there is something weird about living here in mountain view. it isn’t an all-the-time feeling, its less than that.

in la, i learned (badly) how to have celebrity radar. there was easily a celebrity viewing once a week between my friends; i would get calls or txt messages saying ‘i just saw ____ at _____’.

then i moved.

now its much more confusing. i recognized immediatly that this radar served me no purpose. i wasnt good at it anyway, but always enjoyed when i did see people i knew. (carter reminded me on sunday that we saw robin williams in golden apple comics on melrose one day. the two of them made eye contact, he kept shopping. and she couldnt stop laughing. i almost wish i had said something now, looking back. i mean, robin williams.)

(im typing this in starbucks, part of my morning ritual, sadly. i get up, exercise, get ready for work and then walk across the street to the ‘bucks for an hour worth of writing. then i walk to work. it kills me that my local coffeeshop is starbucks, but it just is. and being able to walk is more important to me than driving to a a nonchain store. anyway, im sitting here and the cup my short cap (ug) came in has a quote on it. this is true of starbucks cups, they have some ‘insightful’ quote from someone on the cup. and mine? today? yeah. jason f-ing mraz. ‘it takes no time to fall in love, but it takes you years to know what love is.’ really? it takes years? im calling bullshit on that, mraz. though i agree with you on the first part. anyway, the anger i have for mraz has once again bubbled up to the surface.*)

back to not celebrity spotting in mountain view.

but now, there are new celebrities to spot. these people come closer to ‘real’ people i admire — people whose work i critique, use, draw inspiration from. and they are faceless and nameless. sadly. i see people here in town (even here in starbucks) with google shirts on. as i type this, the guy sitting next to me has a book on his lap — ’space mission anaylsis and design – third edition’.

youre kidding, right? there are actually textbooks for space missions? there are things i love about this world. and when things are done right, its an amazing place.

but its sad that i rarely get the opportunity to thank people for the influence they do extend to my life. that i get to talk to people about the impact they have on me.

in la, i could sit next to a singer, an actor, a porn star and know it. i got to shake matt groening’s hand and say ‘thanks’. here, i could eat next to the founders of google and i probably wouldnt even know them. part of it is the media — i see ‘celebrities’ on tv/film enough to pick them out. ive rarely seen computer/internet superstars in motion. but part of it is culture too. so now i turn off the celebrity-spotting and i simply wonder who it is deisgning space missions, sitting next to me in starbucks.

* kady and matt gave me a framed picture of a topless mraz from some magazine last year. it moved with us here, for some reason. then i took to hiding it in the apt, placing it on top of roxy’s things as we unpacked. so every day, she would go to empty a box and find this picture sitting there. this went on for at least 2 weeks until she finally said something to me. and i laughed. hard. then we boxed the picture up and mailed it to carter in new haven. the cycle of life continues.

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