Getting it out of my system...

Woke up this morning to the whine of Indycars in the distance, doing time trials...

I have, according to my notes, maybe three posts about Austin, a few about the drive, and a couple about exploring LA with Carol on the subway (you can get from our place to Hollywood in about an hour). Also, the Grand Prix is here, and I'll have a bit to say about that, but first: I'd like to get this boasting out of my system.

Earlier today as I walked to our grocery store, a brand new Vons around the corner, I began to feel like Corrie and I were being rewarded for doing the strange and reckless things that we have, like moving to Brooklyn with no job or apartment, or moving halfway back, to Austin, again with no jobs lined up...

I feel rewarded because we didn't have a place here in Southern California when we got here. Job, yes; place, no...did it matter? With us, it never does; we just make it happen.



That's our new building, and our apartment is the upper right side, along with the right hand small center window.

I love our apartment. It's big and sunny. It's close to the LA Metro, which at a quarter mile away is our farthest amenity. Around the corner is that brand new Vons, and closer is a diner that sells breakfast until 9 pm, and a pizzeria that has pretty high quality crust (and pizza, for that matter). Right down the street from the pizzeria is Clancy's, an Irish bar, and across from that is a Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, and they have live jazz on the weekends. In the direction opposite Clancy's and Roscoe's, on the same street, is a two story gallery/coffee house next to an underground lounge named Basement, and across from that is a wine bar.

Lots of cool stuff, all within a very small walking distance...it's the Brooklyn experience that we always wanted but never got (does it even exist? Carrol Gardens, maybe...) with the Manhattan feel of being centered, only this time in a distinct beach community. Long Beach has its own political structure, and issues, and they mostly ignore the fact that they're in a region known as "the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area".

A beach community, half-million strong, with all the charm and failings of a Pismo Beach, or a Far Rockaway, or an Amityville...

Did I mention how pleasant the weather is or the fact the beach is a few blocks away?

Also, at dinner last night, and again this morning at Vons, on the radio or satellite music provider at each establishment, a scant fourteen hours apart, Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain" played. Twice. I take that as a sign, as that is one of the most beautiful songs composed by men, and doesn't get nearly enough attention or airplay. Maybe that's good, better to not overplay it...

I'm mostly done now...