Tao of Pauly

Stream 2/5/09

By Pauly
Hollyweird, CA

Let's just ramble.

A bulimic actress living in the building across from ours often pukes up her dinner at 8pm. Her bathroom is right across from my office. "Bleeecccccccccccckkkkkk!" echoed through the alley. It disturbed a couple of dogs next door as they whipped into a howling frenzy.

In LA, the locals don't walk much. It's not a pedestrian town, so when I quickly walk up behind someone, they freak the fuck out.

I fried up meats for a late lunch on Wednesday. Nicky was jealous because she's bogged down in a diet like everyone else in Hollyweird. We were both surprised that my bolognese sauce worked. She had a small taste and gave me the thumbs up which was inspiring because she's an exquisite cook. The Andouille sausage added some heat to the meat sauce. I served the sauce over an organic type of pasta that I never tried before. Not too shabby.

Cooking is a perfect distraction because it's a zen activity and allows my mind to wander and I can repair the parts of the writing project that have been plaguing me. I need to spend my morning exercising which is a great opportunity to take a mental dump.

I printed up the first 50K words of the white whale for Nicky and she gave me some harsh criticism. I wasn't looking for praise but rather an honest assessment of the work. She used to critique writers all the time as a studio exec and had lots of useful criticism about pacing.

"Needs less hookers," she said.

Just when I thought it needed more hookers. Sheesh. At least we identified some structural issues which I need to address ASAP before I continue on.

One week into February, I'm in the middle of a losing streak at the poker tables. I only posted one winning session so far this month. Ebbs and flows. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you get kicked in the balls. I hate starting out a new month with a series of consecutive loses. It seems like I'm chasing just to break even.

I found a nifty gadget for my Google homepage. It's Pac-Man. And I got addicted quickly. It was a nice way to kill time during the dead zone of insomnia, but then I found myself playing during the day when I should have been doing research or writing. I finally kicked the habit by removing the entire gadget. Gone. Vanished. No more distractions.

I missed Pac-Man. It might have been a decade since I last played. Maybe more. It was the old school arcade version too. I remember the first ever Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man. Talk about weak ass graphics.


One girl that we knew in college was uber-rich. She had an actual Ms. Pac-Man game in the sun room in her apartment.

My favorite video games growing up in the mid-1980s included Tempest and Kung Fu Master. When I got a little older, I couldn't stop playing Trivial Pursuit. The local video store had an arcade version of that game. Once the technology of home video game systems improved, arcades became useless for me. NHL Hockey and Mortal Combat and PGA Golf were much more appealing to me than pissing away quarters.