I thought this would be a fitting day to begin writing again. Exactly six years ago I drove the final leg of my journey from Atlanta to Chicago and settled in. Six years is a pretty long time and things have certainly changed since I last wrote about my improv experience.

So what has happened since I wrote last? I…

• graduated from the Second City Convservatory
• performed in a Donny’s Skybox run with five of my former classmates
• moved in with Craig who I performed with in Atlanta
• ate a sandwich. A couple even.
• joined a sketch group called Comedy Accident
• left Comedy Accident
• had a five year relationship
• was engaged!
• is no longer in a relationship
• got a full-time job
• got another full-time job
• have a solid career now as a Web Developer for an agency
• made a bunch of great friends
• formed an improv group called The Riflemen
• lived in Lincoln Square for awhile. Now I live in Old Town
• am now enrolled in classes at IO
• am dealing with my Dad’s sickness
• am happy overall, but adjusting to changes

I also have a bit less hair than I did in 2007, but that’s ok.

I have so much I want to write about now. I’ve gotten a good sense of Chicago and want to write about what I’ve discovered. I want to write about technology, comedy, the future. All of it.

But let’s not rush into things. I’m a little tired.

Blackouts are interesting. They are thirty second sketches with quick punchlines designed as a quick energy picker-upper. They are inserted between the longer sketches to keep the energy going throughout a show. They are also just fun to write and perform.

The sketches that I wasn’t involved with were great too. All of the sketches were rough but show great promise. Tonight I felt like a real comedian for the first time in quite some time.

We’re entering our last level of the conservatory now. We are doing a show every Monday evening starting a couple weeks from now. We’ll keep some of these sketches and write many brand new ones. You’ll certainly be hearing more about those as they develop.

I had a Mac. I sold it to my mother to afford the move to Chicago. I now have a mac again. A laptop. A tool to further my graphic design needs. Guess where that money came from?

Two birds with one stone.

I remember when I came. I saw a show called Misled with my friend Jordan at i.O. I loved it. It had the guy who is just like Dave Foley. They did a sequel, Misled 2. I saw it last Friday and was again blown away. It reminded me of the beginning for me here.

Last night I saw Menomena in concert with the lady type friend and some other good friends. It was a fitting anniversary event considering that Menomena is my favorite band at the moment. I am filled with a sense of pure optimism and happiness at this point. This is going to be a good year if all goes my way.

This is my shot. I would love to be a successful web designer and be able to teach part time for Plato and perform. Then all the cards would be slowly falling into place… or whatever the expression is…

You wanted to know about the improv.

The classes at The Second City continue. We did another show and will do another one in a week or two. I found myself holding back a little bit in the last show but that happens. I shall not be the star of every show I am ever in. The team played well and this pleases me.

In about a month it will be the anniversary of my leaving Atlanta. It has passed slowly and has been ever so fulfilling. I’m still crafting my career and struggling for money, but it is an easier struggle than it used to be.

On December 30 I jumped a plane to New York city to be with my lady-type person and her friends for New Years.

So a couple interesting notes about that experience. It could be seen as “pathetic” that at 25 years of age this was my very first New Years Eve that I did not spend at my parents’ house. Ever. The truth is that my house was always where the party was. By going to New York I broke a tradition of picking up super explodey fireworks from Alabama and hosting a HUGE party for my friends. So how did my Eve go? Friends, lady-friend and I went to a bar with a dance floor and danced the night away. At 2AM she and I went outside to cool off and talk. We sat on the side of the building and had a good heart-to-heart. At that exact moment about five gallons of water fell on us. We looked up and the culprits had left.

Heck of a way to ring in the new one.

It was good times.

In Chicago, improv teams can follow a similar path. Bars all over this town offer 25 minute slots for improv teams to present their longform sets to half-attentive Tuesday night barhoppers. The audiences are often small and usually consist of mostly peers with their own sets. It is known as barprov, and it is reason number sixty-seven why I love this town.

Last night I went to The Union down by Halsted and Diversey to see my roomate and his team The Diary Project do their set alongside two other teams, all to an audience of no more than fifteen. The room lacked the energy associated with a large audience, but the shows were nonetheless excellent and at zero cost to yours truly.

My favorite part about the night though was that the event was the inaugural show for The Union’s experiment in barprov. With only thirty minutes until showtime, the owner walked in with a circular saw, a set of two-by-fours, and some plywood and he constructed a stage right before our very eyes. When I saw him walk in with the wood I joked to Craig, “Hey, maybe he’s going to build a stage for you really quick.” Then he did. He just built a stage. Awesome.

My first show in Chicago was a barprov show. As you might remember it went poorly. Soon, though, I’ll be doing more barprov shows in an attempt to regularly perform in the way I became accostomed to in the good ol’ days of The Basement Theatre.

Coffee, doughnuts, heat, and television have made this day fantastic.