Two Oddly Inspiring Things from L.A.

Returning to L.A. for visits can be intimidating, especially as we grow closer to moving back for an extended period of time. The traffic is only getting worse, yoga classes that I used to think were a luxury at $12 each are now $17, and one day I popped in for a 15 minute appointment in Westwood, and parked in the adjacent garage as they had suggested. When I saw that the charges were $2 for every fifteen minutes or portion thereof. I wanted to retreat, but another car wanting to enter was already nosing my back bumper to I entered. Of course when I got to the office they were running behind, so just over an hour later, when I drove out of the lot, I paid $10.

BUT, at the same time, there is a kind of energy that is different in a bigger city, and something about that energy, combined with seeing people and things I don’t normally see can give me ideas and inspire me to attempt things that (a) are exciting, and (b) that I may live to regret later, but (c) are still exciting. An example would be how traveling to Perth made me want to make a restaurant guide. Examples from this trip to L.A. are:

1) My friend Amy gave me the first three Shopaholics books as a Christmas present. This was my first taste of “Chick Lit” for awhile, and though I found this particular heroine at times irksome, I was compelled by how the story moved and kept me reading, and basically thought, I want to try this! I calculated that if I wrote 500 words a day for six months, that would be a first draft of a full length novel. I fell off the wagon on day four, however, coincidentally the first day of classes…oh, right, school…I might have to rethink my timeline a little.

2) Two of our friends, (both named Eric) talked about film projects that they are working to independently finance with some success. As one of them said, when it comes to money, you have to learn who and how to ask. As I was driving Paul to the airport at six am on New Year’s Ever, it came to me…What is a thesis film anyway, but $30, 000 and some free advice? I’m sure if we had the money, they would still have the advice (after all, its not really free so much as pre-paid for with tuition). I bet there are grants or investors out there for this kind of project. So I told Paul I wanted to raise the money for his film. I don’t have any idea what I’m doing of course, but I’m sure I’m going to figure it out!