Road trip, part trois
Oct. 24th, 2005 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veronica_rich"Go west, young man!" Wasn't that Horatio Alger? Or maybe any east coast boss who's fired an annoying employee? Oh well, nevermind.
In October 1999, a friend, Lisa from Wichita, and I drove roughly 1,343,230 light-years to Los Angeles to stay with a mutual friend for a week. Both journalists, we were in pursuit of interviews and sunshine. Well, at least we got plenty of the latter. (Quick fact: For separate reasons, she wanted to interview Ian McKellan and I wanted to interview Liv Tyler - we couldn't, because both had just flown out to New Zealand to work on some indie flick nobody's heard of since. "Lord of the Circles" or some such - I think it played in a few art houses and then fizzled out.)
I suppose there's a lot I could write about this trip. The 32 hours nonstop on the way there, during which neither of us got sleep; the 36 hours back, pretty much ditto on the sleep. But we saw purdy mountains!
And Mojave deserts! Woo!
(And, repeat for 200 or so miles.) There was only one gas station for like 200 miles, and in the late 1999 it was charging nearly $2 a gallon. Now? YOU figure it out.
In other news, I had 5 green apples confiscated by the border guard at the California border, osentsibly because the state has such a thriving fruit industry and does not want to import diseases or bugs riding piggyback on other goods. I think the border guards were just hungry, though. When I said "Missouri green apples" they had to think about it for a good two minutes before deciding, "Uh, no, you can't take those with you. Sorry." (Yeah, right, assholes. Enjoy 'em before they shrivel, courtesy of my mother!)
Finally, we see the end of sand at 100 mph and come to asphalt and everyone else in the free world driving 100 mph.
Me (on phone to Liz, our friend in L.A., somewhere along the Pasadena Parkway outside L.A.): Which exit do we take?
Stacy: *spouts some number, unremembered now*
Me: *repeats to Lisa, who is driving*
Lisa (after 10 more miles): I'm not seeing it.
Me (back on phone): I think you gave us the wrong exit number.
Stacy: No, trust me, it's there.
Me (remember, 32 hours no sleep): NO, OMG, THAT EXIT DOESN'T EXIST, YOU'RE DELUDED!
Lisa: Um ... was that it?
Me: Where?
Lisa: About 200 feet back there.
Me: X.X
Actually, once you've driven around Los Angeles for a couple of days, it's not so bad. You look for landmarks. A LOT. Like Beverly Hills, represented below by perhaps the worst photo to ever exist of the place, for sheer boring-ness.
I got a few good photos out of the place, though. Like Los Angeles valley from Mulholland Drive (no, that's not Julia Roberts in the foreground, it's Lisa):
Or the view of the Pacific coast just a bit south of Santa Barbara, toward Pismo Beach (there's a Bugs Bunny joke somewhere in there):
Or maybe even John Lithgow at a red-carpet event at the Dorothy Parker Pavillion, where they used to hold the Oscar ceremonies. We went to a Los Angeles Symphony reading of "Midsummer's Night Dream" and ran into a boatload of celebrities up-close and personal. (You do NOT realize how tiny and thin Portia de Rossi is in real life, geez. Or how wildly unkempt David E. Kelley looks.)
(John's sort of in the distance in the center, there. Yeah, the riffraff had to keep back.)
And one of the last things I saw was Stacy's ferret, Tribble. Ferrets are illegal in California. But you'll never get Stacy's address out of ME.
And then it was out of there and back toward home ... after an earthquake, of course (7.3, only 100 miles from downtown L.A. - maybe you saw on the news the Amtrak train derailed in the Mojave Desert? Yeah, we drove by it), then eons of desert, then a blizzard in New Mexico at freakin' MIDNIGHT that lasted for eight inches. DID I MENTION IT WAS FUCKING NEW MEXICO?
And, I can't wait to do it again!
In October 1999, a friend, Lisa from Wichita, and I drove roughly 1,343,230 light-years to Los Angeles to stay with a mutual friend for a week. Both journalists, we were in pursuit of interviews and sunshine. Well, at least we got plenty of the latter. (Quick fact: For separate reasons, she wanted to interview Ian McKellan and I wanted to interview Liv Tyler - we couldn't, because both had just flown out to New Zealand to work on some indie flick nobody's heard of since. "Lord of the Circles" or some such - I think it played in a few art houses and then fizzled out.)
