Taking a holiday from our holiday..

So, its been a very long time since I have written an entry in the blogosphere, and although I don’t exactly have the biggest of readership, I always feel like a child who hasn’t done his homework when I don’t write the blog. Saying that, I really was never very good with homework. It seems so silly now, but as a child, that is literally your biggest worry most the time, and even back then, I was unusually laid back about lists of stuff that needed to be done. It drives Sonam mental, but I have a habit of saying “yeah, I thought about that”, usually in reference to something that needed to be sorted out, and once I have ‘thought about it’, usually my internal IF function spits out ‘it can wait’. Little does she know, that is actually an improvement from when I was a kid; I used to copy homework on the school bus from some poor soul who, for reasons unknown to me, lent me his work. But, back then, I never really even used to worry, just play championship manager (rules out ‘cool’ for the reason of getting free homework), watch the usual bits of TV, and go to sleep blissfully. I guess I am still mid-transformation to becoming stress-filled/responsible. Anyhow, I always had an ability to switch off completely from all my life’s responsibilities, and even when I have about 3 responsibilities in the world, I am now unable to completely switch off. That kinda sucks. But, if I did completely switch off, then surely it’d just all be left to Sonam, in which case, surely my limited ability to switch off is actually because I’m selfless? No, not really convinced either. But anyway, the last few weeks have been brilliant.

Firstly, we flew off to Maui, Hawaii. It’s like nowhere else we have been in the US, and given I refused to do any form of educated sightseeing, I have no idea why it really is even part of the US. I’m sure whatever long and hard battle for power there was worth it, because it really is stunning, and brings with it a completely brand new culture, language and lifestyle. Even though we didn’t do much exploring, it was so lovely to ‘get away’. I laugh at myself saying that. I type here on a plane, jetting back to London after nearly four months of not working, and Hawaii was a nice time to ‘get away’? But as discussed in previous rambles, it’s so easy to get caught up in a routine, find things that ‘must get done’, and however small the list, get preoccupied with trying to make it smaller. Anyway, Sonam has been busy with job applications as of late, and it has meant much of our free time is spent thinking about that, at least until the holidays. We loved the resort. As we arrived, we felt like luxury, pulling up in the Four Seasons, getting a garland and a special cocktail, and I was thinking to myself, “it must be because I told them we were on our honeymoon”, and I strutted to the main desk, and let go their terrible pronunciation of my name because I knew they were about give me that free upgrade to better suit the honeymoon couple. But then, in the corner of my eye, I noticed the other 10 couples getting out the car, greeted in the same way, and watched them all talk about their lovely celebrations (wedding, special anniversary, joint birthday, whatever), and with that swift kick in the balls, realized this wasn’t exactly a place we should expect to get special treatment. I think it has to be one of the most expensive place I have ever stayed when it came to extras. By extras I mean like food, or activities, or spa treatments.. I guess it’s a function of coming to the end of our trip, and hence the end of our mental budget, but it took me a while to realize you probably had to be a little more flash with the cash to belong in this resort. Anyhow, we did see a couple of celebrities; the fat guy from Parks and Recreation, and James Marsden (I didn’t know his name, but had to google ‘the young anchor guy in anchor man 2’). We had the most wonderful time there, the infinity pool was breathtaking, with views of the beach, the endless ocean, and the whales flapping away during sunset. We went scooter snorkeling (awesome fun), massages in the spa, a fun game of tennis, and a schooling in basketball from Sonam. All in all, as fake honeymoons go, it was amazing. (Yeah, you could technically call it a honeymoon because we officially/legally got married, but we didn’t really think of it that way too much as the proper wedding is in Feb, but once we said we were on our honeymoon on the booking, we kinda had to stick with it. To make matters worse, I couldn’t help but feel conscious of the fact I didn’t have a wedding ring on, and then thought they must know, and that I must look like a hoax. Which I kind of was, but still, I wanted to carry around the marriage certificate, just incase). Anyway, I definitely would love to go back to Hawaii, 4 days really is nothing there!

