leftovers

For a Sunday it was a pretty full day. We woke up and I had to get around pretty quickly to be up to Ben's for Invisible Material rehearsal. On the way, I stopped at 7-11 to get some beers, and got a 12 pack of "Game Day Light," which became somewhat of a punchline. We ripped through our set for Las Vegas a couple times and it was sounding pretty good. We still could tighten up the endings of some of the songs but overall it seemed that we're pretty much ready. Ben picked out the set list and he did a great job. After we rehearsed, Brandon and Robin left but I stayed for awhile to hang out because I was going to meet Robin and Michelle at the TV Academy to watch the new Ridley Scott Robin Hood movie starring Russell Crowe. Dylan didn't really want to see it, so he rode his bike all the way over to Brandon and Angie's, so I was going to meet them after the movie. As I was driving from Ben's to the Academy, it occurred to me that I was driving across t...

I had bad news waiting for me in my inbox when I woke up this morning. My cousin Andrea is in the hospital with some serious issues in her little intestine. She had problems when we were little and was in the hospital for what seemed like a year, but it has been fine until now. They're hoping that it will work itself out but if it doesn't they might have to operate which is really risky for that type of surgery. I'm really worried about her. Today we had our first meeting since the news that I'm leaving so it was a little awkward. Some board members were making jokes trying to lighten the mood. It went pretty well overall though I thought. Boot camp was at Runyon canyon again today. We didn't have to jump rope but it was still hard. Hello 2010, goodbye junk! NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 139 "O3" by Sunscreem, cassette tape. This was an original tape that I bought when it came out, and became one of the main soundtracks to my sophomore year ...

I couldn't get to sleep last night so I had to take some NyQuil and then it was really hard to wake up in the morning. When I got to work, I called Susan and she said they were trying to put together an emergency meeting so they could discuss my job offer and whether or not they wanted to make a counter offer to get me to stay there. After I got off the phone with her, I thought about it one last time and finally realized that I just wanted to take the new job, and I really didn't want to put the board members through having to meet and debate whether or not I was worth trying to keep, and at what price. So, I called Kerry to accept my new job offer, and then called Susan to let her know that I was resigning and not to have the emergency meeting. My legs were so sore from jumping rope at Runyon yesterday, but I really was just in such a good mood, with so much to look forward to that it didn't matter. I talked to a couple of people who were interested in applying for m...

What a day! I hadn't posted anything about this before, because I wasn't sure I wanted to make it public and I didn't want to jinx it either. But, a week or two ago a friend of mine who used to be my boss had let me know about a job position available at her company that she thought would be a good fit for me. However, the company is in San Francisco. I went ahead and sent my resume and pondered what life would be like if I suddenly packed up and moved to the Bay City. Would Dylan come with me? Would I like living there? Would my friends in LA be terribly upset? So many questions swirled around in my mind. Until this, I hadn't thought about leaving my job, let alone LA. Well, then after I got my resume already and had already gotten used to the idea of making a big change in my career, I heard about another job. This one was much closer - Hollywood, actually, and is very similar to my current job. I ended up interviewing for it this morning, and by this after...

I thought my intern was arriving this morning, so I hurried and got to work a little early despite staying out late at the wedding last night. I didn't hear anything for awhile and then I got an e-mail from the intern saying he was still in Singapore waiting for administrative matters to be resolved. I had the most intense craving for A&W food for lunch, but unfortunately (or actually, probably fortunately) the nearest location is so far away as to be ridiculous. Then, my new conference table was delivered so I ended up setting the table up and then I went to get Panda for lunch. Amy's cat Henry got out over the weekend while she was away, because her roommate left the door open, so she is really worried about finding him. I designed a flyer for her so she could put them around the neighborhood, but luckily he showed up soon after that when some construction workers found him in the back of her building in the dumpster (alive). My table didn't fit in the small roo...

I definitely regretted all the drinks I had last night when I made myself roll out of bed this morning so I could get ready for Invisible Material rehearsal, which was pretty difficult to get through in my condition, but I got better and more alert as it went on. Then I drove across the valley as Susan was getting married in North Hollywood. I stopped at Sears on the way to get a photo album as a wedding gift, and then Dylan texted me that he was having a drink at Bullet and asked me to meet him there, so I did. I hadn't been to the Bullet in ages. It's right on Burbank Blvd., just a few blocks from where I used to live with Dudley on Vineland. Back when I lived there, it was one of several gay bars on the strip that I used to walk to, including Rawhide, which is now Cobra; Jox, which is now a straight bar but was where Shitting Glitter's first two gigs were; Silver Rail; and Moonshadow, a lesbian bar we played at several times which is now closing. I think the last t...

Since I was out at the LANI forum yesterday, we postponed Business Watch to today. I was frazzled trying to get everything ready this morning cause I had quite a few things to do before the meeting, but it all worked out fine. We didn't have a guest speaker but I was hoping that maybe because it was Friday that we would have a good crowd, but only a few people showed up. Kylie Minogue's new song, "All The Lovers" debuted on the internet today and I found a way to burn it from youtube onto a CD so I could listen in the car. I can't wait to buy the album when it comes out! Marc, James, and Brad all rode down to Long Beach with me for Shitting Glitter's show at DiPiazza's. It was pride weekend in Long Beach but unfortunately we didn't really get the pride crowd to come out to the show. But it was nice because AJ's mom, stepdad, and little brother were there and they loved the show. I had a lot of fun and they recorded it too so hopefully I'l...

