I have a strange habit of referring to objects, places and ideas by off-key synonyms, because at that moment, I can’t quite think of the word I’m searching for. Although it makes for hilarious conversation, I’m not sure why I do it, at all. The problem started in high school when I referred to a couple Math and English books as my “study books.” It progressed from there. I called Christmas “Santa’s Day” once and the restaurant “Applebees” sincerely became “Johnny Appleseeds.” Scale became “Weight measurer” and so on. I don’t know where this verbal ADHD originated from, but it looks like it’s contagious.
me: I saw “The Class” the other day for a screening. You’d really like it. [proceeds to send link to trailer]
him: Oooo interesting. This reminds me of that Michelle Pfeiffer movie with the students.
me: Which one?
him: With Coolio, remember?
him: Teacher in the Hood!
me: you mean “DANGEROUS MINDS?!”
Teacher in the Hood. After I recovered from my fit of laughter, I took comfort in the fact this wasn’t the first time he had synonym-ized words. Payless had turned into “Penny Savers” and Old Navy had turned into “Navy Seal” among countless others that I can’t recall. It could have been at this point that I might have realized that we where meant to be.
Come November, I know that what is on most of our minds is the showdown between Obama and McCain, however for California residents, there are a number of very important propositions on the ballot that need your vote. After getting a call last week from Planned Parenthood urging me to vote no on Proposition 4 and then getting an email from the ASPCA calling for all animal lovers to vote yes on Proposition 2, as well as hearing Warren Olney talk about Proposition 5 on “Which Way L.A” on KCRW, I’ve decided that it might be beneficial to myself and whoever is reading this to be informed when it comes time to cast a vote on Nov. 4.
Proposition 1: High Speed Rail Bonds. Legislative Initiative Amendment
What it means: California is congested. Rising gasoline prices and grid locked freeways have taken over the state. This act means that the state will build a high-speed train system and improve existing rail lines by creating a rail trust fund that will issue bonds totaling $9.95 billion.
Pros and cons: The pros are obvious - we know and so does the whole world that our transportation system is horrible. These high-speed trains will not only reduce traffic, but reduce greenhouse gases. They’re also cheaper than building highways. The con side says that this will cost taxpayers $19,200,000,000. Wow, big number. That money could be used for schools, health care and public safety.
How I will vote: Yes. As someone who is in traffic for more than 2 hours a day, I whole-heartedly agree with this proposition. People might argue that the money could be used for something else, but if it’s not now, it will be five years from now and by that time, there might be so many cars in Los Angeles that it might take someone longer to get to work than it takes me.
Proposition 2: Standards for Confining Farm Animals
What it means: This would require that certain farm animals be allowed for the majority of the day to have enough space to move around so that they can stand up, turn around, extend their limbs or wings and lie down. Voting yes would be that beginning in 2015, the state law would prohibit the confinement of calves, egg-laying hens and pregnant pigs.
Pros and cons: The pros in this case are obvious. Animals deserve humane treatment and denying them space is cruel and wrong. Although in my opinion, there are absolutely NO CONS to this measure, people argue that Proposition 2 would eliminate egg production and increase human exposure to Salmonella and Bird Flu.
How I will vote: As someone who loves animals dearly and does not eat chicken, pork, beef or turkey anymore, this is perhaps the proposition I am most passionate about. As humans, it is our responsibility to protect the animals on this Earth and if I find out that anyone I know was so selfish and ignorant to vote against this measure, needless to say our relationship will be in trouble
Proposition 3: Children’s Hospital Bond Act
What it means: This will authorize funds ($980,000,000 to be exact) for the construction, expansion and overall renovation for children’s hospitals. It is set to cost the state about $2 billion over 30 years or so.
Pros and cons: This proposition aims to help children with leukemia, cancer, heart disease and traumatic injuries and give them a better chance for life. The con argument again, is that people’s tax dollars are going to fund this while millions from a measure in 2004 for a similar cause remains unused.
