The breaking fever

(8/23/12)
Yesterday I got my electric bill, and with it such a great relief. Only 23 bucks. I say only, because I went from eating scalding Ramen in my apartment in the middle of the day, to wincing at the slightest bead of sweat every time I came home, and running to find that precious white AC remote. What broke me was suffering through 80% humidity and 85 degree weather...at 1AM! Yea. Its hot here in the summer. But today is the third day of gentle rain - nothing new, monsoon season has been going on for a bit now - and with it, the second night I haven't been inclined to turn on the AC. Its also been five months and a two days since I got here (ironically enough, a Thursday again). Hell, its been almost three since my last blog. Now the heat may be fading, as summer surely is. Its been a pretty awesome summer.

The one thing I'm most proud of is finally getting up and doing standup. And not just once. I'm scheduled for my third performance on the 15th of next month. The first time was a trip! I was so nervous, because I had been talking about it for so long, and knew the date, but I didn't get started working on my material until like a week and a half out, and even then I was really not where I wanted to be. Then I went and tested it out on a few people two days before the performance. Aaaaaannnddd...they hated 90% of it. So I was screwed. I had to go home and gut nearly all of the stuff I'd been working on. I was FREAKING OUT! No, really, I think I almost had a panic attack thinking about the fact that I was going to go up on stage and not have anything ready, then forget everything I had scrambled to put together, misplace key lines/phrases/etc, and generally bomb. What was also funny was I'd sworn off drinking for a whole month, and this was a week and a half into it. Guess what went out the door the minute I saw the bar that night? Yeeeep!

My set went pretty well, and for my first time, I think I did ok. I mean, how can any virgin complain about anything better than a 6 out of 10? Even though I put forth a lot of confidence, you could tell I was nervous. I did swear a lot. A LOT!! I also ran through most of my stuff without appropriate pauses. I still had a good time, and got a few good compliments after the show. I think I had a few decent bits.

My second time up was a lot better even though (or maybe because?) I was less prepared for it. I wan't going to go on. I wasn't ready. I found out on a Wed or Thurs about this open mic on Sat. I just wasn't going to do it. but I found myself in Daegu trying to buy wife beaters, boxers, and American condoms at the Costco. They failed at having all three. After a long day of wandering the aisles of costco like a zombie, and almost getting lost on the way back (it was pretty funny: I didn't remember the name of the subway station I'd come from, and so I tried to walk back to it, but I wasn't paying attention in the cab on the way there. After wandering semi-aimlessly I approached this Korean guy with dreads and his girlfriend, and asked in really bad Korean if they knew where the subway. The Korean guy then asks with nearly perfect pronunciation, "do you speak English?") I decided to head downtown and support my friends in the audience. did I? NOPE!! The second I got there, I was signed up by Helena. Haha, I did put up a fight...about as much of a fight as a desperate prom date. "oh. no. wait. no. not tonight. oh, ok." I think I did a lot better this time around. I was looser (drunker?) and a lot more natural. Sure, most of the stuff I had I'd prepared maybe ten minutes before, but I think because it was from the hip it worked out. The crowd was pretty rough and rather distracted, but in spite of that I still got a few compliments, and even a guy or two that's stopped me and gone 'open mic guy!' Yes, its true, I have fans lol.

God, the other event this summer...turning 29. Wow. I'm getting old. I was actually kinda resenting the whole birthday notion because birthdays historically suck for me. Not all of them, just the ones I remember (probably because they sucked so horribly). I actually sat down and did the math of the ones between ages 18 and 28. Wait, I think I just remembered 18 just now. That was a good one. (either it was my 18th or my boot camp going away). Point being, I only have four or five really good ones, with 28 sucking pretty bad. Worst birthday ever is between mom bringing out a cake after dinner and calling out to your brother and sister to come sing happy birthday, being out with a friend and hearing the bar sing happy birthday...to the other guy who brought all his friends, and drinking with a few coworkers at one of their houses and admitting, ''yea, its my birthday today." But, the catch 22 of hating birthdays is that you hate them because you want to love them. If you don't care, then you just go about your life like its nothing and don't tell anyone. I've always wanted one of those huge rager bashes that people hear about through a friend and write into movie scripts. I want whole swarms of people to come out and celebrate my birth. Looking back, I was lucky if more than two people at the place I went to celebrate my birthday knew beforehand. Its mostly my own fault, I'm bad at planning, but at the same time, I was really afraid that nobody was going to come out. I mean, I've only been here 5 months. But it was fun anyway! I had a good number of people (maybe my biggest crowd yet!) and we all drank quite a bit. That whole weekend was pretty awesome. Drank Friday, danced Salsa again for the first time in forever on Saturday, baseball game Sunday.

Traveling and dancing, those are two things I've been doing a bit more of lately. Daegu - the nearest big city and only 30 min by train - is becoming like a second home for me. Whole new crop of people, whole new scene, and waaayyyy more to do. Even started volunteering at the dog shelter over there.