I've been reflecting back on the wild time I spent back in California. And, now that the last parts of the story have ended, I'll post my thoughts. Names in italics have been replaced to protect the innocent.
THURSDAY, APRIL 26th
Touched down into Palm Springs with practically the whole connecting flight from from San Francisco to here a mad, skipping rout of turbulence. Plane filled to the brim with drunken women in cowboy hats en route to Stagecoach, the country-western version of Coachella. And each time the plan hiccups, they are screaming, screaming, screaming.
Me? I'm in survival mode. It's how I tend to approach flying days. Day before a flight, I'll have already showered the night before. Everything's already packed. Contacts are stowed away;wearing glasses is easier on my eyes altitude-wise. I don't drink coffee or eat too much. Sometimes I don't sleep. The goal is to pass out during the flight or listen to podcasts and grind my way to my destination.
Grab my suitcase out of baggage claim, try to pull the handle open, but it's jammed. For good. TSA has once again destroyed my cheap ass luggage. Hop outside, grab a cab, and I'm off to the Motel 6. My dear friend Joe and his husband Matt had group rates at the Hyatt for the "discounted" amount of $300 a night a room. I love Matt, but his level of income and experience is so wildly opposite mine, it's almost like how Bush Senior had a photo op at a grocery store once. And they snapped a picture just as he was watching the checkout clerk scan items from the conveyor belt. He looks so surprised and curious. Because he's never gone to the grocery store for himself in his entire life. This ritual is a novelty to him.
So, yeah. Hyatt was a no for me, so I booked the Motel 6 instead. And the lack of comfort is more than a little jarring. Bed feels like someone threw a blanket over a metal filing cabinet. Comforter has a slimy texture to it. Shower is half the size of a port-o-porty.
I'm unpacking, and start my second traveling ritual: Showering off the trip. Wash out the 2000+ miles and clear my head. Put my toiletries in a familiar pattern along the bathroom. And I spy something which makes me giggle uncontrollably.
I brought condoms.
Why the hell did I bring condoms?
Granted, I was stressed and tired as hell when I packed my stuff. Scurried home from a stage reading and had a couple of issues on my mind. But really, Jones?
It's an old habit my dad gave me. We never really talked about sex much. But, the day he moved me into the dorms my freshman year of college, we went grocery shopping and he came back, handed me a pack of condoms and whispered: Here. Just in case.
And since then, I end up buying a box once a year or every time I move to a new place. Mind you, I didn't even have cause to use the damn things until I was 22. I'm an odd, furry duck. I am not physically attractive. And, at the time I was giggling away in that shitty hotel room, I hadn't had sex in over three years.
What did I think was going to happen? Was I gonna shack up with some one at the wedding or during my stay in Orange County? Break out some power seduction moves?
After I stopped laughing, I dressed, and headed out to explore the city.
Palm Springs has a quiet, somber beauty. The whole time I was there, though, the dust and the smoke burned my throat. It's a pretty sort of poison, and you don't really see any young people around.
FRIDAY, APRIL 27th
Woke up early, and headed to a coffee shop with wi-fi. Worked the whole day there, Even though it's been a year or so working remotely at my job, it still feels weird. Like I'm cheating. Even though I'm way more effective and produce more work than if I had to be in an office and deal with all the elegant time-wasters there.
After work, my friends Rob and Maureen picked me up and we drove to Matt and Joe's house for a welcome dinner. I had seen pictures of the remodeling efforts from Joe, but nothing prepared me for the experience of actually stepping foot into a mini-mansion. Lush, open welcoming area. A private sauna room. A bathroom with a bidet. Even the sink was ridiculous and wonderful:
And I did my best. But I'm nervous as hell, and part of me is hoping that the people I love and care about out in CA think I've gotten better, that I look healthier, that I'm heading somewhere in the right creative direction since the year or more since last we saw each other. And I'm hoping the same for them.
Hug upon hugs are given to Joe's brother, his grandma, his mom and dad. I meet Matt's New Jersey family and we chat for a bit. It's then that I finally take a look at the one major piece of the house which has not yet been remodeled; the clown pool.
