Monday, November 29, 2010

Sick and the Kids

My body has been more interested in killing off little devil creatures with my mighty white blood cells and less interested in writing or thinking, or even moving these past few days. I'm hoping this solid night's sleep will seal the sick deal and put a stop to my incessant wake-up-with-a-stuffy-nose-and-mildly-sore-throat disposition.

Disposition was probably not the best wordchoice. But like I said, my mind is more concerned with getting less sick.

I told someone tonight that as an uncle there's an obligatory amount of Getsicks one must endure. Statistically, it's about 1 in every 3 times I see the kids. Usually it involves a rambunctious evening of wrestling, some ticklage, a bit of throwing, monster-roaring, doubled-up piggyback riding and overall mayhem ending in tears followed by laughter, finished with a computer-animated princess movie and me sneaking out the front door with Liar's Bench in mind.

Somewhere in the middle of all this there's usually a moment when your face gets slightly more hot than usual, Orion's mouth drools a little above and beyond, Bella's feet rub against your face, Jarom's 8-year-old mass leaps onto your back and you realize you've passed the point of no return: you're doomed for a week of pestilent child-induced cold symptoms.

But as was responded back to me tonight: it's a worthwhile reason to be sick. How true that is!

I mean, I'm not sure you understand how cool these kids are.

Jarom is a king. He's a computer and video game wizkid, incredibly knowledgeable about all-things Zelda, knowing every character and every boss fight for every single Zelda game ever created. Not only that, he had memorized the sky's asterisms at the age of 2. And he's hilarious. I get along with him almost better than my siblings, probably because we're both a bit eclectically obsessed with Zelda and boss fights. All this is funny, because when you meet him, you meet a fairly hip, punk little teenager waiting to rule his own kingdom along with everybody else's. Such a rad kid.

Bella is the Princess heroine. She saves the day while looking adorable, she's the beefiest tommygirl and the prettiest lady, she doesn't let anybody get away with anything, but she's infinitely polite. Who needs a girlfriend when you've got Bella, the Princess Queen. Ultimate in candy-loving, loudest laugh in the room, saddest cry you'll ever hear. She is probably the most charismatic girl I've ever known. And she clings to my foot like a boot.

Orion is an anomaly. He had Brad Pitt's body at 3, looks you directly in the eyes, then hugs you intensely and tells you he loves you. He laughs if you physically chuck him through the air. He doesn't need anybody's attention because he's so in his own world, preoccupied with everything little incredible thing there is. If you ever hear him crying (which can be occasionally shriekish) just bust out the secret weapon: shriek and cry louder and more obnoxious than he. I guarantee you, he will stop crying, stop being upset, look at you crying louder and more upsettedly, and start laughing at you. Works every time. If only adults worked the same way.

You can see why a mucousy cough at midnight is small price for such uncanny company.

Uncanny, maybe not the right word. Whatever brain.

That's it about the kids. I love em, to pieces.
This sickness, just a little piece of home.

Mikie

Sunday, November 28, 2010

other People

You can pick your friends

and you can pick your nose

but you can't pick your friend's nose
____________________

Friends, strangers, romance, fights, reality checks, loneliness, family, love

so much is about love (the romantic version)

And we create it all, on our own, from our own devices, like we're building a machine and then purposefully adding new gears and reworking systems to make it run smoother, faster, more interestingly. Sometimes the machine breaks down, falls apart, even explodes. It's up to us to put it all back together again, or completely start from scratch..... at the end of the day though, we've made it all ourselves. None of it has to exist, we don't have to talk to that girl we think is cute, make that phone call, rush to be early, pick flowers, kiss on lips, be excited, be in love, piss people off, piss ourselves off, etc

None of this has to exist. We create it all! Boy or girl, man or boy, woman or man, we pour the pot, consider the risks and dive in. Maybe that's happiness, the messy swimming around of it all, and the energy we spend trying to sort through it, forever.

