I set sail to chart the seas in 1499...

in a vessel full of dreams, pastrami, and cheap wine. -TCHA (abridged)

Hello friends.

It has been a while since I have posted, mainly due to play rehearsals and jumping back into school full-speed ahead.

Rehearsals are going well and the play opens this Wednesday. I have never heard of opening on a Wednesday, but alas...that is what we are doing. Though we have been rehearsing a lot, it doesn't really seem like work because a) it's a three person cast and one of the guys in the play with me (Eric), as well as the director(Carrie), are friends I hang out with on a consistent basis anyway and 2) a lot of the scenes are ad-libbed, so that keeps things new and exciting. I feel bad for Carrie because her end-of-show notes for Brad, Eric, and I usually sound something like this:
1) Eric, don't forget to take the table off stage right.
2) You can't say "get laid".
3) Brad, try to keep your energy at the level of Eric's.
4) If you can't find a prop...please don't say "son of a bitch".
5) Melia, kissing President Lincoln was a bold choice...don't make out with him.
6) Eric, don't say "damnit".
7) Melia, you can't call Brad a "pompous ass".
We always laugh through them, but poor Carrie has to deal with us on a day-to-day basis, and she...somehow...still trusts us and gives us enormous amounts of "artistic freedom". Plain and simple: Carrie is awesome! If nothing else, The Complete History of America (abridged) will be funny, so come see it. Your incentive: Eric plays all the chick roles.

For the past week or so, I have not been able to stop thinking about Katrina, the hurricane that pummeled through Louisiana and Mississippi leaving a horrible path of destruction in its wake. I watched Fox News all last weekend as they described what they believed was going to happen to the city of New Orleans, but Monday morning, I was glad to see that it had not caused as much damage as they first believed. The next day I turned on the television to see people saying things like, we thought New Orleans would be spared, but the water keeps rising. After that, the news just became more and more devastating. Water up to the ceilings. People trapped in attics or on roofs. People being taken to the Superdome. No air conditioning. Temperatures in the mid-90's with 90% humidity. No clean water. No functional plumbing. Food supplies running low. Fires. Children separated from their parents. People looting (What in the world are you going to do with a 50" plasma television when there is no electricity and you have to carry it out of the store and onto the air mattress you are floating around on? Idiots!). Bodies pushed to the side of streets. Gunfire. Mob mentality. These people have lost everything.

Last night, as I drove home, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and got in bed, I realized how much I take for granted. I have a car. I have toiletries. I have running water in my own home. I have a home. I don't have to share my room with thirty other people who just need a dry place to lay their heads. This morning I woke up and had food in the pantry, a case of bottled water in the refrigerator, and a just-washed change of clothes on my back. I am truly blessed and incredibly thankful. In seeing footage from Louisiana and Mississippi on the news, you would think it was directly from a war zone or a third-world country. This hits close to home. This could be me. This could be you. Left with nothing. No home. No car. No "stuff"...as my mother said. They have the clothes on their backs. I cannot comprehend how one would move on after this type of tragedy. You have no home to go back to, or if you do you have to completely gut the home and deal with all of the wreckage. You have no job because the building no longer exists. Your children have no school. And, hopefully, you were not living from pay check to pay check, because then you would truly have nothing. People on the news cannot believe the mob mentality of these people, but they are desperate people. Hungry people. Incredibly distressed people. Desperate is the best word. They are crying out for help, not from other countries, but from us...American citizens, just like them. The government is finally acting. We need to do more. We need to move faster. Sitting here, taking computer access for granted, I feel helpless. On the news they flash numbers and names of foundations that are asking for money and toiletries. That would be a good start, but I guess...at this moment...all we can do is pray for the victims and for our country.