Post Los Angeles

The end of April was a rough one, but it was great to see some old friends and meet some new ones. After the birth of my new son, I had to hit the road for four readings, which was absolutely heart-breaking and stress-inducing.

So rather than talk about them, here are photos:

There were killer robots at the Cobalt Cafe, where I read my first day in Los Angeles.

I was issued a lousy car from the car rental agency--a white mini-van which hadn't been cleaned and which squeaked on sharp turns. Anyway, this killer robot calmed my nerves.

I had another reading at CSU Fullerton, but I didn't take any photos of that event. Hard to take photos of yourself reading. Anyway, I braved the freeways of LA once again with my rickety rental. I'm now thinking that I should've taken photos of the car. Meh.

Wednesday evening, we had the Kundiman/Habi Arts/Flying Fist Collective reading at Casa Princesa.

From counter-clockwise left to right, Jackson Bliss, Ngoc Luu, Nicky Schildkraut, Melissa Roxas, Ching-In Chen, Neil Aitken, Noel Mariano, and me in the very back on my tip-toes.

Finally, on Thursday, I read for the Third Area Series at Frank's Picture Gallery, hosted by Sarah Maclay.

Here, Sarah is introducing the series or talking about owls. One or the other.

Kundiman alums, Ching-In Chen and Neil Aitken were among the readers. And they read new stuff!

William Archilla, author of The Art of Exile also read. He was wonderful, funny, and a hell of a poet. Lori, his partner, was equally awesome.

In the end, I had a great time. I ate lots of salad. It was colder than usual. I was happy to get home to this:

I won't be on the road until September, which is great. I get to meet my new son everyday and I get to watch my two-year-old learn new words. I get to experience all of these things with my best friend. It's good to be back home.