Whether it’s a play, an improv show, a sketch comedy show, a sitcom, or even a multi-million dollar movie, there is always one moment when it comes together: all the self-consciousness, all the mental note-taking that is a vital part of the rehearsal process, and all the uncertainty about the quality of the show seems to magically evaporate. The actors settle into their roles, and the material flows through them and into the audience. We trade the work of rehearsing for the fun of performing.
Saturday night, we had that moment. ACME: A Day in the Life came together for the first time, and it was awesome. With rehearsals, previews, and the opening of our run a few weeks ago, I’ve done the show several times, and I’ve always felt happy with my performance . . . but this last show was the first performance where I had fun the whole time. I wasn’t watching myself, or gauging the audience, or wondering if one beat worked or missed. I just enjoyed the company of my friends, and had fun performing playing with them.
I noticed this feeling somewhere near the middle of the second act, and I told my friend Laura House, “I’m proud of the show, and I love the cast —”
“Yeah, we know,” she said. “We all read your blog, Wil.”
That sort of stopped me.
“Oh.” I couldn’t figure out if that was good or not, so I just continued. “Well, I love the cast, and I feel like we’ve been doing a good show, but tonight is the first time I’ve actually felt the same level of pure fun that I felt in Love Machine.”
Just then, Laura P. walked into the dressing room and announced that she was having all kinds of fun. “Does anyone else feel like that?” She said.
“You know, I was just telling House that —” The audience erupted into applause. I looked up at the monitor we use to see what’s happening on the stage, and realized that the sketch was over, and I was due on for “Roadtrip,” in about 5 seconds.
“Oh shit, I’m in this sketch!” I said, as I ran out of the dressing room. I made it onstage in 4.9 seconds, and nobody will ever know. Sweet.
After the show, a bunch of us went out for drinks, and we talked about how much fun we’re having. It was awesome, until Annie pointed out that there are only six performances left in this run. There is always the chance that we may extend, but it’s pretty unlikely for this show, because many people in the cast (including me) have other commitments that start as soon as the show closes.
I believe that this show is just as funny as Love Machine, and I know a lot of WWdN readers saw that show. So if you can take me at my word, come and see us if you can.

The House of Representatives just passed an appropriations bill that provided more funding for the war in Iraq. Though I’ve never believed the war in Iraq was necessary or justified, and I saw through the lies the Bush administration told Congress, the American people, and the world, I’ve always felt that the soldiers in the field should have the absolute best weapons, armor, and support available.
Like George W. Bush, I’ve never seen combat. Unlike George W. Bush, I think supplying our military with the best armor and weapons, and taking care of our veterans and their families are two of the most important things a nation should do during a war ever. Period. Even more important than repealing the estate tax. Most Americans and some Congressmen agree with me, so appropriations bills like these are almost always quickly passed. Cynical, Evil, Totalitarian Congressmen like Jim Sensenbrenner know this, so they sneak things into these bills that have failed when they were brought up on their own.
Herr Sensenbrenner’s addition to this particular appropriations bill is a terrifying invasion of privacy: a national ID card.
If you’re even moderately concerned about privacy and security, you’re probably a regular reader of anything Bruce Schneier writes. If you’re not concerned with privacy and security, you should be, and you should read Bruce’s books, or at least his blog.
Today, Bruce breaks down the REAL ID act, and points out all the reasons it’s such a bad idea. But the thing that got my blood boiling is this:

[The REAL ID Act] was voted down last fall, but has been reintroduced and attached to legislation that funds military actions in Iraq. This is a “must-pass” piece of legislation, which means that there has been no debate on REAL ID. No hearings, no debates in committees, no debates on the floor. Nothing. [Emphasis mine]

I believe that this is national ID card is incredibly stupid, expensive, invasive, and unnecessary. But whether you think it’s a swell idea or not, ask yourself, “Do I want Congress passing laws that fundamentally change something as valuable as my right to privacy, without any discussion or debate at all?” If Congress is willing to force us all to submit to this invasion of privacy, without even allowing us to weigh in on it, how are they effectively representing us?
Does everyone understand what this means? The US Congress, the lawmakers who derive their power from the consent of the governed, are about to take a huge step toward turning our country into a police state, and they’re doing it without any debate at all. Democrats urged Nuclear Bill Frist to allow some debate on REAL ID, but he refused, it was cynically attached to the appropriations bill, and it easily passed the House. Why are Republicans in Congress shutting the American people out of the legislative process? Could it be because Americans overwhelmingly reject the idea of a national ID card?

When the Social Security Number (SSN) was created in 1936, it was meant to be used only as an account number associated with the administration of the Social Security system. Though use of the SSN has expanded considerably, it is not a universal identifier and efforts to make it one have been consistently rejected. In 1971, the Social Security Administration task force on the SSN rejected the extension of the Social Security Number to the status of an ID card. In 1973, the Health, Education and Welfare Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems concluded that a national identifier was not desirable. In 1976, the Federal Advisory Committee on False Identification rejected the idea of an identifier.
In 1977, the Carter Administration reiterated that the SSN was not to become an identifier, and in 1981 the Reagan Administration stated that it was “explicitly opposed” to the creation of a national ID card. The Clinton administration advocated a “Health Security Card” in 1993 and assured the public that the card, issued to every American, would have “full protection for privacy and confidentiality.” Still, the idea was rejected and the health security card was never created. In 1999 Congress repealed a controversial provision in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 which gave authorization to include Social Security Numbers on driver’s licenses.
In response to the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, there has been renewed interest in the creation of national ID cards. Soon after the attacks, Larry Ellison, head of California-based software company Oracle Corporation, called for the development of a national identification system and offered to donate the technology to make this possible. He proposed ID cards with embedded digitized thumbprints and photographs of all legal residents in the U.S. There was much public debate about the issue, and Congressional hearings were held. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich testified that he “would not institute a national ID card because you do get into civil liberties issues.”

