fortunate son, CCR

I was at the 9-hole golf course in Maplewood tonight, and the group in front of me had golf carts and I heard the song 'fortunate son' by CCR playing. I am reminded of how it is in the movie 'Forrest Gump', and I pay attention to the lyrics in it, like I do with most songs. 'it ain't me, I'm no millionaire's son, no senator's  son', saying I'm in Vietnam because I'm not fortunate enough. some of the themes in it are still relevant, like mention of the tax man coming to the door, and the house looks like a rummage sale. tax evasion is still rampant. I like another song of theirs, 'looking out my back door', as it mentions listening to Buck Owens.
   this was my second annual visit to the golf course, using a gift certificate I won at a united way fundraiser at the office. it was expiring soon. I had two golf clubs this time as I bought a driver at the goodwill in Roseville earlier today. it was still a 'comedy of errors' though, which works for me as I am a comedian. so don't expect me to be on the PGA tour anytime soon. the group in front of me said I appeared out of nowhere, I said I move quicker when I am the only one in my group. the sun was setting soon anyway, and I finished my round as it was getting dark and harder to see the flag marking the hole. this group made mention of bill murray amongst themselves when one of them was washing off golf balls, and I had been wondering of anyone was going to speak of the movie 'caddyshack'. I had an ice cream cone at mcdonald's after I was done. the closing ceremonies of the Olympic games from Rio were on when I was there.
   I spent much of my day getting souvenirs from the fringe festival into sheet protectors and then a binder before I went anywhere this afternoon. I did make it in time to perform at the donut show. I made a reference to being in fringe, the saints game with a SNL theme, my 8th grade history teacher, and getting ready for the round of golf.
    I also thought of how I have a class reunion next year. at this stage of my dad's life, he skipped that reunion as he was getting divorced. I have never been married, how odd would it be if I skipped this reunion due to getting married? still a longshot, but one never knows what the future might hold.

don't think twice movie

 I went to see the movie 'don't think twice' at the lagoon in Minneapolis tonight. I couldn't stay away from uptown Minneapolis for long after my role in fringe festival. I liked this movie, as a performer I found it to be realistic. many of the characters were relatable, and so were the themes covered in it. I may do stand-up comedy, and this one is about 'improv' comedy, but close enough. themes like the insecurity, jealousy and competitiveness was familiar. I had seen a previous mike birbiglia movie, 'sleepwalk with me', also realistic about performing comedy. And I liked how they covered the 'business of doing comedy', another story that needs to be told. it inspired me to look up a song listed in the closing credits, written by bob Dylan, that seems to suggest the movie title itself. I listened to 2 versions on youtube, and I liked the one by johnny cash more than bob Dylan's version, no surprise there.
   I tried to tour the Sinclair lewis home in sauk centre but I got started later than I wanted to, and another factor figured into it being a 'no-go'. I had lunch at the A and W in Albany, about 20 miles away, and my camera battery died on me there. didn't want to do the tour if I couldn't take pictures, so I will have to postpone until labor day weekend.

star trek and katy perry

I went to a burlesque show tonight, and notable was seeing a male dancer perform in a star rek outfit while a katy perry song- 'e.t.'-was playing. he also had an inflatable green alien as a prop. I had to skip this show last month as I was out of town.
   I like attending these burlesque shows, it feeds my intellectual side as I know many of the things being parodied. it started off with a show producer dancing to 'bippity boppity boom', then looking like snow white, and then mary poppins- by then 'spoonful of sugar' was playing. she capped it with 'we are siamese' and a mashup- mickey mouse with 'mickey so fine'. I liked seeing bombshell labelle as usual, the Melissa joan hart look-alike. she danced to 'suicide blonde' by INXS. I really liked the harmonica solo in it.

too many acronyms

my senior leader had a meeting during the first half of the day, and I will admit it was hard to keep my attention there as too many acronyms were used by the speaker, who happened to be his boss, who is in a different office. I have said this before but it seems like people still are using acronyms all the time. I have to look up some of them online to understand the meaning. and of course some have multiple meanings, like AMA can mean 'ask me anything' and 'against medical advice'.
   tonight I liked going to a comedy event at a micro-brewery in downtown st. paul, as part of the magnotronic podcast. I saw many people I knew there. I left with a bag of ruffles potato chips, as they would otherwise have been thrown away. another event, a picnic at a park, was canceled due to the weather, though I don't think it ever really rained at all. I saw a few raindrops when I was walking home after getting off the bus in the evening, but that was it.
   the two 'big banfg theory' episodes tonight were leonard and penny getting back together and trying to keep it secret, as the syndicated rerun. and Sheldon's grandma visiting and not liking amy in the prime time episode. I did watch some of a rerun of 'good times' instead of the 6pm news as well, as I still had it on that 'companion channel' from the day before.

sad summer songs

I made an observation in my comedy sets tonight how there are some sad summer songs, and how it fits my persona. this would be 'endless bummer' by weezer, 'summertime sadness' by lana del rey, and 'cruel summer' by bananarama. I made it to two different venues, but I was tired after the second one. I sat outside and talked to a friend, then I went home. I spoke of adding people to the 'ring of honor' recently and somebody asked if there was an application process. this made me laugh a little, as some of the things I hear about the project are priceless. at the first venue, I noticed one of the show posters was from a comedy festival in great Britain, and there were plenty of union jack flags on the chickens in the food store next to a rubber chicken. there was also some oversized golf balls next to the venue, and I was told a golfing business had just opened up. so of course this was one of my photos of the night.

rainbow connection

I was reminded of the song 'rainbow connection' from the muppet movie when I saw a rainbow tonight. I was about to go to Walgreen to do photos, add more people to the 'ring of honor', but had to pause to enjoy it. and I did perform after going to Walgreen, near the end of the show. it was about my history teacher, a role in fringe, and the saints game over the weekend.
   it was also helpful to attend an interviewing seminar at the office, wrote down plenty of notes. I didn't want to go that bad as it overlapped a little with my lunch hour, but I also knew the other session conflicted with my senior leader's meeting later in the week. I am hopeful that this means I can avoid some of the mistakes in interviewing. it wasn't just my current mentor, who was the event coordinator, that made a difference in this seminar. it was also what some of the panelists said. I shouldn't be afraid of interviewing, and I know I have said it before in life, how 'I've got this'. one of those helpful things will be having a short memory, if that is possible for me. or ignoring the doubts in my own mind.

dreams, fleetwood mac

I liked performing at an open-mic tonight, my set was close to what I performed at fringe festival. but I was also impressed with a music act that played 'dreams' by Fleetwood mac, and then 'say it ain't so' by weezer. I got the 'how right I was' feeling when these songs were played, or I sometimes call it a 'self-validating moment'. this is a powerful feeling, I try to recall when I get it as often as I can.
   it was a long day at the office, took a while to complete the payoff report. in spite of this I still got to the new titles and perfected them. there was a dust-up about a letter request, wanting me to give it priority, but I didn't as a colleague who works them said her boss needed to do this 'special' letter to see it is done properly. I saw that more people were copied on the email thread instead of just in the 'cc' (or carbon copy) section. it is another piece of evidence on how I like being thorough, and only doing what I am allowed to do and qualified to do.