Black Friday at the Beach

Ahh, Venice Beach. My favorite locale. And what's better than being at Venice Beach? Being there on Black Friday.


Yes, I'm still thoroughly enjoying the Californian version of "winter." You can still hit the beach - it's just slightly too cold to go swimming. And cold rain? It's actually kind of like our version of snow. Any rain at all, actually, is exciting.

Anyway, it's Friday and I've been working my little fingers off all day, but I felt a blog post was necessary for whatever reason. I guess there's just some random stuff I have to say - like how much I love our 2 cute, friendly cats when it's cold and rainy. Or how working in the kitchen area on a Friday, even though I only work here because it's warmer and there's more light, turns out to score you food gifts from most people in the house throughout the day. They take pity on me, I think - and they should because Warren has been pacing around and generally stressing me out all day.

And then there's the other stuff that came up days before but I never remembered to write it down. Like the alarming environmental news in the L.A. Times every day that is encouraging me to find a "green"-focused job. Or how nice it was a few days ago when all of my east coast friends just happened to try to contact me on the same day. Or how I went to my first professional basketball game last night (Lakers!!). Unfortunately, a lot of what I would have had to say is lost in the moment.

But I can still do a little update of what I'm up to, right? Well, obviously I'm still working my job for Warren here out of the house. And I'm very much hoping to wrap this all up before I leave for Xmas at the end of the month. I'm also hoping to interview for jobs starting in January, so I've been doing a little research on different organizations in the area via the LA Chamber of Commerce website. I've started some career counseling with a very cool lady named Mary who lives at the bottom of the mountain. So I'm maybe a quarter of the way into "The Passion Test Book," at her recommendation, and it's kind of exciting ("The effortless path to discovering your destiny" :P ). In alignment with a suggestion from a woman my age in media development, I've also started working a little more on a digital portfolio (aka, "webpage") with an emphasis on photography and digital graphics. It's gotten my creative side going again :) I'll post the link when it's more complete.

And, of course, I've been going to capoeira a few times a week, emptying my pockets on gas money going to my autocad class, and eating lots of peanuts (the only easy and consistently available snack food in the house).

Oh, and Thanskgiving was a huge amount of fun. Dinner for 22, very nice ;)

Suggested Reading (articles)

I got lucky these past couple hours and have been on a creative streak. The sketch/reflection to the right is a production of another recent one of these. And, fyi, all the images I use on this blog are my own.

Anyway, since I'm up and I meant to post this before, here are 2 articles that I highly suggest reading:


1.) "What It Will Take to Build a Sustainable U.S."
(by Kenny Ausubel)
http://alternet.org/environment/66725/

-This is a very well-written and I think somewhat inspring article on where our country needs to go. It's the best environmental article I've read for some time. Here's a taste:

Andrew Revkin reported in the New York Times that "The physical Earth is increasingly becoming what the human species makes of it. The accelerating and intensifying impact of human activities is visibly altering the planet, requiring ever more frequent redrawing not only of political boundaries, but of the shape of Earth's features themselves."

Mick Ashworth, editor-in-chief of the annual Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, said his staff of 50 cartographers now updates their databases every three and a half minutes. Commented the editor, "We can literally see environmental disasters unfolding before our eyes."

2.) "The Roots of Islamic Reform"
(by Ali Eteraz)
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ali_eteraz/2007/09/the_roots_of_islamic_reform.html

-Another exceptionally well-written article that I think addresses the idea of "Islamic Reform" in a very comprehensible way. It's much more concise than anything I've ever read, particularly in mainstream sources like Newsweek, the New York Times, etc. Some of the terminology might be strange to you - but many of the references he uses are linked to explanations (or you can just ask me). And it's relatively short! Summarized, really- but if you want more he's written a series on the topic for you and has links to it. So read it! Here's a taste:

Islamic reform occurs when a Muslim dissents from this traditional orthodoxy, and provides an alternative which he or she believes more accurately captures the spirit of Islam. Some dissenters argue that their view was part of the orthodoxy all along - just overlooked - while others agitate for the orthodoxy to open up and assimilate views from the outside.

