With all the … stuff … going on, I haven’t been able to have fun and be creative. Bottom line. Fortunately I’m dipping my little toes back into the pursuits that make me a happier me.

Finally I took the stage last night with the Ventura Improv Company after many, many weeks, and it was fantastic. Silly, fun, ridiculous show — and a great audience, which is one of the more profound joys ever.

Where else can one

• sing out the frustrations of a Jewish mother, upset that her son is stealing her thunder — at his own bar mitzvah?
• encourage the audience to direct a scene between Napolean and Josephine? Particularly inspired were the hurtful nicknames Napolean had to endure through his youth: “Half-pint,” “Nappy,” and “Biscuit,” among others.
• lick another player’s hands in character as a nitwit whose pretending to be a CFO?

… and so much more. As usual with improv, you had to be there. And I’m so glad I was.