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