The other night, sometime last week, I headed to my friends' new apartment to get a briefing on the cat care procedure we'd be executing (see visual aid… which is more for me than it is for you, but I figure this would be boring without some kind of an image so… that's what I have for you.).

@JayBanzia and I drove out to Pasadena to 1. see our friends one last time before we wished them well on their extended trip to the beautiful islands of Hawai'i, 2. re-acquaint with cat, Pippin (cat lovers should click this), who has interestingly chilled out a lot now that he's older, and 3. to get a cat care tutorial (wet food? dry food? rotation of key usage? preferred cat toy in certain times of day? etc.).

What we ended up with was something wholly different when we stepped out of my car and into the driveway of a complete stranger.

Maybe I've gotten too used to reading web fonts… but upon trying to find their unit which I had not yet seen until that night, I stumbled upon what I thought was the address, only what I'd thought was a "1" was actually a "7."

Pasadena, your addressing could use some goddam serifs already.

After making a phone call to say "we're here" to Pippin's parents, we stood idly in the stranger's driveway. We saw a door open. A young man in a towel and flip flops shuffled his way towards us, and greeted us with: "I don't know who you guys are, but I freaking love you!"

Interested in getting to the point, I responded, "Hi, is Evan or Mahea around?"

He was confused. "Erm," he says with a cigarette in his mouth, "I don't know who that is."

Nico: "Oh, we're just looking for our friends. #1## Unit A?"
Towel Guy: "OH! This is #7##! Yeah, this one's a house."
Nico: "Oh! Shit man, sorry to like, get you out of the shower or something for a wrong address!"
Towel Guy: "Oh, no I just had sex!"
Nico: "Oh… congratulations?"
Towel Guy: "Hey, do you have a light? This one's not working."
Nico: "Yeah, sure." [lights his cigarette]
Towel Guy: "Thanks! Yeah, so…" [shuffles more towards the street, hand gestures] "…the apartment complexes are more that way."
Nico: "Ah! Cool, thanks. We just totally misread the address so… well, here we are."
Towel Guy: "No worries. No worries. At. All. Hey, you're not from around here, are you?"
Nico: "Actually, I'm from Pasadena. I was born in…" [points across the street] "That hospital."
Towel Guy: "HOLY SHIT I WAS BORN THERE, TOO!" [he high fives Nico and then laughs hysterically into the night air]
Nico: "Small fuckin' world!"
Towel Guy: "TOTALLY! Oh hey, you wouldn't happen to have any more smokes would you? This is my last one."
Nico: "Yep, I got that, too." [hands him a couple of cigarettes] "And one for the road."
Towel Guy: "AWESOME! You guys are so awesome! Dude I know we just met, but I hope I run into you again."
Nico: "You too, dude, take care."

Perhaps it's exciting to meet someone in your hometown who is actually from your hometown when you know that so many of the residents are transplants, but this kid's sheer elation was infectious and exciting.

Also, I am pretty sure he was coked up.

My evidence: The fact that he is a suburban white kid with bedhead and from my hometown probably makes him a musician (access to drugs), really energetic after sex (Normal people cuddle… or raid the fridge. Depends on the kind of sex.), willing to meet and greet strangers in his driveway while dressed in a towel… I mean, it all just adds up. I'm just sayin'.

In any case, I have been posting a lot lately about things I've learned from what I've experienced.

From this experience, I have learned that kids from my hometown get raised pretty similarly. And that's about it.

Wait, this is not to say that I do coke before having sex which precedes talking to strangers. I was more talking about the musicianship and access to drugs and…

You know what, let's just say I didn't learn anything from this.

Dear Santa,

You’ll be delighted to know that I’ve been really good this year!  “Good” being relative, I think I’ve performed better than years past. Here are some highlights:

• I have been busting my ass to push my career further, both in my full-time job and my freelance work. And I never turn down an opportunity to help other people out in the professional realm.
• I have paid all of my parking tickets.
• This one time, while under the influence of… illicit substances, I found myself in the bed of a very pretty girl.  And I did not make a move, because she is my friend, and because I, unlike many of my peers, do not think with my penis. She’s now in a relationship with a really great guy, and our friendship is completely intact.
• This one time, when I was thinking with my penis, I was able to show some self-control, and I chose not to attend a pornography industry event despite the generous offer.
• There was an event I attended where the associated charity was to support homeless LGBT runaways who’ve been run out of town simply because they’re different.  I only had $20 bill in my wallet.  So I dropped a $20 in the donation box.
• When my friend asked me to be his roommate in a sketchy part of town and with him having no job, I did anyway because I believed in him.  He now has a steady job and we are awesome roommates.
• Even though I don’t work booking shows at the bar anymore, people still call me to ask me about shows.  I do have contacts they can use, so I try to help them out anyway, even though I’m getting nothing out of it.

So, now that I’m done tooting my own horn, which actually made me kind of uncomfortable (a level of uncomfortable which, in itself, is impressive since this is, after all, a blog) I would like to put in a request this year.

