The Day I Saw Kelly's New Home

Thankfully, Jenny will be back from Montana on Tuesday.

Yesterday Lance celebrated a new investment toward his company, the details of which he said could not leave the room, and he bought us all dinner and wine at 58 Degrees. Us being his brother, some of his friends from the barbecue Jenny and I went to, Nick and Jeremiah and Drew. I ate tiny morsels of the best steak I've had in a long time. Popcorn. Poached peaches. Lots of wine. A really nice thing for Lance to do and something I'll remember forever.

So long as this blog remains online.

Jeremiah was hired by Old Soul. Training starts Monday.

It's gotten harder to talk to Jenny on the phone in anticipation of her soon being back in my arms. I've never been much of a phone person, anyhow. I think I'll prefer Skyping when she's in Korea. Probably cheaper, too. But it's always good to hear her voice and her laugh. She told me about her bad sunburn and the barbecue at a beautiful house and shooting guns and emotional breakthroughs she was having, as well as the discovery of her new job in Korea which will be much better than the original. 

Kelly invited me over to see her new place after work. She unpacked and rearranged furniture while I edited my book in the kitchen and ate grapes while we listened to the Pandora station spawned from the song "Changing" by Airborne Toxic Event. Her house has three chickens. One of them was sitting on a fresh egg when we arrived. The foliage had grown over the roof of the house and it sometimes felt like visiting The Shire. Kelly technically lives in what qualifies as the "pool house," were the pool not covered by a wooden dance-floor. Can't say I'm not jealous of all the fruit-bearing trees and the fireplace and the secret-garden feeling. Because I am. We spent some time outside, stoned, dwelling on atoms and the philosophy of communism. We involved a small praying mantis in an impromptu photo-shoot. By the time Kelly drops me off at home, I'm within 20 pages of an official first draft. 

She had these boxes around her new place that I found fascinating. I could see faces in the boxes and took a few photos of the ones that really stood out. 

The Dog Pile

The Chief

The State Worker

The Sushi Chef

The Choir Girl

The Conjoined Twins

So I finished the evening with dinner at Hot Italian with Daniel where I ordered some crazy seafood pizza and we split the bill and left a 10 dollar tip and talked about the break-up from Annie, the state of Old Soul, the look of Lucky's new place and open apartments around the area. I had no idea that Hot Italian had a back patio. Back home, before Daniel bikes away, he reminds me that Shaun's show is tomorrow night. I've got to film some of it for Jenny to see.

August. You motherfucker. 

How'd you get here so fast?

The Third Act of Summer begins.

- Left to Fry

The Day I Won A Chess Game

8:30 AM, today, awake. Not sure why. The room's still a mess. Kelly's hand-me-down bookshelf looms like a giant standing in my room. Gotta clean up. Piss. Brush my teeth. Floss. Rinse my mouth with Peridex. It's Thursday which means it's Saturday which is comparable to waking up on Christmas morning, these days. It's already getting warm outside. Shirtless with my belt unbuckled and the ends dangling down my cargo shorts, I go about cleaning up my room. Thankfully it's somewhat cleared out from the night Iven stayed and I slept on the floor, which reminds me that I'm still riddled with mosquito bites. Only itches when I think about it. At least I'm not hungover after last night's bonfire. I start bagging up my clothes, clearing the floor of my closet. Should do laundry today at some point. Do I really own this much clothing? 

We take a left turn where we shouldn't have, missing Kelly's house, and I call her to get directions, again. She waves us down. "Beverly Hills" by Weezer plays on the radio. We get the tour, with plums. She's got boxes and junk everywhere waiting for The Big Move, which happens later this week, I think, and will take her six blocks away. I take one of her tall bookshelves. We load it into the back of Iven's truck and head back to my house. It's 8:00 PM, last night.

