'tis the season

for college football.

















Illini football.
















i love this time of year. the smell of barbecue and beer and crunchy leaves and hot chocolate. i've been busy enough out here to keep my mind off of the starting school year over seven hundred miles away. . .















. . . but seeing that jumping, shouting, cheering orange in the stands makes me want to put on my Uni, buy some new colored pencils, and show up early to dynamics.















or get up early, find a ride to 4th & Pennsylvania, grab a beer, put a fake tat on my cheek, slip into my blue wig and emerge through the student section tunnel into the stands screaming, "JUICE!!" all the way to my seat.

Fanstatically Fantasia!

Do you remember 2004? Oh those were the days!

The death of John Kerry (politically), the rebirth of George W. Bush (insert your negative thoughts here).

It was the international year of Rice. Thanks United Nations! So glad to see that you keep up on our commemorating world food goods.

It was also a great year for exploding whales - yes that happens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale

But back to my point. This is also the year another exploding whale hit the scene: Fantasia.

Here's a small snippet about our 2004 American Idol, but please, don't waste your time watching the actual show.

Born in High Point, North Carolina, to Joseph & Diane Barrino. In her autobiography, Life Is Not a Fairytale, Fantasia explains that a family rumor suggests her father's family was of Cuban and Trinidadian descent, explaining the surname Barrino (a rare surname for African Americans in North Carolina).^[1]

The Barrino Family traveled and performed in the Carolinas and elsewhere in the American South and recorded the CD Miracles for a local label. Fantasia's singing style was shaped by the example of Gospel singers like Shirley Caesar and The Clark Sisters. Rhythm & Blues singers such as Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan also left a strong impact on young Fantasia.

She attended T. Wingate Andrews High School in High Point, North Carolina. After she was raped by a classmate ^[2], she was left feeling harassed and embarrassed and dropped out of high school. In a later relationship, she became pregnant at age 17, on August 8, 2001, she gave birth to her daughter, Zion Quari Barrino. She broke up with Zion's father for what she has described as physical abuse. ^[3]

--It's good to see that something great came out of High Point, other than obscenely large furniture.

I also will spend the next few days promoting the new 90210 series on CW. (Which is UPN and the WB combined). Guerilla marketing, which basically means I'm walking around talking to people about the new show and telling them to watch. If you want two hours that you will never get back, check it out on Tuesday at 8pm. TWO HOURS for the opening show. Apparently the CW is pouring all of its efforts into this one. Hoping it will save the network despite its other critically acclaimed shows such as: ....umm....

Famous Women of North Carolina That You Probably Forgot of Didn't Even Know Existed

As we start our journey of the influential women of North Carolina, I chose to spot light someone who greatly affected my life.

Without her husband, I would have never laughed at the politico humor associated with Pepsi commercials during super bowl games. I'm sure she had a large part to play in Bob marketability.

So I present to you, Elizabeth Dole.

A native of Salisbury, Dole worked for six different presidents and served as president of the American Red Cross before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002. She is also married to Bob Dole, a former senator and presidential candidate.

You can call her office in D.C. at: 202-224-6342

Or check out her very extensive and impressive career here at the U.S. Senate Profiles - collect all 100!

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/senators/one_item_and_teasers/dole.htm

Highlights include working for Nixon, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and trying to ascertain the republican nomination for president in January 1999. Which was not in contention with Bob (he ran in 1996, lest we not forget). She actually paved the way for women nominees. She is credited as the first woman to have a credible shot at the job. Move over Hillary. Pay credit where credit is due.

She's up for election again in North Carolina. You can check out her campaign here:

Poor gal has had a lot of negative campaign ads ran against here in the local media.

http://www.elizabethdole.org/docs/pages/Working-for-the-People.html

Donations are accepted of course.

First time, in a long time.

Clearly. I've slacked on my half of the posting duties. I'll do my best to make up for it.

In the mean time, let me offer everyone a peace offering, with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

Please watch a baby buffalo survive a pride of lions attack, as well as a brawl with a crocodile, and end up being saved by its own herd of buffalo. Wow.

High Point has got to be the low point of my year to date.

However, there is a pool...and a farmer's market. So it's not all bad.

We also ate a Salvadoran restaurant. Which was good. A lot of potatoes and cabbage, but all on tortillas and with chicken. All cooked thoroughly.

