Areas of Unrest

17 October 1999 - L.A. Moments

QOTD: "Fill your mouth with marbles and make a speech. Each day reduce the number of marbles in your motuh and make a speech. You will become an accredited public speaker - as soon as you have lost all your marbles." - Brooks Hayes

Reading: I've barely started the Sunday L.A. Times

Listening to: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys

I had a couple of "only in Los Angeles" moments this weekend. The first was the annoyance of being awakened at 0-dark-30 by the Hector earthquake. I could tell that it was fairly big but not close so I just stayed in bed. Nothing even fell off the shelves. Actually, I find quakes like this one more interesting than frightening, but I would have preferred it happening while I was already awake.

I stayed up about an hour, mostly trying to get some news as to the magnitude and epicenter, then went back to bed. When I finally really got up Saturday morning, I moused around the apartment a bit, then set out to do some much needed clothes shopping. Shopping is only fun when you don't need things. But this time I was in desparate need of another sports bra. The catch is that manufacturers tend to make sports bras in sizes only suitable for people who would be as well served by two bandaids. I headed over to Century City Plaza, figuring that there were at least a couple of possibilities there. And if I found what I needed quickly, I could reward myself by stopping into the Rand McNally store and buying travel books. Lane Bryant has given up on selling anything that would actually be practical workout wear. But Macy's Women's Store is right there, too, so I was hopeful. Alas, they sell panties, but not bras of any sort. I did see a lovely burgundy formal dress, which required amazing restraint not to try on. It was also there that I had another "only in L.A." moment.

A man was talking on a cell phone. He was probably in his early to mid 50's, greying hair, a bit paunchy, dressed in a truly awful Hawaiian shirt. "I'm in Macy's Women's Store," he said. "We need huge panties for the parachute scene. Hold on while I talk to the clerk." He asked the clerk for the largest panties in the store. "Are you sure they only go up to size 15?" he asked her. "I need really big panties." I eavesdropped as the clerk explained briefs vs. French-cut vs. bikini panties to him. "Oh, we want them like that. The type with all the fabric." In between talking to the clerk, he tried to describe the panties to whoever was on the other side of the cell phone.

I left the store before he was done with his purchases. If I hadn't been in a rush to finish my shopping before the baseball game, I'd have tried on the burgundy dress as an excuse to loiter and see what he ended up with. Instead, I went into the main store of Macy's and tried on sports bras in their lingerie department, without success. I drove to the Westside Pavilion and found exactly what I needed at Robinsons-May. But there were no conversations about parachute panties to overhear there.

I made it home to watch Pedro Martinez pitch splendidly. While it's nice to watch my team win so overwhelmingly (13-1), I have to admit that close games are more interesting to watch. I had hoped to get out to La Crescenta to see Barry perform, but I was exhausted. So I watched the National League game instead. And then the Mets won, too, keeping their series alive. Finally, I was sitting on the floor while talking on the phone - and saw an envelope. I had been wondering what I did with the birthday card from my mother ... the one with $41 in it. (Family tradition gets you a dollar for each year. Usually Mom sends a check, but I'd been in New York less than a month before my birthday so she gave me the card with cash then. I stuck it on a shelf and forgot I'd done so.) So it looked like the weekend was shaping up better than it had started.

Today was also disgustingly busy. I made a point of going to the art show in Beverly Hills, as much for the walk as for the show. It was too hot out to really enjoy, though. There were only a few pieces I liked and I made only one minor purchase. I'd been wanting to get a print by Nelson De La Nuez for a while. His gimmick is called Art Juxtaposed and has to do with putting together unlikely images. (The one I got is "Van Gogh's Tupperware Party.") They're all very clever, though nothing he's done can top Sally Swain's Great Housewives of Art books.

Then I raced off down to Lonny and Lauren's for a game day. We played a quick round of Nuclear War, in which everybody got wiped out, but I lost last. Then it was time for a new game, Tikal, in which rival teams of archaeologists get points for excavating temples and uncovering artifacts. It was fun, though we had misunderstood a few of the rules, which would have made a difference to the final outcome. One thing I liked was that the scores were very close, with the lead changing each scoring round and Gene winning only at the end. Finally, we played a quick game of Samurai, which Lonny won.

I left to go home and watch baseball. Actually, I hoped to listen to the start of the game on the radio, but the National League game was still going on, so I had to wait until I got home and could turn on the TV to the Sox vs. the Yankees. I should have stuck to the NL game. That was exciting as the Mets pulled it out in the 15th inning. The Sox just got robbed again by another bad umpiring call. I know some people would question how much it matters when the source of all evil in the universe won by so much, but one can't discount the psychological effect. Combine that with Rod Beck (why on earth does Jimy Williams ever bother to put him in?) and things collapsed. On the other hand, the call against Nomar Garciaparra in the bottom of the ninth was close enough that it could have been legit, and I didn't like to see the Sox fans behaving like a bunch of yahoos. Let Yankees fans throw things; we should be above such bad behavior.

I had grand plans to do a bunch of household paperwork, but I'm too stressed after that game to settle down. It's time for a cup of peppermint tea and some knitting instead.