the guy is a hugely successful television producer and long time reader of this very blog.

he had some advice for me about my forthcoming podcast which i wanted to disagree with, but did i mention he’s hugely successful?

meanwhile im working the pole at Gold Diggers at 2-6pm

what was weird is usually i begin the interviews by buttering the guest up, but he beat me to the punch, complimenting me and this and saying that i always had the most interesting cast of characters here

he even gave me props for nothing in here is true which sorta blew my mind.

i drove around hollywood as i talked to him because my phone connection is always great when im not doing anything, but any time im conducting a serious interview it cuts off on me.

once i was interviewing now-councilperson Nithya Raman from my living room and the phone dropped like 5 times. so embarrassing.

so now i just drive while i interview, pulling over every now and then to look at my notes.

howard stern had it right: if two people are having a great conversation one hour is about right. i think today we did about an hour ten.

we agreed on many things, disagreed on a few, but the whole time he was so upbeat and friendly and real. only a few questions did he not want to answer, which is good, you want to keep pushing as a reporter to see where the boundaries are. usually they’re where you think they would be, some people surprise you.

anyways it was very nice to be a journalist again. especially nice knowing that this is going to go into my own publication. and if it takes off, i alone will reap the rewards.

it is funny though, i still get nervous before it goes down. it doesnt matter who i interview. ever since Black Francis was a dead fish conversation way back in 1991, i am terrified that i will be unprepared for the worst, and fortunately that day has never revisited itself. but still i get scared.

Then i get freaked out that the recording didnt take. i forget who, but once at the Academy i interviewed someone and the recording didnt work but thank God I took notes and was able to make it work. oh it was the great John August. fortunately we also had a follow-up interview scheduled so i was able to get a few more questions in there. still it was embarrassing because i really loved working for my boss Josh Spector and i could see how disappointed he was.

but shit happens with tech and he knows that as well as anyone. in the long run i think i have been far luckier with it than not. one thing i do is i usually call my mom and record her first to see if everything works. she played along by reeling off a list of curse words. LOL JK.

tomorrow i transcribe it and work on another project im doing for someone else.

it’s nice to be busy. it’s nice to talk to nice people. it’s nice to be alive.

which started with me realizing this was my background image.

fortunately the HR lady was incredibly nice and showed me how to replace it.

but damn did we laugh.

i still may be laughing.

#ContextIsEverything

i should just give up.

what did i even do this week?

i wrote “the best show i ever saw was at Spaceland”

then i wrote “Why Being Christian Shouldn’t Stop You from Supporting BLM”

worked on a piece that i hope to have out on tuesday about a great artist.

then on saturday i returned my Air which for some reason was hard for me.

i had to figure out how to make my printer and phone talk together

thank God for YouTube tutorials.

then i had to will my printer to work.

turned out FedEx has a very simple way to print – which makes sense.

when im fancy imma do all my shipping with them. thats just way too easy.

on Thursday or Friday i retweeted a picture from the Glendale Galleria of people who were eating in the parking garage. it did really well — for that guy.

so after FedEx i drove out to Glendale to see if i could take a few more (he only had one).

i ended up taking four very bad pictures.

fucker went off

The rumors are true the Glendale Galleria has outdoor dining available in its parking structure. pic.twitter.com/LlO4NbuSOz

— Los Angeleno (@LosAngeleno) July 25, 2020

over 600k impressions with a whopping 400k engagements

on a tweet, late on a saturday

in a garage.

if you only knew how many places i applied to last year

some multiple times.

one i found out thru linked-in who the VP of the department was

figured out his email address

explained how they had been advertising the job for 5-6 months and ive applied three times and havent even gotten a nibble.

i told him, i will work for whatever salary the last person got – just talk to me.

nothing worked.

no one wanted me.

but heres the best thing about that tweet… it increased our followers by 42%.

one tweet with bad pictures in a garage and now you get over 700 more followers.

i love the internet so much you have no idea.

but what i really want is a podcast.

