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[april 14]

when im having a lousy day, i walk down the street to an exotic bird shop. there's a parrot there named cadillac who always asks me how i'm doing.

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[april 16]

this used to be the $3 dollar theater at valley plaza, where you could watch the movie spring breakers like 4 months after its intial release. the floors were sticky and the concession stand had cursive neon signage that hadn't been updated since the late 80's. now it is a film set for somesort of dystopian clown movie or tangential MCU thing i think. i drive by this parking lot everyday on my commute. one day i decided to bring my olympus stylus 400 zoom film camera inspired by a pic my friend Alix posted to her valley haunts instagram accounts' story. as i was wandering around the parking lot, a man in distressed skinny jeans hitting a geekbar b-lined toward me making very direct eye contact. the first thing he said to me was "what do you believe in" to which i responded "i don't know"

"no like, what religion are you"

"i don't know"

Then he proceeded to tell me he was a desi and that they were "the most powerful gods."

at the other end of the now defunct shopping center, there's a series of small sad-looking sheds painted in bright primary colors, corralled by a chain link fence, called the alexandria tiny home project. aka makeshift housing for the large unhoused population of north hollywood.

the weird thing about LA is reality and fiction often blur. i guess that's why the stereotype of this place is nothing is real.it does feel like the end is near but every generation feels like they'll be the last. i remember being a kid and coming to this shopping center. there was a fashion Q and a small jewelry store with imported goods, like cutesy stationary and all the silvery trinkets you could ask for that turned your neck and fingers green.

shortly after it started raining super heavily and there were thunderstorms. but only for about 20 minutes. this all actually happened.

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[april 17]

yesterday i saw clikatat ikatowi (don't ask me to pronounce it) at zeb and stephen malkmus was in the audience but i didn't notice. it was definitely an old head show. insert ruminations on aging and the cyclicality of culture.