Cassandra is now crawling! Not fast, but definitely moving forward, and getting to where she needs to go.

Amazing!

So for my latest improv class I have to watch a Martial Arts movie. The goal is to watch something that is full of clichés, something I can draw on when I’m asked to perform a scene in a Kung Fu style. For previous classes I had to watch a Western and a Shakespeare movie.

Well, I don’t have any Martial Arts movies.

Oh wait, I do! My friend Eric loaned me one a while ago: Shaolin Soccer. So hey, I’ll watch that.

It was perfect!

I actually enjoyed it, even though it was mostly predictable. But I also watched it through a performer’s eye. So I was able to see their attitudes, how mystical and, well, pure the acting is. Very black and white, with the big theme of over coming the obstacles within in order to defeat the enemies around you.

It was a lot like a Western, except far more magical and mystical. Then again, the themes for all these styles are pretty much the same: honor, greed, love...you can fill in the rest.

It was fun doing that homework. Thank you, Eric!

Last night we all went out to a relatively inexpensive place that had fantastic food. It was called The Brazilian Steakhouse. They had various Brazilian type food, desserts, and alcohol, but the reason for heading out there was for the meat.

Just like Dim Sum at Chinese restaurants, at the Brazilian Steakhouse they come by with slabs of meat, removing it from skewers or slicing it right at your table.

I had London Broil wrapped in bacon, chicken wrapped in bacon, turkey wrapped in bacon, skirt steak, shoulder steak, and I think three other varieties of steak whose location I’ve forgotten.

Oh my goodness did I eat a lot of beef and other animals!

Eventually I had to call a halt to be parade of dead and cooked flesh. That was when they gave me some fried cinnamon pineapple and some passion fruit custard.

I waddled back to my hotel content and happy.

Thirteen hour day today. I'm exhausted.

Found a roach in my room. Found two yesterday, but they were tiny. Today...it was Fraternity House sized roach.

Yuck!!

I'm really ready to come home.

Here is a safety tip when going through airport security: don’t forget that you were using a box cutter earlier in the day and leave it in your pocket.

Second safety tip: when you find it, don’t throw it at a TSA employee.

Ugh…what is wrong with me?

Fortunately, and surprisingly, nothing bad happened to me. When I discovered in my pocket, I was shocked and had the facial expression of “I am such an idiot for bringing it here.”

A TSA guy saw it, saw me, smiled, and walked over. When he was ten feet away I said, “Please confiscate this. Thanks. I’m sorry,” while I tossed it to him. He caught it and took it away.

I was lucky.

On the other hand, they never noticed that I smuggled my bootlegged copy of “Shatner Sings Sondheim” onboard.

This is great picture for me to look at whenever I need to be reminded about what is important in life.

Could my children be any cuter?

I'm getting back on a more positive track again. Thank you all for your good thoughts.

Unfortunately, my travel schedule is going crazy again. I'm gone all of next week, the beginning of the following, and then most of the week after that. Tons of work is due immediately after that, so I'm going to be quite busy during that time.

But I still have my family. I still have a place to call home.

For me, home is where Elaine and my children are.

The problem with an open journal is that I can't write about what I desperately need to write about.

Grumble.