Overuse of speaking in threes? Probably.

(Sorry, this has nothing to do with Moving + Money Making)

So here's to our own devices.
and to the half-selfish half-selfless adventure of loving other people.

Mikie

Money & Movin'

I'm sitting on a bed back in Monrovia, Ca, after a whirlwind week. Right now the window is open and I'm wearing only shorts. 24 hours ago I was bundled under 6 blankets in sweats and my toes curled listening to the freezing rain pelt the window.

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, I need to buckle down and do two things:

1- Make money
2 - Find a house

The money thing struck me tonight when I felt the sting of having a bit less $$ (moolah) than I'd anticipated. You know that sharp reality that pinches the back of your neck when you half-committedly glance at your bank account after a week of being on the road, then cringe, then do a double take and say "Wait, what?" then scroll up and down in disbelief repeating "this can't be right" until you accept that you've done this to yourself, then start frantically thinking about how you can make money in the fastest, mostly-legal ways possible? Yeah. That.

So I said aloud in my car "time to get to WORK"

By the way, last night I had jalapeno beer. It was amazing.

Now onto housing. I am recently excited to move to Los Feliz, especially after a great conversation with Dave Coelho at Cozmic (whilst ordering my jalapeno brewskie) last night. He lives in Los Feliz, it's walking distance to things, close to the W, beautiful and near hikes, and I already know the neighborhoods from being there before. Plus I hear chicks dig dudes who live in Los Feliz, especially ones who live close by. Also a couple weeks ago I visited Michael Tucker who lives there, and his place was superb. And he gets chicks.

It's all about location when it comes to the ladieess.

Just kidding, ladies.

Anyway, Thanksgiving is come and gone and Christmas is a good month off. Now that the running around is temporarily paused, it's time to focus on working and moving. Right? Sound good?

Oh, and swooning. Of the ladieess

not really. Well, not really really.

I'm only writing this down so that I can convince myself I'm gonna do it. I occasionally have trouble believing I'm actually gonna do the things I say I'm gonna do. So got it? I'm moving and money making

Moving + Money Making = DECEMBER.

By the new year, I will be 150% exactly where I want to be in all categories. Rich and in my niche covered in chicks.

Right? right.

Night.

Mikie

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Cabin, Rain, Home

It's time to switch to winter.

I'm lying in a bed covered by blankets with the rain and wind billowing around my bedroom. Large gusts are pressing branches and trickling droplets against these thin wooden walls..

The past 3 hours were spent in a cabin (preceded by a wild pineneedly slosh of a drive through the winding forest) filled with warmth and wine and laughing, and too much truth. I found myself manually describing (by manually I mean gesturally using all my hands) how swimmers who've fallen from a boat can die in human sieves, foot entrapments and recirculatory holes. And of course I wine-o-ey OD'd on personal girl situations. But the other cabin crew loved it..and shared their similar contributions.
All in all, a successful first day of pre-pro for this thing we're hurling ourselves happily into.

My god my hearts asunder. I am smitten. Intensely, hopelessly twitterpated.

And the branches and rubbing against the backwalls, sometimes thumping in the wind, make me stoked for the next 5 days of adventures in northern California, my penultimately plentiful home surroundings. SNOWBoARDing. Mountains. Weather.

I love snowboarding. Do you know that? Do you know that my only other dream job would be waking at 6am, stepping out my door and freely cutting waves of white against the mountainside. I'm not even picky with it - I'll take any white you lay out, gods. It's sheer delight, snowboarding! I love it so much! the solo speeding pleasure of picking your destiny moment by moment, the sweeping grandeur of white and grey vertical drops, the pure heaven of gliding and carving and tumbling..

Besides that, I drove 7 hours today to see my family and work on a movie. Perfection.

There's one person I want to share this with. Right? There always is. ;)

Different day - goodnight

*Snake

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Pictures and Words

A picture is worth a thousand words - but what's more telling?

