diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/ActorPoolSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/ActorPoolSpec.scala
index 547ffa12e9..4b95091053 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/ActorPoolSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/ActorPoolSpec.scala
@@ -42,12 +42,11 @@ class TypedActorPoolSpec extends AkkaSpec {
         def receive = _route
       }, Props().withTimeout(10 seconds).withFaultHandler(faultHandler))
 
-      val results = for (i ← 1 to 20) yield (i, pool.sq(i, 10))
+      val results = for (i ← 1 to 100) yield (i, pool.sq(i, 0))
+
+      for ((i, r) ← results)
+        r.get must equal(i * i)
 
-      for ((i, r) ← results) {
-        val value = r.get
-        value must equal(i * i)
-      }
       app.typedActor.stop(pool)
     }
   }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
index 6820d12e8a..f15c8c89aa 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
@@ -223,10 +223,10 @@ trait Actor {
           "\n\t\t'val actor = Actor.actorOf(new MyActor(..))'")
 
     if (contextStack.isEmpty) noContextError
-    val context = contextStack.head
-    if (context eq null) noContextError
+    val c = contextStack.head
+    if (c eq null) noContextError
     ActorCell.contextStack.set(contextStack.push(null))
-    context
+    c
   }
 
   implicit def app = context.app
@@ -252,22 +252,6 @@ trait Actor {
    */
   def loggable(self: AnyRef)(r: Receive): Receive = if (app.AkkaConfig.AddLoggingReceive) LoggingReceive(self, r) else r //TODO FIXME Shouldn't this be in a Loggable-trait?
 
-  /**
-   * Some[ActorRef] representation of the 'self' ActorRef reference.
-   * <p/>
-   * Mainly for internal use, functions as the implicit sender references when invoking
-   * the 'forward' function.
-   */
-  def someSelf: Some[ActorRef with ScalaActorRef] = Some(context.self) //TODO FIXME we might not need this when we switch to sender-in-scope-always
-
-  /*
-   * Option[ActorRef] representation of the 'self' ActorRef reference.
-   * <p/>
-   * Mainly for internal use, functions as the implicit sender references when invoking
-   * one of the message send functions ('!' and '?').
-   */
-  def optionSelf: Option[ActorRef with ScalaActorRef] = someSelf //TODO FIXME we might not need this when we switch to sender-in-scope-always
-
   /**
    * The 'self' field holds the ActorRef for this actor.
    * <p/>
@@ -276,14 +260,14 @@ trait Actor {
    * self ! message
    * </pre>
    */
-  implicit def self = someSelf.get
+  implicit final val self = context.self
 
   /**
    * The reference sender Actor of the last received message.
    * Is defined if the message was sent from another Actor, else None.
    */
   @inline
-  final def sender: ActorRef = context.sender
+  final def sender: ActorRef = context.sender //MUST BE A VAL, TRUST ME
 
   /**
    * Gets the current receive timeout
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
index 4df2834142..2186dc6e1a 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
         try {
           failedActor.preRestart(cause, if (c ne null) Some(c.message) else None)
         } finally {
-          clearActorContext()
+          clearActorFields()
           currentMessage = null
           actor = null
         }
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
         if (app.AkkaConfig.DebugLifecycle) app.eventStream.publish(Debug(self, "stopped"))
       } finally {
         currentMessage = null
-        clearActorContext()
+        clearActorFields()
       }
     }
   }
@@ -396,15 +396,17 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
     }
   }
 
-  final def clearActorContext(): Unit = setActorContext(null)
+  final def clearActorFields(): Unit = setActorFields(context = null, self = null)
 
