My mother is gravely ill. We are sitting vigil with her. Please wish her a peaceful passage. Thanks.

First, I want to thank Kat for sharing my sad news. She and Lori have become such good friends. It's times like these that I realize how much I have come to rely on her.

My mother passed away last night. She spent the past few years struggling against a terrible illness, but her death was very loving and peaceful. All her children were with her.

I loved her more than I can say. I'll miss her terribly.

Her obituary will appear in the LA Times this weekend. The funeral on Sunday.

Thank you all for your kindness and condolences. It means a lot.

Having a smashing time in London, increased by the fact that Thursday night, I went to see The Pirates of Penzance. 4th row, center. Pirate King played by...Anthony Stewart Head.

The man, if I may say, looks damn good in leather pants and eyeliner.

Thanks for the Jobma folks, but Target decided to go in-house for their Mac Tech guy.

Oh well.

Well our production of Arsenic and Old Lace (which I directed the last three weeks, as well as having the role of Dr. Einstein) opens Friday, Jan. 16 at 8. Sat. 17 shows at 2 and 8, and Sunday the 18 at 2. Then the same the following Fri, Sat, Sun. Tickets are $6. Performances will be at Vladek Hall (corner of Van Cortlandt Park South and Hillman Ave., the Bronx). Anyone interested can contact me for more info at TDRaicer2@aol.com. Hope to see some of you there!

Chicagoistas, your number will soon be increasing by one.

Yes, at long last, I have a new job! And it's in Chicago, which was my goal. I start in a couple of weeks, and I'll probably be doing some combination of commuting and bunking on people's couches for the first month while I get myself settled and find a place to live.

This has been a long time coming, and I'm both excited and a little bit terrified right now. Thanks so much for the jobma floating around out there (even though I didn't ask for it this go round - jinxes, you know) and especially to Susan and vw for resume advice and to Hec for talking me down from a couple of ledges here and there along the way. My share of the jobma is now gratefully directed back to Daniel and others in need.

Emily and vw? Package arrived yesterday. I opened it up and laughed like a loon. Have been happily munching on cookies.

Muchas gracias. You two rock!

My grandmother has been diagnosed with malignant skin cancer (no, I don't have anything more specific than that); surgery is scheduled for the 27th, but may be moved up if a slot becomes available.

My younger sister has been having seizures and vision problems; she has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor. "Recently" in this case being the beginning of December: my father informed me of it this evening. Health~ma for them, if you would, and keep-from-killing-them-for-letting-me-find-out-like-this~ma for me. Thanks.

My brother leaves for New Zealand later tonight (he's in LA right now) and I'm asking for a little travel-ma for him.

He's going to NZ to go to school.

He's been told that he'll have more hoops to jump through in regards to security because he's travelling with a one way ticket. Also when he gets to NZ he's student visa isn't finalized, although the university he'll be at said there wouldn't be a problem once he's there.

Upon the occasion of his Brother John's recent heart surgery, my Uncle Carl booked a visit with a cardiologist.

Tuesday was the office vist. Yesterday they did tests and immediatly admitted him. This morning he had a quadruple bypass.

He's ok. There was some difficulty cracking his chest, however, so he's looking at a rough recovery. Prayers, true love and ~ma much appreciated.