n i c k y n a x . c o m

About a week and a half ago I wentto see another Cirque du Soleil show (the fourth one I have now been able to see live). This one was Kooza, and while it probably wouldn’t be my very favorite one ever, I did enjoy it quite a bit.

What made the whole thing even more enjoyable was sharing the day with Lauren and Karen, who were attending their first Cirque show.

I snapped a few pics of the day on my phone, inluding the ferry ride out to the Grand Chapeteau and our post-show dinner at CPK.

I know it’s about a week late, but enjoy these pictures from our Kooza-palooza!

This is week fifty-six in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you could erase any one murder from history, which would it be?

Why do I feel I’m gonna get a lot of flack for not saying Jesus. I’ll say JFK or MLK. I think they could have done a lot more good had they more time.

If you had to change citizenship, which country would you want to become a citizen of?

Canada. Universal health care and gay marriage. And Avril Lavigne?

If you could be married anywhere in the world, where would the wedding take place?

Ha! I just picked Canada for gay marriage, but I honestly have never thought about or envisioned a wedding in my future. It just wasn’t something that was even a possibility when I was growing up, so I never even bothered to think about. I started to allow myself to remotely consider the idea a few months ago, but, then real life happened and I had no reason to think about it anymore. So, right now I really don’t know where I’d like to get married.

If you could be buried anywhere, where would it be?

I’m not sure I want to be buried. I think there’s a lot of romanticism about being cremated and having your ashes spread and letting the wind carry you away. Free in the breeze.

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?

This is week fifty-five in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you were to give one person you know an award for something, who would it be, and for what?

I suppose I would give Michael an award for bravery. He’s horribly afraid of flying, and just a few days ago he got on a plane for the first time in years to go to a wedding in Vegas.

If you had to choose someone with you right now to be president of the United States, who would you want it to be?

Well, considering I do these questions when I am alone, the only one with me is Miss Jackson, so I guess my answer would have to be her. Though, I pity the country if Miss Jackson is in charge.

If you could become rich for doing one thing you currently don’t do, what would you want it to be?

Hosting my own show would be fun.

If you were to be a machine, what machine would you be?

I wanna be a Segway! Does that count as a machine?

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?

The past two months haven’t been all that great for me. In fact, if you’ll allow me to be a bit dramatic, I’ll go so far as to say that I’ve been going through some of my lowest moments recently.

I realize that for most people, the low points become the most interesting and active on their blogs. But for me, I tend to deal with issues by withdrawing inwards away from people, thus resulting in virtually no blog posts aside from the weekly “If…” entries.

I apologize (to all four of you who actually read this) for not sharing the “real” parts of my life lately, but honestly, I didn’t share much with even my closest friends. In fact, there’s only one or two people with whom I spoke openly and honestly with about what has happened. Even my coworkers whom I see everyday (and consider to be more friends than they are coworkers) have no idea I was as affected as deeply as I really was. I put on a facade and pretended to be fine, when inside I was a mess.

I guess that’s just way I cope. It seems counter-productive though, considering that what I really wanted and needed more than anything was someone to just hold me and let me cry. Try getting someone to offer to be that person when you appear to be completely fine though.

My lack of blog entries doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing things. I just haven’t been publishing them. I guess I felt if I published them, then it was accepting them as being truth, and I wasn’t completely beyond the denial stages yet. Also, once they were out there, it would open up the lines of communication for people who wanted to talk about it, and I wasn’t ready to have those conversations yet. At least not honest ones. I was still too busy having the conversations where I pretended I was fine.

It’s been about two months now though, and I feel like I’m ready to finally open up about things. The following is something I wrote about a month or so ago, and I feel it adequately reflects where I was mentally at that point. I’m not even sure why I wrote it at the time, but I sat at the computer, opened up a blank page, and just started typing, and this is what came out. And, truth be told, it did manage to help in some small way. I can’t quite put my finger on why or how, but all I know is that once I finished it, I was a bit more at peace than I was before I had written it.

