I was looking for socks. Plain old socks. Rummaging around in the middle drawer, annoyed that it’s already time to dig out the socks, knowing that colder, darker days are just around the corner, I came upon my traveling pants. The black ones. The black, stretchy Adidas pants with the white stripes that come down to my shins. The pants I wore all across the country and nobody knew I had on the same pants five days out of seven. They didn’t dig into my stomach and they … [Read more...]
The Working Class
September 25, 2011 By
So I’m sitting in a bar in St. Louis last week at a going away party for a friend. She got a new video editing job in another town, pays more, and she’ll be able to work on better projects. You can only edit so many fried chicken videos. One of the guys sitting at the table, a local indie movie guy, who comes off a little cocky because he’s made a couple of movies that a few people liked, starts railing on the people who work at fast food restaurants. “I always check … [Read more...]
Amarillo or Vail? The Answer Is Not So Obvious
September 24, 2011 By
I order a vodka tonic, with my frequent flier drink coupon and settle back to look out the window at the clouds at 33,000 feet. I feel overwhelmingly sad today -- the realities of managing the pressing demands of financial catch-up, not to be confused with ketchup, stringing along one freelance gig after another just to make the house payment, while I work feverishly on the book outline and pray to the publishing gods for an A-D-V-A-N-C-E, I get caught short on … [Read more...]
It’s All About You
September 16, 2011 By
I've missed you. I told you, "I will never leave you" and then I did. I didn't mean to drop off the face of the planet since my last post on September 2nd. I have actually gone through withdrawals, kind of a "post" traumatic syndrome, traumatized by not writing and hearing back from all you folks whom I truly care about. But I got sucked in. I got sucked back into the frenzied vortex of nail-biting normal, even though I stuck my legs out, stiff as a board, pushed … [Read more...]
I Will Never Leave You
September 2, 2011 By
I hear the low rumble of trucks on the freeway from my porch, back home from my 8,600 mile odyssey. What just last night felt like a predator, the rattle and whirr of tractor trailer rigs, crowding me closer, closer and closer with each mile nearer home, now seems a seductress calling from a distance. It’s like a pack of cigarettes in the dresser drawer, a bottle of booze in the cupboard, it is simply, there. Get in the car and just drive away, drive to the next town, … [Read more...]
My Brother Mike
August 29, 2011 By
There just wasn't putting it off any longer. Hell, I'd had the phone number for two weeks. My niece Amy had tracked it down through tax records. Take that, Google and Facebook. But I had waited. Waited until I was in a quiet place, with nobody else around, so I could focus on what to say. What do you say to somebody you don't know but with whom you share the same father? "Hi, I'm your long lost sister, the one your daddy got in trouble with his wife over...." At the … [Read more...]
Tommy and Beverly Were Lovers
August 27, 2011 By
I hate saying goodbye. I left my son Nate and his wife, Melissa, in Los Angeles and drove up the coast a few days ago, my melancholy usurped by nerves. I hadn't really felt this way yet. One would think a gal with a dog, who's not too adept at changing tires or reading GPS, facing a daunting journey of more than 8,000 miles would be a little jumpy from time to time. Well, sure, when the sun goes down and I've still got 162 miles to go until my next stop and my eyes … [Read more...]
Louie, Sean’s Beast of Burden
August 24, 2011 By
The absolute worst nights of this journey have been the ones in which I laid awake in some Motel 6 somewhere, or in the quiet of a friend's home and worried, "what have I done?" I know this is old news, I've talked about it, you've encouraged me, I've appreciated it. I'm on Day 51 of this journey, thanks in large part to my backers and band of cheerleaders. Let me just say this for the record: This trip has changed my life. I have one hell of a book. Let me repeat … [Read more...]
When I Had to Draw My Weapon
August 23, 2011 By
In observance of taking the on-ramp onto EASTBOUND 80 last night out of San Francisco which signifies, ladies and gentlemen, that I'm St. Louis bound, after what will no doubt be a pivotal plot twist stop here today in El Dorado Hills, California, I wanted to deal with a little road trivia. These factoids will not garner you any prizes because they will never surface at any organized trivia night, UNLESS I get a best-selling book out of this little jaunt and the trivia … [Read more...]
Laurel Canyon Doggie Diva, only in L.A. Dude
August 20, 2011 By
Friday night in L.A. and I am WAY behind on my stories, y'all. BUT I did want to share this little clip to amuse you on a Friday night. Judy runs a service called Schmuttles. Check it out. I am SO homesick.... Love you all. Jean … [Read more...]
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