12:46 PM

Its Saturday afternoon once again. I just got out of bed even though I have been awake for about 2 hours. This weekend is flying by, before you know it, it will be 2010. I'm constantly blown away at how fast things are going. I guess I need to just learn to accept it and not fight it - live more in the moment.

I got up today and watched a DVD of Tim Conway videos that my mom got me for Christmas. Its really awesome that my Mom supports my comedy. I know a lot of parents that are not too thrilled with their kids going into the creative arts or performance fields. I am really lucky in that respect, and the support from my whole family has been nothing short of awesome.

I'm sitting in my apartment and the temperature is just about perfect. Its crazy how we can regulate the temperature of a room to make it just right. The more I think about it, I would hate America if I did not live here. We have so much luxury its ridiculous. I'll probably take a shower in a little bit, and I'll just let clean, fresh water run over my body for like 20 minutes. (I take long showers because I just stand there and zone out and try to relax). Its just crazy that a large population of the world's people have to walk MILES to get any kind of water, and then carry it back to a crappy hut, and the water isn't even clean, its dirty, and it may be really cold. I can get in the shower and adjust the water temperature, pressure, and it is really clean water. Its perfectly clear. There are people all over the world drinking water that has crap in it. If I'm drinking a glass of water and it has one little fleck in it, I pour it out, then rinse my glass out with more water, and then finally fill it back up until I have a perfectly clear glass of water. We are truly spoiled as Americans.

On a side note, I'm performing in a sketch show tonight at 8:00pm at Gotham City Improv. I am playing the part of Eminem the rapper. I'm looking forward to it, and as I write this I am watching Eminem videos on youtube so I can learn his mannerisms and style so I can try and portray him in a somewhat accurate manner later tonight.

Its amazing to me how you can learn stuff just by being around something and absorbing it. By just watching a few youtube videos I can put it in my brain how Eminem moves, sounds, his style, and then I can mimic that later tonight. By watching videos, it actually influences my actions and what I do later. Its amazing our brains can learn show much. The wiring in our heads is always changing.

I really enjoy music, as I guess a good majority of people do. I like it because it takes me out of the reality of my own problems and desires, struggles, etc. Its like comedy, I can put my headphones on, close my eyes and forget about all sorts of things. Perhaps a good bit of us live our lives just trying to forget actually living and experiencing the pain of things. This is definitely not anything new that I am saying, but when I think about it, a solid amount of our lives are spent trying to escape our own lives and ourselves. That is why we have drugs, sports, movies, alcohol, comedy, music, acting, reading and books, sporting events, cellphones, to-do lists, the Internet, this blog perhaps, television, etc. We are all constantly just trying to deal and get through life using the things that we believe help us most. What would happen if we didn't do any of those things? Perhaps we wouldn't live at all then.

I was speaking with a friend the other day, and he mentioned something about "What if no one had jobs, what if we all just sort of were here and living?" Something like that. Its an interesting question to think about. We all just rush around like crazy. Have you ever sat somewhere and just watched all the cars go by? I'm sure you have. Do you ever think about how many people are here on this earth? Watch the people walk and drive by, everyone is always rushing from place to place to get stuff done. Its like we are all just rats racing for no reason with our heads chopped off. I got to go here, no I got to go here, wait, I'm crazy, I'm going over here.

My style of comedy has changed a good bit in the past 3 months or so. They say it takes 4-5 years before you figure out your "voice" in comedy, but then I have talked to comedians who have been doing it for 15 years, and they still seem to be trying to figure it out - and they are some of the best comics I know. I guess you just do it, and whatever you are doing right now, is really it. That's it, nothing else.

Its weird to me that I can write stuff down here in this blog, and millions of people have the ability to read it, make sense of it, and then my writing can cause emotion in other people. Some will disagree with many of the things I say, others will feel that I have wasted their time as they read this blog, some will catch grammatical errors, and to them the value of my writing will decline, some people may really relate to my writing, some may really like it, etc. Its amazing to me how communication works and that technically there are millions of people who can understand what I am saying and it evokes different responses in everyone. Writing is great because its almost as if you can share your brain with other people.

