Did I Mention?

That I made my peace with the rain? Ever since the night of the magical thunderstorm.

It's raining today. It warms my heart. I want to curl up on my sofa with Poompy and the hellhound and the fuksticks* and drink spiced tea and eat fresh baked cookies. But alas, I have to earn an income instead.

*Fuksticks are small, fuzzy creatures that sleep on your couch all day long, leave copious amounts of fur wherever they go, urinate on your favorite rugs, and spend their nights meowling and screeching like banshees, while tearing around your apartment as if being chased by demons. Oh, and they are fond of jumping onto high shelves and using their strong, flexible forepaws and tails to knock off and oftentimes break picture frames, candlesticks and other various items you've carefully displayed and artfully arranged on said shelves.

My First Tornado

Check it out - Poompy and I survived our first tornado! Actually, Poompy may have lived through other tornado's. I've never asked him. But this was definitely my first one!

I won't whine about it anymore. I'm serious this time.

Last night I witnessed an unbelievable, completely insane, stunningly gorgeous summer-time thunder storm. I've never felt rain pounding the earth like this. I've never heard thunder so powerful. I've never seen so many lightening flashes, over and over and over again. Poompy and I spent a good portion of our night running up and down our street, twirling and whirling with our faces upturned to the furious storm. Laughing. We couldn't stop laughing. We'd gone outside to watch the lightening storm - we'd started out with umbrella's and a faint determination to be grown-ups and stay dry but within minutes both of our umbrella's had turned inside-out and collected pools of water in their tops. And by then we were soaked to the skin and we didn't care. It was lovely. Simply lovely. The air felt so cool and fresh. The thunder sounded like movie sound-effects. Lightening flashed six or seven times in a row before allowing the sky to grow dark again. It was absolutely magnificent. A gift from the heavens.

Weather... or not.

It's pouring out. Pouring. It was bright and sunny and humid and warm ten minutes ago and now it is pouring rain. 

All my life I've heard people complain because Southern California doesn't have weather. I've heard that other places, such as New York, are "better" because they actually have weather. I would like to argue, right here and now, that SoCal does in fact have weather and that it happens to be beautiful weather and it lasts nearly year-round. New York has crappy weather, most of the time. Sure, sure, once in a while there is a gorgeous day in Manhattan. But not today. Not yesterday either. Or the day before. Or the day before. There were maybe three days of nice weather in February. Maybe five in March. If there were any nice days in April I must have slept through them. Yeah, ok, May has been nice, but June has proved pretty damn sweaty and gross most of the time. And why, WHY IS IT RAINING IN JUNE? WHEN DOES THE RAINY SEASON END?

I was whining to someone about this when they looked at me and said, "How long did you live in Los Angeles?"

"My whole life." I replied.

And then he rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah. Los Angeles is not like most places. Everywhere else in the country it rains year round. Get used to it."

THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN LOS ANGELES.

Spring Fever: NYC through the eyes of a Valley Girl, Part II

Things About Spring In NYC That Baffled A Valley Girl

I'm reminded of that old standard, "...I like New York in June... How 'bout you?" I find myself humming it nearly every day as I wander the green shaded streets of Manhattan. As a Valley Girl, I've never experienced the joys of spring that follow a cold, bleak winter. It's really unbelievable. So unbelievable, I had to make another list of unbelievable things. Check it.

1) Blossoms. There was a moment in April when all of the trees still looked bare, but if you looked closely, you'd notice hundreds of tiny buds breaking out all over the branches. I left to visit L.A. for a week and when I came back the trees were just flourishing. I mean, covered in green. Flowers blooming everywhere. Window boxes spilling over with tulips and lilies, the little gated areas around the trees in the sidewalks (what are those things called, anyway?) crowded with pansies and daffodils and daisies. Everywhere is blooming. It's really really heavenly.

2) That old saying "April Showers bring May flowers" finally rings true. I never got that little ditty before because it doesn't rain in SoCal in April. But in NYC, jeez does it ever rain. And rain. And rain. For the first time in my life I had a legitimate need for rain boots. And a rain coat. And an umbrella. And although it might be funny to see someone else have their umbrella turned inside-out by the wind, it is NOT funny when it is happening to you.

3) And we're back to the "legitimate need for an over-sized bag" issue. Please see my paragraph on snow boots and the over-sized bag from Part I for more explanation.

4) The fact that I've become a bag lady. (No, I'm not talking about the over-sized bag now and no, I'm not insinuating that I'm a homeless lady who carries all her worldly belongings in sacks, but a girl who carries a lot of crap with her in lots of bags everywhere she goes.) In L.A., I own a car. I drive this car every day, all over town, from place to place. If I leave at 8 a.m. and spend my day running errands, blah, blah, blah, and don't return home until 8 p.m., I am able to keep all the stuff I'll need for the day in my car. No car in NYC. I use public transit. So, if I leave at 8 a.m. and hit an audition, run a couple errands, blah, blah, head home, I have had to carry all my stuff in my arms. By the time I get home, I'm a bag lady.

5) Aaand Again: ANOTHER legitimate reason to have an over-sized bag. It cuts down on the the number of plastic bags I have to carry with my hands. Not only do the bags start to slice into your flesh after a couple of hours, but it's nice to be hands-free in this city.

6) Let's talk about public transit. It doesn't really have anything to do with spring time, but I love it. Sure, a car is convenient in L.A. because public transit is scary and confusing and unreliable and icky. But in NYC, public transit is awesome. Even though it doesn't have a trunk to hold your stuff. The buses are... Clean. And full of little old ladies in fur coats. (Though why they can't wear cotton or nylon, I don't know.) Taxis are freakishly expensive and I avoid them at all costs. But, when in need, they are there. They are everywhere. And the subways... I adore the subways. Sure, they smell bad sometimes. Sure, they are over-crowded sometimes. But talk about convenient. And reliable. And easy. You know how I spend my thirty-minute commute? NOT feeling frustrated because of traffic. Instead I am quietly enjoying whatever book I happen to be reading. I've gotten a lot of reading done since I've moved here. Of course there are the subways at rush-hour which, at first, was completely surreal. I'm actually used to it now, but at first, it really freaked me out. You push your way into the train with about 700 other people who are all pushing you, and then you stand there, literally crammed in like a sardine and you can't help but be touching about 8 other people. You are pressed up against them on all sides. I always stare at my lapels because if I look straight ahead I'll be nose-to-nose with god-knows-who and that is very awkward. And there is always at least one crazy person who is singing or yelling or pooping on themselves in the corner and stinking up the whole car. But you gotta love it. It's great entertainment.

7) Homeless lady feet. Now that it's warm (read: miserably hot and humid) out, I wear my Crocs  everywhere I go. By the end of the day, my feet are black. My toes are black. I have to use (I'm not kidding) a pumice stone to scrub the icky black grime off of my feet at the end of every day. It's gross and embarrassing. I've taken to pointing my feet out to people, saying, "Hey! Check out how disgusting my feet are! Isn't that gross?" Because at least then they are aware that I am aware of how vile my feet are. 

8) Sweating Constantly. Do I really need to explain that?

We're running headlong into summer and so I'll be posting about that soon, I'm sure. I know, I know, you can barely sit still because of the anticipation.