Random Thoughts From December

And then he sits there and looks at me with his little beady eyes and I’m supposed to like him because of this, but how can I like him, he’s difficult. A problem. And he’s so still, the way he’s looking at me. He’s so still and I want him to know that I think about him, I do, but maybe it’s not enough, to be here, like he is.

You spend your life wanting. Waiting. Wanting.

I was walking through the hall and kept getting frosting in my hair. Some nice lady said, “You better watch it. Be careful you don’t get frosting in your hair.” And I thanked her. For looking out.

What is the worth of a person without their job?

My hair is very long now. People say i've had this long hair before, but I haven't! They must be thinking of someone else.

WME Entertainment brought in a fruit basket. It seems Hollywood is filled with fruit baskets this time of year. The message read: Fruit Basket. We came to eat this basket of fruit. We spread our desired shapes on flimsy plastic plates. We picked at the toothpicks of grapes and the flower-shaped pineapples, and I thought of what you said. I did.

Helping out at ABC Studios for December. Then I go back to school in January (yay!). I am excited to be writing again full-time, and teaching.

Christmas in LA. It was 80 degrees yesterday.

On an unrelated side-note, my short story "Atlantic City" is going to appear in an upcoming issue of 322 Review. Also, I am cranking out pages for "Little Black Dress" and "The Volunteer" and my Christmas novella. Also, revisions on "The Collective", "Smarties", and "237 Reasons..." are in my future. Next quarter I'm taking a graphic novel writing class and thesis hours.

Happiness. =)

Yes!

Summer Solstice Canyon Hike

Happy Turkey Day!

Pumpkin pie and movies on the telly.

Yum!

Summer Solstice Canyon Hike

Article in Modern Hiker.

We just did this hike yesterday and it was beautiful! I'd upload pictures but my computer is being silly. More later...

"Every one of my books has a character who walks around," Pamuk said, "looking for something, like a detective. My characters, when they are troubled, they go out in the street. You walk in the streets, you are sad or happy or troubled or anxious. The urban scape you see becomes associated with the feelings you have inside you." Eventually, "your mental pictures of the city have layers and layers and the city begins to show your memories, your sentiments. The kind of writing I like associates the characters' drama with the landscape. I'm not interested in big square residential blocks. I want shadows and drama. That's what literature is all about."

To Pamuk, "a novel is composed of little details of daily life. I like walking through cities. I take notes, then something I see stays with me." He doesn't write on a computer. "I hand write. On pads. I can write any place -- cafés, libraries, waiting for the plane to go. I really like working in train stations. In Dostoevsky's 'Diary of a Writer,' he made the observation, 'What a lovely thing to walk around a city. You walk around, you see a face, and it's a story.' "

~Orhan Pamuk

So, it must be getting cold in New York. It must be getting colder. I don't like going back to New York in the winter, because I don't have any winter clothes anymore. Stupid reason not to go back, huh? Also, being cold depresses me, and my skin can't take it, it gets red, wind-swept. I end up having to wrap my scarves all the way around my face, so only my eyes peek through, and then I look like some strange Burqa thing. Doowa doowa doo.

But I miss my parents, and my family.

Bah.

M and I found a new place to live. It's in Atwater Village. I can walk to all these lovely shops. Coffeeshops, yoga, dance, supermarkets, restaurants, bars, taco stands. And the river, the glorious LA river, which I have become obsessed with because it's so sad, all that concrete. Surprisingly though, where I am, it's one of the only places along the river where it's actually flourishing. There are egrets down there and little men sitting in lawn chairs fishing for their dinner. Ducks swim in the river, and shrubs and plants, even trees have sprouted up from the river bottom. I'm excited to go running by the river. They've made a path. They're trying to clean it up. I like where I am. I like how there are parts of LA that are post-apocalyptic looking - it feeds my imagination, and my mind doesn't freeze over from the cold, because it usually doesn't get that cold.

There's this cruise you can take to Mexico over the Thanksgiving break. We thought about doing it, but it was one of those dinky cruises, where you go to Catalina Island and then Ensenada and then spend one or two days at sea.

I haven't been to Mexico yet, but I don't think stepping foot on Baja California for 7 hours in a touristy part of Ensenada really counts. Does it?

Nah.

Main projects I'm working on, my novel (thesis) and two screenplays. One is a romantic comedy, the other one is an historical bio-pic. My novel is turning into a horror/mystery story. Lord. The thing is, I'm drawn to the fantastical, the surreal. Life can be a bit ho hum, so writing about things that can't happen everyday is a nice escape. I'm also torn, because there is a more comedic story I could focus on, as well, that takes place in New York, in good ol' Rock O' Land. But I need to decide on which stories I want to focus on if I'm going to finish my thesis in time.

Actually, I've been writing on hyperdrive these past few months, and I love it. Need to find a way to keep up the energy when I go back to the 9-6 in December. I'm devising this plan to wake up a few hours earlier in the morning, but we'll see if this works. I'll make it work. Har!

Today we looked at a very small place with a very large deck and a very large place with a very small deck. And then other places that were dirty and far away from local shops, no parks nearby, and then there were places that were close to shops and parks.

Friday we're checking out a place with a bedroom loft. And there are others, in Los Feliz I think, that we found by doing drive-bys.

Plus, I had fish tacos from a mexican place that claimed they were the "Best in LA"...but I think they were lying. The fish was dry and the tacos were only two to a plate and it was an overpriced plate at that.

Still searching for the best fish taco in LA...still searching...

Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, 'That's a man I could love'? It's a hard question to answer.

Damn.