Sunday, January 3rd

I just got back home to Echo Park from going to the Mavs vs. Lakers game downtown at Staples. Lakers beat the Mavericks so horribly, I've never seen my team lose so badly. I'm laying in bed wearing Mike's socks, my Mavs t-shirt and typing on my computer with my curtains drawn open. I wonder if any of my courtyard neighbors can see me.

This morning when I awoke, after taking Graham home, I went to Trader Joe's and replenished our dwindling refrigerator. When I was checking out, my cashier commented on the fact that I had roast beef, turkey bacon, chicken and pepperoni on my cart, and yet I had tofu and soy rizo too. He asked me what the deal was. I told him that I had finally started eating meat again after four years of never eating it. It's a very exciting world to re-join. But I think I might be getting a little tired of beef and red meat. I'm not sure if they settle very well with me.

When I got home, Michael and I sat downstairs at our building's coffee shop (Chango) and enjoyed the perfect seventy-five degree weather. The neighborhood seemed really idyllic then. There were lots of puppies around, and kids looking hip sipping their coffee and typing on their Macs. Not that I can really say anything about that. Macs macs macs...well, I can safely say I owe them my living.

I bought an LA Times and read the Obituaries. There was one particular one, I think her name was Judith something, that struck me as remarkably worth reading. This lady had become a journalist when she first got out of high school at her local newspaper, and when she had saved up enough money to pay for her first two years of college (which, apparently in 1935 was $600) she took a train by herself to Illinois and enrolled in the University of Chicago to become a meteorologist. She got her Ph.D. from there and married and had six children in Southern California. After the children, she studied and got her Masters in nursing and became a registered nurse. She then traveled around the world learning cultural medicince. She went everywhere! She had at that time separated from her husband and spent 22 years being single, saying that she didn't want to spend any more time "washing another man's dirty underwear." She then met a man who they described as her "soul mate" and "love of her life" and they married in a fishing boat in the middle of Antarctica in 1999. I was pretty astounded by her life.

There was also another obituary about a man who belonged to a club entitled the Tuna Club. Yes. This was important enough to put in his short blurb.

I also liked another description of a lady who liked "knitting, painting, enjoying the occasional slot machine and taking in the sun."

I made Mike something for lunch my mom calls Pepperonata. It's red bell peppers, onions and corn all cooked together until soft. It's very good. We also had frozen yogurt and watched a movie that, under Mike's pleads, will be kept in secrecy. Let's just say...if a certain Kate Winslet and a certain Cameron Diaz wanted to trade houses for THE HOLIDAYs, they would probably be the leading characters in this movie.

I took a great nap while listening to a band that I can't remember the name of. All I can remember is that Mike kept saying they were ripping off Autolux, but he liked them better than Autolux. So...Better Than Autolux. Wow. I've never tried making a Better Than Ezra joke. Let's never let it happen again. I feel vile.

Graham and I took the bus down to the game tonight, and ate at the Pantry diner. It felt like my birthday. I had the HOT BEEF sandwich. Pretty sexy. On the bus back home, after running to the stop for fear of missing it, we saw two of the sexiest she-males ever. Then Graham walked me home and went home. I felt very 1950's.

I think I'll read now. Goodnight.

Natalia