Fortune's Smile

In my new digs tonight. Got my bed. My room is warm and comfortable. My brother Gary is a good guy. Now, it's time for me to see what kind of life I can have here. Got a fortune from a cookie in LA that said "YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT - GET TO WORK TO MAKE IT MATERIALIZE." This is a list of things I want, not necessarily in order of priority:

I want to help my parents.
I want to spend time with family and friends.
I want to earn a reasonable living.
I want to act.
I want to direct.
I want to conduct acting workshops.
I want to write.
I want to develop a play based on the life of Tennessee Williams.

Time to go to work!

p.s. If anyone can put me in touch with anyone else doing theater in the Portland, OR area, I will greatly appreciate the contact.

Take Me to the River

Today was a typical NW rainy day in Clark County, Washington. Living in California, I missed days like this, which were few and far between. The Fall leaves also seem particularly vibrant this season, with the hillsides colored gold and green with splashes of red. This morning, my stepfather and I dropped my mom off at my cousin Helen's (Hunny'z) beauty salon and took a ride up to Woodland, WA. He wanted to check out some of his old fishing spots. He hasn't been out fishing for a couple of years because of not wanting to leave my mother alone for long due to her poor health. We drove along the Lewis River on top of the dike, and then the Columbia. I was suprised that we could see St. Helens, Oregon across the river. I lived there for a few years when I was a child. It looked very picturesque, with the courthouse and the marina in view. We only saw two people out fishing, and my father commented that it was probably a little too early for the salmon run. He told stories about his old fishing buddies, some of whom have passed on. I haven't done much fishing in my life, other than catching a trout once and going smelt dipping a couple of times. Maybe I'll go out fishing with my stepdad one of these days.

One Man's Treasure

Today I went to a junkyard outside Orchards, which is an area on the eastern side of Vancouver, WA. I was looking for a tire and wheel (preferably attached to each other) for my step-father's Ford pickup. His spare tire disappeared about a month ago, around the time one of his nephews headed south to Arizona after laying over at my parents' house for some days. Since the nephew also had a Ford pickup and was lacking a spare tire, we speculated that he might have "unofficially" borrowed my dad's for a while. My brother Gary had bought a tire and wheel at the junkyard, but it didn't fit, so I went to see if I could find another one. I was planning on using the pickup on Friday to collect a refurbished box springs and mattress from the Dixie Mattress Company in Portland, and thought it would be a good idea to have a spare tire. This was not a big deal, except I'm not very mechanical, and found myself a somewhat out of my element in a junkyard. And there were a lot of cars in that junkyard. In spite of being mechanically challenged, I do think I have a talent for finding things. I eventually located a mounted tire that looked promising, loaded it up, and headed for home. Lo and behold--it fit! Happy days! Actually, I liked going to the junkyard. It was a new experience for me and that is what I'm looking for. Also, I am trying to adopt a personal policy of buying used and recycled items as much as possible. Both the junkyard and the Dixie Mattress Company are in harmony with this objective.

Ira and Rudy

The day before I left LA, I visited Forest Lawn Cemetery. I was looking for the graves of Rudolph and Irene "Ira" Sepp, husband and wife, who had emigrated from Estonia together many years ago. I knew Ira though my friend Thea and her mother Addy. Before WWII, but after Estonia had fallen under the control of the Soviet Union, Rudy had given Thea's mother a job in his store in Estonia, in spite of the fact that she was outspokenly anti-communist. It turns out he was too, as were the majority of Estonian nationals. Rudy passed away in 1993. I met Ira at an Estonian gathering, and saw her again several times at parties and other events. Ira was kindly and frank. Once, when I had a cut above my eyebrow, she looked at me and said bluntly,"You were drunk!" Turns out she was right--I had been under the influence when I leaned over and hit my head on my bathroom faucet. Ira once asked me if she came to Los Angeles if I would drive her out to Forest Lawn to visit her husband's grave. I would have done it without question, but unfortunately she never found time for the trip. Ira passed away this year at the age of 92, and was laid to rest next to her husband. I told Thea that I would put some flowers on her grave before I left town for good. And I did. Ira was a wonderful friend to Addy, and they had long telephone conversations every day. We miss her very much.

This Journal

The inspiraton for keeping an online journal comes from Chris "Sandman" Sand, a.k.a. the "Rappin' Cowboy." Before the presidential election I was sent a link to a music video he had done called "Go Bama Go." I liked the work so much that I sent an email to him expressing my appreciation. I also checked out his Web site at http://www.rappincowboy.com/. There I found a link to an online journal he has been keeping for several years. Reading through the archives, I was touched and inspired by his way of life, his recounting of various experiences, and how his journal is an integral part of his unique artistry. Be sure to check out his site if you have the chance.

I decided to start this journal as I begin life in the Pacific NW, where I have returned to live after many years in Japan and most recently in Los Angeles. I've been reading the Notebooks of Tennessee Williams, and decided to call this journal an E-Notebook in his honor. Tennessee has this to say about keeping a journal:

Keeping a journal is a lonely man's habit, it betrays the vices of introspection and social withdrawal, even a kind of Narcissism, ... it has certain things to recommend it, it keeps a recorded continuity between his past and present selves, it gives him the comforting reassurance that shocks, defeats, disappointments are all snowed under by pages and pages of new experience that still keep flaking down over him as he continues through time...

As Tennessee would put it, "En Avant!"

Leaving Los Angeles

I headed north from Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 14th. I worked fast and furiously all day to get out of my apartment, as I had booked a hotel room in Sacramento for that evening. My friend Carolyne came by in a pickup truck to "pick up" my futon bed and a chair. I drove it to her apartment, as she wasn't used to a stick shift. The truck died several times and the top of the gear shift came off in my hand a couple of times. But we made it. Carolyne came back later and helped me pack up stuff. I didn't head out of town until after 8 pm, after (I'm ashamed to say) a quick Filet 'o Fish combo at McDonalds. My car was packed to the gills. I arrived in Sacramento around 1:30 in the morning. The hotel was very comfortable and affordable--I used Priceline for the first time and got a really good deal at a Mariott Residence Inn.

I left the next morning at around 10 am. Along the way, I stopped in Mt. Shasta City for gas and food. I'd never been there before, though I've always appreciated the view of the mountain from the freeway. Mt. Shasta is said to be one of the Earth's eight chakras, by some reports that of the heart chakra and by others the head. Either way, it is inspiring. I drove for quite a long while without sighting a gas station and was fearful of losing track of how to get back to the freeway. I finally pulled up in front of a burger joint, where I figured I could ask for directions. There were a couple of items of note in the place. One was a weathered wooden signboard reading "James Dean Road." Since I was wearing my James Dean watch at the time, you might guess how I feel about Jimmy. I took it as a sign that maybe I was following the right road in my move from LA to Vancouver, WA. The other thing of note was the spectacularly gorgeous view of Mt. Shasta this little place had to offer. Just beautiful. The fish and chips weren't half bad either. Two officers of the law who were also eating gave me directions to a gas station and back to the freeway.

I finally arrived at my parents' house north of Battle Ground, WA around 9 pm yesterday. I was glad to see them and they me. I ate some chicken and vegetables my mother had cooked. Today I went to my brother's apartment and unloaded all the stuff from my car. He lives in Hazel Dell, which is on the northern outskirts of Vancouver near I-5. That is where I'll be living for the time being. It doesn't seem quite real yet, but a new chapter in my life has begun!