Unfortunately my iphone couldn’t capture the second tier of this amazing, glowing rainbow in the sky…
And earlier there was hail! Magical Los Angeles Weather!!!

It’s not easy to live in LA.  You’ve got to have a certain toughness.  Especially if you are struggling to make ends meet… and who isn’t these days?

Certainly our fair city is having a hard time.  And it seems that one of the answers the people who run this place have is raising the fine on just about everything having to do with driving.  Forget about the impact on the populace.  There’s a new attitude and it seems to be…  let’s make new laws to take as much money as we can from the people of this city.

Now I’m not an advocate of scofflaws who drive like maniacs and endanger peoples lives by their bad driving.  Those losers should be off the road… but I can’t help but wonder what kind of message politicians are sending to us folks when they raise the parking rates to outrageous sums, slap $50 parking fines on expired meters, boot and tow cars after three unpaid parking tickets … it used to be 5 (lots of money in getting a car out of hock) and now are suggesting that putting more cameras at intersections can raise millions for the city.

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Okay.  I am humbled and I am in awe.  I recently wrote about getting an unjustified parking ticket in Hollywood.  It was the second time this year I got one in which I had paid for an hour returned to find a ticket, with 20 minutes still in the meter.  At $50 a pop, I have been beyond frustrated.

After writing about it the first time, Eric Garcetti contacted me and offered help.  I didn’t deal, just paid the ticket.  This time, I vowed to fight. And miraculously someone in his office researched the problem, found that the meters were off in certain areas… and had the ticket refunded by the city.  All I can say is that this is one politician who rocks!  He actually listens to the problems of his peeps and does something to ease their hardship. He’s my new political hero.

And he responds to lots of other issues as well.  I recently wrote his office about the Medical Marijuana Ordinance that was being considered.  I  had some thoughts and suggestions for making this new law work for patients, and one of his deputies actually called back AND emailed me in response.  I wrote to every councilperson and only got personal responses only from his and Tom LaBonges office.  Pretty amazing.  Most politicians send a form response and you never hear anything about the issue again.

It’s great to know that Eric Garcetti is on top of his districts needs and really does respond.  He’s the kind of guy I’m proud to have representing me.  Thanks!  We need and appreciate the hard work you and your office are doing!

Last Thursday, my Fab Man Dan and I decided to meet after work at the new swanky bar and restaurant, “The Tar Pit” on La Brea. It was around 8:30 when I arrived, and the place was packed!  My sweetie hadn’t shown up yet, so I saw a man leaving his seat at the bar and nabbed it.  As I was sitting down the woman next to the empty seat turned and said, “I’m saving this for my friend who is coming”.  I smiled and politely told her I was going to sit down and order a drink.

I got my drink, a mint, lime and gin number and was fab.  Ordered a fried artichoke appetizer, super yummy!

Ten minutes sailed by and suddenly, the woman’s friend showed up.  She turned to me and said, “My friend is here, we’ll need your seat now.  You’ll have to move!”  I politely told her that wasn’t happening.  I would be sitting there until my table was ready.  Okay, maybe I wasn’t uber polite, but I was firm and really, I was not antagonistic.  She then went ballistic, telling me I was a bitch and that I had taken ‘her friend’s’ seat. For the next five minutes… she huffed and puffed about how rude I was.  I pointedly ignored her.  So did everyone else in the bar.

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I’ve written about my frustration with our fine city’s parking control and the overpriced, frequently broken meters in Hollywood before.  But now, after my experience two mornings ago on Hollywood Blvd, I’m beginning to think that there is something more sinister going on.  Is it possible that parking control officers are giving tickets to cars parked legally, with the required amount of money in the meter for the time, figuring that people will just pay the $50 fine?  Is this a new fund-raising racket that’s on the down low in City Hall?

