Giving up

2008 is the year of giving things of, so it seems, for me. Here's a brief list of what I've given up, and for how long

Alcohol
Since: January 7
Time Lenght: All of 2008.
Why: Out of curiosity.
Outcome: Not much to report. I guess I am saving money and not aging my face prematurely. Those two things feel good.

Myspace, Facebook and PerezHilton.com
Since: mid April
Time Length: Last half of April
Why: Out of curiosity, once again. I had this theory I was using these sites to avoid responsibility.
Outcome: It's not just these three sites that I use to avoid getting things done. It's every site I spend time on. No web surfing I do is productive. This surprised me. And I noticed that in offline life, I do the same thing.

Big Carbs (chips, fries, white bread)
Since: Yesterday (April 29)
Time Length: month of May
Why: Would be nice to maybe lose a couple pounds around my waste before Orlando Fringe. Skinny guy with gut = not sexy. Also, I was in a Chik Fil A eating a box of waffle fries when I overheard this high school kid telling his friends he can't eat the fries there because he loses his six pack. Then I read a brief article in Men's Health listing 6 things you can do to get abs. They stuck with me.
Outcome: It's been one day. I did alright yesterday, but today after my healthy gorge at Jason's Deli, I had 2 small servings of ice cream with chocolate sauce (I never eat ice cream) and one small slice of dry Italian buttered bread.

Caffeine
Since: Tuesday
Time Length: month of May
Why: I drink coffee and Coke Zero... why? I just like the ritual of buying these products. Honestly. I don't think there's a reason why I drink coffee. I just like making it and holding it. And, I gave up caffeine once in 2003 and I liked the idea of not being on what is essentially a drug.
Outcome: I struggle not getting a free coffee in the hotel lobbies (I am on tour) and when I see a Starbucks, I feel that urge to go in. If I do, I plan on buying a bottle of water. It's the same price as coffee, but it's like 10 times as healthy.

My text message is on a blog

An acquaintance put a text message I sent him on his blog. Without asking. Wow.

Trial promo video: A Night With the Girls

I made this using animoto.com. Not totally happy with it, but the site makes it (no work on my part) for free (no cost).

I bought ten shares of SBUX

I bought ten shares of Starbucks for $15.66 a share:

Your order has been placed.

Your order to buy 10.0000 shares of STARBUCKS CORP(SBUX) was placed on 04/28/2008 at 7:59:58 pm (ET).

The base commission on this trade is $9.95.

I have no idea if that $9.95 commission fee is good or not. Don't care Just wanted to try it out (after opening an online account back in 2004 and never being brave enough to buy anything.)

Why Starbucks? The price seems low to me and they're doing really poorly right now. I expect a turn-around. And the company interests me personally: the whole started small, got popular, got too big, now making changes to bring it's "spirit" back to the company (along with profits).

Migrate by Jeremimi

This made me laugh.

New flickr set: inspiration

Meatballs and me

The photo above is not indicative of the contents, but I have a new Flickr set called Inspiration I'd like to share. It contains photos of stuff I've seen OFFline that inspires me. Creative, wacky, smart... all things that have forced me to haul out my camera and take a photo of them.

Done with performing

I'm looking for a new line of work. Done with performing. I just emailed Disney Cruise Line asking about a position they were testing in 2004, a sort-of Crew Cruise Director.

My tour is ending early!

Praise Jesus! My tour is ending 10 days early! Now I will be home May 9th and have six days to prepare for my Fringe show.

No Vice Principal Panch for me

I just saw the open call for the role I was called back for. That would be a good sign that I did not get the role. Rats.

Musical improv weekend in San Fran

Here is my listing on the 2008 San Francisco Improv Festival website for their Musical Improv Weekend.

San Diego hearts Mark Baratelli!

I am on a national tour. Here's a review from the April 10th San Diego opening night:

"The versatile Mark Baratelli captures just the right period sound in his nasal, reedy delivery of the Berlin rarity "Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil," and surprises in the second act's "The Girl That I Marry" with a robust Alfred Drake-like baritone."

Goodbye for April: Facebook, Myspace and PerezHilton

For the month of April, I gave up Facebook (which I only check daily to see if I got friend requests), PErez Hilton (I checked it twice a day, sometimes more) and Myspace (whoa boy I was on that a lot due to it being THE place my friends and aquaintences blogged and kept up with one another).

This blogger gave up Twitter for good.

We both had similar reasons for our leaving these social sites: time was being wasted.

I'll check in later to let you know how I am doing.

Rachel Dratch, Molly Shannon and Cheri Oteri: Hollywood doesn't like them

First off, I agree: Rachel Dratch needs work. She a funny ho. But so is Molly Shannon. And Cheri Oteri. What happened to these people? Sucks these talented people have been blown off the map like chunks of cookie after a midnight binge.

Photo Credit

PHOTOS: Greeley, Colorado

See the whole collection of my photos of Greeley, Colorado.

Four Minutes to Save the World? Let us die.

This song has four minutes to clean up my yack. Good job, Madonna!

VIDEO: Orlando Theatrical Community

Leave your comments HERE

Big Mo candy bar

A truck stop find