Some time ago, I got into it with this ninja at Amoeba on Sunset. It's really stupid and I'm kind of embarrassed by what happened. It was a Sunday morning, post-farmers' market, and I was flush with oranges and strawberries and several different kinds of sprouts. I went looking for T Rex's first album Unicorn and anyway, blah blah blah, I saw this ninja. I was in the "t" section and he was all the way in the beginning by the as yet unsorted used c.d.'s. Anyway, I was with this half-British girl Elizabeth and I elbowed her lightly in the ribs and nodded my head toward the ninja and whispered "nice pajamas."

Yeah, so the ninja whipped his head up and stared at me with his ninja eyes through his ninja mask. Of course he heard me. He's a damn ninja. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was blasting and Elizabeth didn't even hear me and this ninja heard me. Elizabeth goes "pardon?" and I have to say it again. And the ninja's looking at me, daring me. I knew it was a mistake, but Elizabeth is cute, you know, and I'd rather look like a goon to this ninja stranger than to cute, half-British Elizabeth. So I do. I say it again. And the ninja nods slowly. Elizabeth thought I was a goon anyway, I think, as she just nodded and went back to pawing through c.d.'s.

They didn't have T Rex. Elizabeth got a mediocre lounge collection full of too-obvious tracks that appealed to her mostly for the working roulette wheel on the case. We end up on line in front of, you guessed it, the ninja, and he ignored me the whole time. By then, I realized I didn't want a ninja pissed at me, so I decided to apologize when they called us up to pay. And then a second thought flitted into my head and I tried to bat it away even as it made me smile. And then I saw the c.d.'s this ninja was getting. A lot of emo. So, as the crow's nest guy pointed us toward our register, I turned to the ninja and said, "They really are nice pajamas."

And away we were sent and then I heard them send the ninja to a far register. We were miles ahead of him getting out -- they were still ringing him up as we got our bag and left the store.

When I got to my car, however, the windows were messed up. the motors are broken inside them such that the left one is forever down and the right one is stuck up. According to the mechanic, the problem with the motors "looks to be sai related." Also, the problem is costly, so I haven't gotten it fixed. It's not usually an issue, as it hardly ever rains in Los Angeles.

Tonight, though, was the night Elizabeth finally agreed to go out with me, to a half-British restaurant. And guess what? It rained and rained. And I know there's a ninja out there, just listening to Bright Eyes and laughing.