Be Here

I couldn't come to LA without at least chopping it up with my boy Matt Wall. Fresh off of two months in New Mexico producing a small film for his company, he was still in a transitional place. When you spend five years straight as a family man who rarely travels without his family, it's more than an adjustment to be away for so long. These days he's savoring every moment with the wife and kids while still pushing forward with his own career as a screenwriter.

While most folks in this town want to take you to some swanky trendy place where folks can be seen, Matt took to a spot called The Frolic Room on Hollywood Blvd., a hole in the wall joint with Hendrix on the jukebox and an all too attentive Sam Malone behind the bar. It was there that we did rounds of Scotch..again. I must have my Grandaddy Jasper in my blood.

We have that married guy/single guy talk where we talk about my dating life since the last time we were face-to-face nearly two years ago. He gets new experience though some of my tales and commiserates with me about others. Mostly we talk about movies though, as we're those kinds of geeks. Had I been in New York he could have gotten me into a screening of Burn After Reading. He says the script is ok, which means that not being there might have been a blessing in disguise.

He also asks the big question again. When am I coming out here for good? It's on everyone's tongue, as if they've heard the same things the universe is telling me. More and more it seems like a good idea. I had a dream one night a week or two back that I was in a private bar with two of my homegirls but the shelves were all empty. The other room in the joint was live and energetic, one filled with liquor and sights and sounds. I was in a room that was dead. It was the other one that would make me come alive.

I miss my bed and my kitchen, as no one really cooks here. I could see myself doing the monthly Sunday brunch things: Garlic potatoes, curried tilapia, and shrimp and grits. Cantaloupe and mango year round. Easier access to the ocean to go and see Yeye. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It really wouldn't. Two days left until home. Out.