I'm up to two packs a day

Well, the cigarette smoke continues to waft up thru the living room floor. It's HORRIBLE. Cannot stress that enough. The Valley has been a true toaster OVEN for over a week now. It never cools down not even overnight. Got up at dawn today and collected my coworker (a very athletic lady) and we went up to a local park to hike while it was "only" in the 70s at 6 a.m. Saw so many little white cotton-tailed bunnies! Wonderful to see all those bunnies. We were leaving the park just after 7 and that's when the masses of dog walkers were just arriving--way too late for that. It was already about 80 degrees. I took another walk round campus tonight after dark and it had to be 90 outside. If ONLY we had a ceiling fan in here, that MIGHT help disperse (right word?) some of the cigarette smoke. I live in a big ashtray and I HATE it. Have I mentioned how much I hate cigarette smoke? Been watching a lot of Spanish language TV lately, despite barely understanding a word. I swear they talk twice as fast I did at the peak of my spaziness (spazziness?) Have become addicted to a telenovela called "Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso" --and it seems to me paradise should have a d in it in both languages but it doesn't! It's a Telemundo remake of a Colombian soap of the same name, only it's really called "Sin Tetas" and yes, that means what you think. They changed it to the milder "senos" for the remake. The lead character is named Catalina and they say her name 20 times per minute. The guy who plays her boyfriend is HOT, some Colombian actor called Fabian Rios, who is NOT all over the Internet, much to my dismay. Here's a pic of the lovely couple.

The show is maybe over the top and maybe sadly based on some reality in Colombia-- a young girl wants to live the wealthy party set lifestyle and tries to do it as a drug dealers' party girl, only her chest isn't big enough for their taste. No lie. So she's desperate to get implants. Yes, that is the plot. I KNOW there's truth in it though. Oscar, the Colombian member of the former Latin gang, told me --when I asked if I could fit in in Colombia--that I would have to have some surgery first. He said all the chiquitas down there have had huge implants. Tragic. He got mad if you made jokes about Colombia being all about drug dealing though (but it's TRUE!) The woman who plays the mom on the show is NOT old enough to be her mom, and has a HUGE rack that is on full display all the time. It's very distracting, and no wonder the daughter would feel obliged to seek surgery! And her mom has her eye on the boyfriend... who had a NASTY scene where he was, um, "holding" a pair of mama's knickers in the bathroom. Ewwwwwwww. But now I need to find other shows that Latin Hot Stuff is in, especially any where he has a lot of shower scenes.

June 3, 2008

Wow, I almost never post! Today was a big day. Cris is going back to Chile on Thursday, and Oscar returns to Colombia on Sunday. And you're asking, who are these people? I joined a Latin gang. Juancho already returned to Mexico. And there's Bita--she's Persian. So today I took Cris and Oscar to the Getty Center--my second time there. Here I am with Cris by this big piece of "art" at the Getty:


I like the train ride up. And I gave the boys a tour of UCLA. Here's Oscar looking like he belongs there, and Cris who was a great sport about sticking his head in the bear's mouth:





Later we met Bita for dinner and we were going to go to this rock outcrop called Stoney Point, but they had red cones up so you couldn't park. Somehow I got forced onto the 118 freeway, and when I got off at Rocky Peak to turn back, I discovered you could park THERE and hike. Despite my paranoia about mountain lions and my lack of suitable shoes, we walked up a long steep trail and watched the sunset. Pretty cool. Bita was very concerned we got pix of the shoes she had on. She is very photogenic. Here she is showing off the shoes way up on top of a rock. You can't really appreciate how high up we were, but she looks great as always:



I was simply orange. Tomorrow I interview new students, and the next session begins next week. Always time to work. My roommate is in Korea for the next month. Danny graduated! He is so sweet. He returns home at the end of the summer to go in the army. I'll miss him so! I fully believe he'll be back. Tomorrow night Lopex and I go see MONGOL on the big screen, yeah! Asano Tadanobu as the young Genghis Khan. Hot or what! Our roadrunner Curio returned after an absence of a few months, but he's very busy hunting. Got a new roof on my house. It's very white and supposed to lower the temperature a bit even. My other neighbor Johnny saw that we were trying to take down that big old shed and he volunteered to do it if he could take the metal parts. Do all the labor AND haul it away? You rock! Be my guest! The price of gas is INSANE and now it costs a small fortune to go home. Even though the desert is just full of sharp pointy things that want to scratch and prick you (and embed their sharp selves deep in your skin), I love it so much.... Alas, I have to return to the Big City for work. I have really neglected my friends and I feel bad about that. I MUST catch up with people. I miss people! Sharon is off to the UK for the Ropes first overseas dates! Mega cool. She rocks.

