Last night was the big Fools reunion party. What a great time! Nine of the twelve graduated Fools made it, which is very good given they are all in college and have real lives not involved in hangin’ with a 36-year-old.

We had the usual Riordan party fare – pizza from Domino’s, chili and whoopie pies and peanut butter cake from the Hartville Kitchen. We all sat around and ate and gabbed for about 30 minutes, then spent an enjoyable hour and a half watching (and commenting on) The Princess Bride. We then got to spend about an hour doing improv. We just went around the room, and everyone got to pick a game that he or she wanted to do, and the people that should be in the game as well. I wish this had been a show – it was a REALLY funny evening. Here is how things went:

Josh picked Superheroes. The Psychosomatic Platypus had a crisis of mouth tumors, so he called on his friend, Liquid Plasma (Kevin). They needed more help, so they called on the help of Dr. Phil (Michelle). Things were finally solved by Mr Shifting Spaghetti Face Man (Steve), who ripped the tumors off of the Platypus’ mouth.

Kristen then picked Blind Line, where you pick up lines off of the floor (which were all the closing lines of famous movies). The scene was a funeral, so Kristen was kind enough to go to the funeral of Emily’s goldfish. It turns out there are many goldfish funerals in Emily’s life, and Kristen could relate because of the death of her moon-howling multiple-personality dog. There was some tension as Kristen belittled the goldfish and Emily pointed out that maybe Kristen took after the dog.

Steve picked Genre Rewind, where Clarice was trying to sell him bath bubble products to make him happy after Steve’s wife (Brandon) ran over the family dog as she stole the family car. Brandon returns and is shocked to find another woman in the house, but is intrigued by the prospect of romantic bubbles. The scene was played out twice more, once as a French romance (with really great bad accents) and once as a bloody horror film in which Brandon solved much with a chainsaw.

Brandon’s turn came up and he picked The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Advice with Kristen and Josh. Brandon played a hick (and quite well – I don’t know what this says), Kristen seemed quite into violence, and Josh channeled all his answers through the spirits. The panel helped solve problems ranging from how to get rid of mice to how to beat diabetes.

Emily picked New Choice with Steve and Josh (Josh as the “new choicer”). The scene was about Emily being a new, just-off-the-plane tour guide in Mozambique. Steve was a camera-happy tourist. The local groups of people (at the airport) included a man who waved a sharp stick around. Steve thought the man was going mad after his picture was taken, but Emily explained that it was just a show of affection from the man. After a second picture was taken, Emily explained the man was just waiting for Steve to explain his true feelings for the stick-waving man, which Steve did.

Michelle gave us Poetry Slam/Interpretive Dance with Clarice. It was a moving rendition of Michelle’s original poem, Shiny, with perfect choreography to match the emotional words.

Clarice then gave us another rendition of Superheroes with Kevin, Steve, and Michelle. Kevin started off as Da Initiator, who quickly realized he could not find his dress. So, he called in Michael Jackson, played disturbingly well by Steve. They then had to call in The Computer Inept (Clarice), who was not able to help. Finally, the whole thing was solved by The Machine Gun Nun (Michelle), who blasted a hole in the wall, revealing the dress.

I chose Political Debate, where I squared off against Emily and her “ideas man,” Kevin. My “ideas man” was Michelle. We had a round debate on the merits of Hungarian clocks (clocks in Hungarian) and on the issue of mandatory wearing of folk costumes.

Mer choose Paperback with me being the reader. She was trying to sell me a Rolex watch from in her trench coat, while I responded out of the Oresteia by Aeschylus. It never ceases to amaze me how well Paperback works, and this went really well.

We ended the improv with Kevin choosing Location-Vocation-Means of Death with Josh (who started), Clarice, and Emily. Josh had to act out being in a laundromat, as a barber, who was killed by the running of the bulls. I don’t remember all of the details of who everyone thought he or she was, but they did guess barber (as well as baseball pitcher).

I ended the evening by drawing names from a hat to give away the extra food and stuff. I had bought two pillows that had arms on them, which I am told are called “husbands.” Thus I have the great satisfaction of saying that Michelle and Josh both left with husbands.

It was a wonderfully fun evening. These guys are very talented, have great chemistry, and are just a lot of fun to be around. Some of the Fools had not done improv in almost two years, but they still were awesome at it. These guys mean much to me, and I am very happy most of them could come over for a reunion. I’ll have to have another Fools party once schools let out (but before it gets too hot in the house!).

Today, I had visitors to my blog from France and Germany. The French hits seem to happen about once/week. The German hit is new. To my international fans, bonjour and Grüße!

To both Mer’s and my recollection, this is the first time in 5+ years the cats have all snuggled together. Overload of cute!

Yesterday was a fine day at school. In the morning, we had a Chapel speaker who has cerebral palsy. She spoke from her wheelchair, and she did have slurred speech. The great thing is that she loves God and loves to talk about him, even with the disease she has. So, even with her trouble talking, she is now a professional speaker, and has been to five countries, even though she cannot drive. She was funny, animated, and engaging, and you could have heard a pin drop (except when we were laughing at her jokes). What a fantastic speaker. She pointed out that we all have disabilities before God, and so we need him. She also said that for awhile she wanted a “normal” life, but God showed her to want more. She said that if you aim for a normal life then that is all you will get, and we should be extraordinary for God. She was amazing.

Later in the day, our school carved out time from academics to host a basketball game for the Broadmoor School, a MRDD school near Cleveland. The entire school went to the gym, and we had a full contingent of raving fans, cheerleaders in uniform and the pep band playing, and we were all pulling for the Broadmoor Bobcats. I went, not knowing what to expect, and I ended up never caring so much for a basketball game in my life. The Bobcats did win (I think the score was 36 to 28). Our students went absolutely nuts for the Bobcat team. They cheered madly every time a basket was scored, led cheers of “We are the mighty mighty Bobcats,” cheered wildly when one of the Broadmoor students danced for the crowd, and chanted “De-fense De-fense!” many times when CVCA had the ball. What was also neat was we had one or two Broadmoor students playing for CVCA, and one of our students played for the Bobcats.

I am proud of our students, and I am proud of the administration and faculty for supporting this event, and I am proud of the Bobcats who played so very hard. I choked up several times during the game. I remember one of the Broadmoor students almost made a basket several times (including one that rolled agonizingly around the rim), and I remember thinking, “Please, God! Let him score!” I do not remember now if he did, but I was pulling hard for the Bobcats.

One of the very basic things Christians are supposed to do is to love. Our students did that yesterday – they genuinely loved the Broadmoor students. They showed them the respect and dignity that people deserve, and I am very proud of the kids for that. There was just good will and genuine love for the Broadmoor students (even to the point of booing one of the CVCA students who actually scored a CVCA basket!).

One of the great perks of working at a school is getting to be around young people. One of the great perks of working at a Christian school is getting to see the love of God at work in young people.

Yesterday was a very good day.

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.