DevinRitchie.com

My good friend Matt Marr had a big fire at his house yesterday. Which you can read about here and here. He was the only one home and got out unscathed just in time. There were two cats lost in the fire. The house is uninhabitable and most all the possessions he owned are now gone. Lets just be thankful that Matt, his Mom, and his dog are all fine.

I saw Matt yesterday and got a better feeling of what happened and really started to understand that he doesn’t have ANYTHING now. He barely has clothes and is just crashing at peoples houses right now. After speaking with him we talked about what stuff he actually needs or even just wants and I thought we could help him out.

I want to put together sort of a care package for all the Matt Marr living essentials. Things that make his life quite a bit more bearable right now. Here is some stuff he could use:

• Food gift cards (Chipotle, In & Out, etc)
• Sweatshirt
• Socks
• Beard Trimmer
• Deodorant
• Headphones
• A way to listen to music (Computer and complete music library is gone)
• Mix CDs
• Belt
• Mountain Dew
• Whiskey
• Hats
• Sunscreen (he is limited to a bike now)
• Ties

He doesn’t have a permanent place of residence right now so he doesnt want to have much “stuff” just stuff that helps him live. If you have any of these items, you can leave a comment and we will figure out how to get it to Matt or myself and I will get it to him. If you would simply like to donate money you can do so by clicking on this paypal account, all the proceeds will go to Matt.

More over, there will also be a benefit show For the Marr’s at Comedy Sportz on the 17th of June at 8pm. You can get info about that at the facebook event page here.

My adorable cousin Mira

Howdy dear readers, another long week. Reno, parties, family visiting, LOST ending. [OMG]

I want to first discuss the response of my last blog. It was mostly positive and supportive. Thank you, it means a lot that many of can even sit through my long winded ramblings. But the main complaint with my blog is that writing or talking about something doesn’t fix anything. I’m basically just whiny. I disagree completely. This is step one. This is therapy this is diary. This is what helps me.

Last week my theatre celebrated its end of the year ball, I was awarded “Best Supporting Actor” (sort of a conciliation prize instead of winning one of the Irene Ryan nominations, oh well) and Best Drunk… On Stage” How appropriate. A lot of fun drinking and dancing with the masquerade theme. But then the rest of my night, with the help of Gerald (what we call the bag from boxed wine) and Matt Marr, was serious drunken shenanigans, which resulted in me missing the only work I have in a week. Haven’t done that in nearly a year. I did learn a lesson that night.

My friends who are legitimately moving on from school felt like clubbing, so of course I am there. Drinks, flirting, dancing, and smoking. I starting losing my voice very badly. A few days of partying, a lack of sleep, and breathing air in Reno turned my voice into something of a gutteral gravely lawnmower sound, which I assure you was not sexy. The Reno trip was a success, managed to only spend $20 on the whole trip. It was my friend Colton’s 21st birthday. Colton, Max, James, Colleen and I just walked around drank and danced wearing sunglasses everywhere looking like bad asses for  2 days. I did start to get pretty sick and my voice was completely gone for a time, but what was I suppose to do? I still had to be there for another day, and god save me from Reno whilst sober. Everyone had a great time, but it is decided… I am a Vegas guy.

When I look back on my week, the best part of was playing with my 18 month old cousin Mira (well, cousin’s daughter… second cousin?). We played with bubbles, drew with chalk, and mostly she just chased me and played “sleepy sleep” (thats when she says “sleepy sleep”, and we pretend to be asleep for like 5 seconds.) Out of all the “fun” I had drinking and clubbing this week, this was the most genuine fun. I love children and I am super good with them. But it’s fleeting, at this age they will hardly remember me and when she is 10 I will be 30. And we wont play together anymore. This happened to too many people for me, and its the burden of being younger in an older family.  What I’m saying is that I do long for having children in my life, lets hope for being the fun uncle Devin first. Not too soon…

I have a desperate need to find a job now. Having my own earned money in my pocket will help my perspective. That is this weeks goal. Haven’t even drank or smoked in a few days and I feel better. Crazy huh? Yay me. The past few days I have done nothing, just rehabd at home and played sleepy sleep by myself. and that what I needed. Hibernation.

