Farewell to the City of Angels

I came to the city very skeptical and even a little apprehensive. Everything I had heard was about how unsafe and polluted it is. But I love it. It has so much to offer - people of every make and model, everybody maybe a bit unhinged, some more so than others. Also mountains and the beach and a vast array of places in between. You could find pretty much anything or anyone you wanted in this city. And the public transportation isn't nearly as bad as it's made out to be either. So this one's for you LA. I'm sorry I doubted you.

I will remember:

• Echo Mountain
• Inspiration Point
• Debs Park
• Millard Canyon Falls
• Broad Beach
• Santa Monica Beach at the Pier
• 3rd St Promenade
• Old Town Pasadena
• Bus 81
• Cinnamon's
• Edison
• Redwood
  
• Menage
• The Dresden
• Los Angeles Times
• The Getty
• La Brea Tar Pits
• Dodger Stadium
• Sunshine
• Beauty
• Sasha
• Gabriella
  
• CRU
• Little Tokyo
• Chinatown
• Griffith Park
• In N Out Burger
• Trader Joe's
  
• 80 degrees and sunny
• Palisades Park
• Ocean Avenue
• Malibu
• Highland Park
  

Well I think it's about time, don't you?

Sometimes I worry that I will alienate my ever-dwindling blog-reading audience by not posting for 12 days. After all, I could probably just talk to Matt and Karen and catch everybody up on my life (that is if my lovely sister would ever get on Skype).

But I like to write. Sometimes I am just too tired from staring at a computer all day and then coming home and staring at a computer to try to apply for jobs, and I think maybe I should just stop blogging, but I am not ready for that yet. (I have to blog so I can write really long sentences and use parentheses - both of which I cannot do at the paper - although I can use dashes.)

My time in LA and at the paper is nearly up. I'm not sure what to think about that. I'm certainly not excited. I'm also not really sad. I have no idea what I should do with my life. How can I be content at some water-related consulting job (which has not yet been offered to me) when there are so many great opportunities for environmental and science communication out there? How is it possible for people to have two-career families? I know they do it all the time, but it is just so difficult. I feel like if I don't get into the writing and communication field right now, it will never happen. I feel like I have momentum now. What will happen in 2 or 3 years? Maybe I will want to do something completely different anyway - that has always been the case until now.

Anyways I am currently jobless and aimless and heading toward penniless if things don't change in the near future. But I am glad I got to have this experience. I am glad I got some me-time (in a good way, not in a sitting home alone in Socorro and feeling sorry for myself kind of way). Hopefully the future will fall into place as it always has for me before.

I also want to bring 2 dogs home with me. Of course I can't do that since we don't know what we are doing with our lives, but I would like to. I will try to remember to take pictures of them another day. One is an elderly dalmation who needs more attention and an owner who believes in vets. The other is new to the doggie hostel, a young shepherd who got hit by a car and broke her leg. She loves playing ball and would be excited for people to play with her more often and take her out walking and running. And maybe train her. And she doesn't bark - big bonus. However, she's not even fixed so that's a problem. I can just see all the vet bills piling up. But they're so cute. Matt thinks maybe we should try having an animal before we decide to have kids to see how that goes.

What have I been up to for the past 11 days? Not much. Mom came to visit two weekends ago.
We checked out the Getty

UCLA

Marina del Rey (boring)
and Santa Monica

During the week I went out to Borrego Springs with a photographer and got drenched in a monsoon - in a place that has recorded about 1/2 inch of rain in the last 12 months.

Matt showed up Friday afternoon.
We went hiking

visited CityWalk
drove through Santa Monica Mountain NRA and Malibu
tried to go for a walk on the beach but instead I got stung by a bee on the bottom of my foot (and I'm not yet fully recovered - thanks for asking)

went to a pathetic Tigers game.


This week I am writing for science and health since my editor is now gone. These stories are much shorter and faster - I wrote 3 in 2 days. Not quite as stimulating, but still good experience.

7 more days left of work. I have to apply for jobs, finish my fellowship reports, pack up my room, and have a little fun before I leave. Looks like I'll be a busy bee.

