OPH (Other People's Homecoming)

This has been a really wonderful weekend. (I've had several of those recently, and hope to bring the blog up-to-date on a least some of them sometime soon).

I spent Friday afternoon and evening driving home from Kentucky. The trip was pretty pedestrian with the exception of the magnificent fall colors and the discovery that there is a Chic-Fil-A merely a mile or so off of my normal route, in New Albany, IN.

Friday evening (which turned too quickly into Saturday morning) was spent with MU fans at a friend's house, drinking, playing games and generally having a fun time. I knew most of the people there, and was very pleased to make some new friends, too. Apparently, Tracy also discovered that there are a number of gay men, straight women, and gay women willing to take me if she ever abandons ship. It appears I still have some work to do with the straight man demographic.

Saturday evening found us at the CMU game in Fayette, seated next to the school President (very passionate about the game) and the new Athletic Director. (I have known Dick for a while, as he is the husbsand of Tracy's boss. He's pretty funny. At CMU's homecoming, shortly after he was hired, he told me "I'm pretty sure I've got most of the NAIA regs down . . . one of the guys from '85 told me he still has a year of eligibility left, so I'm going to let him play tomorrow . . " CMU played well, but lost. Afterwards, we went to the DQ in Fayette, which was having a 50%-off-of-everything-customer-appreciation sale. We ate big. We also saw a lot of kids from the school, and it made me glad that I had done the operetta the last couple of summers so that I would know so many of them.

This morning was church, and Keith gave what I though was a really good sermon, including telling members of the church to quit living in debt. It was pretty powerful. After that, Mom and Dad took us to lunch, and we had a good time. To end the afternoon, Tracy and I went grocery shopping and have had a tasty dinner with a lot of vegetables. It's just been a very enjoyable, relatively social time.

So, I hope all of my MU friends had a great weekend, despite the loss, and I hope all of my KC improv friends (and Jill Bernard) had a great time at the Roving Imp's Impfest -- I'm sorry we couldn't be there, but I'm sure it was great.

Where You Should Be Saturday

Saturday night I will be competing in an improv show in Kansas City: Improv Thunderdome. Come to it, and vote for my team, Team No. Nine. Do it because you like me, or do it because we are awesome. Either reason counts.

Both my team and the entire show should be excellent. I get to play with Trish Berrong (who introduced me to good improv 15 years ago), Nick Rigoli (a dear and funny friend from ComedyCity who has a unique stage presence and an understanding of language that will blow you away) and Erik Johnson (who has a greater understanding of performance than I could ever hope to know). The other two teams each have players that would be worth seeing in any context, but particularly in this competitive form.

So, come see us. Good times. Full info below

IMPROV THUNDERDOME.

SEASON FOUR, ROUND THREE

Presented by PresentMagazine.com

Season four journeys BEYOND Thunderdome. Thirty-six local improvisers were selected to participate in a random draft to create nine teams of four. Below are the results and schedule.

ROUND #3 MATCH UP:

KANSAS CITY PET SHOP

(Jeremy Danner, Bob Dusin, Sean Hogge & Jim Sturgill)
vs.
TEAM NUMBER NINE

(Trish Berrong, Erik Johnson, Steve Jones & Nick Rigoli)
vs.
TEMPORARY SANITY

(Jared Brustad, Rob Grabowski, Wade Meredith & Jessica Robins)

Westport Coffeehouse Theater, 4010 Pennsylvania

8pm (Doors open at 7:30pm)

Tickets are $10.00

Call 913-375-5168 for reservation

Trip to Tulsa

Tracy and I are headed to Tulsa and I'm trying to post pictures. Feel free to follow along at http://www.twitter.com/srjones32 .