Welcome to the Rumble

Did everyone feel that quake yesterday? That one definitely revived my sense of alarm. Now today we get the winds kicking up. I heard a report on the radio that there is a high-wind advisory in effect until 6 PM on Sunday. We can expect gusts of 50 to 60 miles an hour, with occasional bursts up to 80. Joy.

I have been having a bad day today. A couple hours ago I had an honest-to-God panic attack, and my heart has been jumpy ever since. This post will doubtlessly be short.

I make a conscious effort in my communication to stay away from the topic of dreams. With few exceptions, we are all fascinated by our own dreams and unenthused by the dreams of others. That said, I awoke this morning having had a dream where I was the Green Lantern! 

Now, those of you who know me well, know that Green Lantern is just about my favorite comic-book hero ever. To dream that I was the Green Lantern, flying about and using my power ring, was too exciting. And I sure did fly. In most of my 'flying dreams' I end up flying briefly and then spending the bulk of the dream narrative trying to fly again, generally without success. In this morning's dream, however, I was constantly flying. In fact, at one point I was having a battle with two villains simultaneously, one who could stretch his limbs indefinitely and one wielding a giant chain saw. In that sequence, I flew rapidly around several trees with the one villain's arms stretching to catch up to me. I defeated him by flying within reach of the chainsaw wielder who, unable to stop his momentum, cut off the first villain's arms! In a different sequence I raced The Flash, me flying and The Flash running. The race was one lap around the world, and I was narrowly beaten by The Flash.

That is how one should wake up in the morning!

"As you get older, it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary."— Ernest Hemingway

Where is Charleton Heston When We Need Him?

We just had a big earthquake. I used the USGS coordinates and Google Earth to plot it right about the corner of 9th and G in the heart of San Bernardino, about 4 miles from where I live.

I mean to post every day, but some days slip by without me remembering to do so. My apologies for the gap since my last post!

I'm down at Starbucks again. Honestly, I don't live here! It is a convenient place for me to write though. Despite the music and people talking, there are far fewer distractions here than at home. In fact, I have always had the ability to write comfortably in noisy, vocal environments. When I was in college (the first time!) I had a creative writing class during my sophomore year and we were required to keep journals. (If I were ever a creative writing teacher, this would be my first and foremost requirement. Journals are absolutely the best way to keep one in the habit of writing.) I used to grab my journal and a pen and head downstairs to the late-night cafe in the basement of our dorm. I could sit there for hours and write.

So I'm at Starbucks and I have to recommend their new London Fog Latte. If you've ever enjoyed one of their tea lattes before, you'll already know what this is like. Instead of green tea or chai tea, however, this drink is essentially an Earl Grey. Dee-licious! I'm a big fan of a cup of Earl Grey to begin with.

I wish I could claim that I've been extraordinarily busy during the days I've missed blogging. It wouldn't be true if I did. I have stacks and stacks of chores that need doing, and each day seems to pass without them getting done. I guess I'm having a focus problem right now. As I said in an email to a friend a couple days back, I feel really 'lost' right now. I feel like I'm standing at the crossroads of far too many junctions to evaluate.

I did make a small purchase at the beginning of the week and it arrived yesterday. Back in 2001 I purchased a guitar, but my fingers soon proved to be too small to be very effective for that instrument. (I'm sure, with real dedication, I could overcome that.) So, unable to make my fingers bigger, I decided to make my guitar smaller. I bought a ukulele! I also bought a book of Beatles tunes for the ukulele, a DVD instruction course, and a pitch pipe (since I am close to being tone deaf). I can't wait to begin. I am only waiting for the pitch pipe to arrive.    :D

I also bought a low-end Wacom tablet, and it should arrive tomorrow. This is something I've wanted for a long time. I'm consciously choosing to not describe what it's used for in case you don't already know. I hope to add a new feature to this blog (or some other web space) in a couple weeks using that tablet. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I talked to my friend Laura today, and she has hatched a plan for Sunday. For those of you who knew him, we are at roughly the one-year anniversary of Leo's death. Laura and Alison and I are going to meet Mercy on Sunday and go visit Leo's grave. I am particularly looking forward to this since I missed Leo's service and burial last year as I was in Florida. I have not yet been to his grave, and I've really wanted to go and talk to him for awhile. Like everyone else (I'm sure) I greatly miss Leo and his presence in my life. Even though we hadn't worked together for a few years, Leo and I chatted almost every day via IM. His IM's would pop up at random times and always cheered me up. He really made sure you never forgot about him!