Also. For any tomato fans out there, please grow German Johnson varieties of tomatoes. They are exquisite. See here:

I'm pretty sure I heard some old farming men at the farmer's market referring to them as butthole tomatoes.

Gives a fresh take on that movie Killer Tomatoes. And could lend some deeper meaning to the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. (Sorry Fannie Flagg, but the book was better)

Which by the way, if you didn't know...Fannie Flagg is an amazing woman.

See her profile here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Flagg

or for suggestions for questions to raise at your local book club about her newest book, Can't Wait to Get To Heaven or for her own personal and delicious recipes see:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/fannieflagg/recipes.html

Can I briefly reiterate: High Point.

I think I'm going to start my own brief segment on our blog...famous women of North Carolina. Even though Fannie Flagg isn't from North Carolina. We'll let her be our first.

It's been raining for the past two days non stop. I think its the outlier system from the recent tropical storm that passed through Florida.

Also, if you didn't know. Illinois football opens and is playing Missouri this Saturday on ESPN. #20 Illinois versus #6 Missouri. I don't watch a lot of college football, but I am going to watch this game.

In case you didn't know...Amanda and I are almost caught up on our Lost watching. Just finished season 3.

Oh. Scary. The thunder here rumbles and echoes longer than it does in Illinois. Because it is hilly? I'm not sure. We will see what the local weather man has to say.

Kevin

red peppers and peaches!

we're going to the farmers' market this morning. in 10 minutes. it's just outside of High Point and it's really big and quite impressive.

and hopefully we'll get goat cheese. because it's oh-so-good.

thanks, megan

duh.

Amanda Drinkall
c/o North Carolina Shakespeare Festival
807 W. Ward Ave.
High Point, North Carolina 27260

oh, and I'm Sitting In My Kitchen Right Now Because The Internet Man Just Left And We Have Internet For Real. which is extremely exciting.

Look! Photos of People and Things!

kevin and our new friend ray!
at the barbecue we had the first weekend we were here. it was a get-together barbecue.











on sunday night we had a surprise party for brendan! he was very surprised.

today is his real birthday.
he turned 26.










brendan and david fighting this morning.
in much ado.
with henson being very surprised while watching.

it's like living in 1847

we still don't have internet at our apartment.   hence the infrequent updates.

don't worry though, we're "getting it today."  that's what we've heard almost every day for the past two weeks.  so.  we'll see.

rehearsals are going well.  did a lot of dancing on saturday, and we're fighting today.  all for Much Ado--which is all blocked and mostly memorized for everybody...

Lear is going a little slower, no surprise, but it's still looking good.

went swimming yesterday for our day off, got a little pink, got a package from mama (which is exciting for us and welcome for all to join in), went to walgreens, and then saw Pineapple Express....which was alright, but mildly disappointing.  regardless, it got all of us excited for Tropic Thunder, which we'll see sometime in the next week or so.

that is all.

Lear-ning. . . everything.

rehearsal.

for me, rehearsal for Lear consists of much sitting and staring. and, occasionally, taking notes ot writing down blocking. some one else's blocking.

i'm understudying Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. those are Lear's three daughters. individually, they have a lot of lines. together, they have. . . a lot of lines. so, i attend rehearsals that i take no part in, other than listening as carefully as possible to try to memorize everything that i hear.

other than that, everything is great. the people are wonderful, and our housing is awesome. the pool is warm, but not too warm, and we're hosting a pool party after rehearsal tomorrow evening.
hopefully, some of the guys are going to buy a grill, so we'll cook out and swim and get to know everyone a little better.

and here are some photos for your enjoyment.

Lear rehearsal:














a giant bureau:

and we're not in illinois!

after receiving a lovely and generous offer from the Sanborns, Kevin and i spent three hot, but relaxing, days staying in their home in Cadiz, KY.

we ate burgoo, which was wonderful.
kevin tubed in Lake Barkley (which is warm like a bathtub)


















and we played boggle. . . kevin's really smart and knows a lot of words. . . i, on the other hand, make my own words up.

now we're in North Carolina, and i'm being a real live paid actor for money.

this is our room.
we're both excited.


















we're living with eleni.
she bought a bike.














we have a pool.
kevin bought goggles.