Working Again

I just finished my first week at my new job. It feels great to be back at the "grind" again. I was off for just about a month. When the recruiter called to tell me I was going to be offered the job, he asked when I could start. I said "Monday. I found myself getting tempted to watch Jerry Springer and I'm scared!"

A little about the job. I am the Senior Accountant at American Trust Deed Services, Inc. in Van Nuys, CA. I am being paid 10% more than I was at Delta Shipping Supplies and Lunatic Asylum.

Although the commute is about 20 miles one way, I have been driving in for the first week. I will evaluate the effect of traffic on my serenity after a few weeks and decide if I would be better off taking rapid transit like Mark does. The up side of the Metro system is that it is cheaper ($60.00 per month, as opposed to $100.00+ for gasoline). Also, there is the fact that I can relax on the trip and read, listen to music or just people watch. The down side is that the time factor is much longer. I dragged poor Mark with me last Saturday on the Metro and it took almost 2 hours as opposed to 30-45 minutes by car. I guess I should be grateful to have such "Luxury Problems" when so many people are out of work with little to no prospects.

Now that I am working again, our wedding is back on the front burner. Yesterday, we spent a long time looking for wedding rings. We both have slightly different ideas about the perfect design, but we are both willing to compromise so I have complete confidence that we can arrive at a solution upon which we can both agree.

I am going to try to include a picture on my new office here, so wish me luck.

More later.

Car Dealerships in the Bowels of Hell

Actually they were in the bowels of Van Nuys. But when it's 110 in the shade (what a great name for a musical!) Van Nuys Boulevard does feel like the bowels of hell. Except there are more pawn shops than in hell. In fact, there are no car dealerships in hell, because everyone is forced to walk or take the bus (two versions of hell to anyone in Los Angeles).

We were on the streets of Van Nuys at the peak of the day's heat because STEVE GOT A JOB!

I write that like I'm surprised he did, and I'm not. He's got good skill sets and a great personality, so who wouldn't want to hire him? He had had an initial interview that went very well, and a second interview with both partners in the firm, and on Thursday last he was offered the job. The pay is 10 percent above his last position, which is a plus, but it's also in Van Nuys (about 22 miles away from Pasadena) so that's a nonplus. Basically, it means his entire raise would be eaten up by the cost of gas to and from the job. So he turned to my expertise on riding the commuter rails here in L.A., and asked me to go on a trip with him, tracing what his daily commute would be on the Metro system.

We took off from the Lake Avenue Gold Line station at 11:45. His commute will take him on the Gold Line into Union Station, then on the Red Line to North Hollywood, then on the Orange line to Van Nuys and, finally, on the bus up Van Nuys Boulevard to Victory Boulevard, which is about a block from his new work.

We clocked the commute at about one hour and forty minutes via this route. And we were lucky enough to get most of the local color, like the crackhead homies who never stop talking, with 70 percent of their vocabulary made up of the words "fuck," "shit" and "nigger" (or variations on them). There's the women I refer to as zombie munchkins: Diminutive ladies who get on the train or bus and stand, blocking the passages and doors, ignoring everyone and staring into space with hard little resentful pouts on their faces. If they have a baby stroller, they can be downright dangerous.

Then there's the religious zealots who often speak no English at all, gesticulating and trying to save you in their own peculiar tongues. And don't forget the acrobatic schizophrenics, a peculiar subgenre who talk and gesticulate angrily at the demons sitting next to them who are tormenting and saying unpleasant things. And, of course, the people who are talking on their cell phones until you notice that they have no phone and are conversing with their own imaginary friends.

Don't get me wrong, you may meet one of these specialities once or twice a month on the average commute: They don't like traveling during the rush hours. But on the weekends they seem to ride just for the fun of it.

On a brighter note, there's also a commuter express bus (more like a tour bus) that leaves from the Lake Avenue station and travels directly into the San Fernando Valley, stopping at Van Nuys Boulevard. It might be a little nicer, but it doesn't run as frequently. Also, there is his car and the freeways; the old-fashioned way to get around L.A. So Steve's going to drive in, at least for the first week, then check out the other modes and see which form of transport works best for him. And like I keep telling everyone, you don't have to take the train, but it's always an economic option.

So now we're both commuting 20-some miles from Pasadena to work. The poor cats will have to wait for someone to get home at seven or so in the evenings to feed them dinner. Poor puddy tats.

More as Steve's job progresses or hot things explode in Hollywood.

And, oh yeah, my cousin Robin is showing up on "The Bold and the Beautiful" every day now. She hasn't left Paris yet, but it's only a matter of time. Tune in at 12:30 p.m. PDT on CBS (check your local listings) and watch what happens.

And Click here to see her interview on the red carpet at the Daytime Emmys at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood (and see a lovely advertisement beforehand)!

Get Me to the Church On Time II

You may have read a post previously on this blog about the wedding of our friends Ed and Vicki. The phrase "get me to the church on time" had a different meaning back then.