Oh yeah, my style of comedy has changed as I had been saying. I'm in the process of getting away from "joke telling" and into more real-life story telling. I am trying to make my comedy as relate-able as I can, and the only way to do that is to be honest and truthful. One of my favorite comics working today is Jim Norton because the times I have seen him live, he has been incredibly engaging because he is just honest - one of the greatest things I have seen since I started doing comedy. He just has this thing where I feel like he talks directly to me. I'm trying to figure out how I can connect with the audience on my own level - hopefully one that is human and truthful.

Well, I guess that's it. Thanks for reading. I really do appreciate it. Have a good weekend. Relax and enjoy the day.

Later,
Lance

1:40 PM

I am currently sitting in my apartment in Harlem, here on Saturday afternoon. It is amazing to me how fast weekends go by. Saturday is already half over, and I feel like I haven't really gotten anything done. I never really have too many plans for the weekend. I went to see a show at the UCB Theatre last night. I saw a group called Penny Comedy performing a show called "White Orpans". I'm not sure how long the show is running, but it was really funny, and you should check it out if you get the chance.

On a side note, I re-vamped my website, and I think it looks a lot better and just all around smoother. It may have a couple kinks in it here and there, but I'm working on gettting them out.

I've got a bunch of great shows coming up in the near future. I always have a lot of people ask me when and where I will be performing so they can come see a show, so I'm really trying to keep my schedule on myspace as up-to-date as I can.

I had a great past week. I've been getting a lot of stuff done. I'm finally getting to the point where I feel organized. I've been working in a little different style than I have in the past. I'm sleeping more and working at a more relaxed pace, and I'm actually getting more done and producing better work as well. I used to push myself really hard and feel anxious all the time, and I am finally figuring out how to do it right, and I do work constantly, but in a more relaxed manner.

NEW GOAL: I've got a new goal I'm working toward. I told you I've been working out a good bit recently, and I have set a goal to gain 12 pounds in 4 months. Its a tough goal, but I think its possible. I think its actually pretty difficult to gain weight. You really have to eat a lot of food, and not just any kind of food. I mean, you could eat a ton of cake and cookies, but that's not really the kind of weight I want to gain. Working out has been one of the better discoveries I have made in the last few months. I've stayed consistent to it, and I've been working out every other day, and I just feel healthier and more fit, and I have more energy.

Alright, I guess that's it. I am anticipating the next couple of weeks to be really good, so I should have some nice stuff to share with you soon.

Later,
Lance

12:05 PM Saturday February 9, 2008

To the left is a picture of my friend Chris who looks just like me. He does comedy too, I haven't talked to him in a while, but I believe he is doing comedy in Chicago. I bet he gets a lot of girls.

Anyway, its 12:08pm now, and I am sitting in my apartment in Harlem somewhere in the 130's. I've been living up here for about 4 months and its awesome. Its so easy to get everywhere in the city from here and there is an awesome park right across the street from my building. Sometimes when I get up in the morning, I look across to the park and think about how different my life could be if I had chosen to do other things. Not that things aren't going well, in fact they are going the best they have gone ever, but sometimes I just think about all the different places I could be or the things I could be doing. You can do anything in life. You could live on the beach in California, you could go travel around in Europe. There isn't really anything stopping you. We make all these excuses as to why we don't do certain things, at least I know I do. I sometimes want to do certain things, and then I'm like, "ah, its just too much work" or "nah, everyone will make fun of me if I do that".

What's weird to me is how much of our actions are governed by societal factors and the things that shouldn't have any influence on us at all. We get so wrapped up in doing what everyone else is doing that we sometimes lose what it is that we REALLY want to do. I have decided that this blog is going to just be more of a thought-type-journal thing. I had originally intended for it to be a blog about comedy or funny things, because that is what everyone else was doing, but I think I'll just keep writing it as a random thought thing.

Sometimes people ask me how I write jokes, what my process is like. Whenever I write, I don't sit down with the intention of writing something funny. I sit down and just write a stream of conscious just like this blog here. My thoughts move pretty quickly and I just write as fast as I can. I'm trying to be as honest as I can on here, but to be completely honest, everything I write has a bit of holding back in it, because like I said a little earlier, we live by societal factors, and if I didn't edit this as I write it, then people would perhaps not like me or think I were crazy. The truth is that we all want to be liked and loved and deep down that is why I write with an editor in my mind.

