Author: Logan Lo

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personal

Your sleepless history

Location: 3AM, sitting up in bed
Mood: awake
Music: make your getaway? But I’m still holding on

With nods to Sabatoa.

So the movie I saw last week was Cashback; sorta like a dirtier, British, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – sci-fi but not really sci-fi.

  • Fellas, there are lots of (tasteful) nude girlies throughout the film.
  • Ladies, it’s a love story.

Something for all, really.

The story’s about this guy that’s got insomnia but finds he can control time, or at least thinks he can. Watching it, kept thinking to myself that I’d thought this or that and gone through this or that.

Funny, we all think that our things’re idiosyncratic to ourselves and we find they’re not at all.

———-

On another topic of visual entertainment, have been catching The Pacific here and there.

My younger very, very pro-Asian friends take umbrage with the pro-American/anti-Japanese nature of the film.

Wanna strangle them.

The Japanese killed – in absolutely brutal ways – almost four million Chinese; half-a-million were experimented on via these sick Mengele experiments.

One thing that annoys me – and I’m sure them too – is being called Chinese if they’re Japanese; Japanese if they’re Korean; Korean if they’re Vietnamese; etc. We’re not all the same.

But it cuts both ways.

So to my young, misinformed Chinese friend, don’t get all up in my face about how the Americans were brutal to the Japanese. If not for the Americans, they wouldn’tve stopped at four million Chinese.

Him: Y’don’t get my point.

Me: And you don’t know your history.

YASYCTAI: Get your teeth cleaned. I wanna make out with someone if only cause my teeth feel amazing. (60 mins/2 pts)

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personal

Stay Gold

Friends are the family you choose

Menu and candle at a bar with Jaymay singing

Cool thing about my city’s that you’re only $2.25 away from adventure. The lady was working so I called up a buddy.

Me: Jaymay’s playing downtown 8PM. You in?
Him: I dunno…
Me: You’re single. Never turn down an invitation.
Him: I’ll meet you there.

Jaymay in concert 2010.04.28

Great concert, seats and venue. She was super nice.

Me: So, I’m gonna do the stupid tourist thing and ask for your autograph.
Her: Do you have something to write on? (takes paper and writes)
Me: Are you writing something mean? (turning to girl next to her) Is she writing something mean, like in high school?
Her: (laughing and shaking my hand) Thanks for coming, Logan.

Jaymay autograph

Have more stories for you; saw a great flick, baked a ham, and cut another friend loose.

Suppose I’ll tell mosta them to y’next week.

The cutting of the friend, I’ll tell you now. In a nutshell, your friends’re the family y’choose. When you’re a kid, y’choose them cause your mom tells you to or they got the locker nexta yours. Whatever.

But as an adult, there’s really only one reason to call someone your friend – Someone’s your friend if you can answer this in the affirmative: Will this person, to his/her own detriment, look out for me?

If you can, do the same for them. If you can’t, cut em loose.

Been alive now for 13,500 days. Only got 12,780 days left here.

No time to waste it on anyone whom I can’t answer that question in the affirmative. You don’t got that kinda time either, kid.

Location: two hours ago, Rockwood Music Hall
Mood: entertained
Music: winning you with words because I have no other way
YASYCTAI: Go on a (short) adventure. It’s $2.25 here; what’s it where you are? (180 mins/2 pts)
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Categories
personal

Thought of kindly

Location: in fronta three screens all damn day
Mood: drained
Music: not sleeping, cold wind blowing in the middle of the night

Green arrow traffic signal in NYC

Spent the last four days cranking on a project. Just submitted it to the client a sec ago. So here I am with you, like old times.

Spoke to another old friend used to see every day. Lost touch, as things go. She had some static that I heard about so dropped her a line.

Her: Y’know, you gave me advice about things that I tell people to this day.
Me: Like what?
Her: (thinking) Well, a long time ago, I used to have to walk through this sketch alley to get home so I carried a knife with me. You told me to carry a small metal pen instead and showed me how to use it. I’ve been telling people that for years.
Me: (laughing) No kidding!
Her: (laughing) Yep. Plus I tell all my girlfriends so there’s a group of women here in San Fran that carry metal pens, all because of you.

Recalled another girl that dropped me a note a while ago thanking me for something I wrote once. Suppose it’s like that Donne poem, y’know – islands and all of that.

Funny how the things we say and do live on beyond our memory of them. It’s good t’be thought of kindly.

