Every now and then I like to give back to the community by helping a struggling artist get his Big Break, and today that young artist is a new kind of rapper - a white, middle class boy from the suburbs that just wants to express himself.
(taken from Robin’s myspace)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq6vufmTJ9Q

This week has been a good one. We’ve been alternating between sun and rain, and I’ve been alternating between school and chillin’. I had a midterm for theatre history this morning, so last night we had a study group, and thanks to it (and retyping my notes afterwards) I think I did quite well on the test.

In other school related what-have-you, in my last dance class we made groups to work on a project about different types of dance, and the group that I started will be looking at Vaudeville / Early Broadway. Part of the project is to perform a piece in that dance style, so I’ve been having fun looking up different vaudeville dances and routines. And, I was talking to Anna (one of the girls in my group), and she said that she had been thinking of putting together a whole Vaudeville night with a bunch of different acts, which I think would be sweeet (with three e’s, or more).

This weekend, I’m going to see the Montreal Dance show, and next weekend I’m going to see Hedda Gabler (I picked up my tickets for both of these shows last night), and I’m looking forward to both of them.

And now, as soon as I can stop being hypnotized by the dancing Mary Poppins Penguins in my new icon, I’m going to make myself some dinner before going to Naku rehearsal.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day out, and so I took my camera to school and took pictures, so that they can be looked at on grey days like today and remember what the sun looks like.

These first few pictures are actually from bunraku rehearsal for naku tsuru:

And this one is from geology lab - one of our rock samples was chalk, and another was a piece of slate in the shape of the superman logo, so we created a little Geologic Fortress of Solitude:

And now we get to pictures from the sun.
The first is the courtyard area, with some shadows outlined in chalk by the big red art piece:

The Theatre Quad:

Theatre Quad 2

Kelsey being licked by a dog

Megan and Random

Justin firing up the BBQ

Deb feeding the dogs

Deb putting sweaters on the dogs

Byron playing with dogs

Kelly holding her dog

Megan holding a dog

A boat (maybe with a dog inside)

Guessing game

Guessing game sillhouette

Justine and Random

Very Serious guessing game

Todd

Yumi

Sword fight

sword fight 2

Swords crossed

Volleyball

Volleyball, sunset

sunset

sunset 2

This has been a fantastic weekend, and really the only bad part about it is that it is over. What went on? I’m not going to tell you.

But I will SHOW you, with illustrations!

Friday was spent reading three years worth of blog posts to celebrate the Third Anniversary of my livejournal.

After that, it was time for rehearsal for Naku Tsuru:

Followed by a show by the Dead Parrot Society:

Followed by a short evening of chillin’ in a dorm hallway with Amalia and Jordan and another girl I don’t remember well enough to draw her picture:

Saturday I had a BBQ / Tie Dye / Birthday party to go to. At least I thought I did - when I got to Brittni’s house, I learned that I was actually a month early. Woops. But the fun part of that story is that I decided that I’m brave enough on the xootr to ride it all the way to her house, which is a rather steep hill down from where I live. It was fun and exciting, and I didn’t die:

Since there was no BBQ party, I left (after watching the end of X-Men 2) and rode around downtown on my scooter until I decided I needed some food and rode back home for lunch/dinner. Also since there was no BBQ party, I had no evening plans, and so went to see the Dead Parrots for a second night in a row, and after that I rode down to Karri’s house to watch “Cradle Will Rock,” a good movie that I recommend taking a look at:

Today was the best day of the weekend - roomie Peter had two tickets to see the Royal Carl Rosa Opera Company’s production of The Mikado at the Mt. Baker Theatre, and the person that was supposed to go with him canceled, and so Peter invited me to go along. Since I’m a big Gilbert & Sullivan fan, I was quite excited for the opportunity. So this afternoon we went to see the show:

After the show Peter had to drive to Seattle, so I got my scooter out of the back of his car, he went to Seattle, and I went back to the theatre for an after-Mikado show by the Juggling Jollies (jugglers):

Following that show, I went to Skippers for dinner, and then rode the bus back to campus so that I could ride the scooter from there to my apartment (it was a nice night for scooter riding, but I didn’t feel like riding uphill), but when I got off the bus at campus and rolled through red square, I saw the Dead Parrots once again, having a rehearsal. I stopped by for a second, and was going to continue on my way, but then went back and watched the rest of their rehearsal, which meant I saw the Dead Parrots three times in three days. I miss improv - I need to find some way of doing it again (I can’t join Dead Parrots because I can’t go to rehearsals).

