What the Hull?

It was dinnertime yet the streets of this off-season beach resort town were near to deserted. Megan and I could hear the sound of heavy waves crashing on the beach as the moon pulled in the high tide. We marched down the sidewalk hand in hand with a mission for a wonderful dinner. It was Megan's birthday and being the horribly broke boyfriend I am, I hadn't bought her a present. The only things I had to give was myself and my love, so I decided the least I could do was take her out to a birthday dinner. So there we were, walking in the dark streets to a very nice-looking pizzeria on the corner which appeared to be open for sit-down, eatin' business. After ordering a meatball pizza, we sit down to see two employees behind the counter making our pizza right then and there. It was amazing, but at the same time we couldn't help notice how quiet this place was...how absolutely devoid of ample human life...

A DAY AND A HALF EARLIER...

Early Tuesday morning Megan, her mom, her grandmother, and I left Lyndonville on a Spring Break birthday road trip to Boston. Our first stop was the University of New Hampshire where we hopped onto the back of the metaphorical undergraduate admissions tour truck even though Megan is applying for the graduate program there. It was a great tour of the campus, and while the crazy biddies and the redneck bro who kept shoving his father during the tour were very entertaining, Megan really enjoyed the campus and the programs offered there. AND they have a Dunkin Donuts on their campus! Sold.

The next stop on our trip was Portsmouth, NH where we checked in to our hotel and explored.

The next morning, it was time to get classy because we were heading to the city. Boston, to be exact, and while I never thought Boston is my city (I <3 NY), I actually found it to be quite beautiful.

We parked the car in the parking garage of a massively swanky hotel at Boston Harbor then went directly to the New England Aquarium where Megan touched a stingray, we made friends with a giant sea turtle, and we watched a group of seals being trained.

After a visit to a Boston Panera Bread (it's delicious everywhere), a walk around the city looking at beautiful buildings and people in business suits, and a semi-stressful drive to get out of the city, we made our way to the beach town of Hull, MA.

The first thing that struck me in Hull were the abandoned carnival fronts that were like ghostly images of childhood wonderlands of summers long past. There were signs for ice cream and fried dough, games and rides. In the back there was a run-down carousel that still held on to its magic even in the desolate emptiness that hung in the salty sea air. Some things we observed about Hull:

• Almost everything was abandoned - beach houses, storefronts, and restaurants. The only thing that didn't seem to be abandoned was our beach resort which was odd because this town was in such an off-season. It was obvious that this place made all its money in the summer.
• A supermarket that had full-floor red carpeting. Weird.
• They had a musical theatre group that was going to perform Curtains in an auditorium that was named after the director...?
• Roads went nowhere, especially not a lighthouse Megan and I were trying to find.
• The internet in the hotel was super slow, almost as though the town didn't want us to have any connection to the outside world
• A pizzeria that was empty at dinnertime.

Which brings us back to Megan's awesome, totally romantic, totally classy birthday dinner. We were sitting there waiting for our pizza and observing the sketchy shit out of this town when the cashier brings a closed pizza box to our table where we have taken our jackets off and asks us if we want plates and napkins...sure... We sat there for a good five minutes trying to figure out whether we should awkwardly eat the pizza there or take it back to the hotel. We decided to take it back to the hotel where we had a pool, a fireplace in our room, and an awesome balcony. So there.

It really was a beautiful place and we had a super fun trip, and the pizza was really good too. Happy birthday, Megan! <3

Peace out!

Now There's A Stratagem for You

This is the story of my physical ailments. I know what you're thinking: why have you not posted in so long just to come back talking about your stupid and boring physical ailments? YOU MAKE NO SENSE. And the truth is: I really don't make any sense. So...there. My only excuse is that things have been very busy. A couple of weekends ago we opened our spring show at UVM: The Beaux' Stratagem.

We had an amazing run and fantastic audiences. At our closing performance there wasn't a dry eye in the cast. Seriously it was an amazing show to be a part of with an excellent cast. Anyway, that opening weekend my jaw started to kill me from the tension I held in it during the play making my awkward bad guy face. It was quite a problem and a nuisance, but it definitely didn't distract from the awesome weekend with Velvet! That's right, after two years we finally got to hang out with Velvet again! She traversed her way up to rural Vermont from the big city on Long Island and spent my "birthday" weekend with us. It as the perfect reunion and despite a couple of tiffs (what family doesn't have a few fights?) we had a great time all together again. 

