Been very busy with work and preparing for the big move next weekend. Spent the past two days packing and bringing stuff over early. Steve thinks I'm crazy, but I think if I can just move my closet and most of the kitchen, I will feel more settled in when everything else is moved all at once. And I did, and I do. Most of my closet is there and set up, and 35% of the kitchen. I still have to hit Ikea this week for Instant Bathroom, and Ben is going to cut more shelves, so by Friday, the bathroom and linen closet will be set up as well.

We are getting rid of stuff as we pack. We both would like to feel less cluttered in the new place. Having a garage with a door that locks will help a lot, as much more of our stuff can go out there, such as all of my bins (16!) of fabric and sewing stuff, Christmas decorations, costumes. We are looking for an entertainment center to put all the electronic stuff in as well. The key will be putting stuff behind doors.

In other news, I'm now doing the Thursday night at 10pm show at ACME, and enjoying it very much. Interesting to note about this new comedy group for me, out of twenty people, I am one of two Jews, and the only left-handed person. Did I mention this is a COMEDY GROUP? In LA? It's the left handed thing that I find more weird. Marty pointed out that it just might make me the funniest by default. Rebecca asked if there was a fat guy (no) fat gal (no, but there is a "robust" gal...) and a sassy black guy or gal. There is a black guy, but not sassy. He's very light skinned and looks like a Republican. What does a Young Republican look like, you ask? He has "good school frat boy physique" 6' 170lb looking, in shape, short hair, crisp button down shirts and khakis. If I found out he went to law school and was in agent training at CAA, I wouldn't be surprised. So far, he is mildly amusing.

Goodbye Gen X, Hello Grup

Looks like we gots ourselves a New Marketing Handle. We are no longer Generation X. (how 1991!) According to New York Magazine, just call us Grups. I think it means we are the same folks we've been since 1991, but now we our own incomes to buy more expensive versions of sneakers and jeans, and finally started to have kids. For some reason, we didn't turn into the same consumers as our parents and Madison Ave is taking notice!

It's nice to have the attention back on us for a change. We've been out of the spotlight since 1996.

I just made an easter basket with "real" easter grass. I have not had green plastic easter grass or thin strands on tinsel in my house since 1988. Ernest the Cat would eat it like spaghetti and it wasn't pleasant coming out the other end. We will see if it is a temptation to Schmedly T. Cat or what. He doesn't eat plastic bags either.

Guess what arrived in the mail today? My Maus book! Hurrah for JP for sending it. I thought I was being sued for a second, as it came in a big envelope from a fancy law firm in Century City. Just in time to pack it for the Big Move four blocks west to Ben and Helen's.

Big changes afoot...we will need new email addresses and perhaps a new house phone number. But there will be dishwasher, a W/D and no ugly light fixtures that we are not allowed to change. The hot water is more than a trickle and the house is not, in the words of Rachel Kaufman, "the land of deferred maintenance." The outside is still little more than a construction site, but the inside looks like a magazine. An Ikea magazine, but still a couple steps up the "before" kitchen photo spread we have now.

I hope to have books and little used cooking things packed by the end of the weekend.

My hard work has paid off. I am now one of the new members of ACME's Yankee Company. We had our class "recital" last night, and I had the comedic equivalent of hitting it out of the park with the bases loaded. Everyone rose to the occasion, and I was proud to see everyone do better than expected. Personally, I ate the scenery, spat it into my hand, and fed it to the audience. We did the Scandal soap opera format, and subtle is not the name of the game.

I'm not sure when my first show will be, but I'm very happy to finally be a member of a well regarded company. A company with it's own first class theater, budget and PR. I'm so over the years of little troupes of talented folks who try so hard and spend so much energy spinning their wheels over internal power struggles and politics. Now I can have internal power struggles and politics in an air-conditioned green room with a color monitor of the stage while performing in a show that has an advertising budget and built in audiences.