Next stop; Mexico! After a brief stopover in LA again, we continued our holidays by heading south into Mexico. After originally planning a trip to Cabo, much googling later, I was swayed to booking a trip to Zihuatanejo. Now, yes, that is the place from Shawshank Redemption, but as I read it was the quieter, more peaceful option, with no one hassling you on the beach to buy pieces of junk made out of other pieces of junk (see post on Venice Beach). Zihuatanejo really was phenomenal – although one complaint is that I expected all the food to be like that of the Mexican food in LA – all guacamole and sour cream and beans! As it turns out real Mexican food is different, yummy and a bit like corn-infused, mild, Indian food. Anyhow, the resort we were staying at was phenomenal, with only 4 rooms in the place, we had the most breathtaking views of the Pacific ocean, it was 30 plus degrees every day, with barely a cloud in sight. Check it out:

I think it has to be one of my most favourite places we have ever been. To be honest, the resort wasn’t perfect, the breakfast wasn’t great, even the shower didn’t have hot water. But, even with its imperfections, it was truly perfect. Sonam and I had such a wonderful time, doing absolutely nothing, not ‘having’ to do anything like on some holidays where you must check out the local whatsitcalled or the thingymajigg. With no obvious attraction to go see other than the one on our doorstep, it really was my perfect holiday. I couldn’t help but just look out onto the seemingly endless ocean, and reflect on what has got to be described as the most wonderful time of my life. Spending the last three months with Sonam in sunny LA has been a privilege. I mean that in every way; not many are fortunate enough to take a break like this in the middle of their lives, and I feel genuinely lucky that Sonam and I have inadvertently been given our wish of being able to travel the world together for an extended period, and go live abroad for a while (one that I always promised Sonam that I would try my best to deliver on, but always imagined things would be steady for me at my last job, and hence wasn’t ever sure how that’d work out). Aside from the adventure, getting to road trip along the west coast and seeing all the amazing things we saw, everyone says being married is hard. Everyone says its all about compromise. Everyone says its all about learning to be wrong when you think you’re right. Well, having been with Sonam for over 5 years now, I really didn’t think there were any surprises about marriage coming my way. And I was right, there aren’t so far. But living with anyone 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, when neither of you have a job, well that takes some getting used to. People just aren’t used to seeing one person so continuously, no matter how much you love them. But without trying to be too corny, I have to say the last 4 months have brought us closer in a way I really didn’t expect, in a way that makes me feel as comfortable around her as I ever have, and very aware of the imperfections we both have, and very comfortable embracing them and living with them.

Anyway, one other thing the two weeks away was supposed to provide was an opportunity to switch off my phone, and completely black out myself from technology. But, annoyingly I didn’t make that happen. With the visa interview needing doing, my Chicago apartment needing finalized, something or other always needed sorting. I guess that’s something I’ll have to leave on my bucket list for another break away when perhaps not so many things are in limbo, but I suppose expecting that to happen is missing the whole point of what I’ve been discovering throughout this break.

Back in LA, it was Christmas week, and we were packing again (I swear, it constantly feels like I’m packing, something to continue getting more extreme as we ship our life to Chicago). We had packed our freezer with insanely low calorie meals from Walmart as we hit the ‘two months to go’ point in our countdown to the wedding. As we realize we weren’t quite going to hit our targets, we had two ways to go; keep trying or give up and succumb to what was going to happen the day after the wedding anyway and just get fat. Inexplicably, we have attempted to keep working at it, however futile it may be. So we just spent our last week in America, hungry, but in wonder of the place we had spent so long in, but had kind of passed us by at the same time. Quite simply, there never really is enough time to ever feel like you know a place like LA.

Christmas in LA was odd to say the least, we initially sat at home watching Home Alone 2, Trading places, and various other Christmas movies. Then, in an effort to go see what we thought would be a quiet pier and beach during sunset, we ran into what looked like the whole of Santa Monica crowding out the pier and its arcades. Unlike what we expected, i.e. everyone being at home having Christmas lunch, people seemed to be out in hoards playing arcade games on the pier and eating blue candy floss, and some fluorescent blue drink that looked radioactive when spilt on the floor. It was fun though, it was an odd way to see people spend what would normally be a very ‘at-home-in-jumpers-with-family’ sort of holiday in my experience, but I guess when in Rome. We walked further down Santa Monica beach, and stumbled on Muscle beach with all its hanging ropes and monkey bars, and it was completely packed! All sorts of people, old and young, had congregated on Christmas day to hang off some metal and do things that I sadly have only been able to do while playing video games. One especially weird place was right next door; a green patch of grass seemingly cordoned off for the truly odd people, who were doing a variety of Brazilian martial art dancing, yoga, and some extreme form of yoga that involves getting on someone else who is in the middle of a difficult pose, and then while balancing on them, you then do your own pose. And its not like there were just a small group, there were a bunch of people just coming arbitrarily and jumping right on each other, doing this weird sport/art form. I really don’t get LA, but at that point I both admired it for embracing its weirdness completely, but also just wanted to be sat inside looking out on a cold winters night and feel lucky to be inside. Anyway, we ended the night with possibly the best take out food we had eaten in LA, in a little whole in the wall Middle eastern place with amazing bread and hummus, and we sat at home eating it while watching another Christmas movie.

Boxing day was, well, non-existent in America, people don’t really call it anything as far as I could tell. So after a quick work out, we decided to finally check out the place everyone had told us to go check out for sure before we leave; In and Out Burger. This fast food burger was supposedly the best burger ever. Anyway, I in my naivety had expected a vegetarian option to be available, and eaten nothing all day in anticipation for my one big meal of the day. Turns out the veggie option available to me that day was exactly like their cheese burger, but without the patty. So I got to try their amazing lettuce and tomato in a bun with some of the special sauce and a slice of rubbery cheese. I guess this goes on the list next to ‘best steakhouse ever’ that I’m not really equipped to judge on!

Anyway, as I head back to pack all my belongings and bring them back to the US, I reiterate; this was the best holiday of my life, and even with all the woohooing and over the top LA ways, and as odd as things can be in America, and as much as I am going to miss the home that I will always call London, I am excited to be coming back to restart this adventure in Chicago. There is something so unique about life in America. As much as I don’t like the media here, the image and brand culture, the emphasis on ‘America being the greatest’ no matter what, and the fact that I feel the need to shave here so people know I’m not a terrorist, there are things about this country I can’t help but love. They love sports, they love food, and even when the do food wrong, they do it in big enough portions to forgive it, where good service is still important, and on the whole, it is an extremely warm and friendly country, and a place where success is celebrated and not criticized for being elitist. I can’t wait for Part 2.

The calm before the holidays

It's been a while since I have posted on here, partly as I've been busy with Sonam's parents, and partly because, for a change, there really hasn't been that much to write! Sonam has exams tomorrow, and has had all these final assignments due, applications due, and with Sonam's parents here, I've been trying to spend time with them, and also help out with her stuff, so we can go away to Hawaii in peace. Ah thats right, we are off to Hawaii on Tuesday, to (hopefully) sunny Maui for four nights, to lounge around and look at the supposedly amazing landscape. Of the things on the top 10 list on tripadvisor, I'm excited to try Ziplining, Snorkeling, Dolphin & whale watching, but mostly just staying in a hotel on the beach where we don't have to do the bed, eat stupidly large breakfasts, and plop next to the beach for the afternoon.

As I typed that last sentence, I realised how if I was reading it as someone not me, I'd probably be thinking 'that sounds exactly like the life you have now'. And it probably should be, but it's odd how you give someone 1x of something to do, or 10x, and the same amount of time to do it in, given enough time to adapt, they're probably the same amount of tired at the end of the tasks (or at least they percieve it that way). I guess what I'm saying is, I've managed to find myself, other than playing host, caught up in errands, and trying to 'sort things' around me in order to 'relax and chill later'. Sounds kinda stupid, but its this human nature of just going 'OK, once I do this ONE last thing, I'll chill and everything will be awesome.' Except there's never an end to that list of things, and no matter how hard you try and how many bucket lists you make, people just fill their days and become domesticated whatever the scenario we are in, as I think that's kinda just the way we are programmed.

Saying that, I've been attempting to use this domesticated down time in our holiday to continue the exercise train. On the whole its going well - I'm still enjoying that boxing class, and the spinning (I've kind of just gotten used to the over-the-topness of it all), and I'm doing more running. Can't seem to force myself to go to the circuit training classes, but whatever, I'm trying. I can't say there has been a marked improvement visually, but I am feeling lots better, and before I go to Chicago and stuff myself with cheese pizzas after we are married, I hope to at least temporarily reduce the risk slightly of all those Indian genetic illnesses I'm bound to get.

