I'll link to photo albums from my recent Los Angeles trip here.
The first batch covers Saturday and Sunday-- Malibu, Roscoe's, the Getty Villa, breaking and entering.
The second batch is mostly Monday's visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, with one photo of Pink's.
The third batch is 8 photos from Tuesday morning when I went with Sylvia to Long Beach.
Batcho numero quatro has us at Dodger Stadium Tuesday night and Disneyland Wednesday.
Yep.
Imagine 90 blocks of pic-left. That's the Fashion District of Los Angeles, located at the intersection of Asia & Latin America just southeast of downtown. Retailer after retailer of clothing-- most just cheap, but many leftovers and marked-down. Thrift store prices but new.
I bought 5 belts, 3 caps, 4 pairs of socks and two t-shirts for $34.
I then picked up some lunch at Grand Central Market and repaired to my room at the Biltmore so I could plan my evening. A quick check of Metromix LA revealed that today was Gay Pride Day in West Hollywood. Hmmm, I said to myself, that might be interesting.
It was. Besides assuaging my guilt at vacationing in California twice while turning down a week in the gay-marriage state of Maine, I got to imbibe the instant familiarities of gay men turning out for a good cause. Oh, it was much like your typical Chicago block party-- loud music, overpriced alcohol, bad food and an adult-only erotic section featuring cockring toss. Ok, maybe that last bit sets this apart from your typical block party, but more block parties should steal the cockring toss idea, if you ask me.
When gay marriage was turned back in the California referendum last November, much was whispered about the hostility of the black vote to marriage equality. Well, I can happily report that gay brothas and sistahs turned out in force for West Hollywood gay pride weekend. Much of the African -American community goes thru the motions of shunning their own, but we in the gay community are having none of that.
People say you're rich if you have your health. If you're like me, you probably nod along when you hear that, not really taking it in, not understanding how true that is. And then it hits you. You or a loved one gets injured or ill. That's what happened to me last night.
I'm not too proud to admit that I went thru all the classic steps. Why couldn't this happen to someone else? Why would God let illness befall a 2-year-old? Take me instead, I prayed.
And you just feel so helpless. So, I moped around for a couple hours, trying to get used to life as it would now be. I took out my laptop and searched the web. It's a common malady, so I found out a lot right away. And it wasn't as bad I feared.
Three beeps means it could just be memory. I'm not helpless, after all, I realized. There's an extra 2gb, which I put in myself, so I might be able to fix this. Out came one stick. Still 3 beeps. Back in it went and out came the other. And then it booted up. I was back in business. My IMac was functional once more.
Geez! The first hour of Simon Schama's History of Britain (Britannia Incorporated) has it all-- Robert Walpole (patronage politician, tax collector and portfolio manager), mass consumption of material goods, gin-soaked & syphilitic Londoners and orphans raised for the good of the state. Plus the battles: Whigs vs. Tories, landed gentry vs. nouveau riche and, of course, the Battle of Culloden-- redcoats vs. Jacobites.
There's a painting that looks like smudges unless you reflect it in a beer stein to reveal Bonnie Prince Charlie and this rarely played verse of God Save the King:
Oh, I hope the last episode of this series includes the 1979 answer song:
Aye. I know a lot of people are wondering if a small nation produced thru devolution can survive in this great, big world. Well, I think England can. And it's high time she tried standing on her own two feet, instead of depending on Scots to usher in progress & defend her shores.
This morning, Maine Governor John Baldacci signed a bill passed easily by both houses of the legislature which will establish marriage equality. Maine joins Vermont in taking a legislative route, while Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa have seen courts require Gay Marriage.
Growing up, I never expected to see gay marriage in my life time. More surprising is that rural states like Maine and Vermont and Iowa have taken the lead. Not exactly like those places are seen nationally as dens of iniquity.
I'm embarrassed that I'm taking a vacation this year in California, which voted down marriage equality, while skipping the Maine trip.
There are too many problems with the data for this to be taken seriously as representative of the buying public, but this study based on forum posters suggests older people are finding the Kindle helpful:
Despite its being dressed up with statistics, the best usage of this study is as anecdotal evidence. The Kindle can be very helpful for people with special needs when reading. Too, older people may be more attached to the older content paradigm-- book-length novels and non-fiction. Old wine in a new skin might be just the ticket for some folks.
Tree allergies felled me this weekend and I even missed work yesterday. The internet says I'm supposed to get a respite today and then there'll be more pollen in the air Wed and Thurs. This is the worst I've had it since I moved to Chicago.
I got a fair amount done this weekend. I fixed my toilet and replaced the light in the kitchen. Watched another 3 hours ofthe History Channel's The Universe and another Foyle's War, both excellent. Blogged about my Cardinals on HPUrbanist and got a couple posts ready for this week. I bought new shoes and got a haircut. Got 3 weeks of laundry done. Added a couple pictures to my Compatible Partners profile.
Did not go to the gym, though.
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