How I will vote: Most definitely yes! I am so tired of Americans complaining about taxes. This is why people in Europe have a better quality of life, including universal health care. Because of taxes. I would rather pay taxes, so that I can go to the doctor whenever I wish than seeing so many people who cannot afford health care.
Proposition 4: Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy
What it means: This proposition if passed, will prohibit abortion for minors until 48 hours after the physician notifies a minor’s legal guardian.
Pros and cons: The proposition, also known as Sarah’s Law has a track record of working in 30 other states by reducing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Of course, this can also forced scared and pregnant teens to take matters into their own hands if they are required to tell parents.
How I will vote: My initial reaction was to vote no, because I believe that if teens are already scared, having to tell their parents will frighten them so much more that they might run away or go to unlicensed doctors or have a child they are not prepared to take care of. However, if the proposition has reduced teen pregnancy and STDs in other states, it might not be such a bad thing. The solution is to teach better sex education, in my opinion. I will most likely vote no on this prop.
Proposition 5: Nonviolent Drug Offenses : Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation
What it means: Proposition 5 would require the state of California to use over $1 billion annually to treat and offer rehabilitation programs for nonviolent drug offenders and parolees. It would shorten parole for most drug offenses and would change certain marijuana misdemeanors to infractions.
Pros and Cons: The number one pro to this prop might be the fact that it would reduce overcrowded prisons and would create treatment options for people who actually want to get better. Also, a similar prop that was approved, Prop. 36, has provided treatment and rehab for 84,000 people. The cons might be a bit obvious. This could potentially backfire and be seen as a “get out of jail free” card as well as shorten parole for serious drug felonies from three years to six months.
How I will vote: I’m not sure. Although I do believe that this state and country’s prison system is in dire need of help, I can understand the opposition against this prop. I also believe that reforming the system means recognizing that there are perhaps hundreds if not thousands of people (if not all!) who have seriously mental health issues and what these people need is cognitive behavioral therapy and counseling, not to be put away in a jail cell for the rest of their lives. With that said, what this prop proposes is a great start, I just think it might need to be restructured in a better way.
I will have propositions six through 12 next week.
That’s me. I might be in deep thought, although I’m not sure because that photo was taken at the Los Angeles Zoo last year. I might be thinking about how miserable the animals are there. Mayor Villaraigosa, improve L.A. Zoo conditions ok? In fact, I will volunteer to be on that committee. Thanks.
Lately I’ve been feeling more like photos instead of words. I think mostly because it’s been a stressful week and I can’t find the energy to sit down and write a proper post (I’ve got one ready about The Duggars - so I know you’re on the edge of your seat about that one) and because I have so many things I want to write about that I can’t concentrate. Suffice it to say, that is has been quite an interesting week.
Chopin, Ballade No 1. in G Minor. Ivan Moravec. Haunting song that might make you cry if you allow yourself to think deep enough while listening to it. Ten minutes long. Gifted pianist. My words won’t do it justice, you might just have to listen yourself. There are times when we don’t know what to say. There are times, that even as a writer, I can’t find the words to describe how I feel. This is why music was invented, so you can let the notes, so delicately strung together, speak for you.
Stumbling upon people’s websites or social networking pages that you know is always hilarious, sometimes shocking and at other times depressing. At times, I have been known to thoroughly background check and Google search people I know. I’m not quite sure why I engage in this behavior, other than to satisfy my own curiosity and boredom, but once you get started, once you enter that person’s name in a search engine, there is no stopping you until you’ve finished discovering every single crevice of their past and present life. Sometimes there are people I search for from high school just because their name pops into my head out of nowhere. Being on the yearbook staff for three years will do that to you. Sometimes they don’t exist on the internet. I find that so disheartening and upsetting. Not because I don’t have any juicy dirt to read about them, oh no. But because we are in the 21st century people! How do you not have an online presence in this day and age is beyond me. There are 10-year-olds with more online presence than the now 23-year-olds I went to high school with. You people disgust me.
A couple months ago I came across information about a relative I had not spoken to for about three to four years. It wasn’t because we were both busy, or because there was any type of physical distance between us that we stopped talking. It was purely out of choice, and not really a democratic one at that, at least as far as my choice was concerned. It’s always weird seeing how someone’s life has evolved since you haven’t been around. The kids they’ve had, the conversations they’ve been a part of, the fact that you play no part in their life and they play no part in yours.
