At least, that's what particular people think of me at the moment. I set up our new DSL gateway here in our apartment while on the phone with my parents 3000 miles away fixing their computer by giving them instructions over the phone. So I'm rather pleased with myself at the moment. Plus, I went to the gym today and found that since I've started exercising again, I've lost 5 pounds. This is definitely a good thing.

I think I realized last night why I'm having these issues with my personality at the moment. I went to a dinner party (think of the party that Catherine Zeta-Jones threw in High Fidelity except that there were about 20-25 people at this one) and it was kind of hammered home that I am no longer a beautiful and unique snowflake. Back East, I was the cool guy who knew a lot about pop culture, was a music whiz, was fun to talk to, could sing -- generally, an interesting person to be around. Unfortunately, this is L.A. Everyone is talented here. Everyone can sing or act or knows people who know people or knows a lot of pop culture or is at least moderately interesting to talk to. I'm caught up in a mild blizzard here.

The thing is that -- not to pull in another movie reference, but -- as Donal Logue says in The Tao of Steve, "Guys like us can't get by on our looks. We need to have something else to pull the chicks in." Unfortunately, when my personality no longer really distinguishes me from the other guys in the room and they're SoCal's homegrown finest who've been working out since they were 10, I'm at a disadvantage. And it's a self-perpetuating thing because women can smell fear and doubt. So you start doubting yourself a little, they can sense it so they kind of move off, which makes you doubt yourself a little more, which makes them move off a little more... It's a vicious circle.

Either way, I'm still having a blast here. My roommates are great, the house has been cleaned and I've been allergy-free so far today, my job rocks my world, and I'm surrounded by good people. Tomorrow, I'll be off to Coachella.

Oh, and that cat smell in my bathroom? The previous occupant neglected to remove the opened bag of cat food that she left in one of the bathroom cabinets. That would explain a lot of things.