The weather in L.A. today rocks my ass: Cloudy, cool, nothing like 98% of the sunny and 85 degree monotany we normally get. Makes me look forward to gettign home, cranking up the latest from Tom Waits (Real Gone = REAL GOOD), corking some red wine and sucking in the crisp, night air, maybe alongside the smoke from a Padron 3000.

Remember being 23? If you can't recall those golden days of yesteryear, well, I hate to break it to ya, but there's a pretty good chance you didn't know when to shut up and thought you had it all pretty much figured out. God, I pity the folk who knew me then and can't believe my wife didn't murder me in my sleep. Then there was that rude awakening, around 25, when you realized everything you had learned might not be the right thing, and just because you liked something didn't mean the rest of the planet should share that same view. That was like taking a colossal dump; so much weight lifted, although I did freak out for about 6 months upon reaching that realization.

I've really grown to love my thirties, and from what I hear, your forties are even better. Hopefully I'll make it to them.