Working with Racism

All this time, I've been checking like three job sites and applying for jobs there. Then, last night, the gf showed me a site on Dartmouth's career services page with about four more places to find non-profit jobs. It was like a lightning bolt - all these jobs, just for me! Thus, I applied to seven jobs today, one last night, and one on Friday. We will see if they come through, but right now, I feel much better about life. I feel like there are more possibilities. San Francisco seems closer already.

This have been hectic here in LA. The weather still hasn't changed, but the circumstances are much better. The crazy grandmother is no longer living in the house, though she still has no MediCal funding to go into the more permanent nursing home. Thus, we cannot move on furniture in the garage (read: giving it away to the thrift store to give to those who need it more), so it is still a disaster in there, but an organized one at least. The furniture in the house is back to the way it was before April, so that is nice. There is a couch, for instance, so we can watch television in comfort, not in bed. We went on a camping trip a few weeks ago with the gf's brother and family, and that was a great deal of fun. Then there was a graduation party, where I got to meet everyone in the family's circle of friends. Otherwise, we've been moving furniture, organizing clothes, moving clothes into real closets, sleeping in a double bed instead of a trundle one, going out, and worrying about money and jobs. I really need a source of income. One job for which I interviewed has still not really gotten back to me, though they did say they were doing second-round interviews and I would hear from them soon. I'm losing hope on that, even though I thought I had a great interview. Alas; I'm moving on.

So, that's life right now. I apologize it has been awhile for that update. In other news...

Yesterday I wanted to get my hair cut. We went to a little salon called Fantastic Sam's here in Culver City, but they were too busy. Since we had a babysitting job in Inglewood to rush to at 3PM, we decided to head over there to seek a salon that wasn't as busy. Thus, we walked into a beauty supply shop so I could get a hair cut.

As I walked in, I could tell I would be the only white person, besides the gf, in the entire store. No matter, I said, I will stay and get my haircut. It occurred to me that they may not have had the experience working with my hair, considering my hair is distinctly different from the African-American variety. However, it is much easier to cut, I'm sure, so no worries. I come in, tell the hair stylist that I'd like a haircut, and she squeezed me in. After some deliberation and miscommunication, she washed my hair and cut it like I wanted.

Of course, I made the mistake of not asking for the price at the beginning, but at the end, she told me the damage was $65. Shocked, I paid for the haircut graciously and even gave her a tip. Walking out of there, I was very upset about the price: LA is expensive, I told myself, and that place wasn't even that nice.

We babysat for three hours, and finally, our friends returned from their movie/work commitments. As we were eating dinner with them, I told them of my experience with the haircut. "They charged you more because you were white," I was told. Hmm. That's probably true. It actually makes me feel better.

Why, one might ask, would it make me feel better to have been taken advantage of based on my race? First, because I can attribute it to the chip on her shoulder. It was racism. It made me feel less like a sucker and more like a victim of a system much greater than myself. Even though it was unkind and only contributes to a racist society and racial distrust, I know that in my position of privilege, it probably made her feel better to a greater degree than it upset me. I will probably make more money than her based solely on my race and socioeconomic status. I have many more advantages in my corner than she has in hers. In the long run, $30 is not that big of a deal. Thus, if me getting ripped off was my part in the giant scheme of things, and if next time she meets a nice white person she doesn't want to rip her off, I will have been ripped off for a good cause.

At least, that's what I'm hoping. Doesn't mean I'll be sending clients her way, though.

Swimming Through August

It is about halfway through August, a little more, and the report is: still no job, but I had an interview last week that went well, so I'm hoping to hear back from that. It would be a development job, and I'm excited about the prospect of being a professional fundraiser. I think I'd be good at it.

I've been watching Olympic swimming here in California. I watched the opening ceremonies in San Francisco, and then the first five days, and I've been back in LA since Thursday night. I've really enjoyed watching the close races, and I've loved cheering for the US all the way. I'm watching the medal ceremony for Dara Torres - she got silver in this race, the 50m swim. I'm really hoping she pulls out a gold in the relay race she has in like 20 minutes... it's pretty crappy the way the scheduling worked out for her. At 41 years old, she could use all the breaks she can get. Sadly, she didn't get that one.

Anyhoo... I really enjoyed San Francisco. I've been so caught up in life lately that I haven't written in my blog, but I liked the city a lot and it was very much worth the long drive. We took the PCH up the coast, and it was beautiful. I was not in a picture mood until it started getting really spectacular about halfway up, but then after that, I was exhausted and done with driving, so I put the camera away. But, San Francisco did not disappoint. The architecture was awesome, too. I think I know where I'm interested in living, if we can afford it, but it really comes down to which job I have and how much I'll be making, in addition to what the gf will be making. If I get this job that I want, I'll be sitting well - a lot more than my previous job. But, no matter what, I will keep my priorities in line financially and not spend more than I should on housing. That's what is most important. We're debating between a two bedroom and a one bedroom by ourselves. Ideally, I'd like to have the one bedroom, but a two might be cheaper, so we'll have to see. I'm so, so excited to be getting an apartment with her, though, after all this time.

