"The...[kids] are out in the yard. I say to them, play, play hard, go out there and play hard. You will be glad later for every thing you have done will all your might."

-The Woman Who Made Swell Donuts
from Yokohama, California
by Toshio Mori and Lawson Fusao Inada

* * * * *

I was talking to Lauren H. on the phone last night. She got me to sing, which is something I never do.

I'm not too worried about her asking me to sing ever again, though.

* * * * *

"The Nation-State of Guillermo has a dark, troubled, past...but we downplay it to attract tourists."

-scrawled in margin of one of my notebooks

* * * * *

Now that's why you're all black and blue
There's blood on my hands, and it all came from you
Screamin' and cryin', furniture's flyin'
Convincing the police that the neighbors are lyin'
And I guess that's why they call it "abuse"

-Rejected poem from "Open-Mike Night" (and this isn't even the worst version of what Jake and I came up with when we had the tune to Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" stuck in our heads.)

* * * * *

I'm a failed experiment
That should be evident
From my sun-scorched skin
To my midnight temperament

-Rejected!

* * * * *

In this hell-harsh glare
My light isn't evident
But in the smothering dark
I burn like a filament

-Rejected!

* * * * *

I don't talk much about politics (here) but I do know where I stand. If you don't, or like me just wanted to be sure, check out Political Compass. If more Californians had taken this test they might not have wound up with a cyborg for a governor.

* * * * *

David: "See, you post everyday. I can't do that."
Guillermo: "Sure you can, it's not hard."

I lied. Sometimes it can be very hard. That's why it pays to save everything, even crap. Then at least you can bust it out and make fun of yourself.

But that quote in the beginning from Toshio Mori, that isn't crap. That's one of the truest things I've ever heard.