Lopex is now in her new office location, out of Santa Monica and now in Sherman Oaks. The Valley in summer....

I tried to use Facebook cos young 'uns I know keep telling me to go there, but you have to be under 21 or something to use it.... I hate it. I don't have the patience for that or myspace. My Facebook name is Picosita if you're so inclined. Check out my flickr account, HollywoodLegend. That's where most of my photos go. Wait, I can make a link....Click HERE.

Long Time, No Post

I'm no good at keeping a blog, am I. Our roadrunner Curio disappeared well over a month ago. My mother saw a roadrunner just once since then, but not sure it's him. Spring is in full bloom though and he may have gone off to find a mate. The hunting must be good too. This strange flower appeared in our yard for the first time--three of them actually. My mother reckons it's the desert lily. Didn't survive long.



Much like my radishes--planted a bunch of seeds again, in containers and outside of containers; bought special soil, Miracle Gro, all that... and a few sprouted, all died. Some didn't bother to sprout at all. Best were the radishes--they bloomed nicely, but then strangled each other and died before becoming radishes. I can't grow anything but mold.

My nose surgery didn't happen--I was supposed to have this surgery to dig out a possible skin cancer. Now I'm to seek a second opinion. Biopsies are very expensive! I didn't go see Ray Davies or Grant Lee Phillips, and now I look set to miss both Mike Peters and Carlene Carter (her first LA appearance in ten years!)--they play on the same day, next Friday. I just can't motivate myself to buy a ticket, drive, be out at night, be around other people, etc.

Finally got a cargo container at the house. Just a 20' this time. Here it is pre-paint.

Should've gone ahead and gotten the 40' as the price was almost the same. The new roof will be put on my house soon. Would've already been done except MEGA STRONG WINDS won't stop blowing this year.

Lots of birthdays in April!

Still reading short horror stories from Ramsey Campbell. Good imagery but let-down endings. Have been watching lots of Beatles footage on YouTube late at night. FINALLY saw the Daleks! After years of hearing how brilliant they were...watched the first UK film version with them, with Peter Cushing as the Doctor. I had not realized they were little creatures inside protective suits! I had a terrible time understanding when they talked. Was that film representative of them on the TV show or a bit different? I'm wasn't that inspired to find out.

My Hywel Bennett collection has been expanding slowly. Not updated my fan page yet though. When to find the time! Website stuff takes me ages.

Sad passing of Charlton Heston recently. I am always thinking of Karl Malden. He is well into his 90s. He should live forever!

I always have a huge stack of homework papers to read--more than I could ever keep up with. Don't watch much TV these days although thanks to reruns, I am actually watching Family Guy when I run across it! Saw a couple episodes of Bones. It wants to fill the void left by the X-Files, but it's just not appealing enough. I almost fear the new X-Files film...the first one wasn't something I wanted to watch a second time, and I LOVED the show so much. Sad that Agent Doggett wasn't brought back for this film. Don't like the idea of new characters.

2008 marks 60 years since the Naqba in Palestine. Of course, President Bush and various Euros will go to the colony of Israel to CELEBRATE the tragic event.

Thanks to YouTube I was able to watch the documentary on Enoch Powell and his famous speech in 68 about how masses of immigrants would make the native British strangers in their own land. That has surely come to pass. Heartbreaking. I keep wondering if the 60s British style looked as cool to people then when they all looked like that? I think people really DID know they were part of something special though.

The Housing Bubble is slowly starting to contract but has a long ways to go. The American dollar has been made worthless by the so-called Federal Reserve (who are not "federal" at all but a PRIVATE bank with control of our money supply!) We've never paid so much for gas. That's my report for now.

Lots to catch up on

Always time to go to work, so I haven't updated things. In brief: my nose IS gonna be cut up--in case there is basal cell cancer under the angiofibroma --sp! That happens the day after St Patrick's. This is now the year of the rat, and it started out well, but then went back to the old stuff. I got to speak to Gruff, Guto, and Huw of Super Furry Animals when they did an in-store appearance and Lopex got some great pix. Also took a pic of a guy with Alice Cooper, as Alice was just walking in the store alone! Surreal stuff. The HEAT has returned to SoCal but will probably turn cooler again soon. Am doing a little bit of exercise lately in hopes of losing weight, but then I go on an eating rampage and undo it. Did a lot of driving recently as I brought my mom back here to see the eye doctor, and I myself had a doctor's appt and she wants me back on the iron supplements. My night class is HUGE this time, filled to capacity at 40 students. Yikes! That's a LOT of essays to read. Am meeting a Japanese pal weekly for a little J-study. Not much, but an improvement up from zero! Need to add some pix and stuff...

Rainy January

If you like rain, we got it. Mega rainy times in SoCal. There was even thick fog as I returned today with visibility all of 20' in front at one point. Scary actually.

