End

Tsunami. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo hooked us up with a hotel room at Avila Beach, this quaint tiny town, maybe three hundred beachcombers, nestled between ridges that looked like green shoulders. After hanging with Todd Pierce till 2 or 2:30 AM, I crashed hard, but Mike was checking out the Internet, and saw the earthquake that struck Japan, and that a tsunami was headed our way. He woke me at 4 AM to tell me about it, and that they expected the wave to hit N. America around 8 or 8:30, so we went back to bed until the hotel owner &c pounded the door and told us that the town was being evacuated: 7 AM. The hotel owner was really apologetic, though, and offered us a free room for that night, should we be allowed to come back into town. So with our minimal sleep we huddled into the car and I found a cliff overlooking the sea. Everyone said we should head inland, but I wanted to see a tsunami if there was going to be one. We sat on a log and watched the waves come in. The waves were the same as all the waves that ever hit that beach. We watched for about an hour. I tried to sleep in the car. Todd called, said we should eat breakfast, and that sounded good. Driving in to San Luis Obispo, saw that the CHP had closed off the incoming lanes, so we knew we weren't going to be able to get back in to Avila. Ate breakfast at Luisa's. Todd directed us to a used bookstore where in exchange for the facilities I purchased a volume by John D'Agata. I was dragging pretty hard, and thinking about the more than three-hour haul to LA unnerved me. Mike and I hatched a brilliant plan: we should take up the free hotel room offer and stay another night, chill, should there be minimal tsunami damage. Yes, we are that smart. So that's what we did. of course, despite the massive destruction in Japan, the tsunami had lost its power by the time it reached California, and the result was something like the tide coming in in under five minutes, instead of two hours. That in itself is certainly significant, but I don't think it would've been anything to watch.

Our hotel is to the left (duh) in the first shot here. It's a little blurry, but anyway.

So we kicked it that night, went to bed relatively early, after listening to music and eating antipasto. It was very romantic.

Today we headed into LA. The reading at Skylight was cool. The folks there, Noel and Liz, were really nice and supportive, and Mike and I sold some books. Jereme Dean and Gena Mowish came out to hang and we ate diner food. I had a bowl of chowder, and that is something that white people eat. Just look at "White People" in The Book of Freaks, it says so right in there.

Altogether, it's been fun and worksome, and long, but I'm a little sad to see it end, but I want to get home to my baby and my baby's mama. The baby's still in my baby's mama, so it's easy in that I get to see them both in close proximity.

Favorite meal: dinner at my Aunt Liz's house.
Favorite meal at a commercial establishment: Morning Glory, Ashland, OR
Favorite Song: jingles Mike and I wrote for each other: "You might think he's old, but he's . . .MIKE YOUNG!"; "He's not not you, and he's not me he's . . . JAMIE."
Favorite part of Drive: Coming down Siskiyou Pass into California, near Weed.
Favorite Children: My niece and nephew.
Favorite color: sky.