10:15 AM, today, I send Ariel a text that tells her I'm going into the theater, that I'll save her a seat. She arrives moments later. I've just finished loitering outside of the Food Court with a Starbucks mocha, watching the Downtown Mall wake up like an old man, groggy and reluctant. Ariel, the comic-book hero aficionado, and I get two tickets to Captain America and we watch Chris Evans meet Iron Man's father and save the world from a red-faced Agent Smith. Pretty good movie. Ariel and I part ways as she speeds off on her motorcycle and I take a leisurely bike ride down Capitol, admiring a farmer's market on The Lawn and soaking in the sights of a city I really have fallen in love with. At home, I continue cleaning. It's now 1:00 PM.

The next time I looked at my watch it was 9:30 PM and the bonfire had drawn another full crowd, with the potential for even more guests to arrive as the last of the color drained from the sky. Iven and Kelly and Julie-Ann and Murphy started the evening. Fast Five played car crashes and b-movie acting in the background. We all smelled like bug repellent, drinking Pabst tall cans and watching the fire-pit flames climb the wall of the metal dryer basket. People started showing up. Samir with his 8-year-plan for a Ph.D from UC Davis (he's halfway done); Daniel (with banana bread) and Alan and Rose (their upstairs neighbor); Brendan and Ashley arriving on a tandem bicycle; Kasha, Tessa, Jenn; Drew and Drew; Robert, making his first-ever appearance; Shaun (his second-to-last appearance) with his new long-distance lady, Chelsea, who seems like a good match for my little Old Soul brother; and Brady and Anna, my neighbors from the Pink Place. I switched the movie to Rango. Eventually we started listening to 90's alternative. People were happy. People were talking. I went through a lot of logs and someone brought cookies, which made a great alternative for graham crackers when someone opened the marshmallow bag. We never ran out of beer while running that bonfire until 1:00 AM without breaking a sweat, with the several all-nighters realizing some of them had work early in the morning. 

Iven arrives at my place around 6:15 PM and I click open the gate from my window so he can park behind the fence. This is after a brief after-work afternoon spent writing a chapter in the book and watching Wilfred. We wander over to deVere's and I down two White Russians against Iven's two Tom Collins. Kelly texts me when she gets home and we finish our drinks and leave. 

1:10 PM, my stomach's rumbling after getting home from the movie. I need food and Old Soul's the easiest option, plus maybe I could get some writing done in the air conditioning. I say hey to Meredith and Megan, order a pork loin sandwich with an iced mocha, take a seat in the corner and open up the netbook. Cody comes in to start his shift. Jade comes in from a game of chess outside with one of the regular greek-salad-ordering chess guys. She's on a chess binge, so she challenges me to a match and I lose with embarrassing ease. I finish my sandwich in shame. We both have equally aimless afternoons ahead of us, so we get a bottle of wine from Gross Out and, with the intention to read and write in the shade of the backyard, we end up just talking for a bottle's-length of time around the dormant fire-fit. Always nice to fill in the details of characters I know mostly through sixty-second interactions across a cash register. Jade's of Ashland origins with a few moves around the West Coast, settled now in Sacramento with a boyfriend and a cat. Also an unsuspecting fan of Norwegian Black Metal. She shares some of her chess strategies with me, and since I haven't played in a long time, I'm not shocked by the defeat, though it provokes me into challenging her to a rematch back at Old Soul. At 4:15 PM, I win. Checkmate.

4:49 PM, I take a break from rearranging my room and call Jenny. She'll be back Tuesday and we're trying to scheme a way for her to stay with me for her last month of United States residency. Out in Montana, she's making cookies and giggling with her brothers, taking walks to the pond with the puppy and going to Music on Main with her mom. She sent me this postcard. 

I miss her. I've been lucky to fill my time with the company of friends. It's really quite amazing to have these days alone and look around to realize I'm anything but. This is something I am beginning to appreciate more and more each day. We say goodbye and at 5:30 PM, I'm finally done arranging my room. Sort of. I've still got a bunch of empty milk crates to do something with. 

Brady and Anna come by after they visit the local dispensary and we get stoned around 6:30 PM while watching The Animatrix. Good people. Good time. After they leave, the night is open for me to hang out with myself, do a little blogging, watch a moth bounce around my ceiling, sit in my window and contemplate the complexity of life, my goals, my wishes, my feelings and my laundry.

