In Which I Have A Romantic Getaway Before Summer Camp Deters My Will To Live

Hey guys.
Sorry to neglect you- the boy whisked me away to Cape Cod this weekend. Romantic, eh? Ignoring the fact that our first two destinations fell through: Central Pennsylvania to make films with his best friend from Ithaca, or a weekend in Vermont doing puzzles with his aunts.

First, the boy took me on a tour of his childhood in Sandwich, where he spent his summers.
Dear people of Sandwich, I wish you the best on your insane caterpillar epidemic. I spent no more than five minutes on unpaved grounds in your town, and I found the fuzzy bastards crawling on my pants. Maybe if you change your name, they will go away. May I suggest "Hungrybird"? Love, Raechel.

Next we explored Hyannis, for two reasons: a giant candy store the boy remembered from his boyhood and the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory. Oh, it's love. If you're not familiar with the kettle-cooked snacks I'm talking about, please scour the earth until you find them, they are amazing. We didn't find the factoy, but hey, there's reason for another visit.

The jewel, of course, was Provincetown. People kept warning me I would "see strange sights"- they really shouldn't work my hopes up like that. I only saw two drag queens. Two! And I didn't get hit on by any girls, though I suppose walking hand in hand with a boy deters that. I did get advertised to by a lesbian club promoter. The food was delicious, the beaches were beautiful and the commonplaceness of rainbow flags made me feel like I'd reached some kind of homeland. I loved it, and I hope to get back there many times.

I know I should include some pictures, but I've been working on a new project today (inspired by one of my souvenirs, one of the many volumes of Dykes to Watch Out For) and I'm sick of resizing things. So, I'll leave you with two pictures I took in Provincetown. I call this game, Was That Intentional?



The Prince Albert Guest House. I heard other tourists giggling about it, so I think it might be intentional.



Seamen's Bank. According to the date on the building, they've been around for over a century, so this is probably not intentional. They are near the sea, after all. This one is just a lovely coincidence.

Oh, fine, one more picture. Because I love.



I love Provincetown, that is.

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In Which I Have Time To Waste Talking About TV Again

Ok, it's about time I offer up something on Last Comic Standing. But, damn! At this pace I'm going to be at church camp before they get into the house- and then I'll be catching LCS and PR reruns on weekends, and heck knows I won't have the energy to recap them both. Considering my schedule the next few weeks (road trip, college orientation, camp training) this could very well be my first and last LCS update. How sad. Well, maybe not that sad, but mildly unpleasant.

At this point, we know the first five in the house. Let's start with my favorite, who I was going to label my underdog last week, but after tonight, he's obviously the front-runner:

Josh Blue. He got a standing ovation tonight and was dramatically presented with the last spot in the house. Not because he has cerebral palsy. Because he's fucking funny.


I can see Chris Porter going pretty far- he's genuinely funny, in a universal sort of way. His material is delivered in a semi-rant format that will make you laugh even if you don't agree with him. Though it's hard to disagree with him, because he pulls off being just barely political. It's a good strategy.


Joey Gay intrigued me, and I couldn't figure out why. Maybe it was his risky, loud, abrasive delivery. Maybe it was his interview comments, which I found way funnier than his actual material. Or maybe, just maybe, it was his scary fucking mouth:

Gah! TEETH.


Roz was going to make it in the house. Duh. Besides the fact that she's really funny, she talked about her history with drug addiction and her gratitude towards God in the very first episode. Strong black women with a heart of gold = the stuff of which reality TV is made. Any coincidence that she's the first thing that comes up on the video player on the official website? I like you, Roz, but the producers are going to milk you. Speaking of the producers...


I couldn't get a picture of her on the website, so I plucked this from her myspace. She was pretty funny; in that predictable, safe way that NBC seems to love. And in a move to increase their shaky credibility, they've cast a former contestant's girlfriend. Brilliant.

I was sad to see a few of the contestants go- namely Wild Willy, Niki Glazer, the guy who talked about a naked pope, the guy who did a lot of material on racism ("Don't give me that crap- that stuff's for Jews! Pay me in fireworks."), and the guy who reminded me of Mitch Hedburg with a business haircut. You know what I'm saying, Hollywood. If that's even your real name.
Of course, the first two would probably wear quickly depending on the crowd, and the fact that I can't recall the latter three's names is a sign of their fate on the show.

