Yesterday, Vader (my dog) and I left Indianapolis around noon Eastern time. We stopped briefly at the library to get what turned out to be a boring audiobook. I’m actually still in the middle of listening to Dune by Frank Herbert (and it’s AWESOME!) but it’s on cassette and I wanted to take the good car this time, and it only has a CD player. The plan was to drive up to Milwaukee, stop at Lynn’s house (my mother-in-law), drop off Vader and then head off to the gig at the Milwaukee Zoo. Unfortunately, leaving later than we should have (my fault, not Vader’s), coupled with unusually bad traffic in Chicago (we lost an hour), meant that we had to drive straight to the Zoo, and Vader had to wait in the car for me while I did the gig. For lunch I had packed a sandwich, some blueberries (that I got on Saturday when I performed at one of the Indianapolis Farmer’s Markets), some carrots and two cookies. Good thing too, since there was not time to stop for dinner before the gig.
Wed 12 Jul 2006
Life on the Road… an Over-Detailed Snapshot for the REALLY Curious
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Tue 11 Jul 2006
I Am SO Famous
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Mark Hayward in the media once again.
Check out www.intakeweekly.com/partycrasher/ and click on the July 7th gallery.
Mon 10 Jul 2006
Dogs, Deer, Soccer and Juggling
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My dog loves to chase deer. Sometimes it has been a bit of a problem. Today on our walk in a forested area he chased one right AT me. It passed within 8 feet of me. My thought process went something like, “Oh here comes Vader (he’s about the same color as deer)… wow, he’s going really fast… wow, he’s bigger than usual… HOLY CRAP! THAT’S NOT MY DOG!” About a minute later Vader trotted up very intently, and I managed to convince him that he had already lost his prey.
Final game of the World Cup today. Holy head-butt Batman! That was nasty.
A bunch of the yo-yo guys came to juggling practice today, so no surprise, I didn’t juggle much. As soon as anyone starts thowing a top around I’m done with whatever I was doing. Tops are SO awesome.
Fri 7 Jul 2006
I Love the Audiobooks!
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If you spend a lot of time in the car, or on the train or any place like that, audiobooks are the best. I’m currently “reading” Dune by Frank Herbert, and other than having to stop twice at the restroom, my six-hour drive today went by in a flash.
Go, Muad’Dib go!
(Of course, since I’m actually listening to the book and not really reading it, I had to look up the spelling of Muad’Dib online.)
Wed 5 Jul 2006
Fireworks Are Awesome
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This was a good day. Took Vader to the dog park in Madison with my Mom and Brother, had some delicious food, hung out with some family friends, made some more food, ate it, had an awesome birthday cake in the shape of a giant beetle with chocolate Twizzlers for legs, and went to the fireworks at Elver Park. I love the fireworks shows on the 4th. All the booming and whirring and whistling. It’s great.
Mon 3 Jul 2006
Off to Madison
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Today will be my last day of Summerfest for this year. Last night Marcus Monroe had a barbeque at his house. It was a lot of fun. They even surprised me with a birthday cake. Andrew and Wayne were there and Andrew was in his full glory. He was hilarious, and at times it was like we were watching the Andrew show.
After my shows at Summerfest today, Vader and I head off to Madison for a few days since my brother Kent and his new fiancee Lissa are in town. I’m really looking forward to it.
Sat 1 Jul 2006
It’s My Birthday!
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Yup, you heard it right… today is my birthday. I am going to celebrate in my traditional fashion by working at Summerfest, and then having a little party with some of my family. It’s going to be fun.
For a few years I was bringing b-day treats to the people I work with at Summerfest, but that turned out to not be as fun as I had hoped, so I stopped doing it.
Tue 27 Jun 2006
Auditions Are Wierd
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It’s very strange to drive 200 miles to perform an 8 minute, boiled-down version of your show, for no pay, in front of a panel of six people who don’t want to react and/or are bored. I did the Center East Showcase audition today in Skokie IL, and with the exception of one lady, the judges were pretty stone-faced. I actually had to point at, and specifically address, a couple of them to get them to react to some of the things I said. And the worst part about it is that there is no way to know how I did until they announce who got through. It’ll be worth it if I do make it though. Last time I performed at the showcase I got a LOT of work out of it. We’ll see what happens.
Mon 26 Jun 2006
There is a new show on NBC called America’s Got Talent. I am very happy to have variety arts on TV, but there are some real problems with America’s Got Talent.
I’ll warn you now… this is a pretty massive rant.