Friday, August 29, 2008

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Augustus? August-you!

I know it’s been a while since I wrapped at ya, but August, despite what Eliot says, is the cruelest month of them all.

And by cruel I mean chock-full of events…

Over Saturday the 2nd, heather had her big Frisbee tourney, which tragically ended with a lightning storm, quite ironically the big bangs of electricity ending her Frisbee season with not a bang but a whimper. The games had to be called off, and we drove home in the rain…

That night heather had a bachelorette party to go to in the city, which I drove her to happily, as I love driving in the city and took that opportunity to give a call to Yovvy to see what he was up to. ‘well,’ he said, ‘my girlfriend is also at a bachelorette party.’ So we decided to hang out, drank a few beers and went to a UCB show after which we used his iPhone as a homing beacon to drive around Manhattan in search of late night Indian food.

We had no such luck and settled upon an all-night diner, and discussed how small the world is, how no matter how large it may seem, sometimes you run into people who you have a connection to, and it freaked us both out. After eating we walked back to my parked car where we found that a limousine had parked in front of us, and who’s limousine was it? The bachelorette party that Yovvy’s girlfriend, liz, was attending. Not 5 minutes earlier they had parked in front of my car on 2nd avenue in search for late night fries. Small world.

The weekend after that heather and I road-tripped it up to Lake George, where we spent the weekend betting on the ponies in Saratoga, relaxing, and meeting my friend Ken’s girlfriend. Ken seems really happy, which is good, though I am sure he would have been happier if he had won any money at all at the track. I had no luck, either, and as we drove back home Sunday afternoon, I vowed to change my betting strategy for next year.

The following week Radiohead played in Boston on a fucking Wednesday, which meant that I couldn’t go. Thanks, tards. I spent that weekend playing house and getting ready for yet another roadtrip, this time to cape cod.

Yes, I just got back from cape cod yesterday, having driven there to perform the wedding of Louis & Terri. Cape cod was a wonderful place to visit, though a bit of a drive, I am not sure how Liz and Seamus do it all the time. The wedding itself was beautiful and I got a lot of kudos for the ceremony I wrote. Not a dry eye in the house! I was a tad stressed out because of the friction between their families’ seeming need for the ceremony to be religious and my obvious paganism, but it was all smoothed out after I offered to only sacrifice one goat, not a blasphemous two.

And that’s August. Here and there I filled time with ill-advisedly reformatting my laptop, UCB improv, Olympic fever, harvesting my tomatoes and cucumbers, getting a raise and enjoying my first month as the newest copywriter for GHG.

Fall is quickly approaching, as evidenced by the cool mornings we’ve been having. I love autumn, and look forward to it, though i will remember summer 2008 as my first married summer when I was (*cough*) young and new to married life, and heather and I were learning about the world and shining our gold medals. Didn’t I tell you? Our nation of two won gold in Greco-roman kissing.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

In a Station of the Metro

I got on the 6 train this morning, turned to face the platform, and I immediately was treated to the spectacle of a man dropping his large suitcase, spilling his papers, in hot pursuit of a kid who had evidently walked away with his other briefcase. The man calmly reclaimed it, and it seemed like a fight was about to ensue when the train car doors closed and we headed downtown. I looked to the guy next to me who gave me shrug and said, 'Guess he stole his briefcase.'

I like those moments in life when something happens and a complete stranger becomes a fellow audience member and critic. This happens a lot to me in the city, where spectacles happen spontaneously, and just as quickly melt back into the flow of crowd.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Been to paradise, but I've never been to ME

But I haven't told you yet about our trip to Maine, which was a first for me and Heather, and what is tantamount to our first road trip in our new car together. We took off last Thursday after work and drove to Boston to stay the night with Louis and Terri, who have a brilliant new apartment, sans crazy roomate, which is complete with 2 rooms, office, den, dining room, breakfast nook, backyard, and mahogany paneling. I'm pretty jealous. I am not jealous, however, of the location. Boston is a cesspool of uncoordinated government and terrible infrastructure. Google maps sent us up I-95 with glee and we were driving with no problems whatsoever UNTIL WE HIT BOSTON. It was a miracle of wrong turns that led us to Louis' house, and we cursed the city planners as we fell asleep. The next morning I took us all out to breakfast, which was delicious lox & bagels.
After breakfast Heather and I meandered to Maine, by way of New Hampshire. We took a little walk and had a sandwich in Portsmouth, then finished our road trip to Portland, wherein we had a nice talk and then took a little tour of some lighthouses, went to lobster dinner (Bryan and I split the dinner for two) at which Bryan showed the insides of his lobster, called the tomalley to his wife, Jill. Jill promptly became nauseated and had to get up from our table and take a moment for herself. I found this peculiar but figured maybe she didn't like the fishy, green goo that some people love to suck from the carcass of a freshly cooked lobster.


