Old Wine, New Bottles

[Meljo]

there's a foot at the end of each of my legs. is it luck?

The terrors of getting this improv organization off of the ground at this school have begun to drive me completely insane... negatively, where as the previous insanity has been looked upon as delightful and necessary.

The University of the Arts is an organization of complete and total douchebags. There. I said it. I said it and I meant it. I don't care how much of a scholarship you've awarded this little comedy writer: you're douchebags. The less time I spend here the better. I'll finish school, yes. But I won't stay here when I don't have classes to attend, damn it.

That having been said, I am leaving this dirty and terrible city tomorrow and venturing north for the night.

Like I always say - when in doubt, go see the Swarm. The UCB theatre is the only place on earth that hands out epiphanies at $7 a pop.

 

[Meljo]

i am a traveler of both time and space

Friday? Friday was awesome. I've said this before, but every time I go to New York, I feel invincible. When I live there, that probably isn't going to be the best mind frame [I can walk around alone in this city with my wallet out in the middle of the night if I want to! I am invincible!!], but for now I guess it's okay.

After their show, my friend Gena and I ended up in McManus playing scrabble with the attending members of the Swarm (except for Secunda, who is apparently way too cool to play scrabble). That's right, scrabble. Did any of you know that Michael Delaney is a scrabble monster? Falafels! What the hell! Hats off to you, sir.

After the game, Gena and I had a nice little chat with Dave Blumenfeld (who, it turns out, does not harbor dislike for yours truly). He is a fabulous man whom I would like to see keep an improv journal on the beloved IRC. There are a lot of people who don't keep improv journals whom I'd like to see keep them, but Dave, you are certainly in the top 3 on that list.

Thanks, New York. You're a pal, and things are looking up again.

 

[Meljo]

redder than the fires of hell

This afternoon, i decided it was time to dye my red hair back to its original brown. I'm sick of the way it looks when the color begins to fade after a few weeks - like straw: all cracked and broken and gross.

So, I did what any gal in this position would do: I went to the store and picked out a color of hair dye that i thought best matched my original darkish brown tones.

Yes, I left it on long enough. In fact, I may have left it on longer. When the dye came out of the applicator bottle, it looked like chocolate syrup. So why the hell is my hair still red?!?!?!?!

[hey! that's what i look like!]

Somebody tell me why when I dye my hair dark brown IT JUST TURNS REDDER THAN IT WAS?? frustration!!

On a lighter and happer note, I will be one year older in just an hour and 40 minutes. Sadly, I will not be old enough in my mind. I keep telling myself that age is just a number. If that's true, then why am I afraid to say my age out loud?

 

[Meljo]

My goal at this point is to make it to the DSI festival the last weekend in February. Unlike 24 live, I have actually researched travel possibilities in advance (months! months in advance! i rule!), and have found a nice affordable flight.

One of my best friends, Caitlin, lives in Chapel Hill where she attends UNC. I have an open invitation to come and visit her. Unfortunately, last night, I found out that the UNC orchestra is going to be in Atlanta that weekend, so I can't stay with her.

So, my question is this. Can I stay with you that weekend, friendly NC improviser?

I'm sick of bumps getting in my improv road. It's frustrating. At least I'm thinking this problem through far enough in advance that maybe I can fix it in time... hopefully.

Help!

 

[Meljo]

what makes you think you're something special when you smile?

When we last joined our hero, assuming our hero is me, I was distraught in regards to improv. Well, I'm better. Why, you ask? because in 24 hours, I will be lumped into an improv dogpile on the floor of a dorm basement out at Haverford after seeing Dillinger and participating in a workshop with my DSI friends that are - as i type - driving through Delaware, hurtling ever closer to improvisational goodness.

Tomorrow, which i guess it kind of is right now, I will be joined by the IRC's own EthanK, CoreyBrown, Lisa P, and a charming fellow named PT whom I do not know, but who enjoys making me laugh by shouting the weekend battle cry in the background while I talk to Ethan on the phone (Ethan has kept me posted throughout their 7+ hour drive as to where they are, and what kind of fun they are having. I say they'd be having more fun if I was with them). I hope they get there soon.

You'd better believe I'm going to take so many freaking pictures... because all the really cool kids have digital cameras.