There are various reasons for Muslim critiques of traditionalism. Some critics are dissatisfied with traditionalism for being liberal, citing its connection to Sufism and its receptivity to local customs. Others accuse it of conservatism: primarily its views towards women, minorities, and freedom of conscience. Others agitate against its political quietism, arguing that it does not speak out against terrorists or tyrants enough. Many critics have a problem with traditional conceptions of religious hierarchy, believing that Islam should be democratic and not install de facto priests in the guise of scholars. Others complain about traditionalist monopoly on methodology, arguing that there are other methods of deriving a "way" or "Sharia" than the usul method invented in the 9th century. Finally, some simply believe that traditionalism is anachronistic, should be deconstructed and replaced by radically individualistic ijtihad.

Most of these critiques are in conflict, not just against traditionalism, but against one another as well. However, in terms of history, all critiques against traditionalism stems from Ibn Taymiya, a largely self-taught scholar in the 13th century, who challenged the traditionalists of his time. His views are worth examining.

Enjoy :)

Christmas Travel Plans

Many thanks to my grandparents who paid for my plane ticket with their miles, I will be returning home for Christmas. I'll be flying in on :

December 20th

and out again on

December 31st.



Hope to see some people when I'm in town :)

2 Months

Well, sorry for the prolonged absence. You see this picture to the left? This is what my life has become. The cat and TV. As much as I try to avoid them both they're just sort of constantly around.

I guess I should update a little bit - I went to NYC, I had a very good time with some friends and some Brazilians. Then I went home and spent some time with my mom and Khadoujah. Mostly, though, I ate a lot of good food. Because that's half of a good vacation.

And my job, well, seems to continuously extend itself beyond the horizon. Its end is a mirage that I keep thinking I see off in the distance - but I have relatively little hope of ever actually getting there, even at this late date (we originally talked about the job being over in September). Things are better, I'm not calling up ridiculous numbers of organizations anymore. It's not so much of an "all seems lost" situation like it used to be. But I'm not feeling great about it.

I don't have much time to spend looking into future housing or income (free time isn't very easy to get when you live and work in the same house as your boss), so what little I've looked into is also kind of dismal. I'm really hoping this is the low point in my life. I don't like thinking about anything more depressing than this. A few highlights:

-Liz said she had a client who rented properties who had one near USC for $400/month (incredibly low for L.A.). I didn't expect much. The broken door, bad neighborhood, peeling paint, fine, I saw that coming. But I didn't expect it to smell like poop and the ocean. Or that it seemed to have the plumbing/design of a janitor's closet from the 1920's. The bathtub scared me. But what was worse was that there really wasn't any work in close proximity. Thankfully that ruled it out for good.

-One of the things that I like about living with my family in L.A. is that their neighborhood friends are always suggesting ideas for work and study. One neighbor left a message the other day about a job starting at $17/hour with paid 3 month training. But it sounded in the message like she said it was because there was a shortage of lobotomists. I was relieved to find out that she'd actually said "phlebotomists." These are people who are trained to take blood. So maybe not such a bad job, right? I'm not sure. There are things that would be difficult to come by for this program - it requires you to have health insurance, CPR certification, a list of immunizations, etc. But quite honestly, I might just avoid it because I don't want to know what all "specimen processing" involves.

I'm gonna stop there. I wrote more but it just starts to get pessimistic. You know what though? I don't think anyone really reads this blog for travel updates. I'll still do them, but I think I'm just going to start using this for more general writing. Whatever I feel like. What do you think?

Ramadan Kareem :)

The title, by the way, means "Holy Ramadan." Since I really have no idea who reads this, I'm guessing I should give a little rundown of what I've been doing the past week or so.

Ramadan is one of two major Islamic holy periods. Note: "holy period" not "holiday." This particular holy time is a month long and held at the start of the appropriate new moon (ala the lunar calendar). During the month muslims around the world abstain from food and drink (yes, even water) from sunrise to sunset. In addition, there are numerous things that many try to do or not to do. The most common are usually to do charity, good deeds, and read the qur'aan and not to swear, do bad deeds (hard with the traffic in L.A.), lie, or commit any major sins.

Some more important, though lesser known notes about this:

-yes, there are religious reasons why a person is unable to do this fast. If you're a woman and are getting your period or are dealing with pregnancy, if you're sick, traveling, need medical attention, etc.

