28 December 2009

Support the Strip

I love my new home.  I especially love that I have so much within a 1 mile radius of me - all the shopping, dining and nightlife a girl could need.  So I was sad to hear my adopted homeland has been hard hit by the current economy (and changing music landscape of LA).  So, I've decided to make more of an effort to support the Strip.  I already spend a large chunk of my disposable income at the Trocadero, but it's time to branch out into other venues for dining, comedy and especially music.  So, though I'm not a fan of New Year's Resolutions in general, this year I think it's a good cause to try to support at least one of my local businesses every week.

I'm starting right away with the Ducati All Stars show at The Roxy Jan 2.  I'll keep you posted.


20 November 2009

You Aren't Wearing Any Makeup!

Yesterday morning, I had a small emergency at my house - the water heater sprung a leak.  And my water heater is in a cupboard in my kitchen, so before I could figure out what that whooshing sound was and turn off the water supply, it made a nice, large puddle on the floor.  So, instead of doing my hair and makeup as usual, I spent the time while I was waiting for a plumber to come mopping and tidying up.  So I ended up going to work with my hair pulled back and no makeup on whatsoever.

31 August 2009

Cloudy with a Chance of Blazing Death

Every region has its natural disasters - the northeast gets its nor'easters and an occasional hurricaine or other cold/wet weather related calamity. And it seems like wherever you are born, you get both well-trained to deal with that area's most prevalent acts of god and you become a little immune to them as well. Last winter, people I knew were forced off the grid when a giant snow storm knocked out most power and communication lines in western/central Massachusetts. A big snow or rain storm may not seem to frightening to those who live in hot, dry regions, but people die every winter in New England from the storms - from exposure, collapsed roofs or car accidents. But I've been trained from birth - what to have at home in the cupboard, what to have in the car, and when to just sit tight and wait it out.

So if your disaster is of the wet or cold type, I'm all over it. In fact, I'll probably make fun of you for rushing to the Stop n Shop to stock up on bread and milk. But hot and fiery disasters... I am not prepared for these and I find them kind of distressing. Especially when they are burning through thousands of acres of brush that hasn't burned for 40 years and when I can't remember the last time it rained here and when they are sending creepy black smoke mushroom clouds across most of the area. Yeah, distressing.

But most everyone here seems to be taking it in stride. On the KTLA weather this morning, they just added happy little cartoon flames in the areas where this massive, uncontained fire doubled in size overnight. I know these are outliers, because local newscasts are sensational dreck, but they reported a bar owner near the blaze who was staying open and handing out facemasks to patrons and a couple who decided to "ride it out" in their hot tub.

To me, this seems crazy in the face of such a dangerous, unpredicatable force of nature. I understand, logically, that there are actually people trained to contain these fires and keep people safe while there's no one to stop the onslaught of a giant snowstorm back East... I also know, logically, that it's highly unlikely the fire will come anywhere close to my home or office while there's really no escaping a big nor'easter for miles and miles.. but there's something so much more unsetlling about this unfamiliar threat.

27 August 2009

Getting a Feel for How LA I've Become

So, as usual, I wax and wane with my blogging. This time, it's been for good reason - I attended two friends' weddings in New England over the last month. And it offered me the opportunity to see how much of an Angelino I've become. Here in LA, I still feel feel very far to the East on the coastal spectrum - I wear a lot of black, I gasp want to ride the metro and bus system, and I don't strike up conversations with strangers. But it turns out I've been moving ever so slightly West in my attitudes.

In particular, I've gotten friendlier. This is really the one big difference that has struck me the most here, probably because it was so unexpected. I know folks in the South and Midwest are famously more cordial and hospitable than us curmudgeonly Yankees, but people in LA? Who knew?

So, there I am, standing in line at the Radio Shack on Boylston St in Boston, picking up a new battery for my parking gate remote when I hear myself launch into a whole story to the clerk - how I had been at Starbucks across the street and I knew I needed a new battery pretty soon and I never have time to get to the store on a work day.. how I was thinking "What kind of store do I even get this weird, specific battery at?" and I looked up and there was Radio Shack, right across the street... I mean, waaay too much information. I used to scowl at those people who held up the line, blathering on about anything outside the strict parameters of the transaction at hand. Now I am one of them.

However, I think this friendliness to total strangers thing it must be on a logarithmic scale - now that I'm back, I feel almost as scowly and guarded as ever compared to those around me, but I no longer feel I can wear it like a badge of honor, since I know I don't really match up to true Bostonians anymore.

17 July 2009

Catching a Premier - in My Rearview Mirror

I saw my first red carpet last night, as I drove by at 35 mph. It was somewhat odd and disorienting, actually. First of all, it was at the ArcLight closest to my office, which is the theater I have frequented most often since moving here. I saw a big line of people outside the side door and first thought it was Harry Potter mania, but noticed folks were a little overdressed. Then I saw that constructed background with the movie's logo ("The Ugly Truth" btw) and I could actually hear the din of the photographers yelling for attention over my car radio with the windows closed and AC on high. And this was all just on the sidewalk in front of the theater. There were also a number of tourists and whoever else trying to take pictures from across the street.

It was all just so weird. Kind of like when I went to see a taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien in college and discovered that the stage was tiny. The camera angles cleverly made it seem like there was more than 2 feet between the band and the desk. Same here - there was this tiny area of transformed sidewalk and all the camera and video footage manages to ignore the regular life - parking meters, the ticket window, the choked up traffic on Sunset Blvd - making it look all glamorous and fabulous. But I also got a little thrill, I could totally relate to the across-the-street gawkers who were sort of awed at being this close to the movie magic, even though being this close pretty much kills that magic.

06 July 2009

Should I Know Who you Are?

