Monthly Archives: March 2005

Today’s L.A. Times article on where the name L.A. comes from.

I always thought it was “The City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels” myself.

There’s a book I really want to read on the history of forgetting in Los Angeles – I’m starting to realize, more and more, that the reason this city has no history is partially because history before 1900 is dominated by a non-American contingent…and history before 1950 is too telling of the devastation “white flight” has wrought on L.A.

This public service announcement is to remind you that Easter has little to nothing to do with Jesus, but is based on the pagan festival of the goddess Eostre. The festival of birth and rebirth dovetailed enough with the myth of Jesus’ resurrection that the Church was able to say, “hey, look at this coincidence! you’ve been celebrating Jesus!” Eggs and hares, are, of course, symbols of fertility.

I think it would actually be wonderful if the Church had just tied in Jesus’ resurrection with spring, like the myths of the Egyptians they stole it from. If they’d just said, “Jesus rose from the dead because it was spring, and the world was born again,” that would be a lot more magical and hopeful than separating man and the narrative from the nature it should be tied in with. Disconnecting Jesus from the earth is, to me, a mistake.

Actually, learning about Easter is one of the top five things that killed my attachment to the Christian religion. I grew up with Christianity, despite not going to church. It goes along with growing up in Oak Bay, in a British community. But when I realized how historically inaccurate Easter really was, it really wrecked my blind faith. And one of the reasons I find it easier to accept the tenets of Judaism and follow that side of my heritage is because it’s got a little more accuracy than Christianity.

However, in the spirit of my non-Jewish, pagan European ancestors, happy Easter, everyone! Go outside and celebrate spring! It’s not terribly warm in Los Angeles today, but the air still has that soft texture to it that it does in April in the Northwest. If you live by the ocean, you can smell the effect the increased sunshine and warmth has on the seaweed and plankton. And I bet the world is beautiful, no matter where you are. Everything is coming back to life, which, really, is what Easter is all about. That bit about Jesus coming back to life? You can believe that or not – but the earth itself is resurrected, and there’s no amount of mythology or human rhetoric than can influence how you want to feel about that.

Our house party last night was a smashing success. By which I mean, nothing was smashed.

postmortem on the party

I have yet to write up last night’s NIN concert, but let’s just say…I know what Trent Reznor’s been doing instead of putting out albums for the last five years. He’s been pumping iron or something, because damn, did he have ARMS. I think each arm was the size of Trent himself ten years ago, back when he was all long haired and wore gloves and fishnets:
see, this is the trent reznor i had the crush on

I have been remarkably sin-free the last forty days. I haven’t been drinking. Well, except for one glass of wine at a client dinner (really bad day). I haven’t been buying cigarettes, so that means I really haven’t been smoking. I’ve been going to the gym. I haven’t been making out with random guys at parties, but that probably connects right back to the “not drinking” thing.

Then I realized that my self-imposed state of sobriety expires this weekend.

The weird thing is, it worked. I don’t crave alcohol in social situations anymore. Usually, in situations where I’d be drinking, like on a Saturday night with friends, I’d start craving vodka martinis. But for the last couple weekends…I really haven’t.

Hm.

Now, the question is – do I really want to break that? Or do I want to challenge myself to see if I can dance on speakers and socialize at a party and make out with random guys while stone cold sober? For most girls, the challenge is to not drink so they don’t act stupid – for me, the challenge is to prove that I will STILL act like an idiot without alcohol in my system, because that means I don’t need alcohol to have fun.

I mean, my instinctual reaction is, “of course I want to get drunk! it’s my house party!”. But why? Why is my immediate reaction that the party will be THAT MUCH MORE FUN if I’m drinking? Why do I have to have alcohol in my bloodstream to make an event more enjoyable?

I am, under no circumstances, repeating the last Saturday morning I woke up after one of our house parties. THAT wasn’t pretty. But even with moderation – why do I have this association in my mind that alcohol = a good time? Why is it that I still feel, after forty days, like I have more fun when drinking?

My cubemate is leaving the Agency in ten days. He’s sold out to go work for a certain search engine. One that has a butler, and a new TV campaign.
things are changing at work

Well, according to this article:
http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3491496

it’s only a Matter of Time before the next Dot-Com crash.

This much is agreed upon in my office today.

I might end up back at my old job as a pirate after all.

I am probably not the only person delighted by the fact that the Marshmallow Peeps company factor tour refers to their ingredients as “Slurry“.

Remember when you were little and you’d gather ’round the TV with your siblings on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons?

(It was the 80s, after all. There were still good cartoons on Saturdays)

In my house, we have Cartoon Sunday instead, because Robot Chicken Sandwich (Family Guy, Robot Chicken and more Family Guy) is on. Followed by Aqua Teen or Sealab.

Dude. Living in a nerd house rocks.