It’s easy to utter the words “forgive and forget” in situations like this, and there are always people who are going to repeat that phrase, but it’s so much harder than that.
Some days I miss her. I remember our shopping trips, the way I could confide in her, like an older sister I didn’t have, how she took me under her wing and gave me advice. I thought our relationship was so strong, that the thought of not even being on speaking terms with each other did not even once cross my mind. We were close. My dad played a big part in raising her, probably about 10 to 12 years before I even existed. She touted over me when I was an infant. Both our families located to Greece to escape Iran, and then to Los Angeles to start a new life. We lived about two minutes away from each other. I was a bridesmaid at her wedding.
Now, she has two children. They don’t know who I am, nor do I expect them to. Now, I’ve graduated, with a job and a life of my own. It would be safe to say that she no longer knows who I am. She missed out on a critical period of my life and I missed out on a critical period in hers, I suppose.
And still to this day, the details of why and how communication stopped remains a blur. All that’s left is me, where I am and she, where she is. And there’s nothing to change. Not really, anyway. I don’t even know if I want a change. I don’t. It’s just a matter of accepting. Accepting the cards you’ve been dealt, trekking on and perhaps reserving a bit of hope in the back of your head that someday, you might cross paths and actually say hello and embrace each other again.
I took this photo on July 22 in 2005. It’s right outside my house on a no doubt warm, but beautiful summer day. I must have been a junior in college with the summer off as I refused to take summer school for my own insanity. I probably would have graduated earlier if I did, but then, I wouldn’t have been around to look at this rusted orange sky.
I heard John McCain proclaim that “We’re winning the war in Iraq.” I am just so confused by this statement, because there is nothing to win. There is stability to create and infrastructure to build and troops to get out, but I just have this sickening feeling that Republican ideology is always “us” against “them.” The “them” could be Democrats, a Middle Eastern country or people who believe in the right that a woman should have a choice about what she decides to do with her own body.
Then I read that Lynne Spears, Britney and Jamie Lynn’s mother spoke out about the hypocritical treatment Jamie Lynn received when she announced her pregnancy, compared to Bristol Palin, who was touted in the media, well, conservative and right winged media as a great girl with a fantastic mom who understands and accepts the responsibility of having a child at 17-years-old. It’s really disturbing and it just shows you how deeply ignorant and hypocritical and self-serving these people are. Here is an excellent clip from the Jon Stewart Show with King of the Ignorants, Bill O’ Reilly, praising Bristol and Sarah Palin, while damning Jamie Lynne and her parents to hell. It’s quite entertaining.
Then I heard Barack Obama speaking to a crowd of journalists today about his decision to move forward with the debates while McCain is in favor of postponing them so that he can focus on the economic crisis at hand. Can’t multi-task there, John? Wow. And there are people actually voting for this man.
Then I started thinking about how I feel about writing about politics on this blog. As journalists, we’ve been trained to keep an objective view on all things. We must not get involved. We must remain neutral. When I write about politics in here, I don’t think it really matters, because a) no one is really reading and b) I’m not a reporter who is covering either candidate on the campaign trail, so I’m allowed to have an opinion.
This election means so much to me, that I don’t even want to speak to anyone who is not voting for Obama. This election is about my generation, about my future children’s generation, about the people in this country who cannot afford to take their sick children to the emergency room or feed their families. This is about the families in Iraq who are struggling with the same problems because of the decisions one idiotic and ignorant man made to invade their country and tear up their land. I have had enough of it and I think everyone around the world has had enough of it.
The difference between someone who votes for John McCain and his pig with lipstick, Palin and someone who votes for Obama and Biden is that, the latter actually cares about the needs and values of other people, while the former only cares about themselves.
The forefathers of this country, at least in theory, had the right idea. They wanted America to be a place where you could live in peace and succeed in life, no matter what creed, color or race you happen to be. To think that after 200 and some odd years, that there are still people in this country who think Barack Obama is a Muslim and that’s their reasoning for not voting for him is just MIND BOGGLING. These people need to be all stuffed in a trailer home and sent out to sea.
Then the traffic started breaking up and I was almost home free, so I actually had to concentrate on the road. Time is ticking. The actual election is almost upon us. Sometimes I stay awake and night wondering what it’s all going to be like. I can’t wait for the day to come that I can walk into a voting center and mark a dot next to Barack Obama’s name. Si Se Puede!
I have always had a love affair with rain. When others were craving sunshine and hot days, I was wishing for wet weather. Something about it soothes me. Maybe it’s the sound, how it falls so effortlessly and fearlessly on my car, my window and on leaves. The allure of rain for me, is not just about the rain itself, but perhaps more about what it brings: sleep, comfort, woolly socks, a cup of warm tea, a snuggle, a blanket.
It washes away my thoughts and cleanses my head, along with the outside world it touches. For a while I thought I was alone in my love of rain, and most days I think I still am.
Then one rare day a couple weeks ago, the sky in Los Angeles turned grey and I could tell, I could just tell that it was mustering up all its energy to sprinkle some rain and clean the filthy streets and people of this city, but it didn’t quite have the strength to. So it retreated back and sunshine took over and I was back to feeling depressed about the weather again.
While it was grey though, a song came on the radio that confirmed my feelings: I was not the only one who loved rain. It turns out that Loudon Wainwright, father of Rufus Wainwright, likes gloomy days in Los Angeles just as much as I do. He likes them so much in fact, that he wrote a song about it:
When it’s grey in L.A. I sure like it that way
Cause there’s way too much sunshine round here
I don’t know about you I get so sick of blue skies
Whenever they always appear
And I sure love the sound of the rain pouring down
On my carport roof made out of tin
If there’s a flood then there’s gonna be mudslides
We all have to pay for our sin
And I suppose that they’ll close canyon roads
And the freeways will all start to clog
And the waters will rise and you won’t be surprised
When your whole house smells like your wet dog
When it’s grey in L.A. it’s much better that way
It reminds you that this town’s so cruel
Yeah it might feel like fun when you’re sportin’ sunglasses
But really you’re one more fool
You might remember this song if you’ve seen the film, “Knocked Up.” You can listen to it here.
I thought that discovering this song would be the last I would ever hear of anyone being devoted to rain as I am, until I started my daily website reading routine by going to the NY Times website, as I do every morning. A gem awaited me there, in the form of a written ode and a short film capturing the essence of it all.
Jeff Scher, a painter and experimental filmmaker filmed the rain trickling down on the balcony of his home, while his wife was fast asleep with one of his sons, with a Beaulie wind-up 16 mm. movie camera from the ’60s and film that was, as he says “at least 10 years out of date.” The music in the film and sound design is by Shay Lynch and adds such a touch of loveliness to the whole thing. Even though it’s only three minutes long, this film manages to capture the essence of rain so well. Watch “While You Were Sleeping.”
“The fleeting inverted image of the landscape in the raindrops as they swell from drop to drip is an optical phenomenon, but to me it’s pure magic,” writes Sher. “And then they form streams and pulse hypnotically like luminous quicksilver.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. And let me tell you, not only is Jeff Scher awesome because he shares my affinity for rain, but he makes these incredible animated short films with amazing soundtracks. Case in point: Reasons to be Glad, which you can watch below.
I would love to be able to interview him for an article, while it was raining of course.
National Stay At Home Week has officially begun and while I am so excited about Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives starting, I cannot believe I just sat through an entire two hours of Dancing With the Stars. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy this show a lot, especially the non-existent costumes, Bruno’s metaphors and Tom Bergeron’s humor - I just can’t believe it robbed me of two hours of my time. I think they should just hand the trophy to Cloris Leachman and call it a day. This woman made my life worth living. She put her leg on the judging table for crying out loud! And made Len Goodman call himself a boy toy! She is sheer genius. I think I even heard her call Carrie Ann Inaba a bitch for giving her a low score. Oh Cloris, I hope throngs of people vote for you. If I cared enough, I would.