And now, aiding me in expressing my excitement, a cotton gin!

 

[Meljo]

I'm glad this is my 400th post. This event earned that honour.

I'm so in love.
[these images are big because they are too awesome to be resized. excuse the blur - most of them were taken without flash.]

(the show part 1)

(the show pt 2)

(Dillinger rocks into the night!)

(it's all a battle)

(the back line)

(the Jam)

(Dirty South. Step Back.)

[EEEE!!! (translation - look how happy i am!)] :inlove:

The workshop I took part in was taught by Risa Sang-Urai and Joe Wengert, and was awesome. I had much fun and learned a lot. Thank you so much, guys! You're awesome.

Success.
[so in love with everyone! Brett Christensen and I have the same shoes!]

 

[Meljo]

Merry Christmas, from Virginia to you:

I kid you not, this house is around the corner from me. and it only gets worse. Observe:

the santa corpses.

and finally:

I have been to hell... and its name is Pimmit Hills!

Merry Christmas, Everyone

 

[Meljo]

sturdy bones with a hairline fracture

What up, improv journal? Remember me?

Probably not!

I recently changed the title under my handle to read "Seven of Cups." Since September [when my good good buddy julia came to visit from CA to see the 'Late Night' tenth anniversary special], I've been learning more and more about tarot cards and whatnot - I find the symbolism to be interesting, and I'm a hippie of sorts, so I figure I might learn something about that stuff. Not to say I believe in it entirely, but it's fun, you know? Like reading your horiscope. The seven of cups is the "Daydreams" card. I feel like this describes me accurately.

It seems that no matter where I am, I wish I was someplace different. I guess I'm an idiot, but I'm young, and that's to be expected.

I daydream about improv a lot - this seems to be all I do in regards to improv. I'm trying - I really am. But UArts likes to kick me in the face, and I had to put everything on hold because of my monthlong break from school. So, on Tuesday, when school is back in session, it's back to the drawing board.

This semester promises some good stuff - Susan Jacobson, professer of communications and IRCer, has made noise about Neutrino coming up to Philly to do improvrelatedwebcasting. Videoprojects? Streamed over the internet? Muy awesome. I loves me some Neutrino.

I guess I haven't written in here partially because I keep a livejournal, and it's difficult for me to maintain updating both journals on a regular basis and watch what I write in them. That's gotten me in trouble lately.

Damn you, internet!

It's hard for me to find a Level 1 class to take at UCB that fits my schedule. I don't want to have to miss any classes, but there aren't 9 weeks in a row that I'm free. [DSIF at the end of Feb, Spring break in March somewhere, etc]. I'll work this out though. I always seem to work things out.

NYC on friday. I hear the temp will be hovering around 0 degrees. The things I go through to see shows at the UCBT...

 

[Meljo]

You make this all go away

I made my way out to Haverford last night for a little practice group fun with my hot hot friend LeMar (25 cents a grope), Alexis of Rare Bird Show, and other distinguished members of the Throng, and the Haverford improv community. It was really awesome of you guys to have me - thanks so much! I'd love to do it again sometime. Getting better takes practice, having fun takes improv. Everyone's a winner.

I made a few notes for myself on the train on the way back to Philly (a ride i had to pay for, unlike the ride out to H-ford where the conductor just ignored me when i tried to give him money for a ticket). I'm gonna put them in here so I can find them once I lose this little notebook that I carry around with me full of sketch ideas, random quotes, movie pitch ideas, phone numbers, email addresses, character observations, and obnoxious comments (it also contains a "Mel's Marryin' List" of improvisers, drawn up by Ross White at an ihop in Northern VA over thanksgiving break. part of me wants to take a picture and put it in here or in my livejournal, part of me knows that if I did, I'd really embarass myself. I'm just in love with everyone.).

I find that my biggest problem is taking the scene in front of me out of context and applying rules to it. I get involved in plot, and often forget to find the game. It's hard to listen and actually HEAR things when you're focused on plot - it becomes difficult to pick out little things and make callbacks when you're not engaged in the big picture, beyond the plot.

