smiling, flexing pineapple

i was at a job interview where I saw a smiling, flexing pineapple on the dry erase board. kind of nice, it brightened my mood. it was in a library conference room. i had asked in the email if there was something earlier than next week, and thankfully there was. hopefully the typing speed thing is not a big deal, I was a little caught off-guard about that one. otherwise I liked how it was nothing like most other interviews I was a part of. I was one of 8 there, and 2 interviewers. after looking at all of the prep forms in my organizer, I said 'Me!' when one of them arrived back as I knew I was ready. I liked seeing some of the art on the wall there, got some pictures of it after the interview was done. it was about Minnesota history and there was quotes from various famous people.
   I went to the dollar store to get a can of spaghetti around midday and I was pleased to see an event near my home. it was food distribution, so I got a number and ended up with a potato, a bag of apples, and some bread. I could have had even more vegetables such as a head of lettuce but said what I had was fine. a flyer spoke of some other places where this event takes place in the city, it is near my home once a month.
   I performed this evening, and my initial bit was inspired by another comic talking about being called for jury service. there was a fill-in show runner, that I didn't know too well, but we hugged after the show was over. the typical show runner was there, arriving after the show started, but she said she wouldn't be performing at all.

pennant at job fair

I went to a job fair and I got a pennant from an airline. I mostly have them for sports teams. the census bureau was there again, so I didn't say much to them. I sent off another flurry of applications on indeed. I got a call from a bank, but found out the position was in Mankato so I had to turn them down. sometimes when I apply, it was a mistake as I didn't check the location close enough. usually narrowing it down to Minnesota does just fine. and as usual, when I didn't know what else to do, I just decided to lay down in the late afternoon and fell asleep for a while. I ran the paper shredder in the morning, but had to stop when the red light came on. it was a warning for overheating. I hadn't run it in a while, and the bucket was full by then. there isn't much left now so I liked how well I knocked it down.
   I performed in the evening, and I don't recall putting my name in the sign-up list but the show runner knows me so not a big deal. looking back, I realized I made a reference to two Christmas shows, odd to do when it is still august. one was a simpsons episode, the other was Rudolph. I spoke about the island of misfit toys. the techie told a story about the cook getting to meet santana, the musician, when he was in town doing a show at the nearby xcel center. I also noticed how one crowd member was wearing multiple things saying he was single, or available.

beat the postcard home

I flew back from st. louis just over a week ago, and the postcard i sent just arrived today. it does remind me of what my dad liked to say about vacations, how we would 'beat the postcard home'. i like having it as it is a compact reminder of my annual visits there. since postcards are small and one must choose carefully as to what is said on it. i've found out that it works well to bring a stamped card with me so i don't have to hunt around for either item while i am in town. i chose the image of a fourth of july fireworks show, likely on the riverfront. other notables arriving in the mail today were another completed background check for employment, two items from my car insurance company, and a catalog from the hawk shop- the university of iowa.
  not much was done on the job front today. I went to a job fair in north st. paul, but it had some of the same companies as the one in stillwater last week. and i think there were fewer companies as well. i saw an email from a medical scribe company i had applied to, so i responded to it. there was also something from an agency, but i saw it near the end of the workday so the rep was not available. i will hope to hear more soon about it. besides the job fair, i also decided to get the property tax refund forms ready and mailed. so it meant some more time away from home. while i am working i am aware of how i tend to check my email less often. i wanted to get caught up on things i didn't do on sunday, such as some of those online surveys, as well as doing the dishes.
  I performed in the evening, at the once-a-month place. before then i liked covering multiple subjects with brawler. it started with mention of being a part of fringe this weekend, and it will be memorable as i used the word 'glib' since i liked hearing it when gary coleman was a guest star on 'the simpsons'. i did one thing tonight after getting home that i have done before- checking online to see i had used a word correctly, and there were some variations on meanings found. there were some newer comics that liked hearing me talk about the craft of performing, after the show was over. i didn't end up using all of my prepared set as i decided to answer a joke about the space program where the comic did not get their facts straight. as a history major, i have a hard time ignoring it.

taco bell between shows

it was another busy day for me with the fringe festival. I had another shift of ushering, then two more shows to attend. although my role as an usher was diminished as there was a second usher that arrived before me and already had the apron on for collecting tokens. so I handed out programs. I did a check of the seating area but not much was found. the venue was small enough that it could have made it with just one usher. I read some from a coffee table book about the history of the city of Minneapolis. I was also given an ice cream sandwich by a techie. I had asked about what was in the refrigerator, a maytag model. this was the same venue where I had the unified audition in april.
   I didn't want to mill around at the venue after my shift was done, even though the first show of the day that I wanted to attend was at the same venue. so I took a long walk between shows, and since it was dinner time I decided to eat at a taco bell. it was northeast Minneapolis and I walked under a bridge for 35W to get there, I liked having a decent view of the skyline from there and it became one of my photos. I made it back about 20 minutes before show time, so still fairly early. I made sure to change my shirt as I was off-duty and didn't want anyone asking me questions. it was the 'nerd rage' podcast, and one of the debaters does a history show I like seeing in march. I found her after the show and said I liked seeing the performance. then it was on to the next show at a different venue. it was a spoof of the movie 'bill and ted'. I did not know any of the actors in it but there was name recognition in who was listed as the director, as well as a writer. it is nice to get the first weekend of the festival out of the way. I know I will be a little less busy on the second weekend. I didn't want to interfere with my own performing schedule so that means four days off from fringe and I will pick it up again on Friday.

