I hate Rite Aid drugstores.

I hate the Rite Aid drugstores that have had the "renovation." The renovation consists of a radical new style layout and floor plan. They go away from the 150 year old business model of rectangular aisles leading up to the front of the store. Instead, they go with the Virgin Mega Store style of "is the store round inside?" curving aisles that lead onto some main pathways that intersect somewhere in the middle of the store, but from which you can never see the exits, let alone the cash registers. But unlike, Virgin, which has kept it's shelving low so you can scan the whole store at a glance, Rite Aid's high shelves create the feeling of being in a box hedge maze. One cannot even see the signs that hang from the ceiling to supposedly tell you were things are.

When I go to the drugstore, I don't need a boutique. I want to get in and get whatever it is-cough syrup, tampons, film- and get out. I'm not there to kill time. Record store, browsing.

Usually, I refuse to shop at Rite Aid. I will drive a few miles more to a much dumpier Sav-on just to not give Rite Aid my money. Last night, though, I stopped in against my better judgement, and was rewarded with the feeling of extreme rage. I want to take a rifle and blow my way across the store, creating the aisles that should be there. I don't want to hurt humans, just shelving units.

I hope Rite Aid sales numbers are down. I'm sure they blame it on the taint of ol' Thrifty's, which they bought out or poor managers or something like that. But I'm not the only one who feels that way. Same neighborhood, same time of night, the dumpy Sav-on is alive with business. Filled with so many customers you would think there wasn't a beautiful, clean, well stocked Rite Aid just up the street.

Another chapter in the laundry saga...

My good friend Andy Wallach used to be the wardrobe guy for the Siegfreid and Roy Show in Las Vegas until the untimely Tiger Incident two years ago. When the show closed, most of the costume shop equipment ended up in his garage, including an almost brand new Maytag washer and dryer. As they have been sitting around unused for months, he offered them up, but I had to haul them away myself. We both use the same sewing maching repair guy at our jobs at Puppetland and Star Dreck (the guy has the lock on both LA and Vegas) so I paid him $200 to haul the pair back, on the theory that the truck never makes a run empty. Alvin even helped us bring them in the house, and gave advice on setting them up.

So now we have the same washing machine that washed the spangled tights of the world's most fabulous and flamboyant magicians.

I will set up the washer tomorrow and do the debut load. The dryer will have to wait a bit. The plug on that is the same plug you might use to plug in a crane at a factory or something. It has four giant prongs and the head is as big as a take out hamburger box. An electrician will have to "run a 220 line from the fuse box." Blah blah blah, throw a little more money at it and hopefully we will have clean and dry laundry for the next 20 years.

According to this morning's paper, Steve has been named the new head of the EPA. This should provide hours of fun with cut and paste headlines and soundbites over the next few years.

Comedy plug...

My long form improv group, Tiny Bandeleros, started our new run last night at the ACME Comedy Theater here in Hollywood. It has become our new home, two months on, two months off, Saturday nights at 10pm. We have a bunch of new members this run, and they all kicked ass last night. Good crowd, great show in a fabulous theater. We've come a long way in a year. 12 months ago we were playing a roach infested black box above Lava Lounge, with homelss guys living in the walls behind the stage. Every show at ACME I marvel that I don't have to clean the bathrooms and that there is a color monitor of the stage in the spacious green room.


Today's Pet of the Day is a one eyed snake named Willy. If there wasn't a photo, I would think it was a joke. It may well be a photo shop fraud, but the site is so sincere, they wouldn't get the joke if it was one.

I have to admit this site and it's companion Cat of the Day are a guilty pleasure. I live for the photos of baby dwarf lop-eared rabbits that are so small and cute you want to pop them in your mouth and eat the up in one fuzzy bite. I always mean to enter Ernest for CotD, but I never seem to get around to it. He'll be 17 this July, so maybe I should get on that.

Here I am, still not working on my taxes. It's that college paper that is just not going to get done until the last possible second syndrome. I totally suck.

More Puppetland dish...choreographer told us she still has not gotten any music. The "practice music" they were using was from the giant, super famous movie that engulfed the 1980's called "E.T." You might have heard of it, and heard the music. Grand Poohbah had not. She did not recognize the music from E.T. Maybe, MAYBE, you might not either, but you are not in the business of directing a multi-million dollar show. I bet you could hear Close Encounters, or the music from Star Wars, or any of that sort of thing and think, "that music makes me think of some big sweeping famous space sort of movie! I don't quite remember which one right now...but it's famous!!"

We tried to give the space poster "color chart" to the retarded guy who interns on Thursdays. Art Director had taken it back already. I guess the scenic and light guys needed the wisdom it could provide.

Do you like to take online quizzes? Try this one, your Life Expectancy. I'm going to live to be 93, if I don't get hit by a bus or anything. BTW, when thay ask you about "how much meat do you eat per week" they mean RED meat, not fish or chicken.

While I'm living to 93, I have decided that I will screw the drug companies like they are screwing us. I'm not going to NEED their expensive maintainence drugs. Exercise, fruits and vegetables, glass of wine a few times a week. HA!

We need to get a washer and dryer. That can be inside our house. As I have blogged before, we are in a Laudromat time of our lives. This is not really sitting well with my obsessive compulsive need to do laundry. Laundry is such an issue that I even brought it to a surprise party. Of course, I didn't know there was a party, but even once I knew there were 40 people milling around the backyard in my honor, it still did not stop me from running three loads. I call friends I know to have washers and dryers when I am heading to their neighborhoods, on the off chance they will let me run a load.

I have become a laundry whore.