Death Threats Part II

Well I got another message from my friend this morning. This time he threatened my husband, my nonexistent child, Quentin Tarantino, Velvet Revolver, and possibly our very own president, George W. Perhaps he's just equal opportunity. Obviously off his rocker. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to talk to him. Maybe next week...

My mom is coming out to visit this weekend, arriving tomorrow morning and leaving Sunday afternoon. She has never been one to wear out her welcome.

And next week I get to go back to the desert - Borrego Springs. It's supposed to be a charming place, if a wee bit on the toasty side.

Counseling in the Park

Yesterday Jackie came over to my house to hang out while we worked on job applications. However, we were pretty lazy and ended up not accomplishing much, so we ventured out into the world. First we stopped at Borders and picked up some books (because I think spending money when you're unemployed is always a good idea...) and then took them to a nearby park. We were sitting near the edge of it so we could see the car since there wasn't very much money in the meter. A little older lady drove up in her Mercedes, pulled into a parking space and asked us if the meters were in operation. We said yes. Somehow this launched her into a discussion of how awful her day had been, how she would have liked to have driven her car off a bridge, how her identity was stolen, and on and on and on. She eventually got her dogs out of the car and sat down with us in the grass. This seriously lasted almost an hour - I actually had to go feed the meter.

While Jackie and I were being good citizens preventing a possible suicide, we learned about the lady's $20,000 dining room table hand-carved in the Philippines, her $100,000 worth of furniture that was stolen from storage, and how her late husband's personal assistant had done this to her. We also learned that she, in her 60s, is apparently man-crazy over nearly any boy that walks around, preferably under 40. She griped about how she has so much money, but she just can't get to most of it right now. I found myself wanting to interrupt her, saying, lady, count your blessings. I probably will never see the amount of money you have accessible right now in my lifetime, but I restrained myself.

Unfortunately, after telling us we should check out the concert in the park, which we would have done, she decided to go to. At that point we told her we had dinner plans. She seemed genuinely grateful for the time we had already spent with her, so we didn't feel too badly about it.

After that we decided to get some drinks. (I'm not sure why I'm putting this up since we look kind of large.



And here was the evening's benefactor, trying to look all suave and not even noticing what Jackie was doing. He actually offered to take us shopping for clothes.

Bus Stories Part 2

Most mornings I try to catch the bus that comes to Figueroa and Burwood at 7:52 a.m., putting me at work around 8:30. I used to get up early enough to get a bus that got me to work around 8, but then I never got to eat my landlady's breakfast. Sometimes I take an even later bus if I am lazy or breakfast is slow.

I can't remember if I noticed this character the first time I got on the 7:52 bus or if he started riding the bus after I did. At any rate, one stop down the road from me, every time I ride the 7:52 bus, an older man wearing a baseball cap, Hawaiian shirt (different most days), and slacks gets on the bus. Every morning he shows his pass to the bus driver and asks him or her to call out Temple Street. Every morning, if available, he sits in the same seat - the first one on the opposite side from the driver. If that seat is not available, he keeps moving as people get off until he gets that seat. Every morning when the bus passes the stop before his, he stands up, holds on to the rail as close to the driver as possible, and asks something to the extent of, Is Temple street next, is this temple street, or can you call out Temple street please. Every day. Obviously, folks, since he stands up at the same place every day, he knows where Temple Street is. So why does the bus driver always need to tell him? I'm not sure.

Keep in mind that most of the time buses have automated systems that call out streets. I will grant that these are not always in operation. And I will grant that the first few times I rode the bus I was nervous about where to get off. But folks, it's been at least a month. I think he knows.

On Thursday I discovered something about him that I did not know because I had never sat very close to him. He talks. I'm not sure if it's to himself or if he wants other passengers to listen, but he makes comments. Often about what's going on on the TV (yes, the bus has it's own TV channel).

His stop is only one before mine. I wonder what he does each day in downtown L.A. I have never seen him on a bus ride home, so I suspect he does not work a full day, if he has a job. Maybe one day I will ask him. But I doubt it. I never talk to people on the bus.

***

On a side note, today I tried reading on the bus because I'm trying to get through the book of a guy I'm going to interview next week. But I felt disconnected. I felt like I needed to look out the window and to people-watch my fellow passengers. I felt like I was missing something with my nose in the book. Am I odd?

