5 Random Good Things

In no particular order, with no particular them, from my particular perspective, from my particular experience:

5 Random Things That Make Life In LA Good (note: (some of my 25 random good things might be associated with each other in some way. I can't help that. Good things beget good things. I have no agenda other than to share what has made my life in LA good.)

1. Tuesday Night Project. So, I am a currently a co-producer. Conflict of interest? Not really. This was on my list of reasons-LA-is-awesome since 2008, when I went to a Tuesday Night Cafe for the very first time. There are some pretty amazing people involved with TNP and I feel lucky to have been a part of it for the last year.

2. The Park's Finest. It's the sauce. The rub, the meat, those are great, but the killer move is the sauce. It has kick and it has coconut milk in it (I think-- and/or unicorn blood). There's not really any going wrong there. The owner/operator is Johneric Concordia, Resident Host of Tuesday Night Cafe and a member of

3. The Fighting Cocks. I have a soft and tender spot for independent bands that play good music with political lyrics. They play around Long Beach a lot and, yes, the band is one of TNP's Resident Artists.

At this point, it sounds like TNP has eaten my life. Well, it has enriched it immensely. There will be some non-TNP-related stuff in this list, I promise.

4. Papa Cristo's! I can't say the name without an exclamation point. There on Normandie & Pico may be found the falafel that ruined me for all other falafel, at least in California. It's been over a year since I had a falafel sandwich from there and I probably think/talk about at least once a week. I also liked buying Greek/Turkish coffee from there. Strong stuff, goes well with lots of sugar.

5. Random places like St. Vincent Court. There's so much yet-to-be-discovered-(by me)-quirk in this city. There's so much old and new mixed together and sometimes it's hard to tell which is which. I loved wandering through this place one sunny afternoon (after biking past it but not entering it one dark night), but I've yet to try out its breakfast/lunch offerings because I no longer reside nearby.

Since I talk about leaving LA so much, it'll be good to document these good things to explain to myself later why 1) I never left or 2) why I left and came back.

Now if only I could find a nice low/no-rent situation back in SoDo. If any of you (two or three, if I'm lucky) readers happen to have any ideas, please feel free to drop me a line.