When the rehearsal was over, I rode off into the sunset.

The End

The Symbolism of Being Earnest
by Nathaniel Jones

Algernon (plays the piano): Upon the keys of the piano I dance. The expression of life, light keys and dark, the notes rise and fall. Sharps and Flats.

Lane: The notes he plays; not pleasing to the ear, but pleasing to the self. I must not listen, but how can I ignore? He is my example.

Algernon: Eight notes, like eight bottles of champagne. Eight bottles of champagne, empty. Why, lane? Why?

Lane: Eight bottles of champagne, drained in youth. Eight bottles of champagne shattered upon the bow of the mighty ship called Marriage. With that ship upon the waves, no more bottles shall there be.

Algernon: Marriage floats on a sea of champagne – all around, but not a drop to drink.

Lane: I once sailed on the ship of marriage.

Algernon: The words he says, like the notes I play… I will not listen.

Lane: He will not listen. I do not even listen myself.

Algernon: Eight bottles of champagne. Marriage.

Lane: Marriage.

Algernon: I will not listen. But how can I ignore? He is my example.

Jack: I have traveled the road from country to town.

Algernon: Ernest, what brought you such a long way?

Jack: In the country, I was surrounded by neighbors. Neighbors. Country neighbors, demanding to be amused. But in town, I have neighbors who I demand amuse me.

Algernon: With eight bottles of champagne.

Jack: And cucumber sandwiches.

Algernon: No, these sandwiches are not for us. They must not be eaten. It is important we save the cucumber sandwiches. They were made for the neighbors. They must be amused.

Jack: By eight bottles of champagne.

Algernon: And cucumber sandwiches.

Jack: And Marriage.

Algernon (eats a sandwich): Marriage? No. The word, like the cucumber sandwiches, should not touch your lips.

Jack: I traveled the road from country to town to propose Marriage.

Algernon: Cucumber sandwiches, too, are made from difficulty, but this does not make them any less forbidden. (eats another sandwich)

Jack: I hunger for marriage like you hunger for cucumber sandwiches – yet you would deny me marriage while you eat?

Algernon: While you hunger, you long for marriage. But once it fills your stomach, you will wish you had taken a smaller helping.

Jack: No – like you, even after a full stomach, I will hunger for more.

Algernon: That may be true, but you shall not have cucumber sandwiches when you have already been eating bread and butter.

Jack: What do you mean?

Algernon: Do not ask me – ask your cigarette case.

The cigarette case enters (either carried by lane, or it dances in itself)

Jack: (aside) As the cigarette burns away, so does the visage I’ve worn these many years. How much does he know? How much can I hide? I must not give away too much! (to Algernon) Ah, my lost cigarette case – without it I hardly felt complete! And you had it this whole time.

Algernon holds out cigarette case, Jack takes a small, thin cigarette. He tries to take the case, too, but Algernon whips it away.

Algernon: I did, and I still do. (takes very large thick cigar out of his pocket.) And you will have neither the case, nor the marriage, until you can explain about Cecily.

Throughout this dialogue, Algernon and Jack dance around the cigarette case.

Jack: Cecily?

Algernon: Cecily – from whom this cigarette case was a gift.

Jack: Cecily! My dear Aunt Cecily! My dear, dear Aunt Cecily, who lives at Tunbridge Wells.

Algernon: Your dear, dear Aunt Cecily would call herself “Little Cecily?”

Jack: You would object to an aunt of unusually short stature? There is nothing wrong with being little, and if one is little, one should be free to admit it.

Jack holds his little cigarette, Algernon holds his giant cigar.

Algernon (after a pause): Well, in your case, that is evident. But even given this, I see no reason why any aunt, big or small, would call her nephew Ernest her Dear Uncle Jack.

Jack: My name is Jack.

Algernon pulls out Jack’s Business card.

Algernon: Your name is Ernest.

Jack: Jack!

Algernon: Ernest!

Algernon and Jack circle each other shouting Ernest and Jack. The dance ends. Jack has an interlude:

Jack: Too long I’ve led this double life – from country to town and back again, a different name for each location, all in attempts to hide myself from Them, and now I find myself trapped – I look at the cigarette case and see my reflected face. The face of Ernest. The face of Jack. Neither can escape the surface. Oh Cecily – I do so want a cucumber sandwich.