A picture is photographic mimicry of light, it's a representation of a moment.
But words. Words are different. Words are creations of the mind, symbols chosen by their writer to describe what is otherwise abstract and within, describing an experience from the inside out. Pictures tell the truths of their subjects. But words tell greater truths of their writers.

So what's more telling? How someone looks, or what they say?

If you are going to stand before a jury, you must first convince them by your image that you're worthy to be a lawyer. But then, then what comes out of your mouth is far superior in importance! You must make them see what you yourself know to be true, you must use words like fireworks, blowing up their imaginations; showing them a reality that can only be realized from within.

And if you've read this far, you have succeeded in creating something much bigger than any picture can tell you. In your mind alone, your imagination has constructed an entire series of images and thoughts that only you possess. I say words, and in your mind the image is fashioned based upon your own thoughts and experiences, and therefore is a creation uniquely yours.

First Agreement: Be Impeccable With Your Word.

And It's ok to say the wrong thing, becase it makes you imagine further, and learn more. It's ok to contradict yourself, because you're expressing truth. And learning comes fastest with honesty.

Looks can be deceiving because a word's worth a thousand looks.

That's all. Good show tonight.
Mikie

Shakespeare Scenes Project

I just came up with a good idea, that I presented to Dan. Him and I are going to make a few Shakespeare scenes together, and have the Calleros/Tucker administration shoot them, gorgeously.

Points of interest:

1 - Few young actors these days are trained to decipher 400-year-old language
2 - There's so much material to work with
3 - Plenty heavy drama or hilarious comedy
4 - NO COPYRIGHTS. It's Shakespeare!
5 - We're all creative, talented, hardworking pros living in the same town
6 - We can have guest star actors!
7 - Alex and Michael make amazing works of visual art
8 - Locations: Beach, Mountain, Forest, City, Country, it's all right here.

Ok ok, I'm suffiiciently excited. This has the potential as an idea (an epiphany!) to become something that really lifts off the ground (I mean, even outside of Shakespeare there's Marlowe, and Jonson, and others ) and most importantly it's so different than the crap that's being written right now. The filmmaking can stay the same, but it's the writing that makes all the difference. Plus, honestly, not a lot of classically-trained actors in this town. Mixing that with high-quality filmmaking makes me terrifically jived.

Now let's see..

So I'm researching here Shakespeare duets to start off with, that Dan and I can make happen. Its impossible to search for Shakespeare online without having to pay $$ to someone! Maybe I need to dance my day away through the big fat folio of Complete Works I have sitting in my storage to produce a few scenes that can be used - at least I could discover the more obscure ones that nobody knows about..

There's thousands of pages of Shakespeare, hundreds of characters. It's a freaking gold mine for actors and creators alike, Prewritten award-winning scripts just waiting to be produced? I think so! Even the worst Shakespeare play tops the cream of today's writing, especially if portrayed properly.

So I need to get to work.

First assignment: find Dan and I's first scene. Which should it be?

Mikie

Friday, November 19, 2010

Epiphanies about Love

Since I'm saturating my blog lately, I might as well keep it up.

Do you believe in epiphanies?

What really is happening in an epiphany? (AKA - going from one moment having no sense of a thought to the next the universe making total sense triggering in your drunken mind a cascade of realizations, snowballing into a nearly all-new state of consciousness that governs your actions from henceforth onward; one humongous "ah hah!" moment where suddenly all the pieces of your puzzle press together perfectly and your eyes unveiled to some truth you've been struggling to discover all this time) What is it? Is it even real?

Sure, epiphanies are real. Like solving a math problem, and once you "get it" it's got. And sometimes you REALLY get it.

Like, "Ah HAH!!!"

So here's the question: What about Love?
Do the same rules apply when it comes to having an epiphany that you love another person?