Next week, I have high hopes for Nikki Payne, Kristen Key and Malik. Of course, the only one I'm sure as Roz is moving forward to the house is that guy with the big head. He's not my favorite, but the judges are eating him up.

Who else thinks that there will be at least one challenge sponsored by Capital One?

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Raison D'être

I'll start with a somewhat relevant story: On Monday morning, I freaked out and caused a scene at work for the first time.
Why? I gave one of the cooks, my acting manager, a big flyer from the Rhode Island Blood Center that a very nice volunteer had given to me to hang up, and after this manager and a younger cook scoffed at the thought of giving blood, insinuated it was some sort of conspiracy, and generally mocked the idea of doing a good deed for a person you don't know, he ripped up the flyer before my eyes.
There were customers. I screamed. I stole the pieces (with the panicky idea that I could fix it), ran to the bathroom and cried. I guess it was just a shock- maybe I've come to assume everyone has the compulsion towards kindness. I realize I'm just blessed to often be surronded by people who are so generous, loving and inspiring.

This is, of course, how I spent Sunday night.



Raison D'Etre (reason for being) was Sunday, and it was beautiful. The kids raised $500 for World Vision- and that's at the low admission price of three dollars.


(Psst, I'm pretty sure The Blue Rhoda is playing in this picture.)

I wish I got some shots of the art in progress- there were two big murals being painted outside, and ornate chalk arrows stretching down the nearby street to advertise. Oh well. Here's some of the art featured:








These two are by my friend Melissa. She's so talented, it might kill you.


These pieces are by Mike, who is possibly my current favorite person. What a kid. The top left one is by his girlfriend, Mindy.


This is the handiwork of Nick, who made an apperance, but was too manly or something to stick around all night. The furthest right is a self-portrait.


The portrait there is actually a self-portrait, by the leading lady of the evening, Katie! The trombone belongs to one of the boy's friends, but I don't know who painted it. Sure is swell, though.


These are mine! Huzzah. In case you are wondering, their titles from top to bottom are "Enlightenment", "Turn Your Pain Into Love" and "Yeah, We're Pretty Fucking Beautiful".

And now, a musical interlude:


This is an Izaiah, who possesses the very genes for musical genius. Not kidding. I'm pretty sure the members of his family were all born with a tiny guitar in their hands.


The painting behind him is also by Miss Katie. It's the Mona Lisa. The real one.


This is Kevin! He's one of the boy's nearest and dearests, and an all-around good kid. He was home for the weekend from Americorps*NCCC, and it's a bit depressing to tell that Ian was working at camp all weekend and didn't get to see him.


He was very good, and very modest about it. The word for his performance would be "endearing". I hope he keeps playing that thing.


This is Breathe Easy, who were quite good, and not as loud as they claimed they would be. I was in a band with the bassist, once. Guess he was too "committed to playing music" for a band that had two practices, one of which was dominated by playing video games. The lead guitar player, Tim, is pretty amazing. I don't know those other guys.


In this image, people are moving stuff around to accomodate the last band. I don't know who they were, actually, but they were crazy loud. It was pretty good, for a mosh band in an art gallery. The lady in yellow is top banana herself, Katie. I don't mean to discredit the other people who organized this, I just wasn't involved, so I don't know who did what. Not to mention that I don't have any pictures of them. Laura and Jen were the ladies who brought the whole idea forward, I believe, and worked with Katie as a team. There were plenty of others who helped out. From the outside, things seemed to go smoothly- so a pat on the back, an I love you, and a cup of freshly squeezed mango juice to everyone who made it happen.

Well. I'm happy I can say that this is the sort of thing I do with my life, and I'm practically in love with all of my friends. Did I mention Dave was there, after spending a week helping orphans in Haiti? That just struck me, when the cook ripped up that flyer. They were unrelated, really, but I just wanted to shout, "How can you be so heartless about such a thing, when people are out feeding Haitian orphans?"
Katie, Laura, Jen, Kevin, Dave; they're not crazed, or superhuman or anything. They're just nice people, seizing opportunities to do good.
I hope this hasn't been too shmaltzy for you. I'll talk about TV some other week. This week, I hope you're inspired by these friends of mine. I am, constantly.

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