Pierce the Valley
You. Yeah you, the one currently reading this. If you know me well, then you would know why the title of this post is as such.
Los Angeles. The City of Angels. I have been here for a month and I miss all my friends terribly. My ribs hurt due to the awful cough that I have been nursing for quite a few days now. The weather is damn cold, even Baguio in December is way warmer. Prec, in one of her e-mails to the APSM yahoogroups asked me to relate what I have been doing here. So if you have nothing to do, grab a warm cup of coffee and sit back, you’re in for a long, albeit a very interesting (or so I hope) read.
First stop. The Jetsons. Well, at least that was what came to my mind upon getting out of the airplane. Let me tell you, the Los Angeles International Airport is fantastic! I was in absolute awe of the architecture of the airport. Strangely though, it reminded me of the famous cartoon series the Jetsons. Huh. Oh yeah, the grueling plane trip itself was mostly uneventful- the sheer highlight of the 16-hour flight was when the plane rocked a little upon hitting some sort of kerfuffle (if you don’t read Harry Potter, then you won’t know what this means) in the air. That and the four year old Korean girl behind my seat intent on relentlessly tugging my hair until I stared at her baring my evil fangs.
We then arrived at my Nanay’s (grandma) house and after I let her deplore how despicably thin I was getting, she force fed (hehe) me four to five servings of everything on the table. After that, I discovered that I had no sense of the time or date whatsoever, and I was feeling a bit (a lot, I think) woozy. Must be a case of serious jet lag, either that or too much chocolate (the latter, I bet). So I took a bath (yes, I am obsessed with taking baths) and went to sleep.
The city government said that Los Angeles is suffering from air pollution. My mind’s eye went back to Manila and I scoffed at that declaration. Los Angeles is very clean. Los Angeles is terribly beautiful.
To keep you reading (and so I won’t sound like a tourist guidebook), here is a glimpse of Los Angeles through my eyes (wide-eyed, drooling tourist), from places that I deem worthy of my interest to those most worthy (I simply cannot find a sight least worthy, if you know what I mean) Here goes (boy, I hope I paint this right)…
First Stop. Santa Monica. We live in West LA, very near Santa Monica. To those who have watched Bruce Almighty, remember when Jim Carrey says b-e-a-uuuutifuul? Well, no other word to describe Santa Monica. Santa Monica Bay. Santa Monica Pier. My body and brains were not cooperating with each other due to the sheer excitement of my foot actually landing on Santa Monica Pier. Wow. I feigned nonchalance though, for fear of abduction, but my eyes were wide as I tried to soak up every sight in front of me. We drove past theatres and auditoriums; most significant is the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium- gorgeous and palatial. My grandma got tired of driving, so we walked along Palisades Park which had a nice view of the ocean. Spent a good chunk of one whole day sight-seeing and picture-taking in Santa Monica before going home. Oh yeah, on the drive home, my stomach hurt a lot, what with the infusion of junk food and more junk food. I’m never eating pizza again (for the next two days at least, hehe.)
Los Angeles. The City of Angels. I have been here for a month and I miss all my friends terribly. My ribs hurt due to the awful cough that I have been nursing for quite a few days now. The weather is damn cold, even Baguio in December is way warmer. Prec, in one of her e-mails to the APSM yahoogroups asked me to relate what I have been doing here. So if you have nothing to do, grab a warm cup of coffee and sit back, you’re in for a long, albeit a very interesting (or so I hope) read.
First stop. The Jetsons. Well, at least that was what came to my mind upon getting out of the airplane. Let me tell you, the Los Angeles International Airport is fantastic! I was in absolute awe of the architecture of the airport. Strangely though, it reminded me of the famous cartoon series the Jetsons. Huh. Oh yeah, the grueling plane trip itself was mostly uneventful- the sheer highlight of the 16-hour flight was when the plane rocked a little upon hitting some sort of kerfuffle (if you don’t read Harry Potter, then you won’t know what this means) in the air. That and the four year old Korean girl behind my seat intent on relentlessly tugging my hair until I stared at her baring my evil fangs.
We then arrived at my Nanay’s (grandma) house and after I let her deplore how despicably thin I was getting, she force fed (hehe) me four to five servings of everything on the table. After that, I discovered that I had no sense of the time or date whatsoever, and I was feeling a bit (a lot, I think) woozy. Must be a case of serious jet lag, either that or too much chocolate (the latter, I bet). So I took a bath (yes, I am obsessed with taking baths) and went to sleep.
The city government said that Los Angeles is suffering from air pollution. My mind’s eye went back to Manila and I scoffed at that declaration. Los Angeles is very clean. Los Angeles is terribly beautiful.