Other than that I don't really have much to add - but there's two things that are strange about our floor in the apartment building we live in. Firstly, the floor always stinks, really really strongly, of weed. Which isn't really a big deal around here, you occasionally smell it on an evening out, or on the beach or wherever really, but its when it pervades into your home, stinking out your kitchen, and you can sort of taste it, it just pisses me off. Plus if I can taste it in my home, what the hell must it be like in that guy's home, it must be like some sort of weed fog that you cant see out of. Anyway, secondly, there's a guy on the floor, who for some reason just leaves his shoes out in the hall. Which didn't really bother me, but then something occurred to me; he only ever leaves out one pair, and the shoes he leaves out alternate (there are three different types of shoes he leaves out, slippers, trainers and work shoes- and they're always the same three), which means there must be somewhere in his home he is actually comfortable putting the other two pairs he seems to wear regularly. In which case, why leave these outside? Does he really have a shelf that only fits two pairs of shoes? And how dirty are his shoes? This area of LA is one of the cleanest areas I've ever lived in, so unless he is taking some scenic route through some muddy part of the beach, why can't he just take his shoes in? And what does he do to the other pair of shoes before he allows them to come in? Anyway, as I said it's been a quiet week or so, hopefully I'll have more from Hawaii...

Anyway, some nice pictures of what other new stuff we saw:

And a very strangely named restaurant.

Merchants of Venice

It's been an eventful few days since I last blogged, Sonam's mum has been here visiting, and her Dad recently joined us after a work trip. So amongst the usual bits and bobs of exercising, we have been trying to go out and explore new bits and bobs of LA.

One of the first trips we did was to Venice Beach - somewhere we had been to once or twice before, but definitely not seen it in it's entirety, we had just wondered around a couple of the touristy spots, and taken a couple of pics of Muscle Beach and the basketball courts where 'White Men Can't Jump' was filmed. As memorable as that was in how emasculating it was to see men lifting things with one hand that I couldn't bench press, it compared nothing to the stroll we had of what can only be described as one of the strangest collection of hippies, con artists and drug addicts I've ever seen congregate in one place. It's like a free freak show, just deluded people selling absolute garbage, whether it's advice on 'How to reset your chakra', or some bloke that has basically painted on a bunch of lightbulbs to make them more rainbowy and hippy-like, and has succeeded in two things; making them utterly useless, and then set up a stall trying to sell them for 20 dollars a piece. Next to him was a plonker selling incense stick holders. Just incense stick holders. But homemade balls of wood with holes poked in them. Is it a surprise I didn't see him selling incense sticks too? Of course not, as I'm sure he just found some balls of wood, and figured out how to hammer some holes in them. It's like saying 'Today I will sell this lampshade. I know there is no lamp to match this lampshade, but I am basically tying banana leaves into the shape of a cone, so please buy this lamp shade and stick it on something that currently operates as a bulb. Thanks.'
I saw a woman carving people's names into insanely small wooden blocks, a man who was as high as a kite offering to give you either a henna tattoo or a 'regular one', but with no sign of a needle or the ability to successfully put his cigarette in his mouth without dropping it. There was a middle-aged man just relaxing outside a cafe, in his speedos, belly hanging out and his bald head reflecting light like he was guiding ships to the coast. As he sat there reading his newspaper with way too much of his junk on display, infront of him stood his lowrider bike and a huge, real-life parrot, just sat there chilling next to his loopy owner. You just saw people wandering round yelling abuse at themselves, at random passers by, just generally behaving like zombies in an amusement park that no one was really paying attention to. There was a massive shop filled with what can only be described as hippy clothes. They sold literally one design, the one with lots of different circles going round like the typical image you might play in a film if someone in the 60s was tripping on some drugs, but just in different colours. It was one of the biggest stores we went past, and it just sold shit clothes for like 30 dollars a t-shirt, and I think being high was a pre-requisite to actually being able to buy anything here, but this didn't seem to be deterring people. I saw one woman who must've had about 8 t-shirts in her hand - Does she not have a washing machine? They're the same! Unless she is buying a uniform for her family/band/greenpeace group, I really don't know why you'd need that many. There was a blind man with so much hair that it was covering his face entirely, and he was playing the piano amazingly well. I'm actually not sure he is blind, but given that's the premice of his act, I think there is a bout a 60% chance he is not lying about that. I saw a group of teenagers dressed in aforementioned hippy gear, sitting there smoking weed, and basically begging for money with a sign that said 'Travelin on poetry'. Based on that spelling, I'm guessing poetry is a name of some drug they were smoking, as I don't know what self respecting person is donating to that group of idiots, not to eat or get housed, but by their own admission, paying them to go on holiday. The fact that someone would dare to ask me to 'sponsor' them to go on holiday pissed me off. It reminded me of the times I've seen people on my facebook wall ask for donations to a charity to go bungee jumping or sky diving. I'm sorry, bungee jumping and sky diving are things that people pay to do, and are fun and exciting, albeit scary initially, the whole point of the enjoyment is the fear followed by intense joy. So unless you're incapable of feeling the intense joy, or you have lost your arms and legs in an unfortunate accident, I'm not donating to some charity for you to go have a good time. I'd rather just give money to a charity. Why link things that are completely unrelated, and relatively speaking, not a challenge? Today I will be eating two pieces of toast with butter on - please click this link and sponsor me and help cure cancer! Erm, what? You sponsor someone to walk up kilimajaro, not to go to tescos, and similarly, I'm not sponsoring some well-intentioned idiot to do something that required minimal bravery, and something you'd do anyway.

