i’m back, and already it feels like i never left. to get home from the airport on tuesday, i took the 90 to the 405 to the 10 to the 110 to the 101. hello, freeways. i didn’t miss you at all. the weekend was near perfect: a lot of sitting and talking and drinking […]

similar to the lady in zebra stripes, we have the lady in red plaid. a dress neck to toe draping her, like christmas table cloth, and a satchel to match. she also had crazy shoes that were about four inches tall. –some street in seattle, wa.

i woke up wishing today was thursday, but it’s not. thursday, i’m getting the hell out of here. i’m hopping a plane and never coming home, or that’s what i tell them and they just laugh nervously. really, i’m just going on a trip, a mini-vacation, up the coast to see some of my favorite […]

almost-missed trains and fires under bridges and getting stranded in an unknown place and a demagnetized atm card strip and a cab ride with five strangers and late night “hi, can you come get me?” calls and almost running out of quarters and sitting on the warm pavement, waiting and waiting and waiting. that was […]

at the stoplight, the man beside us was driving a huge white ford pick-up circa sometime before the 70s, i think. i didn’t see his face, just his hand reaching toward the car window and pushing the glass panel down himself. he needed fresh air. –the part of the street when rowena becomes glendale

walking out of the bar l. spotted heather graham, and she looks as much like my kimberly doll as i expected she would. i didn’t see what she was wearing. –bigfoot lodge, los feliz

i am going through my usual bout of why am i here? and i am not talking about LA, because i feel like i have finally found a slice of sprawl that i can call home. (good food and drinks and art and people, and i can walk down a street without feeling like a […]

a girl with a ski slope nose and straight blonde hair was all zebra print: her skirt, her purse and a pillow that sat on her lap. she was on a cellphone, chatting in an east coast accent, making tiny bubbles with lime green gum. –LAX, terminal T2, gate 37a

“ten percent of child molesters look like you, not me,” said the 6-foot-tall man with blond and pink hair, big white fly glasses, a white tuxedo jacket and white patent leather thigh high boots, to his short, round friend. –panda express, marina del rey

so, it’s sometime after 1am and we’re outside smoking and drinking. well, the boys are; i’m just stealing sips here and there. the door is cracked open two inches, not a lot, but it’s enough and you can hear the bossanova seeping out to the patio. the percussion is live from my living room, tamborines […]

i first heard her tiny voice, then turned to see who was speaking. a little girl and her mom, looking at pochako pencils & erasers. “i used to have one of those,” said the girl, who wasn’t more than 5. “when?” asked her mom. “a long time ago,” she replied, “when i was 3.” –sanrio […]

i feel like they’re crawling all over me. down my forehead, up the back of my neck, across my ankle. the ants have come to get me. this is the third time since i’ve moved in that i’ve had to defend myself from them. operation ant massacre: first you spray, then you let it dry, […]

“can you please give my mom a message?” “your mom went to get a massage.” “oh, that’s nice. can you please just give her a message for me, then?” “she’ll be back after 9:30.” “ok, just tell her i transferred the money.” “what? what about your daddy?” “no, the money. the pera.” “what? i can’t […]

to recap: there was dutch apple pie a la mode and planes flying overhead and big wide movie screens and nice walks down the street and hundreds of thousands of dusty old books and hundreds of thousands of new ones and laughter and chatter and silence, the comfortable kind. there was also sleep. a lot […]

a little boy standing on the edge of a brick wall in his front yard. he knelt down to look at something — bugs, perhaps? black hair & slanted eyes & fair skin. he was wearing a white t-shirt and baggy denim shorts. he couldn’t have been more than 7. i imagined myself as a […]

it’s kind of hard to explain, but i saw part of my life flash before my eyes tonight. it wasn’t a near-death experience. it was more like an epiphany and de ja vu and caution all rolled into one. it’s kind of hard to explain. i ate dinner with liomir at my new favorite french […]

i am watching you. the way you move, the clothes you wear, the things you do. i try not to stare, but i can’t help it. sometimes you are so fascinating i can’t keep my eyes off you. i look long and blink hard and then i repeat it in my head all the details […]

when seth & stella were up front at the show and e. was out smoking, a filipino boy approached me. he had moppy hair and a mole above his lip. “you look like you could use some ‘filipino company.’” i didn’t offer him a seat. he went on to say that he overheard my conversation […]

no specifics, but that guy who has the job at the end of the windy line to tell you when it’s your turn to go next, he was wearing glaringly white nikes. my eyes hurt. –fry’s electronics