Stan’s Obligatory Blog

This evening, Susan and I were supposed to go out to her friend’s boat in Marina del Rey to watch the light show there, but she decided against it, since it was going to be cold and possibly raining when we got there. So instead, we had a little adventure in the city.

We went to the IMAX theater in Exposition Park to see “Wild Ocean 3D: Africa Meets the Sea”. We saw the “Sea Monsters – 3D” movie last spring, and it was great fun, so this new one was on our list. As always, the photography was impressive and sometimes vertigo-inducing. There were lots of good 3D effects of fish and dolphins and such swimming out of the screen. Good fun.

On the way home, we stopped off in Chinatown for dinner. We had a 1/2 Peking Duck, along with some Chinese broccoli and some soup. That was nice. We also walked around Chinatown for a bit to see the neon signs. We will probably be seeing them again next week on the Museum on Neon Art’s Neon Cruise.

Afterward, we went home, opened a bottle of wine, and watched Julia Sweeney’s “Letting Go of God“. It was a nice evening.

More news from today’s L.A. Times. As one might guess, this is a topic that’s near and dear to me:

Christopher Thompson to be tried in confrontations with cyclists

Bettie Page, the “Queen of the Pinups” has died.

One funny bit from her obituary:

After high school, Page earned a teaching credential. But her career in the classroom was short-lived. “I couldn’t control my students, especially the boys,” she said.

Considering how she’s associated with her photos with whips and such, that’s a funny thought. One would think she’d have had the boys completely subdued.

Read all about it here:

Bettie Page dies at 85; pinup queen played a key role in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and later became a cult figure

I had a nice evening out with Susan. We met at The Melting Pot in Old Town. I brought her a red rose, just to say again how happy I was to see her. We had the “Big Night Out” dinner, complete with a cheese fondue appetizer, salad, main course of beef, fish, chicken, pork, and vegetables, topped off by a chocolate fondue dessert. Yum.

So, after a brief hiatus, we’re back. And that’s a Very Good Thing. We still have worlds to conquer.

…and I like it.

It’s wrongcards.com: ecards that are wrong for every occasion.

Sunday’s bike ride was another ‘ride to nowhere in particular’. It was chilly and never really warmed up. The only things of note along the way were one abandoned couch in Irwindale, and that we stopped at a new Cuban bakery in Monrovia. It was pretty good.

40 miles.
cycling

Tonight, Lucinda and I got a Christmas tree for our house, and we decorated it. And we had some fun doing it.

Today’s ride was the “Mulholland Meander“. We did this ride last year, and I like it just about any time.

At the start, they were putting up the grandstands for the Rose Parade. But I saw one pile of boards that was labeled, “GRANDSTANS”. Heh.

The ride from Pasadena to Griffith Park was pretty straightforward. And then when we assembled the rest of the group, we set out from there. Somehow, I managed to convince most of them to do my detour up Lake Hollywood Drive. This is to avoid riding on the stretch of Cahuenga next to the freeway. I hate that bit of road, and I think it’s worth riding up and over a pretty big hill to avoid. No word on whether or not the others agreed with me when we were done.

On the way up Mulholland, I saw a half-buried warning sign. All I could see was, “Please Don’t”.

We rode out to nearly where the pavement ends on Mulholland, and then dropped down into the Valley. We then rode straight back across the Valley to Toluca Lake. Along the way, I saw the car with a license plate that said “USA 0002″. I thought this was a bit odd. You never hear people chanting, “We’re Number 2!”

After a stop for a snack at Priscilla’s, we left the planned route and headed down the L.A. River bike path and then home by way of Eagle Rock and Highland Park. I saw a nice abandoned couch in Highland Park. Then we rode across South Pasadena and then back up Sierra Madre Blvd to home.

It was a nice ride.

65 miles.
cycling

1 Cast your bread upon the waters,
for after many days you will find it again.
2 Give portions to seven, yes to eight,
for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
3 If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain upon the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there will it lie.
4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.
6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well.

Ecclesiastes 11 (New International Version)

I was curious, and last night I found out that I’m #1 in Google again for a search for “I hate Texas“. It’s always nice to be #1 at something. But it’s kind of funny, since I really don’t hate Texas any more like I used to. Even though I was tremendously unhappy living there, it’s turned out that my experience there has been a very positive thing in my life, especially now in 2008 Los Angeles. That’s one of life’s little Funny Stories.

This year has been a Trying Time, with Cathy leaving me and all the attendant misery that entailed. But the turning point was when I found out about how the club I started in Texas back in 1993 has turned into a Big Deal. It made me a minor celebrity in certain circles here in L.A. And it also led to my connecting with Susan, which was truly wonderful. So something that only happened because I spent my unhappy time in Texas has had a tremendously positive effect on my life here and now, and right at my Darkest Hour. It’s truly one of those ‘cast your bread upon the waters’ stories.

(And I’m sure that nobody who knows me ever thought I’d be putting Bible verses on my web site. But it just seems appropriate in this case.)

This morning, I saw that the egret is back at the pond at Caltech. I’ve seen it here in 2006 and 2005. I suppose it might not be the same bird, but it’s still fun to see it wading in the pond and snapping up the mosquito fish that live there.