As you can see, we had fun. And as you can see, another physical---I'm just going to call it an ailment---on my face. That bloody beard. I grew it for Beaux' and it definitely worked with my wonderfully cutthroat character Hounslow, but when the beard was on my face in the public eye during real life I was not having it. So Sunday evening as soon as the show was out, I went to Spinner was immediately shaved the whole thing off. It was an intense shave session.

BEFORE

AFTER!!!

It's been a great past two weeks full of dancing pirates, our sassy black friend, and beards performing a disappearing act. Congratulations to the sensational cast and crew of Beaux' for our awesome show, and I promise to blog more often. Again.

Peace out!

Show photos by Andy Duback

The 20s

In less than an hour it will be my twentieth birthday. The not-very-funny-more-like-interesting thing is I honestly don't feel any different. Everything feels the same. Granted, my life has changed so drastically in the past three years that it's kind of hard to define what is "normal" because everything is changing. In the blink of an eye anything will be different. I find college is a part of life that will always keep one on their toes.

That being said, this is not what I expected my twenties to look like. When I was younger I imagined my life at this time to be like an episode of Friends - a not-so-glamorous-yet-fashionable-contemporary-fast-paced life in a city like New York where I drink coffee all the time and have adventures all over the city with a cute little apartment.

Literally what I imagined life to be like in the future.

However, life doesn't always work out the way you picture it. Maybe one day my life will be like an episode of Friends, but right now it's pretty damn awesome. As I begin this totally awesome and new period of my life I want to completely let things go. Will I have a job next summer? Not entirely sure...Am I going to Europe next summer? That's definitely for sure seeing how I've bought my non-refundable plane tickets and our apartments in Italy are amazing. Will Megan get into grad school? and if she does will it be at UVM? We don't know. That being said, will we be able to get an apartment and live together? I hope so...There are so many questions coming up that appear will never be answered but hopefully---and I truly believe it will, seeing how I'm always the optimist---everything will come together. It always does. So what will my twenties be like? I think it will be one giant play-by-ear. It has to be. As much as I feel the need to plan every minute of my life, I know I can't.

Right now, I'm going to enjoy my birthday as much as I can, things are extremely busy with the play and homework and responsibilities, and I will wait to see what happens next.

Check out the beautiful cast photo for The Beaux' Stratagem which opens this week Thursday 16th at UVM's Royal Tyler Theatre. Get your tickets now!

Peace out!

Looking Back, Moving Forward

The snow is slowly falling outside the large windows, the sky a milky grey. The flakes drift through a new air brought on by a new year. A fresh start. The air is chilly, but familiar like an old friend. It's reminiscent of winters long gone: of sledding down hills, skiing across open countryside in the colorful dusk, snowball fights, and warm afternoons with hot chocolate. It's also the snowfall of new adventures and memories yet to come. 2011 was quite a year, definitely busy, and it was full of amazing memories and good adventures.

It was a very stormy winter in haunted Converse and Megan as an R.A. at Quarry (aka The Q). There were lots of treks across frozen tundra and cold walks.

I received one of the most epic birthday cakes of my life shaped like the Doctor's TARDIS. Thank you Kendra!

Twelfth Night was an awesome and fun show to be a part of!

I was a part of the Catamount Singers and took an amazing improvisational movement class which changed a lot of my views of performance and opened myself up to new possibilities.

Megan and I started a brand new adventure as a couple.

UPlayers had a very successful semester this spring with an awesome bake sale , cabaret, and scavenger hunt!

I got a new job at UVM this summer and got to live and explore in Burlington during a beautiful summer. And I saw things like waterless toilets. Weird.

Megan and I took a trip to Cape Cod to see Ashley after her epic semester in Ireland.

The Doctor, his Roman Goddess, and the Gypsy had an epic and classy Halloween weekend.

I had ovaries.

HAIRSPRAY! happened after all that hard work and a debilitating bout  of bronchitis...

I also flexed a technical muscle in designing the lights for Toys this year. AND I was a teacher's assistant this semester, something that I loved doing and it confirmed my drive to be a theatre teacher. This summer I also started a "Ryan Performs in Places" segment on my blog which has been a lot of fun and a great outlet. I'm hoping to expand on it this year and possibly make a new blog for performances and writing. Hope to see you there!

I got my Dad a hoodie-footie for Christmas. Winning.

Iris had a good Christmas.

Finally, this Christmas and New Years was a lot of fun and full of Christmas cookies, family, and friends. The New Year concluded for Megan and I in Barre/Montpelier Vermont with one of our good friends Rosie. We went to the First Night dance party and then saw them release these beautiful paper, fire-lit lanterns into the night sky.

Happy New Year and a toast to new adventures.

Peace out!