Because as we all know, paying a ticket is way easier than contesting a ticket.  It takes far far more time in frustration, just getting someone on the phone and sometimes going to a courthouse to physically contest it, than forking over your credit card.  It’s a no win situation and after one try at it, most people will just give up and pay the damn fifty bucks.  I know I did last time. After several fruitless tries, too much time on the phone, I gave up and paid.

But then, it happened again.  Monday, I stopped on Hollywood Blvd around 11:20 am.  I put in 8 quarters for 20 minutes… giving myself an extra 40 minutes.  I was gone 17 minutes.  When I returned I had a ticket.  Fifty bucks.  The ticket was issued seven minutes after I put in my money.  When I checked the meter, I still had lots of time left.  You can imagine my frustration.  It’s as if the city just wants to milk the public, good will be damned.  They know good and well that most people will just pay.  I immediately started down the road of thinking about how much time I was going to have to devote to this.

This time I don’t want to just give up and pay.  Yes, I will contact my council person (Thanks Eric Garcetti, for your offer last time to get in touch, I was working on a show and slammed, so after a phone call to parking control, I just paid).

But really.  What the hell is going on here?  Do these guys get bonuses for volume?  Do they check the meter at all before issuing tickets?  But most of all I was just disappointed.  What kind of city has LA turned into?   Grrrrrrr.

Holiday Travel wake up call baby!!!!  My sweetie Dan and I rolled into LAX the other morning, yes, cutting it close with what I thought was at least 45 minutes to spare… and couldn’t get on board our flight to Maui.  I was one minute past the cut off and it was a big no go!  Luckily, there was another flight an hour later we hopped on… but beware!  They are playing by the rules big time!

Yes, it was totally my fault.  I was already on Maui time, lazing around with my coffee and croissant…. but they are really stern about the being there at least an hour before take-off, and the cut off time is 45 minutes hard!

But, ahhhhh, the water in Maui is definitely worth whatever travel travails you run into.  LA is the sweetest place to live… but the Pacific breezes sure do soothe the soul!  Merry Christmas everyone!!!

I would like to avoid getting swine flu.  Or any flu for that matter.  Or a cold.  And I suspect, just by living in LA, it may be a losing battle.  Everywhere I go, people are coughing, sniffling and just plain breathing on me with their damn germs.  I know, I know… I could just stay home and isolate myself for the next six months…. but here’s a novel idea:  If YOU are sick or even more importantly, if your kid is coughing and hacking…. stay home!  Spare your fellow passengers!

Yesterday, I wanted to treat my mom to a manicure/pedicure and lunch… a nice stress free girls day out for an out of towner.  The nail salon was pretty busy, about 12 people strong, and in walked a smart looking, upscale young mom with her four year old in tow.  Appearences can be decieveing.

The mother sat down and the kid proceeded to start coughing… of course she was to young to know to cover her mouth.  And when I say coughing, she was hacking, nose dripping, wheezing.  Being a kid, she touched everything she could get her hands on.  Grabbing nail polish bottles to show her mom (picking every single one up), running around talking to everyone… coughing, spewing spit and infection everywhere.  Bummer.

I wondered… If I were to nicely, very politely, ask the mom to keep her germ machine at home away from the general public, would she understand?  Would she react with care and consciousness to her fellow neighbors? I mulled it over for 1.5 seconds, envisioning various responses…but knew the answer.  The best outcome would probably be a glare.  The worst would be a screaming harangue.  I didn’t say anything.  I pitied the poor nail stylist who had to sit mouth to mouth with the young infection bomb who finally curled up panting and dripping mucus onto her moms lap.

Yet, really.  Isn’t that the thing to do?   Put aside your desire to go out and mingle and stay home and care for your sick child… or yourself.  It’s just plain courtesy.  I know I’m bitching here.  But this is a real problem.

Then we went to LAMILL, great coffee and snacks.  Safe at last.  But wait!  There, two tables over, was another hacker.  A guy, out having his coffee.  At least he covered his mouth and used the napkin when he honked uncontrollably.

