I'm Moving West of LA----AGAIN!

I’m moving near LA, AGAIN! I really am moving back to the vicinity of Los Angeles, and yes, just west of it.

My View of LA

A little closer, now....And Finally:

OK, for really real, I’ve moved about a mile away from where I temporarily lived in downtown Milwaukee. Gotcha! It’s “up the coast”, and just west of a classic building named, “Los Angeles". I’ve moved slightly east of the 405, generally considered by those in Cali to be less desirable than west of the 405, but I can’t seem to get away from living west of LA. ;) (for those not familiar, “the 405” is a “freeway”….perhaps one of the more annoying “freeways” in the country, generally “clear” from 11 am to 1:30 pm, and after 10 at night, and random miraculous times).

Here’s where I’m situated: 2233 N Summit Ave Apt 412, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Bonus features of new apt: built in a/c unit, hot and cold running water, garbage disposal, water closet, parking, heat included, and the most ridiculous of all…a rooftop solarium and sundeck (see view below)! I could watch the sunrise from my roof. I could also throw a party up der, hey. There may be fireworks-watching being that Milwaukee is the City of Festivals and has fireworks nearly every weekend of the summer. There’s a Whole Foods about two blocks away (danger! danger!), a small library nearby, Beans (the hip Milwaukeeans know this place, with quite possibly the best salsa ever), the ‘ole watertower, and the Lake! I’ll be bicycling to work, as soon as I find a bicycle. I have high hopes to live in this place for quite some time. I’m happy to be in a more modern building (lack of character and all), and to be relieved of the feeling that I’m in college again (although I have heard a couple of drunk people off North Ave, unfortunately). Some of you have heard the roommate stories. Feel free to ask if you haven’t heard, they’re somewhat amusing (in retrospect).

So, come visit me in the City of Festivals!

Tiny White Things

What lesson has just been re-learned by this (2 years in) California girl? Lots of tiny white frozen things en masse can sure slow things down. My car may be frozen to a snowbank. It shore is beautiful, though.

There ended up being about 17-18 inches (50 cm for those of you who do metric) with drifts nearly as high as my head (6 foot, 182 cm), and plowed snow high enough to sled down. I feel very sorry for the people without snowblowers. Wednesday, our offices were closed. Been a while since I could say, SNOW DAY! Thursday, it was zero degrees F and windy as I walked to work. Talk about brisk. I had to duck into a business along the way to warm up. The sun is out, however, bring on the vitamin D.

Here is my car before I started shoveling:

Doesn’t it look pretty? I don’t know how long it took me to dig around it, but I managed to pretty much clear it and rock it back and forth a little over the top of the plenty-o-snow that drifted underneath. I was nearly immediately sore in the key shoveling muscles. The morning after that , I saw that the stupid-s**t service that clears snow for the neighboring businesses had the audacity to blow snow on top of the parked cars and street rather than in a different, more correct direction (this was 2 in the morning, I know cause it woke me up). I was slightly cheesed to clear off my car again this morning when it didn’t snow anymore. It’s hard enough to dig out from the city plows.

The totally fun part --- after the storm, I saw a lot of people on their way to sled, play, and a few even went snowshoeing. I would have really enjoyed a good snowshoe. Last time I did that was in sixth grade at Camp Na-Na-Bo-Sho. I heard one coffee shop was open on Brady Street, and several people showed up. People were walking down the streets since no traffic was out and some sidewalks still had snow up to at least kneecaps. It was quiet…no road noise. The air was so beautiful, and it wasn’t terribly cold despite a wind. Regardless of my sprained toe, I had to walk a little. Lake Michi gami was outstanding! Splashing waves, crazy colors (dark blue clouds over the lake, clear blue sky over the land, brown water, blue water, frozen water, white snow). I think the lighthouse on the break might have sideways icicles.

Here are some photos from the local paper, some of the drifts are really cool and look like ocean waves: http://www.jsonline.com/multimedia/photos/115017994.html

My favorites are “No lifeguard on duty”, and an imprint of the back of an SUV, including license plate, on a snowbank in a parking lot. There are a lot of pics there, I’m sure you’ll look through all 300-some (written with sarcastic tone).

I feel like I’m under some kind of contractual obligation to say something about the Packers and how they should GO!, but I won’t. It just doesn’t seem real. It’ll be fun, though, I hope, to watch the game.

Ciao, people. Pray for meltage and no more significant snow. Punxatawney Phil predicts an early spring.

Californ-i-a. A Visit.

Surreal. Being somewhere, feeling strangely at home in a place you’re visiting. Like when I first moved back to Milwaukee I would say to myself…double darn! I wish I could go to Beans and Barley to get the fresh salsa! And then, duh, I’m here, not in California. It happens every once in a while here, too, where I think there’s someone in Cali I’d like to visit, but I’m here. While visiting my sis, I had these panic moments, like, where’s my car?!!? Because I usually parked it out front. But, it was sitting in a parking lot at the MKE airport. It was disconcerting.

What wasn’t disconcerting was seeing sis, bro, and the kids. Great to have some time talking with sis while sitting near the ocean. She’s such a lovely mom. Still a lovely seester. Excellent to see my nephew attempt walking. Well, squats, really. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. He’s such a cutie and so much fun. Good to have a dance with my niece, who’s almost four. She’s a twirler. I’m more of a bouncer- shaker. We get along really well in spite of this challenging difference. She’s practically talking like a grown-up. Soon she’ll be philosophizing and prognosticating, fer heaven’s sake. My brother–in-law talks like a grown-up too. He’s really coming along. ;) He’s always got good advice for me, which is appreciated.

Also got to visit with friends I haven’t seen in a few months, have some good chats. Things have really changed a lot for them since I left. A lot of people seem to be in transition these days. New things to do. New job dynamics. Relationship changes. And so on.

Played Rock Band. New songs, same band. These are fantastic people to be musical with in video-game format. Actually had fun singing Lady Ga Ga if you can believe that. Surprise of the evening. I feel badly because I just can’t get into the instruments of said game. It appears to be the same as my “real life” band, that I really want to sing back-up and dance. Hm. You and me, we’ve got a bad romance…ro ma roma ma oh ra ra la ma ra ma la ma ding dong, etc. A couple of my friends got into an accident on the way over that evening and still ended up making it! Amazing. Silly man mistook his accelerator for a brake at a stoplight. Yikes. They sound like their bods are in OK shape, but now to partake in the pain of insurance/repair/new car? I feel for them.

It seems like it’s been a helluva winter overall. Maybe I’m tainted because I’ve been sick, sprained my toe, I’m cold, etc., seems like one thing after the other, and so on, and so on. Does anyone else feel like it’s time for a run of the positive? Come on, spring!