US is in front in the women's medley... now Australia... still Australia... and Australia won it. Scores unofficial. Apparently, Sweden got eliminated because they did a false start. But Australia won, America got the American record, so that's good. Hooray, women. Michael Phelps is up next.

Alright, I'm going to write later. I can't really focus right now.

It's The End of July As We Know It

July 31, 2008. Still no job, but I'm increasingly optimistic. I do not know precisely why, but things are nice here, so I'm still OK. I'm churning out cover letters and e-mails at a good pace, and I'm confident something will turn up soon. Not sure whether or not it will be in LA or in San Francisco, but things are not getting worse.

Things I'm not really missing: I have been pretty much ignoring the news lately, and though I do miss my NPR, I'm still enjoying the time away from drones discussing Obama's latest haircut and McCain's latest borefest of a speech at the Gun-Owning Bible Thumper Association (GOBTA for short).

However, I have been listening to just a bit too much coverage of the "energy crisis." Suddenly, gas is almost as expensive as a root canal for Hummer owners, so there is an oil crisis. And what do these brilliant civil servants talk about? Drilling for more pollutants in a wildlife refuge. Great idea. One sure way to break our nation's "addiction" to oil is to... get more of it! I think the great irony of this is that in the US, when someone has an addiction to something, rarely do we rehabilitate this person, but we throw him/her in jail to think about how the drugs they bought contributed to terrorism and are illegal. On the other hand, if a human is addicted to oil, we figure out a way to get the expensive fix less expensive and more available. Who cares if we kill a few caribou along the way! Almost as stupid as selling beer at gas stations. Here, take a 24-pack, crack a few open, and drive head-on into an innocent 45-year-old with 2 kids!

Of course, we couldn't dare tap into our massive oil reserves, which we're holding onto in case of some apocalypse. Do we really need all of that? Use it all up, and if we have to run our military vehicles on biodiesel, hydrogen, or natural gas, so be it. Once it's gone, it's gone - no more addiction, no more oil shortage, no more problem. Oil will be like diamonds, and the government will bring down the price of alternative fuel vehicles, pump up the public transportation, and things will actually change. Oh, and the oil companies: no more massive profits. How beautiful the world would be.

The other thing I heard in the news was an oil spill in the Mississippi. Another event that could have been prevented by not using oil. There Will Be Blood was right: oil sucks.

It Never Rains in LA

It's creepy. Every morning, it's cloudy and cool, and yet it never rains. I woke up this morning and was sure it was raining outside. In fact, I even deluded myself into thinking there were drops of rain on the porch. I worried about it because yesterday, we began the task of repacking my boxes so that when we move, they are packed in a logical way, and so all of my worldly possessions were sitting out on the patio. Had it rained, my stuff would have been soaked, and it would have been a disaster. Fortunately for me, it never rains here.

I've been pondering what that means for a city. I have concluded it somehow cheapens the sunshine. How can one appreciate a beautiful day if it is never ugly? At home in New Jersey, there's interesting things going on on summer nights. Sure, it's hot and humid all day, but at night, it almost always storms and there's great lightning and refreshing coolness. Under the street lights, one marvels at the evaporating moisture steaming off the asphalt after a heavy rain, covering the streets in a London-like fog. It's poetic. Here, nothing like that happens. I think it's sad. Like the celebrities who live here, the weather seems artificial. Bad things are happening all over the world, but here in Los Angeles, nothing's wrong. Weird.

Anyhoo, now that the self-reflection portion of my blog is over, let me present to you the rest of my pictures! These are from Yosemite National Park. After that was my friend's wedding. I'll do those at a later date. Basically, Yosemite is everything a park should be. Lots of trees, waterfalls, and mountains. Perfect.

Pictures

Here are more pictures from the ltrip. These are from Arches National Park, a beautiful desert park with rock formations carved out by various things... I don't remember. You can look it up if you truly are interested. Anyway, it's in Utah, and it was the only redeeming thing about that hot, dry, and barren state. In case you were interested, I had blood in my nose for the last 6 days of my trip or so. It was very unpleasant. The Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Coast truly is the oasis from the western desert.

If You're Going to Los Angeles, Be Sure to Wear...?

We have arrived. 3600 miles after we started, we are finally in La La Land. The weather has been bizarre here, cloudy and chilly at times during the day, but it might be just the fact that I'm not used to living by the beach anymore since my parents moved inland, away from the Jersey Shore. I just always expect LA to be hot, clear, and dry.

