Oh, my heavens. It's only been a couple of weeks, but it feels like much longer. I guess that is a good thing; it would seem to imply productivity.

The days never seem quite long enough, though... and then they are simultaneously way too long and too many, getting in the way of what's next. Which wouldn't exist without them, sure. Blah, blah, reality.

( Food stuffs. )

A couple weekends ago, I was invited to be a chaperone for one of the local schools on their trip to the CIMI Institute, Toyon Bay, on Catalina Island. I thought I'd heard about Catalina before, but I really had no idea what I was in for. Avalon, the largest city on the island -- the one the cruise ships port in -- has a population of about three thousand. The next largest town is like seventy-four people or something ridiculous. The next largest community is CIMI at Toyon Bay -- thirty-some instructors, administrative staff, maintenance, kitchen help, and the like. It's a fairly quick escape to the "wilderness," just two hours (via The Very Slow Ferry... by helicopter it's only fifteen minutes) from the city. I had a great, if tiring, time. I think it was exactly what I needed that weekend, though. This working from home is great and flexible and everything, but after too many days with no real human interaction save the occasional grocery run... well, I probably don't need to finish that sentence. It was good. And beautiful. I foolishly decided to leave my camera at home, but snagged someone else's pictures that serve the purpose just fine for now (who knows, maybe I'll get back there someday). I got to thinking a lot about all the animals on the island -- animals that freely roam through human encampments, that don't run in fear, that aren't threatened. That should be another entry when I'm not eljaying during sleepytime.

So should many things. I keep thinking and not writing. I don't know why.

• The Phantom and Disney drag queens on Halloween
• David Mamet at Central Library
• Eden and Catalina Island and meat eating and the Christian tradition (I said it should wait, didn't I?)
• Vegan cosmetics
• Babeland
• My joy list
• Coetzee and Cunt
• Christmas presents
• Mani's, just missing Leo
• Headshots and headshots and headshots
• Audition, meh
• Craigslist
• The uber-annoying tune-horn that lives on my street
• Fucking music and my fucking brilliant friends that make fucking brilliant mixes for me
• Pick-a-banner-and-fuck-the-rest democrats/liberals and why I think they're hypocritical, self-centered cockwhackers
• I'm starting to curse rather liberally and should thus retire for the night.
• So I will. Fuck shit whore.

I now have a webcam and no one to webcam with at 11:17pm, Pacific Standard Time.

Such a sad clown.

( Mopey, Mope, Mope. )

SHORTBUS. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I loved it and highly recommend it.

An acquaintance made some comment after the movie about ass and cock and cum being vegan. She said, "Well, yeah, it is, because you don't swallow it! Unless you're filthy and disgusting!"

Um.

Or.

This sent my brain spinning and trying to actually define -- in words -- why all that nonsense is vegan (because I do think it's vegan, but not because, pardon my saying so, I don't swallow). Technically, they're "animal products," so, technically, there has to be some other differentiation between human-animal products and non-human-animal products.

The conclusion I came to is one of consent. An animal cannot consent to my taking its life, its milk, its skin, its feathers, etcetera. A human can consent to me taking (and, if I so choose, thank you very much, consuming) his or her bodily fluids, hair, etcetera. Would I consider a human-hair shirt vegan? Sure, if it came from a human that consented to its being made. Would the same shirt be vegan if it was made from the hair of a detainee, shaved against his or her will? I say no.

This got me thinking about animals as pets, of all things. I think this issue of consent is what may, from here on out, keep me from taking in any animals that, I feel, cannot display a consent to be confined/owned. A dog can choose to stay in the yard or not (though I would certainly not endanger one with traffic just to see if "it really loves me!")... a lizard in an aquarium or a hamster in a cage? Mm... notsomuch, methinks.

I'm sure this could all be fleshed out and dissertated and made elegant and convincing. It's late, though, and so I drag these snippets out and leave them lying in the middle of the floor. Look at how they don't move if I don't move them. Lazy things.

Sew...

1. Jeep owners in LA apparently have not caught onto the Jeep Wrangler Driver Wave, which dictates the waving of a hand or the peacing of two fingers or the general acknowledgement of one's self and another driver, separate but together In The Grip Of The Almighty Jeep Love. This is unfortunate, as Jeeps seem to belong in SoCal almost more than anywhere else.

2. Bill The Apartment Guy is just waiting on confirmation that I am currently working and that I have worked in the past. My boss sent him to voicemail, unfortunately, and Shropson-Pest's phones had some weird thing happen today wherein calling the main line produced nothing but a busy signal. Apparently I seem honest and not like a shady ho, because Bill told me he was screening and ignoring other phone calls about the apartment, as I was 90% in the door. I am impatient for this reference checking to be done, but I'm so excited I could just about pee my pants and make a toast with my own urine.

3. Three is for all the things I wanted to make note of but now can't remember.

4. I went to the Tea Garden in West Hollywood with a friend tonight. We drank tea and listened to "Captain Tea" pontificate (which actually disappointed my friend [who needs a nickname for eljay... TeaBoy?], as the Wednesday night "class" is usually led by "Dr. Tea," who is a bit more erudite and, no kidding, the top or next-to-top expert in the world on tea). I was intimidated when I first walked in the place, but I was riding high and stifling the urge to splurge by the time the night was over. I will definitely go back; the whole experience got me really excited to have space to spread out and re-amass my tea collection (and probably stop drinking coffee again... we'll see). Ooh, we also ate amazing (and free) vegan food which is actually from M Cafe but made for the Tea Garden daily. I was already excited about M Cafe -- the smattering of food we ate tonight is making me even more hot and bothered to pay the place a visit.

4a. Special note for adaptor: Have you been to this place?! I know you have a tea collection -- you must go!

5. I feel so excited to be on the verge of having my own space, having a job, starting to put my feelers out into the television and film industry, to get a cheap bike, to cook meals, to be exercising and taking my vitamins and embracing my routines again, to write letters and make phone calls and send my friends random shit in manila envelopes, to listen to new music in my space, to pick out furniture that is all mine, to go see theatre, to see movies, to see concerts, to eat vegan food that is within walking distance, to live with my life, to live with myself and for myself and celebrate Dorklepork. I am already doing it. That should all be re-written because I can already feel it; I'm in the moment and I'm alive and I am not sleeping or waiting or looking ahead. I am so present and am completely in love with my life.

6. I am going on a camping trip in October as a counselor for some kids from the school TeaBoy works at. I'm getting paid to go camp and hang out with the kids (provided my fingerprinting gets back in time and they don't discover that I burned all my prints off and am running from the law after my serialkillingsodomizingchildpornschizophrenicprostitutearmedrobberygrandlarceny streak -- notcamping would totally blow).

7. Did I mention the vegan food? The vegan restaurants? The non-vegan restaurants that still have things labeled "vegan" all the hell over their menus? K, just checking.

8. I wish I could afford to buy a place out here and start making mortgage payments. I really do.