The previous owners had some strange tastes. Some, like the sink above, win over my heart. Others, like the clown pool, give me the creeps. The tile in the pool is covered with clowns, each of them bearing sharp, flat, non-responsive faces. If my friend Kueberth was here, he'd have pissed himself with fear. I like clowns, and even these were sketchy-looking ones.
SATURDAY, APRIL 28th
Joe and Matt's wedding day.
I grab brunch with my friends Rob, Maureen, Paula and her man Emmett (who shall thereafter be named Pooh-Bear) and it feels like old times. We've all known each other for over twelve years now, and even though a lot's changed, their love, their humor is still effusive and open.
After brunch, I head over to Paula and Pooh-Bear's hotel to get changed for the wedding. As I'm in the wedding party, I get to wear this outfit (which I really like)
We drive to the wedding site, the historic O'Donnell House, which overlooks the city of Palm Springs. I'm more than a little acrophobic, so it surprises me that the wedding and reception are pretty much inches away from a sheer cliff. But it's so goddamn gorgeous and resplendent that my fears die down and get replaced by slight heat exhaustion. Because it's the middle of the day in Palm Springs and the wedding planner didn't think to have water on hand for the rehearsal. The wedding party springs to life and in minutes, water is freely distributed.
After the rehearsal, the bar opens and the guests arrive. And I'm reunited with some dear, dear folks. My old Queen Mary friends.
The ceremony ends, and it's time for the reception. Joe and Matt's friend TJ delivers. He's a passionate, playful, daring man. The first time I met him, he told me that Spanx now made items for men, and proceeded to show off his Spanx top (which he didn't even need, as he was in far, far, far better shape than me) I'm sitting at a table with my good friend Bobby, along with my friend Christopher Kueberth (or Kueberth for short) and his wife Allison. I am over the moon at seeing Kueberth. Since I moved, I haven't heard anything from him other than his decreasing health. And, even though he's lost quite a bit weight, the fire in his eyes remains.
Wedding toasts begun, and I scurry off to grab my guitar. Joe called me days before the wedding and asked that I play what I wrote for him and Matt at the reception. If you haven't already heard the song, you can check it out below:
Joe and Matt's Wedding song
As I'm playing the song, I see my friend Rebecca just weeping with joy. I turn to face Joe, and he's a wet mess, too. I had to focus, or I was gonna lose it.
The song ends, and I rush back to put the guitar away and help TJ pass out glow sticks to get people up to dance. At that point, I'm attacked with praise and thanks for my song. And I know this is pathological for me, but I don't trust positive feedback. Never have. If you belittle me or criticize me to pieces, you'll have my unending ear. But if you say I'm good, I just won't believe you.
So the group starts dancing. Now, I don't dance very often in my life. But something about this wedding and being with so many wonderful people makes me forget myself, and I spend hours just dancing and meeting new individuals. About an hour into the dancing, I turn around and I see Kueberth . And he is on fucking fire, tearing his way through the crowd, dancing up a storm. In that moment, he is brave, he is healthy, he is glorious. And I'm forever blessed to be his friend.
SUNDAY, APRIL 29th
Bobby and I drive back to Orange County, and we make a stop at an Indian Casino. I'm my father's son, and my one real vice is gambling. But I've learned to bet with less and to do so once a year, if that. I enjoy gambling, but the worse part of it is the other gamblers. They're like a buffet of quiet misery. Strollers and cigarette burns and hacking, dry coughs. Bobby's been on a lucky streak all weekend, gambling-wise, and it does not end today. I walk away losing about twenty bucks.
As we head towards Anaheim, we talk about the strange world of online dating, and the merits (if any) to that silly book called THE GAME. We're in a similar place, he and I , when it comes to starting over, relationship-wise.
I check into the hotel my sister got for me and quickly realize it's not a hotel. It's a bloody time share. The rooms are three times the size of my studio apartment and have dishes, a washer and dryer. It's far, far more than I need...more than a little daunting. Bobby watches me chatting up the front desk clerk and says: See, you've got game. And I laugh.
Later that night, I call her up and see if she wants to grab dinner, but she's engaged. So it goes.
MONDAY, APRIL 30th
Monday morning, I did a time share presentation so my sister and her husband would get some extra points added to their account. It was supposed to just be an hour and a half I stayed there three hours. Why? At some point in the presentation, the sales rep, Wanda and I really hit it off and it devolved into a bleeding, vulnerable therapy session about how I feel I really need to just give up trying to find someone to share my company with and give up wanting trips or any other pursuits and just focus on my work. And, her mothering nature kept countering that I was just boxing myself in and that I can have a career and still have love and other comforts. It was clear that she pretty much stopped selling anything to me about an hour into the presentation. She felt she had to save me, from something,
After that, I had lunch with my friend Rebecca and we talk about how acting recently came back into her life. And I'm glad it did. She got hit hard with the crap and unpleasantness hustling in LA can do to a person. She went back to school, got another degree, moved back to her hometown for a spell, but that desire to act was just tucked away, waiting. And ignoring it will ruin you. I've seen it happen to too many folks. Just then, she gets a call to sign with a big agent that day.
That night, I hitch a ride with Pooh-Bear to have dinner with Rob, Maureen, their kids, and Kueberth and Allison. Rob and Maureen's oldest, Maureen is quivering with energy. She does this move which I call the Apathetic Monster. She runs towards you, arms out, zombie-style and growls "rawrrrrr". Then, about two steps in, she stops growling, but starts to swing her arms. And their youngest son has this precious, penetrating stare. It's a dubious, distrusting look which makes me grin.
Dinner is fresh carne asada and salsa, among other sundry delights. Rob and Maureen have been eternally kind to me, and it cheers me to see them as a family enjoying their world.
TUESDAY, MAY 1st.
My old Partner in Crime picks me up and we head over to my onsite office for work. I plan to spend the day there and get some equipment updated.
As soon as I walk in there, I immediately feel depressed. The desperation and impotent rage is so fucking palpable. It's like a bomb went off and the survivors have turned to eating the dead in order to cope. The office is crested in this office park where everything's hazy and a dirty color of white and it smells like stale soup.
And then I saw you, Samantha. You've always had it rough, even when I used to live in CA and be a supervisor for this company. I tried to make your work life as bearable as I could, and I kept urging you to find your joy, to leave this place if it was killing you. And I saw you and you were as white as a sheet and your eyes burned with desolation and you didn't even stop to hug me, you just whispered that you're not doing well right now and you're busy and I had to choke back a sob and I just nodded and I walked away.
And you weren't weren't the only one who was scraping by like this. The whole building was filled with the shells of my former friends and colleagues, trodding along. There was a meeting that day to discuss a policy which needed to have been established over a year ago, and the boss looked like a combination of a horse and a gym coach and the plans he had in motion didn't make sense and I spoke up, and all eyes were on me, this alien from the east who didn't care about being polite. We had lost untold hundreds of students and dozens of good people because new management didn't understand how to keep things going and going well.
My work day ended, and my former Partner in Crime picked me up and we headed to the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre to see some stand-up comedy. Waited in line and the show started. The actual roster of guests is a secret and you don't know until the moment they appear onstage. Just then, Paul F Tompkins arrived behind the curtain and I lost my shit.
Any one who knows me has had to suffer through my feverish declaration that Paul F Tompkins is bar none my favorite comedian. Why? He's spent decades evolving and adapting his work. He's suffered in ways which I've shared and I guess his career path gives me hope that maybe one day I'll prosper on the level he has as an artist. Plus, he can outriff anyone under the table! On that taping of Doug Loves Movies, he did the episode as himself, as reality TV show celebrity CakeBoss, and as Ice-T, and it was wonderful. Just wonderful. You can hear the episode for free on ITunes if ya like. And, if you haven't already picked up his work, I urge you to do so. His newest special: Laboring Under Delusions just came out a month ago and you can pick it up on Amazon.
