Monthly Archives: August 2011

One of the most common questions I get is “What’s your favorite thing about living in Los Angeles?” Variations of this question include asking if it’s fun to live here or just asking what it’s like. I’ll be honest, I don’t really like L.A very much. I’ve never enjoyed living in such a huge and hectic city, and I don’t appreciate how so many people here are always in such a rush as if their day has less hours than everyone else’s.

Bitching about my city will come in its own entry eventually, this one’s supposed to be about what I love.

There’s not much I love about Los Angeles, but one thing is simply the fact that so much filming happens here. Television, movies, music videos… Something is always being filmed here, and if it’s famous enough, we can usually recognize the building(s) used. Take the movie Last Action Hero for example. The movie begins with a huge number of police officers surrounding a building, because a killer is on the roof and has taken hostages. That building is located in Culver City, very close to my home.

Picture I took today.

Screenshot from the movie.

Living in Los Angeles means I get to say stuff like “That’s the building where The Ripper had his final showdown with Jack Slater.” If you haven’t seen Last Action Hero, that sentence probably makes very little sense to you. But being able to say stuff like that is one of my favorite things about living here, and one of the few things I love about the city.

Similarly, the building we’re supposed to call Fox Plaza has never been known as the Fox Plaza. Everyone in the know calls it the Nakatomi building, because it’s where the majority of the filming took place in the movie Die Hard. And yes, they really blew part of it up, it was still being built when the movie was filmed.

Image credit: Robb Wilson

As much as I take for granted, such as living so close to a beach, I do enjoy the fact that my city is so famous.

Yes, I'm afraid of taxis.

I came across a post on Tumblr asking people to list three of their irrational fears. I thought that was a good question, so I answered it, and I wanted to explain one of my answers here. Taxicabs. More specifically, the thought of riding in one, but seeing them gives me the jibblies too.

The reason behind this is just plain silly. It made a little sense when I was a child, but now it’s nothing more than irrational.

Irrational, by the way, means without reason. So an irrational fear is something that scares you despite there being no logic behind it, there’s simply no reason to be afraid of it.

When I was a kid, I had an uncle whose presence spooked me. I don’t recall him actually doing anything scary, I just didn’t like being around him, and the fact that the rest of the family didn’t like him either sure didn’t help how I felt. My mom once told me the story of how he’d bought an old taxi and illegally ran his own taxi service for a while. He was driving people around and charging them, but he wasn’t actually with a taxi company, so he was keeping all the money himself. For some reason, this scared the hell out of me and I was always worried that someday I’d call for a taxi and end up with him as a driver.

I don’t know if I was just afraid that he was a criminal. All I know for sure is the idea of him being my driver scared me, and the fear has never left. What officially makes this an irrational fear is his death. He’d been estranged from the family, but years ago we received a phonecall letting us know he’d died. I don’t know from what, he’d always had health problems so I’m just assuming that had to do with it.

So, he’s dead, and yet I’m still afraid of taxis. I’m still afraid I’ll end up with him as a driver, even though that’s physically impossible now. Admitting it doesn’t even make me feel as silly as it should, it just creeps me out to write about it.

*cries*

While writing this, I thought of another irrational fear. Baboons. I’m terrified of baboons. Just looking for a good photo was freaking me out and of course I’ve gone and posted a photo of four of them staring at me. I almost posted a photo of a mandrill because they don’t scare me as badly, but I found out mandrills aren’t actually baboons, just related.

My fear of baboons is probably much more ridiculous than my fear of taxicabs. I’m afraid of baboons because of a dream I had as a young child.

In my dream, the local news stations were reporting a baboon outbreak. Apparently every baboon had escaped every local zoo, and there were a whole lot of ‘em. As we were listening, I began to hear strange noises. In actuality, the roof of this house is shingled, but in the dream it was covered with corrugated fiberglass, like what you’d put over a patio. I could see the silhouettes of a few baboons sitting on the semi-opaque roof, and that’s what was causing the strange noises. My parents decided we’d better leave the house in case we might not be safe inside.

We got in the car and started driving, and realized there were baboons absolutely everywhere. A few in every yard, at least one on each roof, and a bunch just wandering around. All ages and types, which is why I’ve always thought a mandrill was a baboon, there were some in my dream too. They were all calmly sitting or walking or munching on somebody’s garden, they weren’t fighting each other or trying to break into the houses or even so much as snarling at us if we made eye contact. But I was a child, so I was scared.

The dream wasn’t very long, but I can remember it as clear as if I’d dreamt it last night. I woke up scared and ready to fight in case baboons really did invade my neighborhood, I was worried they’d try to take my stuff so I started writing “Don’t touch” on everything I could actually write on without getting in trouble, including on my windowsills.

What makes this even funnier is I was so young I hadn’t learned how to proofread yet and kept forgetting to use an apostrophe, so I misspelled it quite a few times. I have a bookshelf that’s been there all this time, and unless it’s worn off, there’s a message to the baboons that says “dot toch.”