paris is burning movie

I saw the movie 'paris is burning' this evening at the lagoon in uptown Minneapolis. it was part of a busy day. as I recall, this movie caused a dust-up when I was at the university of iowa related to their 'sec act' policy. apparently it was shown in a class but nobody was warned about the content. it is about drag queens in new York city. I saw it and nothing was shocking to me at all. it is about real people and real life, and I like watching documentaries as I want to understand things better. it had nothing to do with the city of paris and there was just one clue as to how the movie got its name, as I recall it was the name of a fashion show. as I was leaving I had somebody tell me that they lived in Harlem during the time of the 'vogue' movement that was being documented in the movie. I noticed how some of these fashion shows were happening on what looked like a basketball floor that said 'elks', wondering the meaning of it. I have heard of the elks lodge.
    the day started early by going to the pancake breakfast at Canadian days in little Canada. it was no problem finding parking this early. I liked getting in line for pancakes early as the line moved quick. I had nearly finished them by the time the bagpipe band started playing, and then I got up to get a better view and some pictures of them. I liked how they had a dancer this time, some years they didn't have one. after their performance I got a good look at the car show. I saw some rare cars such as a british ford car.
   I had another shift of ushering that started around midday, and due to it I decided to change my schedule of seeing shows for the day. I saw a performer that was in line and found out he wasn't doing every performance of a show at another venue. so I took the light rail back to the park and ride after my shift and then was at home for a little while. I saw one show  in the early evening, a one-man show about the family oh john wilkes booth, the actor-assassin of Lincoln. after the movie I went home again, but after a little while it was on to sing karaoke. I did 'broken hearted me' by anne murray. I recall hearing it on an episode of 'cold case'. I was wiped out by the time I got home after doing karaoke. no surprise at all with all I had done for the day.

dog drinking from paper tray

went to Canadian days in little Canada this evening for the corn on the cob feed. there was somebody with a dog that was drinking from a paper tray, probably meant for fries. I was invited to pet the dog, it was mixed breed. four, I recall three- corgi, husky, Labrador. I spoke with the couple for a little while, but had to go to the Minnesota fringe festival to work my first volunteer shift as an usher. it was two shows, and I found cards at the venue at the U of M for four of the seven shows I wanted to see. I had to check when I got home, looks like one of them I wanted to see dropped out. so it means finding a show to 'replace' it in my lineup. it should be no problem whatsoever, when there are over a hundred shows to choose from and some with a historical content as well. I haven't attended any yet, makes it easier on using the tickets of course. I collected the tokens, it was 43 at the first show and 25 at the second. after I was off-duty I went to sing karaoke, it was 'my church' by maren morris.
   not much to report on the job front, applied to some jobs with a company I spoke with at the job fair the previous day. there was a phone interview in the morning as well, with an agency. then in the afternoon it was to the library to work on property tax forms as it is due soon.

ennui is french

I went to do karaoke tonight, and after I did 2 songs I went into the back area to do ladder golf. I heard people at a table discuss the word 'ennui' saying they didn't understand how the spelling doesn't match up with the pronunciation. finally I heard somebody say 'it's French' and I said 'thank you'. I knew it all along. I spoke of taking 4 years of french in high school. but that wasn't necessarily where I learned the word. it is used in english to refer to 'boredom'. I know Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan spoke of growing up in 'suburban ennui' as he was from suburban Chicago. it was nice finding the word online, as it said it was a 'loan word' from french. sometimes the term is that the word is 'borrowed', close enough. it also said the meaning is close to 'annoy', another word absorbed from the french language. before this i spoke with somebody for a little while after my second song, saying he liked the selection. although he kept getting it wrong as to what band member of the pumpkins died, it wasn't the drummer, but the tour keyboardist. the 2 songs i did were 'come undone' by duran duran, and 'disarm' by smashing pumpkins. so there you go about the discussion i had. it was nice to hear some clapping after it, as this meant many were paying attention and enjoying it.
   before this I went to an event related to Canadian days in little canada, their annual festival. there was ice cream available from culver's, so i got a root beer float. there was a 'kid friendly' rock band performing at the band shell. the festival will get started in earnest on friday.
   I started the morning with calling selective service to get my registration number, then i was able to complete the application with the census bureau. i also wanted to get to a workforce center to see who could help with tweaking my resume, and i went to the one in woodbury per the advice from the stillwater job fair from the previous day. after this i briefly was home to get ready for a job fair, and it was near mall of america and the airport. i spoke with all of the companies represented, and some of them sound promising. one of them said it required a 3-year commitment, and as long as the pay is good i am not going to have any heartburn about it. after i got home there was some follow-up calls in relation to some recent interviews. but eventually i didn't know what to do, and laid down. falling asleep is one way to handle waiting for a call for interviews.