-  final def setActorContext(newContext: ActorContext) {
+  final def setActorFields(context: ActorContext, self: ActorRef) {
     @tailrec
-    def lookupAndSetSelfFields(clazz: Class[_], actor: Actor, newContext: ActorContext): Boolean = {
+    def lookupAndSetField(clazz: Class[_], actor: Actor, name: String, value: Any): Boolean = {
       val success = try {
-        val contextField = clazz.getDeclaredField("context")
-        contextField.setAccessible(true)
-        contextField.set(actor, newContext)
+        val field = clazz.getDeclaredField(name)
+        val was = field.isAccessible
+        field.setAccessible(true)
+        field.set(actor, value)
+        field.setAccessible(was)
         true
       } catch {
         case e: NoSuchFieldException ⇒ false
@@ -413,13 +415,14 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
       if (success) true
       else {
         val parent = clazz.getSuperclass
-        if (parent eq null)
-          throw new IllegalActorStateException(toString + " is not an Actor since it have not mixed in the 'Actor' trait")
-        lookupAndSetSelfFields(parent, actor, newContext)
+        if (parent eq null) throw new IllegalActorStateException(toString + " is not an Actor since it have not mixed in the 'Actor' trait")
+        lookupAndSetField(parent, actor, name, value)
       }
     }
     val a = actor
-    if (a ne null)
-      lookupAndSetSelfFields(a.getClass, a, newContext)
+    if (a ne null) {
+      lookupAndSetField(a.getClass, a, "context", context)
+      lookupAndSetField(a.getClass, a, "self", self)
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
index 26a3ef7eed..5f4ff06f37 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ abstract class ActorRef extends java.lang.Comparable[ActorRef] with Serializable
    * actor.tell(message);
    * </pre>
    */
-  def tell(msg: Any): Unit = this.!(msg)
+  final def tell(msg: Any): Unit = this.!(msg)(null: ActorRef)
 
   /**
    * Java API. <p/>
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ abstract class ActorRef extends java.lang.Comparable[ActorRef] with Serializable
    * actor.tell(message, context);
    * </pre>
    */
-  def tell(msg: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit
+  final def tell(msg: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit = this.!(msg)(sender)
 
   /**
    * Akka Java API. <p/>
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ class LocalActorRef private[akka] (
 
   protected[akka] def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage) { underlying.dispatcher.systemDispatch(underlying, message) }
 
-  def tell(msg: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit = actorCell.tell(msg, sender)
+  def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = actorCell.tell(message, sender)
 
   def ?(message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = actorCell.provider.ask(message, this, timeout)
 
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ trait ScalaActorRef { ref: ActorRef ⇒
    * </pre>
    * <p/>
    */
-  def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = ref.tell(message, sender)
+  def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit
 
   /**
    * Sends a message asynchronously, returning a future which may eventually hold the reply.
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ trait UnsupportedActorRef extends ActorRef with ScalaActorRef {
 
   protected[akka] def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage): Unit = ()
 
-  def tell(msg: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit = ()
+  def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = ()
 
   def ?(message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] =
     throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not supported for %s".format(getClass.getName))
@@ -351,17 +351,17 @@ trait MinimalActorRef extends ActorRef with ScalaActorRef {
   def suspend(): Unit = ()
   def resume(): Unit = ()
 
-  protected[akka] def restart(cause: Throwable): Unit = ()
   def stop(): Unit = ()
 
   def isShutdown = false
 
-  protected[akka] def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage): Unit = ()
-
-  def tell(msg: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit = ()
+  def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = ()
 
   def ?(message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] =
     throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not supported for %s".format(getClass.getName))
+
+  protected[akka] def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage): Unit = ()
+  protected[akka] def restart(cause: Throwable): Unit = ()
 }
 
 case class DeadLetter(message: Any, sender: ActorRef, recipient: ActorRef)
@@ -387,9 +387,9 @@ class DeadLetterActorRef(val app: ActorSystem) extends MinimalActorRef {
 
   override def isShutdown(): Boolean = true
 
-  override def tell(msg: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit = msg match {
+  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = message match {
     case d: DeadLetter ⇒ app.eventStream.publish(d)
-    case _             ⇒ app.eventStream.publish(DeadLetter(msg, sender, this))
+    case _             ⇒ app.eventStream.publish(DeadLetter(message, sender, this))
   }
 
   override def ?(message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = {
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ abstract class AskActorRef(protected val app: ActorSystem)(timeout: Timeout = ap
 
   protected def whenDone(): Unit
 
-  override def tell(msg: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit = msg match {
+  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = message match {
     case Status.Success(r) ⇒ result.completeWithResult(r)
     case Status.Failure(f) ⇒ result.completeWithException(f)
     case other             ⇒ result.completeWithResult(other)
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
index 0bc355cf69..b8e4f39b1d 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -149,10 +149,10 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(val app: ActorSystem) extends ActorRefProvider {
 
     def isShutdown = stopped
 
-    override def tell(msg: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit = msg match {
+    override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = message match {
       case Failed(ex)      ⇒ sender.stop()
       case ChildTerminated ⇒ terminationFuture.completeWithResult(ActorSystem.Stopped)
-      case _               ⇒ log.error(this + " received unexpected message " + msg)
+      case _               ⇒ log.error(this + " received unexpected message " + message)
     }
 
     protected[akka] override def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage) {
@@ -276,11 +276,12 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(val app: ActorSystem) extends ActorRefProvider {
   private[akka] def createDeathWatch(): DeathWatch = new LocalDeathWatch
 
   private[akka] def ask(message: Any, recipient: ActorRef, within: Timeout): Future[Any] = {
-    import akka.dispatch.{ Future, Promise, DefaultPromise }
+    import akka.dispatch.DefaultPromise
     (if (within == null) app.AkkaConfig.ActorTimeout else within) match {
-      case t if t.duration.length <= 0 ⇒ new DefaultPromise[Any](0)(app.dispatcher) //Abort early if nonsensical timeout
+      case t if t.duration.length <= 0 ⇒
+        new DefaultPromise[Any](0)(app.dispatcher) //Abort early if nonsensical timeout
       case t ⇒
-        val a = new AskActorRef(app)(timeout = t) { def whenDone() = actors.remove(this) }
+        val a = new AskActorRef(app)(timeout = t) { def whenDone() = actors.remove(this.path.toString) }
         assert(actors.putIfAbsent(a.path.toString, a) eq null) //If this fails, we're in deep trouble
         recipient.tell(message, a)
         a.result
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala
index f443be5a2f..abc3df50d2 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala
@@ -334,9 +334,9 @@ class TypedActor(val app: ActorSystem) {
         try {
           if (m.isOneWay) m(me)
           else {
-            val s = sender
             try {
               if (m.returnsFuture_?) {
+                val s = sender
                 m(me).asInstanceOf[Future[Any]] onComplete {
                   _.value.get match {
                     case Left(f)  ⇒ s ! Status.Failure(f)
@@ -344,10 +344,10 @@ class TypedActor(val app: ActorSystem) {
                   }
                 }
               } else {
-                s ! m(me)
+                sender ! m(me)
               }
             } catch {
-              case e: Exception ⇒ s ! Status.Failure(e)
+              case e: Exception ⇒ sender ! Status.Failure(e)
             }
           }
         } finally {
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Future.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Future.scala
index 990f3832f1..b418ca7994 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Future.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Future.scala
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ object Future {
               try {
                 next.apply()
               } catch {
-                case e ⇒ // TODO FIXME: Throwable or Exception, log or do what?
+                case e ⇒ e.printStackTrace() //TODO FIXME strategy for handling exceptions in callbacks
               }
             }
           } finally { _taskStack set None }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala
index 966b7a534e..0f26437df3 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ object Logging {
     val path: ActorPath = null // pathless
     val address: String = name
     override val toString = "StandardOutLogger"
-    override def tell(obj: Any, sender: ActorRef) { print(obj) }
+    override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = print(message)
   }
   val StandardOutLogger = new StandardOutLogger
   val StandardOutLoggerName = StandardOutLogger.getClass.getName
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
index 0fa194f0c0..88400e4ffa 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ object Routing {
 abstract private[akka] class AbstractRoutedActorRef(val app: ActorSystem, val props: RoutedProps) extends UnsupportedActorRef {
   val router = props.routerFactory()
 
-  override def tell(message: Any, sender: ActorRef) = router.route(message)(sender)
+  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = router.route(message)(sender)
 
   override def ?(message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = router.route(message, timeout)
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
index 1eeeb2ccf5..cb7261104f 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -271,9 +271,9 @@ private[akka] case class RemoteActorRef private[akka] (
 
   protected[akka] def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage): Unit = unsupported
 
-  def tell(message: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit = remote.send(message, Option(sender), remoteAddress, this, loader)
+  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = remote.send(message, Option(sender), remoteAddress, this, loader)
 
-  def ?(message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = remote.app.provider.ask(message, this, timeout)
+  override def ?(message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = remote.app.provider.ask(message, this, timeout)
 
   def suspend(): Unit = ()