So you know you have been uncommunicative for a while when your mom calls you at work just to see how you’ve been doing. And then you do the math and realize you might not have talked to anyone in your family for two weeks… three weeks? A month?

I’ve been up to a lot… but somehow it doesn’t feel like it.

I’ve been spending some time with some people that I may or may not reveal more about later on (basically if they are still around). I’m “off” (my profile is still up but I’m not using it or logging in) of the dating sites now, all of them. We’ll see what happens.

Aside from that I actually started painting again last week after getting a ton of supplies at a big 40% off sale at the local art store. Of course the piece looks horrible so far, but I haven’t had a chance to get back on it yet. It all started when Cindy challenged me to paint her portrait a few months ago. Now the heat is on to finish it before she moves to Seattle in October.

Last weekend I went to a party with some people I didn’t really know at the time – and then saw many of them the next two days as we went camping somewhere up by Santa Ynez. I can’t say where because my copilot navigated from memory. I hadn’t been camping since I was a child (sleeping in a tent at Woodstock 99 doesn’t count) and things are a lot different than I remember. In California the air is dry – so nothing gets all wet at night, which is what I hated about camping as a child on the east coast. Also, lack of showers is not noticeable when you spend most of your day in a “watering hole” anyway. Apparently this trip was the “second annual” for this group (of ten). In many ways I thought it was good – reconnect with nature and all of that – but in many ways I think it is somewhat silly (why swim in algae when you could go to a pool?). However, I suppose the main reason to go camping is simply to spend time with friends without the distractions and trappings of modern life. As you sit around a campfire with people who are burnt and stinky and dirty – it doesn’t matter where you live or how much money you make. Coachella is kind of like that for most of the concert-goers…but I was sleeping in a $1,000,000+ empty house every night… not the same.

There were a few uncomfortable moments for me. Around the circle came questions like “most embarrassing moment” and “meanest thing you’ve ever done.” While others had high school public masturbation stories on hand and other youthful indiscretions (apparently a lot of women get turned on on public transportation… who knew?) – I realized I had nothing to contribute. Does that make me a strange person?

As I quietly started to build a few new friendships here – I realized I really need to work on strengthening old ones. I’m going to try to fly to San Antonio and visit Byron for the South by SouthWest music festival next March. I’m also planning to visit Ohio around that time – so how that will work out remains to be seen.

Since I moved to Winnetka I’ve seen very little of my NoHo group. Although – technically Yaw was part of that group and I see him all the time… I received a phone call from Aaron the other day with some “earth-shattering” information. For many years Aaron has been plodding along a path of heading to law school. I never really thought this was the best use of his talents – but his heart was set and who was I to disagree? However, over the past week he had the same revelation and decided to do away with that idea. Now he wants to make music. Where was this Aaron three years ago when I was an LA newbie with tons of free time and the desire to create (music)? These days I might pick up the guitar once a month (and only because someone came over and asked me to play). However, our plan is to get together on Wednesday nights and strive to create. He sold his drum-set, so I’m assuming all this creation will be digital.

Oh – and despite repeated attempts, I have failed to see Transformers. I refuse to wait in line to pay $12 just to wait in line again – to get bad seats….to a bad movie….with good CGI…

Oh- and one last thing… a very good reason you haven’t seen me online … my computer is slowly expiring. I’ve caught a nasty Trojan (goes along with being single and having to perform your own “maintenance”) that has slowed my CPU to a crawl and possibly wiped out my entire 500GB external drive. That’s what I get for not trying to sleep with the girls in tight clothes at the local bar….