-it's a common tradition to wake up just before dawn and eat and drink water until the latest possible time. This meal is called "suhoor."

-the end of Ramadan (the last 10 days) is commonly considered to be the most holy time of the month (yes, that's right, doubly holy), and there is a tricky situation: Ending your fast too soon is religiously bad - likewise, ending too late is also. Fasting during Eid (the celebration/holiday period after Ramadan) is discouraged/taboo. Many muslims now run by common, scientifically calculated and agreed upon dates for the beginning and end of Ramadan - but among some it is still a hotly contested issue for this reason (and back in the day this made Eid that much more of a celebration - you never knew for sure when the new moon would be visible, so you waited each night for word).





Anyway, all that being said, I've been fasting for about a week now. Some things that used to be hard are easy, other things that were easy are unexpectedly hard. The challenges seem to change by the year - although that might just be because my life changes by the year.

Thus far this year I've been staying awake after dawn and doing work until about noon, then taking a mandatory nap. It works for a few days - and then I'm exhausted because I've also been staying up too late.

Finding a nutritional balance is always hard - but this year I've taken the additional challenge of continuing to train capoeira 3-4 times a week. Thus I find myself stuffing myself a little bit in fear of fatigue - and just today I was weak because I didn't do that (seemingly). Anyway, I'm always amazed to find out how much I can do while fasting. I guess professional athletes do the same - but they're professionals, so I'd assume they're better at it.

It turns out, if you want to worry about my physical well being while fasting, sleep is the hardest thing, not food.

So that's basically it - and probably enough information for now. Besides, I should really should try to get better at that sleep thing.

Travel!

Travel Briefing:

I have bought plane tickets to fly in and out of the Philadelphia airport for the following dates:

Monday, October 8 @ 9:30 am
Saturday, October 20 @ 1:30 pm

My plans are like this:

Arrive in Philly and find a way to take a Chinatown bus to NYC.

Attend the Brooklyn Capoeira batizado from October 8th to the 13th.

Possibly stay in NYC an extra day or two.

Take the Chinatown bus back to State College to visit my mom and whoever else (and clean out my room some more and work).

Have my mom drive me back to Philadelphia for my plane back to LA.





Let me know if you want to meet up.

"Summer" recap

Go figure, you say "I'll update every week" and the whole summer goes by and you've written 5 times. That being the case, I'm going to see if I can sum things up:

1.) Came to California, set up an office in my room, started working with Warren on this internship directory project. After a while it becomes apparent that it's a pretty daunting project. But I manage to get out every once in a while.

2.) I'm in the house a lot, then the van gets stolen and there's all kinds of car drama and I'm stuck in the house even more - except for capoeira, thank god.

3.) Over the course of the summer, Alec graduates, many a weekend party happens at the house, Warren and Nick go to Costa Rica, the family goes camping, the van returns, The LA capoeira batizado happens (Heather and Alec get belted up), I get addicted to the Sopranos, I move rooms twice, and Liz is basically busy as usual.


And now I'm sleeping in a very nice air-conditioned room in a friends house across the street because Warren managed to rent out rooms in the house to 3 USC med students and 2 French med interns. It's the 2nd time I've been moved and it was a little annoying at first, but given the ridiculous heat wave the past 5 days or so I've been quite happy about it. Of course, I still spend the strong majority of my time over here at the house, which means that when everybody is home, there are at least 11 people sharing the same space.


So there's not too much to say. When the heat gets this intense you can't really walk or bike anywhere without dying (hence why we all have been basically stuck in the house the last few days - the whole car thing is still stcky), so my transportation exploration has definitely been put on hold. But the house isn't really air conditioned and I don't always feel like stripping down in front of strangers so I haven't been using the pool as much either. Thus I have spent the heat wave reading Harry Potter, watching the Sopranos and otherwise imitating a limp noodle. Everything else seems so hard - I haven't even called anyone besides my mother. Somehow it just seems like too much effort.

I did have a few thoughts though. School, for everyone except Alec and Moses, has started here. I've never stayed here past August. I'm also told that the weather doesn't really get cold until maybe February, that people go to the beach until about November. I'm thinking this should/will hopeully break things up a little.