Anyway, we'll be picking up Mercy about 3 and heading to the cemetary. I encourage anyone who knew him to join us!

"There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go."— Tennessee Williams

The LBC, Part 2

Today was a double-plus good day for a man who's at home most of his day— I received visits and packages from both FedEx and UPS. What could be better? A few weeks ago I got an email from Dickies saying they had a lot of clothes on clearance at their website so I picked up some shirts and jackets and such at really good prices. Those arrived today in a heavy box. Don't be surprised if you see me in some new work gear.  :)

I left off describing my time in Long Beach at the end of Thursday night. Friday morning both Lee and I slept in. I have to admit that I didn't sleep great that first night. I was on an air mattress in the living room with three smallish blankets to keep me warm, and that combination would have been perfect except that Lee has a delightful cat whose litter box is on the balcony. Unsure whether or not she used the box at night, Lee asked me to keep one of the sliding glass doors open wide enough for the cat all night. In Summer that would have been just great. In Winter, at the shore, it was less than great. I was able to curl myself up and make sure that my feet were covered, but I'm a very active sleeper, so I was constantly shifting in and out of warm positions. Real sleep didn't come until the early morning hours.

Upon arising and completing our morning ablutions, we walked over to Pine Street to a restaurant called the Omelette Inn. I very much enjoyed my breakfast , but the heat was off in the restaurant and we froze the whole time we sat there.

After breakfast we dashed over to Jori's apartment. She has a delightful apartment that, to me, seems like it is straight out of Maupin's Tales of the City— a big open living room and kitchen with hard floors. There is a detached office as well, and a small backyard with a fire pit. All of this is located in the tight-knit community of Rose Park. I would absolutely love to live there!

Now, one of the reasons we went to see Jori was so that Lee could collect a big blanket of hers— a big warm blanket that I could use that night to get a better night's sleep. The blanket will come up again later in this travelogue.

Jori is one member of a very social and tight-knit group of people and one member of that circle is the lead singer and songwriter for a band named Crush. Crush has recently signed to the Hensley Record label and will be launching a tour soon. Their second album will be out within the next year. Lee played the first Crush CD for me on the way to the movie theatre, and I immediately liked it— a lot! If you're an 80's fan, you'll probably like it as well. There's a big Depeche Mode influence in the band, mixed with subtler influences of Talk Talk and Duran Duran. Anyway, check them out at: Crush.

From Jori's we drove to a near-dollar theatre in Redondo Beach to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Lee really wanted to see a movie while I was there, but several flips through the Calendar section of the L A Times left me appalled at our choices. Everything playing these days seems so damned depressing. Finally I spotted Zack and Miri in tiny print at one theatre. I wasn't sure Lee would be interested, but she either trusts me or she didn't want to put up with my finickiness. As it turned out, Zack and Miri was very funny, even if it really wasn't anything more than a romantic comedy. I wouldn't buy it, but I would watch it again with friends.

We pretty much struck out with the movies we rented to watch that night though. Both on my recommendation, we rented Lars and the Single Girl and Step Brothers. Lars is a quirky independent movie, amusing if not really funny. The script is solid but not too daring. To sum it up quickly, it's about a lonely guy who orders a life-like sex doll off the internet and then brings her into his life as if she were real. We watched this movie while my blanket for the evening was in the washing machine and then the dryer.

