LA hit 'n run

No, no, it's not what you think... I'm talking about my own wee jaunt to Los Angeles this weekend.

I left Oakland at 8:30 on Sunday morning, arrived in Burbank at 9:35 and then departed Burbank at 9:30 today. When I patted myself on the back for finding the $80 RT fare I failed to consider the fact that BART doesn't run early enough to get me to Oakland airport for an 8:30 flight on a Sunday morning, so I had to take stupid Super Shuttle ($25 plus tip) and leave at the appalling hour of 5:45 am. Naturally, I arrived at Oakland airport early enough to board the flight departing one hour before the one for which I was scheduled, but because I had a promotional fare Southwest wouldn't let me fly standby without paying some $100 more. So I sat in the chilly airport, hopped up on cold medicine, bundled in two sweatshirts and my fuzzy hat. I ate something made to resemble eggs and potatoes. I was in a stupor when I arrived in LA, but I think all the pressure changes actually helped move things around in my congested head.

Tony and I had a lovely day. We wandered around downtown LA looking for a much acclaimed (though ultimately barely adequate pizza place called Pitfire Pizza) before seeing Water and Power at the Mark Taper Forum. I believe this week is the final week and if you're in LA I definitely recommend it. It's different from the other work I've seen by Culture Clash (Culture Clash in AmeriCCa, the only other piece I've seen, was predominantly satire with multiple characters and lots of goofy comedy) - a serious drama with an expected dose of sentimentality and comedy; but it's much more traditionally structured as a narrative play concerning with the battles over resources, politics, cultural conflict, and crime in East LA at its core. The little boy who plays the deer dancer is superb. We had planned to follow it up, appropriately, with Quinceanera at a movie theater in Los Feliz, but we had trouble finding a parking spot and missed the start of the movie.

I love being in LA with Tony. Echo Park is great, the city is big enough that there's always fun stuff to do if stuff wants to be done, I'm excited to check out the dance classes and the Anusara kula and I know some great people in LA; but what I feel most profoundly right now is that I love being there with him. Tony's not a native Californian and more or less wound up in Southern California through a series of circumstantial accidents; but he's made a lovely, hospitable nest for himself (and has opened that home to me) while excitedly exploring the vast expanse of the desertbeachhillpolis that is the greater Los Angeles area. He's so fantastically engaged with his environment. I'm looking forward to an adventure in Orange County (of all places) where there's a cove with a great facade for cliff diving. And mountain biking in Topanga. And neighbors who have pet chickens. And falling asleep in a new place where the sounds at night are so different from the rattling, hooting, honking, bellowing, and shrieking of the Tenderloin. And falling asleep with Tony next to me. Or at least in the other room, instead of in another city.