Fall-se Hopes

Fall is my favorite season hands down. The crisp smells of leaves and fireplaces make me giddy. In fact, when I was walking outside today I caught myself grinning like an idiot. I even let a little verbal "Oh!" escape my throat, after getting a particularly perfect whiff, before I could stop myself. Thank God I was the only one within earshot.

The sense of smell is so powerful. It's pretty well known that smells have a way of transporting us back to certain memories. I had a rather vivid moment the other day while sitting in Starbucks. I was killing time reading and enjoying a yummy Pumpkin Spice latte, while Rufus Wainwright sang over the speakers. Suddenly, a strange feeling washed over me. I felt exactly as I did 3 years ago when I moved here, when I would go down the street to my then neighborhood Starbucks to get a Pumpkin Spice latte while listening to Rufus Wainwright. At that time I was feeling lonely because I had just moved here, but also excited for what the future held. It really made me realize how much time has passed and how I've grown. It was really cool! I wanted the feeling to last, so I kept staring at a certain spot on the chair in front of me, until it faded about a minute later - the feeling, not the chair.

It made me wonder if we could use our senses to travel through time. I really thought I was on to something until I remembered a little movie called "Somewhere in Time." For those of you who don't know it, please do us all a favor and Netflix* it. SIT is a 1980 time travel romance, and it's just ridiculous in the best way. It was filmed on location at and around the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI. This made me feel extra cool as a kid because my family would go there in the summers, so I pretty much felt like I owned the movie.

The plot is basically this: in 1972, Christopher Reeve's character, Richard, is approached by an elderly woman who places a pocket watch in his hand while pleading with him to "come back" to her. Cut to eight years later, Reeve visits the Grand Hotel and is captivated by a photograph of a mysterious, beautiful young woman. Reeve discovers that she is Jane Seymour's character, Elise, a famous early 20th-century stage actress. As the mystery unfolds, he learns that she was the elderly woman who gave him the pocket watch.

Reeve is obsessed! He must go back in time to find her! So, of course, he learns about auto-suggestive time travel from an old college professor of his. To accomplish this feat of self-hypnosis, he must remove all things from sight that are related to the current time. After a few tries, his absolute faith allows him to journey back through time. He drifts off to sleep and awakens in the year 1912. The next 80 minutes are pure love story,

Spoiler alert!! Don't read the italics if you haven't seen the movie and are planning to!

The whole thing is ruined when he pulls a 1979 penny out of his pocket. The reminder thrusts him back into present time! What an idiot! He had one job to do: "remove all things from sight that are related to the current time," the professor couldn't have been more clear. Luckily he dies from a broken heart (or starvation, I never really figured it out) shortly after his return. Now he and Jane Seymour can be together forever, in a place beyond time itself. Gag... and sigh.

So, the real question here is: can I use the scent of my pumpkin spice latte to travel through time? Will I find my own Elise? Or Edwin, since I'm not into chicks? I'll keep trying, and will post my progress here. Can someone please start a fund to help me pay for all those lattes I'm gonna need? Those bitches are expensive!

Of course, let's not forget this is also the season of my birthday. October 10th for anyone who's keeping track. That also probably has something to do with my love for this time of year. Who doesn't love their birthday? A Dummy, that's who.

*with all the product placement in this entry, I better be getting a hefty check from - one more time - Starbucks and Netflix

By the way...

This is a real store in Ellsworth, ME.



It made me laugh so hard!!! Sigh. So good. I refuse to grow up.

Ketchup... Catsup... Catch Up

First and foremost, if I haven't fully expressed my love and devotion to the show Law and Order, I apologize. I really dropped the ball there. Look, I realize it's not the most brilliant thing out there, but I feel safe with it. It's formulaic and never lets me down. Also, it allows me to drift into a peaceful nap right around the 40 minute mark. That's my routine, and I love it. So get off my back. Ha! Nobody's on my back, guys. Wouldn't that just be silly? Everything's cool.

I have a point. It's this: Dick Wolf (the creator of Law and Order) apparently lives in Bar Harbor, or thereabouts. I was THIS CLOSE to becoming the next ADA, if only he'd come to see ImprovAcadia! Why doesn't he support the arts? I was right there, and he blew it.

I feel like I was in Maine 5 years ago... but it's actually been only 10 days. Not that I've been doing anything interesting to pass the time, it just seems to go faster here. My life is slipping away!!

I think it's important to keep shaking up your life. I get bored very easily with my surroundings and repetitive activities; my grandmother calls it "itchy feet." Luckily, I have some adventures coming up. More on that later.

Going to a new location to live and perform for a month was perfect. I don't necessarily feel settled in Chicago. I actually haven't found a place that feels like home yet. So, the search goes on. And in the meantime, I'm open to experiencing things like this:



This is the top of Champlain Mountain. I climbed up there, and loved every step. We also went whale watching. "Majestic" is a funny word to me, but here I mean it without irony. These creatures were, well, majestic. I go through my days so sure that everything I do is the most important thing happening in the world. Not even close. Here's a picture of a whale's tail. It doesn't do it justice, but try to imagine 300 people on a boat collectively gasping.



Here's some more choice pics:















This is how I spent August. Climbing mountains, eating lobster, swimming in pristine lakes, and doing super fun shows. I was really fortunate to be playing with truly talented people. It was a real ball buster, doing two shows a night, six days a week. An improv boot camp, if you will. Bring it on!

On a completely different note, I've decided to become more girl-y. Being independent and well-adjusted is getting me nowhere. It's pretty boring, if you want to know the truth. And I think you do. So, from here on out I'm going to be more emotional and needy. This should be a fun social experiment. I can't wait to see how everybody deals with this... and, go! Why haven't you called yet?!

I'm back!

Hello beautiful Chicago! I'm so happy to see you!

I had a fantastic time in Maine. Check back soon for the full story.

This takes precedence:



You guys. This is not a bit. I completely missed the ball. I'm an athlete!!!

Bye Bye!

OK, everybody. I'm outta here for awhile. I'm off to perform at ImprovAcadia until the end of August. It's in Bar Harbor, Maine, which is next to Acadia National Park. People who like the outdoors tell me it's supposed to be some beautiful paradise. It looks like this:



I'm taking my bike. I'm pretty stoked. See you in a month.

The auto-complete function on my Blackberry wants to spell "diet" as "dirt."

It's right. My Blackberry is brilliant.

Past Times

Last week I went to minor league baseball game in Lansing, MI. The famed Lansing Lugnuts were playing the Grand Rapids Whitecaps. I won't get too into the game details, I'm sure you read all about it on ESPN.com.

Truth be told, it was a fun game, but the real entertainment had nothing to do with baseball. Imagine if you will, special crowd members catching rubber chickens in a trash can launched from a giant slingshot as old ladies in the stands take their final swigs from Fosters Oil Cans, babies dressed to the nines in Lugnuts jerseys, a kickass fireworks display, at which said babies did not cry. They come from strong stock in Lansing!

Equally entertaining? The woman I passed in Belmont Harbor yesterday, kicking herself in the head repeatedly. I'm pretty sure she thought she was stretching, but she was just kicking herself over and over again. In the head. Awesome.

On the romance front, according to my grandmother, if I wait much longer to get married it's likely I'll marry someone that already has kids. I told her we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.