Let's say you're running around in your daily circles, thinking about everything from this to that and the other, with people in constant circulation down the rush of the river of your mind, then suddenly for some random reason everything falls quiet.. just long enough for you to look around, see one tiny clue, and realize.. "ah..hah. I love this person"

Is this for real?

Think Alicia Silverstone's "I love Josh!" moment in Clueless.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Can you go about doodlydawdling and dillydallying one moment, then the next realizing you've been in love with someone?

I don't know. I do know that saying the words "I love you" make me cringe when they aren't meant. And I haven't said them to all that many people of the 7 billion on this planet.

I'll leave it open ended. Epiphanies have always been interesting to me, especially of this kind. Makes me feel like there's some ulterior agenda to the universe that we yet have no control over.

At least my own pen be not "dry as the Sahara," nor my heart. :)

Mikie

Autocorrect Awesomeness

This is seriously the most incredible display of how funny people are by nature. Everybody is funny!

Spend some time on this website. The responses are even funnier than the goofups. I can't stop laughing. If I was still in school I'd write a paper on it. So good.
http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com

Mikie

random stuff

Just watched the new Harry Potter film. The locations in that movie are truly spectacular. I think it's time we ship ourselves to the Motherland and see what this british isle is all about, yeah?

Emma Watson was... well, let's just say she furrows her eyebrows a lot but nobody's complaining.

The movie feels very doomsdayish, can't say it's much of a pickmeup or that the script will blow your mind, but it really sets up the ending to the series quite nicely.

There, that's my whole film rant about it.

I was driving back to Monrovia tonight thinking about adventure. I miss lusting for adventures.. I feel like danger is drawing back lately. Comfort is washing over me.. and it's great.. but I miss the heroics, danger, confidence-building repetition of conquering fears and misplacing yourself into the totally unknown; trodding your cold feet through unchartered yous, exploring with purpose. Something feels too easy right now, and I don't like it. I feel too collected, and for no good reason!

I realized today that passion is believing something that nobody else can see except you, but you know it's true. Passion is making that truth real so other people can have access to the same truth. For example: you can be the greatest astronomer, but it's all madness unless you can prove to someone else that you are right and that your conjectures are fact. But you have to have passion to drive you through all the days, months and years of nobody believing what you yourself see as truth.
Passion is very real expression of the human imagination, and it fills up our lives.

That's all my randonmess. Maybe I'll be able to sleep now.

Can I just say one thing that I didn't get to?

I just might love you.

night.
Mikie

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Ahh Liminality, a great place to spend November. This is becoming an annual habit.

quick question

When I publish blogs, I generally look and proofread immediately, edit, publish, re-edit, publish again, re-edit, etc. This normally goes on for about 10 minutes after I've written something. Now, if you're a "follower," does that mean it tells you 10+ times that I've published the same blog? I've always wondered this. It not, hurray. If so, hurrsuck.

Mountains

There's a rim of mountains hugging the edge of town. They're always right there, standing like guardians. If you take the winding road up to the entrance of the Canyon park, you start to feel like you are walking into the feet of giants.

Let's compare mountains.

The difference between these mountains and the grey-topped treeless demons of the High Sierras is the way these shoot upwards in elevation and brim with creatures in total natural disarray. They skyrocket upwards as if there was a rush to grow tall, now adolescent mounds of earth. Like a series of green volcanos in waves.

The High Sierras on the other hand are the ancient royalty of California, powerul in their lengthy rule along the north and south of the eastern border. They command silence, stern and wise, old kings watching, barracading whimsical intruders.

The mountains here are but desert princes. No coxcombs spiked with rock and snow adorn their heads, but the smooth green of youth. And
the chaos in their canyons! The High Sierras' geography has grown sturdy with age, nature's order filling the lakes and rivers, covering the foothills with well-spaced pines, leaving room for meadows, dropping occasional boulders and straining rivers clean and white in paths perfected.