Algernon: Double lives. Double lives. Oh Ernest, oh Jack. Oh, Algernon. Leading double lives. Living lives. Living Lies. The two phrases – so similar! Oh Ernest, Oh Jack, Oh Algernon. Oh, Bunbury.

Jack: The way I live deceives you – I sound like an Ernest. The way you speak deceives me – you sound like a Dentist. We both create a false impression.

Algernon: And that is exactly what Dentists always do. Oh, dentists. Oh Bunbury.

Jack: Oh, Marriage.

Algernon: Eight bottles of champagne.

Jack: And cucumber sandwiches.

Algernon: Why must we put on these masks?

Jack: When I was a boy, I was adopted by a man. To follow this mans wishes, I have taken his granddaughter as my ward. This is Cecily. She calls me her Dear Uncle Jack. Both of us adopted. Adopted. Adopted. Adopted. And the name Ernest - was adopted.

Algernon: Adopted.

Jack: Adopted.

Algernon: Cucumber sandwiches.

Jack: Adopted. Adopted to escape the duties as guardian. Adopted to feel free. Placed myself in a cage to be free. Freedom in a cage felt better than to be trapped in the open.

Algernon: I too was trapped. I too yearned to feel free.

Jack: I adopted a brother.

Algernon: I adopted a brother.

Jack: His name was Ernest.

Algernon: His name was Bunbury. He lived in the country.

Jack: He lived in the town.

Both: And I visited him to escape.

Jack: I am a fraud.

Algernon: I am a Bunburyist.

Jack: I must shatter this illusion of life.

Algernon: You must shatter eight bottles of champagne.

Jack: Marriage.

Algernon: Marriage.

Jack: I shall drown my lies in eight bottles of champagne.

Algernon: And I shall continue to be saved by Bunbury.

Jack: In marriage, I will not need Ernest. I will not need Bunbury.

Algernon: Then your wife will. Champagne, Bunbury, and cucumber sandwiches.

The door bell rings.

Algernon: Aunt Augusta

Jack: And Gwendolen.

Algernon: I will distract Augusta, and you

Jack: Smash eight bottles of champagne.

Algernon: And cucumber sandwiches.

Lane: Lady Bracknell and Miss Fairfax.

Bracknell hits Algernon with a brick.

Algernon: Good afternoon, Aunt Augusta.

Bracknell hits Algernon with a brick again.

Algernon: Smart!

Gwendolen (slides into Jack’s arms): I am smart.

Jack: You are perfection.

Gwendolen: The only perfection lies in imperfection. Imperfection allows one to grow in so many ways. Don’t you want to… grow? (Jack collapses onto a couch, with Gwendolen on top of him).

Bracknell hits Algernon with a brick.

Algernon: Cucumber sandwiches!

Lane: There are no cucumber sandwiches, and there never were.

Algernon and Lane hum. Bracknell hits Algernon with a brick.

Algernon: I feel great pain – that there are no cucumber sandwiches.

Bracknell smiles and pats Algernon on the head.

Algernon: And it also pains me to say that I will not be able to dine with you tonight – my dear brother Bunbury is ill.

Bracknell raises brick to hit him with it.

Algernon: He is in very, very bad health, and it is unclear if he will live or die!

Bracknell doesn’t hit him with a brick.

Bracknell: He will live or he will die. We will all live, or we will die. There are no cucumber sandwiches, and there never were.

Algernon: Upon the keys of the piano I dance. The expression of life, light and dark. This is the music of life – this will be the music of the reception on Saturday. Without the music, there is no reception, there is no life. There is no champagne. (aside) There is no Bunbury, and there never was.

Jack (aside): There is no Ernest, and there never was.

Algernon takes Bracknell out of the room. Gwendolen sits up on Jack.

Jack: The sands of time quickly fall, each moment drawing nearer to the moment of Lady Bracknell’s return. Time runs fast, and so must I, to take advantage of this brief moment to take -

Gwendolen: If you’re going to take advantage of it, I do wish you’d get on with it. So many times have moments like this slipped away too fast to be noticed, but not too fast tobe noticed by Lady Bracknell.

Jack: I once met you for a first time. Since then, I have met others. But none have I met since I met you that I’ve admired more than when I met you, since I met you for a first time, once.

Gwendolen: I know, you love me, and it is not hard to understand why. And I have loved you ever since I learned that your name was Ernest.