That and a trip to NY of course.

Future Work Prospects

Really I should know better than to take time during work to do this, but I thought it was important.

When I took this job compiling a national directory for internships in the arts a lot of people responded with "well that sounds like it will be very helpful in find some organizations you might want to work for." I'd like to think they could be right and I'd never say it because it's rude, but realistically I'm contacting thousands of organizations. It's not very likely.

Or so I thought. Yesterday I think I found my dream job:

The Original Gangster's Basic Academy of Dilenquency
Nampa, Idaho.


:P

Learning L.A.: Part II - Transportation

"Heather, the car was not a part of the deal," were the words that came my way after the van, which I had been sharing, came under another somewhat punishing wave of traffic trama. After 14 years and 3 trips across the nation, I might have been able to convince you it had recently returned from Iraq - it was usually covered in dust/dirt/accumulated smog, was missing a hub-cap or two, had some peeling paint here and there, 2 major dents on both sides of the vehicle and now a dented front bumper, smashed headlight, and replaced engine. Occasionally it was loving refered to as "Wayne." But I had always wanted to try out the mass transit in L.A., so I considered it a good thing that there was now a little pressure to get me hiking down to the train stop.

Sadly though, a person who shall not be named (who was also having a bit of a rough summer thus far) accidently left the keys in the van on his way to work. For those of you who haven't lived in Los Angeles I'll make it clearer:

Goodbye Wayne, we'll miss you.



And especially me. A little encouragement to use alternative transportation is nice. Having no option is a little daunting, especially in this city. In fact, I don't even know where to start my rant. Maybe a brief summary is a good starting point.




Los Angeles is a city that has to change, but many of its residents either don't want it to, or believe that it can't. That's probably important to note in a lot of situations involving the city, but of course it comes into play with its traffic dilemas. At this point I forget the actual statistics, but the city is expected to grow immensley in the next 40-50 years (I think somewhere around 62% - in short, millions of people), and it's quite clear that city will reach a state of crisis if something isn't done to change the nature of transportation here.

At this point in time it seems like the future-friendly ideal of mass transit in the US is the NYC subway system. But that particular subway system was started at a time of few other options, around 1900. By the time Los Angeles really began to form the higway was the, "way of the future." As a lot of people around here know, there used to be a pretty extensive streetcar-type rail system here, but in the name of progress it was sold to GM, dismantled, and paved over long ago.

So now there are huge, sometimes beautiful, soaring highways that are great fun to drive (when not clogged to the degree of a parking lot). But the downsides are easy to list:

Increasing and often unpredictable traffic jams. Smog. Considerable environmental impact. Increased numbers of car accidents.

And let me go into detail on that last one - because driving has become the chief and really only effective manner of transportation for nearly everybody here, everyone really needs to drive. This includes the young, the old, the sick, the drunken, and the crack-addicted. And they're driving with and without insurance, licenses, or safely maintained vehicles. Hence car insurance is massively expensive here, not mention the general rising expenses of owning and operating a car.

And Los Angeles is, in many places, a nice city with good weather, why wouldn't you want to get out and walk, right?

Ahh, see, return to statment #1. I do believe the term "NIMBY" (Not In My Back Yard) was coined here. I know there are a lot of people back east who seem to think that all of California is the land of the hippie people. They probably think NIMBY has some kind of environmental preservation concern tied with it. No. NIMBY's are people who will point out even the tiniest possible problem with something and complain their head off about it to keep something related to them from changing. More often than not it's something that would widely benefit most people - they just don't want to see it that way. Like a rail line from the east side of L.A. to the west side (so it's a little easier to get to the beach on a hot day when the traffic is worst). The NIMBY reasoning that has opposed this action? The rail line would potentially bring more poverty, violence, and crime to the west-side areas, as well as disrupting people's lives who live near the proposed railway. Likewise are the arguments against building apartment buildings or high-rises in the highly sought-after west side neighborhoods: they would bring with them increased traffic and change the village-like communities.

Hence, the NIMBY's, who to me seem to be conservatives who like to call themselves deomcrats, don't want the city to change, and their kind of ridiculous stubborness has convinced many others that it can't.

Voilà, the headcase that is L.A.



