Here's an Ikea...

What an effed up store. Mom wanted the family to commisserate there for her birthday before we grabbed dinner. See, we'd never been, and it's been open so long that she wanted to check it out (presumably after the crowds and hubbub died down) And it is still an effed up store. Go to Ikea.com to see some of the tawdry wares they hawk. I'm not a huge fan of contemporary stylings or art deco, but I love mama-san and wanted to make her's a happy birthday.

They have a ball crawl in this big glass cage for the kids as you walk into the place. (With other scandanavian styled playground fare) As we were leaving, there were 2 kids taking turns throwing the balls at the glass. So I ran up to the glass and pretended to "dodge" the lil' balls while taunting the kids. (Yelling at them something to the effect of "C'MON..C'MON!!! IZZAT ALL YOU GOT?? MISSED ME...C'MOOOONN!!!!!") This caused the remainder of the kids in the play area (Roughly 10-14 other kids betwixt the ages of 4 and 9 methinks) to go bolting for the ball crawl, grab the first ball they could get their hands on, and start pelting the glass, trying to get at me. I've never seen that kind of display of pack mentality. I half expected Marlon Perkins and the "Wild Kingdom" film crew to come out and provide commentary.

I was pulled away by my fiancee' and embarrassed family (Granted, big brother was laughing a bit) and the drowning sounds of hundreds of plastic wiffley balls hitting the fenster. Can you hear that sound? It was priceless.


We're getting even more grief trying to buy this house. The lender's are balking at the fact that J is a performer, therefore self-employed, therefore cannot provide 3 years of steady employment at a single employer. Even though she has never been unemployed since she was 15. Nice.

All of this home-buying rigamarole, couple with the loss of my granmother (And a certain costume shop, and G and G tours) has now resulted in my having to turn down a chance to be in a show. I'll put it this way: This here group of months hasn't been very kind to me, from an artistic standpoint. I am loathe to turn down work, since I really don't know if I'll ever work again tomorrow.

Be so kind, if you can, and see The Crucible and The Mudslinger Party (go to Gremlintheatre.org and Pigseyetheatre.org) . As well as any and all small theatre shows you can muster the time or finance's to see. These are great (and talented) people working hard for audiences. See their shows. Be entertained.

Ran into fellow Blodger Kaiser today. I hope you get the gig bro. I don't think I impressed them all that much. But when your brain moves in the wrong way, and you say a word that rhymes with "corn" in the context of a Satellite Cable Commercial...well, you know you didn't get the part.

Portland. You're naughty.