DevinRitchie.com

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

I wish I had more optimistic and joyful blogs as of late, but alas, I do not. The universe has been telling me loud and clear that I should have left this year. SPOILER ALERT*** This will be an emo complainy blog. But it gets slightly optimistic/cocky near the end.

To begin, a great deal of my close friends moved away. I knew it was coming but it has really hit me when I sit at home alone and wonder what I used to do. Ruth lives in Chico, Colleen and Adie live in Humboldt, Victoria Louisville, My friend big black gay Corey moved to Laramie, Wyoming.  Even people like Mike Holcombe have moved to LA. After Matt Marr’s house burnt down he has been traveling and he is now sure he will move to L.A. Needless to say, my social life has taken a hit. I stay in a lot more evenings by myself reading, writing, or watching various marathons of House, Law and Order SVU, or something. I have just been lonely I guess.

My Mom’s car is gold sebring convertible, the symbol of summer, and the car I learned how to drive on. There have been so many times where Ruth, John Farns, and I are hung over and we roll out of bed and drive with the top down to theriver. And drink some 4 Locos. My brother needed a car so we decided to give that one to him. Now my mom and I share the Scion, she needs it more of course having a real job and all… back to the bike for me. :-/

It seems lately that love has been in the air (cheesy yes, but hear me out). So many of my friends are involved with someone and so happy. Max and Amanda, John Farns, Kelsey, Ruth, etc etc. Momentarily I was kinda seeing someone and happy, and for just a moment it seemed everyone was happy. But then of course I found out that I had simply got swept up in ideas of being in a relationship and misinterpreted some things and ended up putting myself in a situation that allowed me to get hurt by others actions. Whatevs, I’m done. I’m single and unattached completely. Time gave me clarity to realize I was being stupid, and I really don’t care. I AM happy for all my friends, I am happy being single Devin, and I am a better person for not dating people who are bad for me. But I do always seem to be the odd man out in these situations. It wears on me a bit.

The cherry on top of my delightful banana shit sundae of a situation I have been in… The one job I have babysitting at a church every Sunday That I have had for 4 years. Such an easy job that I LOVE that is easy money in my pocket….. Well, they laid me off on Sunday. Not because of me at all, they can just not afford child care at all anymore. I have one more

Sunday and that’s it. FUCK. My one source of income. Fuck. My. Life. This is effective September 1st. Why does that day sound familiar? Oh, cause its the day of my court date. (Yes, I have a court date. I got into a little trouble. Hopefully it will be nothing, but it might be. I will disclose the full story after its all said and done. Nothing crazy don’t worry)

My brother looked at my situation like this “so you’re basically back to where you started when you moved to Sacramento, no car, no job, no relationship, few friends” Somehow that is oddly comforting. Something of a new beginning happening right now. Life has dealt me some rotten ass lemons right now, and I am powering through but its hard. I can deal with the no job, no car, no money thing. But it just really sucks that everything has been taken away at the same time. The time I need friends. Who aren’t here.

At the moment, I am not attending school. I would probably set myself back further if I went. I need a job(and I have been applying!)

Right now I am living day at a time with very short term achievable goals. apply for jobs, work out everyday, drink less, and get cast in a play next week. So far so good. I do work out everyday I have a new gym membership and I have been going hard. If nothing else in life I will look good without my shirt on.

I chose the cute apocalypse gif at the top because its really cute and the general complete change of everything in my life recently, and because of Mike Wise’s Post Apocalypse Party he had. Which was awesome. Pictures at the bottom. There is always a lot of parties, this last weekend was Mady Wrights 36 hour birthday party which was fun and…. eventful.

This is a reminder to the world and myself that I am fucking awesome. I do good things and have fun. There are great

people in my life, and I know now more than ever who they are. I have come upon some rough times recently and ya know what? It might get worse, it could always. But I have dealt with way more problems in my life than some little bull shit like this. I’m a baller with some of the best friends, and the BEST family anyone could ask for. Don’t give me your pity, today ain’t nothing but a hair flip. It might be just like this for a long time, but there is peace and some success at the end of this trail. It shouldn’t be easy and its not. Never has been. I have been blessed in many ways that I am quietly thankful for and find myself to sometimes be the luckiest person alive. Lately has just been a string of losses that have warn me down, I have to admit I am down and move on though. I’m not blaming fate or the world for my problems, many of them are direct results of my actions and I know that. I’m down but I’m not out. I’m ready for new shit and prepared to take on whatever I need to. Oh yeah, and I’m hot.