The insanity continued as we walked down the street, and after a while the smell of weed just became something you didn't notice anymore, it was just everywhere. And I'm guessing that had a lot to do with the 'Medical clinic' painted in fluorescent green, basically selling medical prescriptions for weed. I wondered what they do when people with actual medical problems come in, perhaps the odd Chinese tourist who hadn't grasped the actual purpose of the clinic. I imagine Dr Dude isn't properly qualified in broken bones or actual medical emergencies. Saying that, you'd probably have to be high on drugs to mistake that for a doctors clinic, so you've probably ended up in the right place.

Another genuine sighting was a family of 5, one beatboxing dad, one little girl dancer aged about 3, one extremely tired looking boy aged about 6 dancing provocatively thrusting his hips out in weird and inappropriate ways, the mum sitting by the side of the road while moving her little baby around like it was also doing similar thrusting. They were all just dancing away to nonsensical beatboxing and singing from the dad while they tried to collect a few bucks in donations. I really hope for the kids' sake this was just one of their terribly poor taste hobbies, and not a way of life for them. As some passers-by found it amusing and/or 'cute', I just found it depressing. How in the world were those kids going to be normal/not a complete fuck up?

Slightly further down the road were two different desks of semi-homeless looking guys (semi-homeless doesn't initially sound like a thing, but here in California where income distribution is just something Communist Europeans do, plenty of people go broke and then go live in their car). Anyway, semi-homeless guys sitting there with signs up, offering advice for any one of your real world or spiritiual problems. These men, who haven't quite found a way to bathe themselves, fully clothe themselves, find a job or get over the need to have a drink at 10am every day - THESE men will sort you out. Tax issues? No problem, don't pay taxes. Just like Guru Dickhead over here. Health problems? No issues man, medical marijuana will sort you right out. Relationship problems? Just be your real you, and its all about love and peace. I dunno what these people would actually say, but here are genuine email addresses/ web addresses of the guys who were offering their help. Let me know how that pans out for you:

Guru number 1: shivadestroyer666@gmail.com
Guru number 2: nickythehealer.com - Having typed this in, I found him to be extremely popular online, a nutcase, but very popular. Apparently Britney Spears uses him. LOL

Zoltar at Venice Beach! 

Blind Piano player on the beach

Another update was that Sonam and I got married, officially! We still have our big fat indian wedding in February, but we needed to get an official, legal marriage at some stage, and before winter kicks in properly (which it has this week, there were clouds dammit, clouds!!), we thought we couldn't pick a more beautiful setting for a simple civil ceremony than on the quiet parts of Santa Monica beach located in Venice. It was beautiful, simple and quick, just how we always wanted it really, and although it doesn't feel MAJORLY different to be married, there's a subtle sense of happiness it brings, like a mini fist-pump sort of joy for getting something that you already sort of had. It's hard to explain, but it all feels really nice.

