Summer Solstice Canyon Hike

Article in Modern Hiker.

We just did this hike yesterday and it was beautiful! I'd upload pictures but my computer is being silly. More later...

"Every one of my books has a character who walks around," Pamuk said, "looking for something, like a detective. My characters, when they are troubled, they go out in the street. You walk in the streets, you are sad or happy or troubled or anxious. The urban scape you see becomes associated with the feelings you have inside you." Eventually, "your mental pictures of the city have layers and layers and the city begins to show your memories, your sentiments. The kind of writing I like associates the characters' drama with the landscape. I'm not interested in big square residential blocks. I want shadows and drama. That's what literature is all about."

To Pamuk, "a novel is composed of little details of daily life. I like walking through cities. I take notes, then something I see stays with me." He doesn't write on a computer. "I hand write. On pads. I can write any place -- cafés, libraries, waiting for the plane to go. I really like working in train stations. In Dostoevsky's 'Diary of a Writer,' he made the observation, 'What a lovely thing to walk around a city. You walk around, you see a face, and it's a story.' "

~Orhan Pamuk

So, it must be getting cold in New York. It must be getting colder. I don't like going back to New York in the winter, because I don't have any winter clothes anymore. Stupid reason not to go back, huh? Also, being cold depresses me, and my skin can't take it, it gets red, wind-swept. I end up having to wrap my scarves all the way around my face, so only my eyes peek through, and then I look like some strange Burqa thing. Doowa doowa doo.

But I miss my parents, and my family.

Bah.

M and I found a new place to live. It's in Atwater Village. I can walk to all these lovely shops. Coffeeshops, yoga, dance, supermarkets, restaurants, bars, taco stands. And the river, the glorious LA river, which I have become obsessed with because it's so sad, all that concrete. Surprisingly though, where I am, it's one of the only places along the river where it's actually flourishing. There are egrets down there and little men sitting in lawn chairs fishing for their dinner. Ducks swim in the river, and shrubs and plants, even trees have sprouted up from the river bottom. I'm excited to go running by the river. They've made a path. They're trying to clean it up. I like where I am. I like how there are parts of LA that are post-apocalyptic looking - it feeds my imagination, and my mind doesn't freeze over from the cold, because it usually doesn't get that cold.

There's this cruise you can take to Mexico over the Thanksgiving break. We thought about doing it, but it was one of those dinky cruises, where you go to Catalina Island and then Ensenada and then spend one or two days at sea.

I haven't been to Mexico yet, but I don't think stepping foot on Baja California for 7 hours in a touristy part of Ensenada really counts. Does it?

Nah.

Main projects I'm working on, my novel (thesis) and two screenplays. One is a romantic comedy, the other one is an historical bio-pic. My novel is turning into a horror/mystery story. Lord. The thing is, I'm drawn to the fantastical, the surreal. Life can be a bit ho hum, so writing about things that can't happen everyday is a nice escape. I'm also torn, because there is a more comedic story I could focus on, as well, that takes place in New York, in good ol' Rock O' Land. But I need to decide on which stories I want to focus on if I'm going to finish my thesis in time.

Actually, I've been writing on hyperdrive these past few months, and I love it. Need to find a way to keep up the energy when I go back to the 9-6 in December. I'm devising this plan to wake up a few hours earlier in the morning, but we'll see if this works. I'll make it work. Har!

Today we looked at a very small place with a very large deck and a very large place with a very small deck. And then other places that were dirty and far away from local shops, no parks nearby, and then there were places that were close to shops and parks.

Friday we're checking out a place with a bedroom loft. And there are others, in Los Feliz I think, that we found by doing drive-bys.

Plus, I had fish tacos from a mexican place that claimed they were the "Best in LA"...but I think they were lying. The fish was dry and the tacos were only two to a plate and it was an overpriced plate at that.

Still searching for the best fish taco in LA...still searching...

Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, 'That's a man I could love'? It's a hard question to answer.

Damn.

Fire! Fire!

Today, there was a fire along the 60 as I was driving to Riverside. The yellow planes bringing water came dangerously close to the road. The sky was a dull brown. It smelled like BBQ smoke, I saw the orangey flames dancing alongside the concrete freeway, teasing the firemen and the police officers that were trying to keep everything contained, controlled. It seemed like they should be more upset, the way the fire was mocking them like that. The fire had already burned most of the hillside, the smoke billowing up into the clouds. At first I thought it was a tornado, the way the smoke swirled upwards so violently. You could see the blue clearly on either side. I wanted to fly in those yellow planes, they had a purpose. I liked seeing them swoop so close to my car, because I wasn't used to it probably, and because I wanted them to put out the taunting fire.

At the same time though, it was mesmerizing, watching the hill burn like that, and so quickly. A change in the routine, the day to day. Is it wrong to welcome a burning hillside for selfish reasons? It's not like I had to worry about it destroying my home. Still, I felt guilty. Relishing in how it burned. My heart pumped in my chest, I was so close. I think I'm a bit of a pyro.

We're looking for a new place to live in LA. Checking out a place in Echo Park and Silverlake on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll get to check out the AFI Fest, as well. Yesterday we looked at a cute guest house in Atwater Village (and then also a not-cute guest house which was more money).

Probably be spending Turkey Day and Christmas in LA this year. I'm looking forward to visiting New York come warmer weather. I am constantly contradicting myself. But I like my life right now - full of possibility. Always good. :)

Dog-Sitting, the Silverlake Way

We're dog-sitting for tonight, crashing at our friends' place in Silverlake while they're in Vegas. The hunt for our own apartment continues as we get back in the groove of the daily routine in La La Land (though M is convinced we should take off and move to Argentina). M's existential crisis aside, I'm enjoying being back in Los Angeles. Besides New York, it's probably my favorite place to be in the good ol' US of A (as far as cities go). This summer we drove across the country to NY and back, stopping in small and large towns and cities in between, and I can seriously say that I LOVE AMERICA. The people in it anyway that aren't trying to be greedy and steal all the money for themselves. The States are complex and all over the place. Southwest, Northwest, Middle of the country, New England, Mid-Atlantic, South. This country really does have it all. I just hope I can afford to do what I want to do. Find a job when I graduate. Make a living. Hell, I don't need much. I'm thrifty. :)

And so here we are. Craigslist job postings are ghastly. Really. "Work for free and maybe we'll give you a job eventually...Cheers!" No. Thanks.

Screenwriting is going good. Working on many new projects that I'm excited about, and Fiction, well, that's going along. I'm building the spine right now of the NY stories project. It's a slow and sure process. I'm amazed at how much more time and effort it takes to complete a short story in fiction than a screenplay - or maybe it's just that I have movies on the mind? Or that I don't necessarily think that writing a screenplay is depressing work (because I enjoy it). I'm a broken record. Why must there be one or the other - why not just write what I feel like - just write, you know? The Movies and Books sections are always the first to be read when browsing the NY times. I really like what I do. I just hope I can find a way to keep doing this when I graduate.

I've discovered that finishing projects helps - as in really finishing them. Then at least I can send them out in the world. See if they can find a home. If anything, I'm working towards that. Completing ideas so that they're tangible. Even if someone hates what I write, at least I've finished something, you know? It's one more thing to add to my body of work.

So that's it. There you go!

There's been a heat wave this past week. It's been in the low 90s. Heard it snowed in NY already. Crazy. Is this global warming? I ran around the Silverlake reservoir for the first time yesterday. It was late at night, but I wasn't scared. It just made me run faster. Plus, there are lots of people out and about in that part of the city so all was well.

Enjoy the day!

Wow.

First noticed this on a friend's link and had to share:

Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine's version of "America's Got Talent." She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and "sand painting" skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.