when im dead and buried,

i want to have a totally loud and fun wake, and on my headstone i want it to be written, “luckiest man (when he was) alive.”

one year ago today, me and chris broke up and i moved here to hollywood. that was unlucky. what was lucky was that chris is probably the greatest girl you’ll ever meet and in this year we have stayed best friends, calling each other several times a week, emailing daily, and fighting hate crimes while doing laundry.

i will always love her. i dont think i’ve ever gotten over any of my exgirlfriends. what’s the fun in that?

this weekend we celebrated our one year apart by spending the whole weekend together.

friday night we met sugarchicken and scatterboy for dinner at drinks at everyone’s favorite, pf changs, in santa monica. lively conversation, excellent food, stiff drinks. my only question is, who’s the asshole who swiped the sinatra cd that they used to play there, and shoved in oasis?

pf chang’s food is magical. not only does it please the palate, but it hypnotizes you into forgetting what you ate and whether it was the best food youve ever ate, or the second-best food you ever ate. i faintly remember a spicy tofu lettuce wrap that was delectable and, indeed, spicy. as well as some uninspired crispy honey shrimps, and a chicken dish of some sort, and i remember leaving satisfied but not full. i remember my cold medicine mixing nicely in my head with the baileys on the rocks, and i remember oasis in the bathroom.

pf chang’s is one of those places where the waiter takes your order and someone else brings you the food. during our wonton and tofu appetizer, the server approached our table claiming to have our entrees. turned out it was the food for a different table and i wondered, how rotten would you feel if your only job is to take the plates to the right table and you cant even get that right?

after our meal we had a nitecap at chez jay’s right by the beach. totally casual. really fun. i woulda done anything for a greasy fried shrimp basket but im watching my figure.

crashed at chris’s and took the bus across town in the morning as she got a little trim. im not the only one who adores chris. her hairdresser cleaned up her ‘do and didnt even charge her! when has that ever happened?

on the bus i read the latest Gear. i have always loved bob guccionne jr. and i dont know why i dont talk about Gear more often, but it’s dynomite and completely underrated.

when i got home i was getting it together when chris called and said she wanted to have a late lunch on my side of town, and since we had such a nice asian encounter the night before, i suggested Palms Thai, a place that I had heard about a bunch from Greg and Molli – huge Elvis fans – but neither Chris or I had had that pleasure.

We were a few hours early to be treated to Thai Elvis, but just in time to take advantage of the $3.99 lunch special menu. We only got one thing off that – a garlic shrip deal with brocolli – a dozen wontons, pad thai, tom kai kai soup and seven up. chris and i agreed that it just might be the best thai food we’ve ever had.

so many times have we ordered “spicy” and were met with nothing but bland mildness. this time i looked the woman in the eye and said, spicy please and she asked spicy or extra spicy? and i gestured to my pronounced ‘fro and i said, “i want flames to fly from my hair. i want to see smoke coming from her ears.”

she laughed. and the meal was indeed pleasantly spicy, but in a cute third-world way. my head did not combust. but the meal was sweet.

she dropped me off and we decided to have easter brunch together.

this time we chose Soul Food in Inglewood. the original choice was M&M’s on Crenshaw and King, an old standby, but the place was packed with a line outside of old folks pimped out in their flashiest easter-wear (eg. all-purple suits and creme chapeaux), and we were starving so we headed north a few miles to a former taco bell which had been converted a number of years ago into The Best barbeque drive-thru in the ‘hood.

we ate inside, which was quite a spectacle. we had the three-meat dinner (chicken falling off the bone, pork ribs, and hot links, mac&cheese, baked beans, cornbread, and a side of greens, black cherry soda (she), grape soda (me), and didnt mind the fact that we were given no plates – had to eat out of the styrofoam carryout dealio – nor no knives – didnt really need it.

i did turn off the tv that was Poltergiesting in the corner booth next to the apparently deaf old gentleman reading the Sunday Times.

as we were eating our meal, chris got up to get more napkins and the counterwoman asked her if she had ever tried any of their homemade bananna custard pudding, which of course she hadnt so the woman gave her a few scoops for free in a styrofoam cup which was plenty – and amazing.

afterwards we took in E.T. at the Cinerama Dome on Sunset and if i wasnt on cloud nine from the meal and the company i probably would have flinched when the lady actually charged us $14 each to see the 20 year old classic at 4:30 in the afternoon.

the first time i saw E.T. i was, i think, a freshman in highschool and i was on a date and the girl’s mom drove us and went to the movie with us and, fortunately was packing plenty of kleenex, and it’s still a pretty emotional movie, and even though ashley completely disagrees, i dont think the extra two scenes were necessary at all. but it didnt really matter, drew stole the show, again, as usual, as always.

as for the cinerama dome, i guess it’s nice that eastsiders dont have to trek all the way to the bridge to get jacked just cuz they want to see a movie. the sound was good, the seats were comfy, the bathrooms were big and clean and nice but the screen wasnt as super wide as i had expected, but who cares really. chris and i held hands through the whole thing and ate popcorn and non-pariels and drank coke and listened to the little kids talk to the screen, and i cant imagine a sweeter weekend.

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