I'm a bad Uncle.

Averhy, Eden -

I apologize. However, in my own defense, I didn't have access to a car while I was down there.

Things I've learned recently: I can easily eat an entire cucumber in one sitting. Grandma, you'd be so proud. Also, avacado goes well with both cucumbers and apples. Who knew?

I'm in Kansas. Manhattan. The Little Apple as they call it. I'm about to head out to a place called Finn's or something like that.

Here's the list of movies that you all need to tell me which one to watch. My personal watch party will begin tomorrow...or later tonight if I'm lucky:

Ace Ventura
Ace Ventura 2
Alvin and the Chipmunks
American Gangster
American History X
An Inconvenient Truth
Balls of Fury
Boondock Saints
Captain Corellis Mandolin
Chasing Amy
Clerks
Clerks 2
Click
Definitely, Maybe.
Deja Vu
Dodgeball
Donnie Darko
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift (I believe that's the third installment in the series)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Rachel, I know you will already vote for this)
Fight Club
Finding Forrester (I always say this as though I am Sean Connery, and his name, so in my own head I sounded like him)
Flyboys
Freedom Writers
Full Metal Jacket (I think I'm going to save this one to watch with Amanda because she's never seen a Kubrick Film)
Get Over It
Get Smart
Ghost Rider
Gladiator
Grandma's Boy


Wow....that's all of them...thanks Jacob! Also, there are some terrible movies on this list. So, please friends, be kind.

Kev!n

Urbansas

This is what I am now calling a trip to Kansas via Urbana. Urbansas.

I looked down at my sock last night and saw that it had a hole in it, and I said "darn".

I'm currently sitting at the PSAAP lab waiting to leave. The past two days in Champaign have been good-

please hold...i need to go brush off the 6 inches of snow off the van we are taking with a broom because there is no snow brush...these are the things i do for my job

- to be continued in Manhattan Kansas

K!

-20 minutes later...

Okay. I now know two things. A broom is a great tool for mass snow removal from cars. Also, a frozen pb-n-j sandwich is delicious (thanks Jacob!)

Anywho, the brief hiatus here has been really lovely, I have gotten to spend a small amount of time with really good people. I went and saw the weekly Monday Night Improv show with Spicy Clamato and DeBono. I then went to Murphy's and sat and bantered with many a good people. Then I spent the night at Eric Roth's house, where at 3am he realized that he forgot his plug to his MAC at Greg Hall. So we ninjaed Greg and got his plug, and I found a sweet pair of gloves!

Saw Smiller and Matt Strick! last night. Jacob is good as well. His roommate is addicted to a computer game called Left4Dead. It's about zombies. You kill/survive a zombie attack, and then you become zombies and try to kill survivors as they try to escape you. It IS a good game, I HAVE played it with Matt Kula on his xbox 360. Will I ever get this system or this game? NO. It would consume me. Much like the zombie virus.

We are still waiting on a few people before we can leave. I've been here since about 7:30. It's now 8:10. We'll leave soon, hopefully. Let me just say that the MINI Van we are taking is already full. And we need two more people's stuff in there. It takes a lot of stuff to excavate an archaeological site. We need to bring it all with us. As well as enough clothes/personal items to survive and thrive for eight days and seven nights.

I can just hear Amanda asking me, "What else?". This is when you know she is interested in your life. YOUR Amanda, not YOU'RE. Also, if you mess that one up, she looks down on you.

OH! Jacob gave me his old external hard drive so I can clear the stuff off of my old laptop. Now I can back everything up, and smash it and return it to best buy. Three year warantees are fabulous! He also took the time to put a whole bunch of movies on it. So, I'll compile a list of movies so all you readers out there (not "Readers") can tell me what banal movie to watch next. Jacob has a bad taste in movies. He enjoys them though, please see: Stick It as an example. I know for a fact that the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie is amongst this to be coming list. As well as some actual reputable movies that are escaping my brain right now.

Urbansas ho! I'm going to see if I can pack the van any tighter with stuff than it already is.

Winter Wonderfully yours,

Kev!n

no time to say hello, goodbye!

well, kevin was home for a total of 33 hours. now, he's back on the path that leads to kansas. oh, the excitement. at least he fixed our duct while he was here. . . with duct, obviously.

while he was in florida, the lock on our door also broke, but brendan credit-card-ed his way in, called the maintenance guys, and saved the day. now we have a shiny new handle, and brendan isn't stuck outside in the frozen ice world. . . the tears are from the cold, cold memories.

they plague him.

i have a couple of auditions coming up, a new dresser, and a soup idea that will keep me company while he's away. and, of course, the two lovely guys i sleep with any time kevin is away:

bad bianco.

i was filling up the fish sticks in the frozen aisle when this tall guy that looked suprisingly like u of i grad student, anthony bianco:

came up to me.