Bus Stories

Sometimes I really enjoy riding the bus, just to watch human dynamics. Sometimes it's really quite amazing.

Yesterday on my way home, I was sitting near a young lady with a baby and another small child. The baby was in her lap and the little girl was in the seat next to her, screaming away. Obviously the lady had no real way to hold both of them at the same time. First an older lady in the seat behind started talking to the little girl and pointing things out to her, calming her down for the most part, but not for long. Later, another lady got on the bus and sat right in front of the lady with the kids. They started talking and before long, she had offered to hold the baby so the mother could comfort the little girl. She eventually even got off the bus with the mother so that she could help her with the baby and the stroller. Now all this was going on in Spanish, but I am absolutely sure that none of these women knew each other before the bus ride. At one point, one of the ladies actually called the baby a boy instead of a girl, but she apologized and was obviously forgiven.

When I had first gotten on the bus, I felt as if I should offer to help the mother, but as in aforementioned blogs, I am not so good with the babies and I am still shocked that mothers let strangers hold their babies. Folks, it is a completely different culture out here in L.A., but it really impresses me. Where would you see this kind of thing except on a bus?

Today's bus ride home was a completely different story. The bus driver spent the whole time talking to a young woman near the front. There was also a pretty old woman at the very front who kept trying to talk to them in Spanish, which obviously neither of them spoke very well. I ascertained that somehow this lady had gotten lost on the wrong bus and that this bus driver was delivering her to the correct stop after a long day. I'm not sure who the young woman was - apparently a friend. At any rate, at one point she claimed to be barely over 21, but she also has a 9 year-old son. I'll let you do the math on that one. Well through the whole thing I couldn't quite decide if they were being nice or mean to the old lady, but I guess she got where she needed to go. For a large portion of the ride until both the women got off the bus, I am fairly sure the driver never got out of 1st gear. It was the longest ride ever and by the time I got off there was only one other person on the bus. My suspicion is that those people with passes might have gotten off and waited for another. I sure would have. There is only so much you can take of a young mother flirting with a married bus driver, when it is actually illegal to talk unnecessarily with one.

Just some more afternoon entertainment. Speaking of which, there was actually a line at the Highland Theater when we passed it today - presumably to see Harry Potter. That's right, world. Here in L.A. we get the movies early. Take that.

More Updates. And Santa Monica. Again. With Pictures.

I have to apologize for my recent lack of posts - I have been without internet again and only finally got it back this evening.

In summary:

Last weekend Jackie and I went to the beach in Santa Monica yet again and then to the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. It was hot in the inland valley ya'll. Hot and humid. How do those southerners handle it?

Monday and Tuesday at work I had to help another lady with an article - it ran on A1 Thursday without my byline. Alas...

Wednesday I actually got the day off. My fellow fellows chickened out on the hiking owing to the heat, so I went by myself. I took the Sam Merrill trail to the Castle Canyon trail to Inspiration Point - gorgeous but bad view.


After that I drove down to San Diego to hang out with Laura and Kyle on the 4th. They were gracious enough to host me last minute so that I could get up at a reasonable hour to head to Imperial Valley on Thursday.


I spent that day in 120 degree heat checking out some canals and graveyards - story to follow later this week I hope.

Friday it was back to work, but I didn't accomplish much other than finding out I lost my job at Sandia. Yup. I am officially unemployed. Well, officially I am still on leave, but you know. So I have no idea how we are gonna pay the rent come August. Anyone have a lucky lottery ticket?

Matt showed up at the Greyhound bus station several hours late on Friday, but I'll let him relate his experiences. While he was here we:

• Checked out Pasadena
• Visited the La Brea Tar Pits
• 
• Drove through Hollywood
• Hung out in Santa Monica (again)
• 
• Hiked to a waterfall
• 
• Went to a Dodgers game
• Strolled through Griffith Park
• Had a beer at Good in Silverlake

Now it's back to the old grindstone. I think the pollution is catching up to me, as I can barely breathe right now. Time to take some drugs!

Santa Monica. Again.

Erin was in town for Lush this week, so I drove to work on Tuesday so I could head out to Santa Monica that evening. For a few minutes in the car, I had a fear that I would like driving better than the bus, but that fear was quickly conquered. Driving sucked.