YASYCTAI: Call up an old friend for no real reason. (45 mins/1 pt)

Categories
personal

Taking Algebra

Time versus money

Walk with friends in NYC

Been working out for about 90 minutes a day for the past several weeks. Trying to turn back the clock, I suppose. It’s tiring but the thought that 50’s only 13 years away from me’s a bit hard to take.

Have you noticed that your parents spend more on stuff than when you were a kid? Like your pop buys a huge colour TV but when you were a kid, he made do with the old set?

It’s cause when you’re younger, you got more time than you got coin. Then, after a while, it flips in your head and in real life.

In that weird middle place now, where the two’re equally important. Dusted off my manuscript again cause I hear the devil breathing down my neck and think that I gotta get myself in gear.

So I sit down with my six cups of joe and do:

  • subject-verb-object
  • subject-verb-object

over-n-over again until I run outta subjects, verbs, and objects – or coffee.

Location: a yoga mat in 10
Mood: ambitious
Music: move on, Second best is never enough
YASYCTAI: Dust off that project of yours and give it another whirl. (time/2 pts)

Categories
personal

That which clings

Location: back in my black chair
Mood: grateful
Music: struggled in vain to solve this riddle with my brain

Central Park in early spring

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Won’t be calling on you again until a year from now.

My brother came with his girlie from Cali for my bday. No decent pizza round his parts so we hit up our local Queens pizza jointa as well as John’s and Patsy’s.

As for my bday, didn’t really do much – some dim sum and then in bed by 11PM. Heartgirl’s not about the dim sum.

Quite a different life than just a couplea years ago, yeah?

Speakinga which, my buddy’s still getting over his girlie. He always has a million excuses why he won’t clean his map.

Kept thinking he had a chance, if he just let it go for a year or so. But at some point, y’muck around with a scar too long and it doesn’t heal. The very definition of clingy is that which clings. And no one wants that which clings.

Suppose parta why worry about him’s cause I easily could have been him with my ex. I mean, I lived with the girl; saw her ever day for four years. Then one day – *poof* – she’s gone. Saw her again twice in four years.

She never came back and I never waited for her to.

See, y’can’t plead, argue, beg, or logic your way into someone’s life.

All y’can do is clean your map, throw the deuce, and say Peace out.

All y’can do is burn your boats and try to make it home.

If she comes back, great – try again with your semi-clean map.

If she doesn’t, great – y’might meet a beautiful, green-eyed, blond who buys you nice shiny.

Logan's Ipad

YASYCTAI: Get your teeth cleaned. I wanna make out with someone if only cause my teeth feel amazing. (60 mins/2 pts)

Categories
personal

Logan’s 37/Adulthood’s funny

Location: in front of my iPad.
Mood: old but content
Music: find myself remembering now and then

Logan Lo with some rum

Heartgirl got me an iPad. She’s lovely – both the iPad and Heartgirl.

———-

Him: So why is oriental offensive to people?
Me: (shrugging) Three reasons, I suppose:
1. It means east, which implies easta someth’n, and if we’re east, then easta who?
2. It picks up connotations just like any word does. Like there’s nuthin wrong with the word piss, it’s just the monosyllabic Anglo-Saxon waya saying the polysyllabic Latin urination. But connotations, y’know? (pause) And
3. it’s a rug dude, something you walk on. Would you wanna be called something that people wipe their feet on?
Him: (laughing) No, I suppose not.

Met up with onea the fellas that I brought to court recently – not this idiot but his landlord – and cost me some Manhattan real estate. Nice guy, actually.

Adulthood’s funny.

People you war with today, y’might find sitting across a peach-coloured couch in the future, discussing the finer points of etymology. The key’s to not just fight hard but honorably. And when the fighting’s over, just move on.

He gets props cause he fought a good fight. If things were different, we mighta been friends.

Speak’na adulthood, 37 on Saturday. Way closer to 40 than 20. Luckily, there’s rum in my not-too-distant future to soften the blow.

For thosea you reading me for a while, you know the drill – wanna know if anyone’s still reading besides the four or five stalwart commenters I got.

So, wish me a happy birthday, all of you bastards that read me but never say anything.

Logan Lo at 37

YASYCTAI: Hit that comment button. (1 min/0.5 pts)

Categories
personal

Totally Should

Central Park in spring

Her: I’m too tired to work out. (pause) Tell me I’m fat, maybe that’ll get me to go out and run.
Me: Sheyeah right – that’s the adult equivalent of, “Hey, pull my finger.”

