• Damn the Man,  SoCal

    The L.A. Scene

    One of the great injustices in the current unemployed’s list of hoops through which to jump is the new-and-improved prospective employee-vetting process. Yeah, they ask for normal things like your resume and portfolio, but they also ask for the equivalent of a college admission essay and “what makes you interesting in 140 characters or less.” In the past I’ve tried to make myself sound more interesting than I am by detailing exactly how much coffee I consume on a daily basis, but so far no takers. For one particular job in media I saw the other day, the prospective employer requested I list my favorite magazines and newspapers, just to demonstrate that I am “with it” as…

  • Damn the Man,  SoCal,  This is Me,  Writing

    Just Say No

    This isn’t a real post, FYI. This is me coming up for air. Gulp. I once saw the biggest opportunity… When I first got laid off, my plan was to be open to possibilities. I am of a cautious nature, and don’t take a whole lot of risks. Burned before? Yes, many a time. I am an expert in the field of chances not paying off. It was sort of my major in college. But when I got laid off and started freelancing, I began saying yes. Why not do everything I’ve always wanted to do? I had time. Perhaps it would bolster my resume. It sure couldn’t hurt it.…

  • Swami's Beach
    Off to See the World,  SoCal

    Beautiful San Diego!

    Last weekend Mike and I journeyed to North County, San Diego. Not a whole lot happened on the trip, and I was such a lazy good-for-nothing that I didn’t even take pictures until the last day, when it occurred to me, “hey, I might want to blog about this later.” I snapped three half-hearted photos, one of which is a duplicate, and called it good enough. I have been tired lately. I took naps on this trip. Naps. For those of you who don’t know me, I don’t really nap. I’m just not a sleep-during-the-day kind of girl. I’m a let’s-cram-every-bit-of-fun-we-can-into-this-time-away-from-suburban-sprawl kind of traveler. But I was tired. And I…

  • SoCal

    Misfit in L.A.

    I’m aware that I frequently complain about where I live, when many would kill to live in Southern California. The sunshine alone is reason to want to carve out a space here; 284 days of sun and a mere 26 days of precipitation is a hard statistic to beat anywhere else. There is also the proximity to the beach, which I have always taken for granted because I’ve never known differently. Additionally, the ethnic diversity makes for a pretty fabulous mix of restaurants. We can virtually eat in a different country every night of the month, if we so desired.  Lately, I have been enjoying the beautifully temperate weather before it reverts back…

  • Depression is a Bitch,  SoCal

    How to Feel Better When You Just Want to Punch Life in the Kidneys

    This week sucked. No, my kitty didn’t die, I didn’t lose my job, nor did I catch any new exotic illnesses this week (yet). Without going into extraneous detail, I just don’t like dealing with icky stuff from the past, and that’s what this week was all about, apparently. Ick. Sometimes life just sucks and doesn’t hand you a tidy explanation. I may not have completely grown up, but I do know that much. Take that, public school education! To combat this inevitable suckiness that life throws in everyone’s way now and again, I tried a few home remedies to bolster my mood. I make it my business to proactively fight…

  • Adventureland!,  Depression is a Bitch,  General Lunacy,  SoCal

    Monday, I Will Smack You

    To beat an over-used expression to death, I am having a serious case of the Mondays. Scratch that – I have had a case of the Mondays for the past week or two. Would that make it a case of Periodic Blech Syndrome? I know I swore I would only be posting “quality content” on here, but screw it – not everything’s gonna be an award-winner. I’ve gotta let loose and be silly sometimes or my brain will self-destruct and possibly detonate and destroy civilization… So this weekend I had a mini-meltdown. No, it’s okay, it’s just my usual monthly panic over where my life is going, will I ever get…

  • SoCal

    Thank Goodness I Don’t Look Like Keith Richards Yet

    I am finding that old age creeps up on you. You don’t just wake up one day and realize, “I’m old as schnizzle.” It’s more like a series of moments that all add up to the aging process. Thank goodness you don’t wake up one day looking like Keith Richards after a hard night of booze and cigarettes, because I think the shock would be too much. I’m right there, though, right on the precipice of forthcoming elderhood (my membership to the Stones is still pending). Take Monday, for example. My much-younger colleagues and I were exchanging weekend stories, and theirs were…muchly much more colorful. They went out to a…

  • Adventureland!,  SoCal

    Crunchy Any Way I Can Get It

    You don’t grow up in California without turning out a little crunchy. That is, at least the California of the eighties and nineties; if you were paying any attention to conservation talks in school involving talking dolphin puppets admonishing us to cut up the plastic soda rings so their babies won’t choke to death. Heck, maybe it’s that combined with my upbringing of camping every year with my family (leave the campsite cleaner than you found it), or reading so much as a kid (The Lorax is still my favorite Dr. Seuss book). Or maybe I’m just ultra-sensitive to conservation propaganda. In any case, I emerged crunchy. A tree-hugger. Environmentally conscious. My personal belief…

  • SoCal

    Rain Dance

    Rain in Los Angeles is kind of a big deal. We don’t really have weather here except for Santa Anas (dry desert wind that screws with allergies like a mofo), a stray heat wave now and again, and an occasional rain, but in general it’s a very temperate climate. In some ways, this is nice. Going outdoors is less complicated than in other parts of the country because inclement weather is not often a factor, and we never have to shovel our driveways. We get a lot more vitamin D than inhabitants of other parts of the globe, and most of us don’t own chains for tires or long underwear. In other…

  • Alcohol and Sobriety,  SoCal

    The Road

    Most pleasures of life are simple. In the brief time I lived in the quaint little craftsman at the edge of the world, some of the brightest moments included exploring the cliffs and coastline just around the corner. I have never felt healthier or happier than the times I jogged along Paseo del Mar, the street weaving around the Palos Verdes Peninsula like a hemline. After all, nothing beats inhaling deeply of fresh, salty air with the soundtrack of waves crashing against the cliffs accompanying the staccato of my feet on pavement. Most days it was like staring at a priceless Cezanne, the overwhelming burst of color and light almost…

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