Rooftop sunset ft. Mitch and Madeleine

2nd awesome news… I have an interview on Tuesday! It’s at a temp agency that Ryan Nicolls hooked me up with. I am super excited about that. I have been passing out resumes and applying at a lot of craigslist jobs for the past week. I might actually take a job being a figure model for art classes, why not? Its good money. For art. Right? But hopefully this temp agency will be able to get me some consistant work soon.

3rd awesome thing… I got a call back to ComedySportz NYC! Even though I have been doing it for like 3 years in Sac, my recommendation from Sac CSZ only got me as far as the invite only auditions, then I thought I did pretty poorly, and asked to stay late, but this wasn’t a good thing exactly, it was the people they needed to see more from, some bad and some good. But I made the callbacks anyways! They had 34 invited to audition and then cut it down to 12 for the callbacks and I was one of them! The competition is pretty fierce so I gotta bring my fucking A-game this Wednesday. I heard about both the interview and the callback today #winning

Other than all that, things have been going generally great. My classes at Upright Citizens Brigade are getting better and I believe I am beginning to prove myself. I also realized I have a lot to fucking learn. It’s humbling to go from a little pond to the fucking ocean.

Earlier this week when I came home from my audition I was in a bad mood(mostly because staying late at the audition caused me to miss the play The House of Blue Leaves which I had a free ticket to and features Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ben Stiller and Edie fucking Falco CARMELLA FUCKIN SOPRANO. So pissed). But Maggie and some friends Naomi Solomon, and Cousin (Maggie’s

Brenden, Cousin, and Madeleine

cousin Brian who everyone just calls “Cousin”) were making dinner and a few other friends including my roommate Naomi came over with beer and cheese and we had a cute ass dinner in our backyard that totally turned my night around. Thats what I love about the place I live. Not to mention there is always something to do, whether its just going to Beauty Bar, or little skips(the coffee shop my roommates/friends work at/run), or some party somewhere. I definitely couldn’t have landed any better in New York.

That being said, I really do miss my California family. I still want to be at those parties making people take shots, getting in trouble at the club, or just sitting around smoking cigarettes and eating pizza at Danny’s. I wonder about Pam casting The Full Monty and what Mayhem is up to. It really just hit me the other day that I will not be at my brother and sisters birthday, this kills me. This is the first time this has happened and birthdays are kind of a big deal to us. I have to do something like super extra special for them. AND THEY ARE HAVING A CANADA THEME PARTY. I COULD HAVE DRESSED LIKE A MOOSE. But these things are gonna happen I guess, its just settling in that I actually moved to New York(still doesn’t feel totally real) But it’s for the best in the long run. I need to be doing this shit right now.

Danny BBQing

It still feels a little like summer camp and I am trying to switch out of vacation mode into I live here mode. Which is difficult. Especially when meeting people and trying not to spend money or buy drinks. But I have been pretty good lately, (have hardly gotten all that drunk here at all!) I have been tagging along with Maggie to social things, BBQs, art shows, parties, or just walking dogs. Rooftop barbecues watching the sunset with friends that I hardly know yet. It feels pretty amazing. I want to soak up this feeling of newness and vigor while it lasts before I get used to it and jaded.

Regardless of how the jobs, auditions, money, or anything serious are … this will be an amazing summer. and maybe, this might actually work and I can survive here.

My Room! (bed not included)

Me and Cousin Brian urging Tim Muldoon to move here.

Oh, you know. Just being epic.

Heres the new coldplay, totally a Brian Eno track. pretty sweet.

Peace

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!

I picked up and got a criagslist ride share out to my sister Jenny’s place in Pleasanton, drank champagne and got ready. A few of our friends and our brother kyle met us up and we went to a few parties and the Livermore bars. Needless to say, we all got pretty trashed. Had a nice hangover day the next day watching How I met your Mother ALL DAY. and then go out again.

This time the Ritchie Kids went out to San Francisco and hit up bars in the Castro. Sadly, this was actually my like 4th day in a row of partying hard and my body couldn’t take it much more. I puked before I got on BART. And after. So we all just had one beer each and were pretty tame. But we walked around and got several great pictures of all the FANTASTIC COSTUMES! We called it a pretty early night but it was an awesome weekend.

Peace

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.

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!!