What · happens · when · you · can't · get · enough

So by tomorrow morning I will have been in Huron for one week. It has been a most interesting week. It started with me turning off my alarm at 7 in the morning and falling asleep until 730, then leaving by 8 to make a mad dash from Hillsdale to Huron which took me 2:15 going about 85 on the turnpike. Anyway, this place is really complicated. Since they use a school which they convert into a theater, they have to truck everything in from Bowling Green and set it up. It's a really big project. But with 50 or so people stuff happens really fast. I mean sets go up in 2 days, whether they need to or not. They auditioned 3 of the 5 shows already. It's crazy. Anyway, I'm attempting to hone my lighting skills although I've never attempted something this extensive and the designer isn't going to be here for another week. I also got to go to Cleveland on Friday to pick up something, a business trip of sorts, and went to the beach Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. I love going to the beach, especially when it's three blocks away. It is fun. It is also a lot of work. But I'm enjoying myself

So thursday night I went to my highschool's graduation. As usual, it was long and kind of boring, due to the fact that they take the time to endow an individual blessing upon each graduate. At the same time, this is also an unique event that takes into account the strengths of each student and gives them some words to live by for the future. So it is really a neat thing; it just takes a long time. My favorite part, as always, was having refreshments afterwards and engaging in conversation with old friends that I haven't seen in quite some time. Riding in the back of a pickup through the city is fun, as was seeing X-Men 3 yesterday, which I really enjoyed, despite, or perhaps as a result of, the darkness of its plot. Playing poker was fun; a good reminder of old times, enhanced by beer, cigars, and munchkins. Today I went to the farewell party for my high school principal who's moving to the East Coast, and enjoyed a pretty good 2 dollar breakfast burrito. Now I'm gearing up to play poker again as my friends engage in battle in Super Mario 3, after failing to find an adequate venue from which to view Ultimate Fighting Championship (curse you, Buffalo Wild Wings). Sunny skies for the next six days with highs on Wednesday and Thursday of 102 and 103. Life is hot.

So after hurriedly moving things into my new house, living a mountain of clothes on top of the bed and drinking an 4-pack of Starbucks Iced Coffee, I headed for Detroit Metro in the company of my generous roommate who gave me a ride. It was the first time I had flown home from college as well as the first time flying in three years. I like flying, I just really don't like airports. They remind me of fascist police states. Anyway, en route I stopped in Chicago for two and a half hours, where I enjoyed a lovely dinner from Manchu Wok at the Food Court, where I had the pleasure of meeting two couples, one from Detroit on their way to some place in the South Pacific, about 600 miles North of Bali, while the other was from Indianapolis on their way to Greece. On the flight to Tucson I triumphantly finished the last 100 pages of I Am Charlotte Simmons, a terrific novel presenting a realist take on the american university. So I got home about 9:00 Arizona Time, the temp being a balmy 71. It's always strange being home, but it was particularly interesting flying, and so much quicker than spending three days driving. I also met a lady that was 89 and lived across the street from high school. So the big upside of being home this time is my dad now has a house in Tucson, albeit on the west side, about a half hour from where my friends live. The downside is I don't have a car, but so far this hasn't proved too much of an obstacle; I just have to improvise.

So in order to serve as a counterweight to the indignation of my last entry, let me now post this peaceful sentiment. For I am no longer in Hillsdale to watch my friends get harrassed by the unfunny version of the keystone coppers, I am instead enjoying the tranquil environment of Bellevue, NE, instead the restful home of Christopher Stewart. In just one day here, I have, thus far, eaten two dozen BBQ-seasoned boneless buffalo wings(with ranch), enjoyed a 12-hour rest on a ridiculously long and comfortable couch, traversed the riverfront and old market district of downtown O-Town(thas short fo' Omahizzle, fo' shizzle),and received a thorough auto tour of Bellevue itself. I miss all of you very much, but I have not been more happy to be out of Hillsdale pretty much ever; "I'm super-serial!"

So while tomorrow I'm planning to begin writing my theatre history paper, a process I hope to have completed in the next few days, tonight's attempt at finishing my preliminary research mostly failed, although what I have read has seemed to be stuff that I can use. Hopefully having no more class will help me get it done, so I can start on my world politics paper, although it will probably just help me procrastinate. Plugging lots of computers into an outlet via a power strip is lots of fun until some unlucky bastard gets his computer ripped to the ground and broken in half by an unwitting soul pulling out their chair in an attempt to get a late-night snack or their money stolen by a vending machine that exclusively sells liquid caffeine. Fortunately for me, I already have my jumbo coffee mug in hand.

What a weekend! A lot of excitement, in fact, almost too much for me, cuz now I have a headache. Fortunately I took pills for it, just like I try to medicate my other difficulties with legal drugs like cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, and fast food, as observed in Nathan Trimbach's "Entropy," the intrepid film that was just one of the highlights of this weekend, among others, such as performing at the Elks Lodge, listening to poetry while chugging wine straight from the bottle, stopping to buy cigarettes on a drunken walk home, devouring pork minutes after its removal from its host creature, drinking more wine, and finally, shooting hoops, eating cotton candy, popcorn, and a caramel apple, while listening to some pretty damn good live music and hanging out with some pretty damn good friends. Am I a barbarous glutton, or a cosmopolitan renaissance man? You decide. And now at home watching Seinfeld's "Pez Dispenser" episode. One more day of class Monday, including a voice recital, and then a six day weekend spoiled by two mid-length papers. And life goes on.