I suppose there's a lot I could write about this trip. The 32 hours nonstop on the way there, during which neither of us got sleep; the 36 hours back, pretty much ditto on the sleep. But we saw purdy mountains!
And Mojave deserts! Woo!
(And, repeat for 200 or so miles.) There was only one gas station for like 200 miles, and in the late 1999 it was charging nearly $2 a gallon. Now? YOU figure it out.
In other news, I had 5 green apples confiscated by the border guard at the California border, osentsibly because the state has such a thriving fruit industry and does not want to import diseases or bugs riding piggyback on other goods. I think the border guards were just hungry, though. When I said "Missouri green apples" they had to think about it for a good two minutes before deciding, "Uh, no, you can't take those with you. Sorry." (Yeah, right, assholes. Enjoy 'em before they shrivel, courtesy of my mother!)
Finally, we see the end of sand at 100 mph and come to asphalt and everyone else in the free world driving 100 mph.
Me (on phone to Liz, our friend in L.A., somewhere along the Pasadena Parkway outside L.A.): Which exit do we take?
Stacy: *spouts some number, unremembered now*
Me: *repeats to Lisa, who is driving*
Lisa (after 10 more miles): I'm not seeing it.
Me (back on phone): I think you gave us the wrong exit number.
Stacy: No, trust me, it's there.
Me (remember, 32 hours no sleep): NO, OMG, THAT EXIT DOESN'T EXIST, YOU'RE DELUDED!
Lisa: Um ... was that it?
Me: Where?
Lisa: About 200 feet back there.
Me: X.X
Actually, once you've driven around Los Angeles for a couple of days, it's not so bad. You look for landmarks. A LOT. Like Beverly Hills, represented below by perhaps the worst photo to ever exist of the place, for sheer boring-ness.
I got a few good photos out of the place, though. Like Los Angeles valley from Mulholland Drive (no, that's not Julia Roberts in the foreground, it's Lisa):
Or the view of the Pacific coast just a bit south of Santa Barbara, toward Pismo Beach (there's a Bugs Bunny joke somewhere in there):
Or maybe even John Lithgow at a red-carpet event at the Dorothy Parker Pavillion, where they used to hold the Oscar ceremonies. We went to a Los Angeles Symphony reading of "Midsummer's Night Dream" and ran into a boatload of celebrities up-close and personal. (You do NOT realize how tiny and thin Portia de Rossi is in real life, geez. Or how wildly unkempt David E. Kelley looks.)
(John's sort of in the distance in the center, there. Yeah, the riffraff had to keep back.)
And one of the last things I saw was Stacy's ferret, Tribble. Ferrets are illegal in California. But you'll never get Stacy's address out of ME.
And then it was out of there and back toward home ... after an earthquake, of course (7.3, only 100 miles from downtown L.A. - maybe you saw on the news the Amtrak train derailed in the Mojave Desert? Yeah, we drove by it), then eons of desert, then a blizzard in New Mexico at freakin' MIDNIGHT that lasted for eight inches. DID I MENTION IT WAS FUCKING NEW MEXICO?
And, I can't wait to do it again!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 05:44 pm (UTC)"The only credit a moo who gives up her baby for adoption should get, over the woman who adopts that baby, is that she successfully fucked some guy. (The evidence exists, after all.)"
btw. I'm a one of those you're talking about. But I didn't fuck some guy. He fucked me. I found your comment so distasteful it's not even funny.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 07:36 pm (UTC)Obviously you didn't bother to read before you came over here to mouth off. If you troll that community regularly, you will know what "moo" refers to, and it's not rape victims. If you weren't raped, then yes, you're a moo. Deal with it.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 07:45 pm (UTC)I'm not a troll, I came across that post entirely on accident. But how I got there does not change the absolute stupidity with which adoption was spoken of.
Actually, I know more about adoption than you do, so you're the ignorant one in this situation.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 07:57 pm (UTC)How do you know?
I believe a woman who has the choice to get an abortion and doesn't take it, and doesn't want to raise the child herself, is a moo - meaning, she pushes it out and is done with it. Cows do that; hell, cows at least raise their calves. (And my opinions are based on firsthand knowledge of adoptions, thanks.)
