La-La Land

I've been in Southern California since Wednesday evening. It's the SO's 20 year high school reunion and I've come along as moral support.

Let me tell you, LA is the pits. So INCREDIBLY smoggy. I feel like I have a fine layer of soot lining my nasal passages. Based on the large quantities of congealed snot I've been blowing out ever since I arrived, I'd guess that the feeling closely approximates the reality.

We're actually down in the OC (Anaheim/Orange County) and staying at the Hilton right next to Disneyland. We have a fantastic view of the park and the nightly firework display. It's really kind of cool. Disney truly is the happiest place on earth. It's so happy that even the barbed wire topping the chain link fence surrounding the park whistles a friendly tune at you as you walk past.

Yesterday (Friday) I told the SO that I wanted to see something quintessentially LA, particularly as I had chosen the night before to read another two chapters of the last Harry Potter book rather than visit West Hollywood as we had originally planned. So we drove to the Santa Monica pier. The drive there took us 45 minutes. The drive back took us two hours. Luckily for me I'd brought the book I'm reading, the book I've just finished actually.

Only another twenty four hours and we'll be able to leave this mostly god-forsaken wasteland of a city. I've met a lot of nice people though. I feel bad for them. It must really suck to live here.

In other exciting news, for the first time since 1889, a tornado hit Brooklyn.