1st half of 2006

It's July 1 on the east coast, anyhow.

Celebrated new year by throwing beer bottles against walls, got a stern talking-to from a French cop for trying to tip over a motorcycle… my new year’s resolution was: be more aggressive. A good start.
Got involved in a crazy movie project with a woman who knew nothing about filmmaking… dropped out
Producer asked if he could produce “Thursday is Soup”.. two months of preproduction... One quick day of shooting... Two furious weeks of post-production
Getting into the music of Jonathan Richman.
Long nights of writing “The Bike Trip”… lots of cigarettes and coffee
Weeklong illness in isolated Paris apartment
Playing poker hands against myself to kill time
Playing guitar
Tuesday afternoons teaching English to Maya (9), Noe (12), and ??? (14)
Garth turns 18
Garth traveling most of February--no money for phone--very isolated February
Lucked into free 4-day supply of weed… wander around Paris… feel magic powers in front of green, modernist painting of Jesus in Notre Dame and in sparkling waters on Seine at night… last day dizzy in bed, throw up
Reading Finnegans Wake and Ulysses high--the pinnacle of literary experiences
Sunday nights at the Galway, talk a lot to Barry…so few people in Paris
Studying Irish language with book and CDs
Playing guitar on the street at 1am in the middle of January and a guy invites me for a beer, then invites me to anarchist squat in suburbs of paris for punk concert
American friend Alison visits for a week
Hanging out with Thor during long days with nothing to do
Arranging a week of individual rendez-vous with friends to say good-byes
Fly to Philadelphia… join mile-high club
Extreme unease arriving in U.S.
Move into new apartment in Philadelphia with Garth
3 days of bliss… a week of arguing…then things get normal
Check out a few Sundays at an Episcopalian church at Garth’s urging--free soup
Protest the restaurant that fired my brother unfairly…cops come… but by then I’m talking very reasonably with the manager who fired my bro and we come to a peaceful understanding…cops leave
Get hired at Kaplan, Get fired from Kaplan
Get hired for construction job… told no work at construction job
Get hired for English teaching job… never get called for any classes
Get hired for wedding/bar mitzvah Videography… get fired on first day for not having my own transportation
Spending hours at coffeeshop looking for jobs on craigslist, writing resumes, etc.
Depressing feeling of applying for jobs at burrito shacks, grocery stores
Getting hired at Hilton… made more money the first three days of training than I had made the first three months of this year!
Work is fun at Hilton and I have enough money to buy food (even at a restaurant) and pay my own bills.
Mike at the Hilton becomes my friend… I see his band play
I go to Easter Services and my atheist parents call me ‘filth’ and ‘scum’ and stop talking to me for two months
First public showing of Thursday is Soup… lots of laughs
Walking around Philly with Andrea, Garth, and my brother, so many sunny days
Some great evenings with Tim
Do Videography and editing for a multimedia marketing company… head of company wants me to be partner in the company and head creative guy
Go to a marketing brainstorming session with a bunch of pompous dimwits
Get hired to shoot landscaping footage for HGTV television show
Getting into the music of Daniel Johnston.
Write obituaries for Pat Sajak and Phil Collins and post them around Philadelphia--get angry response on blog
My brother coming over and being very entertaining, but not entertaining the notion of getting a job and doing anything useful with a single one of his waking hours
Annoying new hire homosexual at work flirts with me, calling me “Skippy”, “Sassy”, “Crazy Snake Man”… he gets himself fired after making a porn with his boyfriend in a hotel room
Spend 2-year anniversary with Garth in Egg Harbor City, NJ. Take mushrooms in motel. Agonizing trip through horrors of television, bad relationship with family. Still kind of fun somehow.
Andrea leaves Phillly. Tim leaves Philly. Garth leaves Philly for summer camp in Minnesota. Parents and brother leave for one month in Argentina.
Start renewed effort to obtain better health: quit smoking, start running, eat more fruits and vegetables.
Resume writing “The Bike Trip” after four-month break.
Adventurous weekend in New York, wearing crazy glasses, filming tidbits of things I see, winning at darts, then defending two female friends from a violent lunatic--getting in fight in apartment hallway--twice, because the fucker pretended he was gonna leave then tried to sneak into the apartment again--cops came and he got arrested.
Preparing new movie with Chaplinesque Nigerian character to be shot in July
Parents put our dog of 11 years to sleep, then wonder if the dog was really sick enough, maybe made wrong decision…they didn’t even tell me til the next day
Preparing first ever stand-up comedy routine with the help of my brother for competition in July