Where have you been?

Where have I been, indeed! What have I been up to? Where am I going?

Admittedly, my blogging has slacked off as of late. For a week, I felt too depressed to write. Then I became too caught up in my activities (and too wired in general) to focus on a blog post.

But I have been somewhat productive! I pushed through my lack of focus to put up a blog post elsewhere. It's for the theater company I do some acting and volunteering for. Check them out. They do good deeds.

I've also been writing some stand up material. I finally performed at an open mic Thursday night at the Chicago Center for Performing Arts. Unlike a typical open mic in which a performing slot is operated on a first-come-first-serve basis, this one involved picking names out of a hat. Or plastic cup smelling faintly of Mt. Dew. Out of 30 people on the list, I was the very first one to go on stage. Oooh, it's hard to open a whole evening of comics. But I did. How did I do?

Meh... OK. My goals were to have fun and NOT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD blank out on stage. In that sense, goals completed. The material was passable, but my delivery left something to be desired. I looked like I was having a good time, but inwardly I felt overly loose and slightly frantic. I was fighting to be relaxed. I'm sure some of that conflict shone through. I needed to be relaxed through and through and take command a little better. I got some laughs, but I had less time up there than I originally supposed. With so little time, I ought to tighten my material and make sure I get the stronger bits out sooner. I had some funny short pieces I didn't get around to before I had to close up my set. Oh well! That's much better than having too little material. Or freaking out. Which is the singular worst thing.

With practice, improvement will come. For a first time in years, I did OK.

I will go up again. Guaranteed. I really did have fun and I look forward to getting up there again. After I kick this flu. I was planning to go up somewhere else Sunday night, but I got sick. On WATER PARK day, of all days. That's right. I hit up a water park an hour and a half outside Chicago. I had good wet fun, despite my impending symptoms of disease and sunburn.

I'm going to keep blogging, even if it's a little sporadic. Perhaps 3 a week is a better goal than my initial 4-5 per week. Especially if I want to work a bit more on the comedy writing.

Ciao!