Buddhist Texans and Happy Endings.

My flight home form Maine could easily be described in one word: long. "How long?", you might wonder. Eleven hours long.

I don't usually fly Southwest as they rarely go anywhere I wanna' be going, and the whole cattle call seating just doesn't work for me. I don't want to arrive early and wait in line. I want to arrive and mosey on over to my seat when it's convenient for me. The reason this particular flight took so long is that it stopped three - yes, three - times before delivering me to my beloved City of Angels. I munched and slept and read through the first three legs, growing restless as the hours rolled by and my stomach grew hungry for real food and not Chex Mix.

At stop number three a new batch of passengers got on board. As I stared blankly down the aisle, a pair of eyes met mine."Oh geez", I thought, "I made eye contact; I'm doomed". And sure enough, Mr. Eye Contact disregarded the many empty rows he walked past to get to my row, where he promptly sat down.

He immediately introduced himself, with a very gentlemanly tone and slight southern accent, and got chattin'. Instead of the normal onslaught of airplane conversational questions - What do you do? Where are you from? Where are you going? - he surprised me with conversation of much greater depth - Finding new things to appreciate each and every day; dreams of making a positive difference in the world; tattoos and their meanings; exploring both intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for traveling. Turned out my airplane buddy was a Buddhist from Texas - which I didn't know was possible. I was fascinated.

On the home stretch, we experienced some of the most wicked turbulence I've ever endured. (Just to put it in perspective, there were screams from nearby passengers.) Ever the gentleman, my next-seat neighbor asked if I was alright. I'm sitting there thinking, "A polite buddhist from Texas who's going to Japan to teach kids English? This is unreal!" Upon landing safely in LA - after my eleven hour trek, we exchanged contact info and agreed to keep in touch; inform each other of where our respective roads lead us.

To borrow a line from a beloved character: He was by far "the most interesting single-serving friend I've ever met".

The Snow in Maine falls Mainly on the Plain.

Today's my last day in Maine. That is, unless the snow doesn't let up. It's snowed about 20" in the past 10 hours and all outbound flights have been canceled. In some way I wish it would keep snowing so I could get stranded here with my family and avoid my busy life in LA for just one more day. . .and on the other hand, I really wanna' get back to BREAKER!

Here's some snowy pics from the veranda.

Great Find: Andy Warhol Banana Clutch!

Mom and I had some time to kill in between dropping Gabe off at school and meeting him for lunch. Naturally, we went shopping.

I have been looking for a cute clutch for a while, and I gotta' be honest, I wasn't expecting to find it in Bangor, Maine. Yet, lo and behold there it was! check out this rad Andy Warhol Banana Clutch I found at Marshall's for only $22.99!


Mom said, "It takes a certain kind of person to pull off carrying that clutch; if anyone can do it, you can do it." To which I responded, "Certain kind of person as in a person comfortable holding large phallic symbols in which she can store money and lipgloss? Yeah, that's me." We were in hysterics!

Go get yer own!

Family Fun with My Mac.

Gabe was totally enthralled by the camera on my Mac. He got the attention of my mom with his squealing and giggling, so naturally she had to see what all the commotion was about. She dug the little camera too, so we had some quality family time in front of the Mac.

Observe:

Driving Without MY Music is Hard.

I drove from Bayport, NY to Dexter, ME with only Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium" to see me through the long, cold haul - and that little gem was courtesy of Denise, who also treated me to delicious homemade banana pancakes and good company at 7:30am.

Other than that, it was just radio, which turned wretched around Massachusetts. No "Pokerface" or "Love Games", no "Sober" or "So What"; just crappy modern country all over the airwaves.

All I wanted was Pink and Lady Gaga for eight long hours!!!

What's a girl gotta' do to get some pop around this joint?

The Little Mermaid on Broadway!

My step-mom decided that a Girls Night in NY would do us all good. And what better way to spend Girls Night than in the city seeing a great show and eating delicious food? We saw The Little Mermaid on Broadway, which prompted my father to question my sanity many, many times.

I have to admit: I love all of the pre-1996 Disney movies, so I was eager to see the flick translate to the stage. I mean, c'mon, who doesn't love "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl", not to mention Ursala belting out "Poor Unfortunate Souls"? They're catchy and memorable songs!

The show was entertaining, and in addition to the standard "movie" songs, there were a slew of new tunes to explain the story further without dialogue, although none nearly as good as the original songs. The set was disappointing, however I am aware that since "The Lion King", I have unreasonably high expectations. In truth, it wasn't the best show I've ever seen, however I never cease to be amazed and amused by the whole spectacle of a Broadway show, and so I was thoroughly satisfied by The Little Mermaid on Broadway.

