sic transit gloria.

"is that Latin?"

Thursday, August 25, 2005

though it hurts to say so


the summer is coming to an end. like all good things, a wise man or woman once said. our lease is up at the end of the month, which means that the week will be filled with packing and emptying the refrigerator and more packing and vacuuming and getting rid of furniture and more packing. one thing i'll miss about our charming westwood single is the brown couch. she's treated the posteriors of mine, my roommates, and everyone who visited so wonderfully. soon it will grace the pages of the free section on craigslist los angeles.

lately i've found myself reconnecting with friends i either haven't seen for a long time or whom i've taken for granted; this is a good thing and i am happier than i've been. it seems as if i've been sinking into this deep fucking slump, but i'm out now. if only i weren't such a flake and returned calls/made more of an effort to visit people these past few months...i shouldn't beat myself up, but i will say that if there's one thing i learned this summer, it's don't take people for granted, especially those who give a shit about you.


caught inara george at the echo. she's a pixie. her voice is one part eleni mandell and another part mirah. in between songs she drank wine from a burgundy glass and ended her set with autumn leaves. a class act. her guitarist happens to be none other than mike andrews, freaks and geeks composer extroardinaire. (by the way, have i mentioned that i fucking hate allmusic? at least i hate the new interface. it takes forever to load and is difficult to navigate. i miss the old site.)



i finally went with matt et al on the adventure that is lesbian night at guys, right next to the beverly center (next door to jerry's). the night was spent with good company on a couch soaked with fluid from the leaky air conditioner overhead. it ended with jack in the box and reno 911. a very fulfilling evening to say the least.

on a work-related note, a kind soul decided to hire me. i start this september. which means i can actually buy things now.

the overheard quote of the week is: "i like sushi but i don't like the rice part."

this weekend = packing + sunset junction.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

no work and no school makes tony


one lazy motherfucker. throw in an empty refrigerator and 2.80 per gallon at the pump and you have one lazy, hungry, broke-ass motherfucker. i have been sustained by corn tortillas and flat 4-month-old cola. despite all the free time between sending out resumes and doing nothing i'm too lazy to go on a half-hour grocery run. i've been sick, so i feel somewhat justified in my state of perpetual-sloth. regardless, sleeping from 7am-7pm is still unforgivable.



went to tofu-fest with matt and had chicken. bought a wallet, thereby retiring my trusty duct-tape piece. strolled through little tokyo, which isn't all that little.










watched march of the penguins. this is only one of two films i've seen in my life that made me want to cry, the other one being willow, of course, because willow is fucking excellent. many moons ago my high school girlfriend would always liken my gait to a penguin's, supposedly because i walked at an extremely leisurely pace. but after seeing this film i see that what she was really saying was that she admired my noble disposition and indomitable spirit. now i want to start the save the emperor penguin foundation; we'll provide shuttle transportation, shelter from the cold, and protection from predators. but even if all these things were provided, those little fellas wouldn't have a clue what to do and we'd end up doing them more harm. it's also pretty remarkable how those 2 cameramen caught such wonderful footage while enduring 80 below weather and 100 mile-per-hour winds.



last week watched star wars episodes 3-6 with roommates, pretty much consecutively if you don't include when we went to work. watched spaceballs the next day and was reminded of my high school friends' band, megamaid. i actually don't recall if they stuck with megamaid, but i am sure that they were megamaid for a couple of weeks. my buddy pete cerenzio (pete, if you just googled yourself, hello old friend, and how i miss those crazy days conjugating like nobody's business in latin) moved on to play guitar in a rod stewart tribute band in college, one nation under rod. the post-faces crimes of the artist paid homage aside, they were pretty fucking good.


speaking of past cohorts, a friend from freshman year of college visited today. on craigslist a few weeks ago she posted an ad for some sort of adventure club for los angelinos; what this club entails exactly is unclear, which is unsurprising given that she's one of those people who speaks primarily figuratively yet manages to fool you into thinking that she provided you with a satisfactory response to your queries. i can't find the listing, but from what i hear it's calling for 'down-to-earth people in la who love life and would like to meet other like-minded life-lovers.' seriously, that's how she speaks. all i'm saying is that there needs to be some sort of system in place, you can't let absolutely everybody into this adventure club considering that there can be many different interpretations of 'adventure club,' one of them potentially being 'super-swinger-h0t-seX0rz-orgy-club.'


i'll catch you crazy kids later. may the schwartz be with you.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

if you need a good laugh--


or cry--do yourself a favor and watch the aristocrats. this last week has been characterized by devastatingly low lows and what i initially thought were going to be highs but ended up being lesser lows. it's one of those films that i'm going to always remember, not because of its content but rather because it allowed me and her to truly laugh, together, after this dark period that seemed to make us forget how that was done. it was just what i needed.

i missed two days of work and now it's friday and i still feel like shit. i remember when i was in elementary school i loved being sick because that meant staying home and watching tv all day; if only being sick were that simple today. sure, you can watch movies all fucking day, but at the cost of missing a day of class/work/whatever it is that you do. missing two days of work especially hurts when you need to feed yourself and pay rent.

the last time i was at work before the sick days, my kids played softball against older, more athletic kids, all of whom play little league ball. their counselor threw these trick pitches at my team and was clearly trying his absolute hardest to strike them out. his fun didn't end after he struck all my boys out and continued through to when it was our turn to play outfield. and 'playing outfield' for my kids means sitting on the grass, wildly chasing each other, or running away screaming from the ball whenever it came near them. an asshole jock 25 year-old camp counselor deriving sadistic pleasure from beating 6 year olds at a game of softball is most definitely up there on my all-time-saddest-things-i've-ever-seen list.

maybe some of this bitterness stems from my experiences never being the athletic kid. i actually could care less, i never had any desire to be the athletic kid. it's just that getting hit with balls--from them being thrown at you, and not necessarily haphazardly--got old. and painful. fuck sports; whatever happened to flying kites and playing in treehouses and riding bikes?


this past week i've spent many a night in my favorite late night coffeehouse enjoying my favorite hot chocolate and free wi-fi (because the neighbors i'd steal from finally locked their networks). when i showed up monday night one of the first things i hear is WHAT UP FOOL?! from this poseur douche bag who used to live in my building my third year of college and would be extra chummy with me so he could bum smokes. fuck you, man. i sit down at my favorite table and couldn't help but be distracted by inane high school skank banter. some highlights.
"ohmygod, i only date guys taller than me, but this guy was totally the same height as me! i broke up with him when i realized it."
or, "ohmygod, my mom said that i can only go to cabo if your mom or courtney's mom goes too, but don't worry, i totally told her that your mom is coming so it's all good."
or, "ohmyGAWD, you totally DO have your nipples pierced!!"

the other night i hung out in the courtyard with some neighbors. two of them are (surprise) aspiring writers/actors, one of them a self-described black-tor. they were taking a break from rehearsing their latest play, the Westwood Whats. westwood isn't exactly the most exciting town, but i'm still curious. we decided that one of their new plays should be about the black-tor living as a white man trapped in a black man's body. we were brainstorming lines for the coming-out monologue when all of a sudden the landlord--"rock and roll mom," as we know her--came out and told us that we were being too loud. after we apologized she laughed, said "just kidding!" and invited us in for a glass of wine.


dear readers, as i've alluded to above, my neighbors have all locked their networks, so my internet access at home is no more. but believe me, i still read/comment on your blogs whenever i can. now it's time to medicate myself and get some sleep.