“Is you is or is you ain’t my baby….the way your acting lately, makes me doubt” cooed Diana Krall via my cell-phone alarm. I do not own an alarm clock, preferring instead to rely on my never-so-trusty cellular phone. (Damn you T-mobile for your shoddy service). But today the alarm went off without a hitch & of course the “snooze” button was hit repeatedly until there was no possible way of being on time for work. Why do I insist on ‘snoozing’ w/5 minute increments once my initial alarm has gone off? It’s not like the extra sleep I am getting (or not getting for that matter) is actually beneficial to me.
My bare feet scuffled along the mountainous piles of clothing and shoes to find the way to the door. Only I have the luck of a wounded fish in a shark tank and managed to not once, but twice step on hard objects that were so purposefully pointed upright as to cause the most pain upon puncture. Yoweeeee! With some hops a bunny would be proud of & an occasional whimper or two I learned from mans best friend, I managed to make it to the shower without further damage to myself. Looks like today I got up on the wrong side of the bed, although there is only one side to get out of the bed but the concept is there.
My girlfriend & I went adventuring to the ‘Laserium’ in Van Nuys this past Friday evening and boy oh boy it exceeded all expectations. When I was living in Utah as a youngster, we would frequent the Hansen Planetarium (now known as Clark Planetarium) and ‘wow’ ourselves with the Cosmic Laser Shows. The laser shows were set to all the classic music; ie; Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, U2, The Doors. When we would attend these shows, my friends & I would be stone sober, no joke. When my girlfriend asked me if I’d like to join her for the laser show I was a bit skeptical. I mean, Van Nuys?? A laser show?? I thought I’d give it shot & I although I had high expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. When we first arrived at the warehouse (where the ‘Laserium’ was, almost studio-like) we met our host/hostess. Let’s just say they may have consumed large quantities of mind-altering substances in the past & might still believe it is 1974. The walls were painted to resemble ‘outer space’ with stars, galaxies, planets, etc all in paint that picked up black light….very neat! It reminded me of when I was a young & had the glow in the dark galaxy above my bed. Ahh, memories. Back to the story. We were led into a room where there was the “Lightdancer” and I desperately want one. But there is only one in the world. It was some sort of rubber mat in the center with laser lights embedded in the mat that would catch the lights that were hanging above. (Sounds complicated & my way of explaining it probably makes things worse). Long story short anytime your shadow would interrupt the laser/light stream, a musical note would be played. Note: there was already a song being played in the background with graphics being shown on a projector at the front of the room, the notes would coincide with the song, adding a second soundtrack if you will. We had our fair share of turns dancing on the Lightdancer, none of which were worthy of “dancing with the stars” although I am okay with that. We were then lead into the main area where the laser show would be. Did I mention it was set to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon?!?! Yup, awesome is all I have to say. I’m really not great at explaining the laser/light/music concept so I will just say it was incredible to be so entertained with technology. It was 90% different than my initial laser show experiences but for some reason I enjoyed this one a bit more. Perhaps because it felt so “home-ly” and “ghetto” if you will. I have a new found respect for Van Nuys and the Laserium.
Saturday started off wonderfully. I woke up, which is always a good thing, & started off my day with a beautiful, relaxing drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, searching for a hiking spot suitable for man’s best friend. After a few misses (parks/trails that do not allow pets) we found our way to a National Park in Malibu. Perfect. (I will now guide you through my hiking experience via a “wordy-poetry-like-endeavor”). A crisp breeze tickled our skin as we began the trek up the mountain with moments of sun bursting through the trees, warming our skin ever so slightly. Crunch, crunch, crunch went our feet as we traversed up the hills over the slightest layer of frost, inhaling the fresh, un-polluted air. The trails meandered this way and that until we found our way into what into “private property”. (Note: I can’t be sure it was private property or not as I wasn’t really paying attention to posted signs. I know, smart.) The adventure then began as we crossed river after river trying to navigate our way back to the starting point. Okay, again I exaggerate. They were more likely to be called streams than rivers but it sounded so dangerous when I wrote ‘rivers’ I thought I’d just wing it……Okay, it is now a full two weeks since I began writing this blog entry so it’s not as fresh in my memory as it should be. But I will attempt to make my closing statements in a relatively sane manner. Back to the hike….hopped back and forth across streams, even had to take off the shoes and wade through the FREEZING cold water in addition to having slimy mud-goo seep through the spaces between my toes. Mmm….gotta love that feeling….NOT. (I haven’t used the phrase “…..NOT” for a long time. I think I will re-introduce it into my daily vocabulary. Anywho, why do so many people litter whilst they are in nature? I really couldn’t believe how much litter/trash I accumulated on our hike. After I picked up one water bottle, it became more of a mission to each time I spotted litter, I had to go & pick it up. Eventually it will probably end up in a landfill somewhere and the amount of energy it takes for cars, planes, etc to pick up the “recycling” from the bin may offset the actual benefit of me lugging around armfuls of trash. It became more of an internal issue that I could not stand to see the trash lying in such a wondrous, beautiful area. The rest of the hike was awesome! It wasn’t much of an intensive hike but more of a relaxing stint in nature. I need to be in nature more often. I didn’t make any New Years Resolutions because I like/d the way I was/am & didn’t feel the need to offer up commitments to myself. But if there is one, it will be to be outside in nature more often. When I say “nature” I mean anywhere where I can inhale and exhale without breathing in thousands of car fumes, toxins, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment