L.A.-based singer/songwriter Steve Schalchlin calls this period of his life "The Tarzan Years." Over the past several years, Schalchlin, an AIDS patient, has been prescribed one medication after another.

"I feel like Tarzan swinging from one vine to the next. Right now the AIDS drug Crixivan is my vine. Some day it will fail, and all I hope is that the next medication -- the next vine -- will be there for me... Plus, I look good in a loincloth."

Schalchlin has found that the best medicine is a sense of humor. A dose of attention is also a good supplementary medicine. "I'm a ham, and I love attention," Schachlin explains. "I believe in the truth, and that only by revealing truth do you ever really set yourself free."

And so Schalchlin began revealing his thoughts and struggles to the world at large in an on-line diary. "It was a way for my family to check in on me and see how I was doing," Schalchlin says.

The diary quickly became more than a method to communicate with the family. As messages came in from around the world, Schalchlin found the diary was therapeutic, not only for himself, but also for other people.

"Mostly, I get expressions of love and support from people who tell me that reading about my travails helps them place their problems in context. "And because I spend so much time reminding people to love and hug their families now while they are healthy and alive, it makes them appreciate the good things in their lives."

Schalchlin says it was his friends' love (and attention) that gave him his will to live during his most difficult times. "If my friends needed me so much, how could I possibly leave them alone? What kind of jerk leaves his friends?" he queries.

He addresses all of this head-on in the musical The Last Session, which he co-wrote with his partner, playwright Jim Brochu. The Last Session, a semi-autobiographical portrait, was presented last July at the Zephyr Theatre in Hollywood. Schalchlin himself took the lead role.

When he began work on the show, however, he was not sure that he would even see the end result. Then he began taking a new AIDS drug called Crixivan. Within a month, the level of virus in Schalchlin's blood had dropped to below detectable limits.

When it became clear that Schalchlin was recovering, he decided that no one could play his Last Session character better than he could.

"The astonishing thing is that I'm alive at all. I honestly hadn't scripted any of the time I'm living now. It's nice to know that I've given my readers at least one happy ending."

Today, he brims with enthusiasm while describing his plans for the future. He intends to publish his on-line diary as a book. A compact disc of material from The Last Session is available on his web site, and his musical has just opened, with a new cast, in off-Broadway Currican Theatre.

"The point of life is not to avoid pain. It's just part of life. The point is to grow from the experience, and learn instead of being crippled by the pain. I have learned the value of a single day. I've learned to laugh a lot and face each challenge one at a time."

Learn more about Steve at his web page.