Are you famous but crave privacy? Well, then come hang out with me because I will have no idea who you are and so treat you like a regular schmoe.

I thought that I'd actually be one of those people who embarrasses her native Angelino friends with squeals and pestering when I saw a celebrity. But nope, I am one cool cucumber. Though, mainly due to the fact that I never recognize famous people when I see them.

It all began when I practically bumped into Adam Arkin coming out of the bathroom at a restaurant. My friend had to tell me who I had almost just run over.

Then there was Mr Belding at Dimples. And, seriously, that took a very strong power of obliviousness. Nearly every person I talked to about this bar told me Dennis Haskins was a regular. The karaoke host even announced who he was while I was in the ladies room, everyone had their cameras out and Jill was gesturing wildly to me as I came back to the table. But I took that to mean "Hey, let's go dance" and I think it still took a couple minutes after that.

But the topper was this past Friday. Linda and I went up to the Santa Ynez Valley to enjoy some wine tasting and ended up at Rideau Winery and Bistro. After we cleared our plates and got a second glass of wine, we found a couple had taken the picnic table we'd been at before. We ended up joining them and struck up a conversation about the nearby Neverland Ranch. The conversation kept going from there for a couple of hours until one of the other patrons came up and said, "Excuse me, are you Terrell Davis?" He was sort of evasive, but his girlfriend quickly and skillfully changed the subject and distracted the questioners. I already knew his first name was Terrell, so I said "You are this Terrell Davis - but who is Terrell Davis? Should I know who you are? I'm sorry." and he sort of blew it off and so we moved along. Shortly after that, the two of them left to go change for dinner and the original interrupter came back and asked us "But that really was Terrell Davis, right?" and we told him we had no idea and who was Terrell Davis anyway? he looked a little annoyed and kind of yelled "He played for the Broncos!" So we Googled him and, sure enough, we had been spending a lovely afternoon with the MVP of Super Bowl XXXII and his very charming girlfriend.


10 April 2009

So far, no scary skinny, chain-smoking, coke-snorting cat ladies!

So, I have to admit my biggest fear when contemplating the move to LA was that I would enter a land filled with clones of Mischa Barton, Ashlee Simpson and the Olsen twins. And, worse, I'd quickly become one of them, like in The Martian Chronicles. Admittedly, this fear was mostly born out of my own insecurities and the fact that about two LA women I know have mentioned getting plastic surgery as if it were getting a haircut. I know, 2 is not a very large number, but ZERO of the women I know on the East Coast have ever mentioned it, so...

But, no, the folks here are pretty regular. Most of the city are unattractive, overweight slobs like the rest of us.

05 April 2009

Like, ohmygod, everything is totally in a mall!

I don't know if The Valley really was the birthplace of the mall, but it is definitely the mall's home turf. Literally everything is in a mall here - or at least a mini-mall/plaza. There are no standalone grocery stores or Targets or drug stores (a few big boxes like Home Depot), they are all in malls or plazas. Nail places, hair salons, even upscale restaurants.

27 March 2009

Weather

Everyone talks about the weather, but no one ever does a thing about it.

Well, here no one talks about the weather. At all. During the traffic and weather report on KIIS FM yesterday, there was plenty of traffic but the girl actually just said "Weather - not much to say." That was the entire weather report. Linda thinks Jill and I are so weird that we actually check the weather or ask people about it.

Of course, I guess that's the luxury of living every day in sunny and warm conditions. I'm told it rains "a lot" in February (apparently for about 15 minutes each day for a few weeks straight) and there's this thing called the June Gloom, that actually happens in May, which just results in overcast skies.

No one here ever has to check the weather at night to know whether to set the alarm clock 30 minutes early to shovel out their car and still get to work on time.

I expect that a lot of it is the driving-centric culture as well. Walking a mile to the T stop every day means that there's a big difference between 72 and 82 F, but it's all just "sunny and pleasant" from the inside of a climate controlled car.

24 March 2009

Driving

So, I've done a fair amount of driving in LA before I moved here, but it still is quite a shock to my system. First of all, it's more traffic than I've ever seen outside of India. The other big difference is the number of motorcycles, and the fact that they are going so much faster than the stop-and-go traffic. It freaks me out.

But, really, it's the little things - left turns, for examples. In Boston and RI, the first left turn in line gets to jump the gun and make the turn before oncoming traffic starts moving forward. Not so in LA. Here, you have to wait until it's really your turn, but then even after the light turns red about three more cars make the left and everyone just waits for them.

Then there's the freeway meters. Apparently, they are quite useful on the choked up freeways here, but it's a huge shock to be accelerating down the on ramp and suddenly come upon a red light!

Pedestrians and their relationship to cars are also quite different. Surprisingly, pedestrians totally respect the lights and crosswalks - no jaywalking here. But, as a result, they take their sweet time crossing, even when you are waiting to make a left or right turn.

So, not very amusing, but this is the big culture shock of my first few days.

20 March 2009

T-1 Days

In less than 24 hours, I'll be heading out to LA. The movers have packed up my stuff and I've consolidated down to two suitcases (and a couple more FedEx boxes).

I'm really excited to move to LA. It feels right. As Jay said during the holiday party, it was inevitable. But I do have a few misgivings. From the brief amount of time I've spent in and around Los Angeles over the past few years, I know there are parts of the city's personality that just don't jive with me.. though there's a lot that does.

Every bad thing they say about New Englanders and Bostonians are true - we're stuffy, puritanical, gruff, overly aggressive drivers. And I like it that way. I don't have to be overly friendly in the elevator or at Starbucks, I grumble at the club closing at 2 am but really how much later would I stay?, and people tend to actually know where Smith College is and be impressed by it.

But I'm very excited to live somewhere new again and get to know it, so away I go...