Ooompa Loompa Exploitation
The L.A. County Museum had an outdoor screening of Willy Wonka tonight and of course Wonka aficionado George was game for going. It quickly turned ugly when a Oompa Loompa started making the rounds. I actually kinda felt bad for them as this is either one of many Oompa Loompa gigs during the year or it’s the absolute last job you want to take as a dwarf or little person. Not midget, according to the P.C. guidebook. They even had games for the kids, one involving chasing down the Ooopa Loompa. So sad. Not sad enough to not get the requisite photo with the orange bugger. I’d be an angry dwarf if all the roles I were offered were leprecauns, munchkins, ewoks, Ooopa Loompas, a Santa’s elves, hobbits, etc. All the more reason to see “The Station Agent” [LINK].
Out my window at work sits this little hummingbird. I noticed him a few months ago. They’re very territorial so he chases off other birds fairly frequently. He always sits on that one branch no matter how windy.
According to Websters Dictionary, Polyphonic is “a style of musical compostion in which two or more independent melodies are juxtoposed in harmony”, and Spree is defined as “an unrestrained indulgence in or outburst of an activity”. Exactly. That said, when you mix a great idea with a little bit of Jon Anderson from Yes, David Bowie’s “Five Years”, the 70’s Coke commercial, the musical Hair, the bus from the Partridge Family, a cult from Texas, Genesis’ “Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”, and throw in a little bit of the theremin solo in Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and you end up with a thing called “The Polyphonic Spree” [
Oy, High School Reunion. What I thought was going to be an awkward few hours of staring at people that looked somewhat familiar, it turned into an allnight blabfest with just a few disappointing no-shows. I wasn’t really all that interested in going and even got to the hotel room and started watching Shawshank Redemption before finally entering the fray. First off, 80’s popular music absolutely sucked. All it’s good for now is dancing at weddings. What a horrible legacy it’s left behind. The music selection was just a fright. Oh and the dinner… a chicken leg, a dollop of potatoes, and a bed of vegetables. Blech. Terrible. It was in a tent set up outside the Marriott and called the Lanai Terrace. Now, I haven’t been to Lanai, but I guarantee this was nothing like Lanai. I got my little wristband and it was good to walk in and immediately get recognized by the old gang. All said, no one’s really changed that much. Only one person in the whole class I would say I wouldn’t recognize on the street. Most of the clique barriers were down and people were inter-mingling quite fluidly. Except one set of girls, which wasn’t surprising as they were the “popular” clique anyway. They seemed much less popular tonight because of that. I had one guy come up to me and look at my name tag and say, “Nope, didn’t hang out with you”, and then walked off. It was funny though, not rude.
I’m not the biggest fan of deserts, but those two or three hours at sunrise and sunset can be amazing. Also never having been to Joshua Tree National Park, it has always been in the back of my mind to make a pilgrimage. That was this weekend. There are even billboards in the area that say homes in the “Low 100’s”. There are homes for sale someplace that are less than $800,000 dollars??? Who knew. That’d only be a 6 hour commute per day without traffic.
Lion, a tiger, no bears. Oh my. My feet hurt. It’s probably been 30 years since I went to the Wild Animal Park on a yellow bus with my elementary school. I remember thinking the animals were so far away. I think it’s changed a lot because I also don’t remember walking that much. I’m pretty lazy but it’s obviously expanded beyond the tram ride. Anyway, the animals were very cooperative in getting their portraits taken today. The gorilla was a little shy but the pelican was hamming it up. The scariest thing there are the catfish that have grown to the size of humpback whales thanks to the amount of food they’re given. They steal the food from the ducks. I am once again reminded that most animals smell bad. On the way out we passed some women [
Alaska Airlines flight 283. The beginning of the nightmare. Alaska Airlines I hate you. I left work early after a late night of packing Thursday and a long day at work. Got to the airport and checked in with plenty of time but there was no plane. I guess they had to find one? They found one on the other side of the airport, but empty. It ended up being an hour late. My flight from Seattle to Victoria only as a 1/2 hour layover. They better haul ass and get me and this plane up there. Alaska Airlines I hate you.