So once Sonam's Dad arrived, we decided to make a trip to Hollywood walk of fame. Even though I've been in LA for some time, I haven't at all felt the urge to visit this place, none of those words sound appealing; don't really like walking, don't really like the idea of being famous (rich but just under the microscope, so shit rich), and hence we haven't yet bothered. But with Sonam at uni for the day, I decided to take Sonam's folks to go do something truly LA. In summary, it was sufficiently underwhelming. It's kinda nice to be somewhere iconic, but it's just a load of stars on the road with famous people's names written on them. Pretty much, aside from the odd novelty store, that's it. It's the same reason I can't really get used to the idea of watching the oscars. I don't think I'd ever watch an award show for dentists or chefs, and I'm probably equally affected by movie people, why do we care who won? Surely it's only really relevant for someone who is an actor? Very similar for the hall of fame. And on that note, I kind of felt bad for the actors that initially got put in the centre of the hall of fame and then when your follow up film or tv show stinks, you get moved further along. How depressing! Like slowly being phased out of fame..

However, talking of depressing, I think the most depressing job I've seen out here has been found. As you walk around the walk of fame, these wannabe actors and actresses dressed in Halloween gear, imitating very poorly some random celebrity figure, one which requires as little skill as possible. Like Iron Man, or Spiderman, and they just try and shake your hand, make conversation, and try to get you to take a picture with them. If by some miracle that works, they then have to convince you to give them the 1 or 2 dollar tip. I guess I just can't imagine how depressingly aimless that job has to be. I mean, what's the best that can happen at a days work doing that? It's so loosely connected to what you want to be, and you have to dress like an idiot, behave like an idiot and then get paid peanuts while most people see you, think you're a loser, and then ignore you. I think I'd rather be a toilet cleaner, and that way just NOT get noticed, or have to dress silly, while the rest of the above still holds.

Finally, I was sat waiting for our car to be cleaned, and as with everywhere here in America, if you're gonna wait around, you may as well eat some sugar and salt and deep fried stuff. So lets just bung a cafe next to the car wash and pop the telly on. So, as I sat and ate my bagel with cream cheese (or should I say ate my tub of cream cheese with bagel), the TV was playing some 'Entertainment' 'news'. Yeah, I meant to put both of those words in quotes. Not really sure which part of bitching about people's dresses while these celebrities walk up the red carpet, kiss at the cameras like they love all those people on the other side of the lens and pose for the paperazzi, is entertainment. Or news. This shit is probably THE most braindead TV I've ever stumbled across. I think I may have learn't more, or got less wound up watching the actual fashion TV. But this was just complete, mind-numbing, infuriating, sums-up-whats-wrong-with-'News'-in-general, garbage. Three skinny mid 30s women, who are apparently PhDs in Bitching, all look at Rihanna or some other woman's dress (again these people aren't blameless - they dress insanely to get noticed, and stand around so people have time to capture all the madness so they can be part of Bitch TV the next day), and they say things like "Oh, I love Jenny, she is such a crazy cat, but a heart of gold, I love her. But this reaallllly didn't work for me, I really think she is just trying too hard and perhaps looks like she may have just lost some of her dress while getting out her car". Ok, I'm sorry, but you almost certainly don't know Jenifer Lopez, so you're almost certainly not on first name terms, and you definitely don't 'love' her, and you know nothing about her heart of gold, or anyone's there. Your information about her is compiled from idiotic magazines like People magazine and gossip columns on why Leonardo DiCaprio hates his kids because he seems to be growing his hair out (I dunno, but you get the gist). You have no idea who she is, you just said you liked her, and then to make yourself seems edgy and fun, you then went and gave her a nice little bitchy comment with some vague notion of fashion so it's not completely mean, and then had a giggle with dickhead 2 and 3 sat next to you. The fact people like that get paid, the fact this was on TV, the fact it's encouraged by the celebrities who get famous because of it, the fact people bloody watch it (WHY?! WHY DO YOU CARE WHAT SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW YOU WEARS TO A SHOW?!), all of everything to do with that just drove me mental. In summary, I hate 'Entertainment' 'News'.

