today officially marks this trip the longest time i have been away from home in a long time. and it is starting to take its toll. i love this town so much,, but the comfort of home is calling louder every day. that’s not to say that the idea of calling work and telling them i won’t be coming back isn’t terribly appealing. the one thing i have come to realize on this trip is that it is possible to do this for a living. and it becomes more appealing every minute. almost everyone i have met claims improvising as their job. we (atlanta) for the most part are the only ones with 9 to 5ers. there’s really no reason for it. the lifestyle i have come to love shouldn’t prevent me from being happy with what i do. maybe it’s a silly dream, maybe it’s an empty hope, but it is my goal to devote as much free time as i can to make it a reality. at least in some aspect of my life.

last night i managed to blow most of the money i won playing blackjack at the casino making a couple bonehead bets. and it is extremely hard to not go back there every day the rest of my time here to try and make more. it’s just too easy.

last night was also this dreadfully awesome gig at the mall i did with my fellow atlanta teammates and wes – a local edmonton improvisor. it was at the comic strip to a whopping 12 people, 2 of which were on their cell phones. we definitely made the best out of a pretty dismal situation.

also saw anchorman – or as i like to call it, the movie that steve carell steals. he’s a fucking riot in it.

tuesday night. hmmm. i honestly dont know if i saw any improv that night or not. but we wound up at a local bar – the black dog – with awesome music being played. the night found it’s way to chris condor’s house for an all night dance party. holy fuck what a fun time. all of us piled into his living room playing music and dancing til the wee hours of morning.

i still am not taking nearly enough pictures and my video taping has crawlwed to a stop. i gotta change all that these next few days. off to go blow money on records.

saddam gardens and eats muffins

things i need to more of in edmonton:

take more pictures

write stuff down

i have been absolutely slack in these responsibilities. i have quickly learned what sucks about wanting to fiolm a trip – you are the sole person responsible for it. and it keeps you from doing fun stuff like take pictures. so i think i will begin filming less and enjoying more. sacrifices.

the weekend is a bit of a blur. our 8pm show saturday night was ok. nothing fantastical, but enjoyable nonetheless. tho the opening of the 8pm show – a format brought over from belgium called THE WAKE as amazing. basically a group of people at a wake sitting around drinking and reminiscing about the deceased. then you get to see snippets of his/her life up until the moment of death. sounds dreary but it was quite amazing. 11pm was the edmonton’s longfrom show CHIMPROV. we split everyone up in 3 separate teams and each did about 20 minutes. ours was the last to go and lasted longer cause it was the 2nd half. SMELLS LIKE A SONG. the audience is given roses and at any point during the “play” if someone hears a line of dialogue they want turned into a song, they get up and yell that smells like a song and throw their rose on stage. we were out of roses – so we used teabags. it’s a hell of a feeling to be on stage with some of the most talented improvisors in the world(read:edmonton) who are not only your peers but what you aspire to be as an improvisor and get through with the show and be told it was some of the best stuff they have seen or done in a while. whew. i guess i am good at this.

yesterday was a bbq that matt-o and i ducked out of early to go to the mall and see THE BOURNE SUPREMACY. first stop: casino inside said mall. we found our tables and sat. when it came to go to the movie i signalled to matt that we werent going anywhere. all in all – i started with 100 bux borrowed from matt and walked away with 200. matt did a little better – starting with about 3 or 4 hundred and leaving with 800. guess where i will be going some more.

last night got to play music on the college station. it was awesome fun. got to hear some great canadian music – yes it does exist – and got to share stuff like SMALL BROWN BIKE, JOSH ROUSE, & MOUNTAIN’s mississippi queen with the canadian audience.

yesterday was the first official night of the tournament…

it was awesome

teams from antwerp, vienna, and seattle are here.

we started off the morning by exchanging some money. there was a very friendly bank gal there talking to us. she told us about this country song she heard on the radio whose title “was a hoot” – it was called “Why would i kiss the mouth at night that chews my ass out all day long?” pretty funny title. here’s, where my impeccable timing and choice of subject matter come into play. while everyone is having thier giggle (including me) it strikes me that i am laughing for an entirely different reason. i announce “OH! YOU MEAN METAPHORICALLY CHEWING YOUR ASS OUT! I’VE BEEN LAUGHING FOR AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT REASON…” about then i realize that i am talking to a complete stranger in another country about eating asses, and of course no matter how hard i try, everything i say just keeps digging me deeper and deeper in the ass hole. metephorically speaking of course.

spent most of the day trying to find a head cleaner for the camcorder i have.

then the show…highlights include a guy from antwerp telling the audience that we live in hard times filled with violence and rape, being introduced as the team that tryed to bomb the olympics, and me having to rap for a minute to break the tie. i broke it.

having only been here about 10 hours there is nothing too much of note to report. we are staying in a dorm on the university of amberta campus. it has some sort of religious affiliation as it is called st joseph’s of something or other. the dorm arrangements are quite nice. a library for me to use the internet and catch up on the goings ons of people at home, a very spacious very comfy room for me to sleep in, a breakfast nook complete with a cereal cavern, and friendly canadians to help along the way. the dorm is however set up like the catacombs of some ancient civilization. i’m assuming because of its religioius heritage. already i have been lost 3 times and i have only been awake for 30 minutes.

the tourney officially starts today.

in other news, the little candidate that could, dennis kucinich, is finally throwing in the towel. he is withdrawing from the race and officially endorsing john kerry. my hats off to ya dennis. you had my vote every step of the way.

it’s 3pm

we are at the theatre

grabbin last minute supplies like tshirts and xanax

and in the category of “ooooooo kfc is in trouuubbblllleee”

A member of PETA went undercover at a KFC slaughterhouse to uncover the top notch treatment of the chickens there.

Workers ripped the animals’ beaks off, twisted their heads off, spat tobacco into their eyes and mouths, spray-painted their faces, and tied their legs together for “laughs.”

The investigation was conducted at this location because it was the site of a KFC “Supplier of the Year” award ceremony.

PETA released this video of braindead retarded assholes at one of kfc’s processing plants doing all sorts of crude shit to live chickens.

it shouldn’t surprise you that the music they are listening to includes guns and roses and bon jovi.

this is my last day of work for 10 days.

things i won’t miss:

not being able to get to the bathroom when i want to because without fail i am stopped on my way out to do something.

not being able to get fully acclamated to the mornings becasue without fail i am stopped before i can do that in order to do something.

working.

account services.

the front desk.

bad coffee.

morning meetings.

creative gangbangs.

why does it not surprise me that it was an SUV that was going the wrong way in the parking garage?

why am i further unphased that it was a girl driving it?

and why is it absolutely appropriate that she had a light up bush/cheney sticker in her back window?

it’s also perfectly fitting that it was a redneck in a pickup truck that pulled up next to me at a stop light and yelled “fucking asshole” for no real discernible reason.

we are the PROTEST WARRIORS!

young conservatives are gearing up to protest the protesters planning to demonstrate against the upcoming GOP convention.

i shit you not.

The Protest Warriors “are the right-wing freedom fighters — we are out there and are just as animated as the protesters can be.”

it’s an all out protest battle royale! hundreds of men enter…one cacophonous sound leaves.