June 29, 2005
Things I Love In San Francisco (Part 1)
The view from our eighth floor room's mini balcony at the Harbor Court Hotel which we arrived at at approximately 4:30 PM on a Friday afternoon...
...having just crossed the Bay Bridge which was now outside our window...
...and the Embarcadero with its renovated Market Place where we embarked on our first cocktail...
...and having a nosh at the old haunt Kuleto's with an old (not in age) friend, and checking out the revamped Redwood Room...
...and having the Redwood Room revamp us...
...and being able to walk from Union Square, through China Town, down North Beach and stride back to the Embarcadero at midnight...
June 27, 2005
Touristacular
Photo compliments of Sarah Fehrenbacher, tourist extraordinare, who while visiting me took it upon herself to use public transportation to tour LA. And THEN be at the right place at the right time when a STAR TOURS bus full of geriatrics had one seat left and it was sold to her for half price...And THEN four hours later was dropped off in front of the Chinese Theater right when the premiere for War Of The Worlds was about to go off... And THEN held up her camera right as Scientola-Tom was inches in front of her...
And in trade news - the PR machine continues...Tom & Kate "arrived" at the Chinese via motorcycle - sans helmets.
June 24, 2005
Graduating College With Honors & An Art Sale
Art courtesy of my very special niece Sarah Fehrenbacher from her Senior Capstone Exhibition.
Mixed Media,
Plexi glass & Laser Tran
What the post-college future holds, who knows.
For now it holds a week in LA, a weekend in San Francisco and inspiration all around.
June 21, 2005
June 19, 2005
June 18, 2005
June 13, 2005
Bar Talk
Guy at The Steak Joynt who worked as a Teamster for 35 years gladly offered up how Hoffa was killed, where he was killed and who called for the hit.
The hint on the latter is: Who is in charge of the Teamsters now?
He made it clear that Hoffa is nowhere near Giants Stadium.
His wife, who was tea totalling and designated driver (wonder if she was a Teamster) had heard it all before and waved it off like yesterdays news. Funny, I would think that if a guy like that was sharing this info with a couple like us, wouldn't it all be common knowledge by now?
Then there was the guy at Rocky's who insisted that drinking Diet Coke was better for you than drinking coffee. My vote for who of the two was full of shit goes to him.
June 09, 2005
The Cruise Ship
I was at the Free Katie site and my electricity went out for five seconds. Lost power through the whole house. Man, that Scientology shit is powerful shit.
June 07, 2005
Do You Want Any Fruit With That Guilt?
Yesterday on one of my normal routes I got busted for picking a lemon from a tree in someone's yard.
Now, I often thought that this was one of the perks of walking for a living. Most of the neighborhoods I frequent are quite well landscaped to say the least. Occassionally I see a fallen, ripe grapefruit that I snag for a nice greyhound later. Usually though, I notice the hundreds of lemon trees on my routes and when in need I pick one. It's not like I go out of my way for it, nothing behind fences or anything like that....
So Malka, the shepard mix and I were walking through Toluca Lake and we came across a VERY abundant lemon tree. There had to be well over a THOUSAND lemons on this single tree and every one looked ripe for the pickin'. There are few sidewalks in Toluca Lake, the yards butt up to the concrete and dogs just naturally want to walk on grass, in fact I find it much SAFER for them to be off the street, frankly....
So I see this small lemon, grouped amongst five others on a twig, right at pickin' height and as soon as I reach for it I hear:
-Excuse me!
(It's in my hand now and Malka and I keep walking and I look for the voice and know it's not good.)
-Excuse me!
-Yes?
-Do you always just go around picking fruit off people's trees?
-No. [Sometimes]
-It's not yours to take, you know.
-I...
-Do you think it's okay to just go cutting flowers out of people's gardens?
-I would never take flowers out of people's gardens. [That's what my former boss does, however, in the middle of the night.]
-Well, it's the same thing.
-Uh, I don't...
-You just can't go picking fruit from trees.
-It seems like you have more than enough lemons. [Terrible comeback, Nora]
-Well, I have a very large family. [Equally terrible comeback, Nurse Ratchet]
-I get it. Terribly sorry.
-That's not the point.
-Do you want the lemon back?
-You can have it. It's not the point. It's Private Property.
-I get it. Thanks for the fruit. C'mon, Malka.
