Asleep for a Day

The Chinese owner of the laundromat down the street knows very little English, so when he sees me he digs into his bag of tricks and says, "Hi. How are you?" and every time - despite already knowing that he doesn't understand me, I say, "Good, thanks, how are you?" thinking we're finally ready to connect, to have a bonding conversation, which is then met with this blank stare, because he doesn't know how to respond. Then, after about thirty seconds of awkward silence he'll say , "Happy New Year" which sounds nice, except it's the middle of February and he's already said this to me six times, and each successive one loses a little of its sincerity.

A while later he saw me struggling with the change machine. I put the dollar in correctly, using the image on the feeder as a guide, but it kept spitting out my money, despite the paper being relatively wrinkle-free. After a few minutes of frustration, I turned the dollar around, with the face in the wrong direction (sometimes this works, ya know?) and again, no dice. Finally the owner comes over, points at the instructions and says "Follow pic-cha." So I turn the dollar back around and boom, it takes it. While grabbing my quarters he kept repeating himself, and giggling, "Pic-cha. Follow Pic-cha."

I tried to explain my logic in turning the dollar around, how the machine wasn't taking it so I flipped it over, but then halfway through my explanation I realized he didn't understand a word I was saying. I was just a dumb white guy, and he was going to laugh at me regardless of what I did.

Later in the evening, while leaving Amoeba Records, I saw Casey. We made eye contact and I thought about stopping to talk, but then remembered I had already blown it so I just kept going with my head down, pretending as if I didn't recognize her. When I got home she sent a text message, teasing me for what happened, and for thinking she was mad because of a dumb reference I used in a story about her. It's funny the way I become convinced people are pissed at me, only to discover that they have more important things to concern themselves with. We discussed grabbing dinner Wednesday night, getting all dressed up and doing the stereotypical thing, which could be amusing, I guess, if I have the patience to deal with everybody.

Let me digress by saying there's nothing wrong with buying your lover some chocolate or a bouquet of flowers or going out for a romantic dinner. I just think we can do it anytime of the year. Not to sound conspiratorial, but the flower and candy industries have invested a ton of money into getting people to consume (and making them feel guilty if they don't), and it's amazing how many of my friends get depressed because they don't have someone to go out with on Valentine's. It's bullshit, if you ask me.

I ended up buying "The Velvet Goldmine soundtrack" (with cool tracks by Thom Yorke, Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Lou Reed and various members of The Stooges and Sonic Youth), Syd Barrett's first album "The Madcap Laughs," and The Chemical Brothers "Surrender" (which has the most beautiful collaboration with Mazzy Star lead singer Hope Sandoval) - all of which provided great dreams into the early morning.

Also, I finally made my way through City of Men - all nineteen episodes - this past weekend, and it was really fascinating. If you enjoyed City of God and The Constant Gardener, it's by the same director, and the photography alone is worth checking out, let alone the fusion of humor and intense, gritty drama. I also saw The Science of Sleep Sunday night, rather than waste my time with The Grammys (I did see The Police's performance on Youtube). I can't say I didn't like the film, but it certainly was a bit of a disappointment, if only because, again, I let my expectations get the better of me. The visuals were really cool, and the premise was interesting, but it just didn't carry the same weight that Eternal Sunshine did, although there were some similarities in plot and tone. I guess I just don't buy into the whole Michel Gondry hype. He has a cool style, and I like all the optical illusions and stop-motion animation, but narratively, he's not as brilliant as many hipsters make him out to be.