Simple Complexities


"Great improvisors are like priests. They are thinking only of their god."


Tuesday, June 29, 2004

It's all Ernie's Fault

I am poor white internet trash...meaning that I have to go to the public library to use the internet. It is good to be among the masses. Ben Franklin is probably really proud of me. (He fought for state funded libraries back in the day.)

I'm very grateful for the Caldwell's generosity...but their internet connection s-u-c-k-s. So...here I am. Us poor people get 60 minutes of computer time per day, then we get booted. I have 41 minutes to go. Most days I use up all of my time returning e-mail and checking casting notices on four different websites. I also have to use these computers to print things, since the Caldwells, God bless them, have printer issues too. (I really, really am grateful.)

I fax things from the UPS store, where my mail comes and goes. All matters, personal and professional, now go through my cell phone. My car contains every significant file, book and item of clothing that I may need for work.

I have never been more mobile. Life has never been so...nomadic. I sort of like it, but even I have times when I long to settle down. We will settle, for three months anyway, at the Nyberg pool house soon. (Please, call me Kato.) It will be the first time that my family has lived in a home alone for over two years. We are looking forward to remembering what that is like. We have no idea where we will go after that...none at all.

Work stuff progresses. I have averaged one audition per week. I haven't averaged one job per week, but we are ok for now. I may get a gig next week and I have an audition tomorrow for a national commercial. I'm still working six nights per week at Tony n Tina's.

Apex is going to start meeting monthly instead of weekly, which I feel good about. Next week I am going to spend Thursday in Phoenix at the North American Christian Convention. Greg and I will be leading some workshops there about church as we see it. We probably won't be invited back.

Next week I start a six week acting class with Gerald Gordon, a respected acting coach in town. He's very eccentric. I like him already.

I plan on blogging more frequently in a few weeks, until then you will have to spend more time actually interacting with people and things in the real world.

May you have peace.

posted by Joe | 4:13 PM



Monday, June 21, 2004

Dang It

I typed a really long blog that didnt publish last week. It was good. You would have loved it.

posted by Joe | 12:15 PM



Wednesday, June 02, 2004

A lot to say

Much has gone on in the last few weeks in our lives. Many of you know that we have moved from our house. It became clear to us a few months back that our family, at least at this time, needs to be alone. It was a deeply difficult decision to make. We love our community there and will miss sharing our lives with them, but we are excited about where the next road will lead.

In the meantime we are staying with The Caldwells and Sabrina until the Nyberg's pool house opens up in a few weeks. We plan on being there at least three months as we scan the horizon of possiblities before us.

We have never been more "free" than we are today. No mortgage, no steady job apart from Tony n Tina's. No massive project to consume our lives. If I get a two week job offer in Paraguay, we can take it without hesitation...unless Paraguay is a bad place for excitable Arian pre-schoolers.

We still have the option to go to Hawaii with TnT if we want...but our producers have also purchased the Broadway show and are starting an Opryland show this year...so there are options there too. Vegas may begin to function as more of a homebase, or, perhaps more accurately, a sending place. Makes me think of ancient Greek words like ekballo and apostolos. Look them up in your free time.

God is building a church in the basement of the Rio. I have had more spiritual conversations in the last two weeks than in the first seven months combined. Two of my friends asked me to "ask God for a message for them" at the bar last week. I prophesied over them as showgirls threw plastic beads into hordes of drunken tourists all around them. Some of my friends there have decided to go to church...one is going to Canyon Ridge, three to a church in Henderson and another to a Lutheran church. Another friend has been bringing a Bible and reading it before the show. None of this was really happening when I arrived. I've now told five of them that they are my church and that I don't go to church because I think God is making us one...they all seemed to understand. My friend Kevin is getting married in a few weeks and he asked to officiate. I told him I would if we could just sit in a circle and talk about marriage. We will be doing that June 23.

Next week I go to LA to teach a class at Hope University, and hopefully audition for "The Chase Matthews Show" an SNL-like pilot. My agent is trying to get me the audition

So Gregg doesn't have to click on my other blog, I'll let you know that last week I auditioned for a new Second City show here in town. It's sorta my dream job. There were close to 100 people and I made it to the final 12 or 15. People from all over the USA were there. I had a really good audition and a really, really bad callback. I got nervous and broke most every improv rule. So I went from thinking I was pretty hot stuff to realizing how volitile of an improvisor I am in about 36 hours...It's the first audition that hurt that bad. When I see the Flamingo Hilton my heart sinks. That's why I try to not want anything too bad...I usually get jobs that I don't really care about, probably because I am more relaxed.

Well...enough for now. I'm proud of your stamina if you read this whole thing. Peace to you.

posted by Joe | 10:29 AM

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