The doctor introduced himself, and boldly announced, “I’ve seen the MRI, and I’m not impressed!”

That’s correct – my brain has now been described as unremarkable and as unimpressive. It really hurts to be medically diagnosed!

I did have my long-awaited (3 month) appointment with my neurologist today. He was a nice man, and he spent a fair amount of time with me, which I appreciate. It turns out my MRI showed two things wrong – neither of which is worth worrying about. Apparently,in a “normal” brain, the two halves fuse together at some point. Mine did not. The doctor explained that while not strictly normal, it is not unusual, and nothing to worry about.

The other item of interest in my brain is a small black speck on the MRI. These specks apparently are not very unusual. Doctors do not know what they are, but my neurologist explained that the rule of thumb is that you can have one black speck for every decade of your life. He said he would not worry about me until I had eight or more. The best going theory is they might be small capillaries that close off, but that has not been confirmed. Anyway, the result is I get another really expensive trip to the MRI machine in a month or so. If nothing has changed in my brain, all is well.

Devoted readers of Mu-sings will recall that Mer gave me a really cool Christmas present – tickets to The One-Man Star Wars Trilogy (make sure to check out the video clip). This last Thursday was the special day. The play was in a small theater at the University of Akron. We got to the University a few minutes early, and since it was bitterly cold with a howling wind, we wandered over to check out the huge and fairly new fitness center on campus (the center is two years old). It was really impressive. They had ping pong in the place, and Mer noted that the ping pong players looked as if they were having a lot more fun than the people on the treadmills. But I digress.

The One-Man Star Wars Trilogy was much fun. It really was just one guy who did all three of the original Star Wars movies. He communicated character by means of body language, voice, and stage lighting. You have to have seen the movies for the play to make much sense, but if you have seen them enough to know way too many lines from the films, then you will have a pretty good time. Charles Ross, the actor, pretty much sticks to the original lines from the film, but he does throw a few original lines in from time to time to gently mock the films.

Since Star Wars (A New Hope for you SW nerds) was BY FAR the best film of the series, he spent about 30 minutes of the hour-long show doing that film. The last two films took about 15 minutes each. He only took breaks between the films to get a quick drink of water. It was really funny, and his imitation of a falling AT-AT Walker is brilliant.

I wish I could have gotten the Fools to see this. Ross’s use of energy, body language, object work, accents, and commitment to character were all top rate, and are things I wish I could stress more to the Fools (and to myself, too!).

Sadly, The One-Man Star Wars Trilogy is heading Down Under for the next couple of months. Keep an eye out for it to see if it comes to your area. If you even only kind-of liked the films, this is worth while.

On Friday, Mer and I chaperoned her English classes to Actors’ Summit Theater’s production of Death of a Salesman. I was really excited – I had never gotten to see the play live; I had seen the movie version with Dustin Hoffman, which is excellent, but even that was years ago. Actors’ Summit has always done a good job, so I knew it would be a fine production.

The kids were great. CVCA has good kids, and taking the Honors and AP English students to a play is like letting me tour a whoopie pie factory – they want to be there. The theater is small to start with (the farthest back you can be is six rows), and the only classes there were us and one small class from another school that was made up of kids who were doing theater. We were told after the play that we were a great audience, and the Artistic Directors told that to me and Mer again after the kids were going for lunch. What a delight to share theater with English nerds!

The play was stunning. All of the actors did a superb job, and Neil, the actor playing Willie Loman was amazing. He switched complex emotions on and off in the space of seconds. This play was just overwhelming – it was a look at a complex character who was falling apart, and the family that was falling apart around him. Miller managed to create a lead character that was very flawed, was delusional, was abusive, and yet created real pathos for the character of Willie Loman. I was choked up several times during the play, and it is not like I can relate to the kinds of relationships that were being shown. Yet, somehow, Miller still got to me.

The play had one intermission – this was the first play I had been to where almost no one applauded at intermission, and yet everyone had been sucked into the play. I think it was an emotional equivalent of shell shock. I apologized to one of the Artistic Directors, and she indicated that she was fine with that reaction. Neil later told me that almost all of the audiences react that way – no applause at intermission.

What a great production. If you are in NE Ohio, check it out – Death of a Salesman plays through next week (through March 4th).

Oooof! This was one of the most restaurant-intensive weeks I can ever remember. On Tuesday, Mer had to run some errands after work, so we went to Aladdin’s in Hudson to eat before erranding. They have great middle-eastern-influenced food, and they have a magnificent dessert case full of cheesecakes and cakes. Yum!

On Thursday, Mer took me out to a play (more on that later), and so she also took me out to Grinders in Stow. Grinders is a local chain that specializes in “grinders” – hot subs. I recommend the southwestern wrap.They also have a brownie hot fudge sundae that is the best of its kind anywhere that I have found, AND they have a really good cup of hot chocolate.

On Friday, we took Mer’s English classes to a play (more on that later). After the play, we let the kids eat in Hudson, so Mer and I went back to Aladdin’s. At least this time I ate light – I just had a wrap and a smoothie. Friday night, we went to Menches Brothers in Green. Mer has a student who is a waitress there, and we met Aunt Mary for supper. The Menches Brothers claim to have invented the hamburger. That claim is disputed in several places, but they have good burgers, and they have really good shakes. I also got dessert. This was not a light meal.