One of the weirdest things about contemplating marriage for Steve and myself (and every other gay couple in California) is the ugly specter of the constitutional amendment initiative on the November ballot. (The gentlemen in the photo with their backs to the camera are eager to implant oppression into that document. They were present at the marriage of the lesbian couple who brought the case before the supreme court in the first place). And while all the information I can glean says that, even if the thing passes (a simple majority is all that's needed), it will most likely be overturned in the courts as being a revision of the constitution rather than an amendment, since it would alter the basic rights already set down in the document. Blah blah blah. It all adds up to the same thing: November 4 may be the end of a "free ride" for gay couples, and it may be months or years until it's all settled for sure.

So fear and dread have become a part of the planning process for the wedding. And concern over the ability to even get a license after the elections is a very real one. But gay people are incredibly strong and resilient (one has to be), and so I think we've figured out a way to meet our needs and still celebrate with our friends and family when the time comes.

Steve and I are going to get a marriage license and have a civil ceremony sometime before November, but we're not going to exchange our own vows or rings until we can wed before family and friends (and have a really good party, too). This way we can add our union to the thousands that will have been performed before the vote, ensure we have a valid document before anything hits the fan legally and politically, and still hold off celebrating until we can do so with the people who are important to us.

So it's vital now that we all defeat this amendment. Your wedding invitation depends on it! Bring it up with everyone; discuss it with people you know and help them understand your reasons for voting against it. Speak often and from the heart. Make it cocktail conversation of the first order. Let people know how wrong it is to put restrictions on human rights into the basic documents of our democracy, because once we allow one restrictive clause into one document, all become targets for every zealot of every era to use as a repressive social tool.

A straight person once asked Steve, "We have so many derogatory names for gays; what names do you have for straight people?"

You know, there aren't any. I've heard them referred to as "breeders," but that's in jest.

We don't spend any energy hating straight people. It doesn't make sense. They're our friends, our family, our coworkers, and the world without them would be a terrible, emptier place.

Isn't that the whole point?

An Update

It's been a bit since I put anything down here, probably because not a lot has happened. I was going to hold off until Sunday, but I seem to have time today to make an entry, so here I am. Above, check out the optical illusion I found online. I'm not sure if it will resolve once posted on the blog site, but we'll give it a try. (A hint: it's called "rotating snakes").

Two things have occurred on the wedding front: Steve and I both have our best men. Steve's friend John has agreed to be his best man, and my cousin Robin has agreed to be mine. We're talking about having the ceremony in March, April, May of next year.

Well, I actually have some work to get to here at work. Hope to add something more soon.

Krispy King Kong

On my drive in to the office today, I was greeted by this sight (although from a different angle; thanks to AP for this shot). Seems the Universal Studios are burning again. I say again, because the New York streets back lot burned down in 1990 but was later rebuilt since it's used in so many productions.

This time around the New York streets back lot burned once again, along with the "Back to the Future" town square set, a good part of the King Kong exhibit on the studio tour and a video/film vault building. It was rather impressive, since the fire started at 4:30 in the morning; I was driving by nearly seven hours later and it was still spewing black smoke. But you have to admit, all that stuff was a lot to burn.

It says something about living in Hollywood that, seeing a huge column of black smoke rising from one of the larger studios lots, my first thought was that a film was shooting and this was just a very good special effect. Upon arriving at work, however, I found that it was not make believe, but a reality.

Now, more than ever, it's important not to buy pirated DVDs. Universal has to get its billions of dollars back (never mind its thorough insurance coverage; feel sorry for them). My personal suspicion is that they wanted to 86 the King Kong ride to make way for a newer franchise and this was a good way to do it. Anyway, Universal Studios Theme Park is not open today. I'm sure City Walk (the mall outside the theme park) is in full swing, as there are sure to be gawkers with money to spend.

Steve has had his first full week of unemployment and is doing just fine. He's in the process of getting a background check and clearance for a company that sends out long-term temps, some of them in the entertainment industry. I told him there was lots of work in that area for people who wanted to work on contract, since most accounting and bookkeeping happens while production is going, then things wrap and the books go back into the studios, where the REAL accounting magic happens. In any case, I'm sure something will come up soon for him. And if he enjoys the temp gig, you can make a pretty nice piece of change, including benefits, if the temp company wants you.

Everyone got back from the Cannes Film Festival this last week, so I'm hoping things will get back to normal at work. It was nice to see our art director Deeann come through the door today, and I'm hoping a little sanity will follow in her wake. You have to remember that we launched the redesign and then a week later everyone left for Cannes, so this is the first time we'll have a full workforce on the paper since we made the big change.

Nothing much else to report. I'm reconsidering my statement that tropical Tiki is tacky (say that three times fast) as a wedding theme. I kind of like the idea of getting hitched in my best Hawaiian shirt with a big tropical flower boutoniere. Steve seems to think it can be tastefully done and I'm always up for a challenge.

I'll log back on when something else explodes or burns down here in LaLaLand.