Jack: Ernest?

Gwen: My own Ernest.

Jack: Her own Ernest. My own Ernest. (aside) I adopted the name to feel free. I destroyed the cage to feel free. Do I rebuild the cage? Is it better to be free and Jack, or in a cage, with her? (to Gwendolen) A name is only a label. A symbol. Would you not love me if I were free from the confines of a name? Free from the tyranny of the name “Ernest?”

Gwen: The name Ernest is not tyrannical – it is Divinity. It is Music. The name Ernest produces vibrations – it is Correspondence itself!

Jack: Does not the name Jack produce vibrations?

Gwen: Jack? No, Ernest, Jack does not produce vibrations in the least – and this I can state for certain, as I am a woman who knows a little something about vibrations! And what is ‘Jack’ but another name for ‘John,’ and I pity the woman who is stuck on a John. The only safe name is Ernest.

Jack: Is it better to be free and Jack or in a cage with her? I’d better get in the cage with her now, and throw away the key before she realizes what she’s gotten into. Gwendolen, we must be married at once!

Gwen: Marriage. The ship upon which all long to sail, but which causes so many to become seasick. Which causes so many to disembark once they see another shore. How I long for that opportunity! But how can one marry when it has not even been proposed?

Jack: Proposal. So much uncertainty. So much possibility for disappointment. What to say? What to do? Shall I propose now?

Gwen: Now is the moment to propose – I am here. You are here. Bracknell is not here. My word yes is just waiting for its cue.

Jack: Gwendolen!

Gwen: Do you have anything to say to me?

Jack: You know what I’ve got to say to you.

Gwen: So say it.

Jack (on knees): Will you marry me?

Gwen: Yes.

Jack raises a bottle of champagne to smash, but before he can, Bracknell re-enters and hits him with a brick.

The End

Hey, everybody, it’s Easter! And for me, it’s a happy one. Last night I went to the 9pm Easter Vigil, which didn’t get out till nearly midnight. It was a nice service, although I did get quite drowsy during it - they kept all the lights off (except for some music stand lights for the choir and the readings), and all the readings were read in v-e-r-y s-l-o-w v-o-i-c-e-s. But aside from that it was lovely. Another downside was that it was raining quite heavily off-and-on on the walk to the church, and it was also very windy, so my umbrella was giving me a hard time. But luckily it had stopped raining before I had to hike back to my apartment after it was over.

When I get back around 12:30, I decided to check my e-mails quickly before bed, and I signed on instant messager, and ended up talking with Amalia till almost 4am, and that turned out to be the highlight of the weekend. That conversation is also the basis of the Happy Easter posted above, in case you were wondering why an easter picture is taking place on a beach with a set of drawers on it.

Today for actual easter I’ve just been sitting and enjoying the day, watching more videos on youtube, looking at facebook pictures (now on facebook they let you upload pictures for groups - most likely because I wrote to them demanding it a few weeks ago), and milling about. I didn’t have any chocolate bunnies or eggs, but I did finish off my lemon meringue pie after lunch.

And now I must work on memorization for Naku Tsuru, and finish writing the script for “The Symbolism of Being Earnest” (for my isms project).

Tonight at Naku Tsuru rehearsal I decided that if we really want to get a huge audience, we really have to make this show appeal to the youth market, and the best way to do that is to change the name to something really catchy. My idea:

Nak’s on a Crane. I think it speaks for itself.

I had a pretty sweet day today. My favorite bit was dance class, where we continued to learn Croatian dances, my favorite one of those being the one where the lady holds onto the fellas shoulders, and the fella holds onto the ladies waist, and then they hop-step-step in a circle really fast. It really must be experienced to understand, but it’s one of the most fun things ever.

Tonight I’m ruining my run of perfect-studentia, because I hadn’t realized that “Green Grow the Lilacs” (the play I’m supposed to read for 428 tomorrow) isn’t available online (as everything else we’ve read so far has been), so I won’t be able to read it. But hopefully I’ll be able to take part in the discussion, since according to The Internet, the book for “Oklahoma” follows it pretty well.

In other news, I’m getting excited for “Snakes on a Plane” (in case you hadn’t guessed). Unfortunately it won’t come out until summer, and I don’t know if I can wait that long. How long can a guy wait when there are motherf#@^in’ SNAKES on a motherf#@^in’ PLANE!?

