gah MSN Spaces!

My apologies to everyone who's reads this blog and doesn't have myspace. This site has been very uncooperative lately, so I haven't been posting blogs on here. Now that I can, I'll throw all my August blogs here at once... so look out, here's a lot of words!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 the PBP finally pays off (literally) Current mood: happy Hello again Well, the biggest news is as of today, after working with the PBP for over two months, and having less than a week left, I'm finally getting paid for my PBP work! w00t! Sure, it's not very much, but it's definitely nice to actually get money for my theatre work. Also, this year, I won't have to put a lot of money towards a big college-bound shopping trip (aka no need for a new microwave, fridge, etc). Yesterday and today have been the eye of the storm, because it's been two days where there's nothing going on with G&D. Some people went to the Cities and some stayed up here, but everyone will be able to rest. On Sunday, everyone was running low, especially Steve's voice. Even Xavier, who's an awesome singer, was getting a sore voice. Also, there's a certain cast member that is using this two-day break to take care of some business. I wish her the best of luck with that. The shows themselves have been going well. On Saturday's show, during the crapshooter's dance, my hand and Steve's hand collided during a stage punch, and two things immediately came about. 1) an "extremely realistic" sound 2) an experience where we didn't have to act out pain. The hand is doing pretty well now; I just hope it's back to normal by the time of strike. Sunday's matinee was, like I told other cast members, the best matinee I've worked/been in for my 10 years of theatre. I've also been able to hang out with the cast some, including random nights of hanging out and poker. As for these two days, it's definitely been rejuvinating. You don't even have to guess that I've been sleeping in. Yesterday, I got to see JBB for the first time in over a year, and we also hung out with Erin. Like I've told people, Curses is the best game ever. *bock bock* Well, I hope I can get some stuff done here today. A friend of mine from ND may be coming to the show tomorrow, so that'll be sweet. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. TTYL, take care and God bless. ~Matt

Thursday, August 10, 2006 Guys & Dolls greetings all! okay, I'm quite tired, and I should be heading to bed soon, so I'll make this short. G&D opened tonight, and it was pretty awesome. It's amazing what can come together in 8 days. I wish I could have hung out with the cast more tonight after the show, but when the cast goes to bars (not counting the stuff at Bridget's), I take the cue to duck out. Now that we're in performance mode, we have all day off except for performances, production photos, etc, so now I hope I can hang out with the cast more than just eating together, especially some people that I haven't hung out with much, like Kristen and Louisa. When I went to Bridget's tonight after the show, I ran into Dixie, which is completely unexpected. *Clarification* Dixie is a friend of mine from the Cities that knew my neighbor, who knew her through marching band. Yeah, she came up with her roommate to see Louisa, and happened to see my name in the program as well. It definitely took me by surprise. Also, Kim (a Havanna dancer/Mission Band member), who works at Bridget's, gave me free food because "you've been working hard and you're hungry." It's the little things that really make me smile when it comes to theatre and such. Sure, I may be getting a goose egg for wages, and no bio in the program, but I love working with the people and the environment. Well, I'm starting to fall asleep while typing this, so I'm off. If you haven't seen the show, you should definitely try because it's awesome! God bless. ~Matt