I probably had that dream around 25 years ago and still to this day, my fear of baboons is as strong as it was back then. I do feel silly admitting it since they hadn’t even attacked me in the dream. But if there’s ever a group of baboons running amok in Los Angeles, they’d better keep their furry little mitts off my stuff.

Last night I got my period. It was two weeks late. After mentioning on Twitter that Aunt Flow’s in town, I half-jokingly said I should write a blog entry about periods. Then I actually thought about it and realized I really should, it might be helpful to someone.

I wasn’t worried I might be pregnant, if that were the case it’d be the second coming of Christ and I’m not up to that kind of responsibility or fame. However, I’d started to wonder if I was experiencing early menopause, I have no idea if that’s occurred in my family. I’ve had conversations with a few lady friends regarding the crimson wave, but that’s usually more for humor and sympathy. The idea of discussing vagina issues with the women in my family kinda grosses me out.

I’ve been two weeks late before, but only while fighting a bad cold. I haven’t been sick in a while, I seem to recall being sick toward the beginning of this year but not since. There’s been a bad heat wave lately, the humidity level this summer has been high, and constantly going from the heat of the outdoors into an air conditioned building (whether it’s the supermarket, a store, or my home) is probably not good for my body. The constant temperature changes might have knocked my schedule off track, causing my period to be late. Other than that idea, maybe I really am going through an early menopause. I don’t want to have children, so that idea doesn’t bother me. But I guess I won’t know if I’m back on a normal schedule until next month, either things are fine or I’ll be late again.

I keep track of my time of the month thanks to My Monthly Cycles, I don’t have a smartphone or I’d probably track on that. The website can be used to track all sorts of things about a woman’s body, but the only thing I care about is my period, I don’t even bother listing symptoms. There’s a big checklist of cycle symptoms you can keep track of including acne, bloating, cramps, crying spells, increased/decreased libido, and stress. You can mention whether you had none, or if it was mild/moderate/severe. I don’t bother with any of that, but it’s good to know it’s there if for no other reason than to let me know something I’m experiencing might be because of my period.

This month, for example, one big symptom is depression. I’ve spent all of today under a big grey cloud and I just want to punch it in the balls so it’ll leave me alone. It’s the kind of depression where I don’t even want to try fixing it, the idea of doing something to cheer myself up just sounds like a chore. As I type this, it’s 9pm and I have no idea where my day went, that grey cloud’s stolen it. I can think of a few things I could do that would brighten my mood, such as playing with my dog who keeps coming in here with one of his chew toys as if to say “Come gnaw on this thing with me, it’s awesome!” But all I can do is sit here and be moody.

When I was a teenager, I didn’t get cramps during my periods. At all. I’d listen to my friends complaining about the pain, and I’d just sit there trying to nod sympathetically when the truth was I had no idea what they were going through. As I grew older and more changes happened to my body, one of those changes was the unfortunate arrival of cramps. I now get them every month, thankfully usually only for the first day or two. Sometimes they can be awful and almost unbearable, feeling like I was kicked in the ovaries, but most of the time it’s just a tiny pinprick feeling or even a dull pressure. I can deal with the pressure, the pinprick is irritating and can make me really bitchy, but feeling like I was kicked usually keeps me sitting or laying down all day. I now know how my friends in school felt.

I don’t experience depression very often during my periods, usually it’s my anger I have to deal with. Or rather, it’s what everyone around me has to deal with. My anger is a constant problem, but it’s even worse during that glorious time of the month. Normally, I’m quick-tempered and get over it almost just as quickly. On my period, I’m quick-tempered and can stay that way for hours at a time, even when I know I’m being angry over something stupid.

I know there’s not really much information here, but I wanted to write this entry to let other women know sometimes it’s normal for us to be late, especially during an illness. I also wanted to let them know it’s perfectly normal to feel completely sad or hopeless or even homicidal when they’re on their period. It’s annoying to others when you become mad at them for no reason or a dumb reason, but that’s normal too. What ever happens, there’s a very good chance you’re not alone. When a woman’s period is late, the immediate thought is she’s pregnant. That’s not always true, and that should be pretty obvious if you’re not sexually active. If you’re worried, you can buy an at-home pregnancy test or go to a doctor, but sometimes we simply get knocked off schedule by a cold or change of some sort. So if you end up being late, try not to lose your head right away. And don’t be embarrassed to let people know why your mood keeps changing so rapidly, especially if you’re depressed or angry. It’s good for others to know they’re not the cause of your mood, and that they should steer clear of you while you calm down.

Oh, and please don’t hurt anyone just because I said it’s normal to feel homicidal. I said it’s normal to feel upset but it’s your own fault if you act upon those feelings.

Like everyone else on the internet, I enjoy looking at photos of animals. Unlike most people, I don’t like cats and consider lolcats to be unbelievably stupid. Like, the kind of stupid where I compare you to Ralph Wiggum, but minus the lovable aspect of his stupidity.

"I'm Idaho!"

