today was hands down

the longest day ever. i had two papers due, both of which i did yesterday. i completed my paper on family rights, roles, and obligations at 3 o'clock this morning; i spent sunday reading for it. after i finished it i realized that i hadn't eaten dinner yet, so i went to benito's for a california burrito. it saw it as a reward for finishing one paper. afterwards i went to cacao for a coke. a girl who is there every now and then was behind the counter learning to make drinks; no wonder the help wanted sign was down.

"nice sweater!" she says to me. i was wearing the ashamed-bunnyman-kxlu sweatshirt, and she pulled her apron to the side to show that she was wearing hers too.

i came home from cacao and ended up sleeping, rather than starting my second paper. i had this gut feeling that the due date would be extended to wednesday because of a snafu in the paper prompt. nevertheless i woke up at 9 and finished the paper before class at 11--i go to class and guess what; the TA announces that there was a typo in the prompt and that we could turn in the paper wednesday.

after class and before meetings i went to have a quick dinner at peggy's apartment. salad, her mom's egg rolls, and leftover chinese food.



excellent.


i am getting

way too lazy to fucking blog. do people even read this? i think i have three readers. would it make a difference if i updated or not? probably not.

yesterday i finally made it to videotheque to pick up romuald et juliette. since i drove all the way to south pasadena i figured i'd hang out for a bit. next door to the video store was an antique/collectibles shop owned by this nice lady, peggy. i now know two peggys. she sells vintage (truly vintage. not talking urban outfitters '80s vintage) items--such as time/life/playboy/lots of other magazines dating back to the 30s, toys, miscellaneous trinkets, some dresses/war uniforms, old photos like cal from the melrose trading post sells, everything. in the storefront window there is a huge wooden propeller. to what vehicle/machine it once belonged, i have no idea. i bought some postcards from her; it seems that she got them from an estate sale. the majority of them are either to or from a Mr. and Mrs. Tom Reynolds. Here are a few.

"Sitting in the Denver library writing this. Nice and cool in here but hot outside. Leaving this evening for Cedar City. Love, Gen & Tom"
-dated August 27, 1962; Denver, Colorado.

"Have a 3 hour wait between buses so writing this in bus station in Redding, Calif. Very hot outside--must be over 90 and only 11 o'clock. Love, Gen & Tom"
-dated August 7, 1963; Redding, California.

"I'm writing this in the Post Office where it's much cooler than the 90 degrees outside. Went out in the cemetery and found the graves very easily. Will walk around the town a bit and then return in New London. Love, Gen"
-dated July 27, 1964; Post Office and Elks, B.P.O.E., Norwich, Connecticut.

"This picture is from the observation tower in the American Side. There are also 2 towers on the opposite shore. for honeymooners and general tourists. Love, Gen & Tom"
-dated august 1, 1964; Niagra Falls, New York.

"Tom and Gen. Reynolds,
We are traveling with 3 of my sisters from Ohio, they were born at Olympia, Wash. Took in some of sights around there today. Spent about a week at Salt Lake City, U. Noon--staying at Motel 6 just south of Seattle for 2 nights, 3rd & 4th. Plan on going to Victoria BC by ferry. Coming up by plane. Best wishes, Les & Grace"
-dated August 3, 1973; Mt Rainier National Park; Tipsoo Lake, Washington State.

"Dear Mom & Dad, Thank you so much for the pictures. We received them last week. The model home has closed down so my weekends are my own now. John & I intended to visit Dayton this weekend so we could see the Air Force museum. But the weather picture was bad--so Saturday morning we decided to come here to Saint Louis. We saw the Arch at the Missission [sp] last night and the Missouri river too. Today we want to visit the Planetarium. We hope you received the books we sent you for your birthday. Love, Nancy & John"
-dated 1971; Zoo Line Railroad, Forest Park, St. Louis.



now i really want to get out. i cannot wait until we hit the road in a few weeks. until then i must live vicariously through the adventures of Gen and Tom Reynolds.

it was a lovely day and i didn't want waste it driving through traffic, so i go down the street and what do i stumble upon but none other than senor fish. before i left westwood i was daydreaming about senor fish.



