I left off at the end of Disneyland. The family, filled with churros, had just left for Canada up the PCH and Joel and I moved into a suite in Santa Monica. Joel started back to work using the LA office nearby and I did what I do when Joel's working in LA: walk up and down the beach, stroll vintage stores, eat amazing food at little cafes and drink really great coffee. People like to hate LA. I get it, the highways inland are hideous, the urban sprawl is epic and there are some major cultural differences between the two sides of California. That said, LA is just a breeding ground of new music, new art new architecture and urban cool in all it's untamed forms. If you situate yourself somewhere like Venice, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach or any of the west side beach oriented areas it's really not a bad place at all. I love living in jeans and flip flops, having salty wind blowing through my hair and knowing that the next whole foods is probably only five minutes away.
I just finished a great class online called a Survey of California Art and we spent at least a week just looking at depictions of "The good life" in California and especially the artists who portrayed LA in all it's glory and flaws. This trip just lit all those paintings up in my head as I was back there seeing everything afresh.
Our friends Ben and Jess flew in from London and we spent the early part of the following week getting caught up while soaking in that clear sunshine. Jogging in the Pacific Palisades, drinking [good] wine under a canopy of vines, watching sunsets... The good life indeed.
I then flew into Vancouver for two days and then Victoria for about 36 hours (just to quickly say hi to all the family and re-new the 'ol drivers licence) and then I flew home via Seoul. I pick up Kopi-o tonight. I've been hearing how much he's grown in the past three weeks. An update will be posted for him shortly.
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