Poptarticus

Year: 2005

  • Better look out below!

    I am heading out tomorrow on a two-week journey, my usual January journey up the coast, the final stop being the Unified Grape Symposium in Sacramento, a trade show overrun with not only winemakers but also cellar rats and vineyard workers. One of the coolest thing about this show is, some of the seminars are presented in Spanish, because, hello, who do you think tends the vines in this great State?

    First though, I am spending the weekend in Arcadia, and hitting the Santa Anita racetrack for two whole days with my friend Nancy. She has never been to the races before. I LOVE Santa Anita… it’s a world-class track. This weekend, it’ll be clear skies, we’ll be able to see the normally smog-obscured mountains, and drink some overpriced Pinot Grigio at the Uber-bar there. Someone won the pick-six today, so there is no carryover, but heck, who am I kidding? I’ll be lucky to win one race.

    My grandparents saw Seabiscuit run on one of their first dates. My mom told Nancy, never bet on a sweaty horse. I will always bet on the horse with a foodie name. Learned my lesson at Del Mar last summer when a longshot, Habanero, came in and I didn’t bet on her. That was (in a long history of racing fuck-ups) the stupidest bet I didn’t make.

    I am a little bummed I am not going to see the Arcade Fire in one of their many SoCal shows this weekend. Especially because I listen to their record constantly, and dream their music when I am asleep. But oh well. Nancy, the Golden Globes, and a take-out pizza will make me forget what I am missing (hopefully.)

    It’s going to be a riotous weekend, and from there I hit the road and head to the Central Coast, working all day and then at 4:00, having a taste or two. Working up there doesn’t suck.

    Next weekend, am taking a class with the famous Diva up in Sonoma. After that there will be a Slowtrav party, always a good time. I’m heading down to my hometown after, will chill with my brother Jay and his wife for a day, then start working again.

    The weather is fantastic. I am hoping for no more rain. I am SICK OF RAIN. No more rain, please. For awhile there, it was reminding me of Venice, where in March 2001 it rained every single day. Only here, palm fronds might fall on your head, instead of decaying plaster.

    I’ll try to write from the wine-soaked road.

  • Life During Dreamtime

    I am totally exhausted. I think it is because in that other universe, the nighttime one, things are a little crazy. I think I am dreaming constantly. I woke up Sunday at 3:00 AM in a total cold sweat panic attack. I can’t remember what I was dreaming, but knowing me, it was something totally insane.

    This morning, I dreamed about pain, because I was in pain. It?s a female thing. I was in pain all night and then was dreaming about the pain. Even though I am very good at self-medication, I hate to take painkillers. I don’t like aspirin or motrin because for some reason I think it is harmful to me. So I just suffer. But try to take away my wine and I will bite your hand off. I know, I am really weird.

    So I had crazy dreams laced with pain.

    In one dream there was a little girl of about seven, the fictional daughter of a mysterious friend, who had these crazy feet. Her feet were huge, and ugly. They looked like the feet of a fairy-tale witch. I said to her, “dang, you have big feet! What size are they?” And she said size 5, but they were way bigger than that.

    J Lo was also in my dream, and she was upset about something so everyone was walking on tiptoes around her. She was having a conniption fit because she wanted some Pozole. In my dream J Lo’s current role was as a Mexican waitress, who always, after her shift, went to another Mexican restaurant to eat Pozole, still with her Mexican waitress costume on. Then she always complained about her meal. This was J Lo’s role, within a role, within my dream.

    Later I think I was walking with J Lo, the girl with the crazy feet, and some other people really far to get a meal. For some reason we were walking five miles on a crappy road. And I was in major pain, so I was like, this is not cool. Then some dude hurt his leg and was leaning on me, and I was like GET OFF ME DUDE, IT FUCKING HURTS! Then a streetcar pulled up and we all got on, thanks god.

    After that I woke up and took some Aleve.

    But what does it all mean?

  • It feels like this year is going by so fast…

    I’m having a little bit of a hard time, er, moving into the new year. It’s already January 4th and before we know it it will be Valentine’s Day and then Bastille Day and then Halloween and then, it will be this day again.

    I don’t remember it being like this last year. I think it is this heaviness that is covering the whole world. I remember when Princess Di and Mother Teresa died like the same day or same week or something, and right after I was feeling uber-crappy, and my mom said it was because half the world was in mourning for those two women and that energy was affecting everyone. This feeling is like that feeling, times 800.

    The ocean, eating people. I think the earth is really pissed off at us right now, and who can blame her?

    I’m not one of those people who jumps on the diet and exercise bandwagon January 2nd and this year, I seem to have even gone in the other direction. I am stuffing my face with whatever is around, trying to drink all the wine and eat all the chocolate at once instead of saving some for tomorrow. If I don’t watch it I’m not going to get that mystery guitar player I’ve been wanting (it’s even a mystery to me, so don’t start guessing quite yet.)

    Everything moves on though, so maybe I will finish all the candy tonight, and tomorrow the sun will come out and I can walk up the hill, and look down at the ocean and still love it. We’ll see.