Bibliophile

From the vault (something i wanted to post but never quite did)

In 2012 I had decided to read less. It worked for the most part. I finished 16 books as opposed to the usual 22-24 per year. Although that part of my reading addiction I was able to handle, it didn't stop me from finding other ways to bring books into my life. Like a growing art book collection or a place I stumbled upon admiring photos on facebook. (See photos I took below)

I was so intrigued by the photos of book related installations that I had to see them for myself, a check out desk made of books, books in the form of a wave, books forming tunnels, frames, typewriters spewing out pages that spread through the air and across the ceiling, sculptures of an altar of Los Angeles on rollerskates, etc.

This place which was once a downtown bank that stood empty since the 60s is now a bookstore, the Last Bookstore, a mecca for bibliophiles like myself. It isn't that it is filled to the rafters with used books, but there are open mike nights, book signings, readings, bands, djs. What i noticed about this place was that it is a community and not a shopping experience. They even closed the place on a Saturday to hold a wedding.

So when they sent out the call for volunteers, I jumped at the chance to spend more time there sorting out their dollar book section they call the labyrinth. At first this section was only based on size, no sections just a vast sea of books to pick through. I have to admit that the first time i went up there I just put my head in my hands and turned around and left. When I ended my volunteer stint a couple weeks ago (too much going on, bringing home my 9 to 5 job on the weekends, dating, desire to do some traveling) we had arranged the labyrinth into 30 some sections. I was in charge of weekly organization of foreign language, asian books and literature, business and cookbooks. The place changed a lot since I started including a section based on color that everyone commented on and took picture by. Hiding in the how to learn French books you don't know how many times I heard "hey do you need a blue book" people think they are so clever.

Why is philosophy so popular?

I managed to pull a few books home for myself at a nice volunteer discount.

As brick and mortar shops a quickly disappearing I am glad places like this still exist. I want these places to still exist. Plus they have a yarn shop upstairs.

Sunday meal

There was beef tendon on that table and I ate it.

LAnniversary

Thursday was my 7 year anniversary of moving to LA. It was also 70 degrees and sunny for the first time since I got back from Minnesota.

Secretly this is what I think about on every anniversary I have here. I think about Paul and Judy. Paul, if you remember was a guy i dated in college. He was the first I lived with, probably the first guy I loved, which I realize was very stupid. He was pretentious and thought the world owed him a whole bunch of things. He came to college with me to the University of Iowa to become a director. He thought he was amazing, it didn't hurt that I told him that. After college his plan was to go to LA, where he would surely be lauded for his amazing short films and find a job no problem. When he broke up with me and moved cross county with his high school sweetheart a month later, who became his wife in a drive through chapel in vegas sometime en route, he found Los Angeles to not be what he expected and moved back after a week.

A week!

When I made the decision to move out to Los Angeles for another director the very first thing my good friend Judy said to me was that I would never last and LA would eat me alive.

But after 7 years it hasn't. Sometimes I feel a little chewed on, but Minneapolis made me feel that way too. I can tell you that after 7 years my life is more interesting than I ever thought it could be.

Sometimes the best revenge is living well.



(Photo is of one of the zoetropes in culver city)

Sunday night meal

Braised short ribs with wine, fingerling potatoes, purple carrots, leeks and sugar snap peas.

As beautiful as it is cold

I can honestly say that i am a wimp. My latest commutes to work in 40 degree temps has been pretty excruciating. That same 40 degrees is a heatwave compared to where i just came from. No matter how many times i have come home to visit for christmas i can't shake feeling cold pretty much all the time. This year was warmer than most, i hear, the days were pretty sunny and windless which made it great for photography. Here are some of my pics from home.

Tradition!

My family is big on tradition. For some people that may be a scary thought to do the same thing from year to year, but not for us. These are the things I look forward to every time I go home, like christmas eve stroganoff or that three or so years ago we changed from turkey and ham to this beautiful piece of art called prime rib. I dream about this for weeks before I go home.

About the same time we decided to escape the house and rent a hotel room in a place that has a water park in it. Where we also celebrate Noni's bday and let the kids blow off some steam.

My favorite tradition though, which we started last year, is portillos bowling championship night. I love how both cheerleady and competitive everyone is. There were some firsts this year. Noni tried bowling for the first time and Sam got his highest score ever. I would like to thank uncle John for being partial benefator to this tradition. Here are some photos: