Illegal Parking Next to A Police Car

The sign says "no parking," but see that my bike was parked at the sign. And the police didn't give me a ticket. Yea, I'm in L.A.!

Hollywood

I’m in L.A., and why don’t I go and see renovated Hollywood? So, I biked to the nearest train station for 30 minutes and took trains to get to Hollywood/Highland. I’m kind of surprised at that public transportations in L.A. are good.


Man, this is Kodak Theater? A very tinsel building as if it represented American commercialism. The sign of Hollywood on the hill can be seen from the Kodak Theater building. Because of that, tons of tourists were hanging around to take a photo or two. I did, too.


Chinese Theater was refurbished and looks a little better than before. Under the Hollywood sun, look-alikes of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Superwoman and whoever were wandering around to please tourists. I don’t know how much they are paid, but I can’t do that because I would die from heat. It is too hot to wear that kind of costumes.

Locked Out

It was too late when the door shut behind me. I locked myself out. I left everything in the house: the key, cell phone, purse, water, sunscreen and so forth. I thought what I should do in the shade of the garage. It’s Los Angeles, and the scorching sun would kill me.

Wait until someone comes home? Nay. It was 10:00 in the morning. They will come home in the afternoon. I would die stay outside without water. Call EC. That seemed to be the best solution. But how? I left my phone inside, and I don’t know her phone number or office phone number without my cell phone. Let’s ask neighbors.

I rang the door bell of the next-door neighbor. A young lady with a baby came to the door, but she was cautious enough not to open the iron door outside. It’s L.A., and what else should I expect? Anyhow, I explained everything: I visited EC and JC, locked myself out, don’t know EC’s office number and needed her help. She must have thought that I was a weird Asian. But she was nice. She called 411 (? I don’t know, but it’s the telephone directory service) to find out EC’s office number. Eventually, she called EC’s office and passed the phone to me. Unfortunately, I was forwarded her voicemail. I left my message anyway.

I appreciated the next-door neighbor’s help and came back to the garage. I didn’t know what to do next other than to hope EC listen to my message and come home during lunchtime.

I was really lucky because EC came home in 30 minutes to open the door for me. Thank Buddha, I won’t be grilled by the California scorching sun! And thank EC for coming home all the way!

Melrose Place

On the way home, EC took me to Melrose Place. I don’t know why but Melrose Place came back to my mind frequently while I was in the hippie town. When EC and JC were living closer to Melrose Place about 10 years ago, I visited there a few times and enjoyed hanging around. Melrose Place, for me, is a neat street with little shops and restaurants on the both sides of the street.

Ten years later ... the street changed a lot. There are now more chic restaurants and bars along the street. Clothing stores are more club-oriented (you know, sexy dresses). People who are hanging around were mainly young and partly gay. It was great to see many people on the street because I don’t see that many people on the street in the hippie town. I was missing people, man! And Melrose Place. The hippie town needs to have this kind of street.

Extraterrestrial White Stuff

After I attended the alumni meeting, EC took me to Palm Springs to enjoy more sunshine. Actually, the sun is too strong here, and I believe staying in the sun more than 10 minutes must be a suicidal act. Well, I’d better not complain because I was missing the sun such a long time in the rainy, gloomy, depressing, hippie town. Finally, I’ve got the sun!

On the way to Palm Springs, I saw an extraordinary scenery. Wind mills. Hundreds of them. Being talk and white with rotating fans, they give an impression that they are not things on the Earth as if they were extraterrestrial stuff. Furthermore, the barren noise of wind (wind was very strong today) agitated that kind of feeling.


We are staying at the Miracle Springs hotel, which contains eight different hot springs. Yes, I need to heal my weary mind in hot springs! Luckily, I finally finished grading for this term. Actually, I brought the exams to grade all the way here, and while EC was bathing in hot springs outside, I was grading inside. I don’t want to do TA for that class ever again. Anyway, I’m done!

L.A. Convention

The official reason that I came to Los Angeles is to attend a couple of meetings in the Rotary Convention, and luckily I’m paid for this. There are get-together things for Rotary alumni (yes, I’m one of Rotary alumni).

The convention is taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown. Man, the convention center is huge, and the logo of the Rotary hanging on the building is also huge as if it were showing off the power of the Rotary. Needless to say, the Rotary is powerful.

Because the center is huge, I needed to walk around and up and down to register, collect materials and look for venues. I regretted that I wore high heels.

The Sun!