You see, my family is cursed.  Some bad stuff happens to us and those we care about in the month of January.  Financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically… you name it, people who are in or close to my family have been hit by it consistently in the month of January.

This year, I’d like for the curse to be lifted, and not just for my family.  This year, I’ve made some great friends on the interwebs, and though I know they’re capable of handling shit-hitting-the-fan, I would just really like for them all to be okay. They might not know about the January curse, and it’s really unfair to them if my family’s curse imposes on their lives.  They don’t deserve that.

Alternatively, if shit does hit the fan, I’d like the power to help.  Too often I’m out of reach or resource, so this year, I’d like to be able to help.

I hope the Mrs. and the reindeer are doing well.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,

nicopolitan

PS. I only have soy milk to go with the cookies this year.  I hope that’s cool.

Setting: Interior, nicopolitan’s bedroom, late at night. Low light.

Muse: What are you working on?

nicopolitan: Music! And it feels great. I think I’m done with this track.

Muse: It sounds done. How many others have you finished?

nicopolitan: I have no idea. When you told me about a year ago to work on music for 7 hours spread over 7 days a week, no matter if I was having writer’s block or made insignificant changes, I had stuck with it ever since. I started with an empty file folder and now it’s about… [checks folder size] Wh-… 30 gigs of data???

Muse: But how much finished music have you written?

nicopolitan: I dunno.

Muse: Import the finished ones to iTunes and see what it says.

nicopolitan: [imports songs] Wow. Uh. 74 minutes.

Muse: You can release an album now!

nicopolitan: I can release three EP’s at this rate — some of them still need polishing, but the end is definitely in sight.

Muse: Feel good?

nicopolitan: Feels weird! Good, yeah, but it makes me kind of antsy.

Muse: Why?

nicopolitan: Well… now I have to figure out how to play these songs on stage.

Muse: Do you have stagefright?

nicopolitan: I’ve never played a solo act before. Oh-

Muse: Oh, shit!

nicopolitan: Stop putting words in my mouth.

Muse: Stop putting your mouth on my words!

nicopolitan: …What does that even mean?

Muse: ……

nicopolitan: ……………

Muse: …so, book a rehearsal space?

nicopolitan: Uh, yes, book a rehearsal space.

This recent post by Courtney903 reminded me of an also very recent, drawn-out conversation I had with some of my friends.

Courtney's point on her post explores karma and how optimism can affect* karma. For the most part, it reminds us that having a positive disposition will prepare you for the good things karma returns to you.

You are all probably aware of the basic principles of karma. What goes around, comes around; you get what you give; you reap what you sow.

My friends and I discussed this at length the other night and came to some interesting conclusions not only about being positive and negative, but also how karma, as a metaphysical abstract, can be known. It turns out modern humans have a highly intelligent and post-modern understanding of karmic principles without even being aware of it.

The Cosmic Method, as we'll call it, is mostly for "feelers" -- people with good imaginations, high senses of empathy, and an appreciation for the unknown in a very spiritual way. They are prone to sensing things like bad energy, auras, and probably even ghosts. These people are going to see and appreciate karma as a metaphysical force.  That is, they'll see karma as an "energy".  As much as that might seem to be too New Age for some, I'm finding a it tends to work for a lot of people.

The Scientific Method, as to be expected, is mostly for "thinkers" -- somewhat averse to seeing the karma idea as something metaphysical or spiritual, this doesn't actually dissuade them from supporting optimism as having an effect on one's life. The idea is that if you project positivity into the world, this reflects inwardly just as much. If a person has an optimistic outlook, then they are more inclined to perceive positivity in their interactions. Good friend and once-psychology-major Tek Support (or... wait was it philosophy? I forget.) illustrated this with a good example:

If you're a person who is helping an old lady cross the street, an optimist is going to think, "This is a good thing, I am going to bring positivity into the world, and making a positive impact makes me feel good, too. Everybody wins." Someone who thinks negatively about the situation will roll their eyes and say to themselves, "Oh, GOD, why can't this lady just cross herself? This wastes my time and I get no monetary reward." Good fortune: it's all perspective.

We all probably knew that subjectivity has a lot to do with how people perceive fortune and misfortune.

But now, with the surprisingly post-modern understanding of the world, karma is compatible with logic as much as it is with spirituality.

Trip.

Something to think about as we head into the weekend, nay?

_____
*GRAMMAR POLICE NOTIFICATION: OK you guys, I should explain something to you if you aren't already aware of it. "AFFECT" is a verb that signifies a difference being made to the object of the transitive verb, as init changes the condition of that something; "EFFECT" is usually a noun ("side-effect"), and when it's a verb, it doesn't connote change, it just means to cause something, like to put it "in effect". If you punch someone in the face, you AFFECT their face because you EFFECT a black eye.

Yes, I am a red pen. Sorry, I get riled up about grammar.