- Left to Fry

The Day At Paradise Beach

A nervous wigwam and a teepee with anxiety walk into a psychiatrist's office and they ask the psychiatrist, "What's wrong with us?" and the psychiatrist says, "Well, first of all, you're two tents." 

On my quest to learn the names of all my favorite regulars, I've realized that I've inadvertently been building a skill that will benefit me greatly as a teacher with a class full of students. So I know that Peter is the guy with the mole, and I believe he fancies the americanos. I know that Christine commutes from Oakland. I now know that Erica's name is not Becca (but close!). Tamara's friend with the "A" name is Alison (which would've been my third guess). The pipe-tobacco guy is Michael. Eric and John Michael might invite me to their next game of disc golf. Holly is the woman with the face of an Amy that gets a soy latte every morning. 

Jason's still out of town, so Tim is doing all the interviews this week. Found out Lucky is officially sticking around until next Friday to help smooth the transition (which, smooth as they can make it, probably won't be very smooth at all). New-girl Megan is doing well. She's got a boyfriend who commutes to San Francisco every day for work who she barely sees, despite living together (I think). Cody is Cody. Nick is Nick. Jessica is Jessica, working more evening shifts, now. Tyler's apparently changed his mind about the military because he's got a steady girlfriend. Devon and I are in a constant pretend-fight about something that never happened. The bakers are the bakers and I rarely see Joe or Stephanie anymore unless I visit Old Soul in the evenings. I haven't seen Jack in what feels like months. The evolution of Old Soul has been quite amusing to witness from the inside. It's easy to love and it's easy to stay, even if I know it's not that great for me, I keep coming back each morning for more. 

I was sitting on my front porch watching folks parade down 17th street, waiting for Iven, when I happened to look up and see Meredith heading home with a pair of grocery bags from Gross Out. We hug and catch up. She tells me about the bee she stepped on in Capitol Park. I ask her about Peru and she's still planning on going. We part ways and I realize Iven's not going to be at my place for another half-hour, so I go back inside and pack up my backpack for the river. 

Drew said Kasha asked him out and he turned her down because he's still with Amber, which was the right thing to do, of course, but you can tell he wishes he hadn't. He's going back to Sac State this semester, too.

Iven still really wants to get an apartment. Two bedroom, preferably, but my only requirement is that I save money on rent (including utilities), so we need to find something cheap. Part of me wants to look closer to Sac State. Part of me would miss Midtown too much. A lot of me will miss my window overlooking 17th and the bonfire pit that has made this such an awesome summer. 

John and Amy arrive and I rush over to Gross Out to buy beer, ice and a cooler. This and our backpacks go into the trunk of John's car, which carries the four of us over to Paradise Beach. Last time I was here (with Jenny, Nick, Ashley and Erin) we found this awesome hand-shaped tree on the shore that we could sit in the palm of. On my second visit, the tree was still there but the river had dried significantly so the tree looked like it sprouted miraculously out of the desert. So instead we headed further downstream to the hillside where others were congregating in the spotty shade and we set up camp at the top of the hill, looking down at the skin-boarders riding the shoreline, the girls flirting with the guys tossing the football, the families letting their kids splash in the shallow water and all the other folks drinking beer and getting high on this perfectly sunny Tuesday afternoon. We hang out for a while and drink and Iven shotguns a whole tall can of Pabst and we comment on the crowd and talk about butterflies, beer pong and honey badgers that don't give a shit and we laugh at the old hip-hop being played from someone's stereo ('cause the boys in the hood are always hard, come talkin' that trash and we'll pull your card). Eventually we have to go into the water, so we ford the river and investigate the opposite shore, walking over submerged vegetation that makes me feel like I'm stomping down a forest. It's crystal-clear water on the other side, colder than Satan's nipples, speckled with so much gold it feels like a crime not to be collecting it somehow. We skip rocks and fight against the current and then float back to our spot and return to the hill to dry. About an hour later, we head out. 

