Often a personal spirituality creates both a sense of wonder and appreciation of the natural world, promotes a feeling of being part of a larger whole, and encourages thinking of humanity as a shared experience. Those are all good things.
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Had a weird shitty weekend. I know that’s odd to complain about on a Thursday but its taken me a while to decompress from it.
Was scheduled for orientation for my new job on the 18th, but my wife thought it would be fun to get out of the house and drive a bit this weekend so we were planning to drive down to San Diego since neither of us had been (about a 7-8 hour drive.)
Saturday morning we get up at 3, drive down to Los Angeles and explore the sites in the area. Get some too go lunch and dinner (Phillipes original, which was fantastic for lunch, totally forget what we had for dinner now.) Explore around the city in a “If we moved down south where would we want to live” type way (In: Burbank, Rancho Palos Verdes, Irvine. Out: Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Pasadena) and had a really nice Saturday. Stayed the night in Irvine, planning to go to San Diego early, spend a few hours and then drive back the next day.
Sunday morning we leave about six, travel down to Ssn Diego, stop in Capistrano to fog watch for a bit then head to San Diego. Pull off in downtown about 8, and head towards Gaslamp. Stop at a stoplight, light turns green, press the accelerator and… nothing. Car doesn’t move.
Fuck. Turn car off and back on. Press gas, car moves but loud whine noise and sputtering. Pull into a metered spot and call roadside assistance.
Then we look for a mechanic to tow the car to. And
Every
Fucking
Mechanic
Is closed on Sunday. We finally find a hole in the wall about 5 miles away and call the tow truck. Wait is gonna be about an hour so I figure I’ll go walk to the nearest rental place and rent a car. Safer covidwise to rent a car than get an uber or whatever, and our insurance covers it. Look up nearest rental place on google, they are open but when I try to call it takes me to the national hotline and I’m not dealing with that shit so I walk about a mile… its closed. Fuck.
Ok, let’s try this other one. Google says they are open, national call line. Walk about a mile. Closed. Fuck!
Fuck it, airport is just down the road. Walk two miles back to my family, call uber. Take us to airport, rent a car. Talk to the mechanic on the phone. Good and bad news. Bad news: tyranny fluid is dark, thick and muddy. Took three flushes to clear out the gunk. Good news, everything seems to be running fine, head to him. Pay 400. Fuck.
Get car. Driving smoothly, still want to make it home that day. Drive around for about half an hour to make sure everything is cool, drive back to the airport to return car. Dude gives us half off. Nice guy, thanks.
Get back in car, bout lunchtime, head back to downtown to pick up lunch before we head out. Pull off freeway, stop at light, whine, sputter FUCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK.
Wife looks up nearest hotel, about .1 miles downhill. Fuck it, we are staying the night.
Tldr: tyranny is fucked (3K miles over warranty, hooray immediate obsolescences!). Car is in San Diego. Rented another car on Monday and drove home, missing orientation until next Monday.
Likely have to rent ANOTHER car this weekend (or possibly fly, fuck doing 8 hours both ways) to head down there and pick up the car. Hoping I dont get stranded on the drive back and have to miss orientation again.
On the plus side. @skydiver8 SD is beautiful and we did enjoy our time forced to stay there for a night. Real possibility of a move there in the future if you have living suggestions.
@LFS and @Microbet, also a big possibility of a move to LA area in the future. Irvine really impressed us for how clean and pleasant the area was. Any suggestions about best places to live down there?
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Amen, brother. It always is.
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“Philly DA” is an 8 part series on PBS about Larry Krasner. He’s a former activist and civil rights attorney who was surprisingly elected DA of Philadelphia in 2017 and immediately enacted sweeping reforms in how the office operates, including firing a LOT of the former ADAs at the office.
Watched the first three episodes last night. So far, highly recommended.
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The general approach for most people in LA is to select where they’re going to live based upon where they’re going to work. Traffic is still relatively COVID-good now, but normally it’s just ludicrous. Spending hours in the car every day severely reduces quality of life.
If that’s not a factor for you and your wife, then my question is: what appeals to you about SoCal/LA? That would help determine what areas make sense. Also, renting or buying? Are kids in your near-future plans?
With all that said, I live in Glendale, which is between Burbank and Pasadena. This general corner of LA has a lot to offer imo, including Eagle Rock, La Crescenta, and areas closer to the city like Highland Park, Glassell Park, Mount Washington. But it would really suck to live near here and work in Santa Monica, that’s for sure.
If I had to live in Orange County, Irvine would likely be the choice, but I generally have an anti-OC bias.
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Irvine is a great place to raise a family but it is one of the most expensive cities to live in I’ve ever seen. It’s also very very boring. Crime rate practically zero thanks to a real gestapo police force that’ll send 5 squad cars out for a traffic infraction (seriously dont fuck with irvine pd). I live in a city that is adjacent. More working class and more crime but reasonable cost of living, and closer to the beach.
What are we to make of this sometimes harrowing, sometimes picaresque tale of a man backing his way into wealth, albeit the kind that is only modestly absurd in an era of oligarchic billionaires? Hunter Biden is no billionaire; he is simply one of the many sons and daughters of wealth and power bumbling along in the United States, making do with merely millions or tens of millions of dollars. He’s a glorious dummy who is too beloved by his powerful family either to fail or to find a genuine opportunity to succeed on his own. In an older sort of feudal order, he’d have been trained for the clergy or sent him off to an army. In today’s neofeudal order, he will simply sit on boards and provide vague advice to “clients,” forever convinced he’s really being paid for what he has to say.
A review of Hunter Biden’s memoir
Hunter Biden Is the Unwitting Poster Boy for Our Sham Meritocracy - In These Times
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American films also love having a similar filter for anywhere in the Middle East or Africa, always making it look like a desert or some shit.
How could a town with a Dave and Busters be boring? UNPOSSIBLE
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Like it’s perpetually about an hour before sunset.
It’s funny too because that’s literally the image I had in my head for all of Mexico before I went there - dry, dusty, golden-hued desert.
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Bet every dollar you can borrow on this fight, 5% ROI isn’t bad!
RIP Logan Paul
Mayweather will probably just clown him with defense, he’s not gonna Drederick Tatum him.
Yea it’s gonna be mayweather dancing around the ring for 10 rounds and then unanimous decision for mayweather because boxing has completely fallen as a sport and is an embarrassment (i say this as a huge boxing fan)
Probably for the best, with the CTE and all.
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