The Ten Things That Will Be Better Once You’re Gone

1. I will be able to sleep on my normal side of the bed again.
2. I will be able to listen to music while I get ready in the mornings like I always used to without having to worry about waking you up.
3. I will do laundry less often since you used to wear my socks and underwear all the time even though you had four times as many clothes as I do.
4. I will have to buy toilet paper much less often.
5. I will no longer have meat, dairy, and other disgusting non-vegan foods in my refrigerator.
6. I will never have to watch another episode of Law & Order: SVU
7. I won’t be woken up in the middle of the night every time you come home from work anymore.
8. The cable company will no longer think I’m a pervert now that you won’t be renting cable porn on my account anymore.
9. I won’t get sprayed with cold water first thing in the morning anymore since you would always leave the shower head turned on instead of switching it back to tub.
10. I won’t have to be paranoid about the landlord finding mail addressed to you since I was never technically allowed to have you living with me in the first place.

The One Thing That Will Be Worse Once You’re Gone

1. My Life

Last week I got an email from Mom saying she was sending me a “fun, little package” in the mail. It came today, and the contents were amusing.

I opened the padded envelope, and out came rolling a bunch of pencils. My first thought was “Who the hell uses pencils anymore?!” but then I noticed what was written on the pencils.

There, in gold letters, scrawled across each unsharpened and standardized-test compatible #2 pencil was the name Nicky Mitchell.

I was instantly six years old again and completely remembered having and using these exact pencils. What I didn’t remember was EVER going by the name Nicky.

Apparently these pencils were a Christmas gift from my grandparents when I was a tot, so perhaps that’s what they called me. But regardless, these pencils now hold a place of honor in my pen cup at work.

Nicky Mitchell is alive and well once again! And ready to fill in any bubble on any SAT you can throw at him.

This is week fifty-four in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you had to have one family member (besides your spouse) witness your next sexual act, who would you pick?

Just when I was starting to get bored with the trite questions, you throw this one into the mix, Mr If Book. Nicely played, sir. Nicely played, indeed. A tip of the hat to you.

For starters, ew. Now, it definitely wouldn’t be my mother. Or sister. Or brother. Or any of my nieces and nephews (can you say jailtime?). Grandparents? They’re either already dead or close enough that witnessing gay sex would finish them off.

I had a couple older cousins growing up that I remember thinking were cute, but I’m fairly sure they’ve all let themselves go by now, so having them there wouldn’t even give me something cute to look at anymore.

I’m starting to lean toward one of my uncles. I know he’s a bit of a photographer, and I think were he to be there, I could maybe just kill two birds with one stone and have him take some pictures (tasteful ones. not trashy porno pics). I’ve always wished I had the body and the look to be a nudie model, so I’d just use this excuse to cross that off the list too. But only if he had knew a photoshop magician to edit the pictures.

If you could see anyone alive fully naked, who would you select?

Well, I just saw Ryan Reynolds on tv and he’s always been luscious, so let’s pick him. Ask me again tomorrow and the answer will be completely different. And different again on Tuesday.

If you could see one famous person from history fully naked, who would it be?

James Dean? I dunno. I’m trying to think of famous dead people, but all that’s coming to mind is him and Young Elvis. I guess dead people just don’t turn me on much.

If you could be any sports figure now alive, who would you want to be?

A sexy male gymnast. Mostly just because I want a body like that. Are there any famous male gymnasts to pick from though? Who was the cute one from the Olympics last summer? Jonathan someone? Sure, him.

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?

This is week fifty-three in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you were stranded on a desert island and only had one piece of music to listen to, what would it be?

Reflections of Earth by Gavin Greenway

If you were to die in a public place, exactly what spot would you choose?

That’s very inconsiderate to those people who would happen to be nearby and have to witness that. If your soul/spirit/ghost/whatever remains at the spot where you die, then I’d like to die somewhere in Disney World, so I could stay and have fun there for eternity. But what a horrible vacation for all the children in princess dresses to witness some random dude die while they’re on vacation.

If you were elected to be leader of a foreign country tomorrow, what country would you want it to be, and what would be your first official act?

Italy. And my first official act would be to make it law that all hot italian boys are required to be nude in my presence.

If you had to have one piece of music softly playing in your mind for the rest of your life, what would you want it to be?

This one would have to be something in a slower tempo, I think. And perhaps a piano-only version. (pause for a twenty minute break to try to think of something and coming up with nothing at all) Moonlight Sonata. Why? Because I can’t come up with anything else.

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?