I took some headshots for Amie. She really likes this one, but I really like this one.

It’s time for my 45,000 mile scheduled maintenance, which is basically an oil change.

When I bought my car from McKenna Volkswagen in Huntington Beach, I purchased a Scheduled Maintenance Package, which was supposed to cover all scheduled maintenance up to 65,000 miles. This cost several hundred dollars; it was not a free incentive or anything. I paid for it. In advance.

I called to schedule an appointment. I explained to Jon that I have a pre-paid Scheduled Maintenance Package, and I wanted to make sure the 45,000 mile scheduled maintenance was covered by it. He told me that “it doesn’t cover maintenance.” I gave up on Jon immediately.

I called again and spoke to Chip. I explained to Chip what had happened with Jon, and Chip said, “There’s no such thing as a Scheduled Maintenance Package. Do you have some kind of paperwork for this?”

I said, “Yes, it says Scheduled Maintenance Package. Four years. Service must be performed at McKenna Volkswagen.”

Chip responded, “Are you sure you bought it from us?” Needless to say, I gave up on Chip as well.

Now I’m going to have to bring all of my receipts with me to the dealership and prove to them that I paid for a Scheduled Maintenance Package from McKenna Volkswagen. This wouldn’t be quite so annoying except that I’ve done it three times already, at 30, 35, and 40,000 miles.

Yesterday morning, ants invaded my car. I counter-attacked with Pine-Scented Raid, and now my car smells like (no, not pine) Raid. So I left the windows open all day yesterday and all night last night, but I can still smell it. Every time I drive the car now, I get all woozy and my eyes water a whole lot.

I’m not sure how or why they did it. It seems like they had to climb up the tires, climb through the wheels and onto the axle, climb up through the drivetrain, and so forth. Remember, they’re ants. They can’t jump. They just crawl. That seems like a lot of effort, especially considering that there wasn’t anything remotely interesting (to an ant) inside the car. There wasn’t any food anywhere. There might have been an empty soda can in the trash, but the ants weren’t even near there. They were mostly on the inside of the door jams. Stupid ants.

My boss said that’s what I get for driving a “bug.”

After rehearsal last night, Amie, Amanda, and I were discussing going to see a movie after Saturday night’s performance. Amanda yelled out, “Ooh! I wanna see The Ring!”

Roxanne, who was approaching us at the time, got this really shocked look on her face all of a sudden. With much excitement, she asked Amie, “You’re engaged?!?!”

We finally get to perform Company in front of an audience tonight. I’m anxious because we’ve been ready to open this show for weeks already. It’ll be nice to have an audience; they’ll remind us that the jokes are actually funny.

I’m upset that the proposition to separate the San Fernando Valley from the rest of Los Angeles didn’t pass. The proposition had overwhelming support in the Valley itself, but the entire city of Los Angeles had to approve it (by a majority, of course) in order for it to pass, and people in the rest of Los Angeles mostly voted against it.

I don’t think it’s right for Los Angeles to hold them hostage like that. If they want to secede, they should be allowed to. Frankly, I feel that way about the Civil War (or, “War Between the States”) too, but that’s another story.

I took this picture on my street today. It’s obviously cool to have a classic Cadillac like this, but it’s even cooler to have a classic divided driveway to go with it.