On Saturday, we went to CVCA’s “Bluegrass Bash” – the winter social event that has food, games, and a square dance. The food was soft tacos and sloppy joes and desserts. I ate way too much there, too.

The problem with falling off the food wagon is that you get too fat to get back on. Actually, the week only resulted in a gain of 4 pounds, but I really need to get back on the treadmill this week.

The party will be on March 10th, and we’ll start around 5:30, with the
movie around 6:00 and improv after the movie. If Kevin starts eating at
5:30, he may have enough strength to make it through an hour of improv
or so about 8:00.

Bringing your own “rock that is the source of all evil” is optional. No, Josh, no! You can’t “new choice” that! (Rule #2)

Spread the word amoung various former Fools. Let me know via Xanga or
e-mail (mriordan at c v c a r o y a l s dot o r g (no spaces – just
trying to keep the spammers at bay) or you can let me know via another
Fool. You can bring a guest or two if you like, but let me know so I
have enough food.

Lookin’ forward to it!

Hi, fellow Fools!
I found out this week that my in-laws are coming from out of state on the weekend of the 24th, so the new possible dates for the Fools reunion are:

Saturday, March 3
Saturday, March 10

Sorry about that – let me know if either of these dates works (those who have indicated a preference already for one of those dates do not need to change).

If you are in contact with any of the Fools who have not responded, (*cough* *Steve*) let me know if you know their preference.

We had snow day number three today, but while the last two were “cold days” where Mer and I still went to work, today was an honest-to-goodness stay-at-home kind of snow day. It’s hard to say how much snow we got because it has drifted, but I would say about eight inches all told (just a guess). How did I spend my romantic Valentine’s Day snowed in with my beautiful wife? I spent about 2 hours shoveling, 3 hours doing school stuff from home, and I did some dishes as well. Mer is currently napping. Somebody stop all the mushy romance! We are planning on watching a movie version of Twelfth Night as a nice Valentine’s Day movie (if you are two English/Shakespeare nerds).

I offer proof of my mighty labors:

Calling all former Fools! I’d like to have a reunion party at my house in the near future. You can bring guests, if you like, but I need to know which date works best. You can e-mail me at mriordan -at- cvca…(you know the rest).org. The possible dates:
Saturday, Feb. 24
Saturday, March 3
Saturday, March 10

The par-tay would be in the evening, and consist of food, The Princess Bride, and of course, improv. Let all of the Fools that you are in touch with know. Please let me know what dates work best, and I’ll try to firm up the date later this week (get back to me ASAP – Feb. 24th is not far off).

Yesterday,  Mer and I got to go over to the house of our friends, Matt and Liz. We know Matt and Liz from CVCA where they each held the Latin position (but separated by two years – Liz was at CVCA in ’01-02 and Matt was there in ’04-06). Liz is a lawyer and Matt is working on his PhD in English. They are both fun and interesting people.

I told Matt that he is part C.S. Lewis and part redneck. It is fascinating. While we were at the house, we talked about early church fathers and Matt’s love for “high church”; we talked Chaucer, Shakespeare, and more English stuff. We got to see beautiful pictures from Matt and Liz’s wedding (about 3 years ago).We also got to see a picture of Matt with a HUGE beard, sitting with an open shirt on his motorcycle (which I think he has since sold. Liz is also happy about Matt ditching the beard). Matt was happy to show us his gun collection. He and Liz just completed their concealed weapon course. They invited us to Liz’s dad’s farm for target practice. Matt has a huge charcoal smoker and loves to grill. Both Matt and Liz like bluegrass and country. Matt introduced me to the term “outlaw country music.” I love that Matt breaks so many stereotypes. I like wacky and interesting people. Matt and Liz make me laugh, and they are both REALLY smart.

The lunch was quite good. Matt made chili and Liz made corn bread and a maple pie (which I had never had before, but was very good). We also got to meet Charlie, a rather large and happy-go-lucky dog that Matt and Liz have. He is a pretty good dog – he is excitable at first, but he settles down, and seems to be really sweet.

We were at Matt and Liz’s house for five hours, and it seemed like two. They are interesting and fun people. I hope we can get together again soon.

I was most pleased this week – I got the final go-ahead to start a ceili club at CVCA. Ceili (“kay-lee”) is Irish social dancing – it is like American square dancing, but with Irish music and basic Irish dance steps. Last year and this year (coming up), CVCA has had square dancing at the winter social event, but this will be the first time CVCA has had a club where the primary focus is dancing. I hope there is enough interest; I probably need about 16 people who can come more often than not. The room can hold up to 30 people or so, so I’ll have to see. We have an informational meeting this Thursday with the juniors and seniors to see what the interest level is. I also have 4-5 faculty/staff who have shown interest. I hope it goes well.

I also hope to eventually get to bring in some demonstrations of Irish culture – maybe Gaelic speakers, maybe Irish musicians, maybe Irish story tellers.

I think dance (as long as it is not vulgar) is a source of joy, and Christian communities should excel at joy. I’m looking forward to Ceili Club. Wish me well!

(The picture is the picture of the “four evangelists” page from the Book of Kells, which could be Scottish in origin, but we’ll overlook that since it is in Dublin now.)