The gas station



The intersection (dirt in the road, not snow!)


Spent some quality time this morning with "My Mom's Dog" (pix should be below), a bit with Curio, and finally agreed upon a plan for adding structures to the homestead: oh to have a compound! Of course all is on hold just now that the ground is soaked. Waiting for rain to end and then dry up.





Curio is more stand-offish than the coyote, but thanks to a zoom lens... !!



As you can tell, I've just been out in the desert, my happy place. This time round finally made that big drive round the park to the east, way down to a spot on the map called Desert Center. Saw a younger guy with a huge mohawk and mostly trailers in need of repair. Post-apocalyptic Chud-dom. I pulled off one exit too early and discovered the General Patton Museum! A gas station, a fast food place, and a half dozen tanks on display! Would go back for that (cutting thru the park, NOT taking the long way). Daylight had turned greylight, so no pix this time.

Along the highway we spotted this tiny purple flower (weed?) growing in endless patches. The rain probably brought it out. My mother is always in search of ground cover that would grow out there, so I pulled over and plucked some out (being careful not to touch it directly, just in case). It seemed to be attached by a thick stem to a giant nasty green weed. Here is a sample. The flowers are an inch across at most. Any clue what it is? It might be "purple desert mat" or something like that. Name that weed!




Haven't checked the online news in two days. Hate to think of the horror in the meantime.

I made a new webpage

I actually did do a bit of cleaning-sorting-organizing in my mad explosion of a bedroom today. And then? I spent time I did not have on a new webpage, probably to be soon abandoned as they all are... This one is a fan page for Welsh actor Hywel Bennett, as he didn't seem to have one. Check it out if you like.

http://georgie.likes.ducks.googlepages.com/home

2008 or 1960?

Starting the year off with some VINTAGE Bee Gees. The twins were TEN here. Yes, ten! (Their birthdays being late in the year, surely they'd not had them when this was done). Even Barry looks SOOOOOOOOO young. Bless their little hearts!

End of the Year, Goodbye 2007

I guess everyone needs to post an "end-of-2007" comment. Well, plumbing problems have been the lead story. At the house, the thermal coupler went out--always on a weekend--didn't get our usual people and had to pay WAY too much. Then the septic reached its "time to be pumped" point, again on a day they charge extra... but my mother found a really good guy with a family business. Turns out his kin live in that house just up the road that used to have the two friendly dogs. We always wondered why those dogs just vanished... turns out they had dug their way out of the yard and been found dead on the property. So horribly sad. Never leave animals outside unattended. Really sad. The black one would always get excited and run back and forth when I drove by, so we always said "there's my dog!"

Also, here at the apartment the shower is now backing up, etc. Endless plumbing problems. I think the ones at the house are now fixed (many many $ later), but here at the apartment still ongoing.

It is VERY windy today, and I went over to visit the willow trees on campus. I love to watch them dance in the wind. This photo is not from today, but it's of a wind dance from earlier in the year.

My roommate's mother is here from Korea. Her father will also come over soon, and then they're all going off to Las Vegas!

I don't have any "top ten" lists for the year. Can't think of any music or film that made a big impact on me. I just keep watching Roddy McDowall in "Legend of Hell House" over and over!

Had some good visitors this past year:

Mayumi was here twice, and that was cool! We had fun both times. She's been way too generous with the Ultraman gifts (her sister too!)

It was great to see Shari this year, and TWICE no less!

Also, it was wonderful to see Sharon and to watch her perform. Great stuff! And she's sooooooooooo small!!! (Mayumi had wasted away as well. I used to be able to do that... Shari is small too.)

Meanwhile, I am getting WAY too plump and blubbery. Yikes!

Keep eating veggie! Be kind to animals, of course...

My new term is "sunlight sinister" to mean it looks all bright and bouncy, but really there is a dark side. I use the Bee Gees' "New York Mining Disaster" song to illustrate that point. (It sounds all 60s harmony pop, but it's a tragic tale!) My "subculture" designation for this next year (which I made up, and now watch it will be stolen!) is Sunshine Goth. I could never ever be one of those vampire types, as I have no interest in vampires for starters, and the whole subculture seems to attract a LOT of "large" girls. I do love Gothic architecture and horror stories, but also the sun and bright colors and psychedelic music, so to balance my "grim" view of life with the outward "lively" style, I came up with Sunshine Goth. Lopex said I could NOT have Bee Gees in a Goth lifestyle, so this was my way to pull it off! No, I will not start dressing in all black. I do wear a lot of black with other colors (except for days when I go all black and introduce myself as Johnny Cash)--green remains my main color.

Oh yeah, my other big change is to move away from PURPLE this next year.