But these desert children have no such order. Bugs and twigs are gypsies, weeds overgrow trees, meadows are smothered, rivers trickle to naked dirt; time was not spent to create these canyonlands, they seem to have appeared as if overnight, begging for fame and fortune but ending up a messy desert playground for squirrels.

Still I see through their infirmities, I see the makings of kings. These irresponsible kidmountains have greatness in their past and many stories ahead, so go I to search for something old and untouched.

Mikie

Movies

I watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince tonight for the first time - it was a viewing party with some old friends that I dearly miss.. one in particular.

Movies are really starting to fascinate me again.. Actually, a lot of things are - particularly stories with sweeping stages and stakes. But the movie, here's a medium we all in the past few generations have worshipped since childhood. And I think it's one of the greatest manmade wonders of the world, the movie is. What happens to us for those 120 (plus or minus) minutes is a lucid, out-of-body experience that is unmatchable in entertainment. Unlike stage, where it's very difficult as an audience member to believe the situation is real, a movie actually transports your consciousness into an alternative universe for that small period of time. We relax into the work and choices of the actors and creators and are free to sit back and just believe everything that is laid out in front of us. It's completely incredible.

Tonight as Dumbledore plummeted to his demise (sorry for the spoiler) somebody in the room was teary-eyed. Look at this business! Talk about art, when was the last time a product made you feel something. Movies, as products, can be fine-crafted works of honest art by talented professionals trying to make a living making their art. It's not just for the money, though it can be. But the really good ones, the ones you remember as a kid or talk about with your friends, those are the movies that make me proud to be giving my all to an industry that literally affects and often changes lives. We're all people, and movies are a universal human conversation. I freaking love it.

I sound like the Insane Clown Posse doing that Miracles song right now.
Look it up on YouTube, I refuse to link it :)

maybe I'm just happy to feel something again

Love. More love. Joshua Tree in 6 hours.

Goodnight

Mikie

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Forgiveness

Some people take some things very personally. It's confusing: how do you gauge it? We've all been working on it for years. I definitely have.

It's all about forgiving.

If there was a superpower I was born with, besides an ability to make objects vanish into my mouth and reappear in my stool, it's the Power of Unconditional Forgiveness. And it's a bloody curse. *not like bloody stool*

See, if somebody wrongs me I go "ow! that hurt" and then smile at them and high-five.
If I did the same exact thing to someone else, it's "ow! that hurt" and they frown and be pissed for the day.

WHY. Why are some people hardwired to immediately forgive while for others it can take days, months, YEEARRSS. Why. People are so different. What is the meaning of life. Who ate my chocolate chips.

I like to think the car's always fixable. Never irreparable damage. I guess worst case I could always find a new one or have no car again for a while.
(above: metaphor)


The End

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Love Rant

I was wrong about love. Love is a freeing thing.. maybe not infinitely, but love frees you from yourself. Even blind love, it takes you away from yourself and your imagination.. not saying it's a good thing to leave your imagination behind, but just once in a while we need a break from our minds in order to stay sane. And that's what love, whatever kind, does for you, it frees you from the inside-out, of your thoughts. Love is the root of all evil. Wait, that's money. Can't buy me love.

Anyway, I only say this because my heart has been fuller in the past 3 days than I have felt it's fullness in months. I mean it, months. Yesterday I was drunk with love. Ooh how I miss love, how I miss it so.

Real quick: who am I even speaking to on here? Probably some third-person projection of myself. I know of maybe 2 readers.
Ah, that's it! I'm speaking to YOU dear mind, YOU failed love-tamer, who furies my thoughts, stirring them vigorously with a cracking wooden spoon and flings them like batter about the walls. From this bloggy vantage point I can see your messy cooking skills and wonder at it all. Ha! Learn to pour a pancake for godssake. And the oven's burning again, can't you see?!

Ok anyway, Love.

