Because I love Café Pascal, a French café at South Coast Plaza, I decided to try the Champagne French Bakery Café, which is another French café at South Coast Plaza. My mother and I went there for lunch today. I can sum up our experience very simply: The lack of quality in the service was surpassed only by the lack of quality in the food.

AT&T sent out an independent contractor today to reinstall all of the outside wiring and inside wiring for my cable television (because I’m not getting the interactive guide, the correct time, or half my channels). The reason they wanted to replace all the cables is that the last guy they sent out said that was the problem.

Well, they just left, and after replacing all the cables, it still doesn’t work. Now I have to wait for AT&T to call me (which could take up to a week, like it did the last time) and set up a third appointment, during which they’ll once again try to figure out what’s wrong. Arrgh!

It’s theatre appreciation week here in the world of me.

Last Thursday I went to the final dress rehearsal of Gypsy at APA. It was actually pretty good for a high school show. Katherine was believable as “Louise” and not as annoyingly peppy as usual, and Kellie was amazing as “Mama Rose.” I mean, that girl’s pinky knows more about acting than anyone at APA. The rest of the leads were okay. They weren’t bad like I expected them to be. And Rachel stood out among the three main strippers because of her skills using the light-up hearts on her costume. It was definitely a dress rehearsal, though, considering that the lighting in the show managed to set off the fire alarm in the auditorium halfway through Act I.

Friday night I went to see IVC’s latest disaster, The Good Woman of Setzuan. The show included paper shadow puppets on an overhead projector. Need I say more? It’s one of Ron’s drug-induced ideas: taking a Brecht play (which is bad to start), turning it into a musical, and adding puppets. It’s a great recipe for failure. A few people were noticeably good despite the horrible script and direction of the show, though. Stan (Good Stan), as always, was hilarious in his small role as a god and as “Grandfather.” He’s one of those people who doesn’t have to do anything special to be funny; he just has to be himself. I mean that as a compliment. Paul also did a good job adding excitement to an otherwise boring show, and Theresa (who’s come a long way since playing “Tourist #4” in Guys and Dolls) had several very believable monologues. I was very proud of her. Also worth mentioning was a girl named So

Well, I might as well jump on the bandwagon and post a survey just like Maile and Traci did. It seems to be the cool thing to do. So let me go find a survey to take… ah! Here’s one:

1. Does this question sound familiar?
   No.
2. Does this question sound familiar?
   Yes.
3. Does this question sound familiar?
   Yes.
4. Does this question sound familiar?
   Yes.
5. Does this question sound familiar?
   Yes.
6. Does this question sound familiar?
   Yes!
7. Does this question sound familiar?
   YES!!!!
8. Does this question sound familiar?
   Yes, already!
9. Does this question sound familiar?
   For God’s sake, YES!
10. Does this question sound familiar?
    Listen, I already answered this question. The answer is still YES.
11. Does this question sound familiar?
    Stupid survey. Yes!
12. Does this question sound familiar?
    Arrrgh!
13. Does this question sound familiar?
    I’m tired of typing “Yes.”
14. Does this question sound familiar?
    Ehrn.
15. Does this question sound familiar?
    Listen, retard, what kind of a dumb survey is this anyway?
16. Does this question sound familiar?
    I’m not answering.
17. Does this question sound familiar?
    Nope.
18. Does this question sound familiar?
    Not at all.
19. Does this question sound familiar?
    Listen, if you’re just going to ask me the same question over and over again, I’m going to stop taking this survey!
20. Does this question sound familiar?
    Yes.
21. Does this question sound familiar?
    I swear, I’ll stop.
22. Does this question sound familiar?
    So… frustrating…
23. Does this question sound familiar?
    YES!!! It’s the SAME FUCKING QUESTION!!!!
24. Does this question sound familiar?
    AHHHHH!!!!!
25. Does this question sound familiar?
    STOP IT!!!!
26. Does this question sound familiar?
    Please stop it?
27. Does this question sound familiar?
    Please. Come on. It’s not funny anymore.
28. Does this question sound familiar?
    Yes.
29. Does this question sound familiar?
    Yes.
30. Does this question sound familiar?
    yEs.
31. Does this question sound familiar?
    yeS.
32. Does this question sound familiar?
    yes!
33. Does this question sound familiar?
    Yes.
34. Does this question sound familiar?
    Fuck you. Forget it. That’s the last time I try to take a survey.
35. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
    Nope, it’s too late. I’m not answering.
36. Why not?
    Because you’re an ANNOYING BITCH, that’s why not!
37. Are you a bitch?
    No.
38. Do you have a crush?
    Go away.
39. Can I ask just one more question?
    Okay, sure.
40. Hold on, I’m thinking of a really good one…
    Arrrgh! Hurry up!
41. What color pants are you wearing right now?
    Gray.