"Where is the olive oil."

i laughed right in his face.

"What's so funny?"

"Sorry, you just seemed so hopeless-like you've been looking for hours. Sorry, it's right over here."

we headed toward the grocery aisle. the layout in trader joe's makes a lot of sense if you just think about it for a second. i mean, we only have 5 aisles. cereals/nuts, grocery, frozen/crackers/cookies, health&beauty/pet food, and beer/chips. i don't understand how people get lost.

"Oh, I look down this aisle! Yeah, I looked over here-"

I then pointed to the right, at our 15 kinds of olive oil

"Oh, I only looked to the left"

"Oh! Well, you have to look both ways . . . before you cross the street, you know?" (this is how you talk when you work at trader joe's. you talk like an idiot.)

"Well, I'm a Liberal"

at this, i laughed again. because it was clever and unexpected.

"Touché"

then i walked away, back to my fish sticks.
working in the frozen aisle consists of grabbing a "lug" (our fancy name for a crate-thing full of food) from one end, walking it down the aisle whilst emptying it, and making a new empty stack at the other end. it's very exciting. and cold. so, while working frozen, most people wear gloves.

"Since you were so helpful the first time, I thought maybe you would be able to help me with something else"

my faux-anthony had returned.

"Oh! Sure!" (this is the false sense of excitement and importance with which we speak to all of our customers)

"Are you single?"

. . .

and i started laughing again. "Um, I'm married."

"You're married?!?" (as if i wasn't allowed to be. or, more likely, i was too young to be)

"Yeah, married. (as i whipped off my glove to show him my sparkles. like, proof, or something.) Um. . . yeah. Ugh, now I'm blushing" (cold frozen gloves feel nice on a red-hot face, by the way)

"Yeah, you are. . . um, well."

"Yeah, sorry. . ."

and the awkward departure ensued.

Will Smith is Right

Miami is the city where the heat is on. Everything he said about it was right.

Also, Miami Vice is a lot cooler of a concept now.

Today: We arrived at 3pm after driving all night. Ate some awesome Guacamole. We are staying with Chris' Uncle Dan's cousin Lynn. We went to the beach and did some metal detecting. Then Chris and I attempted to climb a palm tree to get a coconut. I scraped my inner thigh. Chris eventually felled a coconut. Lynn made some awesome spaghetti. We ate Key Lime pie. Played some Arabian (?) Rummy. It is some kind of rummy that is like phase 10, but still rummy.

Tomorrow: Everglades

Monday: Beach

Then: Key West

Then: Holiday (the town) to visit my grandparents.

Amanda...I love you. And I miss you.

F-F-F-F-F-FLORIDA!

Shh....I can't be too excited.

I love my wife.

I hate the cold.

I love my grandparents.

I hate the cold.

I love the warmth.

I hate the cold.

Did I mention that I love my wife?

Plus, I'm going to bring presents home. I mean, come on...PRESENTS. Not like it wasn't just someone's birthmas or anything.

on again, off again

this is what happened on my birthmas.

cookies & wizards

running & screaming

family time















feeding starving animals

snow drifts











tunnels















playmates












giggles














new tricks












tomorrow morning, kevin is going to florida.

um . . . what? you might ask.
i figure you'll ask that.
because i did.

his friend chris wants to go see some family down there and--seeing how kevin's grandparents are down there as well and there is snow everywhere which makes it impossible for kevin to do any work up here--kevin decided to go along. i will hold down the freezing fort with brendan. making the dough and baking the bread and whatnot.

he will be gone for 9 days. home for 5-6, then off to kansas again after that for another week or so. i, of course, will be at 2426 N. Janssen Apt 2FR Chicago, IL 60614 for the entirety of those three weeks.

feel free to send gifts, cards of encouragement, or cash monies to ease the pain of being alone for 9 negative farenheit days of chicago turmoil, whilst my husband frolics in upper sixties under the shade of palm trees and senior citizens. with sunblock on his nose.

Merry Birthmas!

saturday is my birthday.
saturday is also Christmas.
this means my gift count will either be doubled or cut in half.
regardless, jenny's making cupcakes, so i will be happy.

allyson is also going to take new headshots for me. which i am exceedingly excited about because they will say Amanda Reader on them, instead of Drinkall. good.

i am not working until next wednesday, (i don't really know how that happened, but i'm not asking any questions) which is great, seeing as there is a Chicago Shakes audition on monday. at which, i hope to audition. after waiting most of the day, i'm sure. sadly, i will have to take an old headshot with me. drinkall. blech.

i'm looking forward to Christmas. and cupcakes.

mufnuts & aprons

i made blueberry muffins.














but they looked like donuts.














and we got aprons.


















and we liked them.