my brain is everywhere. everythings a distraction. i just need to do this one thing which is now two. which is bordering on three. and i cant.

all i think about is la quinta. its the one thing i really miss off of all of this.

this morning i woke up with a sore throat and i was like, whoops, there it is. dying. Rona. adios!

i wanna go to la quinta because they have too many pools and a roof deck where a night like tonight you could see every star and every star can see you and some of them say have you no decency? pants!

by now we woulda been there twice probs.

i traded up my air for a pro. i can see now without squinting. this is a real computer.

neil young has a song called “piece of crap.” after a while you learn that some things can be crap but the thing that you use every day, especially for work, should be the real deal.

air was fine but it’s for kids.

if i was at la quinta id take a long walk around the grounds, dive into a pool, then maybe another.

clear my head.

soak in a hot tub.

flash the stars on an outdoor chaise next to the out door fire place

pink floyd easing out of the iphone

amber inside snoring

and in the morning id wake with the sun and do this damn thing.

but tonight its just

will.

Sunday was fantastic. i wrote an important email, had a very good phone call, got some laundry done, talked to my mom and had a fantastic heart to heart with Amber.

she has done a lot during this shut down. A LOT.

at first she resisted this thing. massively. she hated it. she’s such a workaholic so to be locked into our little apartment drove her nuts. she worried they wouldnt hire her back. she fretted over everything. she wrote so many emails and called so many people.

plus unemployment was a nightmare. they still havent paid her everything on time.

but then something happened a few weeks ago and she just clicked into the next gear. now shes accepted that shes at the mercy of so many things outside of her control and she’s ok with it, cuz fuck it, they’re gonna do whatever theyre gonna do no matter how many hours she waits on hold for this or that.

in the meantime she visits a half dozen homeless people every day and posts memes on her instagram. Also, she’s learning how to edit video. which i love her for.

today we went to walmart for a $9 can opener. left spending $101.

on the way i interviewed a community organizer from lansing michigan. a black girl who was so honest with me. we bonded beautifully and her idealism was genuinely inspiring.

we could have talked forever but im trying to keep these interviews down to 35 minutes or so because the long ones make me hate life when i have to transcribe them. and with so much happening every day i want to turn these around in a day if i can.

that’s my goal. which is tough. but tough goals are the best.

i did some good things, i did some things im very happy about.

i couldnt connect with some people and that made me sad

and some things ended that i wasnt expecting.

but lets talk about procrastination.

i have a tiny little attention span. call me crazy.

and when that window is open i can do so well.

almost every post on this blog, since 2001, was written under 30 minutes

but for work i spend hours.

some people spend days or weeks but i get so bored by then

which is hard because sometimes it does take days to get things done.

youve gotta talk to one more person or your editor wants you to add one more thing or somethings too long or something doesnt make sense or things change

all of that annoys me.

i want to take a snapshot of that moment and go on to the next thing.

procrastination means i didnt snap quickly enough.

even if i love what i am looking at, i dont want to savor it. i shouldnt. i should just do it because im gonna get bored.

a few weeks ago i was at a walmart and i saw something cool and i talked to a woman who was fascinating and i wanted to rush home and write it down but one thing led to another, i think i picked amber up at work and then we went somewhere.

then she looked me up and down and couldnt keep her hands off me.

then we danced on the lawn. then we laughed and laughed

and fell asleep.

ive been procrastinating this walmart story for weeks.

dont get me wrong, in the meantime ive been writing my tail off.

so today it was in the schedule that i would have it done. and i had a phone meeting at 8pm and all day i procrastinated it. then at 7 i started and by 730 it was pretty much done. and for that next half hour i polished it up real nice like. and i was relieved

like taking a giant dump. i feel ten pounds lighter.

i felt free.

i took a shower, kissed the girl, flipped on some porn and waited for her to finish this amazing dinner she was cooking. turned on bill maher.

i just felt incredible

and now i want to figure out how i can feel this way every friday.

