Saw "Amelie" again last night. What a fun film. I realized I have two tragic flaws when it comes to relationships. The first one is A. The second one is B. And in combination, A and B make it hard to find a relationship.

Okay, I realize that some people are looking up my blog because I mentioned a certain female news anchor. But I only mentioned her once. Okay, that's allright. At least someone's viewing my blog.

On a completely different note, I need a haircut and I get EXTREMELY self-conscious around women I'm interested in. There, I said it. Yes, I am not that cool around women I'm interested in. Great. Okay, now it's out there. I'm not always the cool, easy-going, fun-loving, quick-witted, unflappable person at all times of the day. Yes, I have a weakness (okay, many weaknesses, including ice cream, and people who cry, but I'm not letting you in on all of them). Okay. So now, I just gotta work on that one.

And on one more completely different note...why doesn't Los Angeles have a comprehensive neighborhood recycling program? That is SO LAME!!! I HATE THROWING AWAY GOOD RECYCLEABLE STUFF!!!!!!

Maybe I need a new alarm clock? Maybe I'm so used to the sound of that electronic beep that I don't feel the urge to wake up? I out-sleep the snooze! I don't get it. Maybe there's something wrong with me? Is there some weird "sleeping in" disease? Not that there's anything wrong with sleeping in, mind you. If I could, I'd sleep in until the afternoon. It's just that it's been so consistent. Maybe I've got some kind of infection or something. Hmm. Wow. Thank god I'm not a hypochondriac.

Whoo. I am so scatterbrained today. I slept really late because of a video game (an OLD game, at that...I'm so stupid). I've been hitting the snooze on my alarms all week. Today, the only reason why I got out of bed was because they were testing the fire alarm in the building. And I've been really stupid at work. Mostly zoning out in front of the computer, surfing the web. Whatta dork. It could be that I have an audition tomorrow that I'm totally not prepared for, and two auditions next week. Whatever. I'll deal with it.

I'm at my Morning Job™. I honestly don't know why they haven't fired me. I come to work every day waiting for the other shoe to drop. Really, I'm not that important, and I'm not particularly exceptional in my work. I'm know there are tons of people who could do my job much better than I have. Yet I show up, and they pay me. Are we both getting suckered?

I was interviewed by CNN yesterday for a profile on Margaret Cho. Cool, huh? I wonder what they'll use. The interview was only about 40 minutes long. It was in this hip-retro hotel suite. I asked for some water, and the sound guy went to the fridge and gave me a bottle. It was from England. Like it matters? It tasted very watery, the way I expected water to taste. Should it taste any different because of the label? But I guess a fancy glass bottle from England makes the hotel more cool. Really, as long as it tastes like water and doesn't poison me, I could give a shit where it came from. IT'S JUST WATER. WATER IS EVERYWHERE. IT'S IN PLANTS, LAKES, CLOUDS AND RAIN. WHY SHOULD IT COST MORE THAN BEER?

I hope I had enough usable sound bites. I've learned how to create usable soundbites for TV interviews. It's a cool skill to learn.

Okay, so I'm writing a play. I've been taking this playwrighting class. This is the third week. I didn't think I'd have an idea for a play so soon, but I've got one. I've been writing like a motherfucker. I was chugging along, when all of a sudden, I reach page 23, and I don't know what happens next. Wow. That's kinda exciting. I'm stuck on page 23 and nothing's coming out. That's neat. It's like I'm in suspense, but for myself. If that makes any sense.

I don't recall my alarm going off this morning. Yet I woke up semi-early. I think (sadly) that my body is now trained to wake up early. Sad, really, because I LOVE sleeping in.

Anyway, I estimated that I got about 7 hours of sleep, yet I got to Morning Job™ an hour late, and I'm still sleepy. I think it's psycho-somatic. I think knowing I have to be here makes my body want to shut down.

What just happened? Just now I helped a woman move into her apartment in my building. Turns out, she's a Harley mechanic and a photographer. And she owns a motorcycle. And she's easy on the eyes. Wow. Um, yeah. Wow.

So I emailed her a recipie. A recipie she likes. I used to have this big-ass crush on her, and tried to ask her out, but she was having family problems. So I backed off. That was months ago, so things have calmed down and now I just have a teeny, tiny crush on her. So I sent her a recipie.

Okay. I've said this before. It's just me, I think. Maybe not. But I measure my self worth by the number of personal emails I get in a day (not group emails), and the number of phone calls I get. Lately, it's been reaaaaaaaaaaly slow. Okay, it's a problem. I just feel better when I get personal emails or phone calls. Emails I think are better, because someone actually takes time and thinks out stuff to write to you. At least I do. I know I shouldn't rely on those things to make me feel good. I don't know why I do. Oh, yeah, I do know...it's because I'm a freak.

