Fuck, I've been busy this past week.

Last Tuesday, Mel and I went to Venice beach and hung out for the afternoon. I don't recall if I even made it to the beach last year, so I'm glad I finally got off my ass and did so. Hopefully, it won't be my last excursion. As usual, parking was a challenge, but ultimately successful. Armed with towels and Snapple, we found a spot with relative ease, since it was a weekday. Couldn't get Mel to actually get into the water, which was unfortunate, 'cause after the initial shock it was pretty nice. I hit the waves, swam a bit, and generally just enjoyed myself. Then it was a bit tanning before the tide got high enough to try and attack us.

Who's up for a beach trip before the month is over?

That night was a bit more karaoke at 66. Did my all-Coldplay set and wasn't really happy with it, though the applause was generous enough. Trouble was pretty good for a first time and I'll see if I can polish it a bit tonight. No luck in getting poor on-stage, though. Perhaps next time.

Wednesday, I got my Smallville and Angel fixes and then it was out for someplace to drink with Mel and Thor2 ("The Sequel"). Somehow, we ended up at Cheetah's and wasted a bunch of money. Oh well.

Thursday, I woke up at the crack of nine to do a little work over at Jewel's Catch One. Always happy to lift heavy shit for a few bucks. Much thanks to Drew for the hook-up, the lift, and the food. Decided to watch the Friends finale that night, for the hell of it.

Friday, more heavy lifting and cleaning. Realized I left the blue sunglasses in the club. At night? Gaming (Re: my excuse to hang out with folks while wearing a turtleneck). Must now offer apologies to Em for not attending the party; I couldn't get ahold of any wheels to make it out. I tried not to be bitter about it, since I'd no one to blame but myself and more or less succeeded by drowning myself in television.

Saturday, got up again at the crack of nine and made my way to NoHo to help Mel pack up all her shit into a u-haul for her return to Fresno. Met the family. Lifted some heavy shit, though much of the dolly work was co-opted by a more enthusiastic (and less hungry) worker. I was somewhat surprised we managed to fit it all in the truck. Said goodbyes and high-tailed it outta the valley. Met up with Thea & Rico, began the trip down Orpheus road, and then headed out to see Black Comedy at Hollywood Fight Club. The show was damned funny and featured an actress who bears a striking resemblence to Kirsten Dunst. Afterwards, we met up with Thor2 over at the Nuart to take his virgin-ass to Rocky Horror. Sadly, instead of embarrassing himself, he conquered mightly (amazing, the things you can do when you have "mjolnir" stitched on your boxer shorts). Had a pretty good time at RHPS, all things considered; I can't imagine going as often as some people do, but it's fun after a few months or years of absence. SexyChicken kicked ass as Columbia (which I'd never been around to see her perform) and I look forward to seeing her play Frank in the next few weeks.

Sunday, I got up at the crack of one to see Closer and Black Comedy (again) at Hollywood Fight Club. This was the last night for both plays and I enjoyed the shit out of Closer. It was really well acted and (from what I could tell) very well written. I was impressed with all of the performances and watching it really made me think about a thing or two that'd been weighing on my mind lately. Who knew theatre could help you work out issues? Black Comedy was still hilarious the second time, of course. It's kind of neat to watch the little differences in a performance from one night to the next, as well as the happy accidents that can occur. Occasionally I wondered if any of them had ever had what the late Spaulding Gray referred to as "a unifying accident, in which something so strange happens in the play, that it suddenly unites the audience in the realization that we are all here together at this one moment in time. It's not television. It's not the movies. And it probably will never be repeated ever again."

Anyway, afterwards the cast had a little surprise for Rico for all his fine directing work and I shot the shit with a few of the folks outside. (All of this, btw, meant that if I told anyone I'd call them on Sunday and didn't, I apologize. I pretty much kept my phone off the minute I took a seat.) By the time we were ready to get outta there, who the fuck should show up but the friggin' Shell-man, who just happened to see us while waiting for a bus.

So, as you can see, I've been a bit too busy to actually update or anything.