Today’s soundtrack:
Sister Luck is screaming out somebody’s else’s name
What a shame.
Today at 9:02pm: Clearing my throat in front of a roomful of people.


Fuckin’ psyched man, some checks finally came in for me on Friday. The Corporation hasn’t paid me in months and these motherfuckers owe me thousands. In the meantime I’ve been slowly burning credit dollars and crying into my canned fish. When I got the checks in the mail I ran to the bank like fucking Carl Lewis. Word up it was like a Nike commercial mixed with Citibank.

On Sunday the name of the game was Humility but on Friday night, the name of the game was All You Can Eat. Eggtart rounds up eight of us and we go for A.Y.C.E. shabu-shabu at this Chinese joint on Mott. It’s called Bingo and it’s next to Wing Wong. Say that loudly on a cell phone if you want white people to stare at you.

Eggtart, Sona and Cia started eating like they were trying to bankrupt the place. I think each girl loaded her dish four or five times. They ate like we were all going to be strapped into electric chairs the next morning. I was too busy guffawing because Handsome Dan and Mars were cracking me up.

Afterwards we headed over to Happy Ending (second weekend in a row) because Deadly Ed Lee was turning 30 and having a party. Haha, I got another member in my club now. Yeah being in your twenties is for suckers, man.

The crowd at the bar was moderate; I wanted to talk to strange girls but was painfully aware that all of us reeked heavily of fish from the shabu-shabu. I talked to familiar girls then left early ‘cause I had to get up early the next day.

Saturday I got up and started working on the short story I was going to read at the AAWW later that night. Tinkering with it, cutting some shit out and beefing up other spots. The hardest part is when you feel like you came up with some funny stuff but then you have to cut it.

When you get it to a certain point you have to read it in front of a mirror with a stopwatch. The time limit for the reading is eight minutes apiece and I got it down to seven. After reading it aloud I realized there were more flaws so I went back to the keyboard. Fuck! It’s already 1:30pm, I’m never gonna make Hapkido. Gotta help Deadly Ed Lee move at 3:30.

At 3:30pm I’m sitting my ass in front of Manhattan Mini Storage on the west side, taking pictures of an uninteresting building across the street.

3:50pm I’m backing a moving van into the loading dock.

4pm we’re loading the truck.

4:20pm I’m driving the truck north on 8th Avenue.

4:37pm we’re unloading the truck.

5pm we’ve loaded the last box into Deadly’s new digs. Thank god for elevator moves. Also Deadly doesn’t have that much shit so this is the fastest Manhattan move I’ve ever done. The four of us shuffle around his spanking new apartment (the building is so new they haven’t even put numbers on the apartment doors yet) and smoke.

There’s always something exciting about helping a friend move. You know, some bullshit about new beginnings and all that. Unfortunately I don’t really have time to reflect on all this ‘cause I have to go home and work on the story some more.

Around 7pm I drive up to the reading in silence and spend ten minutes looking for parking in Koreatown, which is kind of like waiting on a kidney transplant. I find a spot five blocks away and walk.

At the Workshop I say hello to some old faces and sit. The place packs out almost immediately; tonight there are eight open-mikers and seven featured readers counting myself and it seems everyone’s brought a posse. I don’t really have a posse but Cia and Eggtart show up for support.

The reading went well, I think I got the best response I’ve ever received at a reading. Was kinda surprised; wasn’t sure if this story was a keeper but the people have spoken. The AAWW audiences have unwittingly become a benchmark for what I’ll put in the book and what I won’t.

Afterwards Cia and Eggtart break out. Starving, I go for some chow at the bagel joint on Fifth. I try not to eat before a reading because you don’t want your stomach to go crazy on stage. At the bagel joint I wanted to eat outside so I got a chicken sandwich and sat on a stoop, but then this cockroach the size of a small mouse started hanging out so I had to go back inside.

Afterparty at Skybar. Skybar is a small outdoor rooftop bar on top of some hotel in K-town. The Empire State looms above you like that tower in Lord of the Rings. I end up talking to this cute girl named Jen. Actually it was more like her talking and me trying to conceal the fact that I am kind of a dork. The bar scene has always been challenging for me.

Shit I’m gonna have to post the rest of this later, it’s 7:19am and I have to go to work.