A.) SEPTMBER.24.07. With people there are two kinds of beauty that knock you out- #1 is the beauty of an elegant woman from manhattan, new york- slender soft strong understated, she’ll sit right across from you on the Q train and read the times and emit a natural sex appeal that keeps you begging for more, she can’t help it, she was born that way. Then there’s the beauty of a caring heart, a caring heart that floors you everytime with its generosity and keeps you humble and proud to know a man or woman with such a kind heart. You’re thrown off by the warmth of a good friend, because you’re so used to a hidden agenda. But with your friends there is no secret motive- they like you just the way you are, it’s that simple. It’s the affection you’d expect a husband to give a wife, not one friend to give to another friend. Every man wants to be with a woman. He does not feel complete until he has one but what of the love between friends? In an unfeeling world that chews up the weak and spits em out into the gutter, you’re there for one another - it’s that simple. Starsky and hutch, butch Cassidy and sundance.

This past week I saw firsthand the generosity and love between friends. Danny taking days off work to show me around midtown Manhattan. Jimmy making me 14 cds of Allman Brothers and Jerry Lee. Aunt Lisa with the hong bao and warm advice and Anna the rides to JFK. Cory buying me a Heineken in Williamsburg. Kimmy giving up her memory foam mattress and sleeping in the living room instead. How is it that they can love someone they don’t even know?

There’s an old cole porter song- “I happen to like new york” circa 1930, where the woman croons, “I like the city air, I like to drink of it, the more I know New york the more I think of it, I like the sight and the sound and even the stink of it.” Keep in my mind I was a new york city virgin and when I got there I kept my feet on the ground. it was like wow I’m really here- in times square. I’m walking down mulberry street munching on sausage and peppers, there’s central park. I’m chugging a cold lonestar at the rodeo club on 28th street. But I never got under the fingernails of the city- I fear it would be too expensive to live in manhattan, Brooklyn even. Danny was a warm host and we did the museum circuit and scarfed down some good Brooklyn Chinese quite regularly. I can happily say I made the trek from the pacific to the atlantic, from sea to shining sea like a regular jetsetter. America is an amazing country- it’s my favorite country and nobody can convince me otherwise.

B.) 9.18.07. New york New york, i'll miss you, i will think about you.

C.) 9.15.07. I was supping with a cohort of mine at the hollywood soup plantation the other night, and brought up that flap about the city councilman in south central. This councilman wants to put an end to fast food expansion in South Central- saying no to McDonalds, Taco bell, Kfc, to make room for more healthy choices- supermarkets, salads and the like. I think it's a great idea, but my friend flew off the handle and started blaming ghetto parents for being lazy shits and not bothering to fix their kids home cooked meals. I bit my tongue and buried my nose in the minestrone. you should never lose a friend over politics. In my mind, i thought- those parents obviously can't do what needs to be done to keeping their kids from getting chunky. they need all the help they can get, give them a trader joes, build another Ralphs and albertsons and elminate all the hohos and twinkies in the snack aisle. That would put those f#cking plastic surgeons in beverly hills out of business.