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It is POURING outside this morning. Like, totally ridiculous rain like Iapos;ve not seen since we moved here.�I got positively drenched in just wakling to and from my car. I hope my shoes dry out.

Itapos;s been a good week. And today is the precise one-week mark until Arielle gets here Sheapos;s only going to be here from Thursday to Sunday, and thereapos;s a lot I want to do in four days. I got suddenly nervous about the whole visit last night. All the positives have been so clear, and then out of nowhere I got hit with all the ways the visit could go awry. Booooo. I want to banish all those thoughts from my brain and just enjoy it, and then somehow slip in the serious talk we need to have about our future, whether or not sheapos;s in love with me, blah blah blah. Trivial stuff like that.

I love playing my guitar Caseyapos;s getting much better, too, and I have a nerdy dream of us being able to play and write music together in the apartment. Silly, but playing again has reminded me of how much fun Lady Ash was in high school and how satisfying writing music can be. Not that Iapos;m particularly good at either the guitar or at songwriting, but itapos;s something that makes me feel really accomplished and cool.

Speaking of Casey, his show opens tomorrow I am so thrilled to see it. Watching him come from rehearsal and hearing how heapos;s talked about the show, I think something has shifted in him with this show. Maybe itapos;s just the start of something bigger, but I think Iapos;m going to see a significant improvement in his work. Not to mention that I havenapos;t seen Casey act since February, and I love watching Casey onstage, so that alone will be worth the price of admission

Church choir started last night and I had a freaking blast. The people are great, and the director is a big gay riot. Love it. I am, as usual, the youngest person there, but there are enough 29-year-old grad students there to make me feel comfortable. I was talking to folks about my choir experience last night, and I realized that until college theatre took over my� life, I hadnapos;t gone a year without being in a choir since fifth grade. That almost ten straight years of choirs, and then nothing How did I�manage that? Itapos;s nice to have those skills come back to me so smoothly. All the sight-reading and choral vocal tones and shaping phrasing through breath. Sigh. I loved that stuff, and now I get to love it all over again And itapos;s not a bad ensemble at all. I wish we had more men, but can there ever be enough tenors and basses in any choir? I think not. It feels so right to have my little black folder of music again. I missed it

And as if thatapos;s not enough singing, I have more of it do at an audition tonight I hope I donapos;t blow it. Itapos;s for a reading of a new musical with Soundstage Productions, a readerapos;s theatre that introduces a lot of companies in town to their new works. This means not only the opportunity to have all that new work I did at Iowa pay off, but also to get seen by a lot of companies that might come to this reading. They might also want me to play guitar and/or piano in this show. Eep.

Finally, Sarah Palin is a terrible orator. I donapos;t know why her goal in her address was to be petty, cheap, and classless, but thatapos;s how Iapos;ll be thinking of her now. Amy and I had a favorite moment:

"Whatapos;s the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick."

WHAT? She gave to most sprawling, pointless speech that was written just to drop the necessary Republican code words that everyone in that party has to say to get elected. "Family values" and "protect our troops" and waving her baby with Downs Syndrome around like heapos;s her latest campaign ad. Gross. Not to mention the wonderful sentiment of, "The Senate Majority Leader canapos;t stand John McCain. That means we picked the right guy." Thatapos;s right, Sarah Palin. Because we could sure use a little more party division and bickering in this country. Nowapos;s not the time for a unifying President, but one that will make the chasm between the parties even wider and deeper. Youapos;re a moron, Palin. And do we really need 51 people in a single night to remind us that McCain was a POW? NO. Is it a point of honor and distinction that he served our country so bravely and went through such a hardship? Of course it is. Does it say wonders about his character when it comes to bravery, fortitude, and patriotism? Absolutely. But I know this about John McCain now. After 51 mentions in a single night of the RNC, so does everyone else. Now Iapos;d like to hear about, oh, I donapos;t know, how heapos;s going to fix the country. Maybe a little justification of what makes him this "maverick" Iapos;ve heard so much about. A few less cheap jabs at the decorations at the DNC (what a ridiculously childish move) and little more about why I should trust either of you in that white house. Iapos;m proud of Obama for being so very classy and respectful in his speech last week. I hope McCain does better than his running mate and brings a little maturity to his address tonight. And I cannot WAIT to watch Biden devour Palinapos;s face. Cannibalism will ensure, mark my words. That man will slaughter her.

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