Stuff You Should Not Tell Passengers

Last night's Lyft driver:

 "I couldn't sleep at all last night. I went to sleep at 3, woke up at 5 and went to work. Then after work I couldn't sleep either. So here I am driving for Lyft, figured I might as well be doing something."

(As I quietly belt up in the backseat.)

Another fun thing he told me:

He was moonlighting from his job as an airplane engineer at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. He used to work at LAX, and the commute was killing him, until one day he realized he could just hop on a flight.

I don't know how that works since there are no commercial flights on this route. Maybe it's something private or utilitarian. Or maybe he was pulling my leg. 

Back West

Red Line at 11 at night, Vermont and Santa Monica.

“Excuse me, I have to touch the pole!”

A large woman runs in the open door and taps a pole in the center of the car, then runs back out.

Everyone is like “Wha—?”

The doors close and pretty much everyone had glanced up at her on the platform.

That’s when she raised her shirt and flashed the whole train as it pulled out. Everyone cracked up. I did too.

“And we’re not even in Hollywood yet” said one old man.

PATH Darleen

I want to write fan fiction about Darleen and her animal pals from the backyard.

New Paint on the Block

The new neighbors bought their house for double the price of mine and then they immediately lowered the value...

Of course, Halloween IS right around the corner. 

On Safari in Jersey City

1. It's a party!

2. What the hell is that?

LAX Excursion

I’m flying out of LAX tonight and it’s possible I’m going to miss my plane.

Right when I was leaving the office, some people decided they had to talk about a very important issue, so I was running late. I ended up grabbing a Lyft to Van Nuys Flyaway because I thought it would be the fastest way. (Normally I get the Red Line to the Hollywood or Union Station Flyaway.)

Well, that was a big mistake. The wait for the Lyft was annoying, the traffic was horrendous, and the bus left 20 minutes late.

Note to self: Always opt for the train during rush hour. 

So I was looking up how to walk from Terminal 1 to Terminal 7 in case I have to jump off the bus and run while it makes its loop around, and hey, something amusing came out of this irritating night.

Decades Past

Here's a fun photo my mom posted today.

How about those socks I'm wearing!

Blockage

Eight months and 24 days after learning the hatch in the JC basement was super-leaky, it's blocked up! I tried hiring a landscape designer to deal with my backyard, but the only person who bothered to give me an estimate was crazy-expensive, so I put some laser-focused google-power to work and located the builder that company works with.

He was quite reasonable. Also, awesome.

Next step is to get the staircase and concrete out and fill it with dirt, drainage, and gravel. Actually, it's unclear what the next step is, but I'm hoping to find out soon.

Heritage Square Field Trip

In 1969, a bunch of cool old Victorians were picked up and moved somewhere safe from real estate development.

I went there over the weekend, needing to get out of the house.

The living homes of Carroll Avenue in Echo Park are more exciting, but these are cool too.
Here are some photos.

Enter Stage Left

Snagglepuss, the stage adaptation, was nominated for a Harvey Award! 

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑦’𝑠 𝑂𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟-𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 “𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟-𝑀𝑎𝑛: 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟-𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒” 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑙’𝑠 “𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠: 𝐸𝑛𝑑𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒,” 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡-𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 ($2.8 𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛) 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 — 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑠𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠.”