A Night At The Theatre

I saw a production of Shakespeare in the park yesterday evening. Specifically, it was at Griffith Park here in Los Angeles. A good friend tipped me off to it, and I was not about to pass up some culture outdoors for free. I tore myself away from some terribly compelling stuff going on around my computer and got on the train to my friend's place, from which we would head off to the park after fortifying ourselves with snacks.

The play was well attended, and the whole affair was run in a smooth, professional fashion. I feared that people might not be especially well behaved, particularly if they had been as successful in transgressing the policy against liquor as we had, but I found that everyone was about as eager to see the play without interruption as we were. The night went unmarred, and we were able to have ourselves a fine time.

First Strike

Contest season has come around again in the world of Toastmasters. In the last cycle, I did not do overly well with my International speech (which is a standard speech that commonly is inspirational or otherwise dramatic), which is not surprising. Not being especially at ease with such emotions in life, how could I be expected to marshal them to my benefit in a speech? More surprising was that I did poorly in the Table Topics contest. That's just improv, which should be my area.

In the cycle before that, it was evaluations again (I think) which I did not go far in, and humorous speech, in which I was lucky enough to win it all. I hope to duplicate that success this time with a speech that is rather promising in a contest that matches my strengths tolerably well. Without going into too much detail, I spun a yarn of the Marx Brothers inventing laughter to combat ghosts in depression-era New York.

The Night Capped

The last couple days I have been recounting aspects of my Sunday. Monday it was my fantasy draft and yesterday it was my jokes that got into a local sketch show. Of course, I was not done yet after that finished. I was feeling pretty good, having had myself a little triumph there. If they'd cut my stuff entirely or heavily manipulated it, I'd have just wanted to go home. As it was, I wanted to keep the good times going.

Some other friends of mine (with whom I'd been on an improv team until recently) were there to host a two person improv show of their own, and I was very happy to talk with them a while in the bar after I'd spoken at length with other people involved in my thing. They asked if I would be going to their show, and I couldn't see why not. Of course, having a ticket to that other show, I could have seen all the shows on the main stage that night, but my friends were off doing their thing on another stage, and I wanted only to be there with them.

Double Satisfied

Yesterday I mentioned picking up some new VHS tapes at Amoeba records. When that was done, I headed off to the iO West theater on Hollywood, where I expected to see they'd used one more more jokes I'd written about news stories (as that is the stock in trade of the show).  It was a short walk from Sunset, and a tolerably pleasant one as well. On arrival, I saw to it that my comp ticket was there for me. Once I'd done that,  I found myself engaged in conversation with a guy I'd competed against in a Toastmasters contest. It was nice to catch up a little with him. He was there to perform standup in the show I was there to see.

Before I'd even finished talking to him, another friend came along. Being at that place, I find I can't be there for more than a few minutes without seeing several friends. It's heartening and nerve-wracking at once. When I'd parted with them both, I got myself a drink at the bar. They had a decent special on brown ale, which I ordinarily don't go for so much. It was pretty good, though. I took my drink into the theater and sat down to watch the show play out.

Tapes Aplenty

I described already how on Sunday I had my fantasy football draft. Well, there was plenty more facing me that day. The next significant thing which came my way was a trip to Amoeba Records, which is a mecca for lovers of music (especially vinyl records) and of film, including VHS tapes. I happen to be really into those, and have amassed a collection of 124 tapes that mostly occupy an obscure area of the broader range of film, as I believe I've made plain.

A friend advised me that he'd spotted a copy of "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins" (which is notable for a number of reasons, among them being the fact that the adventure began but never continued). Of course I had to go and acquire it, because that was one delightful film. I'm sure I don't have to say more than that attack dogs climb a ladder. It came dearer than I would have liked, but five dollars is not so bad really.

Drafty

Yesterday was the big draft for my fantasy football league. I have been in it a few years now, and I am only beginning to get the hang of the auction-based draft the league employs. It's a little more complicated than a standard draft where you can have the best available player at any moment. Instead, you have a budget of so much money and must compete for every player you want with a series of bids. The top bid wins each player.

One must remain calm and dispassionate, saving enough money to build a deep team, but not so much money that any is left over. I usually have a little money left on account of being overly caution with my money in between an early splurge and the point at which few good players are left. Like I said though, I have gotten a bit better, appreciating that one wants to have a little money left when others are broke and bargain players are out there to be had.

Debt In Deep

A few weeks ago, I was an extra in a film being done by a friend. The idea was that I was one of several students in a college class, and so I gathered a few items to put in my backpack that would suggest that. I had pens, paper, books and such. One of the books was Wuthering Heights, which I was reading at the time. I loaned it to one of the other extras, who needed some kind of prop herself. I neglected to get it back from here, and since I couldn't bear to miss any reading time, I got another copy of the book from the library to replace the copy I'd owned.

The original copy was returned to me, and I resolved to return the library book at the earliest opportunity. As it wasn't necessary for a couple weeks more, there was no urgency. By the time two weeks had come around, I somehow forgot in spite of receiving a reminder that it was due. It would have been so easy to at least renew it on the computer, and yet I didn't. I hung on to the book and it incurred a late fee.