Step Brothers, on the other hand, was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Both Lee and I were interested because John C. Reilly is in it. Personally, I think he's a great actor, and I looked forward to seeing him have fun in a comedy. I can't begin to list all the reasons this movie was not funny at all. The central reason, however, was probably just the fact that Reilly and Will Ferrell just didn't click. They may have been funny together in Taladega Nights— I didn't see it— but the killed any momentum in this movie with every scene they had together.

Now, when we started Step Brothers, the blanket came out of the dryer. We were both sitting on Lee's bed since her only TV is in the bedroom. She threw it on me, and it was toasty and warm. I told her she had to get under it too because a freshly dried blanket is a gift of comfort that should not be wasted. So, on her side of the bed, Lee snuggled under the blanket as well. And then she fell asleep during the second movie. When the movie was over, she was so wrapped up in the blanket and so soundly asleep that I couldn't get the blanket from her. So, I ended up jostling for warm positions on the air mattress again a second night. I enjoyed the irony of the situation.

That's pretty much it for Long Beach. Lee brought me back home again Saturday morning after we got a delicious breakfast with Jori at a local restaurant. It was a nice getaway.

"When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home."— Thornton Wilder

More Fun in the New Year

So much to write about. I'm fairly certain it will require at least two posts to catch up on everything that's happened in the last few days. (I say that as if I lead the life of Indiana Jones! We all know I'm more like Burgess Meredith in that episode of the Twilight Zone.)

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. In fact my largess extends to hoping that everyone has enjoyed all four of these days in 2009. My own New Year's Eve was quite fun, spent at Pat and Lisa's house, as we have done every year for at least 10 years now. We did nothing but eat wonderful food and play trivia games, but who needs more than that? I look forward to the same every year.

Before I get too much further, I want to tell everyone about a great title I found for the Nintendo DS. For those of you who balk at the DS being only a child's game machine, there is now the 100 Classic Book Collection for the DS. These are all titles in the public realm, and the collection is all over the place, but the software and reading experience are fairly comfortable. The collection includes many of Shakespeare's plays, most of Dickens' books, most of Jane Austen's books, and one or more books each from Walter Scott, R L Stevenson, Victor Hugo, Wilkie Collins, D H Lawrence, the Bronte sisters, Thackeray, Doyle, Verne, George Elliot, and many others. It's a bargain even if you only want to read three or four of these books. To sweeten the deal, more books are available online for downloading, and your game cartridge can hold up to ten of these downloaded titles at any one time. I found an additional ten titles already available for download, and I assume there will be more added as time goes on. This is truly a marvelous 'game' for the DS. The only negative aspect is that the game is only 'officially' available in Europe as I write this. I have not been able to determine if Nintendo intends to publish it in the United States as well. The entire thing is in English, however, so there is no problem enjoying it if you have a copy imported.

As I may or may not have mentioned earlier in this blog, I arranged with my dear friend Lee Ann tovisit her in Long Beach for a few days. Since she was with family in San Bernardino on New Year's Eve and expected to return to San Bernardino on the 3rd, she picked me up on the morning of the 1st and deposited me back at home early Saturday, the 3rd.

I have to say straight off that Lee has a terrific apartment near downtown Long Beach. She is in one of the high-rises that overlook the Long Beach harbor. The Aquarium of the Pacific is about a half-mile walk away, and the Performing Arts Center is so close that we could hear the crowd noise during Friday night's performance of Disney on Ice. Her living room has sliding glass doors on two adjacent walls that lead out to a balcony which wraps around two sides of her apartment. From one you can look directly down to a street used in the Long Beach Grand Prix. The Grand Prix, in fact, begins only a block away. Apparently it is quite the party spot to be in when the Grand Prix is in town. Walking a few blocks north from the apartment, you quickly reach Pine Street, which is the center of a lot of downtown renovation. There are many restaurants to choose from. The ambitious hiker could walk a mile or two in the other direction to reach the ultra-friendly Broadway district, and Belmont Shores is a close drive of a few miles. Lee definitely has a lock on the whole "location, location, location" thing.