Next, came Comedy Bang Bang's standup show. And the surprise guest of all surprise guests came out: Mr. Patton Oswalt. His set was a fast fifteen and it was painful how savagely funny it was. Like, unable to breathe, stabbing my ribs in the seat, funny.
As we tried to leave Hollywood and get back to my hotel, an old wound opened up between my former Partner in Crime and I . I'm super shitty at directions. And I got her lost driving back to the freeway. Naturally, due to the late hour and the stalled city traffic, she was furious. She began to yell at me and claimed that I must be telling all my friends that she's the reason why we broke up. And I began to cry. I said: Don't you think that I've told everyone, my friends, my new acquaintances in New York, even goddamn strangers working at a goddamn time share that I'm the one to blame for things falling apart between us? Look at you. You've prospered. You've grown and found new love and sharpened your skills as a artist. And I had to get the hell out of your way to do this. For eight and a half years, I failed you. And I'm sorry.
WEDNESDAY, May 2nd
I hop a cross town bus back to the office to pick up the new laptop they've given me. CA transit just feels more desolate than NY transit. Takes longer, too.
Spend an early evening hosting Paula, Kueberth and Allison for dinner. I play them a few songs I've written and they politely oblige.
After dinner, we explore the game room in the time share and discover an incredibly creepy cotton candy machine which plays a theme more suited to the last five minutes of an after-school special than vending food.
They leave, and as I head back to my room, I get a call from this girl, Mary, who's been chatting with me sporadically on OkCupid. She's cute, but we're very different people. It's the first time she's called me on the phone instead of texting me, and soon it devolves into a six hour conversation and we go too fast way too soon. But I'm just swept up in loneliness and anger and it's nice to feel even a little appreciation.
THURSDAY, MAY 3rd
Checked out of the time share and spent most of the work day with the new laptop in the lobby. My friend Greg picks me up and we grab dinner before seeing the production of Sherlock Holmes he directed. It's a Thursday show, which for some actors can be as good as seeing a Wednesday afternoon stripper. But, there are a few really solid characters, and Greg did well with the vision of the tale.
FRIDAY, MAY 4th
The former Partner in Crime picks me up and we head over to Disneyland, where we meet an old college friend, Anna. And it's a calm, serene time. Just a short six hours in the park, not enough to make one feel sluggish or stressed. I ride Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and tease my cohort for driving us into Hell. I ride Pirates, I ride It's a Small World (and proclaim that , for such a happy ride, the song alludes to quite a bit more tragedy which is woefully underrepresented by the puppets. Where are the tears? Where are the fears?)
After Disneyland, we drive back up to the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre to see Paul F Tompkins do this incredibly funny show called The Dead Authors Series. In it, he plays H.G. Wells (who has used his time travel machine to bring authors from the past back to the present to interview them) and he interviewed the Brothers Grimm (played by two gentlemen from the Superego podcast) It was non-stop amazing and brutally hilarious.
SATURDAY, MAY 5th
The entire time I'm flying back to NY, I keep thinking: Why did I schedule a first date with Mary two hours after my flight lands? Granted, I wanted to see her, but that's just a lot of pressure. She was the one who wanted to see me sooner. The airplane lands, I hop to a cab and I'm racing the clock. Sending texts back and forth to her. Cab arrives earlier than I'd planned, which is great. Run inside, shower off the trip, and await Mary. And again, things went too fast, too soon.
PS - A week and a half later, after another too fast, too soon date, I ended things with her. We had too many differences and she smoked like crazy and I discovered that I can't date someone who constantly smells like cigarettes and pot smoke. I just don't like the way it tastes. And I'm sorry my behavior led to the situation which took place between us. Just as I tried to shut down my OkCupid account, someone emailed me asking if I wanted to grab coffee. I agreed.
Today, that person stood me up. At a place which took an hour to get to each way. Time to focus on just the work now, you know?
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