Erin and I had a nice time eating, drinking, and checking out the Pier. She was coming down with an illness and was too sick to see me on Wednesday, but luckily she will be back in a couple weeks.

Wednesday night 3 of the other fellows and I went to Pasadena for dinner and entertainment. Luckily that doesn't require nearly as much driving.

Anyways, one article was in the paper today on the back page of the A section - not sure if that's good or bad. Another article will come out tomorrow morning I think. Today's is about Arizona, so ya'll should check it out.

Peace from the city of angels.

Updates

Okay folks, there will be another article published in the national section somewhere tomorrow, which means it will be buried in the paper. There should be another story on Wednesday as well unless it gets bumped.

Tomorrow night I am going to see Erin in Santa Monica, and Wednesday night will be our second weekly fellow get-together, this time in Pasadena, thankfully.

Liz and Glenn have been added to the potential visitor list. Yesterday was Glenn's birthday. He said he is old but he takes solace in the fact that my husband is older. How do you feel about that Matt?

Dirty and Smelly

That's me right now. I went on a pretty nifty hike about 8 miles from my house. It was 2.5 miles and 1400 feet to Echo Mountain, the location of an old resort and incline railway. It was also nearly 90 degrees and there was virtually no shade until the top. I realize that some people out there like to hike Squaw Peak when it's 105, but for some reason the sun really beats down here. Natalie will verify this. I think maybe it is magnified by the pollution. I seriously could see hardly anything. I would like to do this trail again on a clear day (hah!) and also start earlier and go on up to another mountain past this one.

Almost everyone was friendly. Except for this group of 3 young people. 1 girl, 2 boys. I said hi and only the boys were nice. After they passed I heard the girl making fun of people huffing and puffing on their way up. Which I'm sure referred to me. Okay well I can't breathe in LA. Seriously. It is polluted. And I have asthma. Give me a break, little girl in your cute strapless shirt looking like you don't know what a hike is. Some of us also don't stop every few minutes, we just keep on plugging. Whatever.

I definitely recommend this hike. I would say to go earlier but I suspect there would be a lot more people then, so it might be a toss up. At any rate, bring lots of water.

And for the record I had cell phone service the whole way, so hiking alone was a perfectly fine activity. I was impressed to see at least 3 other girls my age also hiking by themselves. Way to go girls!

In the News Part II

Well, my longer more controversial piece got cut drastically. I think I need to work for an advocacy magazine.

However, on the bus ride home some interesting things happened.
1) I had to speak Spanish and it just came rolling off my tongue without me thinking. Who knew?
2) I had to hold someone's very small child. Ya'll, I am not a baby person. At all. But when I got off at my bus stop, this lady was struggling with the child and opening the stroller so I offered to help. For some reason, she thought the most appropriate thing would be for me to take her baby. And then put the baby in the stroller. Ya'll. Have I mentioned I don't do babies? Seriously do not hold them. Seriously don't put them in strollers. Not for babies I know. But apparently for strangers. Oh well.

Then Natalie's mom took us out to dinner so that was fun.

Unfortunately, Natalie is running away to Mexico. So much for having a friend in LA. I hope she has lots of fun.

Apologies to my blog friends

What has happened to me? I used to be somewhat prolific. And I used to put two spaces between every sentence. And sometimes I even had interesting things to talk about.

I have been in the City of Angels for about 10 days now. I have been to Santa Monica twice - not sure why, didn't mean to. And I forgot my camera both times. Next time I'll remember! Last night the other Fellows and I had an informal get together. Four of us were there early, so we had a snack at Johnny Rocket's on the Promenade.

Problem #1

They were out of peanut butter. In case anyone else is an addict like me, there is nothing like a Johnny Rocket's chocolate peanut butter shake. And for the record, a chocolate oreo shake is just not that great. It's gotta be peanut butter - I wasted my money on that one.

Problem #2

We apparently got some guy arrested. While we were sitting at the table, a man who only spoke Spanish stood directly in front of our table on the other side of the railing and talked to us. In Spanish. For. A. Long. Time.

