let me stand next to your fire

before, there was firehazard. i've left her behind and so will refrain from linking to those incidents in which she accidentally set the bathroom on fire and shocked herself while changing a lightbulb and other such neat tricks that made me want to stab her repeatedly with a spork.

now. the day before thanksgiving, my dad and i cleared customs & immigration and plucked our bags off the carousel at LAX in 20 minutes flat (omg) after our whirlwind trip to japan for my cousin's wedding. once we got home, i drove out to the market in SB to get us some food. on the way, i checked voicemails and got one from my friend CP who is subletting my studio in boulder. i called him back and he asked how my trip was, and i told him, and when i asked how he was, he said, 'well, i have some kinda bad news.' OK. he got as far as 'there was a bit of a fire at your place,' before the reception started cutting out as i drove up a hill, and i heard only '....cushion...baseboard heater...fire...' sorry, WHAT?! of course then i had to hang up because i couldn't hear anything and promptly got stuck behind a big rig chugging up the hill at 10mph. eventually i found out that only the one cushion smoldered into oblivion, and my duvet now has a hole in it, and all my clothes may be permanently imbued with the scent of burnt rubber, but luckily CP is unsinged and in one piece, as is the house.

and then! malibu! you may have heard of it. it is a part of southern california, most of which was uncontrollably aflame oh, LAST MONTH. last week, filmschoolgirl invited me to spend saturday night at her SO's mom's housesitting venue, an amazing, art-filled bachelor pad right above the water on PCH. saturday morning, she called just as i was waking up, and said, 'so, um, malibu's on fire again.' as it turned out, the house was out of danger a few miles down the road. it did feel a bit strange to go into malibu for a getaway, driving along one ridge and seeing flames scorching another. both X and i were able to get in and we all had a long, relaxed afternoon and evening of margaritas, catch-up, an unexpected but lovely announcement, festive dinner with cake and hot buttered rum, midnight skinny-dipping on the private beach below, hot baths, and a completely decadent departure from our various less-appealing realities.

fittingly, i have been running around like my hair was on fire (it's not; i checked twice) trying to get things done for the past month before flying to central america in the wee hours of this morning. BAH! HAHAHA! hoo. my precious mental 'health' is worth the flight change fee, and the postponement means i can actually get one job done and figure out what i'm supposed to do for the next, take care of necessary bills and errands, and be present to meet a certain special someone who was due to make a debut in the world last week.