LA's my hometown. I was born & raised there, but circumstances were such that I had to leave for NYC in '94. I liked living there & felt privileged for the opportunity, but it never really felt like home. People like me are the worst 'cause LA needs its natives, its people who care about the quality of life there & the quality of the city. Decamping just makes me another nomad, a part of the problem.

I'm sorry to hear things aren't going well there, but not shocked, either. Technology & economics seem to bleed the film industry further & further away, without which, as Jon Powers once put it, LA's just another factory town.

Gosh, I miss In & Out. What you did probably meant a lot to the Merc driver. Who knows, maybe it'll get paid forward & paid forward & maybe one day that $11.11 will save someone's life. You never know. You just got to keep trying.