Deranged Ramblings

Holy cow! That's all I can say so far. My time here has been a blur, but at the same time I feel like I've been living in Columbia, South Carolina for AGES. Still don't know my way around though, but at least I can get to all the buildings on campus I have anything to do with. Most of the last week was filled with training meeting after orientation meeting after meet-and-greet session, one right after the other. We met people five hundred thousand times, which is great because I need that in order to actually remember names and stuff. Yesterday there was a little showcase, where all of us first year MFA actors presented our audition monologues to the entire department faculty. There are ten of us in the class, and I have been amazed and humbled by the level of talent that each one of them exhibited in their monologues. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up! I don't know if I can say that I am the worst actor in the group, since thats really difficult to judge,...

Just a quick note to let you know the conclusion to my epic journey. I'll write a longer blog later when the dust clears some more. We arrived in Columbia on Sunday night and its been a crazy whirlwind of excitement ever since! My new roommate, we'll call him Jock Actor, or J.A., (since using Blog Names is all the rage now days), seems like somebody I can live with and laugh with, and our new apartment is, surprisingly, very nice considering we didn't have a clue what we were getting when we signed up for it. Somebody let us borrow a TV, somebody else gave us some air mattresses for a while, and we were able to bum a couch from the department. Things are coming together! I've met everybody in my program now, and they are all absolutely amazing. I've been amazed at how quickly we've been forming bonds. Almost instantaneously, we've become a family in just a few days. We all laugh at each other's jokes and enjoy each other's company. Working with these...

Today is my last day at work – after this, the countdown to my departure begins in earnest. I'll spend most of next week packing, finalizing travel plans, making sure I have a place to live in South Carolina, spending time with friends, freaking out, and playing computer games. Then, the week after that is when it all goes down. A four day cross-country drive followed by weeks and weeks of adjustment to a new life. This is so different than what I've grown used to over the last year and a half. My life as an out-of-college full-time employee has been anything but busy or unpredictable. Every single day has followed the same schedule, week after week of basically the same thing. I've worked at this job for nine months. Ironic, isn't it. It's been like my own little gestation period and now I'm ready to be born. I'll squeeze out of this cubicle womb and face the world, covered from head to toe in amniotic fluid.... wait, I guess I'm taking the metaphor ...

Eventually there comes a day where you stop waiting for inspiration to hit and just write something, anything, to put on your blog. Of course, having a slow-paced job helps quite a bit, but even that has not been enough to get me blogging lately. I did write something last week about the new computer game I've been playing, but it was really nerdy and I thought that we've had enough of my nerdity (its a word if I say it is) for one month. I've not been up to much in the last ten days. My life is very simple and surreal at the moment. I perform regularly in my play at the local community theater, spend the days sitting here at this desk in this office, go to the gym on occasion, relax at home, and generally avoid thinking too much about all the stuff I have to do soon. These activities are accompanied by the constant pressure to stay out of the insufferable heat we've been subjected lately. Its the kind of heat that leaves you a lifeless, sweaty husk. Seriously, I don...

I thought I'd take a moment to shamelessly plug the play I'm going to be in that opens this weekend. You absolutely must come to see it, not just because I'm in it (though that should be reason enough for most of you!) but because, for the first time in a while, I'm doing a play that I can be reasonably certain every single person on this planet can enjoy. It's called “You Can't Take It With You” and its playing at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. You can go to their website and see the performance schedule and buy tickets. I play a young successful businessman named Tony Kirby, Jr. who has recently become Vice-President of his company (his father is the President, can you say nepotism?) but hates the stuffy corporate world and longs to break free (didn't take too much acting there.) I've fallen in love with my secretary, Ms. Alice Sycamore, a very nice and normal young lady who happens to come from a family of questionable sanity. I kind of like the f...

I like Superman, but I love Clark Kent. Though, despite the elaborate disguise Consisting of a single pair of bent, Simple specs, they're not two different guys But only one, still I said what I meant: I like Superman, but I love Clark Kent. I like Superman, but I love Clark Kent I guess because one of them's more like me And does not always get what he wants And struggles with our vulnerability. And does not by his perfection command The adoration of every woman and man But sits in the back, with nothing to say Just hoping that Lois Lane looks his way. She doesn't - her eyes are glued to the sky. Wake up, Lois! Can't you see the guy Waiting to love you with all of his might? He may not leap buildings, he may not fly, He may not see through you with x-ray eyes, He might need YOUR help, if that's alright, From time to time, when his mortal heart cries. He combs his hair neatly and fights through the crowd, Decides what to say, and rehearses out loud, He summons his ...

Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.") Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars? I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the...

Though the infrequency of my blogging might suggest otherwise, I lead a quite full life full of interesting events that would, in theory, make great anecdotal posts. Unfortunately, most of these stories (such as the one from last weekend where I ended up with an ice pack on my groin – don't ask) are not exactly fit for the public at large, because they reveal aspects of my personal life I would prefer to keep hidden from those who still somehow have a good opinion of me or are just flat out too embarrassing. Accordingly, there are a number of things that I do and enjoy every day that I never talk about my blog. It's time to come clean and confess everything. I'm sorry if this disappoints anybody, and I'll understand if, after hearing my big secret, you'll never want to talk to me again. I am a nerd. A comic-book loving, D&D playing, fantasy-books reading nerd. Yes, I play Dungeons and Dragons. I am more recently known to my fellow D&Ders as Murphy McWatt, ...