When she sat down again, Bryan said, 'Me likey bouncy.'
He was so nonchalant about it, such wondrous news, that Heather and I had to do an aural double-take, but realizing that he was being serious, there was much celebration at the table, and if our waitress was worth a damn, we would have ordered some desert. I'm very happy for Jill and Bryan, they'll be the first of my friends to likey bouncy, and I marvel at their adventure.


Later that evening the McDowells, the O'Connors, and the Moynihans played a personal question game, wherein you had to guess who answered what. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I was the only one to go five or five during my turn...

The next day was filled lighthouse visiting, and also meeting new friends and getting together to play a spirited homerun derby, which sucked for me because when I was up there was nary a dinger to be found.

In the evening we had a BBQ comeplete with burgers, dogs, salads, and even more LOBSTER! I was the one who had to drop them into the pot, and everyone wanted to know if I could hear them screaming as they entered the hot hot heat. No, I said, I couldn't hear them screaming over my own laughter. Muahahah.
We ended the night playing more games, this one called celebrity. It was quite awesome and I hope to add it to my repertoire... Maine was just a really, really laidback place, and I enjoyed the memories of this road trip, including tidepooling, guitar sing-alongs, breakfast sandwiches, baseball games, stats, and taking in the Shipyard Brewery.

We left on Sunday night and arrived in Boston after driving down the freeway at 20mph because of the wall of water falling from the sky. Stephanie came over to Louis' for dinner and we supped on the choicest meats and potatoes. I love roadtrips, I love seeing old friends and partaking in their happiness, but most of all I love the fact that there are more to come!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Thanks, Woolfy

I know it's been a while since i rapped at ya, and things have been busy, so let's get started:

the best thing that's happened thus far, aside from Heather getting yet a third 'A' in as many grad classes, was the road trip we took to Newport, RI for Heather's 24th birthday. She turns 24 every year, of course, but this year I wanted to do something a little spectacular, and knowing her affinity for lighthouses, I arranged for an overnight stay at the Rose Island Lighthouse. It was an amazing time! The lighthouse has been restored to it's 1800's glory, and it was an eye-opener to stay overnight in a place with so much history. And yes, it's a working lighthouse, and we were treated to many a passing ship. We made pizza on the grill outside, we swam in the water, fished, relaxed in the breeze, and made sure to appreciate the windmill that powers the whole island. The salt air was so moist that some of the food we brought turned soggy, something I had not considered, but other than that (and the fucking seagulls who i hate with more fire than the hoary pits of hell) it was a grand time, and I hope to return.







The Moynihan twins had their birthday celebration on a vintage schooner, which is an awesome time on the East River/New York Bay. The ladies were cold, though, and I think next year we'll all remember to bring windbreakers...

A few weeks ago we had Louis' bachelor party weekend extravaganza, and there was much goings on including, but not limited to, drinking, bars, drinking in bars, drinking at a Mets/Rox game, a viewing of Ricky Gervais Live, which was an excellent show, and no strippers. That's right, no strippers.

My Improv 201 class at the UCB is going pretty well, after a little sickness, I'm back in full effect, improving with the best of them, and really having a blast! If you've ever thought of taking an improv class, it's the most fun you'll ever have with strangers who quickly become friends. I found out that my teacher from my first class, Jeff Hiller, is in a movie with Ricky Gervais (what a coincidence), check out the trailer (Jeff is the shirtless guy who says, 'Is this a bad time?')



and my current teacher, Curtis Gwinn has a show on Adult Swim (Cartoon Network) called Fat Guy Stuck in Internet, it's a pretty funny show, and though he's known to be a tough teacher, I find him to be just really smart and committed to the theory and practice of improv. (he's the guy with the 'stache)



I'm hoping I can parlay all this comedy schooling into a position writing for the Onion, or failing that, TV.

That's all for now, kids, but stay tuned because coming up, I've got a road trip to Maine, a road trip to Saratoga, a road trip to Cape Cod, and various goings on which I will be sure to write about well after the fact.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Malk

you know what's awesome? the free milk i get at work. you know what's even better? drinking a cup of milk only to find a bunch of clumps at the bottom. good times!

