The current listening list to go along with activities that cannot be described
here are:
The Donnas
"Guess that we'll use Theraflu.
It says drink one but we chug four
Hey what happened to the floor?"
An old Ramones CD via amazon.com:
"I like taking Tuinol
It keeps me edgy and mean.
I'm a teenage schizoid
I'm a teenage dope fiend."
And, just to show my true age, the Beatles "1". Twenty seven number one songs that I grew up with and lived: Teenage pop, to holding hands for the first time, Sgt Pepper changing the world, heroin addiction, and the healing "Let It Be". Listening to the music, I almost feel 14 years old again when I held a boy's hand for the first time (or 16 years old when I held a girl's hand for the first time).
The reading list, as chaotic as my life is (with activities that cannot be written about here), is another purchase via amazon.com. (Because no local bookstore, regardless of the size, had it.) It is called "Sarah" by J. T. Leroy and has the following jacket description: "The narrator, an androgynous 12 year old boy, idolizes his mother Sarah, a 'lot lizard', or truck stop whore. Adopting her name, and pretending to be a girl, 'Sarah' stumbles into dangerous and fantastic worlds pocketed away in the West Virginia wilds." ... "Heartwarming as it is bizarre, and stunningly original, Sarah heralds the debut of an inimitable new talent."
After a few hectic, yet stable weeks, things start to get strange again. The past hectic weeks include meetings with the former roommate, Ruby, about her...our...startup, an Environmental Impact Report for the Long Beach City Council (and planning commision), community meetings at the north Long Beach police substation, and trying to establish a relationship with a PhD student in biomechanics/kinesiology at USC. (We spend hours together talking about motor control, kinematics of the human body, EMG measurements, and muscle alignment and forces. Is this weird or what?)
I get out to a Kings' ice hockey game in the pouring rain. For the third game in a row that I've attended at the Staples Center a pane of glass is broken during the game and play has to stop as it is replaced. I end up seeing less of the game than I wanted as I take call after call during the game on pressing issues. After the game it is pouring harder! It is pouring so hard that we consider hailing a taxi to drive us 200 meters to the train station! But we run to the station and get soaked. I suggest that we stay overnight at the Hotel Olvida (or Oliva or something like) that I once stopped into and found out costs $350 per month. My friends nix the idea instantly.
I arrive home from a Saturday afternoon bicycle ride and two neighbor ladies are running out of their houses. "That guy behind us has a huge fire in his backyard. The flames are like 30 feet high!"
Because they are a bit nervous, I get permission to go in the backyard and look over the fence. They follow me into the backyard, but they hide behind the garage because they don't want to become known as "troublemaker" or "nosey" neighbors. I am stunned by what I see and my neighbors start laughing hard, very hard, at the expression of disbelief on my face as I return to tell them what I saw. There's a guy, a typical backwater southern- type guy, with a pool in his backyard. But the pool is empty. And he's piled a mess of stuff in the pool and has lit it on fire. And is controlling the fire with a garden hose. And, of course, there are two junk cars in his backyard. I tell the neighbors to call the police and/or the fire department to report him because burning is not allowed in the city.
The biomechanics/kinesiologist is busy on Saturday night, so after running, going for a bicycle ride, helping the neighbor ladies with the pool fire incident, lifting weights, walking the dog, cleaning up the motorcycle, and doing some errands I decide that the best thing to do is to go out to Club Asia! I dress all in black and accessorize with an anarchy-symbol necklace, glow-in-the-dark hair clips (that don't actually glow in the dark even though that is how they were advertised), and a dangling earring. (The earring attaches to the ear via a skull and attached to the skull via a 3 inch chain is a piece sign. The peace sign almost touches my shoulder when hanging straight down.) It is a standard night - fairly crowded with the usual music. I'm tired, but I'm enjoying myself. My acquaintances do not show up, but I'm still enjoying myself. And in walks the cutest ChiChi on the planet. And I almost faint. I steady myself on the stool that I am sitting on. And try to get some blood to my brain and decide what to do. It is only about 1am. After 15 minutes of thought and staring, I take some deep breaths, down the remainder of the 7-Up, get off the stool and steady myself with a nearby table, and leave. I do not need complications in my life right now.