Monthly Archives: July 2004

A couple pieces of information:

1. chai_tea_latte is here, safe & sound, despite a gruelling wait at US Customs at LAX. Gang, just fly the American airlines – Alaska had the same priced ticket, and you get to go through customs at YVR and don’t have to wait for US Customs at LAX to clean a 777 from Singapore.

2. The DJ Tiesto remix of BT’s “Forces of Gravity” (off “Emotional Technology” ) has some really haunting chord changes in it. It’s really pretty trance.

A City of L.A. worker just informed me that I had to move my car. Immediately. They’re repaving the street yet again, and there’s to be no street parking all day.

On the way back from moving the car, I stopped to chat with an elderly British neighbor, whose Manchester accent reminds me quite a bit of my father’s Cumbrian tones. Which makes me miss Dad, a bit. But my neighbor also informed me that this house used to rent to Dan Navarro, who is the cousin of the infamous Dave Navarro, and who is also former member of the RHCP. Also, there is few things funnier than hearing Elderly Englishmen talk about “you know, that band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers?”

I’ll have to tell Dad there are British people in the neighborhood. Dad tends to apply that as an indication of civilization. Given that he sees Los Angeles as a completely uncivilized wasteland, that might set him a bit more at ease about my corner of the megalopolis.

I should be on my way to the office by now – but instead, I’m ripping the new Crystal Method to CD so I can listen to it while riding my bike to work. For the record, it’s good – but it’s just standard Crystal Method. I’ve been spending far too much on amazon.com lately, now that I can impulse buy without having to think about Customs or Blaine post office boxes or the exchange rate. Now that I’m in America, I can buy CDs without planning again! It’s not TOO extreme, yet. I’ve got Rhapsody, so I’m able to catch up on a lot of indie and classic alternative stuff (Curiosa 101 is the priority for the next few weeks), but I still impulse buy electronica and synthpop like crazy on Amazon, because Rhapsody doesn’t quite cater to my taste in those areas. (they don’t have the new Tiesto or the new Sasha yet, both of which are really beautiful CDs, and both of which I’ve bought)

Also, I just realized – I’ll see lots of people from outside L.A. in the next few weeks. chai_tea_latte gets in tomorrow (yay!) and will immediately be subjected to a nonstop weekend of culture, clubs and craziness if it goes as planned. ginamoog is coming to California for two weeks mid-month. jentwo is coming for my birthday weekend. It’s going to be a fun month. August is usually a good time for me. Hooray for being a Leo.

I wrote an entry last night about how I went to one of the Twilight Series concerts at the Santa Monica pier last night. About how I was flying on my bike down the bike trail, listening to “Halcyon”, at sunset on the edge of the world. About how, for a moment, everything was absolutely perfect. It was so beautiful out that everyone around me was turned to the west, towards the colors in the sky over the Pacific.

I arrived at the pier, and there were thousands of people out for the concert. Hundreds were on the sand below the pier. Thousands more were on the warped wood above, below the lights of the Ferris wheel. I love being someplace this vibrant.

However, the entry disappeared when I was disconnected from the server.

I’m slightly homesick this week – I would rather have been flying down Dallas Road on the edges of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. The ocean is too big without the Olympic mountains to break the line between sea and sky.

I’m sure I’ll forget all that as soon as I get to tonight’s planned excursion – a trendy bar in Venice Beach. Lots of plans this weekend. I hope to have updates Sunday that do not read “my friends forgot to call me and it’s like high school over again”.

My boss here – the Associate Media Director – listens to music all day in his office. He was blasting speed garage and progressive techno today instead of the usual Coldplay or Modest Mouse. I asked what he was listening to, and he explained Rhapsody to me, and showed me how it has many, many albums available for streaming.

I immediately downloaded it and it absolutely rules. I’m listening to Pretty Hate Machine right now, and have enough music options to never have to take my headphones off again. Seriously. This is like renting the CDs – except they’re only available on an Internet connected computer.

This is so cool! They seem to have everything I could want to listen to – from Siouxsie to Underworld. Now I can finally drown out my cubemate’s deranged muttering!

And damn, I had forgotten how much I loved Pretty Hate Machine.

I saw L.A. Story last night. I’ve had it from Netflix for a week, but it took awhile to coordinate up with my adopted cousin so he could rewatch it too. Now that I’ve seen that, and Swingers, Chinatown is next in my Netflix queue.

I felt the movie expressed and characterized a lot of this city that I can’t express myself. Maybe that’s because I can only work with words and not with film. But the sentiments were so charming, the idea of magic in the most utilitarian and symbolic of things. I like that. I can relate to that, even in the middle of Los Angeles.

However, I did get a manicure tonight. And a pedicure. Both for the first time ever. And now I have really really cool little flower designs on my toes!

photo of toes