We tried to work on "yes and" last night, by playing games that actually forced us to use the words, YES AND, but that kind of collapsed and turned into plain old scenes. We pretty much just ran scenes all night. It was a lot of fun, but I wish I could have come away from it feeling like I'd improved. In time, in time. Anyway, I feel like I "yes," but I don't always "and." Which is bad. Because without the "and," there's no chance of heightening the scene and bringing interesting situations that make things more interesting, and make the scene really flow.

I also need to face out. I kept feeling that, but I never could actually bring my body around. It was weird. Like I was cemented to the floor all night. Maybe, subconsciously, I wanted the non existant audience to see how nice my ass is. yeah, that's gotta be it.

I had a lot of fun. I learned things. Improv is awesome. I bet you didn't know!

So, it may have been our dear General McLean who invited me out to play last night, but I never would have had that opportunity had it not been for a certain someone. You're awesome, I'm glad the worst is behind us and that we're friends again. I hope you find this little tribute to you as soon as you have internet access again... Because I don't think I've told you how thankful I am for everything you've done for me. I mean it - thanks.

 

[Meljo]

Love me, love me, say that you love me....

I, Melody Johnson, after 4 years of wanting this, have finally enrolled in a Level 1 UCB class. So, starting February 14th, I'm actually going to do what I said I'd do a long time ago - I'm going to learn improv. And from the fabulous and awesome Jackie Clarke, no less!

I'll be missing one class because of the highly anticipated Dirty South Improv Festival, but I think I can schedule a make up class, if I understood my registration confirmation email correctly.

I've never been so happy to be $300 poorer. I can't wait. :love: :inlove:

 

[Meljo]

It's amazing how something as simple as a message board can bring a person both endless joy and unspeakable grief.

Today, I feel in the middle... and that at any moment, things could go either way. But, you know what? Life is too important to be taken seriously, and love is something we should all laugh at while getting from one place in our lives to another. Like pointing at the people in funny clothes below as you ride a rollercoaster.

I'm going to get what I want out of life. I just wish I could stop tripping over my heart on the way.

 

[Meljo]

You're right, I *am* the next generation!

I'm so unbelievably happy right now that I could throw up. I'm totally serious.

Cagematch tonight was a freaking awesome time. Next time somebody asks me if I want to take a trip to NY for the evening to see some improv, you can bet your ass I'm going to say yes.

Tomorrow will be day 2 of my crazy no sleep weekend of improv - back to NY to see The Swarm and maybe the Mosaic (because I can since I'm not in a wheelchair ), to see my fabulous friend Gena, and, of course, to begin my level 1 class with Jackie Clarke on Saturday from 11-2.

I've waited for this weekend for close to four fucking years. You'd better believe I'm more than ready - I'm fucking pumped.

Meljo, your name's in the phonebook. Things are going to start happening to you now.

Sweet Bajeezuz, look what time it is! I dont' know how I'm going to sleep when I'm this excited, but I'm sure as hell going to try. Goodnight, improv. I'll be sure to dream about you.

 

[Meljo]

Watch as I rock the Casbah

This is such a tiny little box in which to write so much stuff.

I just got back from New York. I didn't want to come back, but I have this thing called school to think about and maybe attend eventually, as well as this stuff called reading to do for that thing called school.

So, after I returned from Cagematch on thursday night / friday morning, I had 3 hours of poor sleep -- my stomach was tied all in knots from excitement -- then attended one 90 minute class, then turned right back around, got on the train, and went back to New York.

It takes two and a half fucking hours to ride the commuter train from Philly to NY - this would be bearable if my fucking iPod would ever arrive, as I enjoy listening to a variety of music, and my discman, recently met its timely demise. Anyway.

Got into the city at 7 ish, met up with a friend, grabbed some dinner and then headed over to see The Mosaic Under St. Marks. Awesome show. Awesome. As if I didn't have one before (which I did), I have a severe improv crush on Chris Gethard. Sometimes I wonder if there's a difference between improv crushes and real crushes. Anyway, the kid is on fire in everything he does. After the show, he told me that he began improvising when he was my age. I said something like "well, maybe by the time I'm your age, I'll be an improv powerhouse like you," to which he responded "Maybe, Meljo. Maybe." That made me happy. Ross White was the first person to ever address me as Meljo, and the first time I heard it, it sounded a little weird... but the more I hear it, the more I like it. It made me wonder how many of you are called by your IRC handles on a regular basis... probably a lot of you, since a lot of people just use their name as their handle. I'm an idiot! Watch me dance!

