A Welcome Reconnection

After my husband, Will, has been filling me in on the lives he has reconnected with over the past few weeks, I find myself in the midst of a reconnection myself. Cari, my best friend from Reno, emailed me with a link to a short film "In Light of Nothing" that she has up on "The Lot".

Her kids have roles in her film "In Light of Nothing" and I've seen a wonderful Happy Birthday video message from them to their good friend Buzz. Plus photos of them on what appears to be a warm summer day, shirtless and gleefully smeared in something paint-like in all colors of the rainbow.

Cari and I have kept in distant touch by email for many years, and a couple may go by before one of us reaches out across the internet to the other. And that is always a welcome reconnection.

One of those times Cari sent me a photo, I sketched it in pencil and my Mom framed it and it hung in her house. I found a photo I took of the sketch, but where is that sketch now?
The Marvelli's were a second family to me when I was newly relocated from Redding, away from my Mom, to live with my Dad in Reno. He was never a meaningful force in my life and didn't seem to have any interest in me or what I was doing. Fresh out of highschool I was still young and when I started working at McDonald's and met and became friends with a very cool lady, Bobbi Marvelli, I then met her kids, Kevin, Cari and Stevie, and they became my family there.

Now, somehow we are all in our 40s (even Steve I think), and I think happy with our lives past and present. I think of them always and with a very special love. I was fortunate to have been welcome into their home and their lives.

A Day on the (Down)Town

This morning we were going to walk to downtown to attend the Los Angeles Concervancy's Saving Los Angeles Conference being held in the Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway, but being as it's Sunday, we thought it better to lollygag and rather than stroll out on to the road and trek downtown, we drove there.

The Los Angeles Theatre is wonderful. Man they built 'em grand back in the day. I liked that there weren't any apparent areas that were off limits, so we nosed behind curtains and through doorways, and onto balconies oohing and aahing and snapping away. Will even made his way to the rooftop.

After we had our fill there and enjoyed an exhibitor's extensive collection of vintage postcards and other printed gems, we wound our way down the block to Clifton's for lunch. The we traversed several blocks making our way to the Central Library enjoyed the art installation there and then meandered through the Biltmore and back to Pershing Square, below which the car was parked.There continues to be some very exciting things going on downtown. It's so walkable and there are so many beautiful buildings, and I wonder how long it will be before downtown really comes alive.

Soot Bull Jeep

For some reason I've had a strong desire for Korean BBQ. When Will and I decided to go see 300 last weekend we thought we'd wrap up the evening with some Korean BBQ. I googled Korean BBQ and decided that we would go to Soot Bull Jeep. It's very well known and the only remaining Korean BBQ that uses charcoal. All the others have converted to gas grills. Unfortunately we had a rather filling and late lunch so we rain-checked the Korean BBQ after the movie, which we both thoroughly enjoyed.

Now, my office building is right in the center of Korea Town on Wilshire Boulevard. And this past week as I get out and take a walk at lunch all of a sudden I'm noticing nothing but Korean BBQ restaurants. Of course, they're everywhere. And Soot Bull Jeep is only about 3 long blocks away.

So this weekend we ate very light and went for an early dinner at Soot Bull Jeep. We scored a parking spot in the tiny adjacent lot and are seated quickly at a table by the window. The old diner style formica tables have been outfitted with a center grill flush mounted with the metal housing underneath. All of the tables are topped by some pretty heavy duty vents dropping from the ceiling to control the smoke. Our server/waitress takes our order and returns to toss in some charcoal briquettes and set the grill on top.

She then promptly returns with our beers and a plate of whole leafy lettuce leaves and plates of raw beef (we ordered the marinated short ribs and the marinated rib eye). With that she very unceremoniously unstacks a variety of small dishes (what I believe are called banchan). The dishes contain several types of pickles, kimchee, and spinach as well as a clear broth soup with slices of turnip and scallion, a small green lettuce salad with a flavorful sesame dressing, and a pot of steamed rice. These were all fresh and crsip and perfectly seasoned. All of these things are good to either dip or top or roll up in a lettuce leaf with your beef and eat.

The waitress lays the first batch of sliced and marinated meat on the grill and with very utilitarian tongs we then turn them as they sizzle and spit on the grill. Ooooh, and there was a dish of garlic cloves that we tossed on the grill as well and the bean paste was excellent. It was all extremely delish-a-lishus. I'm glad I was wearing an inexpensive skirt because I sustained a couple of tiny singed holes from bits of flying hot coal.

I'd definitely like to return and maybe try some shrimp or squid on the grill...

Gimme an A

Since I bought and moved in to my house in the summer of 1999 I have seen many tenants move in and out of the rental house next door. And since the summer of 1999 I've long admired and coveted the large graphic A propped up against the run down shed in the back corner of the lot. And I've often been somewhat surprised that a tenant hasn't taken it with them when they've moved on. But there it stands still. And I hope it remains.

Funny/odd things sometimes come with rental houses. When I moved in to a rental house, once upon a time, and met the previous tenants who were moving out, they told me there was a cat, Minnie, that came with the house, and each tenant before me had fed her and taken care of her, though none ever let her in. Well, it wasn't long before I was letting her in and when I moved on she was coming with me. And she was with me until the day she died. Sweet Minnie.

Bink on the Mend

Bink hasn't been feeling well. We took him in for a check up last weekend and (besides the BB in his flank) found out that his liver isn't healthy. The first treatment: force feed him so he gets the nutrients he needs. The goal being that he doesn't throw it up and that in a couple of days he starts eating on his own. Well, he didn't throw it up and on Thursday he began eating on his own. He seems to be feeling much better. I got him some kitty grass to help with his digestion. The other cats don't want much to do with it, but when I put it under Bink's nose he nuzzled it and chomped away. Good kitty.

My Dog Ate Your Rent Check

Joe rents the attic apartment of my house. He's very prompt in delivering his rent check to my door on the 1st of the month. So this morning when I was preparing the bank deposit I realized that I didn't have Joe's rent. Being the 3rd of the month I gave Joe a call. "Joe, while I was preparing the bank deposit I realized I don't have your rent check for the month." Joe says "I slid it under the door on the 1st. Maybe the dog ate it". I told Joe that I did remember coming home one evening and seeing chewed up paper on the floor. It was nothing discernible but it was white and envelope-like. Ranger has been known to chew up papers. I thought it was something she pulled out of the trash can in the library or something. I just picked up the scraps without thinking about it and threw them away.

Joe promptly wrote another check for the rent and brought it down.

Before I left to run my errands I found a scrap of the paper on the floor near the piano in the living room. I pulled the little corner and there it was, the remnants of a check, just three of the pre-printed numbers along the bottom of the check, but definitely a check.