#1:  Super easy choice..THE WEATHER!  I mean, come on!  Look at this glorious day… November 26 and it’s crystal clear, 80 degrees, sun shining, blue skies, rolling waves.  Yep.  I’m super thankful for living on this earth and in this city where I can stroll down to my local cafe, sit outside soaking up the rays and enjoy an espresso before tucking the turkey in.  The quality of gold light that rains down on us is awesome!  Thank you universe!  I really appreciate landing on this particular piece of real estate!

#2:  The General Population:  By and large a good part of the population is cool, friendly and really work at making a difference.  Maybe it’s in catching the perfect wave, maybe it’s trying to make medical marijuana accessible, maybe it’s creating and sharing the coolest movie on earth, maybe it’s brewing the best espresso.  But we have hardworking people here who are groovy.  Thanks everyone.  I appreciate how wide the variety of opinions, options, colors and types of all the people who live here embody.

#3:  The Biz:  Face it.  We live in the Entertainment capitol of the universe and we get major benefits from it.  From glitzy openings, to industry gossip, we’re on it first and get the glitter.  It’s practically a Renaissance city.  So many highly creative creatures roam around that between the writers, the dancers, the musicians, the DJ’s, the artists, the actors… somethings is always entertaining.  Just walking down the street is a treat.

#4 The Men.  They are simply more fun in LA.   I met my fiancee, Dan Mapes here, and he’s the quintessential LA Guy.  Hi-tech, low-maintenance, fun, intellectual, artistic, open-minded, good looking, sensitive, spiritual.  He embodies all the cool daddy qualities of the classic “LA MALE”.  Yes, he also embodies many of the not so cool qualities…. massive flirt, uber sensitive…. but those are also what makes him and all LA men, so great! Go figure.  The things we like the most about LA men, drive us mad!

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Every day you hear different stories about the fate of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in LA.:  From the city is banning them outright, to the courts upholding that dispensaries can operate in the absence of guidelines from the city council.  But one thing is for sure.  The dispensaries and access are under heavy attack.

I’ve written about it before, but basically, Trutanich, our new city attorney is on a rampage and has vowed to close them all down.  He seems to have backed off a bit (maybe someone in the city pointed out to him that medical marijuana is NOT against the law and is a smart thing to tax and bring sorely needed revenue to our city…)  Here’s how you can help:

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Taking a breather from the city and getting outdoors is almost required in my world. With the glorious weather we’re blessed with, there’s no better time to commune with nature. Lake Cachuma, just north of Santa Barbara is the perfect antidote to the hectic city pace of LA.

A couple of weekends ago, a gang of us met at Lake Cachuma to celebrate a friends birthday…. and it was a blast! We rented a pontoon boat and cruised around the lake, just enjoying the day and each other. It was spectacular! Tons of herons in secret lagoons that fingered off the main lake, thousands of birds bobbing in the water. Although we don’t fish, I hear it’s great fishing.

As we putted around, we found lots of adventures; sandy coves to picnic on, trails, but mostly, we simply drank in the sheer beauty of nature. There’s campsites all around one side of the lake and even yurts you can rent. The boats come in all sizes, easily rented from the marina. Call and check the prices… I know the pontoons are around $150, but split between a couple of people, it’s a deal.  We got a huge one with lots of space and a canvas shade overhead. It was perfect for the day and easily pulled up on the different areas of shore we wanted to explore. Super fun way to spend a fall day!

When you see this sign posted on the street. Happens every year. Very efficient.

Makes me wonder, why is Silly String so threatening? Surely the cost of cleaning up silly string doesn’t rival the Halloween revelers street mess. Does anyone even use silly string anymore? This just makes me want to go out and buy a couple of cans to blast someone with tonight!

I am constantly in a state of delight living in Los Angeles.  We have glorious weather, groovy people to hang with, an open minded populace and pretty much the completely fun urban experience.

