Lets start with Upright citizens Brigade. I was nearing the end of my 401 class (the last of the core curriculum, before you have apply to advanced study to get approved) and I kept hearing from many very talented people how they had to retake 401 a few times to get into advanced. So I thought I would be ahead of the curve and sign up for another one regardless of passing. So I did. a couple weeks into this class I found out I did in fact pass and my application for advanced study got approved as well! So fuck yeah. This is kinda big deal for me. I am already in an advanced class and I love it. The biggest thing about this right now is that this makes it so that I can audition for a Harold team. And auditions are this weekend! shit fuck. Its just happening so fast. I took my first 101 class 10 months ago. I feel good about this audition. Well, I have a cautious optimism. I would not be crushed, frankly I cant really believe I am having this opportunity this early. But there are other opportunities presenting themselves. Me and a few improv buddies whom I met through class have started a group. We have slowly started adding people, and we meet every week with an amazing coach, they have produced a couple videos, and there are more to come. We even had a show (that sadly I had to miss due to work) but this is just the beginning. There will be many more shows in the future. Oh and we are called Super Future.

Work is back to normal after the occasional tiffs and bouts, I am just working A LOT. Which is great for my bank account, and I love getting to know the East Village neighborhood folk. But I am starting to have to turn down shows in order to work. And I am starting to have the dilemma of whether or not I am ready to fully commit and not work, or work significantly less in order to further my comedy. As I have talked to people who are successful actors or comedians they all kinda give me the same answer “yup, thats the thing. it sucks.” Basically I have decided that nothing is going to change right now, I can work just as much, maybe with the occasional show and still make progress. And my work is progress too, its 4 blocks from the theatre I mostly perform at, some UCB people come there, some industry people and actors come in there and I just freaking bartended a party for Rachel Dratch. Yeah, no. I love my job. But there will come a time where it will make logical sense for me to move on. But not quite yet.

So I went to Colorado for ACTF. It was great to see people and get out of New York for a little bit. I will admit the trip did seem too long, and I reached a point where I couldn’t lie to myself anymore, I wasn’t going because I needed to perform my Irene Ryan Scene or because Blithe Spirit had a scene to perform. I was going because I missed my friends and I wanted to feel apart of my old school again. Everything else was just a perk. Well my Irene Ryan scene was a bust, lines were dropped, it was…. bad. It was real bad. My partner is an amazing actor and we were noth hoping for a miracle and it didn’t happen. Thatsfine. And I dont really need it. I had the thought “why am I in colorado trying to further my new york acting career?”. The issue is at this point is that I was “that guy“, the story of our fuck up had reached the hinter lands of the festival and my scarletletter was big and bright. I held my head high and went to perform my other scene the next day. But of course I lost my contact about an hour before and had to do the scene half blind. Of course. And I had to wear my glasses the rest of the week and be less attractive. It was already an uphill battle fighting my infamous reputation already. My other scene went really well, Felicity and I just fell right back into it, it was great. I did get to spend some time with my friends but I had this feeling like I invested more in hanging out then they did. Like they were a main reason I was coming, and for them it cool that I was there, but they were gonna come anyways. After 5 days I couldn’t wait to get back home to New York.

Yeah home to New York. I really for the first time felt like I was going home. And I missed it while I was gone. I dont feel like anything productive happened for me in Colorado and I missed things I could’ve been doing here. Regardless of how well either performance could have gone, this still wasn’t worth missing a week of work and progress here. Oh well, we make mistakes and my life likes to teach me humility every now and then. I loved seeing my friends but I left with a huge feeling of you cant go home again.

But home came to me recently, my Mom and brother were here last weekend. Very short trip. And Kyle’s first to New York. We did a few touristy things, I had a class show, and work, we brunched, saw asscat, and walked the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a nice short trip but I feel like Kyle needs to come back for a real trip. And Colleen was here for a quick trip as well interviewing at Columbia!