I am, as has been brought to my attention on several occasions, something of a “movie snob.” This means I regularly turn up my nose at mainstream Hollywood flicks in favor of more obscure, antiquated, or pretentious artistic films like “The Lion in Winter,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Henry V,” etc. etc. However, I have tried to reassure my critics on this point that, despite the prevailing opinion to the contrary, I do on occasion enjoy a good big-budget movie along with the rest of the masses. This weekend, in fact, I went to the movie theater in the mall (the temple wherein America worships high-priced and flashy banality) to watch “X-Men 3: The Last Stand,” a major summer motion picture, albeit the heyday of its popularity was SO three weeks ago. And I rather enjoyed it, just as I enjoyed its two predecessors. If you can lower your artistic expectations and have a healthy ability to suspend your disbelief about the science of the whole thing, the story of the X-Men is really great. It...

I was extraordinarily fortunate that, by a strange twist of fate, I was able to do Hamlet again this past semester. This was followed by being fortunate enough to continue on to be in our spring Shakespeare show: Greatest Hits. Thanks to Sam, our resident cross-dresser and MVA ("Most Valuable Actor"), I now have pictures to prove all this. HAMLET, WINTER 2006 SHAKESPEARE'S GREATEST HITS, SPRING 2006

It's been a frustrating week for me. I've tried to blog on several occasions, but nothing was coming out except for angry political rants and inflammatory statements of partisanship. Part of it, frankly, comes with my dissatisfaction with my job. But really, this has not been a good week in the news; I'm continually depressed by the state of the world. Yeah, we got Zarqawi. That's good. But somehow I couldn't bring myself to smile too much about it. Not with the death toll in Iraq growing exponentially, the absolutely ridiculous debates going on in the Senate, recent national security cuts at the hands of “strong-on-security” Republicans, not to mention the latest in the fiasco that is the lamentably weak inquiry into Bush's blatant breaking of established law. Anyway, I'll spare you all the political opinions (talk to me if you really care to hear them) and just say that the only thing that made the week bearable was the Daily Show. Jon Stewart is my hero. ...

A few weeks ago, something quite important happened in my life, and yet I neglected to mention it on my blog. I was waiting for the right moment, you see, to reveal all about it, but that moment never really arrived. There's no time like the present, I say! Actually, usually I say “eh, maybe tomorrow...” but right now I say there's no time like the present. In the most general sense, the important event was finally becoming completely and 100% financially independent, which is pretty neat while at the same time being absolutely terrifying. For one thing, it stands as irrefutable proof that I am an adult now, a fact I usually prefer to comfortably ignore. For another, I'm not sure I wish to place the responsibility of handling all my finances on to somebody so remarkably unsuited for the job. I'm still a bit hazy on how this whole “rent” thing works, so just forget about me understanding investments or loans or interest rates. Still, it was a step that had to be made,...

After my incredibly snobby post about good art, I've been starting to think of myself as something of a hypocrite (yeah, huge revelation there). Because, as much as I'm all about finding good art with “substance,” I more than frequently indulge myself in cheesy, light, feel-good stuff that doesn't make me think, only makes me smile. I indulged in this brand of sugar-coated entertainment just last night, and it was a lot of fun. I have no regrets. Last night, I saw Air Supply in concert. Some of you may never have heard of them (shame on you!), but I'd bet money you've heard their music. That's because they wrote many of the songs that form the backbone of every “light adult contemporary” radio station, including “I'm All Out of Love,” “Making Love Out of Nothing at All,” “Lost in Love,” “The One That You Love,” “The Power of Love,” and, of course, “How Many Times Can I Say The Word Love in One Song?” Ok, so that last one is made up. I'd place them in t...

I frequently get into discussions about random subjects with a co-worker, because its an easy and convieniant way to put off doing more work (or pretending to do more work, as the case may be). Today, for some reason, we were discussing theater, and he asked me which local theater venues were the best, in my opinion. I replied that that really depended on what your idea of good theater was, because there are definitely different schools of thought on that point. He said good theater is entertaining theater. That's all. Same for film, books, TV, etc. Entertaining = good. No other qualities required. I don't want to make fun of my coworker or criticize his viewpoint. He's a great guy. His view on what makes good art is held by millions of other people. When I suggested that perhaps good art involved a bit more than simple entertainment, he suggested that I was a snob who had lived too long in an artsy bubble. Which is a valid point. I encounter this point of view very often...

It's real. See for yourself.

Today is a special day. Exactly one year ago today, I first decided I'd see what this new blog craze was about by starting up one of my own. I figured I'd play around with it for a few weeks before losing interest, but somehow, surprisingly, I stuck with it. I don't usually follow through with anything, so this is a big deal. One whole year of blogging; one year distilled and digitized for posterity. Consider it my little gift to the world, and to myself. It's quite gratifying to look back over my various posts and remember the events of the last year. It's our first year anniversary, and my blog and I are still in our honeymoon phase. In the last year, I submitted exactly 100 posts to the blog. Many of them were really crappy, frankly. Some were simply filler material, some attempted to be profound and were only tedious, and some served merely as means to vent any emotion I felt like venting. On rare occasions, however, I actually wrote something that I thought wa...

For reasons past my comprehension, I have been assigned the task of defining ten words that begin with the letter "D" in a manner which somehow reflects my personality. Many bloggers have preceeded me with various other letters. Here is one of them by the friend who then passed the torch on to me. I relied heavily on Ambrose Bierce's timeless work "The Devil's Dictionary" for inspiration. In fact, half of the definitions (everything in italics) are his. The other half can be blamed solely on me. 1. DANCE , v.i. To leap about to the sound of tittering music, preferably with arms about your neighbor's wife or daughter. There are many kinds of dances, but all those requiring the participation of the two sexes have two characteristics in common: they are conspicuously innocent, and warmly loved by the vicious. 2. DATE , n. A highly-frustrating and usually fruitless activity often undertaken in a spirit of obligation under the pretense of familiarizing s...