To keep you reading (and so I won’t sound like a tourist guidebook), here is a glimpse of Los Angeles through my eyes (wide-eyed, drooling tourist), from places that I deem worthy of my interest to those most worthy (I simply cannot find a sight least worthy, if you know what I mean) Here goes (boy, I hope I paint this right)…
First Stop. Santa Monica. We live in West LA, very near Santa Monica. To those who have watched Bruce Almighty, remember when Jim Carrey says b-e-a-uuuutifuul? Well, no other word to describe Santa Monica. Santa Monica Bay. Santa Monica Pier. My body and brains were not cooperating with each other due to the sheer excitement of my foot actually landing on Santa Monica Pier. Wow. I feigned nonchalance though, for fear of abduction, but my eyes were wide as I tried to soak up every sight in front of me. We drove past theatres and auditoriums; most significant is the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium- gorgeous and palatial. My grandma got tired of driving, so we walked along Palisades Park which had a nice view of the ocean. Spent a good chunk of one whole day sight-seeing and picture-taking in Santa Monica before going home. Oh yeah, on the drive home, my stomach hurt a lot, what with the infusion of junk food and more junk food. I’m never eating pizza again (for the next two days at least, hehe.)
Next stop. Game 6. PHOENIX SUNS versus Los Angeles Lakers. Staples Stadium. Ok, admittedly, this is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. The Phoenix Suns is my absolute favorite basketball team in the world. Seeing Kobe-I’m-an-arrogant-devil-kill-me-now-Bryant get beaten on his home court is priceless. (Yes friends, I adore basketball. I never let you guys notice because that would shatter the nice and sugary image that I supposedly have *sinisterwink*) Raja Bell is the hottest guy ever placed on the basketball court- he was suspended for apparently shoving Kobe, but hey, that just goes to show. Kobe is in desperate need for a shove to his arrogant head. I had to restrain myself from calling out “I adore you!!!” to Steve Nash (two-time MVP), reminding myself that this is a basketball game, not a rock concert. I saw Charlize Theron (well, the back of her gorgeous head) and Denzel Washington.
Next stop. Griffith Park and Los Angeles Zoo. Griffith Park is home to the Griffith Park Observatory, Griffith Park Ampitheatre, and the huuuge Los Angeles Zoo, which in turn is home to over a thousand animals (I had this bizarre feeling of being right-at-home in the zoo… kidding.) When I was looking at snakes, I was kind of hoping that the glass would vanish (Harry Potter book 1), but hey, no such luck. Admission was 10 dollars (No, I do not want to contemplate how much that is in Philippine peso, please don’t make me.) The zoo was great; they even had this tour thing where you ride on carriage thingies because the zoo, as I said earlier, is way colossal. I’m thoroughly reminded of UP Diliman and the APSM tambayan (LA zoo-UP, APSM-animals in zoo. Kidding. Hehe.) Oh, I saw some koala bears and chimpanzees. They wanted to get out and go see the Philippines (Nyahaha). Ok, for those who want to hear more zoo adventures and mishaps, e-mail me, otherwise, I go on to the most exciting part- Hollywood. The Hollywood sign can be seen in Griffith Park, by the way.
After my grandma finally persuaded me that no, snakes don’t talk, and no, koala bears do not eat chocolate, and finally no, broomsticks don’t fly (I’m such an eccentric person), and after a whole day of bonding with animals and non-animals at the zoo, we went home and prepared ourselves for Hollywood the next day. Remember my excitement in Santa Monica? Well, nothing could have prepared me for this. Hollywood. Wow. I wanted to stay. I kept wishing that my head could turn a full 360 degrees so that I could take in everything that I was seeing. I mean, my hands were cold and trembling from the excitement, thank goodness I did not pass out. I once heard that to visit Los Angeles and not see the Grauman’s Chinese Theater is like visiting China and not seeing the Great Wall. So ok, picture this- a petite 20 year old girl standing in front of the theater, mouth hanging open in astonishment. Yup, that was me, looking up at the theater. What happened when I looked down? I saw prints of well-renowned and much-respected people of the entertainment industry. I saw the print of Durante’s nose (why anyone would willingly press his nose on wet cement, I have no idea), McQueen’s shoeprints, Henjie’s ice skating blades, and many more. I wish that I was capable of freezing time, I wanted to savor every moment in that place, go through every minute detail, and moreover, I wish that I had Dumbledore’s pensieve so that I could go back to that blissful memory everyday. I kept also wishing that Dom-the-movie-buff was there too, so that we could be speechless, wide-eyed tourists together. Next, we saw the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Odditorium, and of course the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hey, I just had a wild thought. Hollywood deserves a much better treatment than this, so I’ll end this for now. My next post will be devoted entirely to Hollywood in all its magnificence.
For now, I will leave you with a question that has been haunting me for quite a few years now- According to Hogwarts, A History, you can’t apparate or disapparate in Hogwarts. So, how did Dobby and Kreacher, house elves, manage to do it?
posted by redkryptonite at 10:51 PM
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