A box full of Friends and Strangers

I've been in Palm Desert for the last few days, to visit my Aunt and Uncle, but also as a kind of last vacation for myself before I go in search of a crap job that probably pays $10 an hour. It has come to the point where money is tight and a shit, retail job might be the answer/quick fix to some of my problems. But hopefully it won't come to this just yet as I just got finished shooting a pilot tv show for Mark Ebner, one of the boys from my show, Still Single, and from the show, I met Julien, who passed my name along to the Producers at Intervention, a brilliant documentaries series on A&E. I'm keep my fingers crossed for an interview this week and then hopefully the best two words in the world..."You're Hired!!!". (Fingers Crossed)

Anyhow, this pity trip I just took you on is not the filler of this blog excerpt, nope, I wouldn't do that to you folks. My blogs are about the weird and interesting people I meet and more importantly, the stupid shit I do or get myself into. So, I decided to come to Palm Desert for vacation, but little did I know, my ex-roommate (and good friend), Nina, also decided, after carefully reviewing the weather channel, to head to the desert for sun and heat. She's been living in Benicia, Ca for the last year (she's originally from Los Angeles) and she hates the storm and gloom of the Bay Area. She missed sunshine and the happiness it seems to invoke in her, so even though she is staying at my house this weekend, she needs sunshine before heading to rainy LA for the weekend. She found a good deal online for a hotel in Palm Springs and then casually throws in our conversation of coming for the weekend that, "I'm driving down to Palm Springs right now. I'll be there for about two days before I head to your house." "What? I'm driving to Palm Desert," I exclaim. "Oh yeah, I vaguely remember you saying something about heading somewhere." "I'll call you when I arrive and maybe we can grab dinner or go hiking," I respond. Little did I know that it would be about 100 degrees and hiking, unless at 6 am, was not going to be an option.

Friday day, my sister (who was already in Palm Desert for a CSI - the real CSI's, not the show - conference), my aunt, Nina, and myself decided to go on the Palm Desert Tramway, an 80 person glass box that travels about 5000 feet upwards, on 3 small copper wires to the mountain top of San Jacinto National Park. Along the journey to the top of the mountain, you get to take lovely pictures of the desert valley below and the unique colors of the sun bleached rocks dotting the hillside, while the tram floor moves you in a slow clockwise circle. There are three main towers that the Tram passes on its journey, all causing a mild swing effect to the Tram and a little roller coaster feel to the occupants.


Mini waterfall shot inside the Glass box on the way to the top of the mountain.


You can see the wire that the Tram rides on, and how far we are above the rocks below.

Me, being a crazy, evil bastard, thought it would be fun to jump up and down every time the Tram passed a tower, as it caused the other passengers, along with Nina and my Aunt, to get nervous and send slanted glances in my direction as the tram swung a little higher then before. If you're going to be riding in a glass box, where the employees make you take a body identification photo (in case the tram falls and they need to figured out one mangled body from another) disguised as a tourist picture before you enter the Tram, then you might as well enjoy yourself, and roll with the swing of a glass coffin.

15 minutes later, we made it to the top of the mountain and were greeted with a wonderful view of the wind energy propellers littering the valley floor; the hideously designed tower of the Morongo Casino to the left; the great expanse of the desert floor stretching for 100's of miles, the northern part ending at the Sultan Sea; and the gorgeous sight of light purple hues mixing with the dark yellow of the sinking, evening sun, spreading across the white cloud sprinkled sky. It was a beautiful sight to behold, my camera, happily clicking away.


View of the Valley floor below.


Mounatin view at the Top - San Jacinto National Park.

We walked to the highest part of the view site, meeting up with a lovely pair of ladies that had taken the tram numerous times in the past and still enjoyed the view. Out of all the things that random strangers could say on top of that mountain: maybe mention the beautiful desert view or the lush green woods spreading behind the back end of the Tram depot, shoes were not on the list of my expectations. One of the women had on a shiny pair of water proof sneakers that she bought last year and wears as everyday shoes. All of us seemed to notice them right away, probably because of their bright orange color, but they soon became the topic of discussion for the next 10 minutes. After we realized the ridiculousness of the situation, being in nature and talking about shoes, of all things, the Nina exclaims, "No matter where you go in the world, women will end up talking about fashion and shopping."

So true and so sad all at the same time. Beauty, desert, woods, and shoes...a journey in a glass box with friends and strangers.


Creative spin picture I took of the "river" on top the mountain.

