today is my last day in america. the weather is pretty nice, and the day has gotten off to an interesting start. i crashed at erics place last night and woke up at the same time he did this morning, 7am. he gave me a ride to my car which was parked a few blocks away and smashed the hell out of his passenger side window on the gate to his parking lot. hilarious shit, he’s in reverse at like 10mph in a tiny parking lot and then there’s a loud smashing sound as the glass breaks and plastic flies everywhere. his car is so fucked up its unbelievable. a month ago he was pulling out of his lot while i was in the car and he scraped the shit out of the side of his car on a wall. he has a beater, its an old taurus, it looks like robocop’s car. anyway, after that, he pulls up to my car and a cop car immediately pulls up behind him and gives him a ticket. i got out of the car before the ticket was issued, so i didn’t see what it was for, but here’s a photo i took from across the street:

here’s a link to the image of eric getting a ticket

at this time tomorrow i’ll be at the airport. i think i have pretty much everything set up and ready to go. i need to pick up a few things today:

– carton of cigarettes (eric can get a discount at his work)
– nail clippers
– wireless router
– toothpaste
– fabric softener dryer sheets (to keep in my car while its in storage)
– car sun visor (to keep the dash from fading)

and i think that’s it. i need to get hepatitis vaccinations today also, elizabeth might come up from san diego to administer the shot, and if not, i might have to go to the gay & lesbian center in west hollywoodl. i’ll probably give the clinic there a call anyway to see if i can do that, because i don’t want to have to rely on someone else right now. plus, the hepatitis shot is free at that clinic, although i’m not sure if i can make an appointment for the same day.

i’m dropping my car off in santa barbara tonight with mary lee and jerry, who are old friends of my parents. my father went to medical school with jerry, and they all lived in california together in the late 60’s. apparently i’ve met them, but i was too young to remember much. i have the intention of asking them what my parents were like when they were my age. i think i know what they’ll say, but i’m kind of hoping that i’m somehow surprised.

i went on a late night photo shoot last night with mark and his friend. got some pretty decent night shots of the clean side of downtown LA. it got pretty chilly last night, but it was a great time walking around at night with a tripod. this was my first time on a leisure photo session with mark, in a way it kind of sucks that it had to happen just before i’m leaving, although now i’m psyched about taking more shots. i also decided that i should really figure out some way to bring my tripod with me to china. i was thinking of buying one when i’m there, but if i do that i’ll probably have to buy it in Hong Kong, and if i carry it from HK to Chengdu, i might as well carry it from LAX to HK.

i’m going to head to santa monica now to get that wireless router.