When we left, the guys at the table next to us (with 4 small children) asked us if we enjoyed our entertainment. When I thanked them for helping us, they pointed over to where the police had him in handcuffs. I sure didn't think he was that bad. It seems like the LAPD ought to have more pressing things on their hands than arresting some bum bothering some girls on the Promenade.

Problem #3

A dinner reservation was made at an Italian restaurant in Santa Monica. It was at 2600. We were at 200. We called the one male in our group and asked him to pick the 5 of us up at a corner and drive us to the restaurant.

Problem #4

The restaurant was expensive.

***

Despite the problems, we had a good time. Everyone seems to be intelligent, friendly, and have a good sense of humor. I'm glad I ended up in a city with other Fellows around. I might be pretty bored and lonely by now otherwise.

My trip to LA

Hi! I'm in LA! I don't have much to say about it yet. I am a bit afraid of the city, although I went to Pasadena tonight and that was pretty cool. Although Matt, I'm going to need you to send me some of my trendy clothes I left behind. Oh wait...

I'm really enjoying this writing thing so far. I have about 3 stories in the works right now - hopefully they'll come out eventually. Other than that, if anyone has some tips for what I should do here, it would be greatly appreciated.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Check out:

My first article

Hello all! I finally got internet at about 10pm yesterday but after 10 hours at a newspaper desk I haven't felt much like blogging.

Anyways, my first story will be on page B1 of the Los Angeles Times tomorrow, Friday June 16th. Wohoo! Of course I got much help from my editor who is pretty awesome despite all the warnings I got about him. I'm having fun so far. At work. Not in my personal life. It is pretty unexciting. Me, 3 dogs, and a crazy landlady. Good times. I seriously do promise to catch up soon.

Earthquake!

That's right folks, last night at 11:16pm Socorro time, there was a magnitude 3.3 earthquake 6km west of Socorro. It woke me up and scared the crap out of me. I think Matt thought someone was breaking into our house. Since we'd been asleep, we weren't really sure if it had been a noise that woke us up, but I was pretty sure it was movement and can't remember if it had been accompanied by a noise. I am used to the house shaking from various explosions Tech undertakes on purpose, but this definitely felt different - I guess because the ground was moving. I wasn't convinced it was an earthquake until this morning when the Albuquerque Journal and the USGS verified it. I am fairly convinced an "aftershock" woke me up later, but there is no mention of one.

This is the second earthquake I have felt in my life, the last one being my freshman year of college when we could feel tremblings from a California earthquake in our dorm. That woke me up too.

I guess the universe is prepping me for my summer in LA...

Housing

Looking for housing sucks, ya'll. Although I'm wondering, did it suck a lot more before craigslist existed? (By the way, don't ever forget the 's' in the aforementioned website. Bad things will happen.) Anyways, I have been simultaneously looking for summer housing in LA and more permanent housing in Albuquerque and it seriously took up three straight days.

I think, although it has not yet been confirmed, that in LA I will be living with an 'eco-conscious vegetarian' who cooks healthy breakfasts and dinner for her residents each weekday. The property is also on National Wildlife Federation registered habitat and has two friendly dogs. I will have my own room and bathroom. It is in Old Los Angeles, whatever that is, and about 7 miles from where I will be working. It sounds like a pretty good deal. Let's hope she didn't run away with my credit card.

Albuquerque housing is a bit more challenging. We are looking to live in or near downtown for easy access to the NMT van and the bus system. We are going to attempt to live urban lives in a major sprawl city. We will see how that goes. We looked at a bunch of stuff Saturday, and it looks like either we can live in cute but terribly run-down places with single pane windows and window swamp coolers or in gated, high-priced apartment complexes. And in downtown you do not get nearly as much for your money as in other areas of the city. The price you pay for trying not to drive your car so much I guess. I have no idea what to do. We found one cute place that is in a bit of a shady area but they want tenants in by next weekend so that's a loss. If we get desperate Matt will just have to live in the Valles for the summer I guess.

Anyways, I have obviously been out of inspiration lately. I hope everyone enjoyed Earth Day. Matt and I played tennis and did not drive our cars. Have a great week!

The Secret...

is finally out. I have been awarded an AAAS Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellowship and will be working at the Los Angeles Times Environment desk for 10 weeks this summer. I'm pretty excited, but I will miss my husband :)