"At least, I didn't get another ticket"

Aisha, this blog is just for you, because no one else cared enough to ask me to write another blog.

Frankly, I didn't have much to write about. I almost tried writing a few times but for some reason or another I didn't get the chance. I was going to write the "California II: The Return" blog (Which I thought was such a wonderful title) but the moment passed. I almost wrote a blog when Brazil lost to France but it was too disheartening to write about at the time. Then I thought about writing one on Independence Day, but never got the chance. But don't worry this entry won’t be a "blogapology" (term coined by Max to describe some of my blogs).

I know I haven't posted any pics from California, I'll add them with this blog. I went out one day and went to the beach, it was almost dusk and most people were going home. One thing that's different is that there are a lot more surfers in California. I even saw people in swim-wear, dripping wet, boarding busses with their board under their arms, which was a curious sight to me. The weather in LA is surprisingly milder, I didn't see the sun much, there are always clouds in the sky, (perhaps smog), and the temperature is around a pleasant 70 degrees. It was much hotter when I came back home. The city is full of highways, most of them 6 or even 7 lanes wide in each direction. But still, they are always filled with traffic. The city is full of cars, sometimes going 55 miles per hour in bumper to bumper traffic. The driving there is certainly much better than over here.


I spent 2 days in Torrance, California. The high school there is famous for being used as the high school in "Beverly Hills 90210". Torrance also has what they claim, "The World's Biggest Engagement Ring store" I was urged by many back home to go to the store and get something for them. But I thought that an engagement ring is something special, I should only buy one. Sorry Karolina, I didn't get you one.


The other thing I noticed about California is that most people speak Spanish, even the white folks. There are also only 2 choices when it comes to food, Mexican and Non-Mexican. There were a million different taco places. This effect was certainly good for the world cup. The hotels played them in their big screens and we had a huge family (in numbers, not in size) from Argentina at the hotel and it was a great atmosphere watching the game. I was surprised by how many people were knowledgeable about soccer, one passer by, a middle-aged white woman, after just a glimpse of the team colors exclaimed, "Oh its Argentina playing!" I was overjoyed.

The World Cup, I suppose, gives every fan a taste of what's it like to be bi-polar (no offense Irsa). After experiencing such joy, it was a really hard fall when Brazil lost. Everything went wrong that day. I woke up an hour later than I was supposed to. I needed to wake up early and mow the lawn and finish by 11 am so that I could watch the England - Portugal game. I started at 10 and toiled away really hard at the steep slopes of my front lawn. I couldn't finish by the time the match started. I had to miss some of the match because of that. However, I did not miss Wayne Rooney stopping one Portuguese’s whole lineage with a single step. The match went into extra time and that meant I was late in leaving the house to meet Max and Nenad to watch the Brazil match in a bar in Newark with a big screen. We picked Nenad up from Hoboken but the match had already started. Had to resort to Spanish radio to figure out what was going on, and the tone of the commentator's voice was very picturesque. It didn’t matter none of us understood a single word of Spanish. When we arrived in Newark, we found out the place was closed. We quickly decided to go back to Nenad's place and watch the rest of the game. We only arrived to see Henry score and Brazil lose. Then we decided to go see Superman. The first theater we went to (yes there was more than one), we had to wait half an hour for the movie to start. Once seated, we had to wait another 15 minutes to see anything on the screen. There was no "illest" movie trivia either! When the movie did start, the sound was choppy, and the projector had blown a lamp, we could barely see anything. A riot started in the theater and we marched to the manager's office. We were promptly refunded. This was at Secaucus Loews Cinema 8, which I strongly urge everyone to boycott from now on. We then proceeded to the familiar and respected, AMC at Clifton Commons and bought tickets. The delay in time meant we could not go to platters that evening; we had to resort to mediocre forms of sustenance. The movie was decent, but the day had been ruined. The effects of which could easily be seen in my pool game.

I went to the city on Monday for some work. While on my way I walked through Central Park. That place is such a contrast to the rest of the city. I enjoyed my journey through the park a lot, especially the sunny patch where many sunbathers were soaking up the sun. The sight was good enough to merit a long detour on my return journey through the same place.


While in LA, I went to Hollywood Boulevard one evening. While taking pictures, outside the Chinese Theater, the door opened and many people rushed out. There was some premiere going on inside. Among the crowd I spotted Jessica Alba, and took this picture of hers. She spotted me and yelled out "Monis!" She then wrote down her phone number on a napkin and gave it to me. I called her and she invited me to her house in Beverly Hills. I told her I was sorry I couldn't come over; I had to catch the flight back home early the next morning. She said she would charter a flight for me, she was begging me to stay. I didn't want to disappoint her but I had no choice but to be frank to her. I told her, had she been Anna Kournikova, I would have stayed. I could hear her sobbing but then I heard this other sound. I thought it was call waiting and hoped it would be Anna calling me. I tried to switch lines but it wouldn't work. Suddenly I realized, it wasn't the call waiting beep that I was hearing, rather my alarm had gone off.