~ after all the boosting that i did for weho in the directionless ‘network city’ seminar in which i was enrolled at sci-arc [w], the bastards went ahead and struck at me while i was trying to find an orwell text at one of the bookstores. i had watched the time carefully, so that i would not run out on the meter; it began to dwindle while i was in line, so i told my fried to run out and put more money in it. i left the store about 30 seconds later, and when i got to the car, she was holding a ticket in her hand. i looked at my watch and saw that i still had time left.
   ‘this is bullshit!’ i shouted. ‘i still have time.’
   ‘it’s not for that.’ she hands me the ticket. it claims that i do not have my wheels properly turned to the curb.
   ‘how in the hell am i supposed to know this?’ i demand.
   i look up at the street signs and see a diagram which answers my question….
   i remember bitterly that west hollywood [w] makes up 20% of its income from parking violations.

~ star sighting: weeks ago, i was driving through koreantown with an out-of-town-guest, trying to turn left onto pico, and waiting for the traffic to clear. a pink corvette comes across the street, forcing me to wait longer; before it passes, i get a look at the bumper, upon which is emblazoned the name ‘angelyne’.
   me: look! look! it’s angelyne!
   guest: what?
   me: and she’s in the freaking corvette!
   guest: (repeatedly) who is angelyne?
   me: actually, i don’t really know…she’s on billboards everywhere, so she’s famous, but she’s only famous for being on billboards…
   finally, was able to steal from one of my students, a picture.

~ mailbox: two very thick copies of ‘driver side airbag’ [w], the eclectic compilation zine by los angeleno m. halchin.

~ sometimes, i just don’t know about this city. i woke up far from home this morning; my press was nowhere near me, so i had to go out for the day’s first coffee. i am already shocked that a decent cup can’t be found anywhere on the westside after midnight, but i don’t think that it is too irrational to expect a cafe in a place such as los angeles to be open at 10.30am on a sunday morning. p*tt*rson’s was closed. *rth was closed. d*rkwater was gone. i had to go to t*nner’s… freaking t*nner’s!..

~ at about three o’clock this morning, we was passing the newest furniture store on robertson when we saw a man pulling the door open with one hand and point a gun into the store with the other. we pulled into the alley behind a car wash and returned to see was was happening. by the time we arrived, no one was to be seen.

~ today has to be the most beautiful day in our los angeles history. cruising down pico, we was content to feel the air, unable to find the usual urge to run from the city as soon as possible. at a store in los feliz, the cashier commented on the sun, saying that days like today are why we live in this city. we agreed with her, until the hour’s worth of traffic from hollywood to the 10 reminded me of why we hate this city.

~ today, i shared a tour of a rainy west hollywood with the class…

~ i have been in a sleepless haze since the last update, and the days were equally full of rainy skies. everything runs together, but i remember that each day i spent too much time in the car.

~ thursday, i had to drive from the marina to santa monica to downtown to the marina to downtown to chevoit hills to the marina to chevoit hills.

~ friday, i had to drive from the westside to the valley to the marina. the route from the valley used to take me by fast times at ridgemont high‘s galleria, but now it’s gone.

~ saturday, with friday night spent on a studio couch, after wasting three wee morning hours burning cds/crashing macs, i had to drive from the marina to chevoit hills to manhattan beach via lax and sepulveda to the marina to chevoit hills.

~ sunday, i had to drive from the west side, then all over west hollywood, then to the marina via beverly hills.

~ where is los angeles?

~ when i lived in stone mountain, some of my neighbors were pentecostals. they approached me before one easter and promised that, if i were to follow them to church, i could get a free ‘chocolate rabbit’. when i got there, i had to watch a film about the apocolypse, in which everyone who wasn’t a pentecostal, including 5-year-old children, was destroyed by ‘the beast’. for some reason today, i can’t stop thinking about it, and i’m still not a pentecostal. and the truth is they got the ‘chocolate rabbits’ for tricking me into attending church.

~ i had to drive to downtown los angeles for site maps and photos. i arrive at 14h55 only to find that the freaking bureau of engineering closes at 15h00. my trip was wasted; and there was nothing to say in the face of the assurance that i would have to make the same trip again tomorrow. who the hell is only open from 10h00-15h00?

~ please.

~ the freaking network at the angry red office has been down for the weekend, disabling all ability to update this essential log.

~ i wonder if it would be too antagonistic to hang a sign on my door which demands that no one ask me the question, ‘what are you going to have for tomorrow?’ perhaps i could post a ready-made answer: ‘maybe, instead of weighing and judging the amount of work that others have done, so that you can determine how little you could do to get by, you could attempt to develop something on your own and achieve some progress for your own good and its own merit.’

~ there has been a skywriter above los angeles for the past few days.

~ my sixth-in-sixteen-months roommate moved in about four o’clock this morning. i am pretty sure that it is a temporary arrangement; she wants to live someplace else, and i have other plans for the house in april.

~ in studio, michael rotondi is telling people to describe what space means where they are from. he points around the room and calls off various people’s homes: ‘singapore…puerto rico…south america’. he stares at me for a minute, and asks: ‘where are you from?’ i answer: ‘georgia’ everyone laughs, until i ask: ‘what’s so funny, do y’all see anyone else here from georgia?’

~ it doesn’t matter now, for, as i was telling my new roommate – she happens to be from munich and was lamenting her position of having to talk to ‘losers’ because they are the only germans she knows – we are all from los angeles now.