Chris had his house appraised awhile ago, and when Mom told me how much it was appraised for, I realized that buying Mom's house would be an incredible ripoff to her, because it's the same house as Chris', but in much better shape and with more land. She'd make a very tidy profit off the house should she choose to sell it, and that's really not something I want to screw up for her.

That's why I'm thinking of buying Sean and Heather's house. I thought I had written about it, but I didn't.

And now, knowing the price of Chris' house, I'm a bit worried about being able to afford Sean's. The town I live in is pretty expensive nowadays, so I may have to expand my search a little bit further than just immediate family.

Either way, I've decided that it's time to get proactive about finding a place to call my own. Hopefully, a mortgage company will agree.

The assistant director gave us one of his pearls of theater wisdom tonight.

Apparently, if your character's intention is to leave a room, and the script calls for someone to stop you from leaving the room with a line, and the person playing the character who stops you from leaving the room forgets her line, you should simply leave the room, because it's not your fault that she didn't say that line.

It's a great philosophy, really. I think I'll say the last line of the show just after the lights come up and see if the stage manager goes to blackout and the ushers send everybody home. Because, after all, it's not the rest of the cast's fault if I inadvertantly end the show with the wrong line.

I've never heard a more selfish theater-related idea in my life. Only paying attention to yourself and not the scene as a whole. Sure, characters are motivated, but they're not the Sims. You don't just let them die or bump into walls or exit when something's gone wrong; you do your best to get the show back on-track, and that usually takes a lot less effort than it would to explain why a character isn't where she's supposed to be because someone else dropped a line.

Also, while I do believe that an actor should know what the intention of her character is, she also has to make decisions based on what the author wanted. For instance, my character is a writer who is essentially haunted by the characters he creates. They tell him that he cannot escape his house until the mystery is solved. Now, my character, having shown that he's a pretty down-to-earth guy in the opening scene (he says he doesn't believe in ghosts) would probably test the idea that the doors and windows won't work for him. But it's not in the script, so I, as an actor, don't run to the doors and windows and test them out.

Remind me never to work onstage with this guy as an actor.

Other than that (and the assistant manager very loudly crinkling his bag of Twizzlers all through Act 2), rehearsal was...well, pretty bad. Everybody kept going up on lines or jumping ahead of the script or missing cues. It's our second run-through, and though we know we can do this show well (we've done bits and pieces of it brilliantly, at times), there are just some off-days. We just happened to have two in a row.

I think I'm the worst offender right now, because no matter how hard I've tried, I've flubbed lines left and right, and that needs to be put to an end. I'm doing some heavy-duty studying between now and Sunday, and I'll be sure to hit every line perfectly henceforth, if it's at all possible. I'm a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of lines that I have, but that's really no excuse. I think having a couple of years in-between shows and then getting a large role is what threw me, and I can't let the other people in the cast down because I'm being inept. So I'll cram those lines into my head like a public school student studying for the MCAS.

And if anyone else flubs a line, I'll just trippingly continue with the scene, whether or not it makes sense. After all, I've been told to do so.

Nothing else of consequence to report today. Work was fine, nothing special. Mom is fine, Skottie is fine (except his newest trend: begging to go outside after 1am), Laurie is still a bit stressed about moving, but I'm going over to her place tomorrow to help her out with that.

I did write bits and pieces of the script today, and I think it's coming together. For something only 10 pages long, I shouldn't be obsessing over the details as much as I am, but it's really an intriguing concept for me. Like I said a couple of days ago, I shouldn't talk this one up so much, because it'll only lead to disappointment for whoever decides to read it. Still, I think I've matured a little as a playwright, and that's a good feeling.

I'm thinking of projects for the summer. I definitely want to direct something, be it a show or a video. I want to take a course; either in German or in something tech-related (probably Flash). I want to get back into shape, though that's a perpetual thing.

Right now, though, all I want to do is go to sleep.

That's my exit line. Gotta go.