I have been realizing more and more that anyone can read this. And I have stopped being discrete. Which is kind of empowering actually. I don’t mean to do this for shock value, but to be true to myself. But seeing my hits increase back to the hundreds gives me anxiety. But again I thank you all so much for coming and reading.

Now the reason you are all here I’m sure…

CUTE BABY PICTURES!!!!

(I didn’t edit them, so the Mira files are huge, might take a minute to load)

peace

I will blog about LOST real soon!!

Hey everybody. Yes I have been lazy about updates and I want to explain why. This semester Senioritis got the best of me, I just didn’t care about school and nothing could make me. I have three AA degrees waiting for me as soon as I finish my one pesky statistics class, and I still cant seem to do it. I have been going to school for the past 18 years, and honestly am so burnt out on it. The thought of transferring to a 4 year school at the moment makes me shutter. So what am I doing if I am not really doing school? Well, The Philadelphia Story had an amazing run and I really loved working on it. I got such positive feedback from everyone about it, which gave me a little optimism about a future in performing. I also got cast in a new play, As You Like It at California Stage. I play Charles and Silvius two good characters. But more on that later.

Theatre is starting to go my way, two great roles in two great shows in a row, I mean this is what I have been working for for the past 3 years.

So I rehearse in the evenings, what do I do the rest of the time? I drink. Honestly. I drink and party. Pretty much every night. I’m not trying to brag, it’s just true. I went out to Faces or Badlands every night last week. The problem is now I know a lot of people there so I get in free and never have to pay for drinks. Hard to turn down. I feel like there is a lot of pressure on me to be the fun one sometimes. I get texts and calls every Friday and Saturday night from random people who want to know “wheres the party at?” I am now notorious for having a 4Loco in my hand. (energy drink/malt liquor 12% alc, they fuck you up and cost 2.50. I cleaned 14 cans of it out of my car.) and when I’m at the club I try and drink my weight in Red Bull vodkas. Some people judge and some people are jealous. I feel like people come to me when they need a vacation from their life, and then they can go back and be normal, and they assume I will be waiting for them whenever they want to have fun. This life isn’t fair. people shouldn’t be able to live like me. I’m not rich enough for this. I take advantage of people around me and I feel like they hardly notice or care.

Except my Mom, once my Grandma moved in this year, she has taken extraordinary notice of my behavior and suddenly now that her mom lives here I need to behave better. This is the first time my Mom and I haven’t really gotten along. I get it though. I’m 22 basically living off her, I make very little money that doesn’t begin to cover all my expenses and I have fun and party everyday. How is that fair? It’s not. I have always been the baby of the family and able to get away with more than the twins. But I have pushed it. My Mom didn’t dream of being of an astronaut or a teacher or anything when she was a kid, she wanted to be a Mom and it is the reason she was put on this Earth. EVERYTHING I have and any reason people like me is directly because of her. She wanted to be a stay at home Mom, but her job had better health insurance, so my Dad stayed home. She is a caregiver, and what happens when we all grow up? Grandma moves in. Grandma is very old and requires a lot of attention, she has become my mother’s new project in care giving. It’s a little as if I’m getting pushed out of the nest right now. And I’m not mad about it. I’m 22… its probably time to stop being a Mama’s boy. The house has become crowded and I no longer feel welcome living here. And my fear of leaving my mom alone is no longer a problem. So I have taken to rarely being at home, which results in my drinking and partying and constantly staying at friends houses. Usually just passing out.

Right now a great deal of my friends are moving away. Ruth is going to Chico State, Colleen and Adie are going to Humboldt. Victoria got a scholarship to go to a conservatory in Louisville. And generally people are just moving on. All the signs seem to point to getting the fuck out of Sacto. The issues are as follows, no money, hardly have a job (just babysitting and improv), I don’t have all the requirements to transfer (and I REALLY need a break from school in order to gain perspective, call it an excuse if you want), and where do I go???

It is time for a change.

I’m drawn to the Bay Area, Jenny and Kyle live there. I know someday I will live in San Francisco. Maybe that time is now. LA? I have connections there and a lot of family and friends. New York? Pack it all up and go be a performance artist hipster with Maggie Muldoon? far fetched I know. But what better time than now? I am not tied down at all. Why not Edinburgh?? Get back to my Scottish roots. It is also a theatre haven there.