I have been spending too much money lately, classes on top of classes, I just bought a bike, trying to be a baller and take my family out, donating to shit, taking cabs because I am impatient, and eating out. I need to slow my roll.

The thing that is suffering right now is my social life, even room mates will be like “Devin I havent seen you in like a month”. And this sucks. But I just dont have the time for everything right now. I feel really guilty about this actually. Anyways staying locked up in my room blogging isn’t getting anything done either. I got shit to do.

Love yall! And that top photo is from my headshot photo shoot. more to come!

To update, I am going to Fort Collins, Colorado for the American College Theatre Festival. I had got nominated as a candidate for the Irene Ryan Scholarship from Blithe Spirit. I had put it on the back burner while I moved to New York, but it turns out going was still very possible, and then Blithe Spirit actually got a scene selected to be performed there. So, I was like shit, I have to go. My partner is someone from back in sacto who has agreed to accompany me on the crazy mission of learning these scenes on different coasts and having very little rehearsal time before we perform. So we will see how that goes… I actually feel really good about it.

My improv class is good, it’s still challenging, which is good. If I pass this class I will be approved for advanced study which is sorta like graduating from improv high school to improv college, and the acceptance rate is really really low. Only one or two people out of the class generally get in first try. So we shall see. Again, I feel good it, just stressing.

Work is fine. Been there nearly 9 months now. what the fuck? I’m gonna be gone next week though. which is the longest time I have ever been gone and I’m missing a weekend. And weekend money. So, I stress about that too.

Needless to say I am little stressed but making progress. I have a wee bit of vacation remorse for the spending versus earning debate in my head, and missing class, and missing work, but regardless I am going. And I will kick ass. And I will have fun with some of my friends who are also going. Shout out to Ruthie, Farnsy, Jamesy, Pamsy, and Colleen…y.

I got a lot of shit to get ready for tomorrow. Oh and I have a show at UCBeast tonight and then I work. Shit!

peace

Well, I went back to California for a few days. It was good. And weird. It’s odd to allow myself breaks. We had thanksgiving while I was there, caught up with some friends, relaxed. Got back to New York and had the crazy “glad to be home” feeling for the first time. Coming home to New York. Odd.

Real Thanksgiving happened, I cooked the turkey, and had a lovely dinner here with the room mates. Then I worked. I do that a lot, at least 4 days a week. Thats good as well. Some days are better than others, and sure I have complaints; its a job, but I make good money and I actually like what I do and where I do it. The only thing is someday I wont be able to work these late hours or as often. I could never be in a show with the schedule I have . But I need a job. And I have a good one, so why let it go. This is a problem for future Devin.

I started improv 401 at UCB with Doug Moe. Its getting more difficult. I play improv in my head a lot and have the issue of “slow playing”. Like it takes me too long to get to the thing I want to do. And I like never edit others peoples scenes. But I am working on it. And I still feel very confident that I am one of the better ones in class and am one of the few who takes this shit real seriously. I see 3 improv shows a week yo! This is something I need to invest even more time in though. And dont even get me started on acting. Cause I need to get acting too. Speaking of which I just got headshots done. I shot for 6 hours with 9 different looks with a real professional photographer and I am real real happy with them. I am in the process of choosing which ones I want now. Dont worry, ill post em and yall can see em.

Christmas came, my sister visited. which was great. A little tast of home and family right when I needed it most. We saw a few shows and hung out and did touristy stuff.

cutting this short cause this laptop battery is dying and it is fucking laaaate…. more later! Sorry about not updating lately, but everything is going fine, class, work, friends. And Im going to colorado next month! WTF? Stay tuned!

TL;DR: Everything is great.

peace

I got to Sacto and had to wait for 45 minutes for my mom. Appropriate lol. My mom and I drank some port and had some snacks and caught up. This whole coming back experience has given me a lot of anxiety, everything is the same but different. Its like no time has passed at all and I can see myself falling right back into the lifestyle I had. I’m not used to people missing me, or worse, being proud of me. It’s insane.

