I Am an Island

Yesterday it turns out was a very important day for me in my journey into manhood. Yesterday was the day that my best friend/roommate/writing partnet Jake left California to go to a wedding in VT. This is not the imporant part. What is important is that now that he is gone, begins the first week in my life that I have spent completely alone. Away from family, or any serious connections I finally will have to come to grips with the kind of person I am when no one is around.

So of course I thought I would record it here on my blog which I believe may be safer to write in than my journal. For sure no one is reading this thing. But yes, for the next week I will be completely alone, everyday, until the 23rd when my girlfriend suz flies in for a for days. I will record everything, or at least everything I can remember. Wouldn't it be cool if I went nuts?



DAY 1

The day Jake leaves. My alarm on my phone goes off and I'm awake. Jake is still sleeping but the floor and a sleeping bag make it hard to roll over and fall back to sleep. So I get up. It's only a few minutes of reading "Pygmy" and smoking my morning cigarette when Jake is up. We're both in our pajamas and no shirt and our morning ritual of smoking a bowl happens with little to no words exchanged. Jake showers and packs and I call off work, deciding that today I'd rather relax than work for free. The funny thing is that LAX is literally down the street from my job. So dropping off Jake and going to work is no hassle whatsoever. But those pricks made me work till 8 on tuesday, so fuck em. The drive to LAX is slow, morning traffic is a practical joke. Top speed I reach while going on the 10W is 20 mph. To look at the highway from the sky you'd think LA was being evacuated or that everyone was headed for the beach. The traffic is actually a good thing for a few reasons. I'm still pretty stoned and driving so going slow is always a good thing and it gives me a chance to look into peoples windows. On this drive I see 4 different ladies applying make up to their face with the rapid speed of a EMT bandaging a laceration. We listen to the radio because my ipod player is broken and we listen to the news because there's no guarentee that my internet will work when I get home. Jake and I talk alittle while we approach the airport. And when we finally do our goodbye is brief. A good hug, some "be safes and give my love to the family" and then he's gone and I drive home. In the course of this drive I smoke 3 cigarettes, a first for me. Must be nervous.

When I get home I immediately realize that this will be the state of my apartment for the next few days. And I smoke my last cigarette.

The floor is littered with food from the night before and trash from whenever. DVD's are in a odd semi circle around the TV as if they were worshipping the screen. I DO NOT clean up this mess. Instead I sit down and decide maybe I should get some writing done. Then my phone rings.

Kevin, a red haired, rehabilitated drug addict and alchohaulic who is surely to be the next Hunter S. Thompson, wants to know if I want to go to a Farmers Market with him.

"Yeah dude, I'll go"

"YEAHHHHH!!!"

"Wow, got really excited there"

"Yeah, sorry about that"

I shower and shave. Shave off all my facial hair, realize i've been rocking the goatee for a long time now. When all the hair is gone off my face I don't initially reckognize myself.

"Holy shit...I'm grown." Boy I'll say, I look like a skinnier, happier version of my dad. Shiver.

Kevin is waiting for me in his friends Green Mustang and we head to the famers market. Which isn't a Farmers Market at all, but a Mall called the farmers Market.

It should also be noted that on this ride Kevin and I come up with a skit for a black pimp who dresses in Regal Clothing including a white wig and fencing sword and calls himself "Fancy".



What Kevin has actually done is ask me to accompany him to this mall to get his ipod fixed. Kevin is one of those guys who wants you to come with him getting errands done cause he doesn't want to do it alone. I think this is a Chicago thing. However, he never calls me to join him on the one errand I would like to help him on. Walking his dog, who i think is named Baxter.

The Farmers Market is one of the nicest outdoor malls i've ever been too. And is filled with jailbait. Everywhere I look 16 year olds who look like 18 year olds dressed like 25 year olds walk in herds. Sundresses, Check. Headbands, Check. Purse big enough to fit a small dog into, check. Tan boots, its the fucking chech republic in this bitch. I shake my head but my eyes, well, you can't train your eyes.

At ipod "genius bar", which was going to get me started on a rant but i got distracted by this breathtakingly beautiful black girl at the end of the bar. Instead I quip with Kevin while they tell him his ipod shows signs of water damage thus no warrenty. Here's the inside scoop. Apple and almost every other digitial device company in the world has put tiny watermark indicators in their toys to show if they have gotten wet. If they have then the indicator changes colors and the company makes you pay for a new one. The reason they do this is because they know that eventually. Somehow, somewhere, that shit is going to get wet. They count on it. They are designed to go with you everywhere, water is pretty much everywhere. Eventually the two are going to meet. And even if it's just that your little ipod got caught in the rain, or you dropped it in the snow. That's it. Water indicator changed and your out 99 bucks.

When i finish this rant at the "genius bar" I await to the told that I'm wrong, but the employees are too busy talking about Transformers 2 and how bad it sucked. I look over the employees for real this time, not just checking for the matching apple t-shirts.

Dark hair, check. Skinny jeans, check. Piercings, check. Film/popculture dedicated tattoos...checkmate motherfucker.

This is when I immediately realize everyone working in this store, wants to be making movies. And then I realize everyone in this mall probably wants to be making movies. Everyone in this area, this block, this town. Everyone in everystore and resturant prolly has some script they think is great or some short that is going to blow the worlds mind. I am one of them. This comes and goes so quickly I barely have time to scratch the surface of it. Then poof, it's gone.

But in that time Kevin has his new ipod and we're off to eat.

This mall has a hidden cafeteria filled with all kinds of mom and pop owned small shops. No McDonalds, no Wendy's or any other kind of fast food establishment. Not even a Sabarro. But there was a Barbershop Quartet who would sing to your girlfriend if you paid them. They weren't very good but no matter where we were in the food court I could always see them. Was probably the pinstrips.
After a porksandwich we went to best buy where i purchased Raising Arizona and School Daze. Both of them the second film of the Coen Brothers and Spike Lee respectively.
By the time I get home I've smoked 4 cigs. Hmmmm.
I smoke the rest of the resin in the bowl and pop in Raising Arizona. While I watch the movie I talk with my friend Sean who again tries to talk me into breaking up with my girlfriend. Again I tell him I'd rather not.
Raising Arizona=Awesome.
When the movie is over I need to go somewhere but I'm too broke to do anything. So i make the very grown up decision ( at least in my mind) to go and buy food at Ralphs to last me the week. I also steal many power and candy bars. On the way to the car i think about that time almost a year ago i told pH i was stealing from Jewel. People looked at me all wierd. Now stealing is just a part of my life. Keeps the belly and the wallet full. And in these economic times I'll do whatever I can to keep my head above water.
When I get home I get a call from suz saying she's on the field watching Billy Joel and Elton John. She's close enough so that when she takes a video of it on her cell, I can see their faces. It turns out that Billy Joel and ELton John are two of my favorite artists. Turns out Suz is my girlfriend. Lonliness sets in bad. I make some pasta and pop in School Daze.
School Daze= What the fuck?! A Spike Lee Musical? Unforgettable

Tonight I sleep on a mattress for my first time ever in LA. All in all its only okay.
but I know in the morning I will be missing all of the following.
Cigs, Check. Pot, Check. Money,Check. Plans, Check. Jake....well you know.