It's harder than you think · My first Level II improv class was last night. We played several exercises, mainly oriented toward focus and character development. I had a difficult time with character development... coming up with characters right on the spot... Ken suggested having four to six characters developed and ready to insert into a scene. We also worked on projection, something which I need to devote some extra time to. My favorite game from last night was Dr. Know-it-All, where several characters speak one word at a time. We also played What Are You Doing?, my least favorite game, and Big Booty, an interesting rhythm and focus exercise. At the end, Ken praised me for my quick wit, but said I needed to work on my diction and enunciation. (Obligatory radio note: Our instructor, Ken Rundel, was the first program director at legendary album rock station KZEW. I made him feel old by telling him I was in 3rd grade about that time.)

The red wire connects to the blue wire with white stripes · Finished the wiring job at the house over the weekend. I ran four additional telephone jacks, a cable for a satellite dish, a cable from my bedroom to the living room, and speaker wires from the living room to the computer room. This eliminates all the long runs of telephone and speaker wire along the baseboards and ceiling. (To plug in my modem took a 30-foot extension cord from the computer room into the hallway; now it just plugs into the wall nearby.) Why now? Well, there's no floor or subfloor in the house (lost to the mold), so now's the time to get into the crawlspace if there's anything needing done. Some plumbing repairs will also be taking place, but not by me. Telephone and TV cable I can handle...