Anyway, we had a lovely thanksgiving dinner at a place on Santa Monica beach yesterday, it was nice to finally get slightly involved in the tradition, even if it is based on a story of immigrant invasion and pillage of a people etc. But hey, I'm not American, I don't really know anything other than if it helps people be nice to each other, then great. Well, until today, Black Friday, when we all smash each others faces in to get 50 dollars off on a TV. Hell yeah!

Happy thanksgiving!

LA Continued..

"The end of the year is fast approaching". A common phrase, and a ridiculous, slightly nonsensical sentence, but one fairly apt for the last few days. As I booked our trip to Hawaii, it started to feel really close, which is bad for two reasons. 1) The obvious one - the trip is coming to an end, and even though it feels like we have nearly seen everything we wanted to on the West Coast, this feeling of sunshine and freedom is ticking away, and I keep looking at the date the same way I used to check my credit on my phone as a teenager; nervously. and 2) I'm not really in any better shape, and if this trip is nearly over, so are my hopes and dreams of being in shape for my wedding. Ah well!

On that note, it's not been for a lack of trying with the whole getting in shape thing. This week was mostly gyming, taking advantage of being in LA for a change, and although no more famous people spotted, we have been doing the only other thing to do in LA, which is exercise. We tried out the boxing/cardio/strength class, and although not kick boxing, it was incredible. Perhaps when you look at calories burned, it helps to already be kinda heavy, but according to the nifty Heart Rate gadget they attach to you, I burnt 900 calories approximately in the hour-long class, and I have to say, it was ridiculously hard, but lots of fun. Unlike the trainers at the circuit training, these guys push you a lot more, and do so without making you feel totally inadequate. It worked for me definitely, and they combined weights, cardio and boxing training really well in what turned out to be my favourite class yet. Plus it helps there was no search for "inner peace" at the end of the class. Almost didn't know what to do with myself without someone telling me how much over 100% I should be putting in to 'my life inside of here and outside'. I wish I'd discovered it a bit sooner, but I'll most certainly be heading back. 

The other thing I finally tried was going to the shooting range. I've had to be so careful how I word that experience after the tragedy in Paris, and it felt kind of insensitive to be going the day after the attacks, but at the same time, thinking about it rationally, its completely detached, and as long as I'm not posting pictures of me doing that while people are mourning, and simultaneously changing my profile pic to the France flag, I figured it was fine to go experience this seemingly strange, very American hobby. (Not to mention I'd quite like to live in this country, and a picture of me waving around an AK-47 probably isn't going to do me any favours.)

If you do watch the video, you'll agree it's just a little bit strange. It obviously sounds like what it would in a war-zone, something very hard to get used to. When I got there, I was a little bit in shock. The first few minutes, I couldn't stop jumping at the sound of bullets, and when we registered (took under 5 minutes to write your name down and buy some bullets), you just head to the range. What I was most astounded by, other than how busy and big the place was, was the extremely diverse range of people that were there. You had the stereotypical old white male with cowboy-esque gear on, but then you had biker guys, Chinese nerdy guys, young couples, groups of girls hanging out, parents who had brought their kids to just carry bullets and guns and what not. I'm sure it's mostly me being judgemental, but you read in the news how the proportion of the American public that the NRA (big pro-gun lobby in the US) represent is very miniscule. I expected it to be an equally poorly represented sample at the range, and it wasn't. Simon, the friend who generously took me there along with his friend, who will forever in my memory be known as 'mate', is an enthusiast. And knowing him for years, I know his interest in guns comes from nothing violent, but just a general interest in getting good at what is an extremely challenging skill, combined with the ability to do incredibly difficult things with better equipment. And, having tried it, it is very much something that's easy to get into. I enjoyed the challenge of aiming for targets, and I enjoyed challenging myself to get better as the day went on. Saying that, I think if you made any game hard enough, I'd be willing to try and get better at it. However, I will go as far to say I can see the appeal. It's a difficult skill, and playing around with these dangerous toys to hone that specific skill is challenging, and within that comes the entertainment. But the diversity of who it appealed to, and the plethora of guns and ammunition just lying around, all extremely easy to access, extremely easy to own, and although it depends upon the common sense of individuals to not screw up and do something stupid, the fact that people are trusted with that over here is, to me at least, mind blowing! We aren't trusted to walk across a recently mopped corridor in the UK without giving us a prior warning, but here in America, you drive up to this place, get your guns out, buy some bullets, and go for it. It's not like it's unsafe, its very very safe, but to a novice like me, I can't help but notice I'm surrounded by a load of killing mechanisms, and it just seems odd you'd allow us to take the risk. I dunno, it seems like a hotly contested topic here, and I'm no expert, but for whatever reason, the right to own your own gun seems to be very important to many Americans. As an outsider, I just don't get why you'd want to introduce that random variable in your society, when, to the average individual, its perfectly acceptable to just regulate it. 

