Back at the Eton House, Standing at the Danforth hosted by JoAnna Downey

February 25, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

One of the great parts about moving to Greektown, Toronto, is that I’m right around the corner from Eton House, home of one of the best open mic comedy nights in Toronto. Standing at the Danforth, as the show is called, is one of two fantastic weekly shows produced by long-time comedy pro JoAnna Downey.

Standing at the Danforth is the second show I ever performed at when I moved to Toronto last year, so it will always have a special place in my heart. I wish I had recorded that performance, as it was one of my favourites. In fact, all my top performances in Toronto so far have coincidentally been hosted by JoAnna Downey.

Yesterday’s show was a special show produced for Mike McQueen, and his dad was in town. I was lucky enough to get to see three of my favourite Toronto comedians: Ted Morris, Nikki Payne and Debra DiGiovanni.

Ted Morris is incredibly likable on stage, and I hope to see a full set of his sometime soon. I’d love to see where his comedy goes when he has more time to expand his stories on stage. Nikki Payne, well, what can I say? Her aggression and energy on stage are absolutely unmatched.

Debra DiGiovanni is an interesting one. It took me a while to warm up to her style, but in the long run I think that’s a good thing as I appreciate her more for it. Debra is very wordy on stage and speaks very quickly. She also leaves no pauses for audiences to applaud. In fact, she’ll talk straight through laughter in a way that I’ve never seen before.

Now that I’ve gotten used to it, though, I think it’s quite amazing. With the speed that Debra speaks, she has to write probably double or triple the material to cover the same amount of time. I also quite enjoy her material.

Anyhow, that was my week at the Eton House. I can’t wait to be back on the stage, probably sometime in April. I’ll post the date once it’s confirmed.

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Being a leader is more difficult than I imagined, I have lots to learn

December 4, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

The recent leadership struggle in Canada’s Parliament between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives and the coalition of Stephane Dion, Liberals, Jack Layton, NDP, and Gilles Duceppe, Bloc Quebecois, has come to a standstill and won’t be resolved for another seven weeks. All this talk of leadership has gotten me thinking about my own leadership abilities.

I’ve always personally thought that I was a natural-born leader, though recent developments have led me to question my abilities. Both at work and in my personal life, I’ve always been thrust into positions of leadership. From a young age, I have always led or been very near the leadership position in every group I have been a part of. At times, the leadership has been thrust upon me and at other times I have sought leadership.

In some ways, I am not a very natural leader at all, but I am often placed in positions of leadership because of my ability to gain trust and belief from others. The trust is often gained through observations of my ability to inspire others through my actions and initiatives and my ability to work well on my own and overcome obstacles. Unfortunately, it is this very nature that makes it difficult for me to lead in the traditional sense.

In the volunteer world, I have found that I am better served as a secondary leader or co-leader whose purpose is to inspire through action, leaving the world of traditional leadership to those more capable. I have recently found the same at work, where I didn’t fare so well at directly managing and supervising staff but have fared much better when managing people as resources, meaning those I am in charge of have separate supervisors to deal with everyday managing while I deal with the bigger picture.

Unfortunately for me, there are times where I have to step up and lead in both ways, as the option to co-lead is not always there. With the SuperPowerBottoms, I am fortunate enough to have a great group of players to lead: They are hard working, show up early and are motivated to practice. In fact, they are so great a team that I have to question my leadership as the main reason to why we haven’t improved sooner. I suppose I can only do my best, and perhaps things will turn around soon enough.

Filed under: Gaying
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Big Jump . . . tall, dark and bottom, hot players approached

October 12, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

What a wild and crazy volleyball tournament. My team improved so much, it was crazy. I’m super lucky to have a team that stuck with me through some crazy decisions. There is no way a novice team should be playing this good.

The most drastic decision I made was to try out a new formation mid-tournament. Not only is it crazy that we’re already playing a 6-2 formation, but I went and decided to enforce a new, modified version built specifically for this team’s strengths. The fact that they adjusted is astounding.

In fact, they not only adjusted but fluorished in the new system. We had three separate matches where we thought we played the matches of our lives, each topping the one before dramatically. Strangely, this wasn’t even the best part of the tournament.

My team, SuperPowerBottoms, became notorious across the entire tournament in all the right ways. We were known as the most spirited, fun-loving team. In fact, we received a standing ovation after we lost our last match, narrowly missing out on a medal.

It was crazy that we even had a chance to medal. In our weekly league, TSVL, we were ranked 31 out of 32 teams only just recently. This weekend, we played teams ranked in the top 20 and lost out on a medal by only four points. I can’t believe I am writing this. We are playing top 20 volleyball after only six weeks as a team.

Did I mention that no one on the team has ever played competitive volleyball before? It’s crazy.

I’m going to take a nap. Bye for now.

VS

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Big Jump . . . recovery day after a grueling day one

October 12, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

What a day. After breakfast, we went straight to the tournament. We arrived late and missed practice. This was especially troublesome as I wanted to implement minor changes to our formation.

All turned out well as we saved the new formation for our second game. We are ranked fourth out of five teams tomorrow and have a great chance for a medal.

I am astounded with how quickly my team, made up entirely of novices, adjusts to strategy changes. I have thrown very complicated formations at them and they take maybe one game to adjust.

For dinner we went to the tournament banquet. We were so hungry that we danced on stage to move ahead in the lineup for food. It was totally worth it.

VS

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Big Jump . . . wandering at night around Montreal is fun

October 11, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Taking a suggestion from a Facebook friend, I decided to end my restlessness by taking a walk in downtown Montreal. This may not have been the best idea as I’ve run into a number of shady characters. I guess I’m not too worried. I did grow up in the ghetto after all.

It’s now 6:00 a.m. I used my new iPhone GPS to map my way to the closest Chez Cora. I LOVE the food here.

My food is coming. Bye for now.

VS

Filed under: Gaying
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Big Jump . . . awake and alone in my hotel washroom

October 11, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

The drive to Montreal was fabulous and fierce. The conversations ranged from volleyball to sex to cheese.

Team registration was at a strip club that was chock full of hotties for those into the beefy type. As always, my friends are urging me to “seal the deal.” Lately I’ve been known as the Hopeless Ho.

This nickname stems from my unbroken streak of celibacy since moving to Toronto. I go as far as bringing people home, but then it usually ends in cuddling. I don’t know what it is, but there is a mental hump I can’t seem to get over.

I always thought I was a relationship guy, but right now my career takes priority. This wouldn’t be so terrible except that I am hopeless with single sex and am now celibate. If only I could find some middle ground.

I have probably said too much but it is 5:00 a.m. In Montreal and I can’t get to sleep. I am writing this from my hotel washroom so I won’t wake my teammates.

I hope I will be alert for today’s tournament. I’m nervous to be captaining a team at a major tournament for the first time.

I’ll update as the tourney progresses.

VS

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Big Jump . . . and we’re off to Montreal with SuperPowerBottoms

October 10, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

I am on my way to the Big Jump tournament in Montreal with my gay volleyball team, SuperPowerBottoms.

I’m riding in the car with Luke, nicknamed SizeQueenDiva. My team nickname is HopOnTop. Also in the car is Khamla, BlackHole, and Ryan, “Versatile.” We’re meeting the rest of the team at the hotel tonight.

Filed under: Gaying
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