Greetings from western North Dakota.  I drove here in a straight shot from Toledo, slogging through torrential rain and Chicago traffic jams, stopping in Minneapolis to pick up the headliner at the airport.  I got us to the Minnesota/North Dakota border and then tapped out, and he drove us the rest of the way in.  The hotel graciously let us check in super early, and I more or less went into a coma till shortly before showtime.

Minot this weekend, then haul ass home to be at a doctor's appointment at 9am Monday, then chaperoning a field trip to the zoo for my daughter's class.  Next week will be closer to home, but no less hectic, including my first time hosting at Hilarities in Cleveland and two benefit shows.  

Felt a little disorganized and scattershot on stage last night, but the crowd was mostly into it and things went well.  Got to drop a little bit of new material into the set and it worked, which felt good.  Hoping to knock it out of the park this weekend once I've recouped on sleep.

I'm glad I did this run, despite some serious misgivings beforehand.  These are the trips that are going to make me a better, more adaptable and more professional comic.  And when you get a chance to see a place you've never seen before, why wouldn't you?

Coveting is a bitch.  It's a huge fault of mine.  I acknowledge it, I hate it, I try to ignore it, but if you get something and I don't, I'm instantly four years old again.

It's a stupid way to be.  I am luckier than almost anyone I know.  I've got amazing opportunities.  Things are great in my life.  But I want all the things, and I also don't want you to have them, and it grosses me out about myself.

I'm gonna try some actual conscious visualization shit to solve this problem.  Maybe listing all the good things that have happened to me on a piece of paper while chanting "om" and burning incense will help.  Maybe I should cram that list up my ass.  It's unseemly to be this old and be this petulant and whiny.

If you catch me doing it, at least know that I know, and I'm sorry, and I'm aware it's a failing.  I hope that somewhat makes up for the fact that I'm doing it in the first place.

On to more interesting things: I had two amazing weekends in a row.  I did a three-day run opening for Alysia Wood, had a great time in Merrillville IN, met the very cool Mike Maxwell, and had one of my best sets to date on the Saturday show, which my high school friend Matt Stover and his wife Jody went out of their way to come see.  (Matt had to be at work at 4:30am.  That's badass that they came out.)

The next weekend  it was off to Youngstown, to do three shows with Jake Johanssen.  Due to delays in opening the venue, our shows got moved to (literally) the back room of a bowling alley.  The people who came out were still cool, and Jake was one of the all-around best comedians I've ever had the pleasure of sharing the stage with -- and one of the nicest, too.  Just a great dude.

This weekend I get to open for Steve-O, the star of MTV's "Jackass," as he does standup at my home club.  Two weeks after that, I'm driving to Minneapolis and to North Dakota for my furthest comedy roadtrip ever.  Next month I go to Alabama and Florida.  I might go to Maine in December.  I'm working at Hilarities and Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle this winter.

Memo to my angsty pre-teen inner self: shut the hell up.  Things are pretty sweet.