Maybe I'm blindly making up love because I want so badly to have love during the approaching holiday season? Since I do not have, nor can I simply select a Love, I've been searching for any emotionally interested clue for a while now... maybe that's why when one even came close to coming along I snatched it up! Give me an inch, I'll take a mile. As the saying goes.

Like the wonderful play I was lucky enough to perform in last night. Oh, Charles Lamb. I got to be Charliemeboy, Charles the stuttering, ginloving Lamb. I started to fall into a close acquaintance with him, he was becoming me, just enough so that we could perform our staged reading last night. And after, like all good things, I had to let him go.

That's an interesting piece of Love, and life. Every thing we love must be available to be let go at any moment. That's a folly and a strength I mix together - don't wrap it around your wrist for when that unexpected day arrives that you must let go you'll lose your hand with it! You have to have it in your palm, between your fingers only, ready to release.

But the things that we really love never go away. And the things we try to love do.

It's the getting from B to A that is so hard, going away to not. One letter's difference, and a universe of impossibility. How many times have you actually succeeded in wanting to love something, and then getting what you want: getting to love it? A rare few.

I loved my college career but that was more like a wild animal that I had to tame, so I wrapped the reigns all the way up my arms and pulled and struggled and tamed it.

But people are different.. aren't they? Are they. Maybe. When you have feelings for someone, instead of gingerly hoping they don't spook and dash like a timid cat, should you rather take whatever strings you've got and hang on for dear life? If they run, you follow.. you don't let go with all your might? Can you really tame a human?
I have a feeling, no. You can't tame a human, it's inhumane. You have to meet them halfway.

Meeting them halfway. That's the tough part, because they have to come around. You can stand in the middle waiting and waiting.. but they have to choose it for themselves. The waiting is what kills me :)

But it's that exact waiting where love really makes you show your colours. Do you work? Are you an active waiter, working on things and keeping up to date? Or a passive waiter, ignoring the situation and going about your day?

I know nothing of love. Love is like auditions.. you learn all you need to know in one and then the next is a completely different animal, and all your knowledge is useless.

Speaking of auditions, I have two in about 2 hours. So I must be off

Farewell.

Monday, November 15, 2010

November 15th.

Lots to do today, lots. Let me just publicly via-blog apologize if I meant to hang out with you today because there's not a chance.

Tonight I am literally supposed to be at three places at once. How does that work? It doesn't.

Probably the highlight of the day is tonight's staged reading for the Actor's Studio that I'm a decent-sized part of..excitedly. Sure I know it's "just" a staged reading, but these people are so incredible to work around and with that I feel like I've found an 'element' to strive to be within- it's good, old-fashioned, credible, language-obsessed acting. With big choices and serious people. Certainly a hearken back to my lovely SSC days.

I get a lot of advice from a lot of different people in this show business world, and every piece of it is valuable. Every nuance fits into the larger puzzle, but the picture's almost infinitely large. You've just got to pick a corner and start building..and if you find another section to work on then make that too. Puzzles aren't simple, it takes time. Still, it's nice to see a picture start to finally emerge, especially when you're not sure what it's supposed to look like in the first place.

Right now I get to go see one of my life's most respected superiors, and ask him for a favor. Wish me luck.

And finally, Mumford and Sons and my awareness for the impeding holidays has me remembering truths that have never gone away. Funny how that works, how old loves never die.. No, it's not what you're thinking. This one's different. This time there's hope. I suppose. And you know how I feel about hope ;)

Mikie

moving pictures

The Great Salamander Rescue


Windy Tree


Biking Pt.1


Biking Pt. 2


Claremont Mountains


My new best friend


Lady in the Ground


Fall in the Pool


Crazed Biking


Goodbye Shadow

Sunday, November 14, 2010

there is no freedom in love
it is an inescapable prison
love is a man's tyrant
a calm, merciless oppressor
numbing the spirit like
sickening sugar
stuck to your wrapped-up
paper heart
impossible to touch
without tearing the folds

there is no freedom in love
it is a keyless manacle chained
to an anchor, hoisted from the ship

true freedom is apathy
but the lover is doomed

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Pics

Hard day, so I went for a hike as usual. Here's some pictures of my solo (and not so) as of late :)