I went to the DMV and ordered my new ID no problem. Thank you California for having a thumbprint scanner and being chill. I went to the eye doctor and ordered new contacts and glasses. Got all my adult shit done and now I can hang out with and get drunk with all my friends. My mom and grandma took me out to dinner last night and I finally got to be the guy who slips the waitress my credit card before other people notice. It was so cool! I’ve never been able to do that. felt all grown up and gentlemanly. Then I went to Kilt Pub where Matt and Ty Ty host trivia night. Long hugs with long lost friends were the theme of the evening. My trivia team of Pam, Clay, Carla, Mary, Marc, and I came in second place (damn you pam!) and it was a super fun night. We talked about our new romantic endeavors, the plays I missed, the people who passed on, the drama and the gossip and the usual. It did my heart good to see everyone. Johnny Farns, James, Hope, and Nord were all there too. And John and I capped off the night drinking vodka crans at my house talking until late. This is all I wanted to do here. Tonight I will see a different slew of friends and go downtown to the bars. and amazing news, I convinced ruthie to take a train in tonight to hang out!

Right now I am nursing a hangover at home with grandma and watching a Sex and the City marathon in my old room like old times. (oh now its the SATC finale, of course, why am I seeing so many leaving New York finales???…)

I already know this trip will be criminally short, but I think it has to be.

and were having thanksgiving on thursday!

I have really been settling in to my life here, I am no longer “new” and have no excuses. This is kinda scary. I have real regular customers at work and I have some real friends and I have a daily routine and a regular commute everyday.

Everything isn’t all sunshine and rainbows though, I did lose my wallet, which had all my identification in it. and it has been a BITCH to get back. Apparently owning devinritchie.com and having an expired passport isn’t proof enough. So this all sucks and it just takes time to gets all the ducks in a row to finally get an ID. but it is being resolved.

I think this, and the cold weather, was sort of a catalyst for what felt like I was unraveling for a couple weeks. I was depressed. I was messing up simple tasks at work and not acting like myself. I was getting wasted after work and pretty continuously on my days off. This town started getting to me. 6 months of hustling. Buying/building furniture, finding a job/ working/ taking classes/ seeing shows/ studying/ trying to see new york/ trying to make friends/ remembering to eat/ paying bills/ trying to keep myself sane/ and then calling friends and family to tell them these things. Spending my days off at the social security office to no avail just does something to a person. There was one day I really thought I was going to get fired and I was like “did I just lose my wallet, my job, and get dumped in the span of a few weeks?!?”. Luckily I didn’t get fired. more of a wake up call to my unraveling. and I didn’t actually lose any money in my wallet, and I already have a new credit card, its just this ID thing now. It can be fixed.

I think I just needed a break. Not that I have had it. But I feel like I am out of the woods and back to sanity. Its times like this I’m reminded that I am just the emotionally stunted 13 year old I have always been. Now I just have a job and bank account.

Heres the good news, I’m visiting home this Sunday- Thursday! I was scared and hesitant to come back. Even for a little trip. I feel like I built a house of cards here and I cant leave it for even a second. And part of me doesn’t think I have accomplished enough to come home yet, like I’m not done yet. But I do miss people real hard. I miss California. Do you guys know how cold it is here already?!? It fucking SNOWED on Halloween. I dont even have proper shoes for that! And its gonna get wayyy colder im told. I want to be in California wearing a t shirt and shorts. I want to drive real bad.

Anyways, I wil be in Sacramento those days mostly with the family but I want to see you! yes all of you!

this blog got weird and personal. oops.

Oh yeah, and me and maggie were dolly parton and kenny rodgers for halloween. Islands in the stream. my tits had speakers in them and played the song. (It played nine to five while I was at work… yes I went to work like that… dont bartend in heels.)