Nothing like feeling instantly twelve again. I've ACTUALLY been waiting for some resident to come out and yell at me for putting a bag of poop in their garbage bin. Not the green bins or the blue bins, the correct black bins. Like maybe they would actually prefer me to leave the poop on their PRIVATE PROPERTY. I think there was a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" about this - ironically I believe that Larry actually tossed a pit or core of a piece of FRUIT into a neighbor's trash can.
And chaos ensues.
So sue me.
No Ending In The 70's
June7, 1977
Debbie picked me up before school
then we came to my house after.
Slept for a while.
Went out later with Julie, Lisa & Elaine.
Drove around then went by Jo Black's party
and talked to Chris
then went home.
June 4-10, 1978
PARTIES
June11-17, 1978
PARTIES
June 18-24, 1978
PARTIES
June 25-30, 1978
PARTIES
January -December, 1979
PARTIES
Author's note:
This is it. I'm going to have to pack the 70's calendars away and find my 80's notebooks. I unearthed these time capsules a year ago and shared as much of my high school days as I could stand. Suffice it to say, I ate a whole lot of McDonald's, I played tennis and I was in the band. I had a thing for a boy named Chris for a good couple of years and then the other two were dedicated to a boy named Tony. I didn't much care for homework, but I loved Rock 'n Roll and my friends, several of them who are now dead, several of them still very close. Can't say anymore that I' ve never been arrested because the parties never stopped and well, the towns along my path got bigger and when you hand over your licence in a big city they don't care who your dad is and the carefree 70's stuck with me for a long time even though the rest of the world got tighter and PC. I thought I hated Aurora, Illinois when I was there but now I enjoy going back and seeing that it IS INDEED Wayne's World, because hey, some things just never change. Party on, Nora. Excellent.
June 06, 2005
Commencing In The 70's
June6, 1977
COMMENCEMENT
Last full day of school.
Yeah!!
Played in the band at commencement.
It was boring, but funny.
Went to Kim Dillon's party with the girls.
Then to Ralph's with Chris and back to Kim's.
It was fun.
June 05, 2005
The Pasadena City College Flea Market
Damn, the woman who owned this must have died, I mean, why else would Burt be on the block?
Burt was still there two and a half hours later when I went back to pick up my $45 coffe table.
There was a preponderance of sock monkeys and ratty dolls this month at the market. Some really great hats, some really ugly furniture, some really racist tin signs...
I walked away with a Boy Scout t-shirt, Boy Scout sweatshirt, Boy Scout kerchief, Boy Scout ball cap and two pair of Boy Scout socks for ten bucks. The woman who sold them asked if my son was a Boy Scout. "Um no, but all my boyfriends were."
Poor Party Barbie. Must have been a rough night with Midge and the girls.
Something In the 70's
June 4, 1977
Went to WestWind with Julie.
Layed out all day.
Went to Lisa's for a little while and talked.
Went out with Chris at night.
Went to his house for a while then to the pit.
Had a real good time.
There were lots of people out there.
June 5, 1977
I know I did something,
but I don't remember!
June 03, 2005
Parking In The 70's
June 2, 1977
Stayed after school for Biology.
What fun.
Lisa got our Boz Scaggs tickets.
Woo!
Went bike riding with Julie.
Talked to a lot of people out at the park.
Went to Julie's then till about 9.
June 3, 1977
SENIORS' LAST DAY
Went to the park at 7:00AM with Nan, Debbie, Patti & Paula.
Lots of people partyen' there.
Went out with Debbie, Nan & Patti.
Went to Nan's for a while then to Chris Sundlof's party.
It was real fun.
I don't know about Chris.
I don't know what he's trying to do to me.
June 02, 2005
Cubs Win! Cubs Win!
It was Bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium.
I've only stood in one slower line in all my life - at The Hollywood Bowl - but getting a beer in one of the Dodger Stadium food lines because you only have an ATM card because your banks ATM was on the fritz was absolutely painful. In front of me all I can see are these people behind the counter moving SO slow and with these dumb little grins. And behind me are two young pups that literally are sucking face with loud slurps and we stand there for a whole inning and a half.
In true Dodger Fandom, they begin leaving the stadium in the middle of the sixth. When the Cubs widen the gap in the eighth, they leave in droves. The ninth inning is played to a near empty house - probably all Cubs fans. The only fans of the only team in the league that Dodgers fans don't want to kill.