Back when my insomnia was raging hardcore, was reading about a book a week. Lately, been reading about one every 2-3 weeks. One of the books I read on vacation was Free, which had this interesting Tim O’Reilly quote I’ve always subscribed to:

[T]he enemy of the author is not piracy, but obscurity.

Her: So will you keep writing your blog? I’m just asking because I’m curious.
Me: Not sure. The whole point was to make a blog was to send out some stories I’ve written. Should get going on that.

I totally should.

———-

Saw Date Night for a date night. Quite good, actually. Had no less than two people commenting that they were concerned that all the funniest bits were already shown on TV in the previews – like that last Adam Sandler flick.

Luckily, no.

Actually, my weekend was quite nice as a whole. Also finally saw The Blind Side. Two great flicks in one weekend. Not a bad way to go.

Location: yest, all over Brooklyn
Mood: ambitious
Music: want to know if the answer’s in my hands

Categories
personal

Braun M&Ms

A good buddy of mine just got married

DUMBO restaurant

Just tried to make some sourdough bread and it barely rose. Damn.

I’ll try again.

———-

Me: Do you wanna move to San Deigo?
Her: I heard it’s boring there.
Me: We’re boring.
Her: This is true.

Still daydreaming about elsewhere again.

Story goes that Van Halen put in all of their contracts that a bowla M&Ms; without a single brown M&M; had to be waiting backstage for them otherwise they’d cancel an entire concert. Sounds like vain diva thing to ask, yeah?

Turns out, it was a shrewd business move, cause their shows’re complex in terms of setup, and each linea their contracts had to be completed so that the show’d go off without a hitch. If they went backstage and there wasn’t a bowl or any brown M&Ms;, they immediately knew that no one read the contract closely.

Like I always say, it’s the little things.

Speakinga little things, dusted off my old German book recently.

Vielleicht ziehen wir nach Deutschland um. Aber sie spricht kein Deutsch (nicht dass ich kann Deutsch). Und ich spreche kein Französisch..

Na, wenigstens haben wir Rum…

———-

It’s April 2010. Gonna be 37 this month. Oh my.

Suppose it’s better than the alternative.

Location: the same old
Mood: daydreaming
Music: dreaming of blue skies, new horizons and sights

Categories
personal

And I’m not

Location: my grey half-couch
Mood: distressed
Music: You don’t know me at all

Funky chair from the MOMA 20100404

Glad somea you liked my last post.

Interestingly, only four things I said’re false.

Ah, mystery…

———-


Me: I think I can come. Lemme ask the girl.
Him: Why don’t you tell her that you’re going out, dammit?
Me: And that’s why you’re single and I’m not.
Him: That’s probably true.
Saw a buddy on Saturday in a park downtown. The sun was out but the soil was still muddy. We started off fencing and ended up wresting in the mud.

Then the girl and I went off to the MOMA to check out some exhibits.

Sunday, went to church for Easter.

Assuming that I’m correct in that your life is your 1/3 physical, 1/3 intellectual, and 1/3 spiritual, felt good about my weekend.

Except for my Sunday night. It could have been (lots) better, but y’can’t have it all.

Monday, court again – not involving me, thankfully – and then off to see the rents. My dad’s home from away.

Me: There’s really no place like home, yeah?
Him: No place.
YASYCTAI: Intellectual, physical, spiritual – time for a stretch. (120 mins/2 pts)

Categories
personal

Today is…

Location: home for now
Mood: mischievous
Music: what I prove, that’s what I move, that’s what I give

Night in NYC

…a day for changes.

It’s hard living down your past. Learning Chinese, or martial arts, or anything, always found that the non-natives were tougher on me than the natives. Like the Caucasian Chinese teacher that graded us harder and gave more homework and exams than the Chinese ones.

Suppose he had something to prove.

Suppose it’s why I gotta know something about everything. It’s also why I think I lived such a violent life as a youngster – always had something to prove. Luckily, juvey records’re buried after 16.

Made my money running onea the largest underground clubs in NYC for four years. That woulda been fine but also met the Devil and took a cut of all of the Xctasy money floating around.

After Leona Helmsley sued me for trashing her joint, put what was left inna Intel stock, then dumped that inna this apartment.

So, considering all of that, decided to sell my pad and give it all away to charity. And considering what’s going on in the church, decided to go to seminary and become a priest.

Maybe this way I can make up for all those things that I’ve done.

Of course, I’ll have to give up the girl and rum.

Now, if y’believe anya what I wrote above, consider again the title.

YASYCTAI: Think about what today is… (10 mins/1 pt)