If your friends wanted to play and not pay, that's their problems. They need to take responsibility for their bodies (birth control or abortion) or stay out of men's beds. As for you, I feel great sympathy for what happened to you and wish the rat bastard could be strung up by what dick he has (because a rapist sure doesn't have any "balls" to speak of).
But the key to all this is: I believe. I think. If you don't like what I think or believe, all I can tell you is it's a free country. If you want to comment on the opinions expressed in that community, though, you really need to join it and subject yourself to the opinions of the people in that community.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 08:25 pm (UTC)Maybe educating yourself with the expansive list of types of adoption, birth parents and adopters.
Because I can say for sure that your opinions here represent NO birthmother I've ever spoken to and I've dealt with and counseled a lot. Your opinion on WHY they give up their children is so far from the truth it's actually quite pitiful.
It is uneducated rhetoric like that which the group was spilling forth that leads to stereotypes and children who feel like they weren't wanted or unloved. So very very far from the truth.
The way my daughter was conceived changed not how I felt about her when she was born. And how I felt about my daughter is no different than I felt for my children who were planned or my best friend's child who was not.
But my first decision and her first decision were the same. And I can tell you this, there was NO child I wanted to keep more than her. The same for my friend. The choices we made were for the betterment of our child, and nothing to do with wanting responsibility. We made the most responsible decision we could. And that was the best decision for our child.
But then, I suppose I can't expect someone who doesn't have children to know what it's like to want more for your children. No matter what the circumstances.
OH.. and in case you can't connect the dots... I can't join the childfree community because I have kids.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 09:02 pm (UTC)BINGO! Hmm, what space on the card will THAT fill, I wonder? (And you have no idea what my parenting experiences are. Just because I haven't squeezed one out doesn't mean I don't know anything about it or have empirical experience with "parenting.")
I don't have to justify my choices in life. I'm sorry you feel like you do, or that you've put yourself in a position where you have to justify them. I take care of that on the front end so I won't have to worry about explaining myself to a rank stranger in 5 or 10 years.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 08:30 pm (UTC)I love people who say that we should have the right to choose, but only if it's THEIR choice.
That's not choice.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 09:20 pm (UTC)Yes, I DO have a front-row seat into the mind of an adopted child - more than one, in fact; so I'm not talking about abstract "what-ifs" or "maybes." I also read on the topic and speak with other people who've worked with adoption. (I never form an opinion without giving it due thought.)
My IDEAL choice, of course, would be for birth control to never fail and for women to never be forced into sex, but those are not going to happen. My alternate choice is abortion, plain and simple. The difference between me and the anti-choice crowd, of course, is that I will never force you to do something you don't want to do with your own body. And that's a promise.
Finally, I would never bring a person into the world who's going to have to deal with all of life's problems and heartaches and tough decisions, and not be there to guide her through the worst part of it - childhood - short of me dying or being rendered a vegetable unable to care for myself and others. It's precisely because I DO think of children as human beings, that I'm childfree.
It seems like you have some issues leftover from your choice to adopt out. Again, I'm sorry you had to go through all that, but I'm not the focus of your problems or your regrets. Perhaps I'm just voicing thoughts you've had yourself and are afraid to admit aloud? I don't know.
I do know, however, that I don't go poking into people's LJs if I don't know them, especially to stir up shit. I think I've more than humored you, and I'm finished with this exchange. If you want to discuss adoption some more, or your own feelings or regrets on the issue, I would advise you to get sympathy from your friends or seek counseling.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 08:10 pm (UTC)If I'm going to be crucified for a comment I made, then by God, I want to view it in its entire context.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 08:17 pm (UTC)For the mark, my initial comment to you was not an attempt to crucify you. If I really wanted to get into it, I would have taken every stereotypical, false, ignorant statement in the entire thread and posted rebuttal facts and figures to show how stupid nearly ALL of the comments were.
I was merely registering the disdain I felt in reading your portion of it (as I did with a few others).
And since I am not child free, nor do I really fit any of the descriptives on the user info, I can't really join the group.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 09:22 pm (UTC)I don't like Ben Affleck, either. So I'm not going to go around reading a community filled with Affleck fans. I suggest you follow the same logic and stay out of
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 09:48 pm (UTC)Why do you read it then?
