The reading last night went well. Friday night is a bad time for that sort of event, so I was more than a little apprehensive. But thanks to the intervention of elizabeg, the house was papered with lively UCLA Bruins. Joel did an amazing job of reading his piece, one of the most narrative confessionals published in Bad Subjects over the years. And I was able to read a lot more of "Hotel California: Learning How To Read" than I did in San Francisco, which is a good thing since it's one of my most carefully constructed pieces. Ron Alcalay, previously mentioned here after his hemp clothing business was profiled in a German magazine, was in the audience and contributed a great deal to the Q+A afterwards, since he was one of the founding members of our Production Team.

Once the reading itself was over, we went to Palermo up the street -- Fred 62 had too long of a wait -- for excellent homestyle Italian food with Ron and the brother and mother of Joel's partner Jennifer. Lively political and geographic discussion was had by all and I got to watch bits and pieces of the Giants victory over the Dodgers. From there, Ron, Joel, and I headed down to the predictably packed Dresden, where Beth and her ample graduate school cohort were stationed. It was too loud to have deep conversations but still a lot of fun. Then we said goodbye and accepted Ron's hospitality -- he lives only blocks away from Skylight -- for an hour or so, during which time he read a selection from the memoir he's writing and cordially provided us with cordials. Before saying goodbye he gave each of us a fine article of hemp clothing. I'm always amazed at how well I navigate the vastness of L.A. by car. Last night was no exception and we made it back to Pasadena painlessly. Time to shower and caffeinate. I can't wait to hit the beach with Kim and Skylar.

Mode: morning
Muse: the memory of Outkast throbbing in New Silver