Since starting improv, I’ve been approached a couple of times to audition for acting roles. I’ve always ignored them. I’m not sure why I’m reluctant to go. I don’t have any formal acting training. All of my training is in improv, which is different in many ways. Anyway, I got a really nice invitation to audition. This time it’s more personal, and I’m intrigued by the idea. I think I’m gonna try out for it:

Hi Kevin,
I originally tried to contact you about needing some improv/sketch players
to act out some comic vignettes for my educational video on Canadian
government. The game-plan has changed, and at the moment I’m not considering
using “comic vignettes,” but i am looking for two “hosts” for the video.
These are payed jobs. I’ve seen you perform at the Staircaase, and I would
really love for you to consider trying out for this part. I need a male and
a female, both young, high energy, eloquent readers/speakers. You will need
to read (from memory, or from teleprompter) the script (not really any room
for adlib) on camera, hot lights, etc. If you are interested, reply, and we
can set up a time to meet.

Jen wanted pasta with Alfredo sauce, so I looked it up on the web. Seems like the recipe is mainly heavy cream, butter, egg yolks, olive oil and grated cheese. Oh yeah… there’s a touch of salt and nutmeg in there too. I think I’d be too guilty to make something like that, knowing that one meal of it would stop my heart instantly. But it’s damn good, I must admit. So, I compromised by buying some pre-made stuff in a jar. This was not necessarily because the pre-made stuff is less death-inducing, but mainly because I won’t know exactly what’s in it. It was very delicious, when mixed with fetuccini and sauted chicken (I cooked the chicken with white wine, olive oil and garlic). Sadly, I believe I’m addicted. So, in the future, you’ll recognize me as being a) fat; b) dead from coronary failure.

Well, we tried to do a Saturday Night Jive show last night, but there wasn’t enough of an audience to make it worthwhile. To make matters worse, there were barely enough cast members present to perform. The problem is that KPR doesn’t have time to produce this show in addition to all the other stuff he’s doing. He’s asked me to produce the show, but I’m sure that I won’t do much better because of my own time constraints. I really don’t want to take on another job if I don’t think I can do it well. Anyway, all of this is a bit depressing because I know it can be a great show.

Today I had a photo shoot with a high school basketball team. We wanted to shoot these photos at the end of the school year in the gym, which would have made a lot of sense. But, the coach couldn’t arrange it. So, we ended up at Sam Lawrence Park, which is on the mountain, overlooking the city. I was nervous about shooting these because the only time he could get everyone together was at 3:30 in the afternoon, meaning ugly afternoon light. But, since there was no choice, I agreed to the shoot. Because of the time of day, the sky in the background turned out plain and boring white. I was feeling pretty meh about the photos. Anyway, before I left, I shot a few underexposed photos of the sky in hopes of bringing out some of the blue and the clouds. I then processed these in Capture One to really emphasize the color. I’m really glad I did, because it was pretty easy to punch them into the group photos, replacing the white skies. Normally, I don’t like doing this kind of manip, because it’s messing with nature a bit more than I’m comfortable with. But, in this case, I was desperate. It really makes a big difference, I think.

I’m pretty satisfied with Friday. I woke up early and started work on fixing a few customer computers. I got them all taken care of by noon, and called customers to pick them up. Everyone got their machines and paid for them by 2PM. Mmmmmmm efficient. Then we went shopping for a few things. Fake blood was on the shopping list, as was a new alarm clock for Jen. We got the blood. I also stopped to buy Aqua di Gio cologne from this store at the Centre Mall. I’m not sure how they do it, but the big bottle of cologne is cheaper than the small bottle at all other stores I’ve checked. I’m glad to have the stuff again. I ran out of it a long time ago, and was trying to make do with tiny tester bottles of the stuff. I’m afraid to admit it, because it makes me sound like a superficial ass, but I feel more complete with this stuff on.

After getting home and having some dinner (rosemary sauteed chicken breast on penne with parmesan tomato sauce), I helped Jen take a few photos. It was cool working as an assistant, and an interesting perspective on her artistic process.

In the evening, I went to see Oddacity. I ended up doing lights and sound for the show, because the regular guy couldn’t make it. It was kinda fun. After the show, we went for drinks at the Irish pub, Slainte. For some reason, I was in the mood for a beer, so that was the perfect way to end the day. :nod:

Not much to report today. I saw I, Robot last night and enjoyed it very much. There weren’t any dull moments, that’s for sure. It wasn’t brilliant, by any stretch, but it sure was fun. I think my favorite part was the scene when the demolition robot destroys the house with Will Smith in it. Very cool.

I spent today driving around a lot. I was in North York to take boring pictures of broken office equipment for an insurance report. I was there for about 10 minutes and then came back to Hamilton for another appointment. I had to repair someone’s printer by… wait for it… turning it off and then on again. The girl was very embarassed to have called me to her office for that.

I also checked out a place that makes big prints. I can get prints up to 44 inches wide, and to almost any length. I’m gonna get some big ones for my show in October.

The other fun news is that I managed to clean off my computer desktop completely, thanks to a cool toy called Y’zDock that Manyk suggested to me. It’s just like the dock on the Macintosh. You can drag icons into it. It disappears when it’s not needed, and pops up when you move the mouse to the top of the screen. The icons magically grow when you roll the mouse over them. Basically I was obsessed for a few days with cleaning everything off of my desktop and putting only the necessary things in the dock. Now it looks like this. Yummy.