Blog
Existential Crises Display Your Humanity
I have to say I believe that if you have not had some form of an Existential Crisis during your adult life or formative years, you are not Human. Whether you believe in God or Darwinian Evolution or some variant of both or neither, you will likely agree that what separate Us–human beings–from the... »
Are we not Prisms?
I used to think that who you are stayed the same no matter what happened to you–that the core of you, your essence, the stuff that gave you your identity, was immutable and that no matter what you experienced, you were as a circle around another circle on a tree ring, nothing greater. It... »
A Manifesto for Tonight–and not Just Tonight
I will let my imagination soar, rather than having it sink into an abyss of discontentment. I will no longer live in the past but will incorporate it lovingly into my present and its future. I release myself from stress and anxiety. I purge myself of hate, malice, and intolerance. I liberate myself from... »
On Reading, 1.
Perhaps I am a literary coward because I do not enjoy the works of those who describe the Human Condition in too graphic of terms, preferring, rather, the ones who may cloak it in shades of blue and innocence, fleeting wisdom, unshaded contours that are no less deep, occasional irony that sears with greater potency, who tip-toe around it as if it were sly and mercurial, a... »
Rain Man
My sister calls me “Rain Man” because I have an uncanny ability to remember people’s birthdays. It’s been that way for years. And while I was never bad at math, per se, I was never a luminary, either. So it’s not like I have some divine knack with numbers; I don’t (though admit to... »
On All-Consuming, but then Fleeting, Routines
On Fleeting Routines …That is what often happens. You go into an experience, live it to its fullest, immerse yourself in it until you’re almost tired of it but at the same time can little imagine any other reality but the one you’re in. You finish it, overwhelmed, exhausted, and satisfied. For awhile, nothing else... »
Late Night Barreling
Most people view L.A as a destination but not an arrival. And as for late night barreling down hills and near empty L.A. streets…I think of driving fast like I do coloring: free form’s fine as long as you stay within the lines. »
A Bit of Truth
I glimpsed a bit of truth the other night while driving up Benedict Canyon. In trying to answer the question ‘what is LA?’ I realized it’s in the question, not the response. L.A. is the only city that permits ‘permanent transience’ not simply to transcend the level of oxymoron but to achieve a necessary... »
A Moment Witnessed and Recaptured
Santa Monica Bluffs, CA–He walked up to the small patch of grass by the street overlooking the ocean. Arms full with a basket, his lithe frame moved with a slightly stooped gait. He moseyed over to a thin tree and put down the basket and a coffee he’d somehow been holding this whole time, resting the drink on... »
The Apartment
Based on a conversation I had in Spanish today with my Argentinean Grandpa. Look, I know even robust minds atrophy at some point. He’s three years older than I am, and I’m old. So it’s not that I’m surprised, just sad. That’s all. So I walk into his apartment today. And I’ve known him for, what,... »