And so, the semester ended not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Everything on my part was finished by last Sunday evening. I spent the week with nothing to do but sit around, play Halo, and worry. I mainly chose to sit around and worry...worried about everything it seems. Grad school, people who are leaving this semester, lack of social life, lack of plan and direction in life, short sighted opportunities that didn't turn out as I had hoped and planned...

I was a wreck...broke down in the Union actually on Thursday, I think. My breaking point was when I saw this - an obituary and notice of services for an old friend that had died in Iraq. Tom was a friend of mine from when I lived in Millville. He was a couple of years older. He and I spent the better part of a couple of summers building this incredible fort on an open lot - we dug out a pit, threw in wood and piping, and it was a paradise. We fought the kids of the neighborhood for control of the fort and usually won with the dirt bombs. We built this really cool "roller coaster" that was really just a series of wooden pallets that one would drive over with a bike. We built it up with hills and all the random wood that we could scavenge making it as bumpy and random as possible. Tom was also my most memorable babysitter, despite lasting only one visit. On that one night my sister, Tom, and I had a watergun fight inside the house, getting water all over a lot of walls. That night was the premiere of a music video on MTV that he was dead set on watching. The video, which I'll always remember, was "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses. I had never heard of them before, but watched with him, and grew to love that song, and the incredible movie-like quality of that video.

I hadn't talked to Tom in a couple of years and I had heard about his death over Thanksgiving. Still, I was sitting in Backstage reading the Inquirer, and his picture in the obituaries section finally hit me and I was broken up for a couple of days. The memories kept coming back and repeating.

So the week ended with me being distraught. Right now I think that I'm doing a lot better. I'm home, which is always good. I've talked to a couple of people, which has helped immensely. I'm keeping busy with both the GRE's on Tuesday and work starting on Thursday. Wednesday, I'm joining Brendan and a bunch of people to do a LOTR marathon - watching Fellowship and Two Towers (extended editions on DVD) and then ROTK at White Marsh that night. Its going to be a really good release from the test the day before.

Other than that, I'm trying to meet up with people while I'm here.

I guess the week did end on a positive note though...a bunch of Masque types went to dinner on Friday Night at the Spaghetti Warehouse in Philly. I had a great time with everyone, the food was excellent, and the conversation steered to usual topics - ranking pirates vs. Ninjas. vs. zombies...

I feel really random right now, but I guess thats where I am right now. I'm focused on the GRE's right now, which is tiring, but good to be focused. I've had a lot of downs in the last week and a half, and a lot of ups. I think that might be the best anyone can say, really, I mean...how do we really know who we are or where we're at? I'm just trying to get by.

Like everybody else.

'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain

[Listening to: The Ascent Of Stan - Ben Folds - (4:14)]
Posted by Matthew at 12:57 AM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2003

GeneralPerhaps procrastination

  • 4 days
  • 1 Night of Duty
  • 1 tech interview
  • 1 set of hsm's
  • 1 background check

I'm convinced more and more that procrastination exists so as to keep us from being bored. I'm incredibly bored - I spent the bulk of today doing odds and ends and errands, delivering papers, settling Masque business, and whatever. I'm incredibly bored right now...there's nobody to hang around with because everyone is still in the midst of exams. Eh.

Theres really nothing else to say...stuff is going well, I guess. It just feels like its all at a standstill

Posted by Matthew at 01:30 AM | Comments (0)

December 08, 2003

Generalquite ironically...

myLaSalle offers the opportunity to add personal content. I added a pane with quotations each day.

This was today's:

A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students. - John Ciardi

Eh; I found it ironic anyway...more on this later, maybe.

Posted by Matthew at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

GeneralAnother day bites the dust

  • 5 days
  • 2 Nights of Duty
  • 1 tech interview
  • 1 set of hsm's
  • 1 background check
I finished the last work I had of the semester tonight. The ethics paper is finished - supposed to be 4 pages, but I take nearly 7. It's good work, I feel, some of my best and strongest. Coming up with a personal moral code has really helped me, I think. Examining my life has really put some answers into perspective, and has really solidified some of the ideas that I've wondered about since high school. The code is really just an offshoot of what Magrogan taught us in AP English - the part that stuck anyhow, I can't really talk about Virginia Wolf's "To the Lighthouse" anymore...

My philosophy has always been based on choice and personal responsibility. I make choices in my day to day life about what I wish to add and subtract from my life. In that way, I control my happiness, my sadness, my destiny, and every part of who I am. It seems simple, and sometimes a little bit childish, but for me it has worked pretty well. We would go to Magrogan in high school and tell him our pronlems, and his answer would always be "Why are you choosing to put this in your life?" Realizing that individual choices have consequences (both good and bad) is a liberating experience because you realize that you are living for yourself: your destiny is in your hands.

Other than that, stuff has been wonderful. We had the EBoard meeting with Tom today about "The Laramie Project." It's going to be a fantastic production, both artistically, and textually. My own involvement isn't decided yet - I'm going for dramaturg and stage manager, both positions that I feel would help me in future theater endeavors (cough, grad school, cough...) They're also two positions that I feel very strongly about for the show, as they tie together a lot of what I've learned as an RA, and what I've experienced in my own life with people needing to respect diversity.

Other than that, there's not much going on right now. Nothing left to do with my week but play Halo...

Currently listening to: Mexican Wine, by Fountains of Wayne.

Posted by Matthew at 01:46 AM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2003

GeneralThe countdown goes down.

  • 6 days
  • 2 Nights of Duty
  • 1 tech interview
  • 4 pages for Ethics
  • 1 set of hsm's
  • 1 background check

Today was spent in chasing the end of the countdown. I've been done with class (surprisingly) since Wednesday, and have procrastinated from then until today. Instead of watching movies with friends (what I really truly wanted to do,) I sat in my room and got my Drama final and my Film finals out of the way. The only thing left is the four page personal code of ethics due Tuesday by 9am. I have my sources, and I'm really not worried: my goal for today was to free up Sunday and Monday to work solely on the paper. I have a wonderful sense of accomplishment going into this thing...hopefully it lasts.

The background check in the "to do" matrix above I learned of today. To get my job back at the theater (which I want, because I need money,) I need to have a background check done on me, because I am reentering the Regal system as management. Flattering, in a small, small way that they would worry about little ol' me...but whatever gets me the money, gets me the money.

So tomorrow will be spent researching and writing for Ethics. I'd love to have a first draft done by tomorrow night, and I think that's an obtainable goal.

I also had a vision this morning while I was sleeping of the next play that I want to write. What was so distinct about the vision was that it all appeared to me - beginning, middle, and end. My dream was a treatment. Sometimes I wish that that would happen more often. More on this as it develops, but sufficeive to say, I really like where its going to go, and it feels like more than a single act, single scene play. Its set in a hospital, and will probably be depressing in the end, but whatever. It's an idea, and something to go forward with.

I'll try to do my semesterly feature of "Professor Quotes" in the next entry. I have a couple from my professors this semester that made the cut.

In the end, today was a great day. The snow is fantastically beautiful...there's something about that first snow every season that makes me feel like a kid again, wanting to frolic and throw people into the snow and build igloos and other snow fortresses and throw snowballs at people.

Miguel is truly a winter wonderland currently.

[Listening to: REM - I Am Superman (02:52)]
Posted by Matthew at 03:29 AM | Comments (0)

December 01, 2003

GeneralHappy (belated) Thanksgiving

Was home for the break, so didn't have a chance to update. Highlights/Events-

  • Barnes and Noble on Black Saturday, wandering through and getting books on a gift card I had forgotten about.

  • Having my aunt and grandmother, completely by surprise, come down for Thanksgiving.

  • CHC lost the Turkey Bowl, 14-7. Bah...stupid endzone fumble. Cheers, however, to the game being televised.

  • No traffic coming back to school on Sunday

  • "a.m. Sunday" was interesting...a little vague in the ending, but still pretty good acting wise and everything. I got the meat of the review done at home on Saturday night after 2am.

  • Seeing Brendan and Tiffany and hanging out on Saturday night. They got this really nice apartment off of Greenside Ave in Cockeysville. I'm still participating in his Lord of the Rings marathon in December - showing up at like 10am, watching Fellowship... and Two Towers extended versions on DVD, and then hitting the theater to see Return of the King that evening.

  • Cheers to getting my old job back...I think. I'm happy now, but whether or not I'm going to enjoy it remains to be seen. You can't go home again, and you can't recapture the joy you once had for a job that you've worked at for like 3 years.

  • I'm going to Ireland for spring break, and I'm incredibly excited. The trip completely fixes my second semester schedule by getting me out of the writing SEMINAR that I was going to take as an ELECTIVE. Yeah, I have weird preferences for classes, I know. But now I escape with 12 credits, and will graduate with minimal effort next semester
  • Right now I have a paper I should be writing for Drama class...it's only 4 paragraphs, but I hate having to conform to that. I'm not sure exactly where its going - I wound up doing a page of prewriting and staring at a blank Microsoft Word document on Wednesday night.

    I end with my semester countdown:




    • 13 days
    • 3 Nights of Duty
    • 1 tech interview
    • 1 set of hsm's
    • 1 supervisor evaluation
    • 1 final art project
    • 10 pages for film
    • 4 pages for Ethics
    • 4 paragraphs for Drama
    • 4 pages for 60's
  • 1 drama exam
  • 1 film exam
  • Kind of interesting really, being able to distill the entire semester into 12 items. Surreal...and a strong reminder of how close I am to being done...both semesterly and

    Posted by Matthew at 02:12 AM | Comments (2)

November 24, 2003

GeneralIf we all stand together, we won't fall down


The Crew of Whorehouse (click for larger image)
Another show closed. My La Salle theatre career grows by one - Assassins, Triumph of Love, Nunsense, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Footloose, And Then There Were None, and now The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Pretty full (and fun) run for the last two years.

I had lots of doubts going in, which were unfounded. I keep gravitiating towards a more "professional" approach to theater (whatever that means for me) and thought the show was a step backwards at first - you know, piddly little musical theatre at its worst, flat characters and cliched musical numbers. My fears were unfounded - we did the show justice, and really made it shine. It shone on so many levels - costumes, acting, set, script, lighting, props, everywhere...so many compliments, so many "this is the best we've seen" comments from alumni and friends. We did this show justice, and it was awesome. We "found" the show in between the notes, in between the script, in between the musical numbers that seemed cliched at first...we found the drama, the action, the meat if you will, and dragged it kicking and screaming onto the stage of Dan Rodden. And people liked it....by my initial counts, we sold somewhere between 700 and 1000 tickets for the show.

The cast party proved to be fantastic...for the first time in four years I felt like I let my hair completely down and just had a good time. I wasn't worried about being busted by the police, or about anything - it was just a great party. I paid for it when the room kept spinning in six different directions when I got back to my room, and when I was hunched in the bathroom for what seemed like hours...

But it was all worth it. I even proved to be kind of eloquent at the party, saying the line that heads this journal - "If we all stand together, we won't fall down" - to most of the people I was standing and leaning on during the night. And I'm feeling better today.

I have no eloquent words for the closing of this show, or song lyrics lamenting the ephemerality of the experience. For a while, it was. And now it's over, and it was fantastic.

I leave you with a photo of my housemates from the show, and a photo of the best electrics crew ever. Click both for larger versions.




Posted by Matthew at 01:15 AM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2003

Generalhuh huh, explain this one to me, beavis...

go here

Look at the search results.

Why do La Salle students need to be able to borrow the Beavis and Butthead Greatest hits collection?

So I can watch frog baseball, however, I'm not able to borrow Bergman films from the library (or at least we don't have any...)

Interesting...

Posted by Matthew at 12:29 AM | Comments (1)

November 19, 2003

GeneralThe best time of the show is now...

For me, this is the best time of the show.

For me, the stress is gone. All 130 light cues are programmed safely into the light board. For me, theres no more late nights this week getting a light plot together. This week offers rest from Monday until Thursday, when the magic happens all over again.

Opening weekend was very well attended, with a total of around 400 people seeing the show. I've heard a lot of praise from people - both actors and audiences, loving the energy, and the story that we're putting out there. It makes me excited. My fears were unfounded - we did it again, and we're kicking ass doing it.

Believe it or not, my work is pretty well caught up right now too. My todo list is all crossouts right now - nothing left for a few days. There's a community development inservice tomorrow night, which could be interesting. The topic is supposedly stress busters. My question though is whether or not they'd realize that the necessity of the stress buster theme could be alleviated by not having the inservice so we could get more work done on our own. This is yet another way in which Community Development confuses me.

The RA conference on Saturday was a pretty good time. I didn't realize that going entailed volunteering at the conference though, and was annoyed and glad that I left half day. Volunteering mainly entailed standing outside on a cold, cold morning on the corner of 34th and Ludlow St. to direct traffic into a parking garage. We also had to introduce some speakers, which took away from peoples' choice on what sessions they wanted to attend. I left half day, and I got to attend what I wanted to basically.

I finally registered for the GRE's today, to take them in mid December. I have a renewed hope for Grad School, having found that there are some decent programs that don't have deadlines until later on. I'm looking into Villanova especially, for a MFA in Theater.

I don't completely know, though, but at least it's a plan.

So if you see this in time, and have the opportunity, come on down to see Best Little Whorehouse this weekend - Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm.

[Listening to: Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) - Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Volume 1 (1973-1978) (03:28)]
Posted by Matthew at 01:24 AM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2003

GeneralBest Little Whorehouse Photos

I've put my pics from the rehearsal last night online. The address is http://www.demizio.com/images/blwit/

We open tonight and we're ready.

Come on out and see the show!

Posted by Matthew at 04:30 PM | Comments (1)

November 10, 2003

GeneralHell, party of one / Tech Week

My contribution, after 13 hours of moving my gaze from a computer monitor to stage lights...

The Ten Commandments of Tech Week

1. I am the director, your master. You shall have no other masters besides me, and the stage manager. Believe us when we say that we know what the hell we're doing, and we're doing it for your own good. Even when we seem to be doing nothing. We're doing something. Or if we repeat the same action over and over and over again. It's for the sake of art. Really.

2. You shall not take the name of your masters in vain. This goes for taking techies names in vain too. And other actors too. Or at least do it in a whisper.

3. Remember to keep holy this week. Remember also to keep holy the closing night cast party and drink heavily.

4. Honor your father and mother, the director and his minions. Please don't belittle his vision...audibly.

5. You shall not kill. You will be tempted to kill, but do you really want to repaint over the blood? I thought not.

6. You shall not commit adultery. Until the cast party. Until then, keep it in your pants.

7. You shall not steal scenes, costumes, props, time, or anything from anyone. Someone was up until 4am the night before hot gluing "it" together. Please leave "it" where you found "it". And while we're talking about "it," can you please try not to light "it" on fire? Thanks.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. If you screwed up your line or your cue, admit it and move on. Unless it's the director's vision, in which case, lie like a used car salesman and blame it on him.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor's costume. You all look silly equally. You're actors for Chrissakes.

10 . You shall not covet any prop that belongs to your neighbor. He's probably going to break it, or trip over it anyway.

Yeah, so these are meant in good fun, and with no blasphemey at all.

Tech week goes well. We wrote about 70 light cues today. Probably another fifty need to be done by Thursday.

We're getting there.

Posted by Matthew at 02:21 AM | Comments (1)

November 07, 2003

GeneralMy new low...

My new low tonight came rewriting my Contemporary Drama (motto: "There are no new stories, only retellings of old ones. Especially Oedipus") paper and watching Martha Stewart on KYW.

I just felt like Martha Stewart became a new low for me.

The paper is done, however, and for that I'm ecstatic. One less thing to revise or do this weekend.

She was still better than Carson Daly though.

Tech week (for me) starts tomorrow.

Posted by Matthew at 02:30 AM | Comments (1)

November 06, 2003

Generalnot much to say

In the middle of getting lighting together for "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

I've procastinated a little bit too long this time.

But we're actually very well off right now - on schedule. Just need to focus the first electric.

And add in the rentals on Friday.

Also add in a backlit red wash for Louis.

And run all the cables and stuff.

Its going to be a really, really, really long weekend.

And it all starts now, pretty much.

Posted by Matthew at 01:35 AM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2003

GeneralOmens...