These ideas are pipe dreams I realize, but since when have I ever been realistic dear readers? It has to be better than staying Sacramento living at my moms house doing plays at a community college, right? Maybe not. Maybe I just want to go on adventure so my memoirs will be interesting to read later. I don’t even know what I want to do.

I know it will involve art, and most likely performance. I don’t know if that means acting, directing, or being the host of a trashy open mic night as a drag queen. Something needs to happen. All I do is act, drink, sleep, work out, and watch TV. (OMG LOST! RIGHT?!?). The issue with leaving this place is that I have finally started getting Sacramento to work for me, Getting great roles, I know everybody, I club and drink for free. but so what? I figured out in high school too that popularity is fun and all. But that’s it, doesn’t help with anything else. And there is one specific play this fall that I want to do so fucking bad. I know it will be a wildly successful production that will garner attention. But I cannot stay here for a show, there is always going to another show I will want to stay for. I don’t want to go to another town and work hard for 4 years just to get where I am now here. And even if I did stay until the new year, I couldn’t stay at home. This situation is getting worse and worse and I am making it worse.

I am just a ball of confusion lately. I sleep late everyday. Honestly I have been somewhat depressed despite my prescription to Prozac I started taking about 8 months ago. I feel like it works and this is better than before, but its also a blank feeling. if that makes sense. I’m certain the drinking does not help. Making important life decisions lately has been put on the back burner, and the delay makes everything harder. That’s what she said.

I am so single right now. I have sorta dated around, and have a new theory that drinking makes me develop hickeys. But nothing has been that serious, since Tim I sorta tried with Jeff again, and I’m convinced that will be the teasing relationship that will never happen. There have been a myriad of Jeff’s in my life, literally so many people named Jeff, wtf?!? Frank Fox came and visited me for 3 days a few weeks ago, we had a good time, but he lives in Santa Monica (not to mention a Republican virgin until marriage). Could anything come of this? I guess, but my will to put in that much work in to any relationship is just not there. It’s not my style to do long distance and pine. Moreover given the recent people I have dated anyone from gutter punks to ravers to yuppies, I hardly know whats best for me at all.

My friends and I have reached a sexual freedom, don’t call it slutty, we have standards and morals and all. But sex is an important part of life. I was not dating or “sexual active” or even kissing anyone until I was like 19, I wasn’t ready for it. Now that I have a better idea of sexuality I am perfectly alright with embracing it. It’s not taboo or trashy. And honestly I don’t have that much sex. I’m a flirt. Make outs however….. lol. My problem is that though. No one wants to be in a relationship with me. I’m the best friend. The party guy. The “maybe I’ll just experiment with Devin Ritchie” kinda guy, finding sex has never been a problem for me. I lack the connection with a sexual partner. I have had 2 real relationships. and like 5 half relationships, that were just stupid. I cant imagine the day where I am codependent like that. I could only be so lucky to have someone who can see me at my worst and love it. Just get me. And have sex with me. Love, I guess… I guess I just don’t believe in it. Yet. Trying to be optimistic.

Theatre. Alcohol. Friends. Sex. These are all tools of my escapism. I have not been blogging because I don’t want to tell people. My life is not something I am super proud of right now. Blogging about it seems like I stroking my own ego or something. I don’t write for validation or popularity. Well, maybe sometimes. But to quote Usher “these are my confessions”. I have been trying to be an open book lately. Not hiding. Laying down all my cards. And this is just a leak in the dam of honesty. I have written blogs like this so many times, but I don’t post them. Because it defeats me. And who fucking cares? Well I do. And getting this off my chest and out here feels like it will help me to make the changes necessary to move on. I’m not in denial. I am well aware. I will not stop drinking, it doesn’t have the power over me that I have to cut it out completely. That’s a fact. As far as school and living situations go, I have no fucking idea what I’m going to do.

Someday I will return all the good people have given to me. Don’t think I’m not grateful.

I leave you with Eminem’s “Not Afraid”

peace

It’s finally here! The Philadelphia Story opens this Friday April 23rd. The show is going great, the set is stunning, the costumes are gorgeous, and I think the performances are awesome. I haven’t done a “real” show in a while, and it feels really great. I hope yall can make it would mean a lot to me. It’s my first bigger role.

