Cute baby Ash!

The Devin Ritchie Comeback Tour kicked off a few days ago! the Golden Girls(My mom, Grandma, and I)picked up Aunt Liz and headed down to SoCal. We have just been going out to eat, catching up with family, and celebrating my Uncle Jim’s birthday. Which mean lots of wine, food, and gossip. This trip so far has been good because I got a better picture with my baby cousin Ash. (thats the best we could do.)

On Saturday night Dustin York came over and had Chinese food with us. He is doing good, graduated from CSULB and working on short indie movies.

Later that night I met up with Bryce Marck and Matt Marr and Brandon Boone. The boys have an improv troupe called “The Gentlemen Improvisers” and they had a show that night in Fullerton and they invited me to monologue for them. After a couple pitchers of beer and some beer in the show (they just let you bring open containers into the theatre!) I was ready to monologue. They guys did great and it great hanging out with my them again. I wish I could have actually partied with them and hung out for a few days, but schedule didn’t permit.

I had originally planned on staying out here for a few days hanging out with people, but my mom planned this awesome wine tasting road trip that was hard to pass up, also a ride home.

Next on the Schedule is to go to Temecula to visit my aunt Claire and uncle Jim’s new place and to go wine tasting. Heres a quick overview

Wilson Creek- Beautiful Winery, most famous for the Almond Champagne which was just ok. I like the blends here. Good Syrah and Viognier

Van Roeckel- Come for the Champagne and the baked brie in a sourdough roll. Not the reds… Nice guys though

South Coast- Ridiculously huge winery/gift shop/spa/ whatevathefuck. I didnt taste here because it was so crowded and expensive.

Monte Del Oro- Gorgeous property and views. Glass floor with a barrel room under it! Awesome. Loved the zin and the cab franc. Not so much the whites. Someone gave me the rest of there tastings… so I wanna say I had like 12 tastings here…

Robert Renzoni- I was getting a little drunk by this point…. but they had music. The rest of the places had slips of paper to mark off how many tastings you have had. Which was weird, I’ve never had that, its a little rude right? But Renzoni had poker chips. Bonus point. I tweeted that this was my favorite but I honestly couldn’t tell you why. Tomorrow I will take notes.

Afterwards we all had dinner and I finally got to meet my cousin Jeff’s two little girls Isabel and Sabrina

Yeah, adorable.

Then back to a new hotel and I spent some time in the hot tub by myself while it was storming. But I moved the patio umbrellas around the hot tub so I wouldn’t get rained on too much

Peace out, next stop Santa Barbara

My family has had a lot of good fortune lately. MY MOM BOUGHT A NEW CAR TODAY!  Its a really sexy car, its a ford fusion and brand new. This is so great, she desrves this so much. Merry Freaking Christmas right?!? And we are gonna give the Scion to Kyle… well at least until I get my license back, around March.

**this blog gets very Christmas lettery**

Everything has just been fucking excellent recently, grandma had some sweepstakes luck, which helped with getting the car. My friends are all home for Christmas, the winery is doing great, my mom is happy, jenny and kyle are well and its christmas time. I got the chance to hang out with some “old school” ARC people, including my good buddy Dustin York who powered through school and just graduated from CSU Long Beach.

Our tree was real pretty

We are going to do the Christmas the traditional Ritchie way, Chicken enchiladas for Christmas eve dinner, wake up Christmas day, open presents, have champagne and tea and coffee. Then we have mimosas and eggs Benedict and watch elf. But then were gonna change things up a bit, were gonna drive to my cousins Suzy’s place in San Francisco. She has a beautiful little townhouse in the heart of the Castro. Lots of family will be there. We have never really done a big family Christmas, its usually just the 4 of us. So that’s new. AND its my first Christmas with little kids! My cousin Mira is 2 and my new cousin Ash is 6 months. It’s gonna be real fun.

Then I will head back to Pleasanton or Hayward with Jenny or Kyle, work at the winery on Sunday and then join Maggie and Tim Muldoon for our yearly tradition of drinking beer and playing wii golf. Where me and Maggie will sing Islands in the Stream really loud over and over again to annoy Tim.

It has been a great month off of doing plays and I have wholeheartedly embraced the holiday spirit, and I was at least able to get my family presents this year.