I made it home safely, despite three "omens" that could read to the contrary:

1. While on I-76, heading out of the city, after the South Street exit, there is another left exit. Me: in left lane, doing 50, approaching the exit, not intending to go up the ramp. Him: a pickup truck in the right lane, doing 25 or 30, with right blinker on. He pulls in front of me with no warning, and goes up the exit ramp. This is taking place maybe ten feet from the beginning of the ramp, if that. I slam on my brakes, they squeal, and jam on the horn with my arm while steering left. He continues on his way; no contact, no acknowledgement. I continue on mine, a little bit nervous.

2. While on the George C. Platt Memorial Bridge, the bridge one crosses to get to the Airport or I-95 from I-76. Its a two lane bridge. Right lane is blocked for repairs. A quarter of the way over, I see flashing lights in my rearview coming from the right lane. Philadelphia policeman in jeep points to me to keep still. Behind the jeep is a hearse. I allow funeral procession to pass by, hoping things might look up soon.

3. Probably the simplest of the three, but all traffic came to a halt on I-495 in Delaware for a carfire...worst part of this was that it seemed to have been put out minutes before crossing through. This thick acrid smell hung in the air, like soot and tires and gasoline all mixed together at once. I just merged over, drove on, and prayed everyone was all right.

Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful trip.

Posted by Matthew at 01:18 AM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2003

GeneralWhat I don't understand

Please excuse the rant...and, as always, not not directed at anyone in particular.

I don't understand, why, when there is a free press that is dedicated to students concerns, that the students would rather file judicial charges than express their own opinions. What's easier and more fulfilling - expressing yourself and getting your point exactly across as you wanted it to be heard, or allowing someone else to come in and and punish with an arbitrary set of rules and punishments that, in essence, will mean nothing. What's better - monologue, the blather of a single voice, or dialogue, the symphony (perhaps...) of multiple voices and ideas being expressed together. Send it in, have it printed (which it will be) and go from there.

It just doesn't make sense to me...take some initiave and take the extra step. You're college students engaged in your own search for knowledge and truth. Why not help everyone else along and share?

rant off

Thats all.

I'm looking at internships now for the Spring Semester. Looking at a couple of production internships at local theater companies. Also looking at one with CampusPhilly, which might let me write for a bit...and its right up my alley in terms of generating content for the old internet. Who knows - otherwise, I'll be stuck on campus for long stretches of time with nothing to do.

In other news:

Collegian went to J-Board. Collegian is found responsible. Collegian is put on probation for one issue. What's accomplished by the hearings?

I can't figure that part out.

Life is pretty good otherwise. Just got off the phone after talking to the fine folks from "40 Shades of Gray" on WEXP. Good, wholesome radio there.

I'm heading home tomorrow afternoon, hopeully by 1 or 2. Nothing planned really...Probably going to Gettysburg with my father on Saturday. I want to hit Center Stage perhaps, and probably see Kill Bill. Not sure what else. Just looking forward to recharging, and enjoying home - as Bro. Gerry put in his email to the Film Seminar Class: "get some rest, some home cooking, some movies."

Indeed.

Posted by Matthew at 11:04 PM | Comments (1)

October 14, 2003

GeneralHomecoming, Wanderlust & Senseless Acts of Beauty

I feel like I'm here, there and everywhere with this update.

  • In this universe of universes, randomness of randomness, I was somehow nominated for Homecoming King. I'll find out the 25th, at Homecoming, whether or not I've won. La Salle has a very strange system worked out for it - students only vote to nominate, not to actually choose. I figure my odds are even either way. I don't expect to win, don't really care either way; it really is just an honor to be nominated.
  • I've come to the conclusion about what I want to do after graduation. I'd like to backpack around Europe for as long as I want - or for as long as it takes me to figure out who I am and what I want to be. My thought is to purchase a one way ticket over, and somehow get a "coupon" good for travel back with no starting or expiration dates present so that I could stay for a year or more. I don't know what I want to see, or what to do, other than just experience another set of cultures completely different from my own and allow the initial fear of being the "fish out of water" to subside so as to become complacent with whatever I may decide to do in my life. I have no aversion to hostels, cheap hotels, cheap resturaunts, as long as I'm doing and seeing and being my own person. If not Europe, then I want to at least try this with the United States - kind of going from state to state across the US from East to West to East again. I'm more hesitant to do this with the US, however, because I feel that I know much of the cultures anyhow, and the pressures still exist. Either set of travel would grant me this incredible wealth of experience to write from and base things on. The more I think about this, the crazier it sounds, but the better it sounds - the more concrete. I don't percieve actually doing the travelling once I'm there to be the problem, but rather just getting there. It begs the question, "How far do I have to go to lose myself in order to find myself?"
  • Rant on: I'm the kind of guy who tries to go out of his way for other people. I'm also the kind of guy who randomly thanks people around him and has learned the value of making them feel special, if only for the smallest things...like complimenting someone on a nice hairstyle or a good comment in class. I (usually) have nothing else behind these comments...no hidden agenda. I just wish people would sometimes take these comments as I intend them and not as anything else - and just thank me for them, damnit...I dunno, sometimes I feel just so outside of these people that I say things to, and just get stared at. It's not a Community Development thing, or a Masque thing, but a genuine Matthew DeMizio thing. Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty. Rant off.
  • Good coffee is fantastic any time of the day or night.
  • My mind is set very much on going home on Friday night. I haven't been home since August 9th (the day before RA training) and need to recharge my batteries for a few days.
Thats about it. Leave me a kind word if you see this in the comments, or when you see me in passing...I've found that random kindness may be the best kind - when it's unexpected, when it's genuine and heartfelt.
[Listening to: Rolling Stones - Angie (04:32)]
Posted by Matthew at 11:37 PM | Comments (2)

October 04, 2003

GeneralQuickie...One Acts...

The One Acts went really incredibly well.

Pictures I took are here

Enjoy.

[Listening to: Spirit in the Night - Bruce Springsteen - Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (05:00)]
Posted by Matthew at 07:31 PM | Comments (1)

October 02, 2003

GeneralThis had me rolling earlier today...

This was a personal ad in this week's Philadelphia Weekly Personals:

DOCTOR'S OFFICE

Me: reading "Highlights" for children. You: let me try your prosthetic leg. Sorry about the stain. Can I take you to dinner. *667119

My directorial debut is on Friday with the production of "All in the Timing" by David Ives. I'm personally responsible for "Sure Thing," which if you've seen the show before, is the one with the couple in the cafe with the bell. I'm excited. The 'rents are coming up on Friday (first time I'll have seen them since August) and it promises to be an interesting evening. Come on out if you're reading this and able to; it should be fun, only lasts like an hour and there's an Improv 101 show right after.

In other news, life continues onwards. I'm behind in some schoolwork, most notably a paper or two for Harty's Contemporary Drama. I'm also about 3-4 weeks behind on the La Salle Collegian posting, although after Saturday, I should be back on top of it. I'm feeling writer's block now - and this bothers me...I should be writing my one act for class, should be cranking out short stories for submission to grad school...and I need to start thinking about grad school too. Need to sign up for the GRE's and get applications out.

So. That's my stream-of-consciousness rambling for today. I've been trying to memorize Jake La Motta's two monologues from Raging Bull for class tomorrow. I have them down pat, I'm just feeling nervous about having to act in front of the class. My Italiain accent drops into Boston pretty quickly, and I don't have a cigar, but we'll see how it goes.

As La Motta says..."That's Entertainment.

That's Entertainment."

[Listening to: The Boys Of Summer - The Ataris - So Long, Astoria (07:22)]
Posted by Matthew at 01:45 AM | Comments (2)

September 28, 2003

GeneralTetris

Tetris, in my view, can be looked at as a metaphor for life.

I'm not joking; I mean this seriously, to semi-seriously. I don't mean for it to be taken as a new-wave religion or a cult or anything, but hear me out.

You can tell a lot about a person by the way that they play Tetris. The best way to observe them is by hooking them up to an old-school, 8-bit Nintendo and watching them. Tetris creates a lot of stress - the constant barrage of new bricks, the speed increasing every ten lines...its a lot like life.

Think about it - life hands you bricks all the time, all differently shaped and all fit differently into your "game board," but, you have to make them fit anyhow. There's no way to reject a certain block at a certain time, or hold it off until later. You can try and set up a system, waiting for the long straight pieces to get the big bonuses, but there's no guarentee that the system will work out over time. You just keep having to take it and take it and take it, and make the best of it.

So many times people give up in the end of Tetris, when their stack reaches the top of the screen, and the music goes on hyperdrive. That's not the time to panic; thats the time to tune out the music and just sort faster. You have fewer places to go with blocks, but ingenuity really shines here and people try new and different things.

I mean thats the way I've always looked at it. Completely non-seriously of course, but realize that the blocks one hits in life can be made to fit in even though it seems impossible at first.

So thats what I mean when I say that Tetris stands as a metaphor for life.

I've been playing a lot of Tetris lately, since Scott bought Graham and old-school Nintendo for his birthday a week ago. Went to see "Lost in Translation on Friday night. Fantastic movie; I'm still pretty much in awe of a lot of the cinematography. It was a really, really interesting picture of a random friendship, and possibly one of the truest pictures of a friendship between a man and a woman that I've seen on film. Bill Murray is understated, and the humor of theof the situations he's in finds him more than anything else.

So yeah, this all feels vaguely unfinished, but there's a lot of other, better stuff to be done.

[Listening to: Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy (03:01)]
Posted by Matthew at 11:48 PM | Comments (3)

September 18, 2003

GeneralLife in general & Two Quick Movie Reviews

I blew off night class the past two nights in a row.

I had my reasons, of course. Last night was to reclaim the time I spent working for Community Development the night before, unpaid, collecting IP addresses for 2 and a half hours...I had a paper to write that was due on Wednesday morning, of course. I took the time I would have spent in night class and spent it doing the paper. And got it done at around 11PM, which for me is fantastic. Its a great paper, all about social utility theory applied to teacher-rating sites online.

Tonight, I skipped playwriting (which to me isn't really a full class - its a pure elective on my part, doing absolutely nothing for my studies, not even counting for so much as a free elective on my tally) to go downtown to see "Anything Else", the new Woody Allen/Jason Biggs/Christina Ricci film.

The movie is fantastic. I haven't seen much of Allen's work (although I'm learning more and more about him in Film Seminar) but to me, this seems to be one of the most farcical of his works - the exaggeration employed for humorous effect is fantastic. Biggs assumes the role of the new neurotic, pseudo-Allen, stuck in relationships that he fears breaking apart from. Ricci plays Biggs' current girlfriend, and portrays the character beautifully. Allen chooses to stay off to the side and become Biggs' guide, projecting his own neuroses and foibles as Biggs stumbles along the road to what he truly wants. It's a fantastic plot, with some decent scenes. It feels like another "Annie Hall" - but in this version Allen plays the outer friend Rob, Biggs plays Allen, and Ricci becomes Diane Keaton. I feel that its marketed completely wrong though - being made up as a teen comedy (down to the multicolored movie poster) however, it is truly a Woody Allen film, and teen audiences may not get the subtlety of some of the humor.

The other film was from seminar today, "Taxi Driver". It's disturbing, and I don't have much more than that. It's an incredibly rich film, and there are connections to so much within it. DeNiro is so young, yet so incredibly intense...the famous "You talkin' to me?" scenes being the pinnacle of that intensity. The film really bothered me, and still has to a degree. I need class tomorrow to figure out exactly whats going on.

So yeah, go see "Anything Else." Fantastic.

Posted by Matthew at 01:45 AM | Comments (5)

September 14, 2003

GeneralIf I say "Quiet hours guys, keep it down" one more time...

...I'm going to scream. smile!

Actually, tonight hasn't been that bad. The entire year hasn't been as bad as I had originally thought it would be. Chalk another one up to the "things that seemed worse than they actually turned out" file.

Today's highlight was going to Best Buy and actually spending money. I wound up getting (begin nerdy drumroll...) a Samsung 52x CD-Recorder and a Belkin Firewire card. The CDRW decided to screw with some software I had installed, and is actually burning at less than it should be now...but it should be fixed soon. Also picked up a copy of the South Park movie that was on sale...such a funny movie.

On Friday, I went with a couple friends to see "Once Upon a Time In Mexico." Its a fun movie; kinda threw me at first, but it got better as it went along. Its a B-movie that knows that its a B-movie and loves it: lots of cheesy dialogue, cheesy plot points coupled with lots of interesting visual effects - including some revolving around knees and eyes that I won't spoil here. Johnny Depp steals the movie with his CIA-agent persona, but there isn't a bad performance in the entire cast - Willem Dafoe, Selma Hayek, Antonio Banderas. The plot escaped me at first, however it quickly sorted itself out as the film unspooled. Its worth a viewing, at least a rental if not a full price ticket now. It all seemed eerily paralell to the Sergio Leone "Man with No Name Trilogy" - same washed out feel to the shot composition, same seemingly inane dialogue in places ("Are you a Mexi-can? Or a Mexi-can't?") and the same spaghetti western feel except it might be a "tortilla western" for Mexico...I'm not sure.

Other than that things are quiet. Its off to the Philadelphia Museum of Art tomorrow morning, and then duty and paper writing into the night.

[Listening to: Amsterdam - by Guster (03:37)]
Posted by Matthew at 02:29 AM | Comments (3)

September 08, 2003

GeneralLife, the universe and everything

Its been a crazy couple of weeks, what can I say...

In short, the house rocks. Scott, Matt, Graham, and Joe make pretty decent housemates, and even better Halo opponents. No major problems besides me doing a hell of a lot of dishes last week. Eh, what can I say - its relaxing, and isn't too bad. The house is great...I finally have what I missed during sophomore and junior years - that feeling of being in the place where people like to congregate. I'm no longer living anywhere thats out of the way or difficult to find or where no one else is, like dorms when everyone is in the apartments.

The Masque is auditioning people for the one acts tomorrow - "All in the Timing" by David Ives. I'm directing "Sure Thing" which is purely comedic in the timing of the show. I'm nervous; I've never really audtioned people before, and I've surely never really directed anything beyond a 15 minute television show before...oh well, first time for everything, I guess.

Classes are, for the most part, fantastic. 18 credits is cake...yeah right. Playwriting is fantastic...the prof isn't completely sure how to teach us, but even in what we've done so far has been entertaining. He's at least boiling playwriting down to formulae that are pretty decent to start from - plug x into y, add characters and you have a scene. The 60's is interesting, the prof definitely has an incredibly evil laugh through. But he was there, he experienced the 60's firsthand, and he's relating the experiences to us in a way I can understand. We're plunging right into drawing tomorrow, and going head over heels into the human form with a model. I'm currently freaking out, as I've never successfully executed a picture of a house in my life... Com Ethics is actually really fun - I'm understanding the material, am currently ahead in the work aspects, and enjoy discussing these theoretical situations. Film Seminar is incredible...I've never had an opportunity to really enjoy Scorcese and Woody Allen films, and now we're forced into it. Bro. Gerry is proving to be a damn good teacher who understands whats going on. And finally...Contemporary Drama is Harty, and Harty is the same as always, dry and hilarious. I'm constantly losing it in class when he compares everything to Cats, or whenever we get the "Youth is wasted on the young...it really is" lines. He's a really decent guy, and I'm learning quite a bit.

Other than that...life is pretty happy. I'm employed again in the Division of Student Affairs, working on web sites for student organizatons, a job that I know I'll like. I've always been an advocate for putting information like that online - other universities right now are a lot better than us right now, having info on lots of organizations, but we'll catch up. The Masque (besides the One Acts) hasn't really started up yet (besides Meet the Masque, which was a night I may never forget...) so theres no stress. Community Development is Community Development, as always.

I have my Senior Portriat taking tomorrow... I'm nervous, not because of the act of getting photographed, but in the whole symbolic action deal - this is how I'll be remembered in the yearbook, "immortalized" for all eternity. After tomorrow, the idea that I'm a senior may sink in, and I may realize that theres less than a year left.

I'm comforted by the fact that the year has barely started yet, and theres a heck of a lot of time left.

So... in the hopes of making this less about me, and more about general stuff, here's a quick top 5 list - top 5 anagrams for mylasalle web portal


  • PRY ALLOWABLE METALS

  • STOW LAME BALLPLAYER

  • TELL ROM WAS PLAYABLE

  • MEATBALL PLAYERS LOW

  • RAPE MEATBALL SLOWLY

And finally, my favorite for "mylasalle": A SMALL LYE.

(courtesy of: the Internet Anagram Server)

Have a wonderful day, and week all!

[Listening to: Me, Myself, and Irene Soundtrack - The World Ain't Slowin' Down (Ellis Paul).mp3 - by - (00:00)]
Posted by Matthew at 02:12 AM | Comments (4)

August 22, 2003

GeneralUpdate...

Disregard the last entry...

Sometimes just getting out of your shell works wonders. The night improved tremendously, and it seems like everything was just due to my being tired as heck. Who knew?

So I feel like an ass for writing it, but feel a heck of a lot better tonight after just hanging out with people and talking.

Good to be back again.

[Listening to: Fire And Rain .... - by James Taylor - The Concert For New York 10-20-01 (09:06)]
Posted by Matthew at 03:11 AM | Comments (3)

August 21, 2003

GeneralFeeling like an outsider...

I just don't know any more...the last few days have been a blur.

Training is done, finally. Behind Closed Doors, every returner's favorite part where they model "worst case scenarios" for the newbies to practice confrontation, was fantastic. Going in there was a shroud of doubt over the community development team: returners doubting newbies could handle it, and newbies awash in self doubt over the hardest task they'll probably have to face. Coming out of it was a new staff, who knew that they could tackle anything, together. As corny as it sounds, its the truth, and we came away from it all with self confidence blazing.

Freshmen moved in today. My only scheduled shift was at E&F from 7:30am until 9:30. Kinda boring, but a nice change from sitting in Bernard for the past 2 years with all the hussle and bustle of North Dorms going on around me. Still, it was weird...I had this strange left-out feeling. Its weird for me not having a floor to meet new freshmen on...kind of unsettling, as that kind of stuff energizes me as weird as that sounds.

I haven't felt connected much this week at all to anyone, and I'm not sure why... My staff rocks, but we're all different people. We've clicked, but without training, theres not a heck of a lot of times where we're all together. Training was two weeks when I was away from all of my non-RA/CA friends (read: Masque) and I'm just feeling that too...so much that when I'm trying to get people together for something, it falls through. My house seems the same way, although I'm trying...its been so long since I've lived with people that I feel like I've forgotten it. Plus we all are involved to the max, to the point we've been together as a house (all 5 of us) for like 10 minutes thus far.

I guess this is back to normal, life as usual.

I don't know... Its probably my fault completely, but nothing I do seems to fix it...sigh... And it seems like this may all just be the first week talking. Still settling in, y'know?

I'm exhausted. It's 11:30, and I've been up and around since 7:30 this morning, and I'm tired.

[Listening to: Theme From Hill Street Blues - by Mike Post - Sounds Of The 80's: TV Themes (03:10)]
Posted by Matthew at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2003

GeneralSemi-Annual Thank You's (vol. 1)

So, with 6:30PM on August 9th officially come and gone, it means that summer is officially over. I got back to campus early today to the boxes and bags that littered my room. I finally got everything unpacked and cleaned up around 2 hours later. I banged the hell out of my big toe when I was setting up the living room...stupid La Salle couch. Training looks like its going to be fun - its a totally different group of people to get used to. It promises to be a fun 2 weeks.

So, without further ado, and in no order whatsoever, I want to do my semi-annual thank you list of the people who have meant something to me or who have helped out for the summer...

  • To Veitz - for the Guinness Extra Stout that night...incredible beer. Thanks more, though, to being here for as many times as you were. I always had a good time - whether at the ballgame, or with friends from the NE...I laughed a lot.
  • To Fala - thanks for putting up with my random temperments and strange personality quirks. Thanks for your cooking as well, that chicken rocked. It was a great summer.
  • To Angie - Thanks for putting up with my random technical abilities in the theater and making it as much fun as it was on the headset.
  • To Jasmind - for every day of work this summer - for making a boring and random job really bearable and fun.
  • To Rose - ditto for Jasmind...especially for putting up with my whines on a daily basis, and for the cool stuff I lined up for the year.
  • To Fallows - thanks for the meals you cooked, and for the interesting conversations.
  • To Ali, Cristin, and the Poppleton Street Posse - thanks for the parties and the nights of randomness. Most fun I've had in Baltimore in a long time.
  • To Dave - for those AWESOME waffles after Ali's 21st...they were incredible
  • To John - for the party at your place...you're still my favorite traffic guy.
  • To Tennis Club - for the tennis, of course.

Thats the end of volume one...as I can't think of any others and I'm exhausted.

Its good to be back in Philly.

[Listening to: Fire And Rain .... - by James Taylor - The Concert For New York 10-20-01 (09:06)]
Posted by Matthew at 01:35 AM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2003

GeneralSquare lenses?

A boring entry follows, but not much is happening.

The more time I spend in Baltimore, the more that I fall in love with the city. All right, the time I spent today was at the Inner Harbor and Fells Point, but its still pretty representative of the city at large. I went down primarily to visit two friends at work - Ali, working at Destination Baltimore, and Cristin, working in Fells Point. For no extra fee, I got to see Dave for a while too. I wish we could have met under better conditions with Ali working and Cristin sick, but it was still good to see them. I hadn't been to the Inner Harbor since my last trip up around a month ago, and I hadn't been to Fells Point since forever.

Had a good time downtown...rode the Water Taxi from the Light Street Pavillion to Fells Point. The weather was perfect - the rain that came in tonight was nowhere in sight and a cool breeze was coming off the water. Fantastic afternoon to be downtown.

The eye exam went well on Monday. Without glasses, I found out I'm 20/600, a far cry from the 20/15 that I have with them on. The whole 20-whatever system was explained to me too, in that what the first number is the distance that would be normal to see it at, and the second number is the actual distance I'd be able to see it. Kinda scary that the eyes have degraded that far. There was no change in prescription though. I did get a new pair of glasses - smaller, and more square-ish lenses.

So far, no ones noticed the difference.

So that's been about it for the past few days. I'm tired, and have a list of todos for tomorrow.

Currently Listening to: "Hard Candy" by the Counting Crows

Posted by Matthew at 01:14 AM | Comments (1)

August 04, 2003

GeneralAmazing what 60 feet of cable can do...

The most impressive thing that I'll have to show for this break at home will be that my old computer on my desk (the one that got me through high school...a Packard Bell Pentium system thats been upgraded in pretty much every area but processor...a Pentium 133 will run Win2000 with 84MB of RAM and a $10 network card that I salvaged from dead computers...) now runs off of the DSL line in the house. Not bad for 50 feet of CAT5 Patch and one crossover cable.

I'm finally home.

I just want to let that sink in. Thats all I need to know and remember for the week. I can finally have an "old-fashioned" summer: sleeping till 10, 11, or 12...movies with friends, no thoughts of conferences, work, or anything other than relaxation.

So far I've gone to Hoyt's - now Regal, although in my mind, always Hoyt's - once. This was the place where I worked for three summers and saw pretty much every movie that came out for three straight years. Its the same old, same old... I did get to see Brendan though, one of the kids I graduated CHC with. Brendan is probably my oldest and closest friend at this point. We just hung out for a couple hours after work. Went to a late night breakfast at the Nautilus Diner down York Road. Talked about movies, life, graduation, and whatever...just a good time.

I needed that night...I've missed Brendan a lot. I feel as though I've never had a tangible past, that people have really just vanished behind the boxes of the various moves I've made. Brendan right now is my link to high school...hes a damn good friend, and someone I've missed too much.

(oh yeah, this is to any old friends who are around this week - give me a call, or drop me an IM...I have nothing but time.)

Tomorrow will be spent getting my eyes checked and possibly new glasses. I have no idea what style to get (although I'm gonna go for smaller lenses, as is my trend from the gigantic aviators I wore in high school...) but I just want new, unscratched lenses.

I think I'm going to sit now and try and get something written. I have no idea what - a play, or a scene or a short story. I just feel in the groove and enjoying this computer working again.

Oh yeah, before I forget - to all of my friends who are currently freaking out about everything in their lives - jobs, school, the fall, teachers, family, whatever - STOP WORRYING...it hasn't happened yet, and your worst fears aren't going to happen. Worry is so counter-productive and wasteful. Make your choices, and let whatever happens, happen. Then deal with it: for better, or for worse. Life is too short to keep worrying about what could or might happen.

Posted by Matthew at 01:42 AM | Comments (1)

July 29, 2003

GeneralCalled out sick

Called out sick today. Somehow, a cold germ found me yesterday, and pretty much incapacitated me into today. My head feels like its been inflated to 50psi, my nose won't stop running; the inside of my throat feels like sandpaper, and I ache all over.

Perhaps its payment for such a great weekend? It was fantastic...John's party went really well, and lasted well into Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon, a couple of us went up to New Hope, PA, for an evening of dinner and shopping. Lots of stories from both...easier to tell in person, or in here when I'm well. Lots of pictures too...

The makers of DayQuil should be cannonized. They really should...

Countdown until moveout is now 3 days. Friday should be relatively free of stress - its only moving one house down. I really can't wait until I get home Friday night...especially if I'm still sick.

So this has been really rambling and random, and I need a nap.

Later.

[Listening to: Jungleland - by Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run (09:33)]
Posted by Matthew at 07:08 PM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2003

GeneralFinally, a weekend!

Quck entry before I go...

AP teachers left today. Tear... they were definitely the group that I got most attached to. Even when they were drunk after their final dinner... it was defintely the "happiest place on earth" for a couple of hours here last night. They were our last major group, which really drills into me that summer is pretty much over.

This is also the first weekend in a month that we don't have a check in or an event on Sunday afternoon. To celebrate, I'll be at John Ogden's having an awesome time - finally an Ogden party thats off campus.

I'll be back on Saturday at some point...probably will write up some reflections for this summer.

What a long strange trip its been...and its all gone too quickly.


[Listening to: When I Grow Up - by Garbage - Version 2.0 (03:24)]

Posted by Matthew at 07:44 PM | Comments (1)

July 20, 2003

GeneralNot much new...

Theres not much going on here.

I refuse to acknowledge that summer is ending. I really can't conceive that theres only like 2 more weeks of living here left before training starts. This summer has just gone incredibly too quickly...it really seems just like yesterday that we all moved in, got settled, started enjoying this...sigh.

I've been reading a lot lately. I started working on The Stories of John Cheever and am about a quarter of the way through. I definitely got it because it was one of the ones Cronin kept reccomending in class, and kept photocopying from. A lot of other short story authors seem to know the book and acknowledge it as a favorite. Cheever is interesting; his stories paint these individual worlds that are great because they're difficult to break out of: each sentence feels lovingly crafted to build some to some larger whole. Its a good read too, because I tend to lose interest in books quickly, and since they're short stories, I can put it down and pick it up later on and not have missed anything.

That of course happened because of a review I read in the New York Times while at work this past week, a review for Absolutely American : Four Years at West Point. This one is incredible: Lipsky spends 4 years at West Point and follows the lives of individual cadets - an almost Military 'Real World'. This book illustrates a collegiate experience I have absolutely no connection to, but for some reason I found fascinating. Lipsky writes of a place where individual freedoms are restricted, something that would otherwise create strife and pain, but instead seem to create a stronger and more cohesive group of outstanding young men and women.

The West Point mystique piqued my curiosity, and I started
The Long Gray Line
, which is the story of the West Point class of 1966, before and during their entrance into the Vietnam conflict. Again, fascinating stuff, but not finished yet...

So yeah, been spending a lot of time reading. I'm behind my record number of books from last summer, but I'm still doing pretty well...

Thats pretty much it. Gotta work check-in tomorrow and cook for a potluck dinner tomorrow night.

[Listening to: Frank Sinatra - Cake - (03:58)]
Posted by Matthew at 12:40 AM | Comments (1)

July 13, 2003

GeneralSunburned

My shoulders and upper back are the color of pale tomatos, the result of six hours in a pool without sunscreen. I'm freaking out a little because I read somewhere today, while looking for sunburn cures, that a bad sunburn doubles your chances for skin cancer. This helpful site also helpfully listed in a helpful manner that the best cure for sunburn is prevention.

Duh.

Other than that, I'm tired after a long weekend - Saturday in Cape May, and today with checkin for the Lasallian Leadership Institute. There was no SDR coverage for Miguel, so I wound up in the booth for 6 hours.

My bitterness at La Salle, I think, has faded for the moment. I need to have a couple of chats with some people before the summer is out, in a last stab at trying to make it better. I'm just unmotivated...I've been taught to confront the stuff in life that isn't the way I think it should be, but so much of this stuff seems insiginfigant. Oh well...summer is almost over anyhow.

Its back to work tomorrow. Same old same old.

[Listening to: Get Over It - OK Go - (03:16)]
Posted by Matthew at 11:34 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2003

GeneralLa Salle

Update...
We were allowed to play past 10:00PM tonight - until 11:30 in fact. This is without the intervention of the administration that we worked on during the day today. It was incredible - finally another chance to get better, and I really was feeling it tonight.

Updates to follow, however, most of the bitterness is gone. However, this was all written prior to the games, so I'm finishing it and posting it anyhow. I'm feeling a lot better: hitting that ball around really does relieve stress and bitterness.

To expand on my last post...

I really love La Salle. Theres a sense of community here that I don't feel anywhere else. That community is self-imposed, but not by any entity, or any group, organization, clique, subset or club: its inherent, I believe in the traditions and heritage of the school. There are some things that always and forever be, no matter how much any entity may work against them. La Salle has an attitude: take this and live with it, or leave it. Only through taking it can you change it.

That being said, I have problems with a lot of administrative details about the school...


  • I don't understand why the good people are persecuted for the good that they do for the school. This takes the form of us being shoo'ed from the tennis courts, or from good people/groups who lose their jobs/status/power/responsibilty because their methods are uncouth. Don't ask me for specific examples: but if you've taken La Salle for what it is, you can think of an example. Or Two. Or Three.

  • I don't understand why I feel so powerless as an undergraduate student when I should feel I have the highest amount of potential to change the university. I don't want to change the mission or the faculty or fire anyone; I just want to be able to feel valued and respected and not just as another hassle to an administrator sitting at a computer.

  • I don't understand why admissions won't stop admitting students even though we're straining at capacity (I know, this is a cheap shot...) I also don't understand why we can't get accurate counts until Opening Weekend.

  • I don't understand why good people decide to uphold bad policies. I firmly believe that the people in power here feel some of what I believe in about this school, and are honestly and with their heart trying to make it a better place. But somewhere along the line communication gets bungled.

  • I don't understand why the administration feels the need to lie to students. Or, not exactly lying, but not giving sufficient reasons for decisions made. You know what? If you don't have a reason for me, take some time and invent one. Something plausible, perhaps, or not - give me a good fantasy. I can't move into my townhouse when I want to because theres an orgy going on and they don't want to clean up afterwards. I see. I can't rent out the Hayman Center because the cryogenic facility used to store Walt Disney is underneath center court? I understand. The Masque can't do "Burn This" because the Provost's first cousin is a pyrophobiac (fears fire)? Thats a damn good reason.
  • and finally...

  • I don't understand why good students don't try and make this place better in place of their complaining. Put your actions where your mouth is and help out.
    Please know that none of these things are directly influenced by anything specific to my life right now, they're merely broad generalizations about what I've seen and felt over the last four years.

    [Listening to: New York City Serenade - Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E Steet Shuffle (09:55)]
    This post brought to you by the First Amendment. Use it while its still the law of the land.
    Posted by Matthew at 12:35 AM | Comments (3)

July 05, 2003

GeneralSome random thoughts...

There was a very strange blackout early this morning from 5:30-7:30AM. All of the power to St. Miguel was out. I was awake for some reason, still not sure why, and watched my computer try and come back on at 5:35, and 5:45, but apparently the power just kept blanking out then. Really strange, but moreso because I was awake. I wound up wandering out to the SDR to see if the power was out there (it was) but the power to the lights at the tennis courts was still on. For some reason, I sat outside my house waiting for the power to come on. It felt surreal: I could hear only the early morning birds chirping (obviously about getting the worm) and the wind blowing through the trees. There were no air conditioners, or people, or anything... I sat outside for what must have been an hour, just listening to it all. My mind would not fathom the idea of sleeping through the blackout. Finally, I did go back inside and fell asleep, and the power came on around 7:30 again. I slept until about noon.

We did a barbecue today, for the Fourth, as is mandated in the Constitution. Burgers, hot dogs, chicken...It went really well. It was amazingly hot by the grill - it was already probably between 80 and 90 and in direct sunlight in addition to the hot charcoal - and I felt like the grill was sucking the life out of me. I think I was just really dehydrated, but even after water and air conditioning, the day still felt really weird. The day got better, but I never got my energy back. I spent the evening cleaning house - mopping floors, cleaning room and bathroom, etc.. - and then Vetiz, Lauren, Baker, Fala, and Lindsay and I watched the fireworks and stuff on TV. An all right night...close to great, but not there exactly.

Speaking of, the Philadelphia fireworks from the art museum looked cool, but sounded horrible...the soundtrack was incredibly random and just bad. I don't know how to describe it - the pieces didn't transition into each other with any skill. It felt like there was a DJ somewhere who just played random songs that almost sounded good to the fireworks. How bad was it? The entire event ended in the Star Spangled Banner, however, the Godawful version they used was with Cher singing. Cher. For Christ sakes...

Dave and Busters is fantastic... Dave and I went last night for a couple of hours...well, we were actually forced to go. Its an amazing place - I need to go back soon, but when I have money. The place is just a black hole for money. Well, money and time. I'm also disappointed that you have to be 25 to bring in people underage, because it would have been nice to go with other people who are currently underage - I felt kinda guilty for going and having such a good time when others couldn't get in. Still a fantastic place though. Definitely want to go back this year as people turn 21.

So that's it...random moments from the weekend so far. Tomorrow, I'm off to Jersey with my father to visit my grandmother. I'm looking forward to it - haven't seen my father in a while, and my grandmother in even longer. I wish I could afford to go to Six Flags with the Masque tomorrow, but the money is pretty far gone right now...Anyhow, the park will be mobbed and insane anyway.

Weekends are so cool.

Posted by Matthew at 12:26 AM | Comments (1)

July 02, 2003

GeneralHairspray, Phillies, Weekend, Etc.

Saturday -
Hairspray was fantastic in NYC. Harvey Fierstein was fantastic - funny, and really brought life to the character. The production itself was incredible. I had visions going in that it was going to be cheesy and annoying. The choreography was polished, the set design was well done, and the lighting was right in line with the gist of the rest of the production. I'm still trying to figure out how they did this one effect with the background: it was like a giant, LED sign, only huge - dots of light that seemed to be able to change color at will and form designs on itself.

The trip itself went well - Angie and I made it there just in time to get in as the doors opened...she enjoyed it all too - more than was expected on her part too. We grabbed dinner in the city a few blocks from the theater and made it back to Philly by 10pm.

Monday -
Got a call from Veitz about going to see the Phillies play. Went with him, Fala, Lauren's brother... It was the first game in a long time that I've been to that the home team won. Some pictures from the game are here - http://www.demizio.com/images/phillies63003/

Had a fantastic time...I need to make it back to the Vet this season :)

I'm tired. Just gotta get through tomorrow, and the weekend should rock.

Posted by Matthew at 11:04 PM | Comments (1)

June 25, 2003

GeneralAnd so it goes...

First off, this is an interesting read. I'm looking at it from the perspective of an outsider, having come to Philadelphia 4 years ago after stays in Jersey and Maryland. I see the abuses that Lundy sees, in smaller situations. "Corrupt" cops (so-called, because I don't have a thesarus to find a better word) drinking at Belfield [who still seem to do a decent job whwn called upon], nepotism exists on the same scale in other large cities, municipal bureauracracy that boggles and confuses the mind... In short, I'm not sure what to think about the region. Lundy cites "the history, the diversity and the character" of the region as positives, and the possibilty of an "inferiority complex" existing on a large scale for the area.

I dunno. For some reason, the problems seem small to me. This seems to be a darn nice place to live...

The last couple of days have been according to the routine...work from 8:30 to 4:30...dinner...sometimes a nap. I've been getting down to the tennis courts from 9-10 most nights - after the sun and the heat go down, the lights come on - and just try and hit the ball. If I'm able to bring anyone down that has a racket with me (only Dave and Kelly have them so far...) we'll play. Otherwise, its just me and the wall, trying to work on my shots and become a better player. Then its back here to the house for a shower, reading, and sleep.

Work has been slow this week...slow enough that stuffing folders almost seemed fun for a while as an exercise against the boredom. Theres a camp here this weekend, and theres more stuff next week, but July will be the busy time. I'm trying to get time off at some point during it, but it looks like the only time I'll be home will be for right before training - the first week of August.

My reading habits have finally picked up their steam for the summer. Last week I finished
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon. Its an incredible read...a word we used to use in Cronin's workshop was "stuff" - the details that make a life seem real or that make a book come alive. This book has so much "stuff" that I don't know where to begin. It takes the reader into the world of comic books from the 1930s-1960s and into the lives of two men who would be forever changed by that world: a Jewish immigrant from Prague, escaping Nazi tyranny, and a young New York dreamer stuck in his dead-end job. I knew nothing about comic books before I started, and while I don't feel overly educated into the world of inkers, superheroes and masked men, I never felt like I was in over my head. Its a great read and highly reccomended.

Last night finished Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence by Paul Feig. A funny, quick read, about the horrors of adolescence from the guy that seems to have been through the worst of it all. Feig is the one who developed the underground smash "Freaks and Geeks" for television. Not much other to say than that...its a fun read, laughs abound, and my mind boggles as to how it all could be true.

I'm now working my way through Atlas Shrugged again...I passed the hundred page barrier today, and it has me in its grip. This time I will finish it.

So yeah, thats about it for now...lifes pretty busy, but good.

Posted by Matthew at 10:27 PM | Comments (2)

June 22, 2003

GeneralHappy Birthday Ali!

Weekend was crazy - here's the gist:

Friday - worked checkin until 5pm at Hayman. Blah. Watched TV into the night...
Saturday - worked 12-7 in the theater for a dance recital. After the recital, drove with Angie down to Baltimore through pouring rain, fog and other nastiness for Ali's 21st Birthday. Partied until 4AM...when I crashed on their floor. The party was great: many, many people who I had never met before, and then some random Masque people who had managed to come down. Dave is a great cook. Richie has to stop drinking and swear not to sell out. Ali is a fun drunk. Stage four sucks. Sleeping on a wood floor hurts the next morning.
Sunday - I managed to stop off at home and make it back to La Salle on something like 4 hours of sleep. Thank God for coffee from the Chesapeke House. Before leaving, we made it to the Inner Harbor, and my first trip up to Federal Hill. I really wish that I had remembered my camera, because there were some great picture opportunites at the party and at the harbor.

And now I'm losing coherence, and I'm tired, and work is coming back up at 8:30 tomorrow.

Posted by Matthew at 11:17 PM | Comments (4)

June 17, 2003

GeneralApples to apples

I went home on Friday, needing to get the heck out of Philly and wanting to spend some time with the parents...hadn't seen them since I moved into Miguel in May.

Friday: Friday, I drove home with Myrick for the first time in the new car. Dropped Matt off at the train station in Baltimore and drove home and just hung out. We went out to dinner at Vito's, a local Italian place and watched "Catch Me If You Can." My father loved it, I had seen it twice before, so I kind of read along with it.

I had called Ali earlier in the day and I was (surprisingly) able to find her house without getting lost. Her house rocks - its a typical Baltimore rowhome, old, with lots of defunct fireplaces. Its beautiful though - in a much better neighborhood than I originally thought. We were all exhausted - them after long days of work, me after the drive - and we just kind of sat around and watched the end of the Orioles game, sang along to Newsies, and played this "Apples to Apples" card game.

Two pictures, first of Ali, second of Cristin:




I left at one and promptly crashed as soon as I got home.

Saturday: Saturday was pretty boring and mundane - slept too late to help my sister move out. Went to her apartment and was impressed - pretty decent for what shes paying, and her roommates seem cool.

Saturday night, I stopped off at the movie theater where I used to work, having the feeling that I'd run into Brendan. His car was there, and I surprised him. My hope was to possibly get together and do something that night, but he had plans already... I wound up talking to my boss though for a bit, and it seems like I could have my old job back if I ever wanted it. Good to know with this economy - the job sucks because of all the customer service with it, but the pay is pretty decent after three years invested into it. I went back home and watched "Tears of the Sun" with my parents again - I know, pathetic...but it was nice, perhaps part of a father's day gift for my father, and a late mother's day gift for my mother.

Sunday: Nothing happened. I didn't drive back to La Salle like I should have - just wasn't feeling all that great, and the thought of another night in my bed at home kept me there.

I wound up leaving on Monday morning, making it back to La Salle by 2, and working until 4:30. Tonight I spent 2 1/2 hours out...I wanted to go see Shannon at work, and surprise her. So, wanting company along for the ride, I picked up Veitz at his house, and tried to find this place near Collingdale. Unfortunately US Route 13 is the worst road ever - we lost the road five or six times, and just got completely lost after widning through what seemed like ALL OF PHILADELPHIA (we saw the Zoo, Belmont plateau, Mann Music Center, University City, the Sports Complexes, Walt Whitman Bridge, etc), that we had to turn back at like 10:30. I still had fun though, even though Brian kept criticizing and making fun of my driving.

I got back here and crashed...and its off to sleep now, after a surprisingly full weekend. Back to work tomorrow at 8:30am. sigh.

Currently listening to: The Ataris, "So Long, Astoria"

Posted by Matthew at 12:38 AM | Comments (1)

June 12, 2003

GeneralTomorrow, I will be home.

This rain tonight was fantastic. It hasn't poured like that since I can remember. It reminded me of last summer - running through the rain in shorts and a T-Shirt just because it was happening, splashing in puddles and otherwise just enjoying the relief from the stifiling heat.

I'm going home with Myrick tomorrow in the early afternoon. I have no particular reason for going, even actually having a reason not to go - that my sister is moving out on Saturday and I'll have to help the move - but with the lack of excitement here, its probably the most exciting decision. I'm looking forward to seeing a couple of people, and maybe seeing a movie or two (if I can still sneak in for free.) I had heard that Brendan had gone back - seeing him would probably make this trip for me.

I'm racking my brain to think of stuff to write here...and its coming up blank today. Work is good: slow, but good. La Salle as an institution and I are a bit at odds for a bunch of reasons that I can and can't talk about right now (some of which only exist in my mind...) and I feel like I'm coming up to a mid-college-life crisis of "Why am I here and what am I doing?"

I'm just looking forward to this weekend right now - everything else be damned...hopefully, some clarity will come from being home.

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware" - Henry Miller

Posted by Matthew at 10:56 PM | Comments (1)

June 08, 2003

GeneralMike Imperato's Move

Today taught me not to help someone move when you're hung over.

Mike Imperato, my supervisor from last year, recently became employed at Gwyned Mercy College as their Associate Director for Residence Life. Today he had to move out of his place in Teresa Court, and asked for any help he could get from people. I showed up at 11am, after waking up at 10:30, after going to bed at 4am.

Last night was spent watching Dumb and Dumber with Linday, Kelly and Dave...and having a few drinks. The world was spinning when I went to bed - thankfully, sleep came almost instantenously. Vick and Veitz also came up yesterday, and it was cool seeing them both.

So anyhow, made it to the house and was feeling fine. Felt fine until the early afternoon when the dizziness kicked in again, and I realized I hadn't had any water since the night before... Mike had rented a U-Haul truck, which, if you walked in the back of (as I did) made you feel like you were on this strange boat as the weight displaced itself...it just brought back thoughts of the night before. Luckily again, my stomach weathered the day none the worse for wear.

Anyhow, the move went splendidly. We finished up around 7:30, and spent until 9:00 talking to Mike in his apartment Mike's stuff is spread between La Salle and there (hes living in the townhouses for 4 weeks.) He was getting rid of some stuff - I managed to get a rather large glass that would be perfect for a tropical drink (with an inscription from an RA conference from many years ago), a Coca-Cola TV tray, a book and CD on the GRE (I need to get on that...) and a Heniekin hat.

It felt good just to be able to help him out...over the years I feel I've been a little cruel to him with my help in the T-Shirts, and other little staff things, despite the fact that he's an incredible guy, someone I try and role model, and a damn good friend in many different situations. It was the least I could do for him in helping him move after all he's helped me with over the years at La Salle.

All right, enough mushy stuff...my body is tired and sore after the moving today, and theres work tomorrow.

It was a decent weekend.

Posted by Matthew at 11:32 PM | Comments (1)

May 27, 2003

GeneralRules for La Salle Student Films

Over the course of the past several years, there has been a seeming set of constants governing La Salle student films - at least those that are shown in the Charlie Awards and on La Salle 56. I offer this list then, as a series of rules based on my observations.

(DISCLAIMER - I actively support student films. I think when they're great, they're incredible, and even when they're bad, they offer some artistic insight into life. Don't take these the wrong way, these are all meant in fun. The Charlies keep getting better and better, and I want the trend to continue. So, please, instead of being offended, take some pleasure in it and laugh instead. Remember: it takes fewer muscles in the face to smile than to frown!)


  1. Make sure that you add enough generations between your editing copy and the presentation copy as possible. This makes sure that the colors are washed out, the sound becomes garbled, and the film itself becomes static-y and painful to watch...technically.

  2. Need a soundtrack? Pick up a Radiohead CD.

  3. Forget about what Sid taught you in Video Production about proper mic-ing...just use the on-camera microphone.

  4. While you're forgetting about proper mic-ing, forget about the proper ways of using lighting as well. Shoot into the sun, shoot at night with minimal light or in dimly lit interiors - it'll all look great, especially coupled with rule #1.

  5. It is a must that your film must contain running themes of drug use. When at all possible, have characters snort, shoot up, or otherwise use drugs.

  6. A corollary to the previous: if the drug of choice is cocaine, then it must be "cut up" with the actor's La Salle student ID

  7. Emulate Kevin Smith. There are no other directors to emulate. This means: include random conversations about comic books/Star Wars/Sex/other innanity that go nowhere, include lots of profanity, and just otherwise attempt to remake Clerks/Mallrats/Chasing Amy/Etc. Remember: losers innovate, winners imitate.

  8. Don't use exotic shooting locations in Philadelphia when you can just use La Salle's campus! Every character in the film must live in North Halls, St. Miguel, The Apartments, or Neumann. Just be sure not to refer to the location by its proper name...make it seem mysterious. Nobody but the La Salle student body, staff, administration and faculty will know that it took place in your bedroom.

  9. Be sure to include a shot along the road by the Peale Estate - man, that's a gorgeous shot, and nobody ever goes there!

  10. You don't need a tripod. Who needs a tripod? Who needs steady shots anyhow?

  11. Your credits should be done in PowerPoint and should not resemble actual, professional credits in any way whatsoever - i.e.:wacky fonts, weird colors, etc. This rule applies to shows on La Salle 56 as well.

  12. Corollary to the previous: In your credits, your name should appear no less than 5 times: DIRECTED BY, PRODUCED BY, STARRING, AUDIO, COSTUMES, LIGHTING - these are all intelligent credits to give yourself, even if these are categories that you've ignored (especially if you've been following these rules thus far!)...also consider MUSIC BY, CASTING BY, and GAFFER. Nobody knows or cares what these people do on a real set anyway, so include them!

  13. Remember, La Salle is a Catholic school, so be sure and defame and offend God in any way possible. Blasphemy, heresy, whatever it takes...A priest doing drugs? Sure! A nun shooting a gun? Why not!

  14. Finally, your movie's title must reveal some deep, inner meaning to your work and why you did it. However it must also serve as a suitable name for a Porn movie.


So there you have it. I'll probably continue adding to this list, but if you have any, feel free and Comment on them

Posted by Matthew at 12:42 AM | Comments (4)

May 26, 2003

GeneralRapture

So, whats happened since the 21st?

Not much. Worked a good deal - mainly in the theater this past week. Chidren's Theatre Association of Baltimore contracted out the theater on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It was easy work; I wound up not having to change the light plot that was hanging (since "And Then There Were None") much at all. Mainly carried some stuff in in the morning, and out at the end of the night. The actors were professional, most around college age, and good-spirited about the entire thing. Their set was a couple of painted blocks, a little "clubhouse" that was made of 2 flats with a door and a window cut into them, and some pipe and drape backdrops.

They did three performances of "Rumplestiltskin" on Wednesday and Thursday for a bunch of young schoolchildren - must have been like 1st through 3rd grade, if that high. For me it was incredible to watch the kids reaction - the absolute trance that the play had on them. They were enthralled by what was happening on stage, almost seeming hypnotized to the show. It was a simplistic set - hell, even the back wall and the flys were visible to the audience (which bugged me to no end) but the kids loved it. I love when theater does that on some level...I love being a part of that incredible vision of reality up there on stage that totally mesmerizes and entertains.

I got to walk through the theater at the end of each performance and see the looks on the faces of the kids...they were so taken in with it, just wanting to touch the actors or the set or the stage. Absolutely incredible. I remembered being that same way in grade school, watching the dress rehearsals at Sacred Heart High and being so incredibly taken in by it all and wanting to do it myself.

Anyhow, CTA out of Baltimore is an incredible group, and they do really amazing stuff with limited time and resources (see 2 entries ago about doing a show in 20 minutes of prep/load in time.)

Other than that, the townhouses are extremely quiet this weekend. Veitz came over with a friend on Friday night to hang out, and we wound up sitting around until 3AM doing random stuff. We had a great game of Catch Phrase going, and then Chinese food...just good to see my friend again. I showed them the tape of my appearance on "It's Academic" from CHC, and we all played along. I had forgotten how much I needed a haircut on that tape.

Saturday, Alice, Rachel Ann, and I went out to dinner at Bennigans after getting incredibly lost in NE Philadelphia off of the Boulevard (I'm still convinced that it was built to keep outsiders out of the Northeast.) It was a lovely dinner, a great time, and felt good just to get the heck out of La Salle.

Today was slow. I dropped John off at his house earlier on, came back with a sandwich from Wawa and cleaned some parts of the downstairs and my floor. Spent some of the day continuing hanging up photos and posters because the room felt bare.

I'm missing people right now...the downside to having the house all to yourself. The campus is dead, as it rightfully should be, but it just doesn't feel right. I'm really hoping that the rain clears up tomorrow so that the Barbecue that a couple of us have planned could actually happen...

So have a good Memorial Day, all, and pray that the rain stops and the sun comes out.

Posted by Matthew at 01:29 AM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2003

GeneralMonday's Theater Group

Sunday, May 18th 2003

11:30PM - fall asleep for tomorrow is an early morning. Set alarm for 7:30AM.

Monday, May 19th 2003

7:45AM - Wake up, looking at clock, realizing you forgot to turn the alarm on. Jump in the shower.
7:55AM - Get phone call from Angie, saying that she is stuck in traffic. Run out the door of E7 expecting heavy load in at the theater.
8:02AM - Arrive at theater. No one is there yet but your boss. Open the curtains, turn on the lights, open the loading dock doors.
8:20AM - Angie arrives. Suggests that perhaps the stage should be cleaned off. You agree.
8:30AM - Begin to wonder where the acting troupe is.
8:40AM - You've replaced all of the lamps that were out on the first electric. Angie has finished sweeping the steps to the green room, revealing their natural color (brown.)
8:45AM - Tidy up the lights on stage right, in the hope that someone won't hurt themselves walking around the area.
8:50AM - Still no sign of actors.
9:00AM - You keep walking through the theater to figure out what to do.
9:10AM - Angie leaves to get breakfast. You hit play on the CD player just to get some music - whatever was left in the tray whenever it was last used. It turns out to be a nice instrumental piano CD.
9:13AM - A version of "Ring Christmas Bells" comes on the CD. You think "How strange. It is May, and I am listening to "Ring Christmas Bells."
9:18AM - "Ring Christmas Bells" is now stuck in your head.
9:25AM - The group shows up and load in begins. They're professional so it begins smoothly.
9:27AM - You ask what time the show starts, and are told "9:45AM." You casually mention that you never got their light plot, and that that perhaps would be helpful. They explain what they need.
9:30AM - Angie begins to cut gels. You try and hook up their microphones into the house system. Thank goodness Dave just happens to walk in now to help out.
9:35AM - Mics successfully patched. You go to the catwalks to begin programming the specials that the group requires.
9:40AM - the lights are gelled.
9:45AM - You begin programming the board with some simple cues as the house is opened and the schoolchildren shuffle in.
10:00AM - The show begins. You're treated to a historical piece about the Shriver family of Union Mills, MD and their struggles during the Civil War.
11:00AM - The show ends. You breathe a sigh of relief and go downstairs for load out.
11:05AM - The head of the production company introduces himself on stage and says that for the next show they'd like a little more light in some of the scenes.
11:07AM - You're told that there will be a second show beginning at 11:15AM, just as soon as the troupe has gotten a bite to eat.
11:15AM - You're at the lightboard in the catwalk waiting for the show to begin.
11:20AM - Still waiting. "Ring Christmas Bells" repeats in your head for the hundredth time.
11:22AM - You pull out your Palm Pilot and read Sunday's news, since that was when you last used it.
11:28AM - Still no show. The audience has been in the house for 10 minutes now, and are getting restless. Finish reading the NY Time's sunday electronic edition.
11:35AM- The second show begins. You're treated to a historical piece about the Shriver family of Union Mills, MD and their struggles during the Civil War. AGAIN.
11:45AM - You realize their script has a break of thirty pages between things you have to do. THIRTY PAGES.
12:45PM - The show is over after a long Q&A session.
1:00PM - Load out commences.
1:35PM - The group leaves.
1:45PM - Your boss says she'll see you at 3PM and lets you have an incredibly long lunch.
1:55PM - You turn the lights off, and leave the theater.

It was a fun day, long day.

Ring Christmas bells, toll loud and long,
your message sweet, peal and prolong,
come all ye people join in the singing,
repeat the story told by the ringing,
)ring, ring, ring Christmas bells,
ring, ring, ring Christmas bells

Posted by Matthew at 08:24 AM | Comments (2)

May 18, 2003

GeneralThe Weekend

Lets see...

I left La Salle on Friday at 11:00 to catch a 12:00 train to get home to Hunt Valley. Despite the fact that the security escort never showed, I made it to the station in plenty of time. Train ride was great, and my sister met me right there on time. I love Amtrak; something romantic I guess about train travel. They have huge seats, and comfortable trains, and the view outside is fantastic. Theres one portion on the ride south where the train is on a really narrow bridge over water, so it is seemingly skimming the top of the water with no tracks visible.

Saturday was productive - went and picked up some books (including one on the GRE) and some clothes. The license plates for my old, now totalled, car were returned to the MVA. I picked up some grass seed and flower seeds for the house next year - I'm going to plant them this week, so that they have enough time to come in for August. I have a car in Philadelphia again, which is great.

Only disappointment for the weekend was passing out on the couch last night instead of hooking up with friends in Baltimore...But I guess I needed the rest.

For now, I have the house to myself for a few hours. Tomorrow starts some easy (I hope and hope) work in the theater for a group who rents the theater every year despite the fact that they're based out of Baltimore...last year they were a group of theatre grad students who were nuts and wound up making the show hilarious - their stage manager, myself, and Angie wound up in the catwalks with a running commentary. It apparently was their last performance for the season, and they pulled out all the stops and inserted lines, ad libbing, and all kinds of random stuff.

I hope its the same tomorrow!

So here's to theater!

Posted by Matthew at 09:34 PM | Comments (1)

May 11, 2003

GeneralCommencement 2003 Pictures


click to enlarge

THE RAIN HELD OFF!

Graduation was on the field. My pictures are available online: http://www.demizio.com/images/grad2003/

Let me know what you think, especially with the stitched.jpg one - its ties together three of the pictures together.

Posted by Matthew at 02:02 PM | Comments (1)

May 10, 2003

GeneralMiguel, revisited.

I am constantly surprised at the disparity between life in the dorms and life in Miguel. Albeit that this is a atypical situation, however, that was the most excellent shower I've ever had at La Salle - constant hot water, cleanest shower stall ever...such a change from the place I was 24 hours ago.

Training was long and boring from 10-4, with a great lunch with major people from the DSA in Chestnut Hill - Alan, Dr. C, Pete, Carolyn, Kevin, Jean...I finally started moving my stuff at around 5pm. We finished with the last futon at around 11pm. John and Greg were my saviors today, helping get all of my crap here. Right now I'm unpacked, except for desk stuff, and for posters and things, and am ecstatic. We're in E7 (the rest of the hosts are at the end of D block, but D7 is offline for repairs...) and I have the entire second floor to myself. John Fallows, and Greg Fala are both on the third floor.

The only really stupid thing is that my assignment for the school year is in E6 - one house to the left of me, but they couldn't let me have that for the summer.

Oh well, La Salle is a place where logic need not apply.

I'm moving fridges in Katharines tomorrow from like 3-4, and then thats it until 6pm Sunday. My hope is to "crash" commencement again, and get pictures of people...we'll see. Pray for sun on Sunday, as they're calling for rain and rain would make the ceremony suck.

Toodles!

Posted by Matthew at 01:41 AM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2003

Generaltomorrow is move out

Tomorrow is move out day, and it can't come fast enough. We have live-in training from 10-4 (with a 3 hour lunch included!) and can move starting at 9am.

I'm not fully packed. I'm at about 80% - 10% is dedicated to the computer still, which is a pain in the ass to carry and undo. 5% is the TV, 'cause that's connected to the computer still. The other 5% is just random crap sitting in my room right now.

We moved refrigerators today at work. It turned out to be better than I expected - the work went quickly, and only took like an hour and a half to move 30 of them. Also had a meeting for some of the theater work we're doing this summer - doesn't look like it'll be too bad, and it pays a little over twice what the normal job pays.

I'm still hurting, and all of this moving is probably aggrivating it. I'm hoping that we all help each other tomorrow with the moving, and that it goes smoothly (IE: doors and gates are opened that should be.) Apparently, my parents used the money from the totalling of my car to get another one, and I'll be able to take my father's current car back with me when I go home next. I'm still trying to figure out when that will be, but should be soon.

My mood has improved a lot, I think, in the last 24 hours...La Salle has finally started delivering on what its promised me for the summer. I know that sounds like entitlement, but hell... I expected a lot of stuff: They told us a week ago we could move. Instead I've been living on my floor with a bunch of displaced athletes who drink like fish. The bathroom hasn't been cleaned since BEFORE move out day last Friday, the trash cans aren't being emptied, and trash has piled up everywhere. I wanted a raise for this summer, and was expecting around $1, as I was told last summer, however, that has become an $.18 raise from last summer...

But most of that is now forgotten. I'm gonna go outside now and enjoy the cool and the calm of the CAJH quad for probably the last time for a long time (ever?).

Posted by Matthew at 12:25 AM | Comments (1)

May 06, 2003

GeneralDr. Thunder

It hurts to laugh, it really does...so the last couple of days have been really painful.

Sunday was Karen's graduation party. I had a great time, and it seemed like everyone else did too...tad bit chilly by the end, but somehow we kept warm with the candles that surrounded the deck. I mainly remember random conversations through the night as we all just hung out on the deck and the yard as Karen's mother yelled at us to eat more. A bunch of the seniors showed up from Neumann and Senior Week, so there was a small Masque "reunion" of sorts, although its only been a week.

Monday night was Julie's birthday at her brother's apartment. Fala drove, Veitz came with us. Good times all around, although the game of Catch Phrase was not the best way to end the night with my bruised and hurting chest...I couldn't keep from cracking up. Julie, we found out, is a decent cook. A slightly drunk Bobby Newmyer came by with Alice and Janine towards the end of the night, and it was just awesome to see him again.

Work has been uneventful and boring. Its like doing Day One without any of the fun attached. I hate filing and alphabatizing, but I love random odd jobs. Today we tested phones in Miguel, and started packets for the people coming in this coming weekend. I hope that the work picks up a little soon when we move to better digs in Miguel, and as people start coming in. I'm going to go crazy if it stays like this all summer. I need to move out of this room soon, too...the athletes who are living on the floor now are annoying the heck out of me. I just wanted to be alone down here for a while, but no...

It got so bad that I wound up complaining to my father on the phone today, who got annoyed, saying "This is what you wanted, to stay in Philadelphia." The situation has changed so much since I applied, and even in this last week. I hate not having my car - I took it for granted when it was here, but now I feel trapped here all the time. It sounds so stupid, spoiled and trite, but I can't help it.

Tomorrow will be spent playing phone tag with Geico to try and get the car inspected, and then with La Salle Security, who want the car moved by graduation on Sunday...then I have to pack on the hopeful chance that we can finally move into the summer accomadations. La Salle needs to start delivering on the stuff that was promised and soon.

So for tonight I'm bored and in a bad mood. The best thing about today is that the cable hasn't been turned off yet, and Family Guy is on now...

Just gotta get through the week.

Posted by Matthew at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2003

GeneralEnd of Year 2003


click to enlarge - more pictures @ http://www.demizio.com/images/comm_dev_banquet

Thank you CAJH staff for the memories...we kicked ass this year, even with our ups and downs. You all have a special place in my heart, and a space in the aircondtioning next year in Miguel. Thank you for supporting me when I needed it. Thank you for helping me grow personally, and in this job as I did. You made what could have been a really bad job, incredibly fun.

Thank you's for the year, and notes to individuals who were there for me all year:

Alice - Thank you for being the best mentee ever! Its been a pleasure to watch you grow this year and try to get La Salle to bend in the ways that it should. You're going to do great next year, because you are such a wonderful person and someone who will see the change through to completion. Anytime I can help, please call.

Brian - What can I say? We survived two years of Community Development together. Thanks for the laughs, but also thanks for just being the most genuine person that I got to know this year...you helped me with so much stuff that you don't even realize. I hope you get your teaching job next year, and I think it'll happen. This is "see you later" and not "goodbye."

Christine - you're the best little sister I never wanted to have...you've grown so much this year, and next year is going to be just as good.

Julie - Thanks for the dinners we've shared over the course of the semesters. I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot more of them next year.

That's all I can remember for tonight...I'll try and do more of these tomorrow. There are so many people...

I'm doing a lot better now, although my leg keeps turning different and random new bruise colors. I was voted "Most Likely to Become an R. D." tonight at the Banquet - a prophecy I want to fulfill.

So, the dorms are empty again, and the soul of La Salle has been taken away again...I miss my residents and friends so much. Thanks for the memories.

Posted by Matthew at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)

May 01, 2003

GeneralNever felt so much...

I guess it's over now
Cause I've never seen so much
Never seen so much, never seen so much
Never seen so much, never seen so much
I guess it's over now

Barenaked Ladies, "Tonight is the night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel"

First off, thank you to everyone who I've talked to over the past day, or who prayed for me, or thought of me or whatever...I think about the sense of well-wishing I've gotten from everyone and I'm floored. I don't know how to thank you enough for your support and prayers...its a wonderful feeling, and has helped me immensly come out of this thing as good as I am now.

I was in a car accident on Tuesday night when coming back from the movies with Angie, Elise and Jessica in the car with me. I was driving. Everyone is okay: it's all minor cuts and bruises. My leg is swollen up to twice its normal size, and I have a giant purple blotch of a bruise on my chest.

The important thing is that we're okay...nobody is hurt. I thank God for that. I don't care about the car right now...that'll all get taken care of in time. I'm just overly thankful that we're all okay.

I'm doing a lot better emotionally now...realizing that everything is okay now is helpful. Realizing that life is going to continue is helpful. Realizing that I've had support from so many people is more than helpful...I don't know how to put into words how much it has meant to me. Thank you.

...

The formals...

Something completely different to talk about, I guess...I had a great time at both. The Collegian formal was nice - there was this cool garden on the outside of the motor lodge that we just randomly found. Friday night is a blur. I danced a lot, talked to a lot of people, and just had a heck of a time.

Saturday night is also a blur. I had a great time...parting with the seniors was hard, standing in the circle at the end of the night with arms locked to "Tomorrow..." by Boys To Men. The night had some rough spots, but I think it all worked out in the end. I felt dumb for some small things and miscommunications, but they got worked out, and in the end the night was fantastic. We all got Edible Underwear to bring home...except for those who chose to partake of the delicasy there - Kevin, I'm looking squarely in your direction.

I have one exam left, today at 2:40. I also have a meeting about summer employment here to get the kinks worked out.

Thanks again...

Posted by Matthew at 01:28 AM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2003

Generalboredom + yatta =

A vision of the future?

So yeah, thats what I got out of today.

Enjoy.

Posted by Matthew at 02:10 AM | Comments (1)

April 27, 2003

GeneralFormal time...

I just uploaded my pictures from the Masque Formal - http://www.demizio.com/images/masque_formal. Tell your friends and/or enemies.

I'll probably have more here later. I'm still trying to figure it out, and I have a headache...

Good times, though, for the most part.

Until later.

Posted by Matthew at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2003

GeneralQuotes

Quotes from Professor Cronin
Advanced Fiction Writing, Spring 2003


  • "I'm not going to have a sex-change to accomplish this goal." 1/23/03

  • "The female carries my line. Proud time for a hominid." 1/23/03

  • "I think it's important that we scandalize the other people in the building, so please come dressed as artists?" 1/23/03

  • "It's the Wild West, Baby!" 1/30/03

  • "Pornography?I think it was more special back then." 1/30/03

  • "But what's the difference between Mississippi and rural Pennsylvania? Not much." 2/5/03

  • "I can relate to the sheep. Oh don't go anywhere with that." 2/5/03

  • On marriage: "It's a game of musical chairs. One or two people don't get to sit down. Those one or two get cats." 2/13/03

  • "It was a part of the old core [curriculum.] We're in the new core. Like I care." 2/13/03

  • "That will work if the story is played in the key of funny." 2/13/03

  • "That will be a true "Holy Shit" moment." 2/13/03

  • "One time she called me a "fucking walrus'" 2/13/03

  • "I asked her, "Do you know who Jesus Christ is?" and she said "Yeah, that's what mom says on the way to school." 2/13/03

  • "And it doesn't help that a lot of these parents are rich, dumb, shits." 2/27/03

  • "Discussing my colleagues always brings out the light-hearted Cronin" 2/27/03

  • "I don't know, I sacrifice goats in the woods. 10 years at La Salle and I'm not Catholic." 2/27/03

  • "I lived on a dirt road which was a serious impediment to learning basketball." 3/13/03

  • "A Chinese daughter is like the fashion accessory in my neighborhood." 3/13/03

  • "Its all water under a duck's back" 3/20/03

  • "Let's ménage-a-trios!" 3/20/03

  • "This is supposed top be a snowman piss fest!" 3/20/03

  • "This class is built to self-destruct." 3/20/03

  • "Oh, I'd better mention my dick, because I'm a guy?" 4/3/03

  • "Captain Planet was the Fat Albert of superheroes." 4/10/03

  • "Some countries just suck to live in." 4/17/03

And one finally, actually about writing that is semi-profound:

"The world is fill of things I have no idea about. I'm going to write myself into that." 2/20/03

Posted by Matthew at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)

Generalso done...

I don't want to jump the gun or anything, but I feel really great right now.

For all intents and purposes, I'm done.

Done!

I finished my last significant writing just now - a revision of the Toll Collector story for Cronin. I have 2 exams. As of tomorrow, two of my classes will be done. One still requires a long reflection, but only like five pages and some proofreading.

I got an A on the presentation for Shakespeare from last week...not sure how I pulled that off. Here's hoping the paper is as well recieved.

I'm exhausted...its been a long semester.

Hello Summer!!!

Posted by Matthew at 02:32 AM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2003

GeneralBorrowed from Ali :)

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER? "Gods and Generals" over Spring Break

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? I just picked up "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, and I intend to read it this time.

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Trivial Pursuit, although I've never actually finished a game. Also Monopoly

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE? "2600 - The Hacker Quarterly." If not that, Newsweek usually works

5. FAVORITE SMELLS? you know that smell that happens after the rain falls on hot pavement in the late spring and early summer, and the moment you smell it you realize just how beautiful the weather is, even with the rain? That smell. Also, in late spring and summer, the smell of fresh cut grass.

6. COMFORT FOOD? Anything my mother makes

7. FAVORITE SOUNDS? laughter...true laughter when someone truly lets themself laugh without worrying about how they sound - snorts, chuckles, guffaws and all.

8. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? self-doubt, lack of self confidence. something I feel way too often.

9. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? The work I have to do that day / what the weather is / "something wonderful is going to happen!"

10. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE? Wendy's

11. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? James is a cool name...Tony always works too :)

12. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY, I WOULD... still have problems. Different problems

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? No.

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY? If its warm, and I can stay outside, then they're really freaking cool...If not...

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? 1988 Toyota Camry, V6. 4 doors. I'm still driving it; it just hit 160,000 miles.

16. FAVORITE DRINK?? fresh lemonade

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME, I'D..." read and write more

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI? yes

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE? I probably wouldn't.

20. HOW MANY DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS HAVE YOU LIVED IN? four (roselle nj, millville nj, hunt valley md, philadelphia pa)

21. GLASS HALF EMPTY OR FULL? half full

22. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX? This one is weird, but bear with...in the townhouses over last summer there was a picnic table in front of our house under a streetlight. On warm nights, I couldn't be torn away from that table. So relaxing. Failing that, Gettysburg, PA tends to relax me, strange as it sounds.

23. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Football and baseball

24. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS. Although she didn't send this to me...Ali is a wonderful person with a huge heart. Shes been a good friend through the masque, and is just a really fantastic person who makes me laugh, and who helps me keep perspective sometimes :)

25. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED? At home, books...mounds of books that I forget to re-shelve after I read them. At school, some storage - random plastic file, empty beer bottles, candy from move in earlier this year.

26. TOILET PAPER/PAPER TOWEL-OVER OR UNDER? over. it stays in place better :)

Posted by Matthew at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2003

GeneralRandomness from home

I'm home again after wrestling with the traffic all around me on I-95. I really need to learn some patience and stop being annoyed by the traffic. Jill S-G hitched a ride with me, which made the ride a lot better: we had such random conversations that wouldn't make sense to anyone else.

Its going to be a quiet Easter. Saturday I have to get my car fixed at 9am. Then I'm off to see about getting something for the Collegian formal and possibly the Masque formal. I'm still not sure about that one. I need a new pair of sneakers too, so that'll probably happen tomorrow as well. My grandmother is coming down from Jersey tomorrow, and my uncles from Gaithersburg and York are coming down as well. That plus my sister and her boyfriend and the parents is it.

I finally updated the front page of demizio.com with some new pictures and links and stuff. The old theatrical resume is updated too.

Other than that, not much else happening. I'm finally getting excited for the summer again. The paper/presentation for Shakespeare that I thought was a week late was actually due the PAST Wednesday. This is good because: I'm not going to fail. I had the paper completely done (slightly BS'ed it, but I had six or seven decent sources for a five page paper) but not the presentation. This was a bad thing because the presentation was supposed to be the bigger portion of the project and the research just a write-up of what I presented/application to a play.

So I bit the big suck bullet for the presentation. I worked up something quickly from my paper in about an hour between Gothic Lit and night class. I would really just like to get out of the class alive at this point: my grades up to now have been in the B range. I'd love a B- for the semester, but would settle for a C or a C-.

The larger picture from this is that the major impetus for my emotional breakdown last week didn't exist. I lost a bunch of sleep and worried a lot of people without a reason for it. Still trying to figure out a lesson from it to make it somewhat worthwhile...

Cronin gave my first story from the semester an A. I was beaming. My second story, the one I posted earlier, was workshopped on Thursday. People love the voice of the narrator, but want a plot...my thoughts exactly. As it stands, its just a guy complaining about his job.

Eh; a work in progress. I got lost in character development...

My goal for break is to find a plot for this guy and make him interesting. Thats the last major hurdle that I can see for this semester.

Its almost over :)

Posted by Matthew at 01:55 AM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2003

GeneralAargh...

Why did I do the trip to Wawa last night?

Why did I go again tonight?

I keep getting bogged down into this procrastination cycle. I keep meeting and putting myself into positions where I'll talk to people instead of getting work done. I feel great emotionally, but academically, I'm sucking air.

I just need to get this paper and presentation done. Once there, life is open again, and procrastination will reign supreme.

aargh.

Why does it have to be so nice outside?

Why am I so tired by 3am that I can't write any more?

Posted by Matthew at 02:17 AM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2003

GeneralA return to a personal entry.

(CAJH Fest pictures are here: http://www.demizio.com/images/cajhfest/)

My mood has signifigantly improved since last week. I finally got some of the overdue work done for Shakespeare, after spending some time in the library on Saturday. If I wind up going home for the summer, as it keeps looking like will happen, I'll be fine...theres some fun people who will be in Baltimore this summer from La Salle, and it won't be the end of the world. So my depression has disappeared for a few more days, or has at least repressed itself further into my mind. Thanks to all who left messages of support; they meant a lot...I was really messed up for a couple of days.

We closed another show last night. "And Then There Were None" was incredibly well recieved, in the press (well, the Collegian) and among everyone I talked to who went to it. I think its the most professional show I've had the opportunity to work on: things just fell into place and got done. The lighting was fantastic (its amazing what 3 years of experience and a little bit of planning coupled with other enthusiastic lighting engineers will do) Nick did an incredible job on the set. Props to Props mistress and crew. The acting was fantastic; people seemed to discover their characters and really inhabit the world that was created when the lights went up every night.

The cast party was fantastic, even though others would probably say otherwise. I got there at 12:30 and stayed until about 3:30, the longest I'd ever stayed at a masque party. What made it nice were the people - it was smaller, mainly just cast, crew and a few alumni. We weren't all jam packed into a basement...Pat's house was nice. I hung out upstairs for a good part of the night talking to people in the sofa and black light room. Highlights: "Road Head: the Musical" (I'll spare you the lyrics), and just a whole bunch of random conversation.

I got a little tipsy and wound up tripping on the stairs to the basement and twisting my ankle. I missed strike today because of that, and because of CAJH fest. I did however ask Katie to the formal, and got a yes. Its gonna be a great party.

CAJHFest was awesome; even better than last year, and the year before. CAJH RSA outdid themselves: we had inflatable stuff - a joust and a climbing wall, a DJ, a dunk tank, and a pie throwing contest at the RA's. They cooked from 12:30 until after I left at 4:30...the food was great and held out forever. I'm leaving off this entry with a picture of Vicki and Jean attacking my RD Kristal while shhe was dancing:

What a crazy day...I mean weekend.

Posted by Matthew at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)

April 08, 2003

GeneralProcrastination

The level of procrastination has reached new heights. I can't believe how little work I've allowed myself to do recently. I have so much due this week - a story for Thursday that I haven't started, a presentation for Wednesday that I need to research...

I just can't get myself jump started for whatever reason.

This weekend was great; My parents came up for the play on Saturday night. We went to dinner with Shannon at the Olive Garden before the show. They loved the show. I stayed with them out on City Line Ave that night, and came back after breakfast the next morning.

The audiences thus far have been small, but enthusiastic. The audience on Sunday especially - they were our smallest house (30) but due to a couple of masque people in attendance were loud and completely into the show. Daylight Savings Time has kicked my butt since that morning as I keep feeling like I haven't slept enough...

I'm at a really low point now with everything being the way it is. I'm feeling lost in terms of what I'm going to do: both now, and for the upcoming summer. I don't feel the motivation anymore that I think I once must have felt... Its never as bad as I think it is, I know, but with everything looking like it is right now, I'm not sure whats going on...

Has there ever been a vaguer sentence in the English language? I think not.

:)

Posted by Matthew at 12:01 AM | Comments (1)

April 04, 2003

GeneralATTWN Final Dress

The final dress rehearsal went swimmingly.

That's usually a bad sign, but I'm not taking it as such because this show has been so atypical: to have had everything lighting-wise done this past weekend is atypical. To have had maybe 3 lighting notes all week (tweaking cue times) is atypical. To have gotten out of the theater on the night before the show before 4am is atypical.

This show is atypical. I feel like it may be the most professional thing we've done since Assassins. The cast is excellent. The set is fantastic. The lighting is great. Come see the Masque shine; don't judge us on Footloose alone. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON "AND THEN THERE WERE NONE."

The pictures from tonight's dress rehearsal are here: http://www.demizio.com/images/attwn_finaldress/ There are approximately 8MB of files there; they go in chronolgical order from beginning to end. SPOILER ALERT: KNOW THAT VIEWING THEM MAY GIVE AWAY SOME OF THE PLOT.

I'm doing well. I have a meeting with Alan Wendell today at 2 about the Day One process...not sure exactly why, but my letter said to contact them about it. I'm kind of still hoping to stay on campus somehow this summer. I have this feeling that I just can't go home after my experiences last summer. My friends are for the most part here...I want to stay here if I can.

Thats about all. My life has been the show this week, and I feel as though everything else has suffered somewhat. My apoligies to friends I've ignored, teachers and papers I've forgotten, and others pushed aside.

Have a great weekend all!

Currently listening to: "The Secret Agent," Soundtrack - by Philip Glass. (used extensively in the show)

Posted by Matthew at 03:07 AM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2003

Generala quote.

"To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posted by Matthew at 02:50 AM | Comments (0)

April 01, 2003

GeneralAll I want is some certainty.

For the past couple of weeks I've been waiting patiently for word from La Salle about 2 things: 1) Where I am living next year and 2) Whether or not they're hiring me for Day One. #2 is important so I can plan my summer; #1 is important so I can tell some people and make plans for next year.

I finally got a letter about Day One saying that I've been "chosen as an alternate Day ONE host." I have to call and make an appointment to see whats going on.

I'm, of course, wondering what the hell this means in the context of anything. All I wanted was a little certainty from La Salle, so I could either be ecstatic for the rest of the week or depressed (kidding...) and make alternate plans for the summer...just once (in the context of everything I've worked with at La Salle) I'd like a firm "yes" or "no."

Although, I don't really want that, because this, like everything else, provides a gray area in which hope can still exist and things can be done.

But anyway...

Tech week is going better than it ever has gone before - light cues were done on Saturday by 8:30. The set looks FANTASTIC. The lights (I don't want to toot my own horn, but...) look INCREDIBLE. The show is decent.

I can't wait for this weekend: opening night, parents visit, get work done...

Yay!

Posted by Matthew at 06:24 PM | Comments (1)

March 28, 2003

GeneralThursday

Cronin's class went surprisingly well today, considering we had to run it without any "adult" supervision. We were out in an hour, which was longer than I expected us to be in there considering we could have just left. Of course, its kinda funny realizing that we got the same amount of work done as when Cronin is there, however, when he's there, he talks for something like 1 3/4 hours.

Good grades: Got a B+ on my film paper. Got a 90 on my Gothic Lit midterm. I thought I had done a lot worse on both... they were done extremely late at night under extreme duress.

Tech week for me starts tomorrow with the arrivial of the strip lights. I just got word tonight that Tom now wants a practical on stage, and I don't think we have the channel available for it. It has to be wired to the board because an actor wouldn't be able to turn it off and on...that would solve my problem completely, of course, as most of the stage channels are being used for the cyc and the strips...sigh, pat and I will figure it out.

So for the next week I'll probably be very unavailable...a prospect I'm not looking forward to. I know I'll get into it all tomorrow, but I just don't know this show, and feel burned out. But thats in general too: I'm tired too much, I hate writing papers, I want a BB gun to shoot the loud assholes who parade themselves outside my room at night, I'm tired of La Salle beating up on good people who don't deserve it, I'm nervous about the summer, and internships and the future, I want to take a class (playwriting) that would be a complete elective at this point and I can do it but would require me to be in classes for like 9 hours on Wednesadys...I want to know what townhouse I'm living in next year...

I feel trapped here. I still like it, but I miss the change. I want to get out, want to go home and see my family for a few days, want to do a vacation...

I'm exhausted now, so thats reflected in all of my ranting here...

Life is good though - I have to say that.

Posted by Matthew at 01:27 AM | Comments (1)

March 25, 2003

GeneralFinally, an answer.

I found out today that Scott will be able to live with us next year. I'm ecstatic - moreso that I finally got a FINAL answer from someone and that no further campaigning had to be done. It wasn't difficult, just potentially annoying having to jump through more administrative hoops.

My work ethic hasn't improved much. I'm still behind on papers and stuff; I need to get work done today. I hope the finality of deadlines approaching will finally kick me in the ass to get it done. I'll have the time tonight...it won't be too bad. A quick Gothic play to write and a Shakespeare paper to finish. Maybe a book to read.

Theres something like 4 weeks to go now...I can't wait to be free of papers again.

finally, some song lyrics...if you haven't already, go download this old favorite from Nickelodeon:

Hello boys and girls, this is your old pal, Stinky Wizzleteats
This is a song about a whale, NO this is a song about being happy
Thats right!
Its the happy happy, joy joy song!
...
I dont think your happy enough, thats right!
I'll teach you to be happy!
I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs!
Now boys and girls, lets try it again...
...
If-in you ain`t the grandaddy of all liars!
The little critters of nature...they dont know that they're ugly.
Thats very funny! A fly marrying a bumble bee!
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me!
WHY didn't you believe me?
...

Posted by Matthew at 02:23 AM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2003

GeneralDown Went Katharine's

Team CAJH just beat Team Katharine's by 2 in basketball!

CAJH!

I did little to assist, but had a good time anyway. Fala had some damn good shots, Matt M. had a really cool one, Francois showed skill we didn't know he had, Christine pulled back to her HS 'ballin' days....everyone kicked butt. Doing the marathon kinda reignited a spark in me as well; I had been feeling down on my RA stuff lately...nothing serious, just little stuff. My enthusiasm for the job had been going down; my enthusiasm with my staff was wavering. Its the little stuff that just combines to produce burn-out. Its all looking up.

Congratulations are due to the newest class of inducted Masque members. I can't reveal a whole lot of what happened, but Frank Klose won, nobody lost, and a good time was had by all. We only got lost twice trying to find the place. My kid, Pat, couldn't make it because of work obligations, but he'll be inducted anyhow, somewhere down the line.

Finally got carded at the Liquor store today, both of them (the beer distributor, and the liquor store. Silly PA!) The stare they give you is priceless, especially when I give over my LEGITIMATE Maryland license. It's like their eyes are saying "I know you're lying, but I'm selling this to you anyway." AARGH!!! I just want to laugh when it happens, because it seems like every clerk in every store has it down pat.

Saturday will be dedicated to getting work done, running errands, and going to dinner for people's b-days. Its a truly awesome weekend.

Posted by Matthew at 02:12 AM | Comments (1)

March 18, 2003

GeneralPortal

(The title will only make sense if you were at dinner tonight...Consider yourselves lucky.)

Wanted to drop a quick entry before I work on this damn Shakespeare paper due tomorrow. (5-8 pages, meaning, 5 pages.)

The reunion for Honors 489 - The Catholic University: An Oxymoron? was held tonight at Brother Mike's house. It was a great pizza dinner, along with some wonderful company. I expected to be back by 9pm (started at 7) but we didn't leave until closer until 11. Highlights were guys beating the girls in Taboo, Chris almost getting Brother Mike into his NCAA pool, the random Taboo moments, Mike dropping stuff on the table...it was a great evening.

Masque Induction meeting today. I can't say anything about them, but it looks like its gonna be a fun year.

Come on Friday!!!

Posted by Matthew at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2003

GeneralMr. & Mrs. La Salle

Mr. & Mrs. La Salle was held tonight. My thoughts:


  • All of the contestants rocked. People went through with their stuff, no problems this year. The crowd was very supportive, encouraging everyone...A little disappointing though, that they kept cheering for people who weren't up there at the time

  • Veitz was fantastic. Better than I expected from the rehearsal. He wore the shirt, "IMPERATO ROCKS," which got some laughs, and the audience seemed to know him well. 2nd Runner Up - well deserved. The song, "Cry me a River" by Justin Timberlake, was well chosen and well sung.

  • Alice was incredible. Her song was wonderful, perhaps a bit too truthful. She won 2nd Runner Up, although why she wasn't crowned "Mrs. La Salle" is a mystery. She was the best female candidate in my opinion, and had great crowd support.

  • Manor staff did an incredible job hosting/organizing.

  • Graham was hilarious, singing an acoustic "No Scrubs" on guitar, and actually rapping the middle section...the crowd was UNITED IN SONG by the end, with him. Incredible

  • Joe was decent, breaking into Footloose for his intro, and "Lean on Me" for his talent - a nice a capella version, well performed.

  • The La Salle Step Team kicked total ass! They were fantastic, probably my favorite highlight outside of the competition

  • OLAS was great with their dance routine too! So talented.

Other than that today was spent in the theater working on "And Then There Were None." We were able to strip all the Footloose crap off the pipes and rehang first electric, and set up some systems for the catwalks too. It was a damn good 4 hours spent in the theater - we're ahead of the game, further than I've ever felt by this point in the past. There are still INCREDIBLE hurdles ahead, but some of it is at least taken care of.

After the pageant, we did a Wawa run - we being Ali, Katie - Ali's friend, Jess, Graham, and Britany. It was fun fitting all of us into my car - Britnay on Graham's lap in the front seat, almost hanging out the window! We made it there and back safely, though, and watched Aladdin in Ali's townhouse. I still can remember every lyric to the entire movie, and wound up singing along with everyone...a really nice ending to the night!

So tomorrow brings duty, and homework, and maybe some shopping. Its been a fantastic weekend!

UPDATE!

Just found this: Charlotte's Web 2

IS NOTHING SACRED?

From the site -

"We are returned to the pastoral Arable farm where Wilbur the pig, Charlotte the spider and all of their barnyard friends enjoyed adventures together in E.B. White’s classic children’s tale. This time we are introduced to ‘Cardigan’ the lamb and Charlotte’s three daughters as our pals learn more about the value of friendship. Since this is the first sequel to the classic original, there may be some extra demand for the curious, and those wanting to get more of Wilber & Co. Parents will likely be pleased as punch as well to find a title they can trust to be a wholesome babysitter. "

How can Charlotte come back? It was a major fricking plot point in the original, one of those learning experiences you're supposed to have about death through books and movies and stuff...lilke "Old Yeller" and Bambi.

E.B. White is probably rolling over in his grave.

Posted by Matthew at 03:33 AM | Comments (0)

March 13, 2003

GeneralAdministrivia

This week just needs to end. I hate having to deal with midterms, housing, and course registration all at the same time...

Midterms are finally done; I have one paper left to write tonight for Critical Approaches to Film, 6-8 pages, but it shouldn't be so bad. I think I may just be saying that to psych myself up for it...I was up until 5am this morning trying to get the work done for today. I just couldn't find any motivation to get the work started - it wound up being started around 12am. I need to find some sort of motivation for this academic stuff...I've been saying that for too long, methinks.

Housing is progressing...Trying to get Scott into housing is a challenge, and I'm not sure if its something to be optimistic about - I hear different things from different people. This new rule about not letting commuters into the lottery stinks; I can see the necessity, but it just stinks that its happening. I never meant to cause all the hubbub that it seems to be generating - Scott's a friend, and thought I could help is all... The resolution will come next week.

Course registration is a bright spot, at least. After finding out by accident last night from Shannon that my honors registration was this morning, I quickly mapped out a schedule. This was the first honors registration morning I didn't wake up at 5am to go down - I went down at 9, figuring, correctly, that the courses would still be open. I got the two I wanted - "The 60's: A Critique" and a "Drawing as Problem Solving" course. The second worries me, as I can't draw...its a skill I want to learn though, and the reviews of the class are fantastic. I can't wait.

Things keep looking up...93 on my film midterm...Just gotta keep perspective.

I'm going to take a nap now. If this was incoherent...eh; its written on 3 hours of sleep.

Posted by Matthew at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2003

GeneralAt least housing is taken care of.

I haven't been able to sit down yet to get the major work done for the week - my film paper, my rewrite for fiction writing, and my gothic lit exam. I just can't get the stuff opened up: they're relatively easy assignments, but I haven't been able to start them.

I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things here. I've been overly tired the last couple of days, and its been contributing to my work ethic. Theres so much happening right now: midterms being finished up, housing, and they dumped registration information on me this week. I have no idea what I want to take next semester - I wanted to take another semester of Advanced Fiction Writing, but I don't see it being offered. My honors project is coming due and I have no clue what to do it on, so I'm postponing it until 2nd semester, senior year.

Housing worked out well at least; I'll be living with Graham, Scott, Matt, and Joe Weigel. Steve dropped out at the last minute with alternate plans...I'm disappointed, but the house is looking up anyhow. Hopefully all of my friends will be able to get their houses/apartments as well

The problem seems to be getting from this semester into the next. Tomorrow is gonna be rough; its the long, long, long day of class, although I'm skipping my night class to get work done.

God help me get this all done!

Posted by Matthew at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2003

GeneralOn Broadway...

Urinetown Musical Strikes

It's really great what happens when actors and musicians are taken from the stage and put on picket lines...such creativity could never come from steelworkers, or teachers, or other unions.

Seriously though, its a decent cause to fight for - live music on Broadway. More power to them.

More pictures: here
Sign their petition: http://www.savelivebroadway.com/

Posted by Matthew at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2003

GeneralW's speech...

After watching George W. Bush address the nation this evening, the only thing I took away was that, "Saddam Hussein and his Weapons of Mass Destruction" would be a really great name for a rock band.

Posted by Matthew at 01:15 AM | Comments (1)

March 01, 2003

GeneralBeen a good week.

So, its been a really long week. Midterms and papers suck. But recent events overshadow all that to make it into one of the best weeks in recent memory.

After three years of losing elections, I was finally elected to the Masque Executive Board for next year as the VP Business Affairs...I've won very few elections in my life, always losing to people more popular than myself.

My story was workshopped this week in Cronin's class. I had thrown it together after having writers block for a month - it was based on a one paragraph story in USA Today. For some reason, Cronin loved the style and how well it meshed with the plot. He tore a lot of it apart, but he said some really great things about it - things that I didn't realize.

I then found out today that I had been rehired for next year as a CA in the townhouses, the exact placement that I had wanted. Its an incredible opportunity, with a great staff, and the end I wanted to put to this whole RA thing. I'd get into all of my thoughts on placement, but its a whole can of worms that I don't quite want to get to tonight...as I keep telling people, La Salle likes throwing curve balls.

I don't understand a lot of times why good stuff keeps happening to me...I don't want to seem guilty, or that I don't deserve what I've earned, but with a lot of this stuff, it just seems too good to be true. I'm not searching here for some deeper meaning; I just feel like I need to take praise better as it comes.

I'm heading home tomorrow for Spring Break. I have no plans, only hopes - one to go see tick...tick...boom! at the Mechanic, one to go into DC for the day, a hope to get caught up on my sleep.

More later from home.

Posted by Matthew at 01:23 AM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2003

Generaltrying...

I'm trying to write a paper now, but for some reason it ain't coming. Its so short - 2 pages at the maximum, and its just syhtnesizing some research, but I can't seem to get it together...

Masque elections were today, and went really well. Despite what I consider to be several terrible speeches, I won for the VP of Business category. Angie is Producer, Pat Whipkey is VP Tech, Graham is VP Publicity, and Britney is VP Personnell. Its an exciting group; I can't wait for the next season to begin.

The RD's are meeting tomorrow to decide placement for next year, for CAs. I'm gunning for Miguel, but am nervous. I've done a good job over the last 2 years. I'm confident in my abilities. I know I could handle that job next year. I've said it before and I'll say it again, though, La Salle likes to throw curveballs.

I'm trying not to be nervous; its been too good a day to have it ruined by anticipation and nervousness...

Off to get this damn paper done...and theres another one after it, if I decide I don't want to ask for an extension...smile.gif

Posted by Matthew at 12:46 AM | Comments (1)

February 20, 2003

GeneralSo tired...

Another Wednesday has passed, another Wednesday without skipping class. Man, I feel like Wednesdays will be the death of me eventually.

Had to give a group presentation in Gothic Lit today on "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner. Fascinating reading, difficult as hell - 9 stories told by 9 different narrators, and at the end, not all the information is known and the reader has to interpolate a lot of the story. I was able to BS my way through it with few problems, although the group before us had me sweating - they took up over an hour and a half on their 3 chapters. I furiously read ahead to get material to fill time...

I realized that I'm lacking a level of self-confidence. I had no reason to worry; but it still almost paralyzed me with fear trying to prepare for the presentation in the class...not sure where this all comes from.

Finished writing my third short story tonight: 4400 words, 14 pages with strange margins. Entitled "Even Money," it tells the story of a priest stealing from his parish. I like it; I told it in a very different point of view, and want to see what the class thinks about it.

I'm heading home tomorrow night or Friday morning for my father's birthday. I still have this level of cabin fever here, and feel like I need to go home to renew myself or something...I'm not sure.

One story left to write on, and then I can go to bed.

Posted by Matthew at 03:13 AM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2003

GeneralSnow days

Yet another snow day today, and finally began to get some work done. Right now, however, I should be working on a story for Fiction Writing due thursday. 10 pages, at least, all blank now. My mind too, is a blank; I haven't been able to develop any kind of plot for this story since the beginning of the semester.

So I turned to this, and thought I'd write something down in here: perhaps it will spark an idea finally.

No...don't feel it coming. Aargh!

Theres no Collegian tonight, which makes me happy - no on-line edition to publish! I've gotten it down to a 4-hour science: annoying, but its freaking cool when its all done.

I'm gonna head back to writing/watching TV - Tom, if you're reading this, happy 21st.

Posted by Matthew at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2003

GeneralMore Snow Pictures

Just uploaded the ones that I've taken so far today.

Address is: http://www.demizio.com/snowpics/

Posted by Matthew at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2003

GeneralHappy 21st.

So, the most anticlimatic thing about being 21 is buying liquor and not getting carded at the store. Veitz's theory is that we bought good stuff (Bass Ale/Yuengling Lager) so we must have been old enough to know what the hell we were doing, and not getting Natural Ice (The beer of champions.)

My original dinner plans kind of came unglued tonight when I realized the problems with getting everyone together on a Saturday night with the snow coming. I wound up bailing and postponing on a Masque thing until another time: there just weren't enough people around.

I did go out to get dinner with Fala and Veitz, where Steve and Mary Ubbens wound up finding us...and they all bought me a couple of drinks. It was a fun time...in the end, I was glad to have gone out in a smaller group with them as I just kind of knew vietz and fala better than the entire masque thing. I kind of wanted what Jess had for her birthday...and then realized that I didn't...

I don't know what I want, really, and I feel stupid for not knowing, and bad for disappointing my friends.

Like I hoped, I got nowhere near drunk; nowhere near throwing up, but am extremely happy.

Its really been a good day. Thank you to all the well-wishers who sent me IM's or emails...thanks and apologies to those that were going to go to dinner tonight.

On another note, confession is good for the soul. Tell those around that you love 'em.

And thats not the alcohol talking.

Tomorrow should be interesting. Come on snow!!!

Posted by Matthew at 03:28 AM | Comments (1)

February 12, 2003

GeneralPaper is Done!

The paper is done - 5 1/4 pages, started at 2am, jumpstarted by Wawa coffee. Nick, Mary, Angie, and Elise stopped by: we made a run to Wawa at 1am (just what I thought that I'd need at the time...more procrastination)

The group went nuts...the effect of Wawa on college students maybe? Between Mary sleeping/snoring in my bed, Elise as a troll doll (IT FITS!!!) and Joe's blanket, it was chaos.

Needless to say, Collegian webification didn't get done. But thats normalcy by now anyhow...

Somehow the paper seems coherent, but I don't care. The object of this week has been to get to Saturday. Or at least Friday, when my classes are no more. At very very least, Thursday at 4:45, when my last class lets out.

I have to get up for an 11am class tomorrow. Then, somehow, between 1 and 2, finish up "Absalom, Absalom." After my 2:00, I have to read and understand "Merchant of Venice" for my night class. I feel like I'm screwed, but I don't care: the hardest part of my night was done - the paper, for which I had no ideas on 5 hours ago.

Tomorrow, I'd like to discuss the Oscar noms, and resume coherent and interesting discussion.

Toodles.

Posted by Matthew at 03:56 AM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2003

Generalpaper

I should be writing a lit paper for Shakespeare - an easy, 3-6 page close reading of a scene. I just can't get it started.

Tomorrow becomes the day from hell, the last obstacle before the weekend.

sigh, shouldn't have skipped classes last wednesday.

Posted by Matthew at 11:24 PM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2003

GeneralWeekend Wrapup

The weekend from hell is over. Being trapped in my room for two nights on duty really, really, really sucks.

The best part of duty is rounds, because its the one time that you're out of the room. You're talking to people, sometimes when they're in varied states of intoxication which can make for some interesting conversations. Or, people will see the clipboard and hear the keys and will make a beeline for a doorway and the door will slam.

Between rounds this weekend, it turned out to be a lot of television and random web surfing. People went out of town, or were out, or something, it seemed. Boring, boring, boring duty.

Saturday is my 21st. Anyone up for dinner that night somewhere? Drop me a line... I don't want to get wasted-drunk, but wouldn't mind having a legal drink out somewhere... and maybe sign something in too to the dorms.

Other than that, this week will probably be like every other week. Meetings, classes, papers...ah the drudgery of college.

