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16 october 2000
---- My metabolism is all fucked up, in a good way, mind you, but fucked up nonetheless. My parents are leaving tomorrow ... I tried to convince them to drive up to see me in Montreal this weekend, but I don't think it's gonna happen. Tomorrow they fly back to New Jersey, and I have no idea when I'll see them next. I wasn't even gonna write tonight. Twas a mundane day at work, naught worth recollecting, my professional existence stagnating due to the inaction of others, "circumstances beyond my control," as I'd explain it away if need be. But it need not be, as both bosses are out of town, and I'm left with only my own conscience to answer to, often a worse critic than anything external, yet strangely honest and foreboding in its own right. Mom and dad came up to take me out to lunch at Malibu Seafood. I sat and devoured a pound of steamed clams and 8 ounces of chowder on a patio overlooking the Pacific, wondering why the restaurant measures everything they serve in weight. Meanwhile, dad whipped out his PhD (Push here, Dummy) camera to snap shots of me and mom, the former turning bright red at looking like a tourist in his own hometown, clam juice dribbling from the left corner of his fake smiling mouth. I went back to work and acted Corporate. Made plans for Rachel to join us for dinner and putzed around on OSX for a while, waiting for any of three calls to be returned so I could get back to my job. Alas, or otherwise, it wasn't to be. I left the office at 5:30 for home, relaxed on the couch for a while, and headed down to Santa Monica to meet Rachel and the 'rents. Dinner was at Benihana Beverly Hills, and we were joined by my second-or-third cousin Wayne, who just moved out here and simultaneously epitomizes everything I love about my family and everything I hate about the East Coast (or Long Island, to be more specific) in one fell swoop. Maybe he's just a bit young. When in doubt, blame it on youth... Back in Santa Monica, I said goodbye to my parents and took off with Rachel. I decided I wasn't quite ready to go home yet ... Rachel agreed to hang out for a while, which was cool. We headed to Encounter at LAX, a place where I spent a lot of time when I got kicked to the curb a couple of years back. Recently, I've been going about once a month, just for the ambiance, a "Star Trek" themed extravaganza perched atop the "Theme Building" at the center of our megalopolis's international airport. See photo below.
Rachel had a margarita, me a dry-as-dry-can-be martini. We chatted and laughed and watched the Continental red-eye take off for New Jersey. Steve the valet dude delivered me my keys, and we snuck up to the roof, above the restaurant, a pseudo-observation deck where I literally spent my very first night ever in Los Angeles (we're talking 1989 here, long before I moved out), but that's a story for another time. 16 october 1999: : on hiatus til december 16 october 1998: : on hiatus til november 16 october 1997: a senseless limerick : Then Bill Gates stole in through the back and fell prey to a vicious attack We beat on his head He wished he was dead when we forced him to play on my Mac [ swim back | email me | swim ahead ] |
