So on a whim the other night I bought a ticket to a random comedy show near me.
All dressed up, get there… Crickets. Checked my email and oh… It was cancelled and I got my money back.
But I’m dressed up andand not too far from Uptown, where the Pokémon Go playing is good. So off in that direction I head.
Found a great parking spot. I thanked my Parking Goddess, and headed uphill. It was early evening, so it was somewhat quiet.
Wandering without earbuds was so awkward. I did a little shopping while noticing all the vacant shops and restaurants. Mercifully, the street’s institutions are still around.
The street was full of noise –bars scattered up and down the street, music to fit their vibe. The cigar bar had their usual big screen TV’s outside, so smokers could watch the game. (It’s been like 30 years since indoor smoking was banned in this state, right?) College football and the smell of phallic tobacco pacifiers–just as annoying to my senses at 50 as it was decades ago when this place opened.
Ooh, store with cute Hello Kitty stuff? I’m down! I found an ring that reminded me of my first choice for a wedding ring–a flower, maybe not the plumeria I saw a quarter century ago, but it was cute and cheap. (The reason I didn’t get the ring is because Kevin didn’t like the soldering of the flower to the ring.) Also found my Mom’s Christmas present 🙂 I also saw a bigger version of the Hello Kitty shaped pouch I got from a thrift store earlier in the year.
Into another shop further up the hill– clothing shop inspired by Pretty In Pink, a teenage favorite. I had a nice chat with the young lady there, and bought a couple more rings and a new bracelet. One ring is shaped like cat ears and will come in handy if I need to demonstrate my back fist outside the Dojang. It’s so cool.
On the other side of the street, I scored a Felix the Cat sticker at a place that was playing Bohemian Rhapsody over unbalanced speakers. One channel was quite weak. Kinda wrecked the vibe. The store is where you can get all sorts of neat stuff that covers the standard “alternative” fandom that’s been the standard in the area for longer than I’ve been alive. If I ever had a couple hundred to spend, I’d go there.
The lack of my own soundtrack was nagging my neurospicy brain. Especially after those abhorrent speakers! Up the block I head to a shop that might solve my dilemma. The smoke shop provided a corded set that pairs perfectly with the little box I use on my car to compensate for my phone’s lack of a headphone jack, which I walk back down the street to retrieve. Aah, bliss.
That damn Eevee makes a tough opponent for this newish account I have. Ah well, not really feeling like playing. I didn’t bring my portable battery either, which always makes me nervous. I could charge on the drive home, so I tossed aside the feeling and decided to focus on hatching eggs and listening to music. Maybe writing instead?
I’m hungry, as the bunch of mediocre grocery store deli nuggets I had a couple hours ago really wasn’t much of a dinner. I’m not feeling up to any of the loud, sparsely populated bars, the fancy restaurants, or the crowded mini food court built into the first floor of a corner building named after POTUS #37. (Decent pinball collection!)
The corner diner right near the raid I just bailed out of, another institution, offered a BLT, salad, and soup for less than a fast food joint. The only way I can describe the soup is divine. It felt like the love of a grandparent was the secret ingredient.
Back up the street for a Thai Tea and some time to write this all down.
Homeward bound. Driving one of the many different routes home. East then south then East down one of the longtime East/West routes that started in Los Angeles proper and ends not too long after it crosses into Orange County. But I head south long before then, towards the southern end of the longtime North/South (and kinda East/West too) routes into the foothills. Roads that are familiar and evolving. The countless number of Saturday nights that have ended with these roads over my life’s half century. Funny how I never thought much about the hills until I moved back after being gone 22 years. It was definitely more noticeable once I had to commute over it, first via stick shift and then by EV.
It’s still a tiny bit surreal I ended up back here. What a lifetime I lived while I was gone, though. But that’s for another day.
And then it’s home, at pretty much the same time I planned on being home anyway.