Jenny took my Grandma and Mom out to the Rockettes Christmas show which they all enjoyed. She recently got her business license for

before the decorations....

her nannying, Jenny is a legit business owner now . Kyle has been working non stop at Any Mountain and at the winery. He is still living in Hayward with Alex and Tim. The winery will open its new tasting room in the next few weeks and were all real excited about it. My mom is still working for AT&T although she had to switch departments. Hey at least we didn’t move to Georgia like we thought we might have to. My mom is elated to have this new car and have everyone happy and healthy and home for the holidays. Grandma spends her time painting and drawing and watching god awful soap operas, she got a suprise visit my cousins Tom and Jody who drove all the way up here from LA just to surprise Grandma, super cool. And me? The usual, been doing a lot of plays, had a great year of theatre and just got my first lead! I work for the winery doing their webmaster stuff. I’m still a socialite lush of Sacramento but I am much more responsible these days, learned some lessons this year.

I’m usually much more emo and depressing around this time, but I have NOTHING to complain about right now. I’m happy to report that I am actually starting to do real good. I want everyone to know that I am extremely thankful for all the good fortune we have all

AFTER!

been having. I don’t have the words for how well Slaughterhouse 5 went or how over the moon I am about Blithe Spirit. It’s time to sit back with my family and be thankful and drink champagne and watch elf. I hope I get cool presents I haven’t been this excited about a Christmas in YEARS. Well I hope this blog finds you well. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

heres one of the cards I made

peace!

My birthday came and went, much less celebration, just one drunken weekend that lingered for about a weekend a half. I went out to bars, went to house parties, saw plays, took jello shots, drank so much 4Loko, and acted a fool generally and sprayed champagne on people. I mean, what else is expected of me on my birthday?

It was fine, I didn’t even want to acknowledge it this year, but my family and friends refused, and I obliged.  I made a half assed drunken attempt to make a speech to my immediate family telling them I am going to get my act together. I knew it was bad once I started paralleling my life to Thomas The Tank Engine. Sometimes I need to remember to shut up, and that actions speak louder than words.

Have been working on Slaughterhouse-5, it has been casual and fun. But it is high time we get down and dirty and kick this plays ass. We open in less than a month. It could be so good.

I have been working on Lavish Laines Winery and their website. Why not go get added to the mailing list eh?? Hopefully the more work and money will be flowing in soon.

After my elongated birthday celebration, I had to take a break from drinking my body literally couldn’t take it anymore. I have just given it a couple days, and besides a slight case of RMD (Reno Mouth Disease) I am better.

Dating life is the exact same as ever. Remember how I was sorta seeing Jeff again? Yeah, not so much. Once I realized I was getting ignored I called him out, and he said he was confused and that he also like this other guy. But told me not to worry and that we would hang out that week…. Not so much. He’s just dating the other guy, who is hard of hearing and they are both fluent in ASL, and I “wouldnt get it”. But at the very least I saw him out one night and we talked and I got to yell at him, a pleasure I don’t always get to have. This also gave me enough time to start seeing this guy named Travis, but he “just wants to be single right now”. It actually does get easier the more this happens, I hardly even care anymore.

But in a way I’m glad, I have not been going out, drinking, or doing much of anything besides designing, going to class, and rehearsing. Well, and of course watching an obscene amount of Law & Order: SVU. But that’s just the usual. So generally I have been keeping out of trouble for a little while and it seems to do a body good.

I’ll suffice it to this; I feel my luck has run out. My foolish reckless abandonment now has consequences, the trial period is over. I have pushed my limits far enough, it’s time I learn and head on back. I have always wanted to go there and back, have a story, have an adventure, but not at the cost of what I could lose. I’m still interesting. I’m still learning.

I’ve been writing a lot, on a typewriter actually. It’s interesting when you just bleed onto the paper with no filter. Therapeutic really. I’m just not sure if any of it is actually good. I might have a few friends read it and give me some feedback before I start posting short stories and poetry here. I’m ascared….

Some good job prospects! Great things coming for Lavish Laines winery! They just bought a new location off Buena Vista and Tesla in Livermore (right next to all the other wineries) so that will be amazing, we are going to open up a tasting room there as well. AND they want me to be their webmaster and get paid. Woot. I just need o find time to get down to Livermore to work on the harvest and get the new winery ready. OH AND I’m getting a couple more babysitting jobs coming in from the bay. All my jobs want me to be in the bay… interesting… Too bad things are starting to conflict with comedy sportz and some other obligations though.

I have had a lot of visitors recently, its nice. Last weekend Colleen came and stayed from Humboldt and Sean came and stayed from Elk Grove. So fun! We had birthday fun early. This weekend Ruth will be here! and there will be more shenanigans. Then next weekend my good old buddy Tim Muldoon will be staying with me for a couple days! He is applying to UC Davis Med School! Love when friends visit me.

