Yesterday I went on a bike ride with my friend Patty. I'm sure I've mentioned before how in shape Patty is (though she will deny it); however, the woman runs and walks and swims and works out all week long, so if someone is in shape, that someone would be her.
Last time we biked together I could barely keep up with her; this time, I had a slightly better bike (though it turned out that only 5 of my 15 gears were working properly) and a little more practice... but again, I could barely keep up with her.
The day was beautiful, though, and they've landscaped the Ballona Creek bike path since I was last on it - we saw a ton of flowers and egrets and herons (Patty is good at identifying birds), and in spite of my slowness, I had a good time. I also got a tiny bit sunburned, but Patrick declared it to be "sexy." I'm not exactly understanding what's sexy about a red nose, shoulders, and chest, but OK, then. Now I know.
We rode from her house in Culver City to the Marina, and then from there, struck out to Venice and points beyond. "Points beyond" being... Santa Monica. The path through Venice is curvy and so we ended up talking a lot and riding more slowly, which was good for me, though, it was about at this point that my butt really started protesting my bike seat. Like, really protesting. But I ignored it and we kept going.
One thing we discussed, because Patty, in addition to being my friend and really, more like another big sister to me, someone I have known forever and traveled with and knows, probably, the most about me, after Patrick, is also my flute teacher, is when I'm going to go back to taking lessons.
When am I going to go back to taking lessons?
I've said I wanted to go back a couple of times here on my blog, and to everyone else I think I've said that I'm just "taking a break," but the truth of the matter, the thing that I've had a really hard time admitting to myself (and to Patty) is that I don't think I'm going to go back.
See how I said, "I don't think..."? I mean, yeah, I can always change my mind.
Anyway, we talked about that for a bit (there was a crazy homeless guy standing by us, because we had stopped and were also discussing where we wanted to have lunch: a Very Important discussion indeed!, and he was cussing us out the entire time, so it adds a bit of the old "Venice" flavor that I had forgotten to what could've been a really hard conversation), and then we kept riding.
On our way back from Santa Monica (I can't tell you how far we went... it was past the pier quite a ways) we got off the path and rode up to Abbott Kinney (not a bike friendly street, for sure) and had lunch at this place we've both been curious about, called "Abbott's Habit."
Let me just say for the record that on the list of Things I Will Never Do Again (along with email while drunk, buy a bra from Victoria's Secret, drive home late at night on darkened quiet streets while sleepy listening to Radiohead's song "Videotape"), eating lunch at Abbott's Habit is rather high up.
It wasn't so terrible or disgusting (though Patty said the bathroom was really dirty), only, overpriced and not that great. My sandwich, a "Marguerita" (tomatoes and mozzarella) wasn't half as good as the same sandwich, which I get for $2.99, at Fresh & Easy. At Abbott's Habit it was $7.95. A can (a can) of Diet Coke was $1.50. Patty's veggie sandwich looked okay, but the girl behind the counter (oh, and this girl was a total blank slate. She had zero personality, she acted like she could've cared less about us and our food, and she didn't know anything about the menu. Useless!) assured her that it would be made with "special wheat bread." Special wheat bread my ass (which, by the way, was now joined in throbbing by my thighs and calves) - that bread looked like the same old wheat bread you can buy at the supermarket, and not even the kind we buy.
Anyway, we were disappointed. I don't remember if Patty likes Chinese food, but maybe next time we'll go to Wacky Wok, my favorite Chinese place out there.
So, after that, we headed home. Patty calculated the time it would take for us to get home (less than an hour), which I needed, because when I'm in pain I do much better if I know just how many more minutes I need to suffer. And by this point, I was not doing well. I don't know if it's just me being a total sloth or my bike, but picking up speed was just not going to happen. The Ballona bike path has a lot of steep inclines and hills as you go under each major street, and some of them (Inglewood) are killers. Well, for me, anyway.
But, we made it home and I crammed my bike into the trunk of my car again (I had forgotten that the back seat of the Honda folds down completely; what a terrific design. I love my car), and on my way home, stopped at my local bike store and left it there for a tune up.
And I also ogled the new bikes.
And here's where the title of today's post comes into play.
Remember I've been saying I want an iPhone? And how, if I don't buy anything for three months I've decided that I'll have earned it? I've changed my mind. I spent some time on Tuesday in the Apple store in Santa Monica, and discussed with them the problems I've been having syncing my iPod to my Outlook calendar. The guys there - and let's call them by their real names - the Geniuses there really weren't able to help me. They asked me several times if I was using Outlook Express (no) and what version of Windows we have, but we weren't able to solve the problem. So instead I hung out and killed time, playing with the iPhones.
Don't get me wrong: they are still the coolest things in the world. And we could afford both a bike and an iPhone for me - I'm just trying to be cool-headed instead of jumping into laying out what is to me still, though we may have it or not, a lot of money on what is basically just a couple of toys.
So, for now, I'm going to stick with my stupid Razr, and instead, set my sights on a new bike. I'm going to shop around a bit: the guy at my local bike shop (his name is Diego) was nice, but they have a limited amount of brands and the prices seemed a bit inflated (though I found out later they're not by looking at the Trek website). I'm excited about this! A new bike!
...
Just a short word about rehearsals. We had Monday off. Tuesday things went OK, but Charles is tweaking things, and so while what I was doing (hitting go, hitting play) was all correct, what it looked like was wrong. He's been working his ass off, and yesterday's lights and stuff were, I think, more what he wanted. I was a bit nervous, because we added the pre-show music to the rehearsal, and that's always the part of the thing that suddenly makes this hard. Openings and closings are harder than anything else I do in the booth. I had to do it a couple of times, and I'm still, honestly, not sure if I get it (there's a CD switch, and levels to be reset, and cross-fading of tracks and a black out and the timing of the music with linked lighting cues, and then if the music ends before the cues are finished - meaning I didn't start them at the right time - the guy who speaks first in the show will be sitting there in the dark, in silence, which is not what is supposed to happen.
I'll get it but I'm going to be nervous about it because TONIGHT'S THE LAST NIGHT OF REHEARSAL. This show opens on Friday (though, thank God, it will be Charles in the booth). So I have to have my head on straight and take very good notes, and practice this mentally to get it right, rather quickly.
The show itself is looking beautiful, though, and I'm very excited, and happy to be there. It's a great experience for me, and even better when people are so talented. Really, I'm in awe of them. A couple of the actors are from CalArts, and I am so jealous that they're getting the education I could've had if I had known how to get the loans and grants that would've made that insane tuition fee more possible - but instead I chickened out, like I have before, because it seemed "hard." Well, can't do anything about it now except watch them and wonder. I would've never have studied drama but still. They do seem to have a confidence and something special that anybody who finished college seems to have. I know it's all on me, and nothing's stopping me from finishing if I really want to, and maybe I will someday.
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