At deVere's afterward with Iven, we get dinner and a little drunker and I spill my guts about Jenny leaving and how I can't quite yet wrap my head around the idea. Barbara and Howard walk by outside and wave and they're with a guy who turns out to be Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal's uncle. Somehow we get back to my house and have an impromptu bonfire in the backyard with roasted marshmallows. I call Jenny back. Then I set up Iven on the bed and I crash on the floor of my room as we watch Planet Earth and get attacked by mosquitoes all night because he leaves the window open. 

I'm one month away from my one year anniversary of moving to Midtown. 

Crazy to know that I'll be here for another 12 months, barring any spontaneous urge to flee. Crazy to see myself creating a family, watching it grow and change, knowing how quickly things have gotten to this point and how much potential there is for more. Crazy, this thing called life! 

- Left to Fry

The Day The Drilling Started

Today was a day when I loved my job. Sometimes that can happen. 

Then I went to the dentist. 

Good news: they bumped my appointment up an hour. Bad news: I end up waiting in the reclining chair for an hour anyway. Good news: I have a nice chat with the assistant. Bad news: I think the numb part of my mouth is regaining sensation. Good news: it's not. Bad news: the sound of metal digging into bone, the surprise of feeling the drill stick against a particularly tough part of enamel. Good news: it doesn't hurt. Bad news: this doesn't mean it's not uncomfortable, that I don't feel the need to drown myself with saliva lest I swallow and bump Dr. Steele's drill into the side of my mouth, or that I don't clench my jaw and hold my breath and squeeze shut my eyes. Good news: it doesn't take long. Bad news: it honestly feels like Dr. Steele is carving a sculpture out of my molars, and how do I know he's actually filling cavities when it seems like that drill is bouncing all over the place? Good news: I guess those cavities are gone now. Bad news: it costs 10 dollars more than I expected ($240). Good news: two check-marks off the Treatment Plan. Bad news: I've decided to get Tooth 13 pulled (rather than the recommended root canal), probably on a Wednesday so I'll have two days to recover. Good news: I never liked Tooth 13, anyway.

No thanks, Root Canal. If I wanted to pay that much money for that much pain, I would get a tattoo of David Bowie on my penis. In other news, Jenny's dentist appointment in Montana went flawlessly. She's got the good teeth genes I'm jealous of. I've made plans to go to the river with John, Amy and Iven tomorrow afternoon. Going to spend the evening writing and hopefully inch closer to the end. Just a few more pages...

- Left to Fry

The Day My Family Visited

At 24, this is what my handwriting looks like: 

At 24, this is what my family looks like:

At 24, this is what my doodles look like:

At 24, this is what my girlfriend is doing:

At 24, this is what my bedroom looks like:

- Left to Fry

The Day I Discovered Buddha

Alarm. Sleep. Second Alarm. Brush teeth. Gather things. Leave for work. Work with Nick. Slow day. Topics of  the day: Norway massacre, Amy Winehouse and past civilizations. Bacon Jam. Clock out. Say hi to Machu. Bump into Sarge at end of alley, find out about his broken laptop. Go up to my room. Go to bathroom. Hear shouting. See Sarge at the gate yelling for my attention. "Hey Chris--John's at the shop. John. He came to hang out with you, I think! You know John?" Remember John mentioning he was coming to Old Soul today. Leave house. Go back to Old Soul. Hang out with John and Amy. Make possible river plans for Tuesday. Go home. Kelly arrives to hang out. Grab camera. Go on photo walk. Find Buddha. Get coffee at Old Soul. Write. See the laptop that Nick donated to Sarge. Get two pizzas at Hot Italian. Yum. Go to Melissa's house to visit with her puppy. Adorable. Get dropped off at home. Watch half of Fast and Furious. Edit photos. Blog. Write. Watch Wilfred. Write. Sleep.

KELLY'S PHOTOS

MY PHOTOS

These were shadows on the road I altered to look like clouds:

- Left to Fry