Bring it On!

It is that time again. Tomorrow, I head off for my third year of college. It's unreal that I'm halfway through (crossing fingers)! It feels like "First Thursday" was just yesterday. Not so - that was over 2 years ago. I'm barely friends with the people I spent that crazy evening with.

I expect this year to bring about just as many crazy changes to my life. I expect to meet plenty of new and exciting people and further discover the friendships I already have. It is going to be a great year! I've learned so much this summer and I am excited to bring all my new tricks to the table. It's gon be good - so good.

As most of you know, I am a singer. I listen to a LOT of music. I listen to a lot of different music. Lately, I've been getting insanely eclectic.

Roisin Murphy - If you're a Grey's Anatomy watcher, you've probably heard her song "Ruby Blue," which was featured on the first Grey's soundtrack. I finally bought her CD, also called Ruby Blue, this week. It's brilliant. She's like a harder hitting Imogen Heap. I dig her - hard.

Mark Ronson - He's a producer that I am really digging. He co-wrote a lot of Nikka Costa's major-label debut. If you remember "Like a Feather," you've got a good grasp of his style. Recently he helped kickstart the careers of Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen. Those crazy brits are making the best music in the world right now.

Finally, I come to my guiltiest pleasure.

Ladies and Gentlemen, TILA TEQUILA!!!

I know. I know. She's a trash ass myspace ho. It's true. If you doubt it go check - (www.myspace.com/TilaTequila).

This bitch is crazy. Not quite Paula "Happy/Sad Face" Abdul crazy, but she "will fuck you up". Go listen to "I Love U" or "Fuck Ya Man" and you will instantly know what I mean. Lady is a crazy ass tramp...and I kinda love it.

Oh shit...I have to pack!

Th-That's all folks!

My summer with Light Opera Oklahoma has come to a brilliant and beautiful end. I've learned more about myself than I thought I would, both on and off the stage. This will certainly go down as one of the best summers in memory, despite the rain and the drama - both of which picked up immensely in the final weeks.

I have a short list of things that I will always cherish about this summer. You probably won't know what I'm talking about, but that's okay.

- Cherry Street Coffee House
- Midnight swimming
- Black lady belting
- Meeting Jack, Boulevard, and Bacardi O
- Happy panda
- Zombie face
- Berry cobbler
- Duffy's!!!

I'm a little over this blog. I'm not really important enough to have people read my blog.

Just lucky I guess...

I love this summer. I really love this summer.

A rundown of the reasons:

- An amazing company of performers to work with.

- Two of the best stage managers/friends anyone could ask for.

- An amazing new friend that I love spending time with.

- Not living on a dry campus!

- Sweeney Todd with a full orchestra. I don't think I need to say any more.

Of course some things aren't quite as wonderful as I originally thought they would be, such as the roommate situation. It is going the way of all roommate situations for me which is a little sad. I'm over it though. He makes his own choices and I live my life!

I miss home a little bit, but I know now that I would be miserable were I back there now. I'm more than content right now. I'm taking each day as happy and I'm not worrying about a thing.

Loving it. Loving it. Loving it.

So I'm on lunch break from the second day of Light Opera Oklahoma (LOOK) rehearsal. So far we've gone through all the music for Music Man and Sweeney Todd, and most of Trial by Jury. I think we're saving Naughty Marietta for a bit later.

So Stevie, or Stephen Sondheim as some of you might call him, is a bit of a bitch. I think he hates singers so he gives them lines that are near-impossible to sing. Good thing us LOOK kids are so fierce. We're kicking this score in the butt.

I love this company so much already. All the college kids are awesome. I love the adult professionals in the cast. I love my roommate. He's the best one I've ever had. EVER. If you know me, you know I have awful luck with roommates. I really lucked out this time. He's perfect.

I'm so happy right now. Oh yes yes yes I am.

Naptime! Laters!

The start of something new.

I've been home for nearly a week. This week has been enough to let me know that it is a good thing I am working in Tulsa this summer. I love my family. I really do, but it gets to be so much sometimes. I had an opportunity to go out with friends tonight, but I couldn't because dad won't let me drive on highways. There's nothing like that to make a 21-year-old feel 15. It's pretty sweet, to be honest. I feel like I get so much younger when I come home. I don't have any friends to go out with here at home. I really don't. I'm gonna find some when I come back after Tulsa, but that's later.

Ok - right now my focus is LOOK. I am so excited to be doing professional work this summer. It's going to be good to work on my craft and get paid! Check me out! I'm getting paid and I'm not paying!

Anyway - I'm bored and I miss my friends - NOT OCU!

I have so many things...

Things I either know, do not understand, both, or neither:

- I currently live with four other people. I live in a four person apartment. One of my roommates does not pay rent.

