W 5-28 7:10 PM

I'm in my night school class. My students are working on some exercises to practice the conditional tense. I meant to have already written in tise journal, but I'm a fucking sloth. The gardeners came and filled my house with noise and pollen. It was too hot to close the window, so I grabbed the newspaper and my book and journal and hopped in the car and put the top down. You might think this could make for a great day, but there's something wrong with me. I wound up driving east on Wilshire and then uptown on Union to Union Station. I thought I might be able to get some information on train fare to Idaho. All I found out, though, is that you can only get that information from an eight hundred number. It cost me a buck ten to park. The first ten minutes are free, but it took me thirteen to learn what I couldn't learn. I drove back past MOCA and Pershing Square and the Biltmore to Wilshire. I thought how one day I've got to ride the Metro downtown and see how much drunken trouble I can get into, maybe go to the library. On the way back on Wilshire, I spotted a sign that said FOOD and GROG. Grog? There was a place on the street to park in front of the door, but there was also a temporary tow-away sign. I found a garage around the corner and parked. A sign said $4.40 Max or something like that. A small price to pay to investigate rumors of grog. I walked to the door and went in. It was dark. An old man with wet red-rimmed eyes greeted me. I asked if I could sit at the bar. Some other oldtimers were sitting there with eyes on CNN reports of tornado devastation in Texas. I ordered an iced tea and got to work on my sports page. Luyendyk won at Indy. The crossword was a bitch. I had a turkey sandwich and about eight more glasses of iced tea. It took forever to read the paper, even with no pretty girls walking by. I only remarked that the Body Shop strip joint was still open on Sunset, but that it was all-nude now, when an old man said he used to work there.

I watched Hud with Paul Newman. It reminded me of my brother. I guess I better check on my students. Two more lines, though. Josephina wants to take me for a burger. I'd rather have a beer.