LA

So I was in LA for about a week. I got to see my two cousins from New Bedford and Wakefield Massachusetts for dinner. I had dinner with one of my moms closest friends and he husband in Pasadena (its lovely but I still want to rename it Phoney Town).

I stayed with Mike and Steve (twins, but separate houses) from the South End (Boston). We went to the same HS years apart from each other. I also got to hang with their other brother Paul a lot. He recently found himself hit with the "I'm pregnant" news but with a twist. He is paralyzed from about the chest down (can't feel his nipples) and wasn't expecting natural insemination to actually occur. That said, his lady is 3 months now, moving in and he has tons of work to do on his place. I helped for two days (11hrs the 1st, and 14 the 2nd which was also LA's hottest day on record, ever!). We cleaned up his drive way, yard work, planted a tree, threw out about 3 cubic yards of stuff and set aside another half dumpster full of stuff for a "yard sale". We organized all of his files from his accident (motorcycle), medical records, mortgage info, you name it! Then there was the pile of unopened mail that had been building up since March LOL.
I'm glad we got what we could get done out of the way. I just hope his lady notices it and appreciates it before she arrives with all her stuff.

Paul and I hung out a lot outside of the project I helped him on. He showed me around from his handicap accessible van and we always got the best spot in the lot :) I learned a lot about what a disabled person goes through every day.

I also went with Steven to an exhibit/memorial that he helps set up every Sunday on the Santa Monica beach. Its called "Arlington West" and there are crosses representing the lives lost in Afghanistan and Iraq, civilian and soldiers. It was interesting seeing the tourists and locals alike trying to make sense of the memorial. In addition, there were a lot of post battle, rehab and injury photos that were just gruesome and not like what you see on TV at all.

Coincidentally there was also a charity dog walk that day at the beach. Max and I stumbled into a 500+ dog event. We passed on the dog walk and the dog yoga session, but we did get to pay close attention to the doggy CPR session which we will hopefully never need to use. Anyway, we got to say hi to about 300 different dogs in the course of about 2 hours, so and we got along with all but maybe two!

I had two confrontations in LA that were very surprising...
I was at Steve's place leaving with Max when we came out and Peanut the crazy dog from next door when wild on Max. I got Max backed away when I noticed a fat big turd on Steves welcome mat. I said out loud, "Oh, Peanut, you think shitting on the welcome mat is going to get rid of us?" We walked away and when I got to the door from the courtyard to the street, a voice behind me was calling at me "Hey, buddy". I turn around and the other neighbor, not a dog owner, gets in my face saying "aren't you going top pick the shit up or are you just going to leave it there." I just turned and walked away. I'm not getting into a "Its not my dog's shit" argument with a stranger!

Next: I was staying at Mike's and he was coming to pick me up to go hiking (in a park that a movie editor died in a few days later in due to heat exhaustion). When he got there the parking lot was full so he pulled in at an angle behind my car. A older chubby guy came out and said something to him (please move your car, I found out later) and Mike started to put his dogs in the car so he could move it. Suddenly the man jumps in his car, throws it into reverse and repeatedly hits a fence trying to un wedge himself from the hastily taken angle in the packed driveway. It was just at this point that I even realized they were in an argument...

It was on Mikes mind the entire time we were hiking and I kept telling him to blow it off.

Then two days later I come out to go to my car in the morning and the same guy is at his car removing tool boxes and buckets from his car. I wait for him to get away from the rear of his car and I back up leaving at least a foot between me and his tool buckets (yeah, I though about it before hand and used my mirrors to execute). The guy comes running from around the front of his car towards my car at the rear of his, wielding a broom stick which suddenly is repeatedly stuck on my windshield! Like five times! I jumped out and starting screaming at the guy "what the F do you think you are doing". His reply is " you are about to hit my tools". What kind of tools can't take a 2000 lb car? Dork. He just wanted to attack someone and as I pulled out I let him know "Hey dipshit, I just want to let you know, you picked the wrong MF to F with today"

Flashback: Three days earlier the kid who lives downstairs from Mike, also named Mike, came up to ask me to use my cell phone. Seems that he had misplaced his and needed to make some calls. Come to find out he grew up in this complex of two houses and his parents still own the whole place. They let him live there for free I think. Well, cutting to the chase, his car is also messed up and his is flooring it up the hill at night and then rolling it back down to get it started every morning. He called his mom and asked her to pick him up from the garage that he needed to drop off his car at... No answer, no message left and so ten minutes after he leaves I have a Type A litigator calling me back wanting to know who I am and why I have her number,etc. By the end of the conversation we are fast friends and she is recommending me places to eat and see. So there is the gem: I know the owner of this property, she likes me, she is a lawyer and you don't have a lease (and you started crap w my friend who is a tenant two days ago too).

So I gave her an innocent call about 20 minutes after I left the house, 930am Sunday LOL.
She was actually working in the office, if you can believe that, and was pissed to hear about what happened. She took my info and 20 minutes later I was BCC'd on the badest ass legal threat letter I have ever read. I will share it with you individually if you are interested. Bottom line, get that man out of here ASAP or everyone vacate within a week. Let's just say, I'm sure we won't be hearing from that cat again. Silenced!

So what the hell do I attract these confrontations or is something else?

This article doesn't come to mind but maybe it should: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/opinion/07Wideman.html?th&emc=th
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