- My Japanese roommate sings along to female J-Pop at the top of his lungs - in the original octave.

- I have so many single and attractive gay male friends in my life. I have not been on a date in months.

- Sex is the motivation for all human action.

- I feel so much forward motion in my life, yet I can still trick myself into thinking that my life is completely stagnant.

- Depression is the new pink.

- I don't look that great in old pictures.

- I look pretty good now.

- I need a haircut.

- People think I'm talented and funny.

- I am talented and funny.

- I pretended to masturbate in front of a packed house last night. That was fine.

- I don't think I could ever be a stripper.

- More and more I'm caring less and less.

- Something tells me that last statement is stolen.

- I don't care.

-I'm really amazed that I unintentionally stole from Hoku.

[insert seismic nasal explosion here]

Ladies and Gentlemen (ahem. Gentleman), allergy season is once again in full swing. If you have known me for a while, you know that I am not a happy camper come springtime. While everyone else anxiously waits for the first bird of spring to whistle his happy tune, I dread it. I know that with that joyous refrain comes coughing and sneezing and tissues and headaches and itchy eyes and (really, do I need to continue?)...
All this sneezing is really inconvenient. Perhaps if I looked cute when I sneezed, things wouldn't be so horrible. Alas, I am not a tiger. Boo for me.
I'll be much happier once I get my allergy medicine. A few phone calls and a nice friend with a car can procure that for me. Until I get that, I'll keep up with the tissues, vitamin C, water, echinacea, and (shocker!) coffee. Coffee is surprisingly good for my allergies. I don't even know why. I'm a music major. I don't have to.
In other news, I turn 21 on Thursday. Let's hope these allergies clear up a bit, ya? I can't be sick for rehearsal.

And now for something completely unexpected...

Life is good now. Life is inexplicably good (because I'm sitting next to the incredibly sexy Heather Lilek...but going on)

I was cast in Light Opera of Oklahoma's summer season doing four shows in rotation over two months. I'm incredibly excited about that. Check out the website for more info on the season: (www.lightoperaok.org).

I'm also participating in OCU's STRIPPED New Musicals Project for the second year in a row. I'll be playing the role of Eliot in an exciting new work called Discovering Magenta (www.myspace.com/discoveringmagenta). We perform April 15th at 8pm. If you can come, do. If you are Andy "my only reader" Fontaine and you are reading this, you're already coming because you're in it.

In other news, my knee has miraculously stopped all that obnoxious crackling and clicking. It happened Sunday. I don't know why or how, so I'm not going to push my luck. I'm just thanking whatever force granted this miracle because it has made my life grand.

It's funny how once that cleared up, I started worrying about everything else again. I almost settled into the mindset of someone who is dying and has no space to worry about petty drama. Now my leg is healed and bring on the drama. I'm trying to set myself apart from it, but I can't help it sometimes.

Oh...life.

Life is random and unfair - Life is pandemonium.

William Finn is always right. Don't argue with the man.

I have trouble keeping up this blog, mainly because I don't feel like delving into my emotions. It's not that I don't trust you (and that would be my one reader, Andy). I actually trust Andy a lot and I share my emotions with him freely, but I do it in person and not in a public blog.

That said, I injured my knee a little over two weeks ago. I've had x-rays and MRIs and the doctor's aren't quite sure what it is. I'm going in tomorrow morning to get it seen again. I suppose I could just live with it, but life without dance is hardly worth it. Right now I'd be happy for my knee to stop clicking on stairs. That would be a joyous occasion.

My mom is here. She's been here since Saturday, off and on. I love having her here. My friends love her too. We threw a kickass Oscar party Sunday night (you should have been there, my sole reader!). My mom also has this convenient obsession with cleaning. My apartment sparkles after she leaves. Sparkles. It's amazing.

I have two auditions this weekend for summer jobs. I really want a summer job that takes place on a stage and not in a kitchen. Merde to me! (Can you merde yourself? Is it still good luck? ...Whatever.)

Adios, muchacho(s).

-Your favorite cocktail

You okay, honey?

Remember back in the good ol' days when Sharon Stone was a respected actress?

Neither do I.

Rachael Ray - Who died and made you Oprah?

Being sick sucks. I've been feeling sous-les-temps for the better part of a week, and it sucks. I've been drudging through the majority of my classes, skipping those I find less worthy, and spending the rest of the day how I please. Having little energy, "how I please" usually involves food and television. Any combination of food and television usually involves Rachael Ray in some capacity.

I love Rachael Ray. Every day, this woman makes an indelible impression on the legacy of cooking shows, and food in general - I myself own several of her cookbooks. I have yet to use them, but I own them and that is what counts. Rachael Ray has made cooking fashionable, and that is always a good thing. Who doesn't love a delicious and easy 30-minute meal?