Still, it’s nice to get off the grid sometimes.  In fact, I’ve decided that about once a week, I need a sojourn into the wild to keep my sanity intact. So this past weekend, Dan the man and I packed up some supplies and hit the road to Joshua Tree National Park for a little stargazing.

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect weekend.  New Moon situation, so the starlight was blasting in full force.  Warm, balmy weather, so even at that high altitude it only got nippy at 4am or so.  But, oh!  The STARS!!!!! We discovered a whole new universe.. or many of them, exploding up there.  Seriously, there were more meteor showers than I could ever count. Either that or we have some crazy UFO’s doing light shows up there.

You couldn’t look up for more than a minute before catching a cascade of swirling light.  And the cool part…. on new moon weekends, they have actual star parties in Joshua Tree.  Astronomy societies come up there with big ass telescopes, and other ardent star gazers contribute their scopes.  So everyone parties and looks at the amazing sky.  But even without the telescopes it’s awesome!  I highly recommend checking it out.  It’s completely free (okay, there’s a $15 admittance fee to the park, but well worth it) and it’s ridiculously beautiful.  And romantic.  And calming.  And the dawn is absolutely stunning too!  Just sayin’.  We are lucky to live in LA next to such a treasure.

Yup.  You heard it right.  The LA City Council… in a rash, pretty much draconian proposal, wants to outlaw access to medical marijuana unless you are part of a collective and work there, i.e. grow your own.  In effect, this would close down all the dispensaries operating now.

If you are a seriously ill patient, or someone who doesn’t have the time to grow your own…. forget about getting easy access to your medicine.  This new ordinance would also outlaw edibles and concentrates, items that every single cancer patient I know uses. It would prohibit the sale of medical marijuana and any edibles.

If you care about this at all…. please write your city council person today and request that they reject this new ordinance.  It is titled, “Third Revised Draft Ordinance Establishing Regulations Regarding Medical Marijuana Collectives”.  Go to: here (http://lacity.org/lacity/YourGovernment/CityCouncil/index.htm)and scroll to “my neighborhood” to find your council person.  Eric Garcetti is President of the City Council… write him and let him know your views… and Eric, I hope you are reading this.  We need input and a fair draft of this ordinance by patients, citizens, dispensary owners…. not just the City Attorney and the police department.  This proposal violates all the rights patients have worked so hard to achieve.

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In case you didn’t know, tomorrow is a special election day if you live in the valley and vote in City Council District 2.  The seat was left vacant by Wendy Gruel getting elected to City Comptroller and tomorrow 10 people are up for the post.  The area spans from Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills to Sherman Oaks, Valley Village, Verdugo Hills, North Hollywood to Tujunga.

I’ve only met one of the contenders… Frank Sheftel… a down to earth guy who was born and raised in the Valley and has run several businesses there his whole life, and I like him for several reasons.

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Dang. I think I just got caught up in the latest version of a speed trap, disguised as a parking meter. Yesterday, on my round of errands in Hollywood, I dashed into the bank. Like a good citizen, I dropped 2 quarters into the meter for fifteen minutes.

Silly me, I thought that would be enough to do a simple transaction, so imagine my surprise when I strolled out to see a ticket on my windshield.
Checked my watch. 15 minutes on the nose, no parking officer in the vicinity… so how did I get a ticket? Are the meters rigged to run less than 15 minutes?

And then I glanced at the fine. FIFTY DOLLARS!!!!!!! Fifty big ones for either being two minutes late, or the meter went off early. The hourly rate is $2.00, so the fine is 25 times the fee. Seems a bit off. And clearly designed to irritate people who live here. It’s bad enough that we pay higher parking fees when everyone is hurting for money… but the fine seems pretty hateful. Makes me hate the city government who decided that the very people who elect them should pay outrageously for parking fines and any parking in the city.

I suppose I will just chalk it up to the occasional random charge I get for living in Los Angeles.