For the time being

As of this Thursday, we've been in Los Angeles the exact amount of time that we were on the road. I still enjoy the reactions from different people when we tell them about that trip, about how we took the least direct route possible and drew it out for more than a month.

But now we have been here more than a month, and everything has about it an air of reality and at least semi-permanence. I still haven't found a job, but that's okay because the weather's beautiful and I'm writing a lot these days.

And the job thing should be turning around soon enough. Tomorrow or Friday I have a phone interview with a small publishing company looking for an assistant editor, and that could lead somewhere exciting. If it doesn't, then I will keep searching and applying and asking and talking.

On a possibly related note, I worked at the West Hollywood Book Fair this past weekend, and it may have been the high point of my time in LA so far. I got to manage two stages, listening to the panels all day and interacting with the authors and talking about books and checking in with people who may help me find a job. Not to mention acting all official with a clipboard and radio, which is always fun.

On an impossibly related note, a few conversations and random thoughts after horrifying dreams have helped me see again how terribly insecure I am. Maybe more thoughts on that later, but first I go to Virginia.

My cousin Peter's wedding is this weekend near Monticello. I leave here around midnight Friday and come back midnight Monday. I'm really looking forward to this, spending time with family. Not to mention weddings are good and airports are always exciting. I even have a brand new book I've been saving just for this trip.

Today we drove out to the coast, walked down Venice Beach and to the Santa Monica Pier. There are some iconic spots out there, lots of things we've seen in movies, and the ocean was beautiful, but altogether it made me grateful again for the area we're living in now.

Last night we saw Where the Wild Things Are with a Q&A with Spike Jonze. That's my favorite movie we've seen out here, among my favorite movies so far this year. You should watch it. Then maybe we can talk about it.

On the note of media recommendations, I also suggest that you read For the Time Being by Annie Dillard and listen to "The Trapeze Swinger" by Iron and Wine. Both have been stirring me pretty deeply this week.

If this seems disjointed, it's probably because it is. I'm fighting a creative block for a story I'm working on, and I think I'm using this to chip away at it. So I'll get back to that, and you can get back to your cross-stitching or whatever it is you were doing before you started reading this. I might post something else on here tomorrow. If not, see you after Virginia.