reflect back, drop a needle on the track and I was able to tough it through a very checkered past. Thank you for the records.

Thursday blog -

Yes, it's my birthday - there's so much to blog about and so little time. Birthday month in our house is insanely hectic and I haven't even digested all the warm feelings and good food from Father's Day yet so it starts to feel like getting beaten with a happy stick by about this point in June.

I feel like I really should have posted something a little fluffier after the last long downer but time and work did not allow and yesterday was spent running around and enjoying the day. Rather than get into everything I'm opting to do an even more general recap and I'm generally in awesome spirits these days so it's all sunshine and rainbows and the total opposite of the parental stress blogs.

Right about now a year ago we were trying to put the finishing touches on the 1st improv festival, which was way more stressful and if I'm not wrong I was out of town for most of the planning stages and even around (maybe even on) my birthday so there's been progress on both fronts. It's left me with both more time to enjoy and slow down and more time with that nagging feeling that I shouldn't have time or be slowing down so I must be missing something. Ah fun.
Even at my most hectic I love this project and I'm happy as hell to be doing it - I love what we have here and that's a pretty good reason to want to show it off and I get to meet and see some of the best in the rest of the country, which is a total bonus. How many people show up to join in the fun should be stressing me out right now but the team of people that have gathered around this project for similar reasons is the best there is anywhere and I know we've done everything we can to also make it a "successful" event so I rest easy at night despite the moments of second-guessing.

Things with the teenager have not been ideal by any stretch but he's doing "well" in the sense that he's cleaned up a bit, he's still screwing up but in pretty normal and predictable teenage ways. When I was his age not only was I failing out of classes (which he did: check that one off), going to summer school (check!) I was also getting expelled from the summer school I needed to make up credits I had failed (nope!), clearly demonstrating there are no limits to how stupidly teenage boys will act against their own best interest, no matter how smart a kid they are. Oh, and I was expecting my first child (NO WAY HE'S THERE!! Score one for crippling social anxiety!!) so in many ways he's ahead of me on the scorecard and I think I turned out pretty swell. So there's reason for hope in the big picture.

The twins are amazing, healthy and (don't let the last blog fool you) very happy - always a source of pride and joy to their dad.

My Wonderful Wife surprised me with a collection of new Rancid songs I've never heard before, making her the best gift giver anywhere on top of being either super sweet or a total sucker for something I must be doing (??????) or both because she's a great lady and I can be......difficult to deal with. I love her and she makes everything else possible.

A sunny summer morning that includes both the twins singing to me to wake me up and new Rancid tracks destroying the car speakers - a good day already no matter what else happens.

This year I both celebrated (or rather remembered a couple weeks after the fact) ten years at the Brave New Workshop, which means a lot to me, and got to work on the Actual project, all part of a long timeline of trying to turn this thing I love to do into something I'm really passionate about into something bigger into a career and a life doing what I love. What happens as a result matters less than the fact that we're doing it.

Sushi tonight with good friends that I don't get to see often enough outside the context of shows so that's something to look forward to all by itself.

Man - this is pretty awesome.
the only downside? Getting fucking old.
Not a bad trade-off, I think I'm getting a good deal out of the whole "life" thing.
thanks everybody.