The End

This is Take Two for this post. As a result, it will be far more concise, yet no less brilliant, than the original.

Highlights (of the day, not the popular children’s magazine):

As evidence of my great student skills, I finished my geology lab early, which means that I don’t have to catch up later on in the week. It also meant I was able to go home for a tasty lunch (smoothie, and ham with crackers) before going to costuming, where I turned in the project that I finished before Naku Tsuru rehearsal yesterday (the day BEFORE it was due! Talk about good student skills, why dontcha!) And then, when we got out of costuming early as well, I went to the theatre lounge and discussed musicals, which was quite apropriate, since the class I was waiting for was the musicals 428 class.

In 428, we watched the movie “Girl Crazy,” which was pretty entertaining, although it probably would have been far better when it was new. Some of it was funny, some of it was unintentionally funny. If you’re looking for a good musical movie to watch, I’d suggest looking elsewhere.

Naku Tsuru rehearsal was short and sweet - we learned our samurai entrance, and went over the samurai moves we learned yesterday a few times, and then it was back home for dinner (an actual dinner on a Tuesday? Unheard of!) and remeniscing with Amalia about childhood memories (she challenged me to stump her with shows I watched as a kid, and she was quite impressive - she knew Fred Penner (the reason for the challenge), the Elephant Show, and even the Search for the Wow Wow Wibble Woggle Wazzie Woodle Woo. The only one she that stumped her was “Perfect Strangers.” Insert Balki laugh here.)

And since then, I’ve been wandering the ever-expanding wonder of the internet, especially wikipedia, learning all sorts of interesting things about intersting things. Did you know that Family Matters was originally a spin-off of Perfect Strangers? The More You Know!

Hey, everyone, take a look who’s on the #3 spot for Harry Potter parodies on newgrounds:

That’s right - it’s me! Harry Potter and the End of the Series is on there right below the Potter Puppet Pals!

I’m so close to the P.P.P. that I can run up to them and say “eeeeeeeeee - bother!”

I’m not going to write a long post tonight. Instead, I’m just going to post the lyrics to a song I’ve had running through my head - I don’t know the actual title of it, so I’ll just call it “How Could Anyone Ever Tell You?” It’s a song that I learned at either Youth Convention or Ascend, and it’s meant to be sung in a large group, and you repeat it over and over, thinking about different people each time, including your best friends, your enemies, yourself, your family, and anyone else.

Anyway, here’s how it goes:
“How could anyone ever tell you you are anything less than beautiful?
How could anyone ever tell you you are less than whole?
How could anyone fail to notice that your loving is a miracle?
How deeply you’re connected to my soul.”

I really like that song, and I’ve enjoyed having it in my head all day. And, since I think it sums up pretty well how I’m feeling, I’ll leave this post at that.

Last night I took an hour long bubble bath, during which I though of what I would write about in the blog, and when I got out of the bath, I decided that I was too tired to write it all, and so would postpone it until today, and now that it’s today, I can’t remember what I was going to put in. All that I remember is that it was to be very Deep and Philisophical.

Right now in theater history, we’re looking at the different -isms of the early 20th century and the philisophies behind each one (expressionism, symbolism, futurism, etc) and all of this philosophy has put me into a philosophical mindset, and it got me thinking about The Little Bear Theory of Life (the self-help book I began to write a couple years ago, but abandoned while I wrote the chapter on the Different Planets Theory of Life, which, if true, would prove that the concept of self-help books is worthless and so there’d be no point in writing it, and, if untrue, would prove that that particular self-help book is worthles and so there’d be no point in writing it.) I also started thinking about the philosophies that book contained, and what philisophies I have discovered since then that ought to be added, and thought about re-starting the book as a Simple Book of Philisophies, rather than a self help book. I also thought about other books that I started and then didn’t finish, my favorite one being “The Messiah Complex,” which I’d still like to finish one day. And then I realized I still have to finish the second draft of Kung Fu Space Pirates, despite the fact that I already own a t-shirt, hat, and commemorative tile coast for it.

