First full day in LA
As promised, here's the view from the hotel room:
It may not look great, but I am so unused to seeing mountains when I look out of a window that I keep looking out.
David got up yesterday morning and immediately went back to working on the presentation with his workmates. I took it a bit easier, lounging about, did a little fact checking for the next bit of my book and then went over to Kinokuniya, which did not have the magazine. They asked me where I lived and then helpfully pointed out that the NYC store has 30 copies. It'll actually be cheaper for me to order it from Japan. (So if you're reading this, Lynn, that is what I plan to do.) I bought two middle school books in Japanese that are mostly pictures. One's a science book and the other's a history book. These should keep me busy for a while.
I next headed to the grocery store and looked for snacks, lunch and breakfast things to keep in our room. Brought those back, worked a bit more and than Sharon called to see about getting together. I suggested that she call and I'd meet her rather than having her park for a short time. Just before her arrival, I went down and wandered around the Japanese shops and listened to the man playing 10 instruments while singing. Very cool.
Sharon called and thus began Adventure #1: Getting Out of the Parking Lot. She had decided to park and meet me at my room, so she had parked in the hellaciously-scary lot next door. It is a multi-story lot with steep hills and valleys, tight curves and overall scariness. She tried prepaying in the machine, but it ate her ticket and so she used the call button and after repeating the instructions many times on how to use the machine, the lady that answered finally suggested that we just try to exit. (In retrospect, I think it was more like a threat, "just try... bwhahahahaha
So we took the pee-scented elevator up to parking level 2, got in her car and headed to the exit. This was more treacherous than it sounds. It should not be necessary to make a three-point turn to navigate through the exit way, especially not in a Toyota Corolla. At this point, we were once again stuck, since we had no exit ticket. She hit the call button and had another chat with the lady who suggested that we back up and try again. I'm not really sure what that was supposed to do, except that it sounded like when someone tells you to reboot your computer.
Sharon tried to back up and this is when she scratched the side of her car against a post. I got out and directed her out of that situation, made sure there were no cars coming and directed her into a spot. Then I went down to buy a new parking ticket. (Just in case you are wondering, it is not possible to walk up, push a button and get a ticket from the machine. You have to be in a car.) So, $10 later, I had a new ticket and we managed to escape.
From there, we drove to Franklin Canyon, where we walked around a bit. Very pretty & peaceful. We even saw a coyote trotting around.
Next, we toyed with where to go and decided to go to the beach. On the way, we got a bit lost and passed the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Elizabeth Taylor, Howard Hughes and many others have stayed, some for months at a time. (I had just seen a documentary about the place.)
"Ohhh!" I said. "Let's go in!"
"We can't," said Sharon.
"Why not?"
"It's.. it's... it's the Beverly Hills Hotel. I'm not even dressed for it."
"So?"
Around the block we went, into the parking lot and into the hotel. They had photos and articles about the people that have stayed there. We wandered about, checked out the cafe (but arrived just as it closed) and headed down to the pool, passing through a citrus garden with ripe oranges hanging from some of the trees.
There were little rooms edging the pool, where you can change, eat or watch TV. (I am pretty sure I have seen this on various shows.) Very cool. There was a boy swimming as his father watched. I wound up dipping my foot in the pool just for the heck of it.
Then, we headed to the Ocean, where the sun had just set and everything was bathed in cool pastel colors. We drove back through Hollywood and Vine and returned to the hotel just before 9 and at about the same time as David who had just returned to the convention. After a dinner at Mister Pizza, we said our goodnights and returned to the hotel, just in time to watch the Mars landing.
It may not look great, but I am so unused to seeing mountains when I look out of a window that I keep looking out.
David got up yesterday morning and immediately went back to working on the presentation with his workmates. I took it a bit easier, lounging about, did a little fact checking for the next bit of my book and then went over to Kinokuniya, which did not have the magazine. They asked me where I lived and then helpfully pointed out that the NYC store has 30 copies. It'll actually be cheaper for me to order it from Japan. (So if you're reading this, Lynn, that is what I plan to do.) I bought two middle school books in Japanese that are mostly pictures. One's a science book and the other's a history book. These should keep me busy for a while.
I next headed to the grocery store and looked for snacks, lunch and breakfast things to keep in our room. Brought those back, worked a bit more and than Sharon called to see about getting together. I suggested that she call and I'd meet her rather than having her park for a short time. Just before her arrival, I went down and wandered around the Japanese shops and listened to the man playing 10 instruments while singing. Very cool.
Sharon called and thus began Adventure #1: Getting Out of the Parking Lot. She had decided to park and meet me at my room, so she had parked in the hellaciously-scary lot next door. It is a multi-story lot with steep hills and valleys, tight curves and overall scariness. She tried prepaying in the machine, but it ate her ticket and so she used the call button and after repeating the instructions many times on how to use the machine, the lady that answered finally suggested that we just try to exit. (In retrospect, I think it was more like a threat, "just try... bwhahahahaha
So we took the pee-scented elevator up to parking level 2, got in her car and headed to the exit. This was more treacherous than it sounds. It should not be necessary to make a three-point turn to navigate through the exit way, especially not in a Toyota Corolla. At this point, we were once again stuck, since we had no exit ticket. She hit the call button and had another chat with the lady who suggested that we back up and try again. I'm not really sure what that was supposed to do, except that it sounded like when someone tells you to reboot your computer.
Sharon tried to back up and this is when she scratched the side of her car against a post. I got out and directed her out of that situation, made sure there were no cars coming and directed her into a spot. Then I went down to buy a new parking ticket. (Just in case you are wondering, it is not possible to walk up, push a button and get a ticket from the machine. You have to be in a car.) So, $10 later, I had a new ticket and we managed to escape.
From there, we drove to Franklin Canyon, where we walked around a bit. Very pretty & peaceful. We even saw a coyote trotting around.
Next, we toyed with where to go and decided to go to the beach. On the way, we got a bit lost and passed the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Elizabeth Taylor, Howard Hughes and many others have stayed, some for months at a time. (I had just seen a documentary about the place.)
"Ohhh!" I said. "Let's go in!"
"We can't," said Sharon.
"Why not?"
"It's.. it's... it's the Beverly Hills Hotel. I'm not even dressed for it."
"So?"
Around the block we went, into the parking lot and into the hotel. They had photos and articles about the people that have stayed there. We wandered about, checked out the cafe (but arrived just as it closed) and headed down to the pool, passing through a citrus garden with ripe oranges hanging from some of the trees.
There were little rooms edging the pool, where you can change, eat or watch TV. (I am pretty sure I have seen this on various shows.) Very cool. There was a boy swimming as his father watched. I wound up dipping my foot in the pool just for the heck of it.
Then, we headed to the Ocean, where the sun had just set and everything was bathed in cool pastel colors. We drove back through Hollywood and Vine and returned to the hotel just before 9 and at about the same time as David who had just returned to the convention. After a dinner at Mister Pizza, we said our goodnights and returned to the hotel, just in time to watch the Mars landing.