Featuring
Brittaleigha Baskerville, Mike Holcombe, Betsaida LeBron, Casey Worthington, Devin Ritchie, Tim Yancey, Michael Hayner, Jacob Vuksinich, Anna Russell-Madonia, Tina Lehne, Florence Kirilova, Alisha Anderson, Joshua Lee, Gabe Hermon, Jayson Hart, and Erik Fetske

Phillip Barry’s classic romantic comedy about high society and love triangles.

The Philadelphia Story
Directed by Pamela Downs
Asst. Dir. James McMillon

Open’s Friday April 23rd -May 2nd
Fri-Sat performances 8pm, Sunday matinee at 2pm. Special added showings Thursday the 29th at 6:30pm and a matinee on Saturday may 1st at 2pm!

Tracy Lord, of the Philadelphia Lords has married C.K. Dexter Haven and divorced him when he, resenting her chilling attitude toward the comforting virtues of domesticity, takes to liquor. A little while later she has taken up with a handsome man snob of the mines named Kittredge and is about to marry him. One of the calender paper social gossip weeklies sends a reporter and a camera woman to cover the wedding. They are injected into the house by Tracy’s brother, Sandy, who hopes to divert their attention from Father Lord’s affair with a Broadway actress. Tracy, already a little shaken in her urge for Kittredge, finds herself suddenly bowled over by Connor, the fascinating reporter.

Gorgeous new costumes by Gail Russell
Amazing set and lighting design by Kathy Burleson

Ticket prices $10-$12 Box office- 916-484-8234

Howdy everybody! I know, I know I haven’t been blogging…. my bad. I have been keeping myself pretty busy. Well, busy with partying at least.

I have been out nearly every night either at some club like, club 21, Faces, or Badlands. Or just at some party. I know I have said it before, but I gotta slow my role.

Even with all the partying socializing and dating. I have stayed focused on Sexy by Summer and Philadelphia Story. Ruth and I have been running most days and that has been working out. Rehearsals for Philly have been going on and they have been great! I am having a lot of fun with it. I think its going to be so good!

I have also been casually dating. (Oh, I double checked and I am DEFINITELY single now.) And nothing is all that promising. In fact I think I need a break from it all. I need some Devin time

Now for the dramz… This is legitimately the first time in my life that my Mom and I are not getting along. Which is weird for us, were practically like Lorelei and Rory Gilmore. I wont get into all the details. But our relationship has been strained recently. My theory is that it has to do with the house dynamic being different ever since my Grandma moved in. We both determined that its about time I moved out. That was hard to hear. I dont know when, where, or how. But it is time that I am a big boy. I am 22 and a half.

I need to shake something up hard. I have got myself into a fabulous rut in a place I never wanted to call my home. What’s the next step guys? I’m lost.

peace

My boys, Johnny Farns, Maxy, and Nick Heacock on BART

Howdy everybody, a lot has been going on so lets waste no time.

The biggest thing is now my maternal Grandma now lives with us here in Sacramento. She has been staying here since Christmas but now its official. We just moved all her stuff up here from Tustin. Obviously this changes my living situation quite a bit. I cant be as, well, for lack of better words, a ridiculous fabulous drunk. She is very old and can no longer live on her own, this is for the best.

Secondly there has been a lot of wonders about my moms job being outsourced, and yes we even toyed with the idea of moving to Atlanta, Georgia. Things are up in the air, but fret not.  It doesn’t look like we will move to GA and my mom will still have a job no matter what. I do not belong in Georgia, I know that, but the adventure might be fun.

Big news! I got cast as Sandy Lord in The Philadelphia Story at ARC!! A really great part and the only part I wanted. This is the first time this has happened for me and I’m an so fucking excited ^_^ we start rehearsals on Monday yay. The play opens April 22nd. I will definitely let you guys know.

Also I have been dating, weird right? haha, I almost feel like I needed to make up for the years where I dated no one. So I have dated a few people the past few months. Most importantly was my first real boyfriend Tim. This was all very new and odd for me. We dated for about a month and half or something. And now were on a break, or broken up, I cant really tell. It’s kinda confusing. Either way, this was kinda a big deal for me personally. I mean I’m 22, time to man up and just get a bf right? I dont even know whats going on with other people I have been casually seeing. Perhaps I just need to get back to being single Devin. I’m much better at that I feel.

Other than all this going on I have just been going to school, hanging out, an partying a lot . Dont worry, I’m being responsible enough. All though I do have a few scrapes and bruises from Reno lol. Long story.

I am now working out cause I started to get lazy and slightly thicker. That was no good.

I’m going to start more honest blogging like this. I just have to decide on where the line of censorship is…

I don’t know where I’m headed, but I am convinced that it’s in a good direction.

Peace.

The worst picture of me ever taken.

Oh my god, is that what I look like??? eeew, Devin. Not only is it just an unflattering picture, I am literally surrounded by cake and soda. Bad form. What happened to me? I was never super duper fit, but I was always very thin at least. I realize that I am getting older and am going to have to start thinking about my diet and health a bit more before it gets bad. I started thinking about it watching Celebrity Fit Club, and if Kevin Federline could get that fat, it could happen to me!

Heres the plan Sexy by Summer. I’m talking abs, tan, working out, the whole package. And it starts now. First things first, less drinking, and a lot less beer. It’s all empty calories. Starting this week I will start running the track before classes.

(just to be clear, I wasnt really myself when this was taken. I was feeling awfully out of it, hungry, lazy and giggly…)

SEXY BY SUMMER. Lets do this.

peace.

Me & Ruthie at Club 21

Sorry for the delay, I AM still working on the HUGE 2009 recap post. And believe me, it is huge. But meanwhile that shouldnt stop me from blogging like usual.

I have been doing super good recently. I am back in school. I am in a relationship now (more on that later…). I have been seeing a lot of my friends recently. I am drinking again, but I am generally responsible with it, so that’s good. Adie is trying to get me a job at Jamba Juice, I am not proud of this, I kinda hate t hate that I’m doing it. But it has reached the point of ridiculousness and I need $. The icing on the cake is I just auditioned for Philaldelphia Story at ARC, and I feel really good about it. I am at the point where I’m not nervous, and I know I audition well, and past that there is nothing else I can do. It’s oddly comforting. We shall see if I get a call back.

Also, my Grandma kinda lives here in Sacramento with me and my mom now. Long story. But it’s not so bad. Sorta changes my lifestyle though.

Thought I would just give you guys a heads up about everything.

Peace.

<<<My theme for 09.

Thought I would check in for one last update before 2009 is officially over. I am working on a very large all inclusive year in review post that isn’t quite ready yet, plus I want to include New Years Eve in it. Speaking of which, me and a big group of people Ruthie, Johnny Farns, Terri, etc. are heading to San Francisco for new years drunken shenanagins. Well were meeting at my sisters place in Pleasanton for drinks first then taking BART into the city. I will surely report on what kinda trouble we get into.

After all, No Drink December ends today! woot, it was really good for me. Made me really realize some of my drinking habits and the fact that alcohol really isn’t my problem, my problem is excess. I learned that when I defected to other drugs while I wasn’t drinking. But I have always had a problem with excess even if its just hanging out with people; I drown in a sea of acquaintances, social activities,  and parties. But I digress, I at least know this better about myself now. And will change my habits. I was actually surprised how easy it was to not drink for a month, I feel like I should maybe take a year off. Or ya know, I could just drink responsibly.

Tomorrow (Jan. 1st) is Johnny Farns’ 21st birthday. So we will be also celebrating that at midnight tonight. Tonight will be good.

look for my 2009 year in review post in a couple days.

So long 2009, you were pretty good to me. Way better than fuckin 2008.

peace.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Went to SoCal last week to go pick up my Grandma and take her home with us to stay for a couple weeks and have Christmas and new years with us. It has been very chill, lots of food, watching elf, watching Christmas movies, and just hanging out.

I got some sweet presents too. I got an Itouch(I have gone wayyyy too long with out an ipod), a nice coach wallet, some movies, some CDs, some money. Oh and my sister got me a ridiculous huge canvas mounted print of myself from the body paint shoot I did with Terri. lol.

Here’s pictures of our tree and decorations and such. The white tree is my sisters tree. She has always wanted a flocked tree, but we never let her get one and then her boyfriend of 5 years never let her get one. Now she lives on her own and can get whatever tacky decorations she wants. I’m actually pretty proud. Not only does it have fake snow on it. Its is sparkling and glittery and covered in pink lights. Perfect.

Happy Christmas you guys!

**this marks one year exactly since I redid the website completely yay!!

peace