Sometimes sleeping less feels better these days. I missed church/zendo this morning when my eyes opened shutters around noon. I pored over the SF Chron and NY Times while chowing down on oatmeal pancakes and Brad avoided large chunks of food now that his wisdom teeth are gone. Then it was mad dash to clear the inbox and continue the moment on CabbieTalk by responding to some cabbies who had emailed me. Check out the posts, particularly the one of my conversation with Yi Tang who’s been a cabbie for 20 years in Chicago.
Try as I might to go running, there was no chance because my first day of long form improv was upon me and the Parkway in Oakland was closing its doors and I wanted to drive by and shoot a quick video on it. By 6 pm there were two lines that wound around the building and people patiently waited like they would any Friday evening for a the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” It saddened because the Parkway is home to me as well and these days I, like Oakland, am feeling beaten up by everything happening in this community ravaged by gun violence (the four police officer shot last night just died) and the economy (hundreds are losing their home to foreclosures). If a city can be encapsulated by one word, “hard” would be the one I would use for Oakland. In every sense of the word.