I talked to Risa for a minute during the intermission and she said something about how reading people's improv journals is a way to be creepy without really being creepy. Exactly. Reading people's journals? Awesome. The "journals by improvisers" forum has been my favorite for a while now.

Oh man! I met Terry Jinn! I'm movin' up in the world. Terry is a celebrity!

After briefly mingling, my friend Gena and I hauled ass to the UCB to see the Swarm. Why did I see them two nights in a row, you ask? Because shut up, that's why. I'm not going to babble on about their show, because improv show highlights only really work if the person reading them was actually at the show... so I'll just point out that it was a freaking adorable show. Andy as the elk? Adorable. Then he was a table, also adorable. We got to see Delaney take a nap - adorable, everybody went on gay dates. Adorable. That having been mentioned, i have this to say. Dear Members of the Swarm, You guys are fucking rock stars. Love, Mel.

I've written a lot and haven't even mentioned my class yet.

As some of you know, because I've written it in here like 4 bazillion times, I started my Level 1 today with Jackie Clarke. Oh man! If life gets any more awesome, I might just burst (especially if the way my life were to get better would be to eat a whole cake!). Class was awesome. I feel really comfortable with the other people in there, because unlike any other improv anything I've been a part of, there's no pressure. That's a big big deal to me -- no pressure. I'm there to learn, not to impress, and that feels really fucking good. Never in my life have three hours flown by at a faster pace. After class, I hauled ass back to Penn Station, where I bought a marble notebook and sat in the main terminal writing down everything that I could remember that Jackie had said.

I am the eager nerd with the notebook...but, if that, then what else? :inlove:

So, I'm back in Philadelphia, sitting at my computer where this whole adventure began. Now, more than ever, I have improv on the brain, and I'm sure you can all sympathize.

"If you don't feel like an asshole, you're probably not doing this right." -Jackie

It took me way too long to get here.

:love: :love: :love:

 

[Meljo]

Man, the Cosby Show was hillarious!

Dear Jake Busey,

In response to your recent request, I have decided to accept your marriage proposal. I'm sorry it took me so long to respond, as I was terrified of you until recently. Feel free to contact me and come whisk me away ASAP.

Thank you,
Meljo

********
To all of the lovely improv people that I met this weekend, either for the first time or after corresponding with you for a while now via the internet -- it was lovely to meet you!

So, get this. Everywhere I've gone for the past few months, or so it seems, I always seem to run into the same one man. He's everywhere. It's very odd. I see him in not one, but two cities -- He works at the video store that I belong to here in Philly, and I see him walking around my neighborhood, or shopping at my grocery store. In New York, I see him at McManus, at the UCB, walking down 7th avenue, etc. So, there are three possible conclusions. One, this man is stalking me; two, we are the same person a la Fight Club; or three, we just lead the same life and have never spoken. Until last night, I would have gone with option number one, as the odds that one person could be in the exact same places as me so often and have his intentions be anything but creepy are slim to none!
So, once again, I found myself sitting across the room from this gentleman just last night. And, after consuming a number of McManus Long Island Iced Teas, which knock me on my ass, I aproached him. I believe I said something to him along the lines of "who are you, and why are you following me?" He was a good sport about it, and it turns out, that he is an awesome guy! I see him everywhere because we like the same things and spend time in the same cities, and he's an improviser. In fact, after returning home to Philly today and poking around on the IRC for evidence of his troupe, "Homeroom," I found out that Robert, my "stalker," has been on the IRC this whole time. Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't badmouth your stalker until you meet him, because he might kick ass! Mine does -- but for me, when there's booze involved, everybody's pretty freaking awesome.

Class was fabulous. Hey! What a surprise. I feel good about things so far -- Jackie is good at helping you pick out your bad habits before they actually form, so that's nice. I always want to give out more information than is needed... that's funny to me, because I'm a fucking blabbermouth in real life. So, of course that's got to be the thing I need to control onstage.

We worked a lot today on establishing locations before the scene actually begins. That. Was. Cool. Jackie called one excercise that we did "Tableaus," I think which was... us building a scene without dialogue. Very cool.