Going back to Theater History, for class on Friday we read the Eugene O’Neill play “The Hairy Ape,” which is in the expressionism ism. As I was reading it, I kept thinking of sweet visual things that could be done with it, and so earlier today I decided to try my hand at expressionism drawing (where rather than realistic or aesthetically pleasing images, the pictures would be designed to express emotion, and create a strong gut reaction in those viewing them. About halfway through the play I decided that I really don’t like the play enough to put all the work into finishing it considering the vast amounts of work I have to do this weekend and which I have not yet begun. But since I did put a couple hours into drawing the first half, I didn’t want to waste them, and so have put them below:

If you roll your mouse over the pictures, a little box should pop up and explain what bit of the play each one represents. (this may only work in internet explorer)

That’s as far as I got with the pictures. After that point, in the play, Yank vows to get revenge against Mildred for insulting him, and he goes to the High Class part of town and tries to fight people, but they ignore him, until he ends up making one man miss his bus, and for this he is arrested. While in his jail cell he hears about the International Workers of the World, and they sound very violent, so when he gets out he goes to join in so he can blow up the steel company that Mildred’s dad owns, but the IWW think he’s a spy for the government, and so they kick him out and call him a hairy ape as well. He then goes to the zoo after closing time and sees the real hairy ape, and sets it free, but when the ape gets out of his cage, he grabs Yank and squeezes him so hard that it pretty well crushes him, and then throws him into the ape cage, where he dies. Indeed, most of these ism plays aren’t very cheery. But they make for some interesting stylistic things, which is what inspired the drawings.

In other news, I’ve been sitting around all day exploring the Internet. I found a few of the ol’ Mello-Aires / Play Pro kids on myspace, and several of them now have kids of their own. I also continued to discover thrilling shows on youtube - so far today I’ve watched the Twilight Zone, Muppet Babies, and Curb your Enthusiasm. Yay! And now I declare this post Entirely Long Enough, and so will end it…. now.

Today my final package arrived from UPS, and so now I’ve gone the entire week with a new package for me every other day. Sweet. And now I can look at my mountain of stuff - xootr, nathanieljones.com shirt, kung fu space pirates shirt, hat, and tile coaster (which is actually coaster sized - I had thought it’d be the size of tile that you use to set a pot down on. Oh well.

It’s been another busy week, although I did get a night off of rehearsal last night. I used the opportunity to go have an Evening on the Town by walking downtown (walking instead of riding the xootr because I don’t yet trust myself on the steep hills between my apartment and downtown) and taking a bus up to Bellis Fair to visit Old Country Buffet - I normally only go to OCB when I happen to be walking by and I’m hungry, but I took this special trip because Wednesday nights are the one night of the week that they serve steak, salmon, shrimp, and orange chicken all at once. So I went and had a mighty feast of all of these things, and afterwards walked around the mall three times to get some excercise in after such a big meal, and then I went to value village (where I didn’t get anything), and then back to the mall again to pick up a battery for my mp3 player.

At this point in writing, I notice that I am tired, and it is 12:20, and I should get to sleep, and so rather than continue writing, I will leave you with a couple pictures of me modeling my new Kung Fu Space Pirates gear:

I call this blog post: “Wheeeeee!” because for the past few days, my life has been a non-stop whirlind of adventure.

To catch up those who did not read the last post, this weekend was imoviefest time, and so most of the day Saturday, Sunday, and from 9pm-1:30am last night, my life has been devoted to the movie “More Beans for Me,” which is now the Feature of the Day on NathanielJones.com.

Another bit of excitement was the arrival yesterday of the ever-awaited xootr scooter, which arrived via UPS three minutes after I had left for class. But, after that class I had a half hour before the start of the class after, and so I hopped on a bus to my apartment, ripped open the box, and rode my new scooter back to campus. It was a rough go at the start - before I had even gotten off of Bill McDonald (the street where I live) I lost my balance and fell face first into a blackberry bush, giving myself a nice little 4-line slash by my eye, and bloodied my knee a bit. But after that fall, and the fall into the rock barrier behind Fairhaven, I was able to zip along to campus without incident, and even with my slow start and frequent stops, it took me ten minutes less on scooter than it does on foot. Sweet. And after riding back and forth from my apartment to campus three times, I’m starting to get the hang of it - it’s more difficult than my skateboard with a stick, on account of it having half as many wheels, and I actually have to steer it as opposed to holding on to a stick and leaning this way and that, but even that one took a while to learn how to use really well.

Now here’s some pictures of me and my scooter goodness:

On each of the pictures I took, it either cut off my head, or the bottom of the scooter, so this is a photoshopped together picture with everything included.

Here I am standing on my scooter - just use your imagination and pretend (Only Make Believe) that you can see it.