Friday, May 30, 2008

Days of Yore

i'm sitting at my desk at work, though it is the beginning of summer, which means there is less work to do on my account at the moment. so i'll take some time to explain what i've been doing during these last months of reticence. and as i do this, i am listening to a record from my youth, The Wallflowers 'Bringing Down the Horse' which is a very fine effort, and i am reminded of the time i actually saw said Wallflowers in concert at SPAC in 1996. i went with the boychuks and olivia porter, who i was in love with, and so at times when i hear Bob Dylan's son sing about headlights and treehouses, i am reminded of innocent crushes and devastating heartbreaks. i am like that a lot with a lot of songs. i have certain Jeff Buckley songs reserved for certain girls, Death Cab for Cutie and Radiohead songs reserved for others. A particular Sarah McLachlan song always takes me back to a time when i was loving a girl from the North County, and here we are again thinking about Bob Dylan, and now his son, and now Olivia. It's not that i'm hung up about all these girls from my past, it's just that music has a way of making you remember the times in your life when songs were the post-its marking the pages in the book of your life that were your favorite parts.

in april my wife and i ventured out to Hollywood, Caliornia to see my brother. he just graduated from his tech school, where he learned sound engineering after a long and storied trek through higher education. i'm proud of him, because he's already got a job, working as a sound engineer, just as he had always wanted, for a company that installs commercial sound systems for public entertainment venues. we had a lot of fun, just spending quality time yucking it up...we also met some chickens!



it made me really proud to visit my brother at his place of business. he brought us to his studio, wherein there was a wall with speakers encircling us, and he proceeded to show us his chops. and it was good.

after LA, we came back and i had my Upright Citizens Brigade graduation show. i finished my Improv 101 class (am now registered for 201, which starts in July), and it was a sight to see! I have video of it, thanks to heather, and i was happy that my friend Jason came. i hadn't really invited anyone, mostly because i was sure it would suck, as we were all just learning, and it did kinda, but it was something scary that we did, and after it was over, i was glad to have the support! You can see my teacher's closing remarks below



heather and i have only this week returned from a 10 day trip to colorado in which i was living the mountain man lifestyle: wearing fishing lures on my hat, spotting wildlife, shooting targets, smoking cigars, drinking scotch, eating steaks, and fishing. it was such a relaxing time, i wonder why i don't just buy a horse, move to the mountains, don't bother nobody.

The tragedy beneath the surface of all this merriment is that i lost the promotion i was about to get. my agency lost a client, the client i was going to write for, and so poor nick is still editing pharma copy...but for how long?

but i take it in stride, because i'm looking around the annals of my life, and i'm the happiest i've ever been. i've noticed that i've changed. whereas i used to be an immature blob of depression who lived in his parents' basement, lazy and jobless, i am now a hardworking, married, mature man, gainfully employed and in love. and it makes me marvel at the length of a lifetime, and the things we can become. i'm going after my goals (writing, improv, career) and have the girl of my dreams on my arm the whole way. I'm now learning that even after only 8 months of marriage, all the songs i had earmarked for the other girls in my past are slowly becoming songs about my wife. Death Cab, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, and Sarah McLachlan -- they're all about her now. Their past, dead significances replaced by the harder, enduring sediment called true love. i will keep those fossils near to my heart, a museum of all the things i used to be.

Friday, March 21, 2008

McDowell is Going Green


What with the end of the world coming to fruition, and the end of days upon us, I've taken to doing a little bit here and there for the environment.

1) We now recycle all cardboard, glass, metal, and plastic.

Whereas before we would simply throw away these materials, living in Westchester has afforded us with a unique opportunity to simply place them in a separate trashcan which is picked up once a week. We don't sort them, which makes it very easy to do something right for the world. Yovanoff told me he read that there was a study that said the true barrier to voluntary recycling is the EXTRA step people must take, to go out of their way to recycle. I find that humbling and true, and I am ashamed of the years before when it was such an inconvenience to GO to a recycling station, or separate my materials, etc. Here in New York, they just come and get it, it's that easy and makes one feel a little better about our future.

2) I print out a lot of crap at work, hundreds of pages sometimes, and it all goes to recycling afterwards, too.

It's such a good thing that they have recycling bins for white paper, as we produce a lot of it. Shame, though, about the segregation.

3) I've brought in a coffee mug so I don't waste anymore paper cups.

I drink a lot of coffee or water during the day, and before I would generally use different cups all the time, mostly because I'm a dolt, but mostly because I'm lazy. This way, I reuse the same mug (my awesome black Gotham Comedy Club mug provided to me by Heather) and don't waste all those paper cups.