Monday, November 8, 2010

How to Bike to the Rose Bowl

Leave your house.
Pedal away from El Molino.
Cover 4 blocks until Arroyo Seco
Turn right and cross several lanes to hit the farthest lane.
Stop, at the stoplight.
Light turns green.
Pull left onto Colorado Ave.
Start whipping between the ridiculously slow cars while gazing down the shops and shoppers as you cruise along. It's heating up outside. People are out, dressed all pretty.
Take a moment to reflect on your dirty shirt, holey shorts and awesome Chacos.
Stop at the stoplight just before Borders
Look to the right.
See the tall Cathedral jutting like a stack of archaic blocks in the northern sky.
Enjoy the view, smiling.
The light turns green.
Keep going
Cross the bridge over the leftovers of 134 South.
Cars on the road have thinned to none
The empty road is yours.
Dance and sweep between street, sidewalk and grass.
Ignore the empty red lights
Push up the little hill
Pass the Jaguar dealership, Ralphs, and Museum
Head towards the intersection of Orange Grove and Colorado.
Start to feel free.
At the top, the light is red.
Cross over Colorado
Perch up next to the pole.
See the orange trees and open lawn.
Wait.
Cars zoom by. Occasional looks your direction, nothing certain.
Wait patiently, breathe deep.
Realize this is a good time to take off your shirt.
The sun is bright, the sky blue
Tear off your white dirty shirt
Let your torso be lit by the low-hazed summer sky.
The red hand turns to a little green man.
Step on your pedals and loose the chain from its gear
Grind your old bike forward until the momentum picks up
Zoom through the intersection.
On your left is more lawns.
Pass the stone drinking fountain on your right.
Enter the walkway.
You're now on that long beautiful bridge running over the valley, just beneath the Ritz Carleton hotel
Begin to cross the bridge.
To your left is the long valley of the Arroyo Seco river
To your right opens up the vast glory of the valleys of Glendale
They lie nestled in a cup beneath rising mountains to its north, east and west.
See the cursive sign reading ROSE BOWL.
Look for a split second
Feel a twinge of fear that you might catch your pedals on the bridge dividers and fling yourself towards the cement pillars on either side again (see also: your horrendously unfortunate bike accident in 2007)

Keep going.

Reach the stairs on the other side, leading under the bridge.
Stick your foot on the pillar just before the top step
leap off your bike
turn it upsidedown
lift it over your head
carry the whole thing down the flight of steps
remember training for your backpacking trip to Mono Pass
reach the bottom
flip the bike back over
leap on.
Pedal down the hill in front of you.
A car or two whizzes by.
Release the handlebars
Let your balance take over
Stretch your arms out on either side.
Stand up on your bike
Pretend you're a bird flying close to the downhill road.
Pick up speed!
Start flapping your wings like an eagle diving for prey!
Sing!
Reach the stoplight at the bottom
Sit back down.
Pedal to the right onto the bridge ignoring the red light.
No cars are on the bridge with you.
Cross with the luxury of taking any lane.
At the farther end, see a little dirt trail pulling off to the left.
Approach, get dangerously close to the metal pole and turn onto the descending dirt trail.
Pedal downhill with fervor!
Birds and squirrels will run out of your way like with Link running to the Master Sword in the Lost Woods.
(smile arrogantly at your awesome reference)
Duck under the low branches of the old oak tree
Speed into the open park of the Aquatic Center.
You're almost there!
Large pine trees block the sun overhead
Keep pedaling forward!
The park opens up into a massive parking lot full of kids going to their swimming classes and parents pushing strollers.
Dodge the strollers and make eye-contact with 3 or 4 kids and parents,
Continue to pedal over the sundrenched parking lot.
At the farther end, look at the cursive ROSE BOWL sign within 100 yards.
See the track that runs around the whole stadium.
See the massive golf course just on the other side.
Cross the mostly-empty road with a huge grin on your face
Pull onto the track
Look up happily at your beloved deity, the ROSE BOWL sign.
Be happy because you've made it!