Even better than the show, I got to spend some much-needed quality time with three of the women who matter most to me: Atim, Angela, and Gabbie. It's in those locomotive lunges and sidewalk strolls that you really get to know one another.

I'm heading North on Sunday for some R n' R at The Mansion.

Let's Go Islanders!

Oh the joys of Island life...

Dan very awesomely hooked Mystic Diva and I up with tickets to the Islanders vs. Ducks hockey game at Nassau Coliseum. Unfortunately we had to take a ladder, helicopter, and two hot-air balloons to get to our seats, and since our last NHL adventure, we've become quite snobbish about where we sit. Naturally, we decided to take matters into our own hands.

From our sky-high section we scoped out the desired seats - center ice, second row. Only when we made it from the boonies down to said seats, we discovered that one of them had a jacket on it - not a good sign. Casually acting as though we had merely passed our seats in all the puck-passing, body-checking excitement, we scooted into a couple of open seats in row 7. With these new and improved seats we could really enjoy the game! Man, I love me some hockey!

There was lots of brawling and roughhousing between the two teams - I loved it! The Islanders won with a 2-1 victory over Anaheim. After the game, we got bundled up and prepared to leave the Coliseum and head home. The iguana had other plans for us. On our way to the car, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a giant red sign reading, "Marriott". I felt butterflies in my belly. "I bet that's where the Ducks are staying", I told Mystic. "I bet there's a bar inside, maybe a nice lounge...wanna' go Duck-hunting?" We giggled with schoolgirl delight and made a mad dash for the hotel.

By our second round of drinks, the Ducks were arriving, and I was really thrilled with myself for this brilliant little plan! What happened from that point forward is sort of a blur: Rum runners, SoCo & lime, and the kind of conversations that memories are made of.

You see, a night at the hockey game is never just a night at the hockey game: it's a fothermuckin' adventure!

Praise be to the iguana.

Amen.

Coast to Coast.

Peace out LA, Hello NY. In a few short hours I'll be heading east with Atim for some much needed family-time.

I wonder if I'll see any of the inauguration.

I wonder if I care.

Breaker Photoshoot!!!

We (BREAKER) had out first photo shoot with the new line-up today! Zena of Logan Pro Photo shot us and did an amazing job. We had a blast being wise asses around Hollywood. Here's a little Breaker outtake that I happen to be quite amused by:


We'll be posting the new photos tomorrow on MySpace.com/BreakerMusic.

The Big Lebowski

If you dig The Big Lebowski the way I dig The Big Lebowski, then you gotta' go to this website: Lebowskifest.com.

Much like a fine wine, this movie gets better with age. eight bajillion viewings later and I still laugh out loud every time I watch it.

Abide.

Good Times Around Town: Melrose Ave.

I was supposed to get my hair done by my girl, Natalie, at Floyd's in Studio City yesterday. I showed up to my appointment to find out that she was out sick with strep throat, and no one else was available to do a cut and color. At first I was bummed - photoshoot in two days and here I was stuck with crummy hair. Determined to spend my money anyway, I headed over the hill for a little retail therapy.

Flasher was my first stop. The psychotic (seemingly coked-out) cigarette-smoking salesman actually had some slammin' taste in clothes and sent me into the dressing room with a pile of rockin' threads to try on. After settling on a snazzy little vest and a pair of tight black jeans, I headed over to Forgotten Saints. No luck there. On my way out of Forgotten Saints, I remembered that there was a Floyd's on Melrose and headed in that direction.

Once in Floyd's I told the chickie at the desk that I needed a cut n' color. Without hesitation, she sent me over to Bryan. He was my kinda guy. I told him what I wanted and he got to work on creating my new 'do. We started talking and it turned out that he does Natalie's hair (the stylist who usually does mine). Man, I thought, this is kismet. She always has great hair, and what are the chances of this little encounter?

A couple hours later I rolled out sportin' my new cherry-cola 'do. On the way back to the car I passed a bunch more shops. Lots of "SALE" signs. I paid no mind until I noticed Salvage on a mannequin in a store boasting 30%-70% off everything. Now I love me some Salvage, and what's even better than Salvage is discounted Salvage.

After scoring a smashing little top at 50% off, I was ready to go home...or more realistically, ready to sit in traffic for an hour and a half. I felt so good, I didn't even care.

In the name of the iguana, the octopus, and unseen vengeance.

I Got My Hurr Did.

Before: Washed out n' shaggy carrot top

After: Ch-Ch-Cherry Cola Craziness

The colors aren't very vibrant in this new pic, but not to worry: they be bright! My stylist, Bryan, referred to them as Root Beer and Reservoir Dogs Red. I like the idea of my hair making people think of a big, fabulous, cinematic bloodbath. 

Of course, there is a lot more to this story, and it will have to wait till tomorrow. Sex and the City and a big pile of nachos are calling my name.