The Charmin Puppy Reenactment

I don't know if any of you have seen or remember the commercial where there's an adorable yellow Labrador puppy running through a sunny kitchen, and as he rounds the counter island, he skids sideways into a stack of Charmin Toilet paper rolls. It's cute and funny at the same time. Well, for some reason faith decided I should unwillingly become that puppy (although not nearly as cute), and a tower of Brest Cancer Awareness Styrofoam coffee cups should double as Charmin Ultra.

For the last week I've been working on a Pilot television show, that hopefully, if it gets picked up (in probably a few months) will solve my unemployment problem. Yesterday was the first day of shooting and after rolling cameras for 5 1/2 hours on interviews (me being one of the camera operators), plus 4 hours of prep, we were headed to the next location, but needed a quick coffee stop. The Van pulled over at a 7-11, where Robby (she's my production assistant/slave for two days - hehe), Jo - the VP of Development for the Production Company, and myself all went into the store to grab coffees and some snacks. Robby was a little slow on making her disgusting hot chocolate, coffee, half pound of sugar concoction, by the time Jo was paying. I was at the counter with Jo, trying to tell the cashier that we were all on the same bill and the coffees that Jo, myself and Robby had were all together.

For some reason the cashier wasn't understanding all that needed to be rung up, and Robby was playing her selective hearing card - so void on answering my call, when I decided to go and get her and bring her coffee to the cashier. Enter Murphy...I sort of jogged right and around the register counter to the left, but as I was rounding the chip rack to reach Robby, I found myself sliding forward at the same time my knee hit the ground, my momentum moving me straight into a tower of coffee cups. Within 2 seconds I went from semi jogging, but standing, to a pile of limbs slayed across a 7-11 floor with a bunched up floor mat surrounded by white Styrofoam. My knee tinged and my elbow bruised.

As I rubbed my knee, Robby tried to contain her laughter, Jo wondered what happened, the 7-11 clerk rushed to give me his hand with "law suit" on his mind; I could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to be extremely nice to me in case I wanted to take the little convenience store for all it's worth cause their "non-slip" floor mats suck at their jobs. Once I was back on my feet, the clerk and Robby cleaning up the dropped cups, I informed Jo of my great misadventure and managed to actually succeed at my original purpose of grabbing Robby and her coffee and getting it to the register.

In the end, I ended up immensely entertaining Jo and Robby, by being an idiot, and managing to scare the shit out of some poor 7-11 clerk, but I got my coffee and a new story to tell all of you. Interesting enough, I don't think I was embarrassed at all my my mishap, I just thought it was funny and so, I guess, it's good to laugh at yourself once in a while.

Learning to Walk

Little Di just acquired a new, furry roommate. Meet 2 month old, Tony Stripes Molina. Di wants to take the cute thing out for fresh air once in a while, so we were trying to get him accustomed to his leash. It ended up back firing because Tony somehow forgot how to use his rear legs when hooked into the contraption.*



*Tony wasn't harmed in the making of this film.

My favorite part is the last few seconds where Tony stops, and in slow motion, topples over. Did any of you have a favorite part or something about the video made you laugh harder than the rest?

Random Snippets with Single Serving Friends

Sorry, it's been so long since I've posted anything. I had my sister and ex-roommate, Nina, over for the weekend and they took up a lot of my time; plus I wanted something fun to write about and me, reminiscing about old times with friends, isn't exactly fun for anyone but the people involved. Anyhow, I have to comment on how chatty random people are when you're waiting for something - in a line, for a dryer at the Laundromat, while you're pumping gas, etc. It must be that people are so bored with just standing around and immersed in their own thoughts (which can be frightening) that they seek out others to talk with, shoot the bullshit.

Big Di and I went to Big Lots yesterday so Big Di could check out the lawn furniture. She recently moved into a house with a pool, but there isn't anywhere to sit in the backyard if she decides to throw a party, so we went scouting. Big Lots may seem like a crappier version of Kmart, but they have some great deals and not bad products. I used to think that they only carried generics, but yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find that they carried my "Clear and Free All" detergent and the color safe Clorox bleach. I went to Target the other day to buy these products and they were $6 and $10 respectively. At Big Lots they were $3.50 and $6. That's a great saving.

But you guys don't want to read about me promoting a store most of you would never step foot in, onwards to the point of this blog...I walked into the store with only the intention of "window shopping", not even bothering to grab a cart or basket (even though the friendly bum out front offered me one) and ended up with my arms over flowing to the point where I was dropping things in the aisle. After a nice store clerk handed me a dropped soap container, I headed outside to obtain the previously mentioned cart, much to the amusement of the bum and store clerk.

