Got up yesterday morning and my tooth wasn't hurting hardly at all! The swelling had burst and I could chew on that side and everything. I decided to get the penicillin and Vicodan anyway, just in case it got bad again, and I sure hoped they accepted checks.

Went to the pharmacy, gave them my new insurance card, started writing the check, only to be told that if I didn't have a store check card, they wouldn't take my check. Argh! Fortunately, instead of the $30 it would have been on my old insurance, it was only $8.05. I have no idea why, but I am not complaining. This may be the only improvement on our old insurance, since we have been calling the new insurance perfectly fine, so long as you don't actually get sick or anything.

And luckily, I had $9 in my pocket and could buy the medication that I don't need. Of course, I didn't have enough money to get into the city, but since I was holding the box office from the night before, and it was $60, I took it and replaced it with a check.

Le, fortunately, does not require a check card.

Then, at 3p I had my first rehearsal with Ellen and Omar for Clerestoy v. 2.0. Or maybe Version 1.2, since we are only changing half, not all of the show.

I was late, of course. Might as well get Ellen used to how it's going to be right from the beginning, that's what I say. Although I did mean to get there on time, I just got stuck in the traffic jam from hell getting to the Tunnel. I thought people were supposed to leave the city on Friday and not come back until Sunday night, this Saturday afternoon rubbish is not to be expected.

Omar was, again, far too linear for the role, since I have to push him bodily into the severely obsessive-compulsive/mildly autistic/possibly slightly Tourettic way of playing the character, all I could expect would be that he would be sitting there having a regular conversation with Ellen, rather than the peculiar, strangled attempts at relating that he should be having.

Ellen asks why she helps him, and all I could think was that if he had been playing it right, that wouldn't even be a question! But I know how hard it is for Omar to travel to the scary place of this show, and have no fear that I will boot him there in the end.

After rehearsal I decided to kill time by going to the movies, and the only one that both started and ended at the correct time was Men in Black II.

I wasn't that worried that I wouldn't like it, even after all of the vitriolic reviews, because hey, my man Tommy Lee is in it, it could be pretty terrible and I wouldn't mind, look at The Betsy for heaven's sake, or Black Moon Rising.

And it wasn't bad at all! I have no idea what all of the fuss was about, I thought it was quite good. Not as good as the original, not as deep or as layered, and without anything like as interesting a villain--very much a cream puff, but an extremely entertaining cream puff.

Tommy Lee gave a terrific performance, anyone who thinks that light material doesn't deserve deep acting should take a look at him, not to mention the fact that he and Will Smith work together really well. Rosario Dawson, whom I didn't much care for in Chelsea Walls, the worst movie ever made, was really fine, I loved her casual matter-of-factness in the face of a really peculiar day.

Lara Flynn Boyle was neither good nor interesting in a fairly dull role, but she got to lick Tommy Lee's face, thus making me wish I could have been her. I mean, the face like was shown from two different angles (one being an ear lick), and there must have been multiple takes from each angle, I mean just imagine! That woman was paid to spend a whole day licking Tommy Lee Jones, how much more perfect does a life get?!

My favourite joke was without question the cheesiest one in the whole movie, but it just slayed me: "No, Jay, he's a Balchinian!" Only funny if you have seen the film, and quite possibly not even then, but it makes me laugh even now.

I got to the theatre pretty early, Moira being the only other person there, and set up in a leisurely fashion. Ann came in a little later and said, "Wow, that was tricky, the trains are not running!" Neither Moira nor I had the foggiest about what she was talking about, so she explained that there had been an explosion in a Con Ed plant downtown near her house, and there were no trains at all, only buses.

"How's Lee going to get here?" we all asked simultaneously, as she has to come from Brooklyn. And we thought correctly, because everyone straggled in (Omar being far too late for someone who only had to come from across the street), and the audience was filling up nicely, everyone was there but Lee.

I basically stood out on the street, as though by my magical eye-beam I could make her come up the street, planing on reading the role myself if absolutely necessary, but finally, at about 7.55p, she showed up, having been stuck on the subway for two hours.

Of course, she flew through the door when my back was turned, so I didn't know until I went back inside and saw her. Fortunately, she isn't on for the first twenty minutes, not to mention the fact that we start ten minutes late as a rule, so she had plenty of time to centre herself before she had to act.

And the show was incredible. Really, seriously, flat-out amazing. If was one of those performances where the audience is so good and supportive and vocal right from the start that the cast rises to meet them, and then the audience rises more and the cast rises more, until the entire show reaches a level that would have been impossible on any other night with any other audience.

And Le was there, which was nice, that he saw it as good as it was possible for it to be, and everyone playing to the best of their abilities, even the kid. I was laughing as well, and not in order to get the audience going, as it was unnecessary, but with sheer enjoyment.

I watched the show like an audience member, which is almost impossible for a director to do. I'm so glad to have gotten the opportunity.

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Daydreams help create the future. Sharing your hopes and wishes with those closest to you helps them to come true.

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