It Was a Good Day....

I know that the picture above is kind of blurry. But it was the best I could do with a camera phone and two subjects who wanted to avoid being captured. For one of the first times in my eight week tenure at the after-school program, I watched two of my students give themselves to the art of screenwriting in a way that they never had before. They took their list of scenes for the second act from the desks and got down on the floor, the way I used to when I wrote, and discussed each scene as if we had a seven-figure budget. I didn't have to ask and I barely had to raise my voice except for when they ran to the window to see the fight on the ball court outside. And my kids are going to let me direct their script, my first directorial credit. Yay!

The lovely nature of the day only improved. As I had drinks with a friend in the business, a friend who, like myself, is adjusting to the realities of publishing books in a hostile and uncertain marketplace, we spoke of love. And as she asked me why I've managed to stay single for this long, I explained that it's the same reason why she is. I want to be happy, not just attached to someone for the sake of consistent sex and appearances. She agreed ten times over. According to her, this is the burden of great artists.

We talked about drugs, life, death, family, art, and the second disc of the Marvin Gaye 'I Want You' re-release, a sea of conversational tranquility. There are even more sex shops than before in the West Village. My first night I ever spent in the Village was with a woman who's married now.

On my way to the train home there seemed to be so many couples walking hand-in-hand, kissing against lamp posts and groping one another in dark corners like something out of a Henry James novel. Spring is definitely on the way. And though I could have been sad I strangely found myself smiling, as I know that when my next time around arrives it won't be the smokescreens of the past. It won't be bullshit.

After that I found my way to another couch back on my home turf, where I was asked if I would ever look down upon a woman I married who wanted me to do freaky things to her. My answer: Hello no! As a matter of fact it's only been the freakiest of my lovers whom I've ever considered putting a ring on.

Someone I trust sees promise in my latest script, promise that I actually know how to realize for once.

So all is strangely well in Kenjiland, despite the way I'd chosen to see it on the surface for a little bit. I'm thinking of something lovely to cook over the weekend, something particularly Thai or Chinese in origin. But only time will tell. I'm just glad it's almost Friday. Out.