Yesterday I met Julia at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin in Potsdamer Platz . . . I had unknowingly walked by it at least half a million times but had never gone inside until then. The place is quite beautiful. I’d always wanted to visit ever since I saw it in WINGS OF DESIRE, in black and white of course, but actually walking around this massive building in person in technicolor made me feel a certain way. I texted Julia saying I was in the lobby and then walked over to the information desk and got a library card in a matter of minutes. The guy at the counter let me pick out which card I wanted . . . there was a butterfly, a parrot, and an ox. Naturally I had to choose the ox and now you will know why:

Julia came over and said, “I wish I’d picked the ox.” She had the parrot, which was also cute. It was the most colorful one. Really, you couldn’t have gone wrong either way, and I told her as much. The parrots need representation too . . .

I put my bag in her locker and took my camera with me. They won’t let you enter the library proper with a bag on account of the place has very old and very valuable books and they don’t want anyone stealing them. I wondered what kind of person would steal a book, but then I reckon anything is possible. Hey man, times are tough . . . Julia said she had earlier picked up one of those very old and very valuable books and it essentially had disintegrated in her hands. Good luck pawning that off!

On our way up the stairs, we ran into my friend Firuza, who was on her way out. I said, “Come on over sometime and watch a movie . . .” and she headed off into the cold snowy night just outside the library doors. Later that night she would text me and tell me she was glad I was alive. I had, after all, only weeks before stared into the twin voids of the Grim Reaper’s dark gaze, and had survived to now gaze into the living light behind hers . . .

I did not stay long—just long enough to Take It All In and surreptitiously film as much of the building as I could. I was cautious about it . . . the last thing I needed was to have my precious ox library card revoked not fifteen minutes after receiving it on account of filming the place without permission. I don’t think any of the footage is usable necessarily but maybe I can toss it into the B-roll pile when I’m assembling the show I’m currently writing and filming. Who knows!!

Afterwards I caught a bus near the (former) Sony Center and headed back to Schöneberg where I fielded, one after another, three separate phone calls from friends who needed Love Advice. I told them all that love is very good and always worth fighting for . . . even if sometimes you find yourself alone on the other side of it, as I have many times. At least from that place, I said, you can remember that someone you loved once loved you too.