One of my favorite animals to look at is tigers. Another favorite is fennec foxes. I think tigers are gorgeous, and fennec foxes are just plain adorable. I was looking at pictures of some right now as I cleaned my desk, and remembered something that happened maybe a year or two ago at the Los Angeles Zoo.

My mom and I go to the zoo a lot, often enough that we usually get to see any new animal they bring in for a temporary home even if it’s not there for very long. At one point, they had a few fennec foxes. When I found out, I practically dragged my mom over to the enclosure and stared at them for a good ten minutes. One was sleeping, another was digging around looking for a snack, and a third was butted up against the fence curiously sniffing at us. Luckily, the fence is pretty much double mesh, so there was no way I could pet it, you know I would have without even thinking of being bitten.

Image credit: visiblemusings

As we stood there watching them, another mother and her daughter came to look at the foxes. The daughter looked to be around 7 or 8. The mother didn’t seem to care much but the daughter excitedly pointed at them and said “I know what these are! This is a bat eared fox!” The mother said something along the lines of “Oh, that’s nice, dear.” And they moved along.

When they were out of earshot, I smirked a bit and said to mom, “That was cute, she made up a name because she didn’t know what it was.”

Let me stop here and say the obvious: I had no idea there was actually such a thing as a bat eared fox. I seriously thought this little girl had made up a name to try and impress her mom. We’ve all done that, right? “Oh that caterpillar is a Vernoxilliorn Tube…head… Uh. Yes, that’s it. And this one’s a Blue Stingerbutt.” Either trying to make up something that sounded scientific and impressive, or just describe how it looks. And when you look at that adorable fluffball, you naturally think of bat ears. So, bat eared fox. But no, a bat eared fox is an actual animal.

Image credit: Dave Pullig

A couple days after that, I randomly came across a photo of one online and my jaw dropped. I immediately remembered that little girl and I couldn’t help it, I felt stupid. And then I was belatedly impressed by her knowledge, even though she identified the wrong animal. That’s still pretty good considering the similarities between the two.

To this day, I’m still very glad I didn’t smirk or snicker while she could’ve heard me. I rarely do that, but I could’ve. I try to avoid making children feel stupid even if they’re wrong, though I do a very good job of making myself look and feel stupid. I guess I should’ve actually corrected her just to be friendly, but I didn’t think of it. I was preoccupied with being a doofus who thought a kid was being a kid when in fact, she knew about something I didn’t. I bet that little girl will end up working with animals someday, and I wish her luck!

This past Saturday I asked one of my cousins about the Sookie Stackhouse series, which the tv show True Blood is based on. She’s read them all so I wanted to know if the books have as many sex scenes as the show, or if that’s the producers trying to bring in higher ratings. My cousin’s reply was essentially an excited “I love the books, so you should read them and see for yourself!” So she sent me the PDF files and I’ve spent the past few days reading the first two books.

These are some of the worst books I’ve ever read, and I’m just assuming they do contain as much sex because there can’t be much else causing people (mostly girls it seems) to love this series. It reads like fanfiction written by a teenager. I’m a fan of the show, and although it’s been going downhill, it’s still MUCH better than what I’ve read. The only reason I even finished the second book is because I hate starting a book and then not finishing it.

The writing style is just appalling, there’s so much that irritated me. But after reading the first book, I decided to give the second one a chance, giving the benefit of the doubt that maybe the author was new at writing and got better. That was wishful thinking. The main thing I can’t get past is how there doesn’t seem to be any ugly people. At least in the tv show, some of the characters aren’t what society would consider beautiful or handsome, there’s all sorts of shapes and sizes and facial features. In the books, practically everyone is perfect and gorgeous. The description for Bill had me laughing out loud, he seems to have no physical flaws whatsoever. I’m half surprised the author didn’t feel the need to describe his penis as well.

One good thing I’ll say is I do appreciate how Sookie was written. She’s not a complete sissy, but she also doesn’t magically become a warrior who can handle every problem thrown at her. She’s a girly-girl who cries very easily, but she’s still a strong woman who can either take care of a problem or just sits and cries till she figures out what to do. She’s a realistic character. A good example of the opposite would be Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean. She starts off as a complete princess who doesn’t seem to do much more than stand around looking pretty, and the next minute she’s a swashbuckler dueling pirates like she’s been swordfighting since birth.

I don’t know what the story is with the author. Maybe Charlaine Harris wishes she lived in a world full of supernatural creatures she could have constant sex with. Maybe she just wanted to try her hand at writing and this is what spewed out of her pen. Maybe she wrote it all as a joke. Either way, she’s been laughing all the way to the bank and I definitely give her credit for that. Whether or not her books are amazing, they’ve become a hit show, and good for her.

I definitely won’t be reading the rest of the series, there’s no point in continuously hoping they’ll stop being lame. I’m not hooked after book #2 and I don’t care if the third time’s the charm. I’ll continue enjoying the tv show, but I’m sorry to say I think the people who love the Sookie Stackhouse series are nuts.