DAY 114

Festival of Books today, aghhhh! I made a complete fool out of myself by getting so starstruck in front of Dave Eggers, but I did manage to get a picture with him! It took a bit of effort to maneuver the camera (the $3, because I like the suspense of waiting for film to develop) over the table so that he and I were both in the shot. I also got a picture of Mimi standing under the giant espresso machine, and a small patch of scribbles from the massive "What are you reading?" poster.

Also, random story. While waiting in line (for over an hour) for Dave Eggers to sign our books, Jackie and I started talking to the woman behind us. It turns out she was a sculptor and an assistant to an assistant to a celebrity and had lived in San Francisco, but was actually from Canada, though here she was in Los Angeles, running around doing errands for people because she could blend in anywhere, from Koreatown to downtown Los Angeles. Anyway, it turns out she does this thing where she collects sketches from people. She handed me a pink piece of paper and a red sharpie and I started to sketch Jackie's profile. The picture I was drawing reminded me of a sketch a camp counselor had given to me in elementary school. It was a drawing in red ink of the top of a squirt bottle, but made so that it also looked like the head of a rooster. I kept the picture and remembered the name of the counselor, Albert Reyes.

Years later, when I first discovered YouTube, I randomly stumbled upon this video of a guy drawing with water that he spit out from his mouth. I remembered that Albert had said something about how he did spit art.

Then, this past Winter break, I went to the Giant Robot in San Francisco and while strolling through the gallery, I recognized some of his work! I started freaking out.

So, while sketching, I told the woman this story. "Spit art?" she interrupted me. "Yeah, Albert Reyes! I know him, I'm friends with him!" How random is that? It was insane. She told me to write this information on the picture I was sketching so she could tell him about it later. I can't wait till he finds out. It's like I've been following him without him or I even knowing about it. I hope we meet someday and I can tell him all of this. After that, I won't know what else to say, but it'll mean that everything has finally come full circle. I wonder if it all means anything.