Tuesday, August 08, 2006 summer has really just been flying by Current mood: blank when I saw my last blog was last Tuesday, I was like "holy crap. this week has gone by so fast"... what's awesome about it is that I've always been having something to do, so I'm not bored and if I'm not at some rehearsal, there's always something I can get involved with what's sucky about it is that I've always been having something to do, so not counting Chris, Erik, and Megann (who called me up today and we all went to Diamond Point for some water frisbee), the only people I've seen for the past week have been my parents (and to put in prospective, the longest time period I've spent with my parents was going to church and then lunch with my mom--aka 2 hours or so) and the Drawer Boy and Guys and Dolls casts. don't get me wrong, it's awesome hanging out with people like Sherwin, Steve, Xavier, Gloria, and Michael, and acting/singing/dancing/working with the show has been awesome and definitely a learning experience. on the other hand, I felt a little embarassed today by the fact that I've put off working on the film since G&D started, because the largest breaks I've been getting all day have been dinner breaks... which means showering (since the afternoons have been the most dancing/sweating), eating, looking over choreography/music, and of course, getting to the space with enough time to warm up/stretch/change shoes/etc. wow, that last whole part was a lot of rambling. I guess I'm using my blog to ramble, because I don't have the time to have long rambling sessions with people recently. okay, I have this thought developing in my mind, and I've having trouble writing it down. in fact, this is my third attempt at typing it out in this blog... basically it was the fact that working with the PBP every year has been giving me more and more glimpses of the real world... well, as much of the real world as what you can achieve with theatre people. :-P (and since I'm also a theatre person, I can say things like that) last night, for example, I hung with some people from the cast, and it was definitely a new experience for me. I remember first working with the PBP and how I was off in my own little world, while working with other people for however many hours a day. now, I'm seeing what's happening in the dorms, and it's a little different from what I would have imagined it a few years ago. it's odd how much you can change in a year. college has shown me a larger world than that of Bemidji and I would like to think that I'm starting to grow into this world, and that I'm starting to become a better person. on the other hand, people seem to rely on their age way too much. I mean, come on, it's a number. sure, numbers create order, and order is nice, but there are things that can't be expressed in some linear pattern (and I would like to hope this means something coming from a math student). for example, just because someone is older or younger than you doesn't mean that they are smarter/dumber, more/less mature, or anything else like that. I've known people who are still underclassmen in high school who know what's going on and know what matters in life. on the other hand, I've known people who are college/post-college but just have their mind/motivation/resources set on the wrong things. another thought that just came to mind (but it hasn't been the first time) is the fact that your first impression of someone is probably how you'll view them for the rest of your life. there have been very few people that I now think of differently than my first impression of them. more often than that, I had some first impression when I knew as a person, but then I got to know them as a friend, and the first impression went away. either that or I would meet someone, and then see them months/a year later, and they changed. however, these cases are few and far between. my mom always thinks of Chris M as the kid with a little too much Valentine's candy at my birthday partly like 6 years ago. my life has been odd lately. before a performance of Drawer Boy, Kari (the prop master) casually asked me how I was, and I honestly couldn't answer. my mind feels like it just turns blank and no real emotions have residence. like right now, i'm not sure what I am. then again, a few of these times, I've just been too tired to be anything else, as is in the case right now. on the other hand, there have been performances (the majority of them being Drawer Boy) where my mind just turns on auto-pilot and I'm just blah. I'm not sure what has been causing this lately, but I have a possibility. it feels really dumb, but it feels like when I'm hanging with certain cast people, I let one person affect me way too much. granted, I love when people make me laugh and smile (especially things like Matt E being goofy or having little spats with Theresa), but I shouldn't let any one person affect me as much as it has been lately. I think it's the fact that this person hasn't been behaving one exact way. Maybe it's one thing, maybe it's another... but I've been finding myself looking on for more. Not sure why... I think I should look into tracking down an old friend of mine from high school. it's been a few years and I've been wondering how she's doing. well, I should get going. I have a very long day tomorrow, although fortunately, I don't have to be at the theater until 10, instead of 8:30. even still, I need to give my voice/body/eyes rest. I know that this blog was a lot of rambling. I don't expect comments. I don't expect people to treat me differently. This is just me saying "here I am" and that this is where I'm at right now. I wish everyone good health, prospects, and friendships. ~Matt P.S. I learned from Anthony, a friend of mine from college, that his mother passed away early Sunday morning from cancer. if you could send some prayers to him and his sister, that'd be greatly appreciated.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006 Paul Bunyan Playhouse: making triple threats since yesterday Current mood: happy and tired... I love musicals! Hello again, I just felt like stopping in and making a quick blog. Yesterday and today have been all Guys & Dolls rehearsals (which has been 4 huge blocks of dancing, 1 big block of singing), and it's been pretty awesome... well, now that's it not so crazy hot as it was yesterday. The dance studio we're working in has no A/C, is on the second-floor, and is pretty small... add a group of dancing people and you'll definitely be more than breaking a sweat. Oh, and the ceiling is like a foot taller than me, so at least 3/4ths of the guys need to make sure not to break ceiling tiles with our hands/heads. I know that based on my last blog or two, this would be me complaining, but I'm writing it because it's funny that a dance studio would only have a 7' ceiling. Oh, and a "triple threat" (see title) is a person that can sing, act, and dance, and we've all definitely been becoming stronger triple threats. Matt E and Bill are also coming in from being chorus members rather than just crew, which is pretty awesome. There were times today I had to hold back laughter because I was dancing next to Matt (which was funny because his eyes were always so huge). I'd like to hope that I'm showing good dancing skills, because I was picked as a Havanna (Cuban/swing/tango/afro-Carribean) dancer, and I was even put in the "front row" for the Havanna stuff as well as "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat". Now, this may not sound like much, but I've always been put upstage when it comes to theatre stuff because of my height. Oh, and my Havanna partner is Jessie Ladig, who is an incredible dancer. Plus, we've worked together with high school stuff, so it's pretty awesome. Well, I'm going to stop rambling, play some Battlefront II (let's call it a belated graduation gift), and then get a good night's sleep before more fun in the dance studio. Okay, this is the point where I say that everyone should come to see Guys & Dolls when we're on stage (well, you all should). The play performs Aug 9-19 (but not on the 14th and 15th), and all the info you should need is available at http://www.paulbunyanplayhouse.com. If not, just email me and I'll let you know everything you need/want to know. Hope everyone is doing well since I "talked" to you last. (Beth, thanks for the blog comments. It's nice to have little comments when I check in.) Talk to you all later, take care and God bless! ~Matt