While Di and I lingered in the checkout line, with our filled to the rim shopping cart, we commented on just coming into the store to look at furniture, not exactly buy anything. Our conversation caught the ear of the lady in front of us, arms full of products, who giggled and said, "You can never just come into Big Lots and not get an armful of things." Di and I agreed. Since the lines in Big Lots are always long (they only ever seem to have two cashiers and about 20 people in line), you have a lot of time to waste, to chat with random strangers.

Di and my new found friend went on to talk about how she loves certain products and that she'll always find what she needs here. Once she got bored with promoting Big Lots, clearly we were hooked as we were in the store with a cart full of stuff, she moved on to talk about her new computer dying and the fact that you should never let your computer automatically update; it takes forever and makes your computer run slower. We got an in depth opinion of what she downloaded (like 20 apps) and how her computer now runs at a snail pace now.

Thank god the line moved at 5 mph; learning computer maintenance 101 from a fellow customer was enlightening, but a little too much for the long wait. Luckily our turn was finally up at the register and after saying goodbye to us, the lady left. I think she was happy to just talk to someone about her issues. It didn't matter that she didn't know us, just that we listened.

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I went to the Laundromat with Little Di this morning and there were two older women there doing laundry. After one of them founds Little Di's pillowcase in her dried clothes, we all started to chat. Apparently green - any deviation of it, is a popular color as the lady's friend accidentally started to pulls Di's clothes out of the dryer and place them with her friends. She'd just seen green through the dryer door and assumed that all the greens things were hers and her friends. It turned out that every dryer with the two lady's, Di's, and my clothes contained something notably green. Small world.

We joked about all our stuff looking similar and how I ended up with a random man's sock and a dog t-shirt in my clothes, while they ended up with Di's sheets and Di got someones t-shirt. It's like people go to a public Laundromat, wash their clothes and then leave. They don't check to see if they've left something behind. Can people be in that much of a hurry? It's also sad that I didn't check in the washers before I used them, that might have been where the mysterious new clothes I acquired came from. I also lost 2 socks - I blame the sock monster (who is definitely real and is to blame for everything lost, not just socks). It's an interesting experience when you go to the Laundromat; you never know what you'll lose and what you'll gain.

A Worthwhile Punishment

They say that "No good deed goes unpunished", and how true that little prophecy is. Why? No one really knows, but it happens more times than nath that someone sets out to be a kind and helpful soul, only to be rewarded by bad luck and suffering. Oh the joys of life; almost makes one not want to be helpful. But, then I think this saying is also a barrier of courage that a truly helpful, do-gooder would hear, ponder for all of a second, and plow head first into with their good intentions. It's only a caution sign to those unafraid of words, to the special people, that no matter what, will always help another, even if that is to be the cause of their downfall.

I've been extremely bored lately, probably caused by lack of work and people to hang out with, so I took the initiative to find a means of entertainment for my depressed soul, and I found REI's, Big Sunday's, and the Children's Nature Institutes's trail/garden weeding, maintenance day in Griffith Park. I like nature, being outdoors, and helping people, so I figured, "what the hell, I'll help out." Plus, I thought that I might meet some cool people to future befriend or maybe, possibly, a job contact.

I usually fret about doing things on my own, mostly because I feel comfortable with a wingman - someone who I know will be around as a fall back in case I can't find anyone to talk to or someone to keep me from looking/acting like an idiot in front of others. My wingman doesn't have to hang by my side the entire time I'm somewhere, but it's just comforting to know that there is another person about who understands me and will save me from myself if something awkward should arise (i.e. a weird 55-year-old trying to dance with and kiss me, me becoming a wallflower on the wall of a socialite party, my foot jamming itself in my mouth as I try to defend an opinion, etc.). Yeah, wingman make life simpler and safer.

I arrived at 9:00 am last Saturday morning at Griffith park, attired in men's cargo pants with gardening gloves sticking out of the right knee pocket, an old t-shirt, a water bottle, and my good intentions; no wingman/woman about. I'd called and sent out a Facebook request for people to join me, but all were unable to attend (although some wanted to, even my friend, Stephanie from St. Louis, although that's a little far to travel for 3 hours of easy labor.) It was me and my "social outgoingness", along with 50 or so other volunteers, who would have the lovely task of deweeding the Children's Nature Institutes's plant garden as well as the path that ran through the garden.

People of all ages, parents with their children (some being less then a year to High School age), couples, single individuals, and friends all milled about with shovels, gloves, and rakes waiting to be put to work. It was kind of refreshing to see such a diverse group of people coming out on a random Saturday to dig up hiking trails and plant new trees. There truly are selfless people in the world and it's nice to have faith that society (or just Los Angeles) isn't totally filled with evil, backstabbing social climbers.