Thursday night, after a few phone calls and some wrangling, Lee and I walked off to a sports bar for dinner. There we waited for her sister, Jori, and a few mutual friends, Brenda and Margaret. Yes, if you're counting, I was out with the Long Beach cast of Sex and the City. Brenda and Margaret quickly decided that their New Year's Eve had not lived up to its promise and this night (the 1st) would be their chance to find what they'd missed the night before. So, after dinner, we all piled into Jori's car and drove to a small bar on the south end of Belmont Shores, a place named the Crow's Nest.

If you know me at all, you know I'm not a big drinker. I don't mind a drink or two with good friends and/or in a comfortable place, but I'm not the kind of guy who can unwind enough to drink with strangers in a strange place. To top it off, I had wicked indigestion from dinner. So, we walked in and immediately found a small table centrally located that would accomodate the five of us. Jori had a beer, but the rest of us ordered chocolate martinis, which were not on the menu, until the bartender said he could 'fake' them for us. For myself, I think I got an idea of what a real chocolate martini would taste like, and I'll probably try one some day, but the drinks we were served were too strong for my stomach that night. When Lee had finished hers some time later, I swapped my glass for hers.

Minutes beforehand, as we were parking the car, the other ladies challenged Brenda to find herself a man within 15 minutes. It did not take Brenda even 5 minutes to accomplish that task! Before we had our first round of drinks, she was talking to a 'doctor' wearing an interesting tee shirt. Within 10 minutes she had him writing down everone's sizes so he could give all the ladies one. (I demurred.) I call him a 'doctor' because that's what he said he was... until shortly before he left, when he confessed that he worked in stone cutting. I don't think anyone bought the doctor cover at all anyway. Before leaving, however, he did seem to make a good connection with Margaret and I daresay there will be tee shirts for everyone.

So, not drinking, I spent a few hours in the bar observing my friends and the other patrons. Sitting at the bar directly in front of us was an older fellow wearing a hockey jersey. His name was Rak. I believe that is short for Richard or Ricardo in some way. He ended up monopolizing most of Jori's evening and claimed to be a police sergeant, which I frankly doubted. (His speech even early on when he was sober was a little mushy, and he didn't seem to carry himself like the few cops I've met.) I ended up leaving earlier than the ladies— Jori drove me back to the apartment— and on the way back I asked Jori if she believed he was a cop (since she was talking with him quite a bit). She did, based on her earlier experiences in life working with cops. Rak was determined to get a date out of Jori, and there was some amusement at the idea of liberal Jori going out with a conservative cop. As of this writing, I believe numbers were exchanged and a date is planned for some point.

When I left, there were two other fellows buzzing around our table as well. (As you may imagine, I was getting some curious looks throughout the evening, as I was definitely with this women, but in some undefinable capacity.) A handsome guy named Keith had moved from an early conversation with Lee and Jori, wherein they discussed meeting each other a year earlier and having a fun time in the very same bar. When I left, he was growing animated in discussion with Brenda and Margaret. The last person to join the cloud around our table was a young man named Peter (or Pierre or Petar). He introduced himself as Peter who preferred to be called Pierre. He claimed to be a sailor from Bulgaria, which I doubted. Lee told me that after I left they got to see some identification establishing that he was indeed a sailor. Early in the conversation I heard him mention Bulgaria, bt I don't know if he was a Bulgarian sailor or an American sailor from Bulgaria or something else. That he was Bulgarian by birth I had no doubt.

Anyway, as I said, my tolerance after a few hours had bottomed out. The bar had turned out to have no gay action that night, despite Lee's protests that every guy in there, in turn, had been checking me out at some point. Since my stomach wasn't allowing me to drink, I grew uncomfortable. Recognizing that I was no longer in my happy place, Jori took me home quickly. An hour or so later, Lee returned as well. I don't know how the other ladies fared.

And here's where I'll cut off my synopsis of my Long Beach weekend. I'll finish things off tomorrow.

"It is not the drinker, but the man who has just stopped drinking, who thinks the world is going to the dogs."— H L Mencken