Hello again.

I've spent the last six days of not updating in deep contemplation. All I've figured out is that if I were a Japanese pop singer my hit song would be 'Guess What? You Love Me!'

Yes, I like to tackle the big issues.

Actually, I really do hate coming back to write after a long absence. I feel like I have to have some kind of really good reason to explain what's been going on. I can tell you right now that, in that sense, this entry is going to be kind of anti-climactic.

On the other hand, I can honestly say that the reason for the lack of updates centers around World War II, a whirpool jacuzzi, and my accidental killing of a horse. Maybe if I don't explain any of that in detail, your collective imaginations will concoct something far more exciting than I can explain here.

OK, that part about the horse isn't entirely true. That horse murder wasn't accidental. That smart ass horse got exactly what it deserved.

As for WWII: I meant to update on Friday, but Sally's roommate just purchased the board game Axis & Allies. If you don't know what it is, it basically simulates the second world war through the use of dice and little plastic tanks and planes. We stayed up until 4am or so playing, and when I woke up around 1pm on friday, I just wasn't feeling the writing mojo.

I was the Allies (America, Britain, and Russia), and I lost. Once the damn Krauts took Moscow, and my D-Day invasion of Normandy failed, it was pretty much downhill. If, in some parallel universe you're having sauerkraut for lunch and speaking the tongue of the Fatherland, then Ich bin erb�rmlich, Sie bastards.

On the upside, since the Germans won, that means lots of cabaret. That should please fans of ambiguous sexuality, black leather, and kicky dance numbers.

It really is hard to please all of the people, all of the time. But I try.

As for the jacuzzi, that particular detail involves a spur of the moment trip out of town. I had to skip my improv class in order to facilitate the excursion, so there is no news to report there. I'm trying to decide whether or not I'll actually expend the energy to go to a make up class this week.

My vocal class Monday night is another matter altogether. Like I said before, at the last class next week we're just going to be performing our songs for our fellow classmates, and not a large audience as was previously believed. So, this week was practice, and it was great.

I gave my teacher the sheet music to my song, 'Twist and Shout,' so she could play along on piano. One of my classmates brought his guitar, so I borrowed it. As I began to play and sing, some of my classmates joined in, providing the backup vocals to the song.

When I got to the part in the chorus that goes "aaaah aaaah aaaah aaaah!" the entire class joined in. After I got done screaming my head off (in key, thankfully), we all kind of collapsed into laughing and clapping.

Man. It felt so fucking good. Performance is where it's at, people.

So, yes: Playing rockstar is a ton more fun than just watching them. I can't wait for my nightmare descent into booze, pills, and, especially, whores.

The last thing to catch you up on is that I had my first orientation meeting for the Semester in Los Angeles. It was cool, and I got a lot of good info. It made the whole thing seem a little more real. It's going to be a lot of hard work, and I found out that I can expect a lot of twelve hour days for the first few weeks, but the eventual payoff looks to be phenomenal. After that meeting, I'm not worried about getting a job after the program, or finding a place to stay near the CBS lot, where the classes are. The only thing I'm even slightly worried about is finding a car once I'm out there. But that's what my sweet $1000+ tax return will be used for.

So, that's reassuring.

I realized over the weekend that I started my improv and vocal classes seven weeks ago, and I now have about seven weeks until I leave. That's insane. That's nothing.

Wasn't it January five minutes ago? Didn't I just have all the time in the world before I left?

It would probably be good if I used these last few weeks to do something productive.