THINGS I LOVE part 2 (see 7/19/2002 for part one)

Aimee Mann, Neil Finn and Crowded House, "Chung King Express", anything Michael Moore says or does, Joe Boxer, boxer briefs, jeans, vintage shirts, Thai food, Dr. Martin's Boots, Nutella, Bad Batz-Maru, late-night informercials, Bill Hicks, bread, Razor scooters, chicks with flame throwers, women who can throw a punch, fingernails scratching the inside of my arms, snow, real vanilla, my bed, PDA's (the handheld computers), PDA (public displays of affection), Macs, Big Macs, tiramisu from Steps of Rome in San Francisco, walking aimlessly in Copenhagen, swimming in Singapore during a rainstorm, fresh laundry, pit bulls, Indian Reservations, long stretches of highway

to be continued...

Slept realy well again last night. I guess my galavanting is catching up with me. Woo-hoo.

Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that I'm supposed to do something tonight, and I just can't remember? I hate that. Don't you? I'll probably remember what it was on Friday.

On a completely different note, downtown L.A. is like any other big city downtown. Oftentimes you will walk down the street thinking "What is that smell? Oh, it's HIM."

IMJUSTAGUY BONUS ROUND: 200 points to anyone who can tell me where "Excuse me miss, do you like pineapple?" comes from.

Slept really well last night. REALLY well. But it only came because of a long weekend. A long WORK weekend. I was an MC for the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture (FPAC - see http://www.filamarts.org) for both days. It was a lot of fun. As always, I run into people in the community that I haven't seen in a while. That's always a treat. But it's also a lot of work. I mean, I'm just an MC on the main stage, and it's not a lot compared to what all the other coordinators, curators, and volunteers go through. But it pooped me out. I can only imagine what everyone else feels.

Once again I prove to the world and my Morning Job™ that It's hard as hell for me to get up before 10am. Although my alarm is set for 8:45am, I keep hitting the snooze for about an hour before it gives out. And I STILL sleep past it. I end up waking up at 10:15am (I'm supposed to be at work between 10 and 10:30).

The weather here is weird. It's been kind of muggy, almost east coast-ish. It keeps threatening to rain, although it really hasn't, at least not downtown. I think this is what is called "earthquake weather." We'll see.

I wake up this morning, kinda slowly, and as I'm opening my eyes, my first thoughts are "wow, what a huge tent. Who's tent is this?" Then I slowly realize I'm in a bed, and there's no way I could have brought my bed out camping, and I realize that daylight is coming in through windows, not tent flaps, and I finally realize that I'm in my apartment, and not a huge, kick-ass mansion of a tent. In other words, Burning Man has not left me completely. Not yet.

And for those who are wondering, no I did not consume mass quantities of drugs at the festival (the heaviest drug I took was a large tequilla shot). No, I did not get laid on an hourly basis (although there was a great risk of running over people having sex in the desert in the middle of the night if your bike didn't have a light. Wouldn't that just suck? Getting run over by a bike while having sex?).

I'm already formulating ideas for a play for my playwriting class. It has to do with being reclusive, and levitation. I think it can work.

I'm still sore and tired from my vacation. But it's a good kind of tired and sore. I better get into shape, though, cuz tonight I'm going to the first day of my playwrighting class. That should be exciting.

Most of the Morning Job™ people are away for the next week, so it's just me and one other guy. It's really mellow. Even at the Afternoon Job™ it's very, very mellow. I hope it stays this way for a while.

I will be attending FPAC this year (http://www.filamarts.org). Didn't get to go last year (was in Europe), but I've gone practically every year for the last 5 or 6 years. It's fun, and a great way to connect with the community.

Don't know if I mentioned this , but I'm going to the Philippines this year for Christmas and New Years. That should be a blast.

For those who are curious about the drug-addled, nudity and sex-filled, good art/bad art pseudo-pagan ritual I attended last week, read this: http://sfgate.com/columnists/morford/

Like I said, it was a positive experience, and although I miss it already, I'm wondering if I should go again next year, or if it was one of those things that you do once in your life.

My first day home from Burning Man. Boy, was that an experience or what? The first day, Monday, I was introduced to my first Burning Man friends, Adam and Stacy, who are the most beautiful married couple in the world. IN THE WORLD. By Wednesday, the whole camp had arrived. The camp was called "The I'm OK, You're OK Corral." It should have been called "The camp full of hot women," because that was all it was. The camp was fun, we drove the BAR CAR around every night, and everyone in the camp was friendly as fuck.

Aaaaany-hoooo, I'm back, and I will be beating dust out of every piece of clothing from now until forever.