The main gardener took the first group of volunteers, 15 people including myself, on a mini tour of the garden and trail while explaining what was a plant and what was a weed. I think I understood 2 of the 10 plants he told us were weeds and to be pulled because of the lovely tall people who stood between me and the gardener. Once the gardener released us to clear the trail of evil cannibalistic plants, a group of 4 volunteers and myself took up positions in one quadrant of the garden and started to pull everything that looked suspicious of being a "weed" with hope of not pulling out a plant that was suppose to be in the garden. Most of the "good plants/non weeds" were marked with white tabs, so I didn't worry too much about accidentally killing something that should have remained in the garden (although it did happen, I think twice, but there are always causalities in war - a weeding war)

Three of the other 4 people working in the same area as me all knew each other and were the first to instigate conversation with me; which was nice because I'd been trying to think of something to say to them besides "Hi," and "what do you do when you're not yanking weeds out of the ground?" It turns out that "you can't throw a shoe in Los Angeles without hitting a Producer," according to Paulette; she worked as a Film Producer. Her Boyfriend and his friend worked in animation and the last person deweeding in our area was a pianist from the LA Symphony. We all got along great and chatted, pulled plants from the earth, and dug holes for 3 hours.

Paulette and her friends named themselves, "Group Awesome", and made me an honorary member. It was refreshing to have not known anyone when I started the day and then to have become part of a group, all within 2 hours of initially meeting. I guess I don't really need a wingman; I can actually accomplish "being social" on my own, I just have to be open to the idea. So, my good deed for the day/week/maybe year produced a morning of being helpful to the Children's Nature Institute and a couple of interesting people's company. It was a win win situation for all parties involved.

One day later, I noticed a small rash on my arms. A couple hours after noticing the rash, it began to itch. By Monday afternoon the rash had spread and the itching had gotten annoying. It's Tuesday evening now, the rash has covered both of my forearms, one eye, and some parts on my leg. I guess that's what I get for scratching. So, here's where the punishment of my good deed comes into play...Poison Oak. I didn't heed the warning and got life's unfair just deserts...but for a day outdoors, soaking up Vitamin D and socializing with actually people, I wouldn't have given up for anything. :)

The Blue Dance

I went out to a bar last night to celebrate my dear friend, Val, getting married. Me, along with about ten other lovely girls, dressed poor Val in a constantly shedding white boa, a feathered tiera, and a giant "diamond" ring that blinked a blue light for all of an hour before the battery died (I had hoped it would blink all night so in case we lost Val somewhere in a crowd - she's 5'2" - we'd be able to find her) and headed to a downtown bar after dinner at a shabu-shabu restaurant (a place where you pay to cook your own food. It's kind of cool in a way, but not sure the prices are worth the effort).

At the bar, someone of course handed Val another Blue Hawaiian (it seemed Val's theme of the night was blue - blue dress, at one point she had on a blue boa, a blue blinking ring, etc) and made her dance to the 70/80's bad house music. I think since it was prom night for most of the local High Schools, the DJ was nostalgic for their all Alma Mater and thought he'd give the bar customers a throw back. Sorry dude, wrong decade for that type of music. Anyhow, Val, the lightweight that she is, didn't care how terrible the beat of the music was and danced her little heart out. Of course, wearing a feathered boa and a tiera, tends to make you stick out (even in a dimly lit pub), so she got a lot of interesting admirers - one being a crowd of scantly dressed women, all wearing 4-inch or higher heels.

Now my friends: Cindy, Dawn, and Joy, plus myself, spent the better part of the bar portion of the evening contemplating how one of these scantly dressed women wasn't flashing her panties (if she was even wearing any) to the crowd gathered around her. Her dress was a clingy black tube thing with thin straps and ended just short of her upper thighs. It seemed to be a little longer in the front than the back, but I attribute that to the fact she had an ass. The back of the dress stopped just below her rump and here is what all of us were pondering, "did she tape the dress to her body so it wouldn't ride up or is someone going to get a show later on?" I also wanted to know if she was ever planning on sitting down that whole evening as I'm sure the heels would be killing her feet, but then if she sat down she would be doing a great impression of Basic Instinct?

Just the things to entertain a group of girls not interested in doing the two step with random bad dancers and to an outdated beat. The bar was very nice aside from DJ, and if I was ever downtown again, I might consider going back. So, I leave my amazing readings (and yes, I'm happy to say I have a few - thank you guys for being loyal to me) with another question: Do any of you have stories about weird things people wear on a night out?