Posted by Matthew at 12:43 AM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2003

GeneralEven with a 4 day weekend...

...I still left all my work until tonight.

I finished a bunch of it, but am really worn out tonight, so am going to bed. Collegian online is started for the week; Friday for all of it.

sigh...the work just had to start, didn't it? :)


Posted by Matthew at 02:09 AM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2003

GeneralSunday

RA Interviews went well...I can't say more than that.

The rest of the day was spent loafing and lounging. I got my laundry done, and straightened up my room a bit. Went to dinner with Brian at the nicest McDonalds in the world off of Germantown Ave.

Haven't touched any schoolwork yet. Tomorrow.

Posted by Matthew at 01:22 AM | Comments (1)

February 02, 2003

GeneralAtom and His Package

First off...this is hilarious: http://www.shef.ac.uk/piratewriters/rejected.wmv ... watch all 9 minutes of it.

Went to the "Atom and His Package" show tonight in the Dunleavy room. Fantastic show, and I have a new favorite song for the time being: "I'm Downright Amazed At What I Can Destroy With Just a Hammer." I think it'll make a great song to hang and focus lights too; the entire new album, "Attention: Blah Blah Blah," sounds awesome.

There were maybe 150 people there, a lot of them high-schoolers. Atom performed on the floor instead of the stage; we were about 5 people away from him. Played a lot of new stuff, opened with "Downright Amazed..." and ended with "Punk Rock Academy." He had been selling T-Shirts and other swag at a table in the back all evening through 3 other punk bands and seemed to be this normal, quiet guy...the facade ended when he got in front of the microphone.

He puts such energy into every song that its hard not to get into them...thats what I like, I think...that and the extremely witty and sometimes thought provoking lyrics.

Friday night was fantastic too, went to Jess' birthday dinner at Macaroni Grill, and then came back to La Salle and went to Karen's for a while. I only stayed for like an hour, because I was tired, but kicked ass in Trivial Pursuit (the questions...not the game.) Dinner was fun: between the war drawn out in crayon on the paper tablecloth, to notes being passed every which way, to Matt trying to get the waitress' number...

I got notice on Friday that I had been rehired for Community Development. Rock on; although the placement decision comes at the end of February. Thats the decision that I'm more concerned with...although it is nice to know now that my room and board will be covered next year if I want them to be.

On Sunday afternoon I have to do interviews for the next batch of RA's/CA's we hire...so I'll be in a classroom in Olney all afternoon.

The new collegian site went live on Friday. Hopefully, it won't fall by the wayside as the other sites have done over the past couple of years...the address is: http://www.lasalle.edu/students/orgs/collegian/

These four day weekends are awesome...

Posted by Matthew at 01:35 AM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2003

GeneralMore and more.

Yeah...so its been a long, been a long, been a long, been a long week.

Not much new. I am doing lighthing (DOH!) for "And Then There Were None..." Hooray for master electrician. High hopes for this one: a nice, simple, elegant light plot that beautifies the set. My hope is for a simple, easy to light set, that will allow less creativity and more opportunity to create a look that screams "damn, thats lit well."

Of course its Tom, and its Me, so who knows what the end result will be.

The new Collegian web site should go up tomorrow at some time at this address: http://www.lasalle.edu/students/orgs/collegian/

Its my design: relying on function more than flash and pizazz. I'm finding more and more in my life that thats what I'm looking for - less hype, and flash, and whoomp, and pretension, and more genunie humanity, beauty, simplicity. I like that direction - I tend not to be a dramatic person by nature, but am thrust into dramatic situations by my associations with others. Let the articles speak for themselves (or in the case of Young Playwrights, choosing the Dunleavy Room over the theater because of the spatial intimacy and lack of theatrical pretension present in the space: perhaps even a theater in the round setup? Bring people into the work, let the work speak for itself...simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.)

Life, is good. Rehire/No Rehire letters come out Friday for Community Development...I have no doubt that I'll be rehired. The question of where is answered in March. An annoying prospect depending on the decision and proximity to housing lottery.

I'm finding I actually have time to read for pleasure this semester. I'm working through another old Tom Clancy novel presenly (Patriot Games, I think...the title eludes me currently) and also simultanesouly, some of W. D. Ehrhart Vietnam works - he gave a presentation in the Honors program freshman year, and the biography is fascinating...accounts of his coming back and rejection of the war and life in the counterculture.

So thats about it. Life goes on, and on and on...

Posted by Matthew at 02:08 AM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2003

GeneralSurprise

"It's a great thing to realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you've forgotten about..."

I auditioned for what I'm calling the first time in my life today - there were like 2 other times that I've done it, during elementary school, but I don't count them.

I surprised myself by just doing it. I didn't think that I would have the courage/balls/confidence to do it, but it went. 2 Monologues from "Ten Little Indians."

Apparently, I got called back - I haven't seen the list yet, but will confirm it tomorrow...

Even if I hadn't/didn't get called back, I'm still amazed I did it. Exctiting...techie to actor.

Posted by Matthew at 12:30 AM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2003

GeneralAs Days go by...

A long week. A long COLD week.

Tuesday night was spent in WWW land...I'm working up an electronic version of the Collegian, and Wednesday was their first issue. It has a new site design (more functional, emphasis on content) and will eventually contain everything the print edition has (sans some small stuff that doesn't convert well to HTML.) I'm excited; its something that has been lacking on La Salle's site for a LONG time.

Wednesday was a tough day. 3 2 hour classes are tough. We watched "The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie" in Film Criticism class - a film that just annoyed me. We're studying reality by watching films that bend and shape perceptions of reality. I felt like THE FILM WOULDN'T END.

Example story line: a rich couple hires the local Bishop to be their gardener - he just happens to come to their door looking for work. He, of course, is treated well, and is invited to ALL of their dinner parties (dinner parties are a recurring device...) So. One day, an old woman comes to the house looking for a priest, because a man is dying and needs Extreme Unction. The priest goes. When they arrive at the barn where the old man is dying, the lady stops to say, "I have something to tell you Father. I have always hated Jesus Christ." (out of nowhere, extremely strange moment #1.) The priest goes in, asking the woman to come back later and they can talk about her hatred. The old man confesses that he killed two people many years ago. The people he killed are the priest's parents. The priest forgives the man, then as he walks out, shoots him with a loaded shotgun that just happens to be sitting by the door. (strange moment #2)

Intersperse that with some weird dream sequences, the rich people walking down a road motif, and lots of wine, martinis, port, and other liquor and you have "Discrete Charm..."

So that soured all of Wednesday. Shakespeare felt like it wouldn't end. Gothic Lit just felt like every word Prof. Millard was going over my head.

Thursday was better; finally had class with Cronin again, and we watched another "surrealist" film in Film Criticism - "An Andalusian Dog"...this one too defies commentary, beginning with shots of a man sharpening an old razor, and then drawing it across the open eye of a young girl.

Le sigh.

Cronin offered three great quotes from class today, which I leave you with:


  • "I'm not going to have a sex change to accomplish this goal."

  • "The female carries my line. Proud time for a hominid."

  • "I think it's important we scandalize the other people in this building, so please come dressed as artists..." (class is in College Hall; the school of Business Administration is located there, arguably the nicest and most affluent building on campus.

Posted by Matthew at 02:34 AM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2003

GeneralWeekend

Saturday was quiet; spent most of the day sleeping in and then playing PlayStation into the night. Still trying to beat Grand Theft Auto 3...

Sunday I woke up at 8:30 to head to the Chirstning in north New Jersey. The trip went well - the Turnpike was empty, and I amazed myself by remembering how to navigate through NE Philadelphia to get to the PA Turnpike. Made it to my grandmother's at 10:30, had a bagel, met my aunt Lynne's boyfriend (who has done a lot of theater over the years, which was interesting...) and just kind of hung out until we left at 11:45.

We got to the church, St. Stanislaus (a little Polish church on the corner in an ethnic neighborhood, where my uncle and aunt had gotten married) during 12noon mass; the Christening was scheduled for one. My mother, and great aunts stood in the cold vestibule listening to the Mass...their cantor's voice was indescribable: not in a good way, but in this funny, nasal way that I just couldn't place and almost laughed at.

The baptism was beautifully done. A priest who has been close to my grandmother for a long time, Fr. Ed, did the service. Matthew (my cousin and now Godson) put on a couple of pounds since I had last seen him, and, amazingly, got a lot cuter. He did well, cooing and smiling through it all.

The reception went a lot better than I had hoped. I don't know my Aunt Laura's family very well, but was introduced all around. My Uncle's family, the side I'm related to, camped out on the porch in the back to watch the Eagles game. I left about 4:30 and got back to campus about 6:30.

I expected fires and riots when I made it back to campus; at the very least, I expected the dorms to be in disarray. However, Philadelphia handled the loss really well...sigh, it was so close before that 92-yard interception...

King's Dream was the best of the three years that I've been to. It started, of course, when I got word that the lights in the theater weren't working. I was up in the catwalks ten minutes before the keynote. The speaker was excellent and held our attention. The breakout sessions were good, but needed more time to get into more depth. I attended a really thought-provoking one presented by Dr. Oppliger about race relations in the media...we really needed more time for that one, we barely were able to discuss three brief sitcom clips. Dinner was fantastic, one of the best meals that La Salle could whip up.

I spent tonight reading for tomorrow, and getting psyched for the rest of the week. I'm trying to make it a goal to get to bed earlier than I did last semester, so thats where I'm heading now. Last night I made it until 11PM - tonight, I wasn't as lucky.

Posted by Matthew at 01:03 AM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2003

January 18, 2003

GeneralI always knew...

I always knew that if I were around long enough that I would wind up the punchline at an Improv show...

Apparently it happened last night: apparently, because I wasn't there. I decided earlier, not having anyone to go down with, to stay back at the dorms and just have a quiet evening of playing Playstation and hanging out with whoever else stayed back. It was a good night; and interesting to hear about it when people got back...Anyone have a tape? (thanks, Julie, btw, for putting my name in.)

Anyhow, Friday went well. The Collegian meeting was good, although I didn't have a lot of answers to people's questions. It was a lot of my promising to do the best I can to get this new site online. The other editors seem optimistic; I'm optimistic as well, and hopefully we'll go live next week sometime.

Other than that, this weekend has been shaping up to be extremely quiet. I've slept a lot. Tomorrow I become Godfather for my cousin, Matt. It means a drive to north Jersey, but he's cute and it'll be a fun time, so its all worth it.

Posted by Matthew at 08:21 PM | Comments (1)

January 16, 2003

GeneralFilm Criticism

I just read the first two articles for my film criticism class and I have no idea what they're talking about.

Something about neorealism, but beyond that...

and there's a quiz tomorrow.

Oh well.

Wednesday is my longest day - class from 11-1, 2-4:45, and 6:15-9:00. We watched one whole movie today ("The Bicycle Thieves,") bits of another ("The Crucible") and read the prologue to Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew." All of these classes are gonna be awesome: its another semester of incredible professors who know, but more importantly love, their subjects and love teaching them to students.

The community meeting went incredibly smoothly tonight, despite the lack of an icebreaker (saved for times sake; there wasn't enough floor diversity, that is, lots were absent, to make it worthwhile in my opinion.) We're going to try and get a trip going to see Conan O'Brien as a community - an awesome undertaking.

Other than that, just a busy Wednesday.

currently listening to: "Afternoons & Coffeespoons" - Crash Test Dummies.

Posted by Matthew at 01:34 AM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2003

GeneralNot a bad idea...

I could sure use $25...

Posted by Matthew at 09:50 PM

January 13, 2003

GeneralWelcome Back

Its good to have people back in the dorms again.

Move In seemed to move smoothly all day: some trickling in warly, and later hordes moving swiftly through the gates. It always seems to me that the dorms take on a life of their own when they're full: the bricks breathe, the walls reverberate with sound...they're a living entity.

Classes start for most tomorrow; I have off thanks to another stroke of incredible scheduling luck. I start at 2:00PM on Tuesday.

Tomorrow will probably be spent catching up on sleep and getting necessities for the room - duct tape, food, ketchup...

Training ended uneventfully today. We had a diversity activitiy in which we discussed how to handle a couple of different situations with diversity issues. The presentation was well done, but I wonder if its all just preaching to the choir - we know this stuff, and I don't know if continually talking about it and giving us the same information over and over does any good. The people who need this information aren't the RA's/CA's - its the people who are committing the actions, although for the most part they're anonymous idiots trying everyone's patience.

So. There.

Training is over until King's Dream, next Monday. Life is good. Aside from the B+G being open again.

Posted by Matthew at 12:43 AM | Comments (1)

May 17, 2002

GeneralYatta! (revisited)

Yatta! (revisited)








"Japanese"

Translation


G R Double-E N Leaves
G R Double-E N Leaves

It's so easy! Happy-go-lucky!
We are the world! We did it!
Hyuu! Hyuu! Hyuu! Hyuu! Osu! Osu! Osu! Osu! (Ai!)
Yatta! Yatta!
Daigaku gohgaku
Yatta! Yatta!
Shachoh shuunin
Happa ichimai areba ii. Ikite iru kara lucky da!

Yatta! Yatta!
Tohsen kakujitsu
Yatta! Yatta!
Nihon daihyoh
Yannaru kurai kenkoh da.
Everybody say yatta!

Nippon kyuukyuu (demo)
Ashita wa wonderful
Ijiwaru saretemo futon haireba
Guu guu guu guu! Pass pass pass pass (Ohayo--!)

Yatta! Yatta!
Kuujikan suimin
Yatta! Yatta!
Neoki de jump
Donna ii koto aru daroh ikite ita kara lucky da!

Yatta! Yatta!
Kimi ga kawareba
Yatta! Yatta!
Sekai mo kawaru
Marugoshi dakara saikoh da massugu tattara kimochi ii--!

O-mizu nondara umee! (Yatta!)
Hi ni atattara attakee! (Yatta!)
Koshi kara warattara omoshiree! (Yatta! Yatta!)
Inu-katte mitara kawaii! (Yatta!)

[Repeat]

Surechigai-zama hohoemi kureta
Nido to aenaku-tatte ii kimi ga ita kara lucky da!

Heisei fukyoh seiji fushin
Reset sae surya saikoh da! Minna iru kara tanoshii--!

Yatta! Yatta!
Daigaku kyohshitsu
Yatta! Yatta!
Movie star
Happa ichimai areba ii. Minna issho da happy da!

Yatta! Yatta!
Iki wo sueru
Yatta! Yatta!
Iki wo hakeru
Yannaru gurai kenkoh da! Everybody say yatta!

[Repeat *]
Bye-Q!





G R Double-E N Leaves
G R Double-E N Leaves
It's so easy! Happy-go-lucky!
We are the world! We did it!
Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! (Unh!)

All right! All right!
We're doin' great in college!
All right! All right!
Made president at our jobs!
Long as we've one leaf on, we're doin' fine! Hey, we're lucky just 'cause we're alive!

All right! All right!
We've been confirmed for the prize!
All right! All right!
We're representing Japan!
We're so healthy, it just makes ya sick!
Everybody say "All right!"

Japan's got crises (but)
Tomorrow's wonderful
Even if somebody's mean to us, we just go to bed and
Snore! Snore! Snore! Snore! Pass! Pass! Pass! Pass! (Good morniiiiing!)

All right! All right!
We got nine hours of sleep!
All right! All right!
Woke up and jumped outta bed
What kinda great things might await us now? Hey, we're lucky just 'cause we're alive!

All right! All right!
If there's a change in you
All right! All right!
Then the whole world will change too.
Getting through it unhurt's the best of all. Just stand up straight because it feels greeeaat!!

I drink water that's tasty! (All right!)
I get in the sun and feel toasty! (All right!)
Havin' a belly laugh's fun! (All right! All right!)
Try keeping dogs--they're cute! (All right!)

[Repeat]

As we brushed past each other, you favored me with a smile.
It's okay if we never meet again. I'm lucky you were here just for a while!

We've got recession these days...in goverment we've no faith.
Could we hit "reset," that'd be number one! And since we're all here, it's just so much fun!

All right! All right!
In university class
All right! All right!
We've got a movie star!
Long as we've one leaf on, we're doin' fine! We're all together, it's a happy time!

All right! All right!
Long as we still can breathe in...
All right! All right!
Long as we still can breathe out...
We're so healthy, it just makes ya sick!
Everybody say "All right!"

[Repeat]

Bye-Q!


Posted by Matthew at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)