3-legged cat, etc.
whatta week
A panoply. This week.
I cat-sat for Rachel (is it cat-sitted?). Prince is 10-years-old. He has 3 legs. He’s a cancer survivor. He purrs like his throat’s a V6. He’d purr if I just looked at him. Luna leapt onto my chest at 4:46AM one morning. Her “meow” sounds punk rock. It’s not demure; it’s Joan Jett. She wanted to lay on my hair, on my very pillow. She was insistent.
*Prince is foreground; Luna’s the black silhouette.
While cat sitting, I was also Associate Producing for an independent feature film here in LA.
By Associate Producer, I mean that I was deeply concerned with the crafty selection - purchasing Gushers and Limón Lays mid-shoot as a rousing pick-me-up for the cast and crew.
Wednesday, I had a day off from set. I drove to Costa Mesa (hi, Serena!), El Sereno, Alhambra (hi, Yani!), then back to Koreatown to feed Prince and Luna. I was amped to watch an early screening of Hamnet at the DGA theater with my friend Arjun. This screening included a Q&A with Chloe Zhao & Jessie Buckley (!!).
That film will make you sob, they told me.
It will mess you up, they said.
But as I rushed to feed Prince and Luna their fortified diet (props to you, Rachel, they’re so healthy!) and get all of the crafty foods loaded back into my car (Gushers!), and as it rained, and LA grew sluggish with cars sliming along, I wanted to cry for different reasons. Basic stress: timing and traffic. I waited at an intersection that was entirely blocked by cars. These folks had just pulled right into the center of it … like:
“This is our time!”
5 cars barricaded the intersection - for the full duration of my green light - and the drivers stared straight ahead, petrified of eye contact with me because they knew… they knew they were being naughty.
I verged on tears - windshield wipers raging - and at last…
I called Arjun: “I won’t make Hamnet in time.”
45 minutes to travel 6.6 miles in the heart of LA.
I should’ve climbed out and run.
I still plan to watch Hamnet and cry for cinematic rather than real life reasons.
Next morning - Thursday - I was back on set as Associate Producer. Which meant filling 10 small bags with fake cocaine (Vitamin B-12 powder) for Yani, our Production Designer.
After preparing these baggies, I dropped in on Doubting Thomas. They’ve got the most delicious passionfruit cream pie. Oof. Rosa’s rec. Please stare at these photos.
Leaping to Saturday, I woke at 5:25AM (I’m on a streak of irregular sleep hours) and drove to Tujunga to convene with Chloe, D, Rosa, Horacio, and JO - amongst a dozen other friends - for a 17 mile run in the Angeles National Forest. Winds whipped. Los Angeles was crispy-clear as far as the eye could see. I like when rains pound pollution clear out of the sky. Everything gets green/blue/brisk.
It was 50 degrees. We climbed 2,400 feet in the first 7 miles, then careened 5 miles down to the streets of Tujunga for our last 5. We flew. I’m training for a 50K. I gotta stay healthy (keep me accountable).
So… I need those regular sleep hours.
This had me pondering my slumber all week. LISTEN?
2 morsels more from this panoply of Nov 15 - 22:
*4-ingredient cookies from Do (and Michael): oats + banana + peanut butter + dark chocolate chips.
*LUNA^
(thanks to Yani and Oscar for several of the photos within this panoply)
-em
I enjoyed reading this. You are inspirational.