I got up early this morning so I could make it down to USC for the LANI (Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative) Community Forum. I know about LANI because they manage one of the BIDs in Los Angeles that is part of the BID Consortium and so I met Monica there who works for LANI and she is so nice. I had been invited to the forum before but this was my first time attending. As soon as I got there, I ran into people I knew, including a friend from the City Clerk's Office and one from the Office of Community Beautification. So I sat down with the latter for the free breakfast and the keynote speaker, who was Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries. Now, you all probably know how I normally feel about people with religious titles affixed to their names, but this guy was really inspirational. His company helps former gang members become productive members of society, getting jobs and educations. He had a lot of really wise things to say about how without kinship, there is no communit...

Well, this day will forever live on in my memory as it was today, just short of 10 years after I moved to Los Angeles, that I finally made it into the LA Times, the main local newspaper here! While doing our Homeless Registry last month, a photographer and reporter accompanied my team so I was hoping that I would be included, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. First off, I was just honored that those in charge of the registry chose to have the Times people go out with me team. But the fact that there, in print, was a photo of me - sitting on the sidewalk interviewing a homeless person - I was just dumbfounded and completely honored. I got the e-mail from Kerry Morrison, Director of the Hollywood Property Owner's Alliance (and one of the driving forces behind Hollywood 4RWD, who organized the Registry) with a link to the article. There were a few pictures of me on the online slideshow, but it was my friend Josep who commented on my Facebook Page that I was also in the pri...

Dylan took a half day off work so he could take his mom to a Doctor's appointment, and to get her car out of impound. I can't remember if I mentioned that her car had been stolen while parked in North Hollywood; on Mother's Day, LAPD called her to say they had found it, but that it had been involved in a wreck on the 5 freeway. We were worried that it was totalled, but Dylan said it wasn't as bad as they had said and that she was able to drive it home. I went to Susan's to cut checks today, but she was out with Jeff picking out their wedding cake! They are getting married on Sunday. I'm really happy for her. As I was leaving, Laura called me and said she was stuck downtown. She had gone down for her background check and interview for the security job with Hollywood Media District that I referred her for, but when she came out to put money in the meter, her car was gone. She said it had been stolen, but knowing what I do about parking in downtown LA, I figu...

This morning was Tristan's funeral. It was at a catholic church, St. Pauls, down on Washington and Bronson. I picked up Marc and James to go with me, and we met Ben and his parents who were already there when we arrived. Ben told us he had gotten the wrong information to us, and that the service started at 10:30, not 9:30, so we had an hour to waste. First though, James and I did go into the church because they were having the viewing. I was sort of surprised that it was an open casket as those seem to be rare these days. Marc and Ben are both Jewish, and Marc said they don't really do that so neither one of them wanted to go see him, but I still remember going to my first open casket funeral for my great uncle Ted when I was very young. We all went to Starbucks to hang out for awhile before going back to the church. We sat sort of far back and we were definitely a distinct group and I wonder if the family wondered who we all were. Regrettably, I never really got to kno...

After work today, I finally got all my music stuff set back up. It has been way too long since I've been able to work on recording. Since I finally got my computer back and my data was saved a few weeks ago, I just haven't had the time to hook everything up again until now. I meant to work on this Clown Porn song for Shitting Glitter that we are doing for Ginny's show, What Not To Do , but I ended up messing around on this new song I had done a little demo for called "So Dystopian." Once I got into it, I just ended up going for it, and I did all the instruments and vocals, finishing the entire song pretty much in one night. It's kind of an ambient type of song, with the vocals done as a round. I really like it. Here are the lyrics: So Dystopian It's true - it feels so dystopian with you (I think I'm going to add another line in here but for now I just repeat the first one) Is it any way to spend the day not knowing what to do? Is it any way to p...

I already hate Mondays, but today my internet wasn't working in the office, so I couldn't check my e-mail or do anything. I felt helpless. I went home on my lunch break and took the computer with me so I could check my e-mails and stuff. I wasn't going to go back to work, but I thought maybe the internet would be back up so I went back in. Still no internet, though! For dinner, I made grilled sandwiches with salmon salad and cheese, and a split pea soup, and salad. Dylan told me he'd take me out for dinner tomorrow night. Hello 2010, goodbye junk! NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 121 "Electric Youth" by Debbie Gibson, cassette tape. I'm sure this is the original tape I had back in the day, and as much as I favored Tiffany over Debbie, I did really like this tape when it came out, especially the title track, the video for the title track, and the perfume.

