Day Trippers!
I have "Short-Timer" disease about my job. It’s like being a second-semester Senior. I'm pretty much thinking that those fuckers can get bent. I still can't believe they want to send in this guy to work with a kid 1:1 when he is clearly unstable....gr.
I'm still considering following up with the legal route; I feel an ethical responsibility to do what I can to ensure this guy is no longer in a position where he can impose his jacked-up will on others. I mean, damn...
So, yesterday I ditched, and dustinashe and I went to go play in L.A. for the day. Yay!
First up, we went to the famous Bodhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood. In typical L.A. fashion, there is valet parking available (which cracks me up - valet parking for a metaphysical bookstore. Only in L.A!) for $3.50. If you buy $10 of merchandise in the store, they will take the $3.50 off of your total. It’s convenient for those of us who don’t live in the neighborhood and don’t have any quarters for the meter as parking on Melrose is all metered, and on the side streets, the parking requires permits which are only held by residents.
Oh, my. Talk about overwhelming. The place was packed from floor to ceiling with an amazing selection of alternative reading and various supplies for practice, from herbs to meditation supplies to decorative items like stained glass mandalas (they were getting pretty good prices for the glass too… hm! An opportunity for me, maybe?) It was almost too much - there was enough stuff in the store to occupy a space two to three times the size of the actual store. Made us dizzy!
Behind the original store is the used bookstore. Next time, we’ll go in there first. I think all but one of the books I got new were available for less in the used. Dammit!
So, despite the fact that I have hundreds of perfectly good unread-by-me books already in my possession, I still ended up buying six more, and dustinashe got two (guess which book goes with who?). Although, duh. What would I have expected when one of the two destinations for the day was a bookstore? More books! You can never have too many books, although sometimes space can be problematic...
Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods
Thomas Szasz, The Manufacture of Madness (by recommendation from psycho_active I think)
Anais Nin, Cities of the Interior
Israel Regardie, The Middle Pillar (yay! Now we have them all!)
Robert Potter, Buckminster Fuller (with a nod to ankh_f_n_khonsu)
Maurice Green (ed.), Interpersonal Psychoanalysis: The Selected Papers of Clara M. Thompson
C.G. Jung, Psychiatric Studies (Vol. 1 of the CW)
Plus, D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths.
This book alone made the entire trip worthwhile for me. When I was about 6 or so, a neighbor of ours gave me a copy of this book in hardback for my birthday. I read it countless times - more than I've read any other book since... Which reminds me of that book meme I did on haunting_love’s lj. I didn’t include this book because I forgot about it at the time, but it would have been in more than one spot I think. I can’t wait to read it again.
Next time, we need to get an earlier start… I had hoped to get to the Getty Center in time to catch the sunset. Alas, all we caught was craploads of traffic on Wilshire.
Drive anywhere in L.A. at 5pm on a Friday? *facepalm*
Although we didn’t make it in time to see the sunset, we did get there with plenty of time to wander through the Where We Live exhibition. I think jj_maccrimmon might especially appreciate the photos of the one-room shacks in Wonder Valley, which from what I’m told is a creepy, creepy, our-family-tree-don’t-branch type of place. Also a fabulous place to manufacture meth, because there’s no one around to notice the smell. ;-p
We also got in on the "Fridays Off the 405" event with hipsters galore, a cash bar (woohoo!), and this time, DJ Small Change who knows how to work some tables.
**Aside: I want to start taking pictures of people on the street whose outfits I like, like this guy. I would have taken several pictures yesterday, most memorably of the woman "of a certain age" who had her stylin' self all done up in ‘60s mom glam.**
Aaand, we’re back. Finally, we capped off the evening with dinner in the restaurant (which appears to have no name but "The Restaurant"). The food was decent, but nothing to shout home about. The view from the restaurant is spectacular.... I think. It was dark, so it’s hard to say. Eating here was a once-in-a-lifetime event, as the prices were not even near in the same league as the food in terms of taste and portion size. Our waiter, Daniel, was gleefully prim and seemed to really be enjoying himself, so that was fun to behold. Next time? Picnic! Or maybe the Cafe.
So, the Getty is my new favorite place, and if the Event Calendar is any indication, we’ll be back again. A lot.
In fact, we’re planning another day trip just to the Getty on Wednesday. For all that we did there, we didn’t even scratch the surface.
I’m ashamed to say that although I was born and raised in the area, I’d never been to the Getty Center before this trip. It is truly a cultural landmark and city treasure in the middle of what otherwise is often (righteously) considered a cultural wasteland of plasticity and superficiality.