Since my flight left an hour late I was already behind, but they said they would let us deboard first so we could take a shuttle to the other gate. After running around the airport like a chicken getting chased by a cleaver I give in and asked an Alaska gate employee how do I get to “S” terminal. She looks at the screen and tells me that flight has already left. I hate you Alaska Airlines. Now I’m going to have to call the Empress Hotel and hope they don’t charge me. Also the rental car. Long story short Alaska put me up in some skank hotel next to a bar and grill. I only call it skank because I was supposed to be sleeping restfully at the The Empress tonight in Victoria. The plan was to get into Victoria and sleep in before the wedding in the afternoon. Now I was not only up late but had to get up early to catch the flight out in the morning. Sea-Tac is one messed up airport for being so small. Their satellite terminals truly suck. You SUCK Sea-Tac airport. Alaska Airlines, you suck too. Missed flight, crappy hotel I didn’t want to be in, I missed the sleep I needed, and you gave me two, count them, two expired calling cards so I could cancel my hotel and car rental in Victoria. Alaska Airlines I hate you. I’m supposed to be in Canada. So I called the Empress on my own dime and they were cool enough not to charge me for the cancelled night, and the car rental I didn’t worry about. I was going to be there in 8 hours anyway.
Did a drive by of the church to make sure I knew I was going and then did a little site seeing around the city. Got to the church at 1:45 and no one was there. The doors were closed and not a single car in the parking lot. For a wedding that was supposed to start at 2pm this was way alarming. Had I missed the memo? I flew all the way to Canada and I’m sitting in an empty parking lot with a tie on and no phone numbers to call anyone. Finally the door opened about 5 til and a bus pulled up and a bunch of people piled out. Maybe I did miss some memo, because I certainly didn’t hear about a bus. I hadn’t seen Felix in about three years so it was funny to see him al nervous. I’ll spare the blow by blow of the wedding. but of course we stood up and sat down a lot for an hour. Then they kissed and off we went to the reception. I had the bright idea of following the photographers over because I figured they’d get there the fastest. Being locals and knowing the area I’m knew they’d take shortcuts to the castle. Good lord, did they ever. It was like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride as we jetted across town bending the traffic laws here and there. I even peeled out at one corner. This mini-van kicks ass.
Monday I had tried to book a flight on a pontoon boat to fly over the Cascade range on Washington’s northern coast but the flight times didn’t work for me. So I hoped in the car and headed up the west coast of Vancouver Island. I’d read about a place called the Sooke River Sinkholes and thought it might be a good day trip. I pulled into the car park after about an hour and paid my $3 day use fee. I decided to check it out a bit before I committed to a longer hike into the river area, so I took just my camera and left my swimsuit behind. Thought I’d see if the water was warm enoiugh to go swimming. As I got to the first little offshoot from the trail I saw a man and woman and their two dogs down by the river. I couldn’t really make much out through the trees, and I didn’t want to bother them so I hiked up about another 50 yards to an overlook. I relaized the next river entrance is probably quite a ways up so I decided to quickly go down to the rivers edge by the two people and check the water. As I started down the path the dogs saw me and kept playing, but the man was in the water with his pantlegs pulled up. He was splashing around while the woman videotaped him. I then noticed he was wearing these pinstriped overalls with red back pockets and stitching that looked like little animals. Giraffes, zebras, kangaroos etc. Then as I got real close he noticed me and yanked something out of his mouth and turned his back to me. Uh oh, red alert, something’s going on here. I kept looking at him from the corner of my eye as I knelt down to touch the water and got a glimpse of what he pulled out of his mouth. A pacifier! Holy shit he’s an Adult Baby! He was playing and acting like a baby for the video and I just happened upon their dirty little secret. That’s what you get for walking around the canadian wilderness on a non-holiday Monday. You think you’re going to be alone. Anyway, I left them behind and walked back to the car to pick up the rest of my stuff to hike farther in. There was one car that I had parked by that was still there. As I walked up I noticed a “Baby On Board” sign but no baby seat. The back seat was down with dog hair all over it and the front seat had a mobile hanging down, and again no baby seat. Many thanks to the many daytime talk shows I know what adult babies are. They walked pass on my way back up the hill and I think they were a little nervous about me seeing the show. The Sooke river was great and I ended up driving farther north to the coast and saw a Bald Eagle. Then late in the day made my way back to the airport and watched a movie shoot while waiting for my plane. No travel woes on the way home.
The long pale winter. Need some sun. The mission: Go to see redwoods in Northern California. Accomplished? Hell yes. Occasionally you take a trip that turns out to be way more than you thought it would be. I took off Saturday morning and jetted up to Oakland and hung with Keith a bit. We plowed through a Pizza at Zachary’s [
Last year friend Eric [
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