work really hard for a week and then on that friday be done.

be good and done.

be super complete.

i feel so… professional… adult… accomplished… smart when i do the thing i say i was gonna do and its on time

and its better than i pitched it.

this is truly good.

the thing i did about the masks from los angeles apparel was good

the thing i did about this other thing is good.

i feel good.

and i feel lucky.

and i thank God for letting me have the opportunity to have these feelings

because right now so few feel good.

at my age theres a few reasons to do things

for the love, for the money

or because it freaks you out.

in eight hours im interviewing someone im nervous about.

ive read all his q&a’s, seen his video chats, looked through all of his social media.

and still i feel unprepared.

nardwaur the human serviette is the king of preparedness for interviews

and i think i have an idea of where i wanna take this, but the best conversations are just that

so you dont wanna have an agenda, you want to be able to flow with it.

the other day i interviewed another guy who i was intimidated by, and i think i scared him too.

there were a few questions he didnt wanna answer and i dont blame him.

ive always felt that life is like a pinball machine, it’s good to tilt every now and then

so you know how much play you got.

the worst thing they could do is hang up.

which reminds me of my favorite thing i ever read in SPIN

Exclusive interview with Johnny Rotten

{ring, ring}

Hello?

Hi Johnny, it’s Spin.

{click}

The crazy thing is, this guy is super mellow from what I can tell. And what I have to start off talking with him about is totally current and sorta newsworthy.

but still,

what if

what if.

it was all about a job posting for a gig i am definitely qualified for but it might involve a bit of drama and im totally no drama o’busblog.

but what do i do, keep living off my good looks? i would like to get back to work.

because nothing in here is true i can tell you that amber and i have been bickering a bit since i hit the dole. which is also unusual. but then the other day, the day that i remembered that the cubs had won the world series and i should be happy with that for the rest of my life and everything is gravy and relax dude, we suddenly clicked back into gear again and everything was rainbows and butterflies.

you think thats fake but i no lie.

we can turn on anger and madness and bitterness and hate, just as quickly as we can shut it down. we think we cant but we wrong. we are powerful creatures capable of what the children call “magic”, and thus we should use it for good things.

so i just told her baby i dont care about anything other than your happiness and our joy and if you wanna do x y and z and not a b and c, no probs. lincoln freed the slaves. im not going to stand in your way of absolute freedom. you do you and if you wanna include me then great. i have a library of books to read and miles to go before i sleep. and then this weekend happened (even though it fell on a wednesday and thursday) and it was beautiful although i may have broken my foot.

but i have obamacare so i may hobble up the hill and have it removed. i think i need new sneakers. i think i wore out the spring. theres spring in my step, dont get me wrong, but i think it’s gone outta the shoe. maybe i should buy the shoe first then see the doc.

anyways i dont think imma apply for that job because im not here to make anyone uncomfortable. thats not the super power i wanna have. i wanna have the one where i help inspire people to be their best selves. cheesy as that may sound. but it’s true and those were the best jobs ive had.

pros: strangely less distracting as i never turn on the tv or radio. my home office is a quiet little sweatshop.

cons: i miss all the people.

pros: no need for pants!

cons: i was getting headaches because my face is smooshed into this bigass macbook pro.

pros: i learned that the 99 cent store has a generic version of Excedrin that knocks that headache into last week.

pros: no need for shirts!

cons: i eat way more.

pros: but i am spending less because eating at home is way cheaper.

cons: there are way more people at your work that you meet than you think, and i miss them.

pros: if someone says, meet me at noon across town for that thing you wanna do for that secret project you dont need to ask permission or get time off, you just say hell yeah bro, and you’re there.

cons: you’re out of the loop.

pros: the loop distracted you from the things you really wanted to do anyways. the loop is overrated.

cons: you work all night and on the weekends when you work from home.

pros: sometimes your girlfriend is off in the middle of the week and you can hang with you as you work and that may be the best of all.

cons: she probably misses her alone time at the crib.