5/25/04 4:31 AM: NOTE: This is a new thing I wanna try, so I can bullet point things going on without going into a lot of detail. If it works, great, you may see it again. If not, well, there's that. Here we go ...

THE CAR SITUATION: I am currently driving a truck owned by one of my bosses at the karaoke business. I've got it parked way across La Brea because there's no parking on my block, and it's also a crime-ridden cesspool over here. Getting a lot more exercise, walking the block and a half to it, every day. Mercury Insurance made two calls to me today, once I said the word "lawyer." I hope to have this resolved shortly. Oh, and I actually get more and more freaked out about how close I came to dying as days go by. It's a strange mixture of it being funny and it being terrifying. More updates as they occur.

READING: I got a great birthday present from my old boss Jenna Robbins, of a gift certificate for Borders. I used it to buy a book called Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman, and I'm enjoying it greatly. It has me kickstarted on a short story I started writing at my former editor Meredith's wedding, which is now just on my PDA, but which I'm working on.

MUSIC: I have to finish the lyrics for "Criminal Thunder." I also figured out there's a setting that helps my vocals sound less crappy, so I may re-record vocals on all songs. I also finally downloaded Apple Loops SDK, so samples in songs is not far away.

STAYING IN MORE: I came right home after my crappy class (only two left, thank spirit) and got to work. Was pretty productive. It can work. I just have to be careful and not say "what the hell" so easily. A challenge since I wanna go check out at least two new karaoke nights I found out about in the 'hood.

ROMANCE: I am pleased and content right now. I also feel rather darned fetching. Nothing negative to report.

THE GOSPEL OF LEX LUTHOR: As I expected, I've already started to get over some drama with one of my best friends. I sometimes forget that other people are flawed, even people I like, and that I know a lot of those flaws. No hard feelings now.

CELL PHONES: One of the reasons I don't use my phone more is because it's a bulky ugly bastard beloved by teenagers and hoodrats. It's blue and has no style, and doesn't match me on any day other than Thursday or Saturday. So I went poking at stuff. I bid $20 on a T-Mobile compatible phone (probably a bad move, seeing how I need to save money, but oh well) and have several nice Boost Mobile-compatible phones (I'm with Boost Mobile now) on my eBay watch list. Given that my current phone has been out of minutes for three weeks and I barely care (could have used it once or twice, but I made due), I don't know why this is stuck in my head all of a sudden.

SUMMER TIME: Of course I decide to stay in more at the start of festival season. Crap. Well, I gotta work all weekend at Pasadena, which is a grind but at least my publicist friends Natalie and Regina and Nina all feed me and amuse me (Natalie hitting on white guys is a scream). I completely missed the Malcolm X festival, which was like four blocks from my house, because I sat here and chose not to go, despite the fact that attractive women might flirt with me and that I could see cool stuff happening. I see that crap every year. I decided against caring, and I feel pretty good with the choice. Besides, see ROMANCE above.

MY SO-CALLED LIFE: I really gotta get this apartment organized this summer. I'm extending the lease, I decided. Moving sucks ass. Why be hassled? I don't even notice the street noise anymore. Gonna completely clean out my car (the wrecked one) soon too. I just gotta pare down to bare essentials, really. All this extra white noise is keeping me from creating. I haven't done anything to organize the karaoke event I wanna do at Comicon this year. Blah.

ATTITUDE: Despite the setbacks, I feel really blessed. My boss didn't have to help me this way, and I appreciate it. He and his wife are so getting a thank you card. Even the friends I don't really like are being super cool with me. I'm living a life I didn't choose nor desire, but it's a good one and I'm happy with it most of the time. I just need to manage and save money, is all. More Hannibal, less other people.

That is all.