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 07:37 pm (UTC)And quit posting in people's journals until you can learn what the hell you're talking about.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 10:00 pm (UTC)Why the fuck are you commenting in someone's personal journal about something they said three months ago?
Have fun at life, and I hope to whatever you never pop out a pussy loaf again.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 10:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 10:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 01:34 am (UTC)You are not wanted here. Indeed, you were not invited here. And I do know how to avail myself of the abuse-reporting feature of LiveJournal.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 10:27 pm (UTC)And the question I have is this...why are you so desperately offended by a complete stranger's personal OPINION that you simply HAD to go bug them on their journal about it? If you haven't heard of manners, perhaps you've heard of venting. Which is what the OP was doing.
You're not even part of the childfree community--what do you do, read through CF lists in order to get Recreationally Offended at the posters, and then go stalk their journals? Don't you have anything better to do with your time?
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 06:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 09:23 pm (UTC)(Hey, surf over here and take a look at the conversation going on above your entry. How many squares do you think I've picked up on MY bingo card today, hmm? *G*)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 09:58 pm (UTC)And "Los Angeles Valley"...do you mean "The Valley" like as in the Porn Capital of the US, or "Studio City/North Hollywood/Sherman Oaks" Area? I live in the Porn Capital and I'm Damn proud, damn it!
Now back to your regularly scheduled station.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 10:02 pm (UTC)Um ... I have no clue? I think it's sort of how people who've never been to Missouri go "rural Missouri," which encompasses roughly 95 percent of the state. LOL (Why, what does the view look like to you? Maybe you could ID the photo and let me know. All I know is the view's from Mulholland Drive somewhere.)
I know what you mean by the tourists - I grew up in the country near a bunch of rivers and EVERYONE came out on the weekends and during the summer to get drunk, canoe, and admire how "quaint" we were. *eyeroll* So I suppose I went to L.A. to see how sophisticated everyone else is!
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 10:11 pm (UTC)Clubbing out here can be relativly fun. So can the art scene. Celebs? Meh. The ones who think they are all that get tiring after a while. The nice ones are just human like the rest of us.
One thing for sure, the air WILL kill ya. (or at least give one asthma). *I do love my L.A. though*
Oh and it looks like you are looking into the Porn part of our little town.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 01:47 am (UTC)I liked L.A. the 8 days I was there. I do realize it's not long enough to know anything, but if I could afford to live there, I wouldn't mind living just outside the city, maybe.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 08:32 am (UTC)(Fellow CF'er)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 02:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 09:46 am (UTC)...honestly...
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 03:36 pm (UTC)I can only imagine this woman's frustration as she surfs endlessly, looking for endless examples of people who don't agree with her about various topics, hunting them down and MAKING THEM SEE THE LIGHT, DAMMIT.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 05:37 pm (UTC)Pfffft. I'm Pro-Choice. I don't go around hunting Anti-Choice people and try to stuff my way of thinking down their throats. Give me a break.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 10:16 pm (UTC)"Pro-life" is a bullshit label. Anti-choice is what it is. I'm certainly not anti-life.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 11:55 pm (UTC)I fight my mother when she tries to control my life. What makes anyone think I won't fight them -- a complete stranger -- when they try to do the same thing??
Just...plain...stupid!!!
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 05:22 pm (UTC)And nothing in your entry about HRB? *wink*
- Silver Rose
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 10:21 pm (UTC)To be blunt with you, I don't know if she has children she's actually kept; she wanted to rant about the one she'd given up for adoption, which was the focus of my replies. She didn't like my opinion on women who elect to give birth and give up for adoption rather than seek an abortion (after 1973).
And I'll even say right now that opinion doesn't apply to *every* such woman who walks the planet ... but honestly, they have to have a more compelling reason for pushing it out and not keeping it than "my religion won't let me abort" unless they're being held prisoner in a Mormon colony or they're severely underage and at the whim of super-religious parents. Preserving the state of your own immortal soul at the expense of turing an unwanted person loose on the world (and let's face it; very few children to be adopted out are blonde, blue-eyed healthy little white girls, which are the ones that are mainly scooped right up) is reprehensible.