ten years ago today i was in canada

and i was looking in the eyes of a girl whose eyes looked a little like mine

first time i had ever experienced that

likewise, it was eye opening seeing canada through the eyes of a canadian

i remember so many things from that trip

ups and downs, highs and lows

i had just been dumped by my dream job (low)

but they gave me a sack of money as a parting gift (high)

and because i had done so well while i was there i was convinced the next place id work would be an even dreamier dream

those are the feelings i hope everyone has as they travel across new bayous.

we stayed in one nice hotel after the other because i was a master of Priceline

plus we did not give one shit where we would spend the night that night

so i would lowball incredible regions of town and ask for a great deal on a 5 star hotel

and every now and then luck said yes

but i must say one thing about fancy hotels

theyre all pretty much the same, big, tall, wide

i almost always feel like the fancier it is, the more people should be in the room

and its just usually some blue eyed sweetheart

or hazel

or green

or

trouble.

TIL the head of the Dept of Labor used to be the Mayor of Boston

From his official bio:

In 1997, he was elected to serve as a State Representative for one of the most diverse districts in Massachusetts. There, he focused on creating good jobs, protecting workers’ rights, expanding mental health treatment, and investing in public transit.

Following his time as a State Representative, Secretary Walsh spent the last seven years as the Mayor of the City of Boston. While mayor, he led the creation of close to 140,000 jobs and helped secure a statewide $15/hour minimum wage, paid sick leave, and paid parental leave. He established Universal, high-quality Pre-Kindergarten for all children, and free community college for low-income students.

He seems like exactly the type of guy who would run a department that would frown upon a man refusing to pay another man what he is owed as his employee.

i have the smartest and best friends

as you may know i am in a moral dilemma.

but my friends don’t seem to think I am.

this guy right here is basically saying if i went to court over the fact i wasn’t paid, i would earn not just the $2,500 owed to me

plus $40,000+ in late pay.

a pair of lawyers who messaged me in DMs told me they’d represent me pro bono,

is this how obama felt when someone acted a fool and dared him to use weapons?

are connections weapons?

is the law?

i dont mind confrontations but i dont really seek them out after i got outta the xbi

i just want a peaceful, mellow, loving life where i can be creative for art sake

why am i being tested?

a different job i wanted wrote me tonight and said im not gonna get it

i have mixed feelings about that too.

incredible brand. one of my favorites.

BUT

i feel they’re making some glaring mistakes and i was going to have to bite my tongue because that is not the job i was being hired for.

as per the job i was applying for, i also think they were making some mistakes.

this brand is an industry- and cultural leader but they treat social media like

everybody else.

some brands should never be basic bitches.

they should be trailblazers every chance they can.

i was so excited to talk with them two weeks ago im sure i blabbed the poor woman’s ear off

she prob thought i was on coke.

and who knows maybe i asked for too much money.

is $75k to be the online face of your thing too much money?

but this thing theyre selling is like mining gold.

the last detail they should worry about is budget for staff, as long as the staff is really working.

anyways heres something another friend told me about my situation above, re: not getting paid

this is not about you being mean or vengeful or not turning the other cheek; this is about someone, with whom you had a professional, and presumably legal, agreement with, breaking that agreement and stealing from you by refusing to pay you for your work. That is illegal and he should suffer the consequences of breaking the law. Good luck!

her punctuation alone is amazing.

and of course her advice is spot on.

still, i dont want to send drones over the border.

but i also dont want this behavior to persist.

i wish i knew how to meditate.

this is why i need a smart girlfriend.

ive been trying to meet jake forever

but things never worked out.

then i saw on his Facebook Story that he was broken down in the parking lot near Shutters and no one in the parking lot would help him

so i DMed him and said i could be there in 45 minutes.

got there, we met, jumped his car (which was tricky because i didnt know where my battery was(!)

and then i podcasted him for an hour and a half.

what a great guy. it’ll be a very good podcast

we talked about all sorts of things and i pressed him for answers

but on some questions like

what do you want next

he just didnt know and hes trying to figure it out.

its funny this is supposed to be about Venice but so many of these people wanna talk about santa monica

anyways, visualize what you want in life, and be shocked and amazed when it comes true

watched a dude get handcuffed for drinking a beer

went to venice to see if i could get lucky and just interview someone right there on the sidewalk

i did it in hollywood and it was an interesting episode and since it was a jewish holiday i figured the traffic would be light

didnt matter i took Venice Blvd all the way down to keep it real

walked around then heard a commotion

then saw two cops instantly handcuff a dude and his Bud Light Spiked Lemonade can rolling around

open container

but the thing is you cant handcuff someone for that

its an infraction

not even a misdemeanor.

yr supposed to just give them a ticket and if they run away who the hell cares its a dumb ticket

meanwhile who are we kidding theres ppl drinking, drunk, and smoking weed (and worse) all up and down the place

on top of that they were doing this all while making him stare at the mural of the Wizard of Venice

the first Black man who was allowed to have a house in Venice

and out of his love for the place he decorated the joint, made masks and floats (bc they were trying to emulate the venice in italy)

and he even figured out that a disco ball would look super cool in a dance hall

the two cops even called for back up as the crowd objected to them using undo force on

a guy with a beer

this was his friend

later i realized these two cops were young and scared

and probably didnt like it when people said

if you handcuff black people

and not white people

then thats whats called racism.

and i realized they coulda shot me

even accidentally

which woulda been weird because i had just seen the Marx Brothers’

A Night at Casablanca

and harpo was playing the harp and it looked like thats something that would hurt your fingers

but then i figured nothing hurts in heaven

which is why they probably have so many harps up there

finally you can jam on those things.

i ate poorly on the way out there

and on the way home i stopped by some stores

and got sweet potatoes and peas

and made an all veggie dinner

then someone i respect a lot handed me a huge compliment

which was very very nice

everything is a test

everything is the angels watching from above making little side bets on you

ok for sure hes gonna fuck this shit up,

one of them will say to the other

nah, he’s cool, he’s the man, he’s my favorite one now that i think of it,

the other’ll say, after exhaling a long stream of smoke.

ok i bet you a bulldozer he wont act a fool over that thing,

the first one will offer

omg what is it with you and bulldozers? fine, i’ll bet you my last bulldozer he’ll shake it off

back in the day they were betting like crazy on hank aaron,

all the shit he went through

imagine death threats just cuz youre gonna break a dumb home run record

your family in danger because you might go yard in cincy

angles be all, a hundred yaks hank’ll just retire

but hank aint retiring.

fuck quitting

fuck bowing down to the bad in the world

and fuck acting a fool.

i walk around hollywood late at night

you see different things at night

was taking the picture of a bus stop bench and this dude approached me from my blind spot

i was listening to howard stern and jimmy kimmel in my headphones

i have a little rule that if you ask me for money i’ll give it to you

actually its in the bible but ive adapted it.

i was like, what?

and he mumbled, black dude, one shoe, skinny, no eye contact

slurring

i was wondering if you could help me with some spare change

im thinking, theres a guy who owes me $2,500 out there who hasnt even had the decency to paypal me $100 every week or $500 a month

ive been unemployed since halloween

i havent even touched a woman since the traitors attacked the capitol

no relation

and still somehow i am doing better than this guy

literally in the middle of the street

at 1:30am

i have a bed. i have cable. i have clean clothes

and cookie dough in a small bucket.

i have a

shower.

so i gave him $5

bc im pretty sure the angels were betting the under.

dear tony, what do you do if someones being horrible

dear tony,

sometimes i wonder. i wonder what to do? should i lead by example like you say. or should i let things slide?

am i being lazy if i just let it go? but didn’t that song win an Oscar and all the kids sing it?

should i let someone walk all over me? am i a slave? if so, what type? the yessum massah you right to beat me and do me wrong?

or am i django unchained?

signed,
but i dont want to be a victim

dear sir,

sometimes we just have to put things in God’s hands.

do people do fucked up shit for a variety of reasons most of them having nothing to do with you?

all the time.

they say it’s not what happens to you that makes you who you are, it’s how you react.

me, i want to go to Heaven.

i dont care what people think of me. (or i try not to care). instead i care about what God would want to see me do. or if thats too tough a concept, i try to do what the angels would like to watch me do on their tv.

of course i could use my god given talents and super powers for vengeance – as could you. but we werent blessed with gifts for that, i dont think.

and the huge difference between the old testament vs the new is turn the other cheek.

if you remember this was one of the few times that Jesus made a sharp turn away from the old testament. he was asked about “an eye for an eye” and he said it only makes a bunch of blind people.

jesus instead said to turn the other cheek.

is that something that leads to being a victim? maybe. but one could say there was no bigger victim than Jesus himself as he was crucified for nonsense and that death was one of his most defining attributes.

also: who ever said being a Christian was easy? if anything we reach for religion when things are hard and we are given even harder instructions because they are the opposite of what human nature is about.

who takes a punch, and offers to get hit on the other side?

bad ass mo fos.

thats who.

 

there was this thread on twitter against bukowski

all these so called educated people talking about how much they hated him

it made me curious how much theyd read

but surprisingly they had lots of examples of how bad he was

terrible examples, of course, because everything they posted was beautiful

and real

and true.

it just shows to go ya half the world isn’t gonna love you

no matter who you are.

no matter what you do.

no matter what you write down, or experience, or battle through

bukowski was living in the worst part of skid row

and he died a millionaire.

FROM WRITING

and it was the opposite of top 40

it was dirty and grimy and lots of times he painted himself out as the villain

and for sure not heroically.

that alone is worthy of praise

but i didnt wanna fight em.

some things you cannot debate to the madding crowd