And one of my Impressive Scar:

Today has been quite busy (it’s my 9-9 Tuesday), but I wasn’t called to rehearsal until 7, so I had time to spend an hour at home and update this nutty blog o’ mine. And now I’m going to try on my NathanielJones.com t-shirt, which just arrived in the mail, get back on my scooter, and zip back up to campus.

Ciao! (said in Eddy Izzard voice)

Welcome to the Weekend, folks. I’m sure it must be nice for all you out there, but it is not such a good one for me, unfortunately. Last night I went to Crystal’s Coconut Bangers Ball party, and on the walk home at 3:30 in the morning, I came across a rather unfortunate thing: a buick that enjoyed hitting me in the side with its fender.

I’ve always prided myself on my ability to not be hit by cars, but I was a little off my game, and so Mr. Buick and Mr. Thigh became well aquainted despite my best efforts to keep them apart (ahh, young love), and before you know it, I was flying through the air like a rag doll and hit my head against the side of Jack and the Bean Stop (a small coffee place on the way from Crystal’s to my place). I was a bit stunned. I turned my head (bad call) to see the buick pull back over the curb, and continue driving (very poorly) down Samish. Due to the alcohol content of my blood, it was running quite quickly from the gash in my head, and what I was told later was that I probably wouldn’t have survived if an ambulance hadn’t happened to be passing by at just that moment after a false alarm at a party a few blocks away. They were able to get me to the hospital in time to stop the bleeding, and they got the broken arms in casts and the broken pelvis in something that looks like a giant diaper, and now I struggle to type this account on the slow computer they have set up for me here. Ouchies all over. As I sit here typing these I can’t help but take a look at the silver linings of my unfortunate situation, for it is true that things are not as bad as they could be. Things would have been far worse if the buick had hit my at a slightly different angle and severed my spine, or if the ambulance hadn’t arrived in time, and above all else, it would be far, far worse if any of this story were true - but thankfully, it is nothing more than a happy april fools day.

All hoaxes aside, this is a very grand weekend. But before the weekend began, there was a little bit of he-larious mix-up on Thursday which must be blogged about for posterity. You see, on Thursdays I have Costuming and I have the Musical Theatre 428 right after the other. But since I don’t know my schedule yet, and I didn’t double check ahead of time, I had in my head that Musical Theatre came before Costuming, and so when it was time for class, I went to the PAC. There in the lounge I found a group of people talking about Show Boat - as I would expect from people in a class that had just read Show Boat the night before. When it was class time, these people went up to 399 (where Musical Theatre is held), and there was Jim (the Musical Theatre professor), and he said hello as I came in and sat down, and I knew all the people in the class, so I sat down and took out my notebook, and got ready for class to start. When it did start, Jim said that he would be doing an example of the presentations that people would be starting that day, which was a shock to me because I hadn’t heard anything about presentations, and certainly didn’t have one prepared. I took out my syllabus (for 428) and looked over it trying to figure out what he was talking about - and then Nick, who was sitting next to me, noticed me looking at the syllabus for 428, and told me that the reason for my confusion was because this was 461, and not 428. It took a few minutes to register in my head what had gone wrong, and by the time I realized that I was supposed to be in Costuming at that exact moment, Jim had already started his presentation. So I sat, since it would have caused a great disruption if I got up and left in the middle of it, and I waited. All was going well, until towards the end of his presentation, Jim came to the part where he took everyone in the class up individually and said something to them in private. As he went down the line, getting closer and closer to me, I became quite nervous - should I stand up? Should I try and escape out while he’s talking to someone else? I decided to stay sitting, thinking that Jim must know that I’m not supposed to be in the class, and he’d probably just pass over me and go to the next person - but as it turned out, he hadn’t realized I wasn’t in the class, so he told me to come up, and I made a gesture to say “go on to the next person,” but he gestured for me to come up again, and so I did, and he whispered in my ear, and I whispered back that I wasn’t actually in the class, and was there due to a he-larious mix up, and he laughed, and I sat back down and waited till his presentation was over, and I snuck over to Costuming, where I was a half hour late.