4) Transportation Choices

We just bought a Prius, which should save us some dough and waste less gas, but also daily I take the Metro-North commuter train into Grand Central. It's an easy 35minute ride, then a 5 minute subway ride to Union Square, and a little walk to my office. I hardy take cabs, so the only car I am every really in is our new Prius. I hate to take credit for something that I am basically forced to do every day (it's the only way into town without driving, which would just be a headache anyway), but it's noteworthy.

5) No more rubber worms when fishing.

Sometimes, not all the time, I lose my rubber/plastic worms/grubs when fishing for bass. Just as often I find discarded lost lures in the sand and mud of lakes and rivers and I'd always wondered what happens when a fish is just too big to land, and he escapes with your fake worm. Field and Stream tells me that what happens to those worms is, they get eaten. A lot. People are starting to find these plastic worms in the guts of dead fish, and the health of entire ecosystems is at risk because of the small lumps of rubber that fall to the bottom of the lake and eventually make their way into the food chain.


6) How about a garden?

With warmer weather on the way, we're planning to get a vegetable garden going. This will provide more opportunity to mulch or compost (I'm always looking for reasons to mulch and compost) but also reduce our vegetable bills, but ALSO limit the carbon footprint from the farming and transportation that go into our groceries. I'm afraid of rabbits and raccoons eating my garden veggies, and look forward to seeing them on the field of battle.

So I'm no hero, I just like hitting people on the head. I figure it's all worth doing, because up until now, I feel like all I've ever done is take and take from this world, so maybe it's time to do a little something to make the world better. At least until rapture, which is hopefully soon, because I look forward to taking out some zombies.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

There Will Be (No More) Blood


This is what I know: our truck was busted, we were talking about getting new car anyway, and it's ok to buy something new in one day if you really need it. So we did. We bought a new 2008 Toyota Prius, and it's only been 12 hours, but we're already very happy with it. The truck is on hiatus, and most likely will be put on moth balls until we can earn another 3 grand to get it fixed. And by moth balls I mean parked permanently in our front yard connoting all the class we can muster. I'm very happy about owning a hybrid, I was really sick and tired of buying into the $110/barrel oil barons, which translates into about $50, and an untold number of lives, every week and a half for all our Westchester driving needs. Hopefully this will send a message to those fat cats in Washington. Not to mention the fact that we are looking forward to driving out to see family and friends in the years to come, and possibly even giving a ride or two to friends and strangers. At 50/mpg, we can't afford NOT to! Attention hitch-hikers: we now have room to accommodate you.

And then, when I didn't think life could get any better, I found a trailer for the NEW LOST BOYS SEQUEL!

Monday, February 25, 2008

No Country For Old Men RULES!


What a great weekend! Heather and I just took it easy and let the snow melt around us. We toyed with the idea of making a snow man after Friday's blizzard, though were seduced by the siren song of a warm couch. Once it warmed up, we walked downtown where we found a nice teahouse, read in the library, viewed ducks scurry on the ocean, finally figured out whatt structure the lighthouse was attached to (water works), and then when Sunday came around we in for a treat!

We had a nice little party last night at home, wherein the neighbors from downstairs, Liz and Seamus, who are also recently married, came up to our apartment and played cards with us, drank some wine and teas, watched the Oscars and shared in some very nicely cooked homemade calamari. Yes, I cook squid.

I'm very happy that No Country For Old Men won in the important categories, because it was just an amazing movie that I hope to see again. Those Cohen brothers are all right.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Best Show Ever



So Mitt's dropped out leaving McCain as the front runner, a man who by my account should have beat Bush in 2000, but wasn't smart enough to play as dirty as Bush did. So 8 years later, McCain is 72 years old and if he does win 2 terms in office, will be 80 by the time he leaves. Hope he chooses a good VP, but he'll probably choose Huckabee to carry the South, which is evidently full of people who don't believe in evolution, which is evidently the devil.

Of course, I'm sure a democrat will win this November, and I think it will be a tight race still, which worries me because that means that a large chunk of people in this country think we're doing a great job in the world, and that 8 years of Republican "leadership" and Democratic milquetoasts have not made us worse off than we were on January 20, 2000.

Excellent.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Funny Ha Ha


Well I did it. I signed up for a class at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. The class is Improv 101, and there's no telling what can happen from this. I start in March, thanks in part to a very generous Santa Clause...

I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya, but things have been hectic, and I can't be expected to keep track of all my wheelings and dealings! My parents visited Heather and I for the first time since we moved out east. It was a great, we did a lot of fun things and spent a lot of quality time together. We're braving the cold after a wonderful holiday season, new years in boston, parties galore, my 28th birthday, and much rampant spec script writing. Work is good, marriage is good, and I'm pretty much enjoying life.

End of story.