So, where did I leave off? Ah yes, Tonopah, Nevada. Well, after our free hotel room experience, which was great, because we loved the room in addition to having it be free, we drove the treacherous passage up to Yosemite National Park and arrived in Curry Village. We stayed in a tent cabin, which was way nicer than I had anticipated it being. However, the campsite was loud, with many small, obnoxious children running about. One child was climbing on my bike, but when I asked various parents to put a leash on him, they initially denied the child was theirs, but then conceded. He had also thrown a slushie on the ground by our tent. This normally would not be a problem, but in a national park, there is wildlife. We were so paranoid and cautious about bears that we locked our food away in lockers and threw our trash out in bear-proof trash cans. Thus, I was sure the slushie would attract a bear and convince him to eat us in our little tent cabin. Needless to say, that did not happen, and we lived to tell the tale.

Beyond our little camping village, the scenery was beautiful. There was a great deal of the two main ingredients in a national park: water and trees. I feel that every national park should have water and trees. When we went to Arches National Park, it was beautiful, but it got old quickly because it was hot and we were surrounded by red rocks. I never get tired of water and trees. It could be that green and blue are my two favorite colors, but mostly, it's the contrast of green trees with blue water and a light blue sky that really makes me happy.

In our time at Yosemite, we saw a bear cub, caribou, a moose, and thankfully, not many bugs to detract from my time there. On the main day we were there, July 3, we took a 7-mile hike up to Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls beyond that. It was long and parts were quite challenging, but it was totally worth it at the top of Nevada Falls. Pictures are coming tomorrow or the next day. The weather was spectacular, and the water from the falls kept us cool. When we got to the top of Nevada Falls, I dunked my head in the pristine - and frigid - waters, and it felt amazing. It was the only thing keeping me alive for the long hike down. We went a different way, so it was shorter than I had worried it might be, and much easier than the 4 hours up, but still, we were exhausted and hot by the time we got back to Curry Village. We ate an entire pizza in silence and then did showers after relaxing a little in the cabins. It was great to use our bodies again after 8 days in the car.

After Yosemite, I went straight to the wedding rehearsal in preparation for my best friend from high school's wedding. A and S were married on July 5, and I played during the ceremony with the organist/pianist. It was good to see my friend again, and the organist and I and my better half got along very well. Instead of going to the rehearsal dinner after 5 hours of practice, we went to a taco place to have beer and tacos instead, which was great. Good bonding time for the three of us. The gf sat through our rehearsing and the actual rehearsal, so she knew the whole procedure, and in fact, she got a chance to lead the congregation in song during the bride's favorite hymn, How Beautiful. Thus, my atheist girlfriend led a Lutheran congregation in the singing of a hymn about the beauty of the body of Christ. It was hilarious and amazing.

The wedding itself was a great deal of fun - I'll have pictures of that to come as well. It was fun, everyone was smiling and loving and happy, and no one was drunk and acting like an idiot. Thus, the perfect wedding. (~: It was mostly my friend's college friends (who knew the bride and groom together), with a few of us who had gone to high school with A. The maid of honor was a good friend of mine from high school with whom I had sort of lost touch in the recent years. She and I caught up and spent a decent amount of time together. She met my girlfriend and said she liked her a lot, which was nice to hear. We decided to be better at this communication thing, so we can't fall out of touch again.

After the wedding, we had brunch with the bride's family and the wedding party, which was even more fun than the wedding reception (at least for me - fewer people, more attention paid to me and my wit, haha), and then we drove home to Los Angeles. We were going to take the Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1), but sadly, there are forest fires all along the highway and it is closed by Santa Barbara and Big Sur. Apparently, they are quite out of control, which is sad. Anyway, after a hot, trafficky drive, we got here in one piece.

So, overall, a lovely trip, few fights, we're still together and lovey, no tickets, no flat tires, and all of my stuff is in good shape. No casualties of any sort. So, now the two of us have done the two hardest tests of relationships: extended travel and long distance. What could possibly get in our way now in our future lives together???

Alright, that is all for now. Like I said, pictures to come.

Free Hotel Rooms Rock!

We are now in Nevada, and there is gambling everywhere. The hotel has a casino in it. At first, we thought the place was just super cheesy, but as it turns out, we gambled for a free stay, and we won! I rolled a three of a kind in the giant dice cage thing, and we didn't have to spend $70 on a hotel. It was cool. Feeling lucky, we played the slot machines and promptly lost $4. Oh well. That's life.

We have a great room, and I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and heading out to Yosemite tomorrow.

Oh, and I'm completely happy and in love. We had a great day today, even though it was a long one.