chariot ready? check

i got my car fixed today. i took it down to the autoshop down by the "original" tommy's on beverly and rampart. i like taking my car to this particular shop, since i can always walk home while they work on it. it's so strange... i've been living in my place for five years and i often forget how many childhood memories i have tied to the surrounding blocks of my house. i have way too many memories of being dragged to the "original" tommy's by my brothers and my cousin. i would never eat any of the food, save for some fries, since i didn't eat meat. for some reason, we'd never eat at the upright counters by the stand. instead, we'd hang out in the parking lot across the street, sitting on my cousin's car. over a decade later, when i moved into the house i live in now, i treated my brother and his best friend to tommy's in return for helping me move. though the move triggered a pretty bad asthma attack in my brother, he was so jazzed that i was "so damn close!" to THE tommy's. i remember him happily grinding down his chili cheese burger in between excessive puffs from his inhaler. what a healthy combination: chili, cheese and grease + lotsa lotsa bronchodilator = a rockin' good time for the heart.

the guys who run the autoshop are these older japanese and korean men. the guy who worked on my car spoke limited english, which was fine since i have an extremely limited lexicon on cars. when trying to describe what car problems i was having, i threw out the word "axle." he came back with, "mount." mount it was... mine was broken.

one of the more difficult stretches for me to walk between the autoshop and my house is the overpass above the 101 freeway. every time i walk over it, my over-active imagination conjures up images of some crazed, large brute lifting me up and throwing me over the chain-link fence, down to the freeway traffic below.

i've always been known for my optimism and fearless courage.

it's still alive

barely...