I'm upset that I'm not going to be in class next week, but I figure missing improv class for more improv is okay. I hope I don't self distruct.

I'm sorry for making you all look at Jake Busey.

 

[Meljo]

Wow, i just wrote a really really long entry about my first day of the Dirty South improv festival, but it got erased, which is just perfect, because that's really the sort od day i had yesterday. I"ll type it out again, eventually, but for now i'm going to go bang my head against the wall, because it feels good when i stop.

 

[Meljo]

she doesn't feel she has to hurry

Katy Jack is my new best friend. :inlove:

Let's try to write this entry without it getting erased... because man. That sucked.

I have returned from the 4th annual Dirty South Improv Festival! After Thursday, which was honestly one of the worst days I've had in a long time, I had an absolutely wonderful time at the festival. I met a lot of awesome people from a lot of different improv communities all over the country, and I can honestly say that Chapel Hill is not only beautiful, but it's a really awesome place.

Thursday was bad. Thursday, I left for the Philadelphia airport at 2pm and didn't get to NC until 8:30. That's right, it took me almost as long to get there flying as it would have driving. Yay! My flight landed in Raleigh at 8:30, my suitcase arrived on a different flight at 9:30, so I missed the 8PM show on Thursday night and didn't get to see Tony's Pony... that's upsetting, but I'll live, I think.

I'm totally in love with everybody that I met who's a part of DSI. You're all completely kickass people, I can't wait to come down to an Inside Improv show sometime this summer. I'll get there! It'll be awesome. Maybe I'll even take an intensive...

I could give show highlights, but that's really Kit's Shtick, So I'll just tell you how in love I am with so many people who performed, just a few of whome include Choke Up! (specifically Bill Cochran, who I kept telling that I loved at the after party on saturday night), Death by Roo Roo (I feel like I followed Curtis around like a puppy...), the Beatbox, The Reckoning, Mr. Fancypants (!!!), Capitol Goga, Wit, and the very attractive Mr. Diplomat, who I finally got to see (They did a Movie opening and I thought of Feature Feature, and I was happy).

Although I was completely and totally exhausted on Saturday, I had two completely beneficial and kickass workshops with two people whom I did not know before, but I now respect and adore.

The first class I took was Improv 101 with Holly Laurent of the Improv Olympic. Because we didn't have a lot of time (2 hours), she asked us where we were with our improv and what we felt like we needed to work on. I told her that I thought I asked too many questions, but once I got in there and started playing, I realized that it's not on stage that I question, but I question myself internally. Holly said some of the most amazing things to counteract this. "Just tell that voice in your head to shut the fuck up. We are the most beautiful when we are free." I honestly could not stop grinning after she said that. [Holly is a sweetheart, too. We had a nice little drunken chat while waiting in line for the bathroom at the after party on Saturday.]

After lunch, I took Sketch Show in a Box with Mr. Fancypants himself, Phillip Mottaz of Chicago. We learned basic sketch writing rules, which Phillip backed up with clips from Austin Powers, The Simpsons, and SNL. Almost all of the sketches he showed us were written by - you guessed it - Conan O'Brien. This made Phillip and I instant best friends. The sketch we wrote and performed at the 10pm show on Saturday was a promo for one of the DSIF sponsors, Red Bull. We made a list of things that Red Bull cures, including Herpes. I played the part of Herpes. So, whenever Phillip saw me for the rest of the weekend, he'd be like "hey, Herpes." Best. Nickname. Ever. Much fun was had, much knowledge was... aquired.

After party? Awesome. For the life of me, I have no idea whose house that was, or where we were, but I had an awesome time drinking and laughing with you lovely people - I put quite a dent in one of those kegs. Thank you DSI for the miracle of free beer!

I got to see one of my best friends from home on Sunday who goes to UNC Chapel Hill, which was totally wonderful, and she drove me to the airport. It's completely stupid how little time it took me to get back home to Philly after the ordeal I went through to get there in the first place.

So, that was that. Now I have a really horrible cold, but that's okay, because I have a billion new kickass friends, and knowledge in my head that wasn't there before.

Scott Jennings tells me that there's a restaurant halfway between CH and Norfolk called Meljo's. I want a shirt... and a free namesake sandwich.