I slept in and then at some point (1:15pm!) I finally got up and said "why did you let me sleep so late?" Dylan said "you better be talking to your alarm clock." I warmed up some leftover from brunch yesterday and then Dylan and I got ready and picked Marc up to go to Amoeba's first "garage sale." We didn't know what to expect but our friend Adrienne who works there did text us to let us know it would indeed be in the garage, after having told us the other night at El Coyote that she didn't think it was. Dylan had some records in a crate that he wanted to trade in so I helped him carry them in but then I went right down to the sale. I ran into Adrienne and her boyfriend Quinn while I was entering the garage. There were so many people down there and there were boxes everywhere, many of them on the floor, and the lighting wasn't the greatest so it was kind of difficult to really go through everything. I went through quite a few boxes of 4...

Mayday! It's the holiday where we used to go put flowers on people's doors, and then run away after knocking. I think that's a midwestern thing 'cause no one out here has heard of it before. I made brunch for me, Dylan, Marc, and Viktor. I made beanie weenies with veggie hot dogs and a BBQ I made from scratch, and Soyrizo and Egg burritos. They were all yummy! It was so cute because Viktor brought Princessa, his tiny little chihuahua over. Shitting Glitter had a gig at Whittier College for Psychedelic Circus, put on by the Poets Society or something like that. It was an outdoor afternoon show on the upper quad. Marc rode with me, and we picked up Robert on the way. I totally missed the exit for the 60 East and ended up taking the 710 all the way to Long Beach! I was already running late, but that set me back even more, and then when I got to Whittier my directions were really bad and I ended up going in the wrong direction again. I called Laura and luckily he...

Today was our Community Brief-Back for the Homeless Registry. It was at the Brain Lobby of the Los Angeles Film School, on Sunset Blvd. near Amoeba Records, so I just walked up from my office, and talked to Dylan on the phone while I walked. There were a lot of people there, including many of us volunteers who had done the registry. After briefly explaining what the registry was, and what we hope to accomplish, they played a movie of clips from interviews with the volunteers. Then, they showed a slideshow of the most vulnerable homeless individuals and they asked for $1,000 donations towards move-in costs for each person, and for housing subsides from the various agencies and organizations in the room. I had the two $1,000 checks I got from my stakeholders (Circus Disco and Hollywood Vaults) so I stood up when they showed a photo of Viper, who is a good acquaintance of mine. It was really awesome because in the end we raised money and found housing for the 61 most vulnerable home...

Today was my first "normal" day at work now that the homeless count is over. It was pretty non-eventful and I was able to get caught up on a few things. After work, we went out to eat at El Coyote. It was some thing where all these restaurants donate 20% of the income towards a charity (Eating Out for Life), but I don't remember exactly what it was for as Dylan had all the information. Anyway, Brandon and Angie came and picked us up and then Adro met us there later. We had margaritas with our dinner that were very good. When we got home, I wanted to watch my shows (Thursday night!) but Dylan wanted to listen to records. I asked if he could go listen to records in the bedroom and this began something of some tension which lead to some comments which eventually escalated into a fight, and the rest of the night was not good. That's all I care to say about it. In other news, Brandon took the Saturn in to a junk yard to have her retired. She was a pretty good car. ...

After Karaoke for Tristan last night, I came home and watched TV since I only had a couple hours until I had to get up for our last day of the Homeless Registry. This was the roughest morning out of them all, not just because I had gone out last night and didn't get any sleep. First, it was sprinkling/on the verge of raining so it was moist out and probably meant that the folks on the street took longer to get situated and sleeping than usual, so they were really grumpy when we tried to wake them up. Secondly, we had gone back to all the people who had previously told us they didn't want to do it when we first met them, but that they might do it later. Apparently, they were most likely just saying that to get us to leave them alone, and didn't actually expect that we would be coming back and waking them up again. In all, we only got three surveys done this morning. A lady that I had talked to on Monday named Stanley had said the other day that she didn't want to do...

This morning I got up at 3am and then my team and I headed out to do our second day of homeless surveys. This time, I wanted to get down to the southern half of our area, which included a lot of the Media District BID area. The first people we came across were in a parking lot on Vine Street, and out of the three of them, only two wanted to participate. The third, a lady, was very upset with us for waking her up and she even told the other two people not to talk to us, and that the questions on the survey were "none of our business." Then we proceeded to Santa Monica Blvd. and throughout the entire BID area, we actually only found one homeless person and it was a guy I've known for a long time, named Lewis. I've had many run-in's with Lewis through my job, as at one point I was asked to circulate a petition to ask Lewis to 'stay away' from the businesses in the BID as he was known for harassing people. However, I had talked to him a couple times when...

So, I didn't sleep last night. I got back from Erotic City around 1:30am and just had a couple hours to kill before having to head in to Hollywood City Hall for our first morning of the Homeless Registry. The area my team and I are covering extends from Romaine Street up to Sunset Blvd., and from Seward Street over to Vine Street, so it includes a chunk of the Media District - they were nice enough to assign me that area as I requested. This morning, we started by going up to Sunset Blvd. and we found the highest concentration of people sleeping on Cahuenga Blvd. just south of Amoeba Records, and near the Staples parking lot on Wilcox. I only ended up doing one interview, a guy named Chad, who had been homeless for a couple years. My team members all did at least a couple of surveys each so we were pretty happy. Several people told us they didn't want to take the survey today but that maybe they would do it if we came back tomorrow. We had a reported and photographer from ...