I’m in Encinitas this week, staying with Luann and Chi. I went running on the beach yesterday and plan to do that this whole week – if anything will get me motivated, it’s this! When I wake up in the morning, still in bed, I listen to the birds chirping outside my window . . . I feel like I’m in a jungle! It will be mid-60s to low 70s and sunny all week. I’m soaking it up . . . I head back to Chicago in about a week and half.
So I haven’t seen any superstars or models or sports idols, but I did get to sit on a commercial shoot a couple of weeks ago. My opinion . . . it looks kind of boring but I could also see the allure of the focus on the actor, zoning into character. Theater acting seems more exciting because of the flow . . . commercial consists of repeated takes. I’ve been on a film set before, but only for a brief period of time. This shoot I was there all day. My cousin’s daughter, Lily won the role of the adorable girl in a lawn care commercial. It was a perfect family . . .
Stacy sent these photos . . . she bought an Incredible Hulk doll and Sy beats up on it. Whenever Sy gets crazy and wants to battle it out with Stacy, she throws her the Hulk doll and Sy becomes a demon. She drags the doll by the hair and then attacks it. It won’t be long before the doll is in shreds . . . just like the sushi catnip toy I got her.
Stacy came to visit and we road tripped all over the place. We went to the Hollywood Farmer’s Market on Sunday morning to eat and people watch. We took winding roads through Topanga Canyon and ended up in Malibu, on the beach. At the beginning of last week, we spent a few days in the San Diego area and visited Coronado, Ocean Beach and Encinitas. Stacy hadn’t seen Ann Marie in years, so we saw her and she met my friends in Encinitas, Luann and Chi. On our way back to LA, we stopped in Long Beach and hung out with our Aunt Karen and Uncle Dave for the afternoon. They were on a cruise ship and just happened to have a stop over there. We spent two days at museums, The Getty Center in Los Angeles and The Getty Villa in Malibu – both were amazing. The Getty Center had old paintings and sculpture and the Villa had old old old sculpture and stuff from ancient ruins. Just being on the grounds of these two museums was inspiring. You can see how brilliant the landscape is here, at my flickr photo site.
when my cousin’s kids are allowed on my computer. They have access to my laptop camera and Photo Booth . . . ahh, the things I learn about my own computer!
I’m at the Denver airport , waiting for my flight to Helena, MT and a group of young Amish (or something like that) women just walked by in prairie dresses and little white scarves in their hair. I felt like I was in a period piece until one of the young ladies stuck her palm out at her friend and told her to ‘chill’. I did a double take . . .
I just entered Sy into a competition to win a new cat box. It’s so funny, boxes are like magnets to cats. No matter what size box or bag we have sitting out, the cats go straight for it. She could win a fire truck, plane or a tank – she wants the tank. Go ahead and enter your cat but it will be tough to be as cute as Sy!
I read a blog in the NY Times yesterday that posed the question – Is it better to raise kids in the city or in the suburbs. The city offers much diversity, culture and easy transit. The suburbs have green space, nature, traffic but a slower pace of life. Basically more sophisticated kids vs. more sheltered kids. But there was one right of passage that this writer had to endure raising her urban teenage son; not the first shave, concert or kiss but his first mugging . . .
I posted photos of the San Diego area to flickr. I’ve been there three times in the past couple of years. You might think that I’m addicted to the place and you’re right. I actually thought that I would move there but now I’m thinking that I’ll buy a beach cottage and hang out whenever I want. (Well, that’s my dream.) In fact, I’ll be there in March again – yahoo!
Stacy and I took the bus a couple of weeks ago and headed to Damen Ave. and Chicago Ave. to meet up with some friends. We sat in front of an old man riding the bus with no destination, as far as I could tell. When he laughed (and he laughed often at what he was saying), his voice would cackle like a wicked witch. He didn’t have a broom, but a few six packs of beer in plastic grocery bags placed on the floor and next to him on the seat. No one sat by him. He looked a little crazy with his shaggy gray hair and beard, but he was probably just lost in a beer haze. I was wary of him and really didn’t want to sit in front of him but there were no other spots on the bus. What if he, god forbid, tried to talk to us? What if he hurled a beer can at us? What if he urinated or barfed on the floor? Or threw insults at us like the lady in the park one day years ago? (She walked past Stacy and I and said, “You think you look pretty, don’t you? You slut, you whore!” She pointed and spat those words at us and I thought, oh my god, she can totally read my mind. But then she said it to the next people, also.)
Turned out he was harmless. I hadn’t been paying attention to him, but Stacy later told me that he had been saying random things like, “I used to be good-looking, you should’ve seen me”. I tuned out his babbling until he blurted out,”how now brown cow!” Stacy and I peaked at each other and started giggling, trying to be quiet, not to draw attention, our shoulders bouncing up and down. Either he really cracked himself up or he saw us giggling and so he started to laugh, cackling loud and then said it again. “How now brown cow!”