Its amazing to me the difference between what goes through my mind and what actually goes onto the paper both here and when I write in my own-more personal journal. What actually gets onto the paper or screen is only a small fraction of what goes on in my brain, and I think other people would feel the same way at times. I don't even know why I'm writing this blog. I could be doing a lot of other things with my time, but I write just to write I guess.

Not too sure what I am going to do today, and I kind of like it that way. I'm slowly learning to live in the moment more, and I am just taking the day as it comes. In life we have the opportunity to chase things, and we also have the opportunity to sit back and let the world come to us, just let things happen, and the amazing thing is that they will happen. Maybe not the things you wanted to happen, but things will happen.

I've been reading a ton lately, which is amazing to me because I didn't used to read at all. I used to hate reading, more than anything. There are countless books in my high school right now that are all bent up because I used to hate reading so much that something would rise up in me and I would throw books against the wall.

I'm trying to figure things out. This blog may sound a little funky, and weird, but it is honest. I guess my hope in writing this blog is that perhaps someone will read it and take maybe one thing I say and it can affect them in a positive way. I'm trying to learn how to connect with people on a more human level, not on a level of society or on a level of ego, or anything like that, but more on a level of just human to human. I want to make positive changes in the world and bring goodness and postivi-tive-ness to everyone, but I'm not always sure how to do that.

Alright, I'll sum it up for you. I am trying to figure out how to become one of those people who just has radiance or some kind of positive energy field around them. Most people in life just kind of go in and out of our conscious mind, but every now and then you see someone who has this energy about them, and it has nothing to do with how good someone looks or how "cool" they are. Some people just have this thing, this glow or flare, and I'm trying to learn how you get to become one of those people.

Also, another thing I have learned is that no matter what you do in live, I don't care what job or field it is, you will always have people who don't want you to succeed. There are just some negative people in this world, and I don't have time for them. My life is too short, everyone's life is, and I don't have time to be caught up in stupid drama or gossip about other people. I'm trying to enjoy the moment for what it is no matter what, and I'm not going to let those negative people in.

Alright, I guess I have written enough for now. Although I'm not sure what is enough. Perhaps enough is because my hands and arms are tired from typing, my brain is out of stuff to write about, or I just feel that no one will read this far for whatever reason. Alright, thanks for reading, if you did read this far, if you could please shoot me a message that just says "Read it" or something just so I know you did, that would be great. It would mean a lot to me if you have. Thank you for your time.

Later you,

Lance

Going for it.

I'm trying to take more risks in life and go for things as much as I can. I'm trying to get it done now as anything could happen at any moment, and I want to think I went for it in the end. We only have so much time on this earth, and its super short. You have to go for it right now, whatever that "it" for you might be. Now is the time. I'm really starting to enjoy my life and do some really great things. I'm not totally there, but I feel like I'm slowly starting to figure it out and live well. Its hard work, but its worth it in the end. I'm currently reading "The Power of Now" and perhaps that is what has sparked this thought process in me, but to be honest, these are things that I have been thinking for about the past year or so. Time goes by so fast, I can't believe it. I just don't want to be old and not have done the things I wanted to do. I think this blog is turning more into a self-help type thing, or just me recommending books, but whatever. I just kind of write. I was going to blog every Wednesday night, but somehow after 2 weeks, that fell through. There just isn't enough time to do everything correctly. I feel like I've been rushing for the past 6 years, but I don't know why. I don't know what I'm rushing towards. I'm currently trying to slow down the pace at which I live and enjoy everyday for what its worth because really that is all we have. Pretty soon, this blink-of-an-eye life will be over for all of us. Just think, can you already believe how old you are. Regardless of what age you are, its hard to believe you are this old. Its pretty wild to think about. You really just got to enjoy everyday for what its worth. Alright, I guess that's it for now. Go out there and take some risks, and go for it, because to be honest, there isn't much time left, and if you don't do it right now, when are you going to do it (my thoughts - sort of taken from "The Power of Now").

Later,
Lance