The loss of my beloved Mr. Lyrical back in March remains so devastating and painful. I miss him so much.

Shari and I went to Malibu for the sunset. It was either the actual Solstice or the day before or after, not quite sure, but I got this postcard-like photo. That's just a rock there, not some form of marine animal!





Thanks for reading. See you in 2008 !

Santa Barbara and stuff

Woden's Day December 19, 2007. This would've been Phil Ochs' 67th birthday. Looks like it's gonna rain--as it did for nearly 24 hours Monday night to Tuesday night. Yesterday was finally my last day of work for the year, so now I need to get all the things done that have been piling up and waiting for me.

This past Saturday, Lopex, Terry, and I went up to Santa Barbara. Terry is a nice Japanese boy who I'd been studying with. He and a friend from school are gonna take Amtrack across America for the next few weeks. Hope it stays on the tracks! We went to the Mission, Sambo's (yes, an actual 50-year-old Little Black Sambo's!), the beach--where there were pelicans--and then up and down State Street, the city's main shopping area. The weather was quite good, fairly warm and very sunny. Wow! What shocked me most? All the white people. Yes, white people. Loads of them. Whole groups together. When do I ever see large numbers of white people? Young ones! Not just the handful of elderly sad ones you see in Los Angeles, but whole posses of young white people, mostly tall, slim and genuinely blonde! Wow! I reckon 75% of the people I saw that day were slim and white. Terry was really surprised and excited. That was how he had imagined all of California to be. I told him, gee, it's like the '50s up here! Quite surreal. Mind, Santa Barbara has its share of homeless people, but only one (a white lady!) actually asked us for money. Lopex says that SB police do not allow them to ask directly like that. Saw a few cool older homes as well. Of course my camera's batteries died on me. I have a serious problem with generating disruptions to the ElectroMagneticField and often kill batteries or make other equipment malfunction. You might think I'm joking, but I'm not.





Lopex was very delighted indeed for we discovered she had been a contest winner! Second place and two honorable mentions in a doll magazine for three "travel" photos she'd done of her Blythe dolls. Happy to say I was there for all three of them. You can check that out here if you'd like.

My former coworker and now good friend Susan had heart surgery yesterday. I can't explain the details well, but she had to be awake for it while the doctor sent her heart into "convulsions" or similar. Good news is he thinks he solved the problem, and she was even able to call me from her home last evening to tell me she was back! Amazing how far medical science has come.

Doctor in the House, a series of books that was then made into films, was also made into a British comedy in the early 70s. I hadn't seen it since I guess the late 70s--maybe as recently as 1981, but no later... a show I loved and missed. Found a man in Canada selling sets on Ebay--got one, and as I discovered the cable had gone out last night, put two discs in as I ate my pasta. A bit different than I remember, but still the same old great show and terrific characters. Wonderful blast from the past. Looking forward to watching more. In the days before VHS (and of course DVD!) I had feared I'd never see the show again. Wonderful treat.

Winter Solstice is coming soon. I'm not even sure of the exact time. I manage to miss these things every year, along with any rare meteor showers or other natural phenomena of note.

Decemberrrrr 7, 2007. Pearl Harbor was a set-up. FDR knew in advance. He wanted to get the USA into the war. Great link HERE. Random News: Danielle was able to come back to work, following her post-surgery recovery period. Happy to see her on campus. Sharon's tour continues--a couple more shows to go. Check out THE ROPES.
Was very happy to see her on the L.A. stop. She got to meet Mansour too! I'm fat again. My efforts to LOSE weight resulted in me gaining 2 lbs. Way to go! Still have another week (or more) to go with my two schools. We think it's cold here, but what we call cold is much milder than most places at the moment. Saw and met two of Sugarcult, a rock band from Santa Barbara, on campus just before Thanksgiving. Shout out to Shari because they are her friends. My plan to travel around SoCal every other weekend and take photos of "the rotting corpse of greater Los Angeles" seems to have been abandoned. Have eaten out a few times lately. Always costs too much and never really satisfies. Had some major rain out in the desert, so I hope to dig dig dig in my softened up holes-in-progress in the yard tomorrow, despite the 50 degree temp. Yes, I am digging to China. Hey, I know people there now!

Had a nasty run-in (or assault by?) a freakazoid Starbucks employee this past week. Stay OUT of Starbucks! The CEO donates profits to israel, too. Despite there being NO valid reason to foolishly attack Iran (and I have Iranian friends, so HANDS OFF!), the zionist-neocons are still pushing for it. Did you know that President Kennedy had wanted inspections of israel's nuclear facilities and to put an end to the Federal Reserve? Then he was killed... hmmm. There's lots of info about that on the web, but search for yourself. See how lazy I've become! Thanks for reading. Donate to no-kill shelters this holiday.