there are many cool things about echo park.

of the many exciting and strange things that fascinate me daily, the most mundane of things excite me the most.

for example. Having to walk/jog/run/limp/wheeze at least twice a day around echo park lake, I notice and can recognize many of the ducks and geese that make it a home. I especially like the huge gang of geese, and the clan of mallard ducks. I really love this black goose. It's eyes have this cool white outline that also extends in a line around the head. it looks like it is wearing goggles. These folks always seem to be cruising about, doing what they do.

today was really cool though. I guess alot of the pacific northwestern (and other northern areas prob canadian and alaskan) duckies and birdies are apparently making their way down south to mexico I guess. There were so many more birds of many varieties today. I kind of wish I knew more about ornithology.

fishing is very popular at echo park lake, its of the catch and release kind, I don't know if i'd eat anything that lived in the water anyway. Usually, I see the typical fishing pole, or a old fashioned huck finn stick and string. But today, I saw a hybrid of both. These cute old korean men had these fishing poles that looked like fiberglass. One end extended over the water obviously and had one end of the fishing line attached. The otherend was two pronged stacked vertically with one sticking into the ground and the other one acting like a sort of counterbalance. This thing was huge, and the old men would deftly swing the weighted line in this shallow arc into the water. very cool.

in the morning, I always see the same dogs and walkers. on saturday and sunday morning, I get up much later and see a different crowd. i actually get into conversations on these days. the week days at 6am are strictly for exercise for the colonel and I.

had practice again today. yesterday and today was the first time i've played out in at least a month. It felt rusty, but it was fun. we were joined by a new guitarist. i actually got to play back up bass, not lead bass. I like both. I love being the main riff maker, but its nice to back up and support a guitar player once in a while. I am much less self conscious when i'm doing that.

i played with the doggie alot today, went around silverlake with rach, took him for a walk around the park, wresteled, shoved eachother around etc..

hector my neighbor came over and I helped him with his math homework for a little bit.

at the last minute, sherie told me of this awesome thing called cut and paste that was up the street from my house (my rant on being uninformed culturally in LA is coming some other day). Basically it is a live graphic design competition. The competitors had 15 minutes to create from scratch an image based around a theme. crazy. it was like a sporting event, but with a row of macs and tablet monitors instead of jocks and a few dj's instead of cheerleaders. example themes were time travel and alternative energy.

lots of hip folks, lots of tattoos and neat hats. good music. eric nakamura of giant robot fame and buff monster were in the judging panel. apparently there were free drinks, but we got there too late to cop from widmers. its all good.

it was too warm and crowded in there, I felt a bit claustrophobic (my rant on my ever developing and growing claustrophobia will also come another day).

now, i'm chilling on the couch, as colonel mustard makes the best of a long pillow. i could sleep in any position right about now.  ¶ 11/11/2006 11:15:00 PM