Friday was lovely, and it is really what this blog post is about (despite what the pile of writing already may suggest). Those of you who have read this blog for more than a few days will no doubt recall the illustrated post which described the sad tale of me being stood up for ice cream; well, that saga returned for Friday. This time ’round, she asked me out to ice cream as a precurser to Crystal’s Coconut Banger’s Ball, and I said yes, and so after Naku Tsuru rehearsal and a shower, I went down to Mallard’s Ice Cream for the first time to meet Jena. She was there waiting for me, and we both ordered a cone (I got coconut, she got a fruit of some sort), and we took them with us on the road to Crystal’s. Along the way we talked about this-and-that, she stopped to talk to some friends of hers outside a bar, we were hit by a water balloon, and took some wrong turns until we made it to Crystal’s. When we got there it was quite crowded. I took off my coat, opened the bottle of wine I brought, poured a glass for Jena and myself, and we both went and mingled about the party - she stuck mostly to the group of guys that she knew, and I stuck mostly to the dance floor with the people I knew. Except for when I would go over to the Jena Guy Group, we didn’t really spend much time at all together (except when I kept her company while she was hiding downstairs after breaking a trunk), and there’s really nothing else to say for now about that side of the evening - but that’s OK, because that’s not what this blog post is about anyway.

This blog post is about the party as a whole, and the larger picture of the role of Chivalry and Honor in the setting of a Drunken Make-Out Party. Now, I’ve been to theatre parties before, and there is generally some level of making out involved at all of them. Some of the parties I’ve been to have including quite a bit of making out indeed, but the Coconut Bangers Ball blew all of them out of the water. I think it all began when Megan Jackson discovered that she has the power to make anyone make out with anyone she wants. This discovery led to a level of drunken making out that I had never seen before, and I found myself in a realm completely foreign to me. I always picture myself as a chivalrous fellow, who treats people with honor and respect, and behaves as a gentleman when ladies are present - and so I was completely lost as to what to do when every lady around me was making out with every other lady and fellow around me.

There was one fellow that bothered me more than all of the others - I do not know who he was, for I had never seen him before, but it seemed that every time I was dancing with someone, he would walk up behind her and pull her away and dance with her somewhere else, and the next time I saw them, he’d be making out with her. I wasn’t really keeping track, but it must have happened at least 3 or 4 times. What’s a guy to do in a situation like this? I felt like I ought to have had a slapping glove so I could challenge him to a duel or something. At one point when he started pulling yet another lady away, I put on my toughy voice and said “Hey buster - this is my dance,” and he said something else that I don’t remember, and then she said “now boys, don’t you fight over me” and walked away from both of us. The only thing that would have made it more 40s would be if it had been black and white (and if there weren’t drunk college girls making out with each other on all sides).

Can someone enlighten me as to how I should behave at a drunken make-out party? I’m really utterly clueless, and would be grateful to have some idea of what to do next time I’m in a situation such as this.

Now, so as not to appear to be misrepresenting myself, I did kiss a few people, and made out with one, and had my ear pleasured in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined possible, but compared to many of the fellers around me, my party experience was terribly tame. But I had a won’erful time anyway, despite the moments of lonesome lips, and despite that people drank my entire giant bottle of wine after I had only had two glasses of it (again). As I arrived home at around 3:30, I looked back fondly at the evening, and I fell asleep with a smile upon my little face.

I awoke at 10:15 this morning, far earlier than I ought to have, for at 11 it would be time to begin preperations for the 2006 imoviefest. I had first met my team members the afternoon before, when we had started to flesh out a story to turn into a movie. This morning we started out by finishing figuring out plot details, and writing the script - about a student who is locked in the library mere hours before his big Final Exam, and in order to escape he must seek the help of a hobo with an incredible love of beans, an old-timey man with a great hatred of communists, and a pirate with a magic can opener, so that he can make it to his final on time, and learn the lessons of the night to ace the final. We started filming it this evening, but due to the library kicking us out at 5:30 instead of 6:00 (as we had planned), we only got the first few little bit and the Final Exam scene filmed, so we’ll have a lot to do tomorrow. It should be a lovely little movie, and you should all come see it on the big screen, when I find out when the screening will be.

After filming, I played Cranium with new-roomie Peter (from mountaineers) (who is also playing the student in the imoviefest movie) and a couple of his friends, and then I came in here to get directions to Becca’s for her party tonight, but then decided against going, for it is 2.5 miles away, and while I didn’t mind the 1.8 mile walk from Crystals at 3:30, I didn’t think I’d be up for the longer walk tonight, so I’m staying in, and taking the opportunity to fill you in on my past few days. Hope you enjoyed it, and congratulations on getting all the way to the end.