The actual technicalities of travel here are more interesting though (at least to me). And my memories with and recent adventures without Wayne are next on my blogging to-do list.

Learning L.A.: Part I

Given that this is my 5th or 6th trip out to Los Angeles for the summer, you'd think I would know a thing or two about the city by now. And I guess I do - but only one or two things.

Los Angeles blows my mind.

And, just like New York- even like State College, to some extent- there's just a lot there to get to know and understand. And given that most of the people I know are east-coast, I thought it might be nice to share. And, you know, I think it might help keep my head from spinning so much. And tonight my head is really spinning.

Somehow, without really specifically knowing how, Warren (my uncle) is on a list where he gets invited to HBO show premiers every so often. Liz (my aunt) wasn't interested in going, so tonight I got the chance to go to the 2nd season premier of HBO's Big Love. Just like so many other well-done HBO programs, Big Love explores a dramatic topic in a cinematic way - in this case, a polygamist, mormon family trying to get by in Utah (it's interesting, check it out).

It wasn't an ultra-glitzy event, but it was definitely my introduction to Hollywood. And thereby, well, weird (I didn't really see it coming).

There was a red carpet.
There were paparazzi.
There was a huge, totally reserved theater.
With a gigantic screen.
And surround sound.
And free popcorn and soda and reserved seats.
And afterward, there was a swanky party in an up-scale location with shuttles, countless tasty hor d'oeuvres, and a woman dressed like a bird in a big, guilded cage.

I'm going to repeat that - there was a woman in a guilded cage. Paid to sit on a swing as an animated decoration all evening.

So I ate all the tasty food, drank my cranberry juice from the free bar, snagged a "Voss" (oo, designer) bottle of water from one of an astounding number of almost over-attentive banquet servers, and sat on the balcony, looking down on the scene: the lady in the cage atop the large food display, and seats reserved for the show's main actors and executive producer, Tom Hanks.

I feel like in L.A. a situation like this one was bound to happen sometime, but it's a little strange after just having graduated, then spending a week in a hostel, and another week with less than $200 to my name. And one way or another, the scene will take some getting used to. The idea of so much wealth, well, I don't know what to do with it. So I'm taking on mentors. The first is Warren, then I'll try to spread out from there. About L.A., he said something along the lines of this:

Los Angeles is like no other city. It is the most international and integrated city in the nation. Everybody, from everywhere imaginable, lives in these pockets. They stick together and have their own communities - but then they go to work. And then all of these different people and different cultures get mixed in together and yet are independent of one another. And the beauty of living here is that there you really can do whatever it is that you want to do. You can drive 2 hours in any direction on every single night of the year and eat at a different restaurant, with authentic food from any part of the world. You can drive a few hours and be able to do any type of recreation you want, all year round: skiing, water sports, desert sports, anything. It is an incredibly diverse, complex city, with endless possibilities.

So there you go, L.A. 101.
Next on the agenda: How to get where you need to go, by highway, rail, and social network.

Month of May Redux

So, all in the month of May I:

1. Finished classes
2. Took finals
3. Finished my job at McLanahan's
4. Graduated
5. Went to NYC for a week
6. Flew to Los Angeles
7. Started my summer job here

So now I'm staying with my Aunt Liz and Uncle Warren in L.A., working on updating and editing a national internship directory for the arts. The end date is indefinite, and so are my plans for what comes next. I may stay in the city, who knows, I may stay in the house and find other jobs to do. Or I might try to move to NYC, or maybe even do some travel/teaching abroad.

At the moment, though, I'm just enoying the city and the cats which are currently crawling all over me even though I didn't invite them.

I still have the same cell phone number, and if you want my new address or e-mail address, just give me a call or a comment. And make sure to shoot me a line if you're going to be in the area :)

And of course, career ideas and roommate requests are welcome.

Welcome

Hello!
Welcome to my blog. It's new, but in the future I plan to use this as a space for:
Short Personal Updates
-Where I am and what I'm up to (and with who)

News, Announcements

-News stories of note (usually local or the
nationally-overlooked), important events of my own or of interest

Personal Commentary
-Things that I think are important or interesting enough to be noted




So feel free to comment or say hello, this is where I'm hoping to keep everyone up to date on what's going on :)