Up dark and early this morning. I love being the first one to the office for lots of reasons, mostly because a good majority of the people I work with are really lame so it gives me time to have some peace and quiet before everyone arrives. I actually do have a door on my office that I could close at any time, but since I�ve moved into this office I never have, go figure.

Anyway, another reason I like getting here first is because the office is all dark and the light switches are located at the back of the office. So when I come in the front and drop all my things in my office, it�s back lit with only my computer screen and whatever light leaks in from the front office. So there�s this eerie sort of feel to it and then when I see all the little creatures I have decorating the place it�s so much fun. First I see the silhouette of the alien that�s at the front edge of my desk. Then as I step inside the door there�s this huge 2-foot spider hanging on the wall and several other smaller insects on the windowsill. Then as I round my desk I see this skull goblet that someone bought me. The whole little walk is the greatest thing, kind of like walking through a haunted house, where at first you�re a little surprised but then you�re like �duh, it�s fake�. So much fun, it totally brightens up my morning.

The reason I had to be up so early is because I have to be over at Anna�s early today. I�ve been spending a lot of time with her lately because there�s an opera coming up in a little over a week. Last night I met some of the members of the Long Beach opera. I felt all cool when I was introduced as "my assistant" instead of "my intern", I guess because it sounds more important. Anna said it was a good introduction to the opera world since everyone was really nice to me and larger scale opera people probably wouldn�t even acknowledge my presence because they�re stuck up bitches. I�m paraphrasing, mind you. Although at least two people last night asked me where I�m from, somehow assuming that since Anna is from Sweden I must have an uncommon origin as well. Maybe it�s the fact that our names are pronounced the same (Ah-na, Ah-sha). I can�t say I wouldn�t mind picking up the Swedish accent though, it�s really quite cute. Sadly, though I�ve tried, I can�t even imitate it at this point when I�m trying to describe something Anna said. To the normal idiot that grew up in the states (me), the fluctuations in her voice seem so random that I don�t even know where to put them. Ah well. Maybe I�ll just have to move somewhere cool for a few years in order to pick up an accent. In case you didn�t know, accents are HOT!

In other news�. I don�t think there is any other news. Oh wait.. I took my assessment tests at school yesterday and both the math and english placed me in the last class I took. This means that if I turn in my transcripts from my previous college, I�ll be able to continue on from exactly where I left off in the past. As it turns out, I actually retained some of that crap I learned all those years ago! Amazing, no? It truly is, and I�m stoked.