Thank you Zach Ward :love:

 

[Meljo]

Radar Love. Spring Break. Rowdy McJohnson.

DrScottJennings: cram it with walnuts, ugly.
McMeljo: challenge accepted.

You're just bitter 'cause I stole your woman. That's right. I said it.

Woah! Does anyone remember laughter? I sure do.

I had a psychotic day. I am sitting safely in my room in McLean, VA typing this from my brother's laptop, which mysteriously has a working internet connection. I think we have cable upstairs now, which is nice. I'm glad I missed the process of running the wires up here. That must have been horrible... my brother is an angry little fellow.

That having been said, this is the third city I've been in today. I decided to play the loser angle and stay in Philadelphia until this morning for my class, rather than taking my usual route of finding somebody to crash with on Friday night, partying with improv and McManus booze, and then stumbling into my 11am class at the theater the next morning happy as a clam and still in awe of the improv miracles I witnessed on that very same stage the night before. Today, however, I made use of my Amtrak gift certificates from Christmas and took the quick train (as in, NOT the festive Septa R7/NJ Transit combo that I've grown to loathe), thereby cutting my travel time in HALF. IN HALF, PEOPLE.

I got to NY at 9:45am, a fabulous feeling. I didn't have to haul ass through Penn station to find the C train, hoping above all hopes that either the E would come first, or that if I actually got on the C that it would be sure to STOP at the 23rd stop (which it hasn't been doing with me on it for some reason). I leisurely putzed around in the train station and bought a ticket to get back to Philly (on the NJT this time. yuk), then took the subway downtown where I just walked around for a little while. It's been a long time since I've done that, and I'm glad I had the chance today. It was really nice outside despite the crappy haze that floated above... I'm just grateful for a lack of frozen fingertips as I float through the city.

I got to the theater 20 minutes early, where I stood and chatted with two guys from my class, one of whom was Xavier, the other of whom was a very handsome red-headed gentleman, whose name I haven't learned yet. Now, some of you might say, "Mel sucks! She doesn't know names of people in her class!" but this instance isn't my fault -- he was sick our first class, so I was never forced to learn his name in the name game.

Jackie showed up a little later and we harassed her about being in the latest episode of Straight Plan for the Gay Man.

Oh! Yeah, then we had this thing called class.

It was awesome. We worked a lot on character, which is cool, because that's what Holly touched on a lot during my workshop last weekend at DSIF. We did a similar exercise, as well, where we had to get a suggestion of a body part, and lead your walk with that particular body part in order to develop a character. When I started out, I had NO idea what the fuck I was doing, but somewhere mid stage, I developed a character, and it was all okay. Jackie kept saying, "Take your time!" Which is something that I really don't do, and need to. I'm in such a hurry. When you think about it though, that makes sense. I'm very "hurry up and kick ass," especially when it comes to improvising... I feel like I’m behind because I've wanted to do this for so long. I want to be free, like Holly said. I want to be able to just... create, like Dave said. What I need, however, is to just slow the fuck down and take it all in. You've read about it, Mel. Now is your chance to actually do it. And do it well. But the only way that's going to happen is if you pace yourself.

Wow. I'm a lunatic. :loopy:

The best thing I've done in class up to this point was a scene I did today. We were given information about a character that we were then supposed to become. We were given a name, an age, an occupation, and a weird physical feature. Thanks to the fantastic people in my class, I was Bubbles, an 11-year-old female cheerleader with Turrets Syndrome. Along the way, I developed this weird speech impediment where I was hissing like a cat on my 'ch' and 's' sounds. I can't really describe it better than that. I got to answer questions asked to me by my classmates and Jackie, and it was a LOT of fun. I kept twitching and not being able to hold still, and saying obnoxious things, and then, finally, I got to do a cheer. It was horrible. But it was that kind of horrible that makes you happy that you did it. And I was free. Just like I've been wanting. Jackie asked me when it was all over, "how did it feel?"

That's when I realized that by my second line of dialogue, when I was no longer seated (as I had started out), that I had become "Bubbles." I wasn't thinking like myself at all up there under those lights, but as a new person that I'd never met before today. I was in the Zone. And I fucking loved it.

"How did it feel?"
"Really fucking awesome."

And it did.

