McKenzie brought some of her polish friends over and they brought wine and a movie. It was called The Million Dollar Hotel. Wim Wenders movie. Great film. We got to talking about films. It was a nice night.

Boston Red Sox just won the World Series, sweeping the Colorado Rockies. Good post season, but I wish the Cubs would win something once in a while. I guess there is always next year. Ha.

Bears lose to the Lions. Man they suck. Can’t Tackle, Can’t Run the Ball, Can’t Do much right. Devin Hester is still amazing even though people won’t kick the ball to him.

I memorized all of the drinks for class so far. I will be tested on it tomorrow. It should be a pretty easy one. I’ll be making five drinks in five minutes. I’ll see how it goes.

I seem to be thinking a lot about bars lately. I go to bartending school in the mornings, then head over to Corcoran’s for lunch and “research” where I do some sketch writing, then when I come home there is more writing, studying of drinks, or going out to different bars. I sure am learning a lot about alcohol though.

I went over to Andrew’s to do some writing. He is doing some really good stuff. I think that I was helpful with some of his sketches and we came up with a new idea that he is going to write that has a lot of potential. I am having some trouble with a sketch of mine called Sluggers. Some times I have a lousy idea, but do some pretty good writing with it, but in this case I am not living up to the idea. That is really frustrating. I know it has possibility to be a really good sketch, but I am letting it down. I still have a couple of more days to work on it, so we will see what happens.

Left for bartending class at 8 this morning and had that, then improv and writing, and then drinking. I just now made it home at 1am. I am very tired. Have to be up at 7am for class again. I am too old for this stuff.

Jack McBrayer, from 30 Rock, was at Corcoran’s tonight. I can now say that I was at a bar with someone who works with Tina Fey. Not bad. She is my idol. Amazing writer and actor. She was here at The Second City in the 90’s doing the same things that I am doing now.

Watched What About Bob? for our first official Movie Monday. It was a funny movie and a good way to restart the tradition.

It is going to be a tiring few weeks. I need to get to bed and rest up.

I was talking to Larry Gates last week about the local music scene in Chicago. It seems to me that there are a lot of locals that dismiss Chicago bands. I noticed that there was a show at Schuba’s tonight featuring a couple of local bands, so I thought that I would check it out.

Tennis Courts (MySpace) opened. Nice pop punk band. Loud, Rawkus, Fun, Rock. Usually I don’t like it when the drummer tries to get into the act of entertaining. Sometimes it is just distracting. I’ll forgive this one tonight, because he was a great drummer. The whole band had a lot of energy and it was fun listening to them. I think that they are pretty new together, so there were a few snafus, but nothing that won’t work out in time.

Next up was a San Francisco band Love Like Fire (MySpace). These folks put on a great show, lights and smoke and all. Great vocals from the lead singer. There seems to be a lot of indie rock with interesting female vocals lately. They fit into this category, but seem to pull it off well. Definitely not a bad copy of any of the other ones.

Company of Thieves (MySpace) was headlining the night. They had a really good following. The crowd was really into the show, and singing along throughout. I still haven’t made up my mind about this band. There were times when they were brilliant. Lead singer with a powerful voice, and the band melding together to form a well balanced sound. At other times the band seemed to clash and it just became noise — bad bass tones, noise guitar, and loud drums, all drowning out the vocals. But when it was good it was great, so I will be checking them out again. For my old friends in Champaign, they will be playing down there on Friday. I would have recommended the show, but it is at the Courtyard, which may very well be the worst venue in town. I hope it turns out for them.

Another good night of music. The place was packed, and into the show. You can’t really ask for much more from a music scene. (Even on a Sunday Night). I am yet again a little drunk. That seems to be happening a lot lately.

October 21st is usually my strongest of the year. I feel like anything is possible. I passed up a fun video project today, because I know it isn’t really the direction that I want to be going. It is hard for me to pass up something like that. I just realized that it would have been a couple of days of shooting and then a week of editing, and it was all something that would not have gotten me closer to what I want to do. Keep the eye on the prize.

Didn’t do much today (for it being the power day for me). Watched the Bears win!! They pulled it out with a 97 yard drive with less than 2 minutes left. Still don’t know if they have a chance in the long run, but I guess we will see.

Yesterday spent a lot of time on the lakefront. It was a beautiful day, and nice to watch the boats out there. I will be spending a lot more time downtown in the next few weeks. I’ll be taking the bartending classes starting on Tuesday.

Went to improv class today. It is getting a lot more in depth now. It is becoming a real learning thing. I was even contemplating getting serious with it. I know that up until now I have just been having fun, but I am starting to enjoy that challenge of it all. You have to be so quick to think, and remember so much. I have seen some great people do it and make it look easy, but I know just how hard it is for me, and I haven’t even gotten to the hard stuff.

My writing class was canceled tonight, but as I was leaving I ran into Andy (my old writing teacher), and he invited me to sit in on his current class of beginners. I enjoyed it so much. I remember at the time how much I wasn’t happy. It didn’t seem like we were getting anywhere. Tonight I got to look at it from a different perspective and realize where these exercises were going. It is amazing that we were hitting core issues from this early on. I just didn’t know where they were going. I might have been a little anxious to get things going too. I was waiting all my life to get started and I just wanted to jump in and start writing. Right now I think that I am equipped with the very basics to get going. I can start writing now, but it will be years until I can do it comfortably. Hopefully I can get there a little faster by putting in the time to keep writing now.

After class, Andy and I went over to the bar for some drinks (and I had a burger). Always like talking to him. It is amazing how great it is to find teachers who inspire you. They are so valuable in life and so rare. I have been lucky to have a few in my years, and hopefully I have inspired a few of my students. It is important to remember these people who change the course of your life for the better. So thanks Andy, and the other teachers in my life.

Just heard from an old high school classmate. It has been over 15 years since I graduated. Wow it has been a long time. I haven’t really kept in touch with anyone from those days. It seems like such a different time. I know that I was a lot different. I wonder how everyone else has changed.

Bears Lost. Damn Bears. Devin Hester is still amazing, though.

It has been 3 months since I left WILL. I am really enjoying my time away from work. It has been nice to get some things figured out. I have come to realize that I am not who I thought that I was, but I am happy with who I am. I guess that is what everyone has to do.