My New Life

This has been an eventful month. It's been so long since I posted and that's mainly because I've been so busy. Another reason is because the things I really wanted to post about I wasn't ever 100% sure of and so I felt I should keep it to myself.

First of all, Amanda and I moved. We moved into Houston and are now nestled in the West University area, just off of 59. So far the move has presented itself with challenges as well as pleasures. For one thing, Amanda and I have, since the time we were married always lived in apartment complexes. When you live in an apartment complex they take of every problem that you might have. If you've got bad plumbing they will take care of that, right away. Garbage disposal, done. Here at this town-home there is no office on site. When we moved in we had a number difficulties that made life less than desirable, at least at first. The garbage disposal was broken and the air wouldn't turn on and there were a number of rods and hooks that would just slip right out of the sheet-rock. Luckily, the people got over here as soon as they could and now everything is taken care of. As of now, we like living here, a lot. The location is perfect and the place is bigger and a little more homey.

My next big move is yet to happen, but I've been offered a new job teaching theatre at a school in the Fort Bend school district in Houston. It's a shorter drive for me, for one, but it's also a very new school and I would be the head of the program there. There is paperwork and references to check and then I will get an official offer from the Human Resources department in the district, but barring one of my references telling them horrible things about me the job is mine. I'm just waiting on that next call.

If you haven't seen Wait Until Dark yet you need to see it. We were given a spot on a radio show on 1070 AM called Harbor Highlights It's a show about stuff to do in the Bay Area, spanning Galveston to Baytown. It wasn't a review or anything, but just came and saw the show, interviewed me and then said nice stuff about it. They seemed to really love Amanda's performance. Of course, who wouldn't.

If you don't know what I'm talking about I'm directing Wait Until Dark at the Baytown Little Theater. We have two more performances left. Friday and Saturday night, the 15 and 16 of June. Shows start at 8 pm. Well, I'll put the poster below.

Well, that's what's new with me. It's summer, so I'm sure I'll post more often. I hope everyone is doing well.

This American Life

I've recently become addicted to This American Life. If you don't know what this show is then I highly recommend it to you. It is a radio show that chooses a subject each week and tells stories about that subject. Usually there are 3 or 4 stories, but sometimes more or less. They've been known to dedicate an entire hour to one story and even once they told 20 Stories in 60 minutes.

When it comes to addictions I typically don't keep them for very long. I guess, in this way, they aren't really addictions, but temporary obsessions. My previous temporary obsessions include MySpace, GarageBand, writing plays, Wikipedia, the blog that you are currently reading, reading other blogs, and The Daily Show with John Stewart. Some of these are obviously more healthy than others.

This American Life is different, though, in that I really don't see myself tiring of it. It is so fascinating and so different, each episode is like a new obsession to be had. Obviously, not every episode is life changing, and there are some that are fairly forgetable. But, I've never been bored and I've never simply decided to turn the whole thing off, like I have with some of my favorite shows. I am, in fact, continually inspired by This American Life to write and to create and to tell my own stories. Recently, I went back and reviewed some of my better entries from Great Blogs of Fire and realized that some of my own personal stories would make for good entries for This American Life. This was a realization that made my day, because, since I've been listening to TAL I've been racking my brain for a story of my own that would fit the TAL mold. When I say "mold" I'm kind of referring to stories that they would consider worthy of putting on their show. There isn't exactly a set mold, in that a story must conform to a certain format. Basically, as noted on their website, they are looking for narratives that show the human, emotional side of a story. They want stories that involve a protagonist enduring an emotional arch of some kind. I think back on my stories from last year where I revisited Jr. High and discussed the various episodes of my decent into adolescence. I can literally pinpoint the moments when I decided some of the most important beliefs that I still hold today.

I think, if I'm not mistaken, that this is what TAL is looking for. So, do I want to get one of my stories on This American Life. Yes. It would be one of the coolest things to ever happen. Maybe it's my next obsession. Anything to help me procrastinate.