and this week ive done a lot of work.
wrote two pieces for Output
edited audio for a forthcoming episode.
did VO wraps for other episodes.
now ive gotta drive drive drive.
my man henry invited me to santa barbara but today and tomorrow ive gotta drive.
fortunately joe biden (pictured) has been lowering the gas prices.
i do hear in LA nonsenses
i write ppl i shouldnt
i take walks and nearly get in fights with crazy ppl 2x my size
i buy air in a can at the corner store for way too much money but my keyboard key is stuck
and
i eat and eat and eat and eat
picked up a lovely latina woman. 34. near the freeway, coming out of an apartment wearing a misfits shirt.
do you really love the misfits or do you just like the shirt.
who are the misfits, she laughed.
get in.
i slid the phone to start the ride and saw her destination was 49th street.
i once overheard someone say, “the higher the numbers, the closer you are to Compton.”
other person said, “but the numbers stop in the 130s in Willowbrook right before you get to Compton.”
first person said, “yeah because Compton cold killed those numbers and buried them in Long Beach.
but for perspective, the swanky Grove is on 3rd St. Compton would be about 140th and our passenger was going to 49th. how bad could it be?
turned out it was bad.
we start rolling and i ask her, “whats going on at 49th street?”
“home,” she said.
“then what’s back there?” i ask gesturing to the modest apartment building behind us.
“that’s the boyfriend.”
the good thing about this so far was 45th was gonna be a half hour away since this was the middle of the day.
sometimes the people dont want to talk. that makes things terrible and slow and awkward and you dont know if they like the music, or are even listening to it cuz maybe they have their ear buds in.
it’s just way better when they talk.
she was talking.
“how long you guys been together?”
“well about 10 years ago we were messing around then he disappeared.”
“running from the law?” i asked. one of my favorite things to say as a joke.
“he was in jail.”
whups.
“omg for what?” i asked eagerly.
“rather not say.”
“oh right. 10 years. must have been something. sorry to ask.”
“it’s ok.”
“so you guys weren’t pen pals when he was in there? no phone calls?”
“no, he has two baby mommas so he was stressed enough with them. he called me right before he was going to get out to see if i was married or if have kids.”
we got in the car pool lane and sped through south central high above the congested 110 and talked about not having kids when everyone around you has them
and about love and redemption and mexico
and when we got to her off ramp she said “i promise you you will see hookers on my street.”
and we did, and the two we drove past were startlingly beautiful.
“what do i tell my nieces?” she asked, in a serious way.
“tell them, everyone is different. and some people are very different. love them all.”
and then i said,
alexa, play the misfits.
it’s really funny, she’ll say really nice things and then say
did you shave in the dark, you missed some spots
today she asked, why dont you date women your own age?
i said, women my age dont eat pizza three times in a week.
last night we went out to tacos
i was in the best mood.
we ran into this tall black rapper with amazing jewlery and tattoos everywhere
i said, are you two from new york?
they were wearing yankees caps.
the jewlery guy was all no, we stay in south central
i said, oh the NY is for your gang?
there was an uncomfortable pause, it was around midnight after all.
but zorha was there looking cute they werent gonna do anything
and finally he said, yeah it stands for Neighborhood.
later he asked me how old i was
why are ppl so concerned about my age?
anyways todays pizza: a+
last night’s burrito: a-
influential person ive met?
she got me into poetry, journalism, hippie shit, punk rock, foreign films
and this was all while we were teens.
i mean everyone ive met has influenced me but
when i first came to california – wow – i couldnt even get out of junior college
i had a history teacher who told me i was a terrible writer
i cried in the library.
while it’s true michele broke up with me 3 times
she also did the opposite of breaking up with me 2 times
she was my bestfriend for years
and today is her birthday.
i wonder if anyone thinks i was influential in their lives?
i hope if i was it was in a good way.
i get clogged on sundays because i never want to turn on church
but once i turn it on im happy and todays sermon was good.
then i turned on the cubs.
then i walked to the store talking to mom.
then i finally got to finishing up tomorrows podast.
i am the most ridiculous procrastinator ever for this right now.
i really need to do uber so i can do something productive with all this spare time im just killing doing nothing.
but i wouldnt drive on sundays.
Lord’s day.
my other problem is i need to be inspired.
right now im working on the most time consuming part of my podcast: the blog post.
it’s there that i try to write a zingy, clickable, but also accurate headline
i add all the pictures and videos and tweets and links
and figure out which chunks to use from the podcast.
it’s a whole deal.
and i have to work from top down or i obsess.
but once it’s done i can get on with it, although i still procrastinate like crazy because i sabotage myself for some reason and i need to knock it off because i might start needing to spend a lot of time on the road away from this computer.
anyways monday im publishing my convo with Lexis and this is how it starts off so far. we’ll see if i change my mind.
i know it’s hard. i am in the middle of it right now and it’s super hard.
sometimes i have noticed that weird crazy magical shit happens when your back is up against the wall.
you do things you wouldnt normally do.
things your mind says Only Even Think About in case of an emergency
the emergency is approaching.
i find myself on Linked In applying for jobs i know im overqualified for but if this was sports, would the MVP of the league stop playing because he is clearly better than everyone else at that position?
then why do we do that IRL?
im gonna get out from under this cloud.
i always have.
things are gonna get better.
then things are gonna rock.
just like in olden times.
sandy koufax, center, the legendary dodger pitching ace wanted
to do something nice for joe torre’s, right, non profit in 2010
so he took the stage to be interviewed by
the notorious tj simers, left.
notorious because tj would tell it like he saw it
and he usually saw things through
bitter-colored glasses.
tj’s biggest fans would say they aren’t bitter, they’re
true.
theyd argue the world sugar coats everything, especially journalists, particularly sports journos because they can’t burn bridges because they have to work with these teams every day, year after year.
i enjoyed reading tj because i wanted to see who pissed him off now
koufax gets his ass kissed by everyone. clearly he wanted to be interviewed live by someone who wasn’t going to kiss his ass.
and thats the lesson i learned from tj, indirectly
if you are known as the person who makes you fucking earn that A
then sometimes the best in the world will want to come to you
and only you.
so keep on keeping it real.
(which was your job in the first place)
photo by Dodger Blue World
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