I leave you with another new Eminem song, featuring Pink (whom I fuckin love)

WONT. BACK. DOWN.

Peace.

Been an interesting couple of weeks. A lot of my friends have been out of town, Farnsy has been in Oregon for a couple weeks (and he came 3rd in a 10k race!), Colleen is officially gone to Humboldt, Matt Marr is in fuckin’ Montana or something, and generally everyone is busy. Which leaves me saying “where are my friends?”. That’s something I’m going to have to get used to as most really are leaving pretty soon. My social scene has evolved and I am significantly less involved, and that is fine. People grow up and away and at the very least everyone leaving our little nest gives me less to stay for.

Naturally I have been trying to get out of Sacramento, even if its for little trips. I did a Comedy Sportz show in Richmond (…for the free masons) and then partied in San Francisco with John Michals. Got a Beer with Steven Zupan, drank with Ryan Fiola, then ran into Paul Telford at some bars. Good to get out of town. I went again just to hang out with Maggie and Tim Muldoon. All we ever do is drink, play wii golf, and Maggie and I sing “Islands in the Stream” real loud over and over to annoy Tim. It was lovely. Then had a cute dinner party with my sister. Good relaxing few days that has me thinking about the future. Plans are being formulated and discussed with my family. I don’t want to divulge anything until I am sure. But know this: There will be a move soon in my future. A big one.

I went to an open casting call for Survivor last week. Got interviewed on camera and picture taken. It’s a long shot but we shall see Fingers crossed. That would be so Awesome!

I have been reading and being able to focus on goals recently (crazy right???). Each blog sounds like a rerun, “things are changing, blah blah blah, I need to get a job, I went to a party and drank, etc” But I’m not sorry, you’re at devinritchie.com you dont get to complain about about content.

OH!!! Speaking of DevinRitchie.com, our 5th anniversary is August 1st! What should I do for it??

Here’s some pictures Bryce took from a few weeks ago when we all went out to Lipstick at Old Ironsides

Just got over a ridiculous week of having the stomach flu. So bad. went 4 days without eating, 5 days without drinking, smoking, or social interaction. A well needed break. But NO ONE needs to watch as much America’s Next Top Model as I have seen. Tragic. I had to better by Friday to do my show, and I was mostly.

It has been an eventful couple weeks. As You Like It opened, it has been so fun and a good experience. My brother and sister had their traditional birthday party. They rented out Red Feather winery in Livermore and had about 70 people come. It was a real good time, got to see a lot of people from high school or people I hadn’t seen in like 5 years. It was a trip. Got tipsy and stripped whilst hula hooping. The usual.

My grandma, mom, and I went to the Alameda county fair the next day I discovered my love for betting on horse racing. or maybe just because it reminds me of The Hold Steady song Chips Ahoy. (video sucks though).

My motivation to get a job has been sullied to do my illness, going out of town, being in a play, and having so much terrible television on. I can only blame myself and I do. But I actually have been applying and interviewing for jobs. Some promising prospects.

Other than that I have been going to the river, working on my tan, and making peace with myself. I’m doing a lot better than usual. I feel great. My Mom and Grandma went away for a weekend and it gave me good time to reconnect with Bryce Marck, Matt Marr, and John Farnsworth. One of those times when you just realize why you are friends with certain people and not as much with other people. When it’s sunrise and we all need to get up to go feed horses, and we don’t mind cause were all doing it. Then we pick up a 24 pack of PBR at 7am, naturally.

Love life is what it always is. Really the EXACT SAME. Was thinking about Jeff for a second again, and than no. Again. Frank Fox made his way up here again, and that was nice. But who knows what that could be. Had a crush on someone for once but of course got passed up for a strait guy. Naturally. Back to square one. …Ladies?

I gotta go shower and get for my show tonight… jebus..

Peace

I leave you with Sufjan Steven’s cover of Joni Mitchel’s Free Man In Paris.

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.