If you visit here, go!
If you live here, go often!
I'm still considering following up with the legal route; I feel an ethical responsibility to do what I can to ensure this guy is no longer in a position where he can impose his jacked-up will on others. I mean, damn...
So, yesterday I ditched, and dustinashe and I went to go play in L.A. for the day. Yay!
First up, we went to the famous Bodhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood. In typical L.A. fashion, there is valet parking available (which cracks me up - valet parking for a metaphysical bookstore. Only in L.A!) for $3.50. If you buy $10 of merchandise in the store, they will take the $3.50 off of your total. It’s convenient for those of us who don’t live in the neighborhood and don’t have any quarters for the meter as parking on Melrose is all metered, and on the side streets, the parking requires permits which are only held by residents.
Oh, my. Talk about overwhelming. The place was packed from floor to ceiling with an amazing selection of alternative reading and various supplies for practice, from herbs to meditation supplies to decorative items like stained glass mandalas (they were getting pretty good prices for the glass too… hm! An opportunity for me, maybe?) It was almost too much - there was enough stuff in the store to occupy a space two to three times the size of the actual store. Made us dizzy!
Behind the original store is the used bookstore. Next time, we’ll go in there first. I think all but one of the books I got new were available for less in the used. Dammit!
So, despite the fact that I have hundreds of perfectly good unread-by-me books already in my possession, I still ended up buying six more, and dustinashe got two (guess which book goes with who?). Although, duh. What would I have expected when one of the two destinations for the day was a bookstore? More books! You can never have too many books, although sometimes space can be problematic...
Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods
Thomas Szasz, The Manufacture of Madness (by recommendation from psycho_active I think)
Anais Nin, Cities of the Interior
Israel Regardie, The Middle Pillar (yay! Now we have them all!)
Robert Potter, Buckminster Fuller (with a nod to ankh_f_n_khonsu)
Maurice Green (ed.), Interpersonal Psychoanalysis: The Selected Papers of Clara M. Thompson
C.G. Jung, Psychiatric Studies (Vol. 1 of the CW)
Plus, D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths.
This book alone made the entire trip worthwhile for me. When I was about 6 or so, a neighbor of ours gave me a copy of this book in hardback for my birthday. I read it countless times - more than I've read any other book since... Which reminds me of that book meme I did on haunting_love’s lj. I didn’t include this book because I forgot about it at the time, but it would have been in more than one spot I think. I can’t wait to read it again.
Next time, we need to get an earlier start… I had hoped to get to the Getty Center in time to catch the sunset. Alas, all we caught was craploads of traffic on Wilshire.
Drive anywhere in L.A. at 5pm on a Friday? *facepalm*
Although we didn’t make it in time to see the sunset, we did get there with plenty of time to wander through the Where We Live exhibition. I think jj_maccrimmon might especially appreciate the photos of the one-room shacks in Wonder Valley, which from what I’m told is a creepy, creepy, our-family-tree-don’t-branch type of place. Also a fabulous place to manufacture meth, because there’s no one around to notice the smell. ;-p
We also got in on the "Fridays Off the 405" event with hipsters galore, a cash bar (woohoo!), and this time, DJ Small Change who knows how to work some tables.
**Aside: I want to start taking pictures of people on the street whose outfits I like, like this guy. I would have taken several pictures yesterday, most memorably of the woman "of a certain age" who had her stylin' self all done up in ‘60s mom glam.**
Aaand, we’re back. Finally, we capped off the evening with dinner in the restaurant (which appears to have no name but "The Restaurant"). The food was decent, but nothing to shout home about. The view from the restaurant is spectacular.... I think. It was dark, so it’s hard to say. Eating here was a once-in-a-lifetime event, as the prices were not even near in the same league as the food in terms of taste and portion size. Our waiter, Daniel, was gleefully prim and seemed to really be enjoying himself, so that was fun to behold. Next time? Picnic! Or maybe the Cafe.
So, the Getty is my new favorite place, and if the Event Calendar is any indication, we’ll be back again. A lot.
In fact, we’re planning another day trip just to the Getty on Wednesday. For all that we did there, we didn’t even scratch the surface.
I’m ashamed to say that although I was born and raised in the area, I’d never been to the Getty Center before this trip. It is truly a cultural landmark and city treasure in the middle of what otherwise is often (righteously) considered a cultural wasteland of plasticity and superficiality.
If you visit here, go!
If you live here, go often!