LAT on the start of the new Glee tour:

As "Don't Stop Believin'" caused the multi-demographic Vegas crowd to explode into Gleek love on Saturday night, it seemed impossible that just a few short years ago that song belonged to "The Sopranos" in a way that seemed final and historic. But the Sopranos didn't sing and dance, and they certainly did not come to Vegas to perform their audience's very favorite scenes.

Is it TV synesthesia when "I thought I smelled cookies wafting from the ovens of the little elves that live in your hair" makes me smell cookies?

The season finale of Glee was the best episode of the year's muddled second half, and friend Jen and I celebrated making it there. Work and relationship drama wasn't just for McKinley High, you know. We didn't sing, but we did visit Alexandria's Buzz bakery, a place I'd never been before but won me over in minutes with a blueberry vodka lemonade. They should sell it in 25-cent cups on the corner. Then there was food.

Late in their shifts, the staff was happy to give recommendations on sandwiches and desserts. The dessert case may have hooked me as much as the lemonade. For all I love about desserts, their cases have thrown me off as long as I can remember. Were they too presented? Too commercial? Too much of a boundary line? But Buzz managed to overcome it all. Whether through lighting, staff, design, messages, or some mix of those factors, this dessert case had rare engagement.

If you think I'm less than serious, we've clearly never talked dessert.

I got the chocolate and espresso buttercream cake, and Jen got the chocolate and peanut butter cupcake. We discussed her great recent vacation to Hershey with fiancé Dan, and I debated what to eat on my next trip to Buzz. The place had wifi. I could spend my furlough there.

We drank Horton, talked newsroom trash and did not stop believing.

Nearly spoke to a group of high schoolers last month, put this together. Then didn't have to speak, but still had fun with this. So, yeah, why not post it. Cheesy, yes. All photos via Fox wallpapers. Not compensated in any way for this post, nor anything else in the blog. Just love the show.

It's a TV show about a high school glee club, not journalism, I know. I watch every week. If you think that's not cool, we should step outside.

So, every week, I do watch. After a long day in the newsroom, thinking about nothing but the science, art and business of storytelling, I watch and get to thinking how Glee, in a few ways, is like what journalists do.

You see, no matter who you are in journalism these days…

You're in charge. You deal with words, visuals, mash-ups, and people, and you're the one who has to make the pieces come together.

You're responsible to those people above you, below you, and beside you, and you have to satisfy all of their differing expectations.

You have competition. Every now and then, your competition becomes your collaborator… and then goes back to being your competition.

You have to find the right partners to make bigger differences. You're never alone anymore. And sometimes you're going to get it wrong.

And, like it or not, you have to pay for what you do — now more than ever — so you better get to figuring that out. … Maybe a bake sale?

Most importantly, you have to see the pieces of the world in front of you every day. Whether they're words, pictures, mash-ups, or people…

… Some pieces will shine anytime. You need them. Others pieces will fit and hope to find identity in something bigger. You need them too.

… Some pieces will impress from the start, and other pieces will stand up when the moment is right. You have to help find their opportunities.

… Some pieces will need to work harder to persuade others to believe in them. They can easily change the world, and your belief matters.

… Some pieces will break your heart. Difficult stories need to be told — even though they're going to punch you in the head and that heart.

… And some pieces will try more to make those around them smile. You need to tell the happy as well as the hard. Just, please, keep looking.

… Some pieces will lie to you. They have their own stories, their own struggles, but you need to find the truth and handle the lies.

… Some pieces will sit in the back and wait for you to discover them. What do these pieces hold for you? You're going to find out.

All of these pieces of your world will be valuable. All of them will teach you. Every day, every week, they will sit in front of you with unlimited potential. And you have to put them together. You're journalists. That's what you do. You take the messy, complicated pieces of the world and try to put them together. You put them together into stories or pages or organizations or the new, raw methods of communicating that will be the world's undiscovered future. You're journalists. You put pieces together in powerful, meaningful ways. That's what you do.

(And then you go home and watch TV.)

We did it for the kids. The Grammy Foundation arranged for advance screenings around the nation for the return of Glee, and Columbia Pike was fortunate enough to get one. Hello, Arlington Cinema Drafthouse!

I to0k this picture just before security asked me to turn off my camera. (We'd been asked to turn off cell phones on the way in.) Surprisingly, the Drafthouse was not serving beer, but we got by on the songs in our hearts. Or something, until we went afterward to nearby Lost Dog.

The episodes itself… you're not to get any spoilers here. But the first five minutes are on fire. The rest is good — a few moments that sent the audience nuts — but it needs to spend time getting back in gear.

I'm happy it's back.

1. What's wrong with Grey's Anatomy? Sara Bibel and Fancast take a hard look at the season and raise 10 issues, all of them right on. "Lexi Is Still Grey's Version of Cousin Oliver" may be my favorite. The quicker the show can answer any of these concerns, the better.

2. What Springsteen songs should Glee do? Key lines: "If you've read the Glee cover story in the latest issue of EW, you know there's one artist above all whose music the Fox series' brain trust is aching to take on: Bruce Springsteen. 'I think Bruce is our next holy grail,' Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy told EW. 'My musical tastes begin and end with him basically,' added co-creator Brad Falchuk." Read the comments for lots of suggestions, with The River and Hungry Heart among the best. Others on my mind: Backstreets, I Wanna Be With You and Lift Me Up.

Hat tip to Heather on the Glee link!

I don't know what happened with my Fridays. I used to hate Sundays — Sunday afternoons, evenings. Now I hate Fridays — same timeslot. I don't know what to do with them. They're probably fine on their own. I don't know what to do with me. I'm not ready to stop. Or I'm not ready for anything else the week might offer. I haven't figured that out much.

But damn you, Casey Newton. You've been (or Kiehl has been, and if so, shame on you, Casey Newton) relatively incessant about Glee on Fox since the spring. Now I watch the director's cut of the pilot, Friday broken and relatively not sober, and it's the best pilot I've ever seen.

Now reading Tony, ripping a broken disc 2 on Essential Sly, for nothing. As I grow up, I'm growin' down, and when I'm lost, I know I will be found…