Now enjoy the track, stop and play in the grass, climb atop the bathroom stables, watch the kites flying, dodge the swooping remote control airplane, do yoga in the park, recite Shakespeare monologues to the rabble (aka overgrown grasses) and even explore behind the golf course if you feel so bold. Congratulations, you've found one of the many amazing natural playgrounds deep within the desert valleys and canyons surrounding Los Angeles.

Enjoy!

Next time:

How To Get Back

love Mikie

Monday, November 1, 2010

Life in Los Angeles

...is pretty wonderful. I have some incredible friendships here. The weather is divine, and NO it's not always sunny. In fact it's as cold and cloudy and windy and electric as the cities in the Bay Area, which is a piece of nature that I love. It's also close to the mountains, so for this past dry and gusty week all I could smell between the buildings was a draft of dead leaves and icy mountain nighttime - the same smell as that one night I was borrowing Stan's Mom's Kia (aka Misty) and drove all the way up to Tahoe from Placerville just to get out and stare at those glimmering beads of white glittering against the silver night, but the freezing air filling my nostrils is what struck stuck into my senses - that blast of ice, the black and empty air, dry and whisping between pines and peaks, it swooped into my car, under my clothes, through my vents and cleansed my sinuses. A deep cold high air, that's the mountain icy air I'm talking about. Last week it visited me here in LA, only now is it drifting away letting Fall back in.

I'm out of my house now. Still getting mail in Pasadena, but I've spent the past 4 days seriously househunting. To no avail, of course.. but I'm extremely picky. I refuse to live in another situation where I'm not comfortable, so I'm sacrificing comfort these few days so I can find a more full comfort later. Capiche? So if you think I'm homeless, you're wrong. I'm just stubborn and searching.

Last night was Halloween in West Hollywood. If you don't know what that means, I'll tell you: it's the biggest Halloween walk/celebration in the world (seriously) and I found myself deep in the thick of rave jumping Charlie Browns, Avatars, enormous Masks, barely-clothed chicks and guys, and a lot of really really happy people. Going to Burning Man this year totally obliterated my fear for large groups of crazy-dressed people. I think seeing that there is actually nothing "wrong" or bad happening (so long as you steer clear of drugs and the like) it's actually a complete celebration! Like a bunch of dancing children. Literally. But childlike adults are looked down on, especially if they aren't ashamed of themselves. Such a funny society we live in, obsessing with maturity but secretly daydreaming about letting it all go and running free again. What are people to do.

Now I'm in a Starbucks, going over a script for something called Dear Murderess, a wonderful piece of classical theatre that I've been invited to staged-read for, looking for good homes online ...

and you know what?
Life in Los Angeles is definitely wonderful.
These people open their doors to you,
they welcome you in, some almost with extremity.
"PLEASE!! COME IN!!"
That's wonderfulness. Accepting without bounds.

Los Angeles is a representation of a world that isn't perfect, but works like magic because everybody believes in something or something else. It's like a fantasyland of professionals mixing up with each other and seeing what falls out onto the plate. That's what you do here - you come with an empty plate and walk around filling it up with others' ideas, invitations, food, promises, rottenness, sweetness, you can load it up. The bigger the plate, the more you can try. And there's plenty to go around.

There is no evil in any city. Evil is an idea that comes from people who believe that evil exists.
Everyone else is just trying to be happy.

By the way - get the new Sufjan Stevens. It's completely different, and after 3 listens I'm hooked.

OH!! I almost forgot. Look at this review that a producer guy gave ELEVATOR!
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5958656/elevator_a_theatrical_review.html

Mikie