I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock as it struck 9:00am. Last night was another night of deep, dreamless sleep, only without the benefit of awakening refreshed and ready to greet the day. Although I longed to roll over and return to wherever the fuck my consciousness escapes to when I sleep, my desire to keep all the plans I’ve made this week got the best of me, and I instead rolled out of bed and threw on some clothes. My mother yelled to me from downstairs to declare she had made breakfast for me, and asked if I wanted a glass of orange juice to go with the french toast she prepared. I quickly consumed one and one half pieces of the battered and fried bread, then grabbed my camera and ran to the car. I actually left at the exact time I was hoping to leave (10:00am). That almost never happens…because I’m always too early for everything.
Getting to the Parkway and driving south to Route-1 was just as I remembered it. Several landmarks pointed the way further south, and many new landmarks were identified. I gleefully recognized the adult bookstore, the AIM uniforms store (what is that place, where you buy outfits to sit in front of your computer and talk to friends online?), the huge bowling alley, the Skylark diner and more. Several new shopping centers have sprung up on both the north and south sides of the highway. One of them contains a Chipotle, but more on that later…
I got to Sam and Lindsey’s new home in exactly one hour. Their directions were precise. I was greeted first by the two dogs, Brutus and Scooby, then Sam (who gave me a scintillating man hug), then Lindsey (who gave me a run-of-the-mill girly hug). We stood around their living room for a few minutes chatting, then they gave me a tour of the house. It’s much nicer than their old apartment, and they’ve done a great job decorating and filling the rooms with various oddities. While Lindsey drove to Starbucks, I sat down with Sam in one of the house’s two studies to work on an audio/writing project he’s been working on for some time. He asked to record my voice reading the parts of two characters in two different stories, so we breezed through a short recording session before Lindsey returned. I think I did alright. I warned him right before I started my first piece of dialogue that I was a little bit dyslexic, but he didn’t seem to mind. He also didn’t mind when I had to repeat lines due to my missing words, jumbling the order of words, or losing control of my voice (it might have cracked once or twice). When the project is done, I’m sure I’ll be writing more about the labor of his love.
Starbucks coffees were consumed, and then we left for Princeton. We were out of the store in about an hour, which is probably a record for my shortest visit there. Still, I found some interesting records (Laibach, Foetus) and some CDs I can resell at a modest profit. We decided that we’d go to eat at Burrito Royale, since Sam and Lindsey had never been. As we drove north on Route-1, their excitement was palpable. I listened to their stories about how every time they drive passed the location, the restaurant is closed. I tried to feed their giddiness with statements about the awesomeness of their burritos. Of course, as we approached, we realized that it was closed — again. Those poor kids, I really hope they try again one day this week during regular dining hours. Burrito Royale is pure gold. Pure edible gold.
So, we headed for Chipotle. It was yummy, as you might expect. Seeing as we were traveling further north on the highway, we decided that instead of returning to their house, we’d just drop by Vintage Vinyl. I found a few more CDs to sell there, and a Burzum LP to help round out my otherwise black-metal-less record collection. As we got back in the car, our conversation somehow shifted to Nintendo, and I discovered that not only did Sam and Lindsey move into a new home, they furnished it with a Nintendo Wii. Having never seen one before, I decided that I’d stay longer and play some of the games I keep hearing about from everyone who cherishes the Wii. First, we stopped at Wawa for some snacks. I couldn’t get the hang of the baseball game, but eventually beat Lindsey in a close 1-0 game. Then she kicked my ass at bowling, and then I beat her at tennis. See mom…all those thousands and thousands of dollars you spent on clinics, private lessons, personal trainers, coaches and summer programs didn’t go to waste!
It was starting to darken outside, and my phone was dead, so I decided to high-tail it back to my current former address (yes, I just used the expression “high-tail it”). I almost fell asleep behind the wheel while on the Parkway. That could have sucked. I arrived in one piece, and quickly called my old friends Matt and Evan to stop by my house. Apparently they were getting pretty drunk at the local TGI Fridays. I don’t think the three of us had been in the same room together for almost five years. Still, it was as if we’d never moved across the country, moved back, gotten jobs (well, Evan has a job…), or anything that could possibly make once strong bonds between friends feel awkward. “It was just like old times, we were dressed like new times,” to quote my old Livejournal. Upon cracking open beers, we decided that tonight would be the night we finally figured out how to get rich together. The three of us spent the next several hours taping our conversation so we wouldn’t forget all our amazing ideas. Jack, Ken and Katie showed up at some point, and a short while later I noticed we’d started listening to Razorblade Suitcase and playing Nintendo. Yup, it was beginning to look and feel like “1996 Night” in my old, childhood bedroom. Everyone looked and sounded jovial. Even me (I’d make an “out of the closet” comment here, but, well…you know).
As the clock struck midnight, people began to sober up or grow tired, and they all left. As we all hugged goodbye, more plans were made to continue our work on making millions of dollars. I don’t know if I’d call them “plans,” per se, because all we really decided was that since Matt and I are Jewish it was time to claim our birthrights and become mega-rich movie producers. After all, isn’t it the God damned right of every fucking Jew on Earth to break into the industry?
Tomorrow is another busy fucking day. I’m really beginning to take exception to my inability to schedule some time to just fucking relax on the couch and watch TV. I feel like I’m constantly on the move, which seems impossible without my own car, but somehow I’ve been up early every morning and keeping busy to varying degrees (from very busy to super busy) until the wee hours of the morning. In an e-mail statement made earlier this evening, I wrote that I somehow managed to get better, longer nights of sleep when I’m in LA than I am on this vacation.
Blues Magoos – (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet – (buy this album)
Blues Magoos – She’s Coming Home – (buy this album)
Grails – Clean Living – (buy this album)
The United States Of America – Cloud Song – (buy this album)
The United States Of America – Hard Coming Love – (buy this album)
