I've been a little out of sorts since I got back from Boston. I expected to have three weeks of down time before my next gig, which has since stretched to four, and while there are plenty of things I should/could do (revise feature script, write a short, pitch "Letter of Recommendation: Overalls" to the New York Times), instead I'm dicking around. Playing Tiles on my phone. And then, soooometimes, when my four free plays run out, moving over to my laptop to play four more. I am not proud of this. I tell myself it's healthy to take time off, refill the well or whatever, but I don't think Tiles is helping.

I have made it to the beach a few times. I'm not a big ocean swimmer, but I happily put my feet in the water. Plus, on an outing with R, I tried on every hat on the Venice boardwalk, and wound up with the same dumb floppy straw one that I ditched three years ago. Whaddya gonna do. It's a hat.

Speaking of Venice 🌮👍

If you didn't know better, you'd glance at Teddy's Red Tacos and walk right by. It just looks like a tourist trap. But Teddy Vasquez is doing a very simple, delicious thing. Making slow-roasted Tijuana-style beef birra and homemade corn tortillas, stained red with broth before they hit the grill, and serving them a few different ways. We ordered two mulitas, two vampiros, and two tacos with cheese, quickly realizing they're almost the same thing, though the cheese on the tacos isn't melted. Get the melty melty mulita (with one tortilla on the top and one on the bottom) or my fave, the vampiro (same thing basically, but with both tortillas on the bottom). A cup of caldo, the broth, makes a yummy side. Bonus: Clean bathroom. If you find yourself on Venice Beach needing to pee, buying a $2 taco to get the bathroom code would not be a bad plan. We saw this in effect while we were there.