After class, I hauled ass back to Penn Station, was back in Philly by 5 where I met my mom, who picked me up and brought me back here, to the city of my birth, where I"ll be until Friday morning, when I pull a three-city-day again. I was sad at first about cutting my spring break short, but at the same time, I don’t' mind, because it's for improv.

How does that feel?

Really fucking awesome.

 

[Meljo]

KatyHyphenJack: i need to get rich quick. any ideas?
McMeljo: murder everyone who works at kinkos and i'll give you a million dollars
KatyHyphenJack: cash?
McMeljo: gold bouillion. in a briefcase.

Kinkos is an establishment owned and operated by horrible bastards.

Monday, I went in there to make this image (made by the lovely and talented Matt Holmes) into posters and postcards. Simple, right? Wrong. Very, very wrong.

Not only did they ignore me when I asked for help using the program on their computers that WASN'T THERE, but the guy who waited on me was extremely rude and purposely fucked up my order....

TWICE.

The first time, the guy told me that it was somehow MY fault that you couldn't read the text at the bottom of the flyer, and the second time, he had the audacity to tell me that I had to pay for 200 incorrect, illegible postcards. I told him to shove it, then left the store with 5 posters that I didn't pay for, and a floppy disk of theirs. I feel bad not paying for the posters (which were done right and to my liking), but at the same time, I don't want that horrible corporation to get any more of my money than they already have.

So, fuck you, Kinkos. Fuck you, and fuck your mother.

On the bright side, I still have some time to get postcards made, because I did a very UN Mel like thing and didn't wait until the last possible minute to do this. Go me.

Tomorrow is my last full day here at home in VA before returning to Philadelphia (for a minute) and then New York for class. This has been the fastest, most uneventful and COLD spring break I've ever had. Maybe I'll take another one when it gets warmer. I really wanted to walk around in my back yard with my shoes off this week... yeah, the 40 degree weather kept that from happening.

I'm going to miss my car, but I'm sure as hell not going to miss Kinkos.

 

[Meljo]

never alone for you walk with me

I had such a fucking awesome time this weekend.

I dragged a good friend from school with me to NY to participate in rowdy improv times with me - Steph, who many of you met, some of you hit on, and all of you convinced her to take a class sometime soon. I really think that kicks ass.

After my class on Saturday, a few of my level one cohorts and I had what I think was our first bonding experience. We went out to lunch afterwards. I love them. I love them, and I love improv, and I love every minute that I spend with improv and improv people in New York.

I want improv and UCB now more than ever, and I'm going to have it all, dammit. I dream big, and I can't wait to see those dreams come true.

From the out of towners to the hot shot performers and everyone in between, even if Kevin Dorff only remembers me when he's drunk. I'm fucking crazy about all of you.

So, thanks.

 

[Meljo]

Because I'll bite you otherwise.

So, after talking to Matt Pack for a matter of minutes, I have made mental plans to change my entire summer.* The boy is powerful -- I think it's his cheery disposition that can convince you to do anything [You all know what I'm talking about. Matt Pack has convinced you of things before!].

Originally, I had intended to spend the summer lazing around beautiful and sunny Northern Virginia. I'd spend my time teaching music lessons to little kids in the areas in which I am qualified to teach -- Clarinet, Saxophone and Bagpipes. Yes, I play the bagpipes. Yes, I own some bagpipes. No. I'm Irish, actually. Thanks for asking. This plan was going to get me money and relaxation time. However, who in their right mind would want to relax when they could be having FUN?!

This brings me to my new plan, brought to you by Matt Pack and the letters A, I, and M. I wish to sublet an apartment in the NY metro area -OR- live in NYU summer housing, intern at the UCBT, take level 2, have a job that will earn me a few bucks, and live happily ever after. Doesn't this sound like a grand plan? Yes, yes I think so too.

Who needs a room mate over the summer? Anyone? Anyone? I keep to myself, I'm clean, I don't do as much crack as you'd think, and while I talk in my sleep, the conversations that I have are ALWAYS entertaining. My presence also leaves your apartment smelling like flowers!

You can't pass up an offer like that! Just like I can't NOT let Matt Pack influence me into things. :love: :love:

[* I hope this doesn't sound mean. I :love: Matt Pack!]