Words and Voices went great!!! I got great compliments and it made me feel kinda validated. It really felt like creating art and bringing something to life more than traditional theatre has felt recently. One of the pieces I worked on was called “Jack & Coke” a poem about drunk driving beginning with the wake of the lives after the crash and working its way backwards to the celebration that brought on the accident. It was good for me to do. Between that, generally not driving anymore, and payments that are horrendous. I think I have effectively learned a lesson. I don’t want to hide problems like this, I wear them. In fact, there are TWO articles in my school newspaper coming out this Tuesday featuring me. And in one it will mention my DUI and how I prepared for my play. I have some anxiety about it being printed, but I need it to be so I can move on. The other article is about Cafe Noir, the open mic night I host. And there’s gonna be a picture of me there’s something extremely unfufilling about being in my community college newspaper. Twice. After I have been there for over 4 years. #signIneedtoleave

The good news is that Slaughterhouse-5 has just started rehearsal, and it promises to be ridiculous and very challenging. THANK GOD. It has given me a distinct interest in World War II lately, and I don’t have any interest in wars typically.  I usually don’t even like war movies. But then I found out today talking to my grandma that her father died at age 43 in 1945 in the war. That is right when our play will be set and it made me realize that this is my grandmothers generation. And it is real. I guess I just feel a bit more connected now. So ready to get this shit started!

Birthday month starts today! Still keeping it pretty low key. Just going out and drinking with some friends this weekend. I love my birthday but I need to take it easy and not glorify myself right now, its better for my health. I know it’s bad when I literally am planning a redemption speech to my family at my birthday dinner, I have to shape up. For me and for them. And they need to know that its important and I’m not blowing them off.

Honestly, the reason I have been writing so much lately is because I hope this lifestyle will give me a retirement package in that it should make a good book someday. That’s my ego speaking hoping what I’m doing means something. Hoping that I am important and more than a party kid looking for an escape. I’m still holding out hope, hence I write.

**the picture on top is from Greg Dorado’s going away party, I’m gonna miss him!

peace

Bettin on the ponys with Jenny!

Casey Worthington had his “Not 4th of July Party”, it’s exactly what you think it is. It was real fun, but one of those times when being drunk during the day gets away from you… On a similar note; I have had anger and patience issues recently. It is well documented that Ritchies can have a bit of a temper problem, and they may be catching up with me. I just need to chill more. I’m sure the hotel concierge and the “deck supervisor” at the pool at my gym aren’t really as stupid as they seem, and even if they are, no sense in being mean to them. Oh yeah! I joined a gym! Sexy DURING summer. hell yeah, I have been working out like everyday ^_^

John Farnsworth’s parents were out of town this week so I hung out there a lot this week. It’s good to just have a place where friends can gather like that with no agenda. We go to the river. We drink. We swim at someones pool. We smoke. We hang out. We go out. I live a very relaxed life. I should not have the stress to lash out at fat gingers who are apparently just paid to sit by a pool and tell people not to run and not help people if they are in need. also he has blonde eyebrows. wierd. people who don’t deserve it.

I have been doing a lot of odd jobs making money, and it keeps me afloat more than usual. but its not enough to save or contribute quite enough. Still job hunting.

Yesterday was another friends going away party, the 3rd in the last week. Times are changing and people are moving. and still a few more are moving including Ruth. But I have known that people were going to leave me. What hurt, was hearing that Michael Sunshine and his girlfriend Ella up and moved from Davis to Seattle. I found this out when I texted him about partying. Michael is one of my core friends from Livermore and we don’t see each other too often, but I have always liked having him so close just in case. I have always had the feeling that everyone else is growing up and I’m not. Most my friends from high school have real good jobs and are in serious relationships. It’s that moment in life when you realize there are a bunch of grown ups at your party. And that’s what they have become. I have always felt belittled by living my type of life. I don’t judge them, and really I’m not even mad. The reality is I feel like I lost a cornerstone of my building. In other words, shit just got real.

To add to this dejected feeling, I went and hung out with Tim and Maggie Muldoon who’s older brother got married in Davis last weekend. The epitome of growing up. Naturally we try to see each other as much as we can. So they invite me to all the pre-wedding shenanigans and parties and such. Problem is, I’m not invited to the wedding and just end up being kinda embarrassed being there at all. “That’s just Maggie and Tim’s friend who is here to party”. That’s reall not who I want to be. I left. Again I understand it, and am not mad. This is just the situation I am living. People are growing up and they need to, but they still like me to be their party vacation from life. Honestly it’s shit like this that motivates me more than anything.

moral of the story: Not seeing Peter Pan makes you want to grow up.

Oh yeah, and I’m BLONDE now

peace