The leadership in this Congress is out of touch and out of control. They are beholden to an extremist minority, and they’re trying to force an extremist agenda on America.
Silencing the voice of the people on such an important issue sure doesn’t sound like a Democracy, or a Representative Republc. This sounds an awful lot like fascism.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I wasn’t an easy kid to raise, but somehow you helped me turn out okay. Thank you for helping me make more wise choices than not. I love you!
Happy Mother’s Day, Anne. Your dedication to your children, your willingness to put what is best for them ahead of everything else in the world, and your singular focus on providing them the most opportunities and the best life possible, even when you didn’t get one iota of support from anyone else, — especially those who should most willingly provide it — is phenomenal. You are everything a mother should be. You are awesome. Thank you for letting me be your husband. I love you, Ryan and Nolan’s mommy. 🙂

Though I didn’t make the final table, last night’s Poker Smoker was a lot of fun. I got a box of Camacho cigars, just for showing up! And if you haven’t ever been up to Yamashiro, (until last night, I hadn’t — even though I’ve lived here for nearly 33 years) I suggest adding it to your list of great places to visit in Los Angeles. It’s on top of a hill in Hollywood, and the view is breathtaking. From my seat in the bar I could see the Griffith Observatory, Dodger Stadium, The Capitol Records Building and all of Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles, Baldwin Hills, and out to Century City. If it had been clear, I could have easily seen across Santa Monica and down past Palos Verdes to the ocean. I don’t know anything about the food or service, but the view is just incredible.
(Note: I will now do my best to describe a bit of the poker tournament in language normal people can understand. It may help to have the Wikipedia’s Hold’Em entry open in another window, though.)
I play conservatively. This means that I don’t like to bet before the flop without a “made hand”: a big pair, or a very strong drawing hand like an ace and a king, or a jack and a ten of the same suit (and even that jack and ten I really hate to play if I am in early position.) I also like to raise, rather than call, because it’s usually a stronger way to play. In most situations, this gives me something called “fold equity.” What that means is, players who are paying attention to me will figure out that I only open when I’ve got a hand, and I rarely just call, so if a few players have checked ahead of me, and there’s a big card or something on the board, if I bet at it, they will fold, because my playing style says I probably have them beat. (Sometimes this doesn’t work, and ends up costing me a lot of chips, but I won’t go into why that happens today . . . I’d really have to speak in ancient Pokerian to explain it.)
Unfortunately for me, a cold deck (lousy cards that I really can’t play) and two calling-stations (players who call any bet with any two cards, hoping to get lucky) behind me made it really hard for me to out-play anyone.
But mostly it was the structure that killed me. We started with 1000 in tournament chips. The blinds started at 25 and 25, and went up every 15 minutes. There were unlimited rebuys until the fifth level, so the first few levels were all-in crapshoots. The guy to my right sucked out twice with incredibly weak hands (one of them was a suited Jack three. A real powerhouse.) So I was one of two people at my table who didn’t rebuy. If I can drop a name for a moment, the other was Jason Mewes, who seems like one of the nicest, most down to earth people in the world. As far as I could tell, he’s a pretty solid cardplayer, too.
I survived — barely — until level 5, when the blinds went up to 200/400 with a 50 dollar ante. I’d stolen a few blinds, and picked up a few pots, but I’d been blinded down to 800, so I was in “double up or go home” mode when I found AJd in the big blind.
The guy under the gun went all-in quickly. He’d just sat down, so I didn’t know if he was trying to steal a blind from the short-stack, or what . . . but it was the strongest hand I’d seen all night, so I was calling no matter what. It was folded around to me. I pushed, and he turned up, incredibly, the Ace of clubs and the five of diamonds.
What the fuck? You go all-in with that crap under the gun? I gotta get this guy’s number and invite him to a homegame!
The flop was J-A-7. Sweet.
The turn was another J. Jacks full, baby!
An excited murmur rippled across the table
And then, the river . . . an ace. Perfect. It gave us both Aces full of Jacks, and we chopped. Instead of doubling up, I halved-up, and I was right back where I started. When the small blind hit me for 200 on the next hand, I pushed in the dark. When the flop came K-8-x, I peeked at my cards: a black ten and a red six. I wasn’t surprised, because this was the bullshit I was getting dealt all night.
I forget the way the hand played out, but Mr. All-in with a tiny unsuited Ace pushed again, and this time he made two pair with his king-little, I think on the turn, to beat the other guy’s medium ace.
I mucked my cards in disgust, and stood up. I shook hands around the table, picked up my monkey, and walked out to the valet. I looked out across Los Angeles while I waited for my car.
If you don’t read comments, you missed the following thought yesterday, from WWdN reader ruddyadam:

That clock is pretty insane. Kind of makes you realize that the reality we exist in is only one moment in time. And no matter how hard you try, you can’t hang on to a moment longer than it is here. Once it’s gone, you can only remember it, but really it will never be back again.

A cold deck in a loose/aggressive game is the most frustrating thing in the world to me, and I was pissed when I stood at the valet and waited for my car, but it hadn’t cost me anything (other than 4 bucks for a watered-down coke and six bucks for the valet), and there are much worse ways to spend a Thursday night than smoking cigars and playing poker . . . so I looked out at the twinkling lights of my city, the Griffith Observatory, Dodger Stadium, The Capitol Records Building and all of Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles . . . and enjoyed the moment.

I’m sure I’m about a thousand years late to the party on this one, but I thought this was really neat. (clicky the imagey. requiresy flashy.)