after i enjoyed my fish tacos i drove home and hit the usual 110 traffic.




just jake it, baby.

you know those nights

when there is so much going on and you want to do everything but can't because there's only one of you? well tonight was one of those nights.

wednesdays are long--this was perhaps the longest ever. i had class from 11-6. mike and i planned to go to videotheque in pasadena to rent romuald et juliette (no, we have not gotten around to doing that yet because we are incredibly busy people. busy or lazy, i can't distinguish between the two anymore. it is still checked out from cinefile. fie on thee who has it. fie!) there was a reunion dinner with my coworkers from last year in westwood at 6:30. yet we wanted to rent the film in pasadena and get back in time to catch invisible children at moore. back home there was an art show featuring pieces by sex workers. why i wasn't informed of an event taking place practically right outside my room, i have no idea. i had a feeling that Kristen would be there, and she was--but i ended up missing her (and the show) because i ended up seeing the film. i need to ask her about things to see/do in austin.

mike and i ended up skipping out on the videotheque trip and instead had dinner with everyone--matty a, ellen, jeff, mike, akanksha, brian, emily and myself showed up; danton made an appearance. i saw him walking into a jewelry store and yelled, 'HEY DANTON!' and everyone went apeshit because we were just talking about why he wasn't there.

speaking of running into people from work, i ran into good old stephen park, with whom i worked 3 years ago. he is a good man. i remember turning him on to tito's tacos--he fell in love. i remember one time we went and there was a man asking for money; stephen just asked, 'are you hungry?' and without waiting for an answer, gave him one of his uneaten taco. he just got back from spain and is graduating this spring. over the summer he's gonna hang out with some friends in the midwest. stephen is a good guy, if i've ever met one.

i just realized that this quarter i've watched so many movies in class. on mondays and wednesdays i have three 2-hour lectures that need to be filled up somehow. in my first class we watched ethnic notions, a film examining popular images of blacks throughout history (music--vaudeville, blackface, minstrelsy; film--birth of a nation, jazz singer; cartoons; commercial products). i always knew there was more to aunt jemima and golliwog dolls. in my next class we watched a film on 60s music and counterculture. a good portion of the footage is from the monterey pop festival, which is the best criterion dvd boxset in my possession.

in sociology of the family we listened to another excerpt from this american life. this one was about this psychologist who meticulously studied couples fighting; he would code everything including but not limited to what they say or don't say when they fight, how they say it, facial expressions, tone of voice, hand gestures, basically everything. afterwards he would keep in touch with the couple over the next few years. his findings show that the way a couple argues is perhaps the strongest indicator of whether or not a couple will successfully stay together or not.

invisible children is about kids in Uganda whose lives revolve around hiding from the Lord's Resistance Army, which abducts the kids (ages 5-12, mostly) from Northern Uganda and train them to kill. the film was shot by 3 usc students, rather accidentally--they stumbled upon the LRA story and ended up making a 53 minute film about the plight of the children. their plan is to raise 800,000 initially to spread awareness of the problem and finish the film, which they plan to release in 2006 independently. afterwards they plan to raise 2,000,000 towards the improvement of the children's lives. exactly how that money will help, i don't know.

oh boy.

it's a quarter to 4am, sunday morning. in a few minutes nick will be on his way to vegas. since i can't leave this fucking room i must find amusement on the internets.

oh, david cross. i've now seen you nude and in a giant turd costume.

why have i just now discovered this show and why wasn't it around when i was a kid. sesame street has had billy joel, paul simon, and bela fleck, yet this one has had the arcade fire and the fiery furnaces.

booty and the best bobblehead ever courtesy of matt. speaking of kfc, the beastie boys are similarly keepin it real.

and this may be a few days late, but here is a short story about love by j.d. salinger (courtesy of the daily refill).

good night now. for real this time.

just took one of those online tests.

an ink-blot test. taking these things might very well might be a guilty pleasure of mine.

Tony, your subconscious mind is driven most by Sexuality

What this means is that when your unconscious mind sees an opportunity to remind you of your sexual desires, it takes full advantage of it. Because of this, things that have very little sexual content or that seem sexually neutral to others, may register as sexually charged to you, at least on an unconscious level.

Your unconscious mind recognizes the value of sexuality. The reason it may do so, is because of a deep-rooted fear of the opposite — living a life that is numb to sexual desire or is turned cold by it. You unconscious mind may be trying to avoid this sexual dullness, and so it reacts by swinging to the opposite extreme, strong sexual desire. By sending you these sexual messages on a regular basis, your unconscious makes sure you don't forget about sex.

If you view your sexual desire with a positive attitude, you can welcome the vitality and strength sexual thoughts can bring into your life. This would allow you to honor the drive your unconscious has chosen to be an important focus for you. It is a message that you are very much alive, and have a great deal of passion to bring to life.

Though your unconscious mind is driven most strongly by Sexuality, there is much more to who you are at your core.

eh, i pretty much agree.

rainy days

in westwood are never fun. scratch that. rainy days anywhere are never fun. good thing i decided to skip class today--i ended up going to trader joe's. on the way back i get a call from matt, who actually went to class. he asks for a ride home; 1) he didn't have an umbrella, and 2) his leg isn't fully healed yet. a soaked, moustachioed fellow limping through campus is quite sad.

i pick him up and afterwards we pay an overdue visit to lamonica's. so good.



on a random note peggy was in the daily bruin today. so that brings her to a grand total of 2 photos in the bruin. "how many times have you been in the bruin, tony?" funny that you ask that question, loyal reader. i have been in the daily bruin zero times. not that i care, it's not that great of a campus paper anyway--its redeeming quality being the crossword--but a handful of my friends have been mentioned/pictured in it.

i actually did have a few photos taken by a db photographer last year--i was a tour-guide for inner-city kids who came to ucla's residence halls to trick or treat. i was a cowboy. it was time for the kids to go home, and we were trying to get them lined up. a bunch of them were trying to steal my pistols (my outfit comes with holsters and water pistols that look like real pistols). i made the mistake of wearing the guns. anyway i was keeping them away from the kids, raising them as high as i could while they tried to climb and jump their way to them. i noticed out of the corner of my eye a db photographer shooting away. she laughs and asks me if it's okay if she photographs me. i said i didn't mind. yet a frazzled college student holding realistic-looking revolvers above his head surrounded by little 9-year old black boys makes for a photo that could be taken way out of context.

it's thursday night--hello weekend. wait, i have work tonight. fuck.

after a few trips--

to cinefile, vidiots, and then odyssey on wilshire--we gave up; mama, there's a man in your bed (romuald et juliette) was nowhere to be found. i actually found it at cinefile, but someone reserved it. thanks to terri anderson there are 100 college kids in los angeles after this rare vhs video. all hope was lost, until i came back home and found lying on my table a flyer for this relatively new video store in pasadena, videotheque. i have read very good things about this place so i gave em a call. at first the clerk said they didn't have it, but he looked it up anyway. and mother of all surprises, they had it. the excitement that came over me reminded me of when i found tapeheads at amoeba for 8 bucks. or when i stumbled upon the california burrito at benito's.

today was a good day. i had a paper handed back to me in my sociology of education class. i was expecting a bad grade because most of the people i'd talk to were upset that they didn't do too well. however, i get my paper back, a 9.5/10. i wasn't struck by how (relatively) well i did, but by a comment left by professor allen:

"let's talk about your future, which will hopefully include a PhD and college professorship."

i don't really know what to say, except that this one's going up on the fridge with my van leuven midterm.

after class i headed to the public policy lab to type something out when i ran into Terry Hwang, a buddy of mine i met last year and haven't seen since. she is one cool cat. things seem to be going well for her, which is good. something worth mentioning is that over the summer she was an intern for one of my favorite magazines, Planet. Their last issue "Man and Woman"--which Terry worked on--is great. although she's back in LA, they're letting her freelance now. how neat is that.

i just got back from hanging with brian, mike, and matt; we pretty much talked about how/where we're going to live this summer. i just hope we get out of westwood.

a more pressing matter to me is where we're going to go over spring break. last year we did RT 5000 to vancouver, and it seems like this year there's a good chance it might be texas.


en route to canada; seattle (pike's place)



give me something to look forward to.

oh, hallmark holiday,


how i detest thou. and why are you on a monday?


happy valentine's.


i was on my way home

on friday night when i get a call from peggy saying that her car was towed from hollywood video. i fought and defeated the visceral, 'I TOLD YOU SO!' that usually comes out of my mouth. peggy and her friend maya have been parking at the hollywood video on gayley, adjacent to the kinross building. i see why they'd wanna park there, because it's two steps away from the video lab where they've been working nonstop. anyway, both their cars ended up being towed, it cost 250 bucks to get each car back. the impound lot was on olympic and colby, and in true impound-lot fashion, it was located on a dimly-lit, dead-end street.



i remember sophomore year when i had to let peggy borrow 500 dollars for something, i don't even remember what-- flat tire? dent? i don't remember. i wouldn't mind helping her pay to get her car back, but at the moment i have nowhere near 250 dollars. that's why i reminisce to that time i let her borrow 500 bucks; i can't remember the last time i've seen 500 dollars, but it feels good knowing that two years ago i was actually making money and was not suffering from brokage.

after they got their cars, i proceeded home. hung out with julius, watched ridiculous amounts of television--i would've stayed, but i had to get back in time to let nick borrow my car to take the cbest. as i was leaving my parents' house at about 5am, i heard a quacking noise. the ground was wet from the rain, so first i thought it was my shoes, but it wasn't. i followed the noise, and in the darkness i see a duck in the middle of the street. just standing there. to answer your question, no, there are no ducks in culver city. but there was this one, in the middle of the street--i call my brother out, and he points out to me that the duck's left wing was broken. the wing hung by its side, just dangling there. i didn't want to leave it in the middle of the street, so i had to somewhat chase it onto the sidewalk--it wasn't really chasing, i would just walk toward the duck and she would walk away.

these pictures did not come out that great.




julius brought a few pieces of bread back from the house, and we broke them into pieces and left them on the sidewalk right next to the duck. she ate a few pieces. i couldn't help but think what the duck was feeling. lost? scared? indifferent? i know what you're saying, but fuck you, animals do have feelings. with a broken wing, she wasn't going to get far. i hope she is okay--ideally, some good soul found her and notified another good soul whose specialty was helping broken-winged ducks. i wish i knew who to call, someone who would actually care about something like this. but as julius pointed out, there aren't many people who would probably give a shit about a lost duck with a broken wing.


so this is what the volume knob's for,

i listen to dance music. dance music.



thursday night i drove across town and through the rain to see mountain goats at the echo. although he didn't play "pink and blue" or "the best ever death metal band out of denton," he provided the live music fix i needed. jon wahl and the amadans brought the space rock. brian's friend from film class who kinda reminds me of his other friend from the circle bar, molly, was there; in line we exchanged one of those 'i know you yet don' t recall your name' glances. the crowd was interesting--half of the people were in their 30s, and the other half under 20.




afterwards matt, lee and i looked for a place to eat. being westsiders, we didn't know where to go--so we called cindy and thomas. they recommended el tapatio, on los feliz right next to the cemetery. i had the chorizo and egg burrito, two tacos--one carnitas, one carne asada--and a coke. come to think of it, that chorizo and egg burrito ties, if not replaces, benito's california for my favorite los angeles burrito. el tapatio did not disappoint. i would drive there now if i didn't have a paper due/midterm on monday.






final thoughts.

although i have lived on the westside all my life and love it more and more everyday, i cannot help but harbor a little crush on the eastside. let's face it--living on the eastside has so much to offer. i would be neighbors with thai elvis. i could walk rather than drive across town to rudy's for a haircut. i could easily get to amoeba, chinatown, olvera street and the egyptian, i could drink with tracey and not have to drive home.

however, let it be known that my heart belongs to the westside.how could i leave behind tito's? or cacao, the nuart or cinefile? or good old dolores? the sunday swap meet at fairfax high? the new beverly? hell, school is here, and i love school. and believe it or not, westwood does not always have to be a shitty town. you can't go creepy midnight belair driving on the eastside.

i lovez los angeles, baby. westside for life.


los angeles in 15 dollars

is very possible--that's how i roll. i awoke in my comfortable westwood bed only to behold through my window showers and grey skies. normally such weather determines how i end up spending rainy days--in bed. but alas, it was sunday and i would not let my weekly ritual of dragging myself out of bed to go hang out at the melrose trading post be profaned by said terrible weather. and now, loyal reader, i will show you how los angeles is done in less than 20 bones.

i stopped by the wells fargo atm on kinross and gayley, as is the custom before going to fairfax high for the swap meet. since my income and replenishing of the bank account has been nonexistent, i've been on a tight budget and only let myself take out 20. i hop on the 10, drive up fairfax and park right in front of the greenway theatre. meter parking is free on sunday. (total spent: $0.00)

i pay one dollar admission (students and those with the la weekly coupon get in for a buck, regular admission is 2 dollars) and make my way to the northwest part of the parking lot to visit my man cal, the 70 year old ex-private investigator who sells books (from kerouac and castaneda to joyce and camus, and so much more), 12" records, old cameras with accordion flashes, and my favorite, photographs from estate sales. these photos date from the 40s to the 80s. i've accumulated quite a few photos from cal that i plan to rearrange into an album one day, like nino quincampoix. a few weeks ago cal's box of photographs was empty, and i asked him about it.

he looks around, then motions for me to come closer; he lowers his usual baritone, points to a nondescript manila folder sitting next to him and says, "look in that folder; there are a few in there of a naked woman. i can't put those out or i'd be let out of here." it felt like a drug deal.

anyway, i ended up spending 4 dollars on a few photos. total spent: $5.00

walking around is free. that's the best part.









at 5pm, the vendors begin to close shop and pack their wares. the sun was peeking its head through the clouds, so i decided to walk the boulevard and people watch. that was free.


i pick up peggy and we go to oki dog. this was my first time there--cindy always raves about the oki dog. as she promised, the oki dog did not disappoint. at first glance, it looks like a burrito and you tell the man at the counter that you ordered an oki dog. but unwrap it and you find not one but two hot dogs topped with pastrami and drowning in chili. peggy was grossed out when she saw what was inside, perhaps because she eats none of those meats. she had chicken tacos, which she speculated to be the menu-item with the least heart attack inducing potential. she's probably right. total spent: 10.00.






after dinner we drove a few blocks down to the new beverly cinema; when you are in los angeles and have five dollars to your name, this is the default place to go.

we didn't stay for 12 monkeys; the night concluded after brazil. my favorite line: "how about some necrophilia?" only two people laughed at that, me and the guy sitting in front of us. grand total: $15.00.

good night.


after some afternoon u-dog action,


we looked for a place where akanksha could have her nose piercing replaced. i suggested venice.












we found a place, but the guy working there recommended that she remove the stud and let the piercing breathe a while before replacing it (for those of you who don't know, akanksha's nost piercing is infected. did you need to know that? not necessarily. but that is why she wants to replace it in the first place.)

from venice we went to get some eats at cafe 50s. i wasn't too hungry, but i figured that by going there i could accumulate points towards my frequent diner rewards card. it was around 6:30 in the evening, and i realized that this was the first time we'd ever gone out to eat at proper dinner time.

when we arrived there was this man in his late 40s at the counter causing a ruckus--he complained of service that was 'terrible' and 'slow,' blaming tina--our waitress 90% of the time--a really hard time. they tried to explain that things are more hectic on friday night. he didn't care.


we took the counter--matt had to have the seat next to him empty so he could keep his leg straight (it is still healing from the mud-football "accident")










it was friday, so i had the fish and chips. and a chocolate coke.








this is the first saturday i've had off of work in quite a while. peggy is coming over to hang out.

i forgot to mention something quite important: it has been brought to my attention that sic transit gloria has yet another loyal reader. a hearty handshake and 'thank you' to muddy. oh muddy, it has been ages since angus wright and the gov'nor jacques dubois have galavanted through the european countryside. before this quarter is over i WILL get you to skip geography and go bowling with me.