Fresh air is good for the soul.
Topanga Canyon at sunset. It smells good here.
Wherein Whitney is my hero and I have really big news. So yesterday Whitney took me and two of her friends who live in Los Angeles to the Lakers Game. The Staples Center is nuts, a model of modern technology with a million flashing screens (the better to market to you, my dear), and after about an hour I started to get the twitchy Las Vegas feeling I get after walking through too many casinos. But then I ate some caramel corn, and after sucking on the sugar teat for a while everything was all better.
Near the end of the game we were reminded by the massive screen that hovered over the center of the court of a ridiculous gauntlet that had been thrown in the first quarter by the fine folks at Jack in the Box. If the Lakers were to win the game, and keep their opponents, the Houston Rockets, to a score below 90, we would all receive a coupon for two free tacos from Jack in the Box. The Rockets - a team of little note except for their extraordinarily tall Chinese player (7'5"!) - were still hanging around in the low 80s at that point and I believe the Lakers had broken 100. It was clear that all of our lives could be changed in an instant, if only we believed.
Whitney, an energetic and vocal sports enthusiast (with a few beers in her), began to chant, "We want tacos," and before you know it, everyone in our section was chanting it, and then suddenly, amazingly, all of Staples Center was chanting, "We want tacos." Whitney had started a taco wave, and it was thrilling. I have never witnessed a moment of food-related collective consciousness before.
And you know what? It totally worked. The Lakers kept the Astros to 88, and we all got handed a shiny coupon for Jack in the Box (That I will never use. Want it?) as we walked out the door and we all felt a little bit closer to each other in the city of Los Angeles yesterday. Or maybe it was just the shiny screens telling us to feel a little closer.
In other news (talk about burying the lede), I am happy to announce that I have sold my second book, a novel called The Kept Man, to Riverhead Books for publication sometime in 2007. I am really excited to be working with editor Megan Lynch and all the fine people at Riverhead, and also to be joining their roster of amazing authors. I have always been a fan of what they do over there (I can't tell you how many Riverhead Books line my shelves), so I guess you could say this is a dream come true for me.
Also: holy shit I'm a novelist! Don't let anyone who has sold a novel tell you anything different because that is totally how it feels. A novelist!
I have to go giggle in a corner by myself now for a bit.
(04/03/06)