Tom was back on his game after the Emmy’s last night, a hosting gig which didn’t quite go so well, mostly because of the fact that he had to share the stage with Ryan Seacrest and Howie Mandel.
I was getting excited about the show, until they put Samantha Harris on screen and I turned away, in fear that she would be mumbling inaudible, other worldly phrases that I did not have the mental capacity to understand. I just don’t understand why Samantha is there. We all know full well Tom could carry on the entire show without her. She is useless. She’s an utterly useless who wears utterly useless, distasteful and over the top I might add ball gown dresses. Don’t even get me started on the questions she asks. Most of time they’re not so much questions, as they are phrases, like “This must be so exciting for you to be here!” And then she sticks the microphone in someone’s face and expects them to respond to her comment. Ugh, Samantha, I think you’re hopeless.
None of the dances particularly struck a chord with me and many of them were quite unmemorable. Case in point: the only thing I remember from Lance Bass’ air time was when his professional dancing partner Lacey Schwimmer commented on how she wanted to once marry him, but now that wasn’t going to happen, most likely due to the fact that Bass would probably like to dance more with Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
Then there was comedian Jeffrey Ross, commenting on the fact that he could only see half of Kim Kardashian’s booty because of an eye injury earlier in the day during practice. Which brings me to my Reality TV princess, Kim. I can’t hate her. I think I tried once, but I can’t. It’s not so much that she’s gorgeous, and believe me she is, it’s that she’s one of my own, for better or for worse.
It was also refreshing hearing Carrie Ann tell Soap Queen Susan Lucci that she needs to gain weight. Yes Susan, gain some weight so that Tony Dovolani’s chest doesn’t blow you away. I swear that boy got into ballroom dancing just so he could have the ability to wear shirts and leave them open down to his crotch.
Between the craziness of this and America’s Next Top Model, my head just might end up combusting.
405 - Pit of Hell. This is what I do in traffic. Take photos.
My boyfriend doesn’t understand traffic. Why should he? He’s from London, where mass transit is the norm and readily available to any Londoner at will. In London, there are buses at every stop, taxis at every corner and a metro with comfortable seating. What more can you ask for? Unlike Los Angeles, London is not a particularly spread out city. You can probably travel across it in less than an hour. L.A on the other hand is a vast land of freeway, suburb and city. I’ve said this before, but I don’t understand how anyone can travel to this city for vacation. How do you figure out where to go? And most importantly, how do you manage to get there? You can drive here, but what if you’re coming from Sweden? You can rent a car, but how would you even figure out our convoluted freeway system? 10 east, 5 south, 405 north, como what? I’ve lived in this city practically all my life and even I can’t figure it out completely (although if I needed to, I could find my way home using surface streets - this is what driving across town does to you)
This morning I thought I’d try something new by waking up extremely early to try and beat traffic. I got on the freeway at 6:50 a.m. In a normal city, this would mean that there would be a NORMAL amount of cars on the road. In Los Angeles, it means getting to work at 8:10 a.m.
No matter what I do, it doesn’t go away. It exists to make my life hell, even before I get to my cube. Tomorrow, I might try 6:30 a.m., although seeing as to it’s a Friday, I don’t know if it will be an accurate experiment.
The Los Angeles freeway system was my lady all Summer long. Now that school has started, it is a complete mess on the concrete jungle. This won’t ease up, I’m suspecting, until after Christmas. How lovely!
It was a bit difficult waking up this morning. Even Henry didn’t want to budge. He stayed in bed until even after I came back to my room after a shower. However, once he saw me put pants on, he went wild, gnawing at my feet, hopping arond like a miniature gazelle. That’s his cue, he knows that when the pants come on, we exist the room, make our way to the kitchen, where he’ll sniff around and either run to the living room to bark at INVISIBLENESS outside or trot to my parents’ bedroom to steal some socks for his morning breakfast. I can just foresee how hard the coming months will be to wake up - even harder than it is now that the days are getting shorter, and it’s pretty dark when I get home. Ugh.
