Time only for a brief update:

New job is going well!

Flying to New York City for vacation with Cohen on Wednesday for six days!

MRMaid's birthday is coming up soon, along with a special birthday CSz show!

Listen to the above CD; it's amazing! Probably my favorite Cheap Trick album since "Dream Police" --- and it is brand new!

Hope you are all great and healthy. Take care!

For those of you still checking in here, I have happy news to announce: after two-and-a-half years of searching, I have finally landed another editing job!

When Advanstar Communications closed its offices in December 2004, about 60 or so editors were all laid off at the same time. Needless to say, there were/are not that many editing jobs in Eugene, so many people gave up editing to try new career paths. Others, like me, took something "in the meantime" while continuing to seek editing jobs. My transitional job has been fun and rewarding, but it did not offer the financial wherewithal that I need.

Beginning Tuesday, I am back in the technical magazine publishing business, where I was for more than 12 years before Advanstar moved my job to New Jersey. I am thankful for it, and for the opportunities that it will offer.

Also, I just performed my first show with Portland ComedySportz's Farm Team last Sunday. It was a lot of fun, and I was glad that there didn't seem to be a lot of ring rust for me to shake off. My fellow players made me feel like a welcome, new part of the team.

Coasterama had kept me in suspense for more than a month about something that was to happen on May 19. He came into my work that day and handed me a copy fo the "rookie edition" of his high school's newspaper. He had edited and done layout for one page, and written a commentary piece about the shortcomings of the Bush administration, as well as a sort of "what's hot/what's not" humor column. He is an amazing young man whos makes me prouder every day!

I hope your May is going extremely well, too!

I have been searching for these two videos since I first read about them in either the late eighties or early nineties. Yay, I found them tonight on youtube.com!

Warning: If you will be disturbed by childhood icons "reenacting" obscenity-laden dialogue from "Blue Velvet," do not watch the first clip. Seriously.

"Peanuts" meets "Blue Velvet": http://youtube.com/watch?v=NfOkOspaCFo&s

earch=snoopy%20blue%20velvet

The Archies play the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen": http://youtube.com/watch?v=tr1pFxLeomw&search=archies%20god%20save%20queen

ComedySportz Eugene is officially finished. After seven years --- the last three of which I have been a member --- we closed our doors last night after a double-header evening, with a sold-out final performance and an unprecedented early show added due to ticket demand after the final show sold out on the previous Wednesday.

We left it all on the stage during that final performance, and put on a fantastic final show. I got to play Paul Stanley on a talk show, among lots of other fun.

To my friends in California, New York, and elsewhere, I wish you could have seen me perform. The final show was videotaped; if it turns out well, perhaps you can watch me after all. To my friends who came to see me once or dozens of times through the years, thank you! To my fellow players, both current and those who have moved on, thank you for the memories, the joy, the laughter, the fun, and the learning. To Kent, Aaron, and Russell, thank you for taking a chance three years ago on a guy who had no previous training in improv but who had the desire and passion to learn. I hope my growth over the years as a performer and improviser shows.

I had a few personal goals on passing my audition for CSz. The first was to fulfill a lifelong dream of making a paying audience laugh. That happened with my debut performance on Mother's Day weekend in 2003. It means as much to me now as it did then.

CSz became much more to me than just a place to learn and perform improv. It was a place where my son and I learned and had fun together. It was where I met my very lovely and amazing girlfriend. And it was a place where I met many fantastic people with whom I hope to continue learning, performing, socializing, singing karaoke, seeing $1.50 movies, and so on.

Thanks to each and every one of you.

What's next? Well, for starters, check out http://www.myspace.com/manraystevens. And there will be more to come. Stay tuned. But for CSz, I leave you with the following:

British Sea Power - It Ended On An Oily Stage

---

Everything you said was true
Everything you did was you
Everything I started with her
Ended on an oily stage where

I wrote elegiac stanzas for you
I hope and pray that they come true

He found God
In a parking lot, and you did not
I, I headed for the coastalry
Regions of mind
To see what I'd find

But I do understand why they're looking at you
As if you ever really cared

All across the Eastern Board
Languages were being lost
You look so elegantly bored now
Totally at ease with it all, yeah

Whilst you were drunk oh you let it all slip
I hope and pray that it's okay

He found God
In a Wiltshire field, whilst you did not
I, I headed for the coastalry
Regions of mind
To see what I'd find

But I do understand why they're looking at you
As if you ever really cared

He found God
In a Wiltshire field, and you did not
I, I headed for the coastalry
Regions of mind
To see what I'd find

MartaCycle tagged me with this; here goes:

Four jobs you've had in your life:

1. Record store (yes, record store) clerk
2. Teacher
3. Freelance film history and criticism writer
4. Editor and publisher of poetry journal, pro wrestling newsletter, and music/pop culture biweekly

Four movies you could watch over and over:

1. Withnail and I
2. Stranger Than Paradise
3. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
4. Mullholland Drive

Four places you've lived:
1. San Francisco, CA
2. Eugene, OR
3. Fairfield, Idaho
4. Tacoma, WA

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Seinfeld
2. I Love Lucy
3. TNA Impact
4. Twilight Zone

Four places you've been on holiday/vacation:
1. London
2. Chicago
3. New York City
4. Vancouver, B.C.

Four blogs you visit daily:
1. MartaCycle
2. Most folks I know on LiveJournal
3. Samoa Joe
4. Paul Stanley

Four of your favorite foods:
1. chow fun
2. pot stickers/gyoza
3. soft serve "ice cream"
4. spaghetti

Four places you'd rather be:
1. San Francisco
2. Tokyo
3. Edinburgh
4. Sydney

Four albums you can't live without:
1. Kiss, "Kiss Alive!"
2. Leonard Cohen, "Songs from a Room"
3. Liz Phair, "Exile in Guyville"
4. Echo and the Bunnymen, "Ocean Rain"

Four vehicles you've owned:
1. 1997 Saturn SL2
2. 1978 Honda Civic
3. 1982 (?) Chevrolet Monza
4. 1972 Schwinn Sting Ray

Four people to be tagged:

If you are reading this and have a Blogger account, consider yourself tagged!

Merry Christmas to all of my friends who still check this blog every so often! 

Your Brain's Pattern

You have a tempered, reasonable way of thinking. You tend to take every new idea in, and meld it with your world view. For you, everything is always changing. Each moment is different. Your thinking process tends to be very natural - with no beginnings or endings.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?