Lately, Ms. Ray has gone a bit overboard. Rach launched The Rachael Ray Show, an Oprah-like show where Rachael interviews celebrities and discusses weighty issues (Mena Suvari and teenage plastic surgery on the episode I witnessed) and follows up with a quick and easy 15-minute-meal. What reason does she have to do this? I was satisfied having Rachael teach me how to cook quickly and eat on a budget. It seems now that I have to deal with her doling out life advice as well.

This is Rachael's world. We just live in it.

This is for Andy.

Hey Andy. I'm pretty sure you're the only person that reads this. You complained that I don't update enough.

Since I really have nothing to say that is both impersonal and insightful, this is the extent of my post.

You're welcome.

I am hungry. I am incorrigible. I am man.

I can't say I really understand how certain foods have been given gender. How, exactly, did the term "chick food" come about? What is it about tofu and sushi that screams woman?

I just saw the Burger King "Manthem" commercial again in which a young man ditches his hot girlfriend at an upscale bistro and storms out onto the street where he is joined by a screaming horde of men extolling the virtues of being a primitive carnivore, in song - of course. I first saw this commercial late last summer and remember being slightly amused. In the past few weeks, this commercial has been stalking me. It seems like Comedy Central (the station of choice in my apartment) runs the spot every other commercial break. In case you haven't seen it yet, I present it to you now for your viewing...pleasure:



The commercial harks back to a time when men were required to hunt down their food. In those ancient times, a man's worth was determined by his skills as a hunter. That was man's ultimate concern. In those days, eating quiche would mean you could not make the kill to provide for your family. Understandably, quiche would have been an emasculating entree in those days.

However, in this modern day of instant gratification, man no longer has to chase down and kill his dinner. Choosing to eat quiche should be of little relevance to a man's masculinity. Man can just as easily throw some steak on the grill once he finishes his delicious quiche. I see no reason why he would, as quiche is quite filling - but I'm trying to make a point. Choice of entree should not reflect on manliness in our society. A double whopper is not a reward for the long and grueling hunt to kill that cow. Man should not be rewarded for driving up to a window and whipping out a credit card. If a man is expending such little effort to procure his meal, he can suck it up and eat quiche.

For all you manly men out there - a challenge.

YELLOW SQUASH AND MOZZARELLA QUICHE WITH FRESH THYME Recipe at Epicurious.com

As I sit here in the kitchen...

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

I get bored often. Saturday was a boring day for me, so, as I often do when bored, I retreated to the kitchen. I wasn't feeling all that hungry, but the boredom was strong enough to pull me towards the oven. I had a lot of old food that I needed to get rid of - things I feared would turn foul if I let them stay in my pantry one minute more. There was a particular item in the pantry that I felt calling out to me. This lonely soul had been sitting under boxes of tea and macaroni for far too long. It appeared I would be cooking myself some tuna.

I didn't exactly know what to do with the tuna. I knew I wanted to cook. I didn't want to simply throw the tuna in a salad or a trashcan. I needed to get my creative juices flowing so I pulled out a teflon skillet. I know that teflon has been under some real heat lately for being potentially toxic. I'm a daring guy so I decided to take a risk and use it anyway.

I turned on the stove and threw the tuna on the skillet with some Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (or EVOO if you're a follower of Rachael "I'm the second coming of Martha" Ray). The tuna started browning - well, graying. I was not sure exactly what my next step should be. Taking a quick sweep of the refrigerator, I spotted the mayonnaise and thought it might make things interesting. Interesting, indeed. Upon hitting the skillet, the mayonnaise started a beautiful dance with the small bits of once-gigantic fish (see picture). This game of footsy turned into a lovely tuna paste of sorts - a beautiful thing.

I could have called it quits right then, seeing as I had a lovely tuna paste simmering in my skillet. Something told me I was not yet finished. There was another lost soul calling out from the cabinet - cream corn. [Cream corn? Really?] Yes. Really. I discovered that tuna and corn blend delightfully. The cream corn picked up the dance where the fish bits and processed egg whites left off, whipping the whole dance floor [read: skillet] into a frenzy.

So here I had this gorgeous tunacorn pasty thing. Now what the heck to do with it?

Wrap it.

Wraps are quite delicious, I suggest you add them to your diet.

Appletini's Gorgeous Tunacorn Pasty Thing
-1 can chunk-light tuna
-1/4 can cream corn
-2 tbsp. mayonnaise
-app. 2 tsp. EVOO (just eyeball it)

Directions: Go crazy.

An Introduction

I was once told that it's better to stay silent and be thought an idiot than speak and remove all doubt.

I personally find that to be a rather inane piece of advice.

Love me or hate me - this is who I am.

I hope you love me, because chances are I love you.