Our friend Neeraj from Berkeley has been here the last few days, and was equally taken aback by the whole gun thing, but also equally entertained. We proceeded to explore Hollywood, Bel Air, Santa Monica beach, Beverley Hills all in the space of an afternoon. Having travelled predominantly with Sonam the past few years, I had forgotten what 'boyish tourism' was like (I have written that term a dozen different ways, but it still sounds peadophilic and/or gay). Anyhow, what I mean is tourism with a group of guys is very different to tourism with girls. With girls you have to tick off all the famous spots, go take a nice picture at the area, google the best food and drink places in the area, perhaps read something in the vicinity, even better, manage to be at the ideal spot at sunset, tag yourself on facebook when at the place, the whole shebang.. With guys, its more a case of having driven through it, and gained a brief idea of what it was (e.g. 'I think this bit is Hollywood'), and if it looks busy, keep driving/walking. This is until you see something very very cool, in which case perhaps try slowing down and taking a picture whilst driving past, all up until you get a) hungry - (which doesn't involve tripadvisoring the 'cutest spot in the area', but just seeing what the next place was after discovering you were hungry) or b) somewhere not so busy, so you can continue sitting down, but this time stationary as opposed to cruising around. So yes, much tourism was done on Sunday with Neeraj and his friend, so many sights and amazing parts of LA were discovered. But perhaps in a much more real sense, nothing was actually seen, other than the 30 minutes we spent in the coffee shop in a supermarket. It was a nice supermarket.. 

I feel compelled to at least mention the shootings in Paris, and without going into the complexities of it, I'd like to say it was extremely shocking to read about the terrorist attacks, even from all the way over here in LA. It is so sad and frustrating, and I've read so many half informed views out there that can only be viewed as one dimensional and hurtful. However, yes, its sad that people cared about France after the attacks more than those in Beirut. I wish it weren't that way, but I think it's human to care more about something closer to home, especially if in your mind, things like this happen more frequently in the Middle East. I don't think it's mutually exclusive that if you care about one you don't the other, and people that change their profile picture to support France aren't necessarily being unperturbed by that of Beirut. But people are probably not informed, or perhaps aren't as scared by it because it feels far away and in a land where this sort of stuff supposedly 'happens'. Yes, in an ideal world, it'd be nice if the same amount of press coverage was given to all human disasters, but there is a reason why celebrity gossip gets more newspaper space than the daily deaths in the Middle East or Africa. News is effectively now a form of entertainment, and people are 'entertained' by news pertaining to them, or about famous people that they find interesting. The problem is not so much with people being bad, but probably a mixture of the way society is used to seeing the news, and news channels and newspapers perpetuating this phenomenon by focusing solely on ratings, turning news and information into more vapid, soul-less machines that fulfil our desire to be 'informed' on the world, as long as it's not too unbearable to watch and we can still empathise with those affected. The below front cover sort of sums it up - nice little bit in the corner about the Paris attacks.. (OK not the greatest examples of news, but still, sums up what some people care more about reading)

The other sad side effect is the rise of the far-right wing, already flooding my facebook feed (I should really review who I am friends with), about how essentially we should be wary of all immigrants, especially muslims. That seems to be the general gist, and the comments on these posts then revolve around Muslims hating on Americans and the West saying how this was all caused by them and the invasion of Iraq, and then there is a countless number of people who blame the religion who supposedly facilitates this sort of behaviour. I hope both these very aggressive, yet easy to believe if you're gullible, views subside, and we return to a society which is on the whole, accepting of difference, and not recoiling in anger at things we don't fully understand. At least until I get my bloody visa approved, alright?? Only kidding. But yes, hope we return to peaceful times sooner rather than later.