So last night Kate's friend Teddy was doing a comedy show here in New York and I agreed to go.

Now, I love Kate and wanted to see her very much, and Tracing was coming with her fella, but I know enough about comedy to have had more trepidations than I did over the idea of an amateur group show of people who took a comedy class together than I actually was.

I was late so we got seated in the back of the room, which turned out to be a really lucky thing, frankly. Because it was one of the more horrible nights of my life. Teddy was pretty good, actually, though he thought that he had more time than he did, so he kind of had to stop in the middle of something, and some of his stuff was a little too over-thought, but I liked him. And there were a couple of other moments that I liked, a joke here and there, but mostly it was torture. I would have confessed to anything to be able to escape.

Dear God, was it not funny! And dear God, how the rest of the audience was howling! I wanted to stand up and scream, "What's wrong with you? That wasn't funny! Not even at all, it wasn't funny!" It was pointed out to me that they were all drinking heavily, but that was no excuse. Not when there were impressions being done. Not to mention the singing.

I am not exaggerating, I really am not, it was a nightmarish evening. Of course, there is also the fact that I am a big fan of standup, and know a lot about it, so if I can finish a joke in my head I won't actually laugh, but Tracing doesn't have that excuse and she wasn't laughing either. She wasn't pounding her head on the table like I was, though.

They dropped the check at one point, which means that we thought that the end was near, but then there were like four more comics! And the absolute worst of the entire night? Was the headliner. Teddy told us afterwards that she's the talent booker for the place, which explains the whole headliner thing.

Afterwards, we went out to a place to eat, which basically meant that we tried to find the nearest place that we could, since it was so cold out that we felt like we were going to die.

We finally found this place that looked like a sports bar on the outside and ended up being this sort or Mongolian-style bar on the inside, with loungy cushions and things. The weirdest thing was that by the time we left, it had turned into a cool bar with a velvet rope out front filled with young, hip people. Not the velvet rope, the bar.

Also, before we were ready to leave, they tried to throw us out, saying that they had said when we came in that it was a reserved table and we would have to go at some point, but that was a giant lie. They ended up letting us stay, but it put a little damper on the evening.

And it was interesting meeting Tracing's guy after all of this time. He was really great! It was really a baptism by fire, Kate, Teddy and myself being such loudmouths that it would have been difficult for a reticent man to get a word in edgeways, but he didn't seem to feel overwhelmed, he really jumped in with both feet. So I approve of him!

I'm sure Tracing is relieved.

Today's horoscope:
Someone close to you is acting in a different way. Before criticizing, ask why it matters. Let others be themselves instead of prisoners to your expectations. Opening your mind strengthens your character.

One year ago today:
I'm starting to wish that I had paid even the smallest bit of attention in the eight years of Spanish classes I took in grade school.

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Last Updated Wed 25 February 16:55:09 2004