I find it fascinating that now at the very end of my days here in Miami that I have met and made so many good friends. Real people that I feel very aligned with in many ways. The irony. Of course I am very excited to be moving to nyc just the same.

It is just past 2 am on Miami beach. The entire island was evacuated due to the hurricane. It is a dead zone. Opus and I decided early this morning that we would not evacuate but instead just go to the office and work all day. there was not a soul on the streets of this usually crowded little metropolitan isle. Worked at the office for a good twelve hours as I have every night for two weeks straight now including Saturdays and Sundays.

Came home, we made a delicious meal of pasta with garlic and fresh tomatoes. Drank a whole bottle of red bicycleta red wine from France. Opus works in the wine business so I have learned much about wine in the few short weeks I have been staying here. also because he is from Spain we listen to mainly Spanish music: lagrimas negras, estopa, la oreja de van gogh. Good stuff. Spanish, not South American, by the way, which is the norm in these parts. The majority of “Latin music” that is popular in the Americas is made in the Americas. South American or United States. But Spanish music is much different. It is very European and when you are listening to it you could just as easily be listening to music from France or Italy. They all have that same euro-pop vibe.

I am typing here in the middle of a hurricane by the way. these strong winds are howling through the house. the lights are flickering on and off. Phones are down. I have the sliding door open because I am crazy of course and well I refuse not to smoke while I write. So seeing that I cannot actually go outside because there is a torrential rainstorm out there flooding the streets as I write this, I choose instead to sit by the sliding door with it open, huge gusts of wind and gallons of water hitting me in the face every few seconds. But I smoke and write anyway. Because that is what I do.

Current screening: Churchill. Three hour PBS documentary on the old lion. Good study material.

Current read: ironically just I had met Ariel, the Israeli girl in nyc a few weeks ago, I found this book at this apt I am temporarily staying at called ‘Israel: triumph of the spirit.’ So I started to read about the history of Israel and the Jewish people. as I have a hundred times before. something apocalyptic inherent in them and of course no one knows why exactly; its just there... on the one hand they're the most well read intelligent peaceful kindest people you could ever want to meet; on the other hand, everyone seems to be afraid of or threatened by them for some reason.

Having grown up in South Florida in my early years, many of my friends were and still are Jewish. I've never felt that threat, even though antisemitismanti-semitism was pounded into me from an early age from my grandparents. I never took it seriously though because all of my Jewish friends always seemed nicer than my own grandparents were.

And also, as you get older and gain more experience, you look back at your life and you realize that you have been fucked over by just about everyone equally; Jews, whites, blacks, Latinos, it doesn’t matter. Its not a race of people that fucks people over; it’s a certain kind of people. a certain type of person. its in their consciousness, not in their blood.

Although when it comes to stereotypes there is one thing about the Jews that one can safely count on and that's their prudence with money. a lot of the characters I write about are Jewish. Brown Bear is the only guy I know who will go into a local convenience store and try to haggle with the guy behind the counter to buy a soda or a beer for less money than the price that is clearly marked on the bottle. Ferret is the only guy I know who travels around with two liter bottles of soda in his car and a few cups in case he gets thirsty so he doesn’t have to buy a can or a fountain drink. This is true. he’ll take his cup, walk into a store, fill it up with ice, walk back out and fill it up with soda from a two liter bottle in his car. the guy is classic. A non-Jew will show you his watch and say ‘see this watch? It costs two thousand dollars.’ A Jew will show you his watch and say ‘see this watch? It costs two thousand dollars. I paid eight hundred.’ its just the way they are raised. Ask any Jew. They have more jokes about Jews being penny pinchers than anyone does.

But none of that is what I am writing about tonight. I am just finishing a book called ‘the bible code.’ Hidden messages in the books of the bible. Scary stuff. some Jewish scholars discovered that the original writing in the bible had all these hidden codes in it that predicted all this stuff that has come true throughout history. The earthquakes of 1994 and 1906 in California. The gulf war, the assassination of rabin. Crazy. anyway, to make a long story short, it looks likes it predicts another world war starting in Israel in the year 2006. just so we all know. that we are indeed in the end times now. whatever that means. I tell opus what I am learning. That the world is going to end in a little less than two years, and he comments, ‘oh man, I better get out there and start fucking like a dog then.’ Leave it to a Spaniard to sum it all up so eloquently.