Yea! Los Angeles! The sun!

EC and her daughter SC kindly picked me up at the airport (LAX, of course. Toto, I’m not in the hippie town anymore.). The last time I visited them is 2005 ... man, three years have passed since then. That’s why SC and her brother YC have become bigger (I’ve been older).

Thank EC and her family for having me. I’m so blessed with friends!

Moving

I thank SA for helping moving my stuff. Also YY who provided me space to store my stuff. Man, I'm so lucky to have these guys. Thanks both of you.

And there's another thing that I felt I'm lucky (or loved). Rotary people gave me a surprise gift because I'll be away for a while. It's a picture book of the Oregon nature. They wrote messages on the book! That moved me a lot. I'm just a poor student, in other words, cheap labor of the univeristy and I haven't contributed to them at all (so far anyway). But they involve me as a friend. Man, they are great. I need to cherish this human network because it's really precious. Yeah, I'm lucky.

Preview

Oops, what did I do? I happen to do a preview of two indie rock musicians. Yeah, actually, I'm interested in them: Joseph Arthur and Anna Ternheim. The problem is the due. I thought I could take time, but the publicist told me the due is the 19th. Come on, for a while from now on, I'll be busy, moving, attending conventions and drinking. Oops.

So, I started collecting information on them because I don't think I have time to write a preview in L.A. Luckily, the publicist has a CD of Anna Ternheim, which I borrowed it this afternoon. Her music is sad and dark but good. It resonates with your weary soul. And now, I'm listening to Joseph Arthur Radio on his website while blogging. This radio (his music, too) is as good as Madonna's website. Blame me, I'm a fan of Madonna. I'm still living in the 80s!

OK, I need to get back to work.

Gray Hair!

I was, no I'm, shocked when I found loooooong gray hair in the back of the head this morning. I feel old ...

A GM

Because tonight, or this week, one GM is not available, only another GM and I had a kind of regular meeting, in other words, stress-release beer grabbing. Well, both GMs are really good to me, and therefore, it is comfortable for me to ask them to go out when I feel like it.

This GM is a funny (and cynical, hee hee) guy and provides me a lot of information, which is helpful.

We sat outside because it was still warm and light. But after a couple of minutes, it became windy and chilly. Damn, Oregon weather. We are easy to give up, you know, we are adults. We relocated ourselves inside.

After we grabbed a couple of beer and asked for the check, we realized that a lot of familiar faces were coming in the bar. Uh-oh, Monday night is a trivia night--the bar's regular event. I'm not interested in trivia. In the first place, I didn't grow up here and I don't know about cultural stuff here. Then, how could I answer those questions? But I joined my friend's team with GM anyway. I'm easy. And we won (once)! And the photo is the reward: water blaster (for ages 6 and older). I wonder if there will be a chance to use this under this unpredictable weather here. It is June but still chilly, man! Unbelievable.

Roommate

I found a roommate for next year, yay! It happened all of sudden. I had a lunch with my buddy who I like because she is straightforward and ... I don't know, but I like her atmosphere.

I knew she is also moving at the end of this term, but I thought she already has a roommate or two. So, I asked her if she knows someone who is looking for a roommate. And she raised her hand. Oh, I found a roommate very close to me. Yeah, I want to share an apartment with someone who I of at least my friends know. She is perfect because I know her in person. And we found something in common: when we are stressed out, we clean. That's good.

Thanks to her, I don't do roommate hunting in the beginning of September. That makes me feel much better. And sharing an apartment with her might be fun. Fingers crossed!

Over!

Yes! The spring term is over! I've survived! Can't believe this. Oh, how many times I thought I would quit, but I'm still here. Miracle, huh?

To celebrate, SA and I went to see "Or Not To Be" at Lord Leebrick Theatre. Well, for me, beer before the play was much important, and I enjoyed a couple of pints of IPA at ... where was it? It was a sports bar, kind of, close to the theater. Because I ate many sweets this afternoon, in class actually, I couldn't have a main dish. I only had salad, but it was good.

The play ... mm, what can I say? I didn't get any idea of what was going on the stage at all. Probably it is because I don't have any knowledge about Hamlet. The play was partly funny--luckily, I could laugh at some parts, but other than that, what the hell?! SA said he also missed a lot. That's a relief for me. Because even a native English speaker doesn't understand, how could I?

Anyhow, it was a nice night out after everything is done. Hell, no! I still have one paper to be done and tons of undergrad papers to grade. Seems like neverending ...