Life is great when you let it!
This morning I got myself up at 6:00 a.m., shaved, showered and enjoyed the best chocolate croissant on the planet, courtesy of my favorite bakery, Portos, a Cuban bakery located at the corner of Hollywood Way and Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank. If you are a coffee lover you must try their dulche de leche latte. It is definitely worth the trip. But I digress.
So, as planned, I jumped in my car and headed to West Hollywood to do the APLA AIDSWalk. Normally, I take the subway and a bus to avoid dealing with the massive traffic and limited parking that usually accompanies thousands of Los Angelenos attending this annual event. However, I was dragging a bit this morning. Nevertheless, having recently watched my dvd of The Secret, I decided to test out the Law of Attraction and drive to West Hollywood and expect to find a parking space. I drove to WeHo and the street I always go to to park when visiting "Boys Town." Generally, it is hit or miss whether I find a parking spot. Today, especially, my prospects were not looking good. With traffic backed up due to street closures for the walk, I made my way to "my street" holding on to the thought that I was simply going to find a parking space without a problem. Lo and behold, I turned the corner and a spot was just waiting for me to park in. I could not stop smiling. The Secret works! haha. It pays to start living your beliefs.
Well, I made my way to the event area at Plummer Park only to discover that the team from my old 9to5 was nowhere to be found. When I worked at the old 9to5 , every year I was the team captain and made the arrangements, making sure we had at least 20 team members registered so we could have a team table to meet at in the morning. My old co-workers said they'd keep the tradition going but unfortunately, if the team was there I could not find them amid the thousands of Los Angelenos present.
Okay, plans change. I started to get annoyed but it occurred to me that everything happens for a reason. With that in mind, I thought well, what is this about? I guess I need some time with my own thoughts. It turned out I had a really great time walking alone. It is pretty difficult to not be in a good mood when you are surrounded my thousands of happy people walking for a cause they believe in. We were all being cheered, every few feet by young volunteers whose job was to smile and scream "WHOO HOO, you're GREAT! Thanks for coming!!!" as they handed us fruit and energy drinks to keep us going. I just took it all in. There were teams from almost every high school, college and gay fraternity/sorority in LA chanting, laughing and spreading good vibes. Even the annual gathering of four or five old men with a megaphone and banners screaming we were all going to hell for being gay was amusing as no one could take them seriously. We all just felt so happy. There was, as always, the WeHo cheerleaders sweating in their wigs and make up cheering and posing for photos while another set of cheerleaders could be seen flying in the air en masse as cheerleaders do, all as a way of thanking participants for raising money and coming out to walk. I tell you, how anyone could be in a bad mood is beyond me.
A few hours later, I reached the finish line and it dawned on me that this was a nice test run for my March marathon extravaganza! In fact, today's 6.2 mile walk is roughly 1/4 of the territory I will have to cover not to mention the actual running up and down the hilly LA streets. The very thought of it exhausted me. Immediately, I became aware of how sore my feet were feeling and how much training I will need to be squeezing into the next five months. Whoo hoo! I really must be crazy! haha.
All in all it was a wonderful way to spend my morning. As a capper, I met up with a good friend of mine, Larissa. We met up for, yes, the best lunch of my life at Hugo's restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd. I could have eaten cardboard and loved it, I was so hungry, so going to a health-conscious eatery tasted all the better. We were joined by Larissa's friend, Najia, who as it so happens also signed up to do the LA Marathon as well.
I could not have asked for a nicer end to the walk. I even got to do a little celebrity sighting as we dined across from Robert Gant of "Queer As Folk" fame who had the same idea after completing the walk-a-thon.
Of course, I could not imagine taking my butt home and flopping on the couch for a long sleep when I had the inspired idea to go to Amoeba Records! If you love used book stores, this is the record/dvd version of that fabulous magical world. Amoeba is my favorite place to go for foreign films, gay films and music from around the world at a discount price! Amoeba Records is located at the intersection of Sunset and Cahuenga Blvds., next to the Arclight Theaters. As I am a movie guy, I have not explored the main floor's wealth of music cds and vinyl records. But, I have it on my to-do list as I promised myself I would expand my knowledge of Joni Mitchell.
The plan was to show some love to Robert Gant and pick up a suspense movie he starred in with Shannon Doherty. I saw the trailer for it when I watched the latest Donald Strachey Mystery made into a movie starring Chad Allen. Yes, something in me finds it important to support gay themed films and artists even if it requires me to lower my artistic expectations a bit. The trade-off is the immense joy that is gained from seeing gay themes, gay characters and gay actors increasing the diversity of the cinematic landscape. Love it!! Unfortunately, after all this gay activism welling up inside of me, I could not for the life of me remember the name of the Robert Gant film. Haha!
Undeterred, I switched channels and decided to feed my love of French cinema with the choice of "The Class" or "entre les murs." It is suppose to be a compelling look at modern life in Paris. How can I go wrong?
The theme of the day has clearly become letting the Universe be my guide. That said, I anticipate a fabulous film-going experience as soon as I log off this blog.
(Okay. I don't plan on adding a clip or link with every blog entry but as I am learning new things as I go with this blogging thing, I can't resist adding a clip of the trailer to "On The Other Hand Death, A Donald Strachey Mystery" which I watched Friday night. I love mysteries and I love gay themed movies so this series of films is bound to find its way into my library. Enjoy.)
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