Happy Birthday, Kaye Darwin Thomas

I worked with Kaye Thomas during all those library moves during the second phase of the library construction project.  Like most of my crew chiefs, he became my right hand in getting the work done quickly and with out too much drama.  He ran a tight crew- no "liquid lunches" like the Crest Movers of old.  We usually had the same guys on the job and that made it easier.  He was a former Marine, who had served in Korea.  He told me he had been blown out of a jeep and had a problem with his hip.  He talked about his family, how he had killed a man in a bar fight and was sent to jail because at the time Utah did not recognize self defense.  It took a year for him to be released and in that year he had told his wife to "make a life for herself" and their marriage ended.  I always got the sense he never stopped loving her.  He was proud of his granddaughter, who had followed his footsteps by joining the Corps.  How he wound up working for Crest Movers in downtown LA and living in a fleabag hotel is beyond me.  He was always neat as a pin and ready  to work.  I worried about him, he wasn't a young man and he wasn't in the best of health.  He was getting ready to go into the hospital, the VA, to get his hip replaced when he died.  He had a heart attack on the job, THANKFULLY not MY job, although I probably would have made him go to the hospital sooner if it had been one of my jobs. The guys told me he looked awful but he was a stubborn man and he told them he would be alright.  One member of his crew actually did CPR while waiting for the paramedics to show, but it was too late.  They called me to tell me while I was on vacation.  I asked about services and here's where it got bad.  BECAUSE he had no family who stepped forward, the County held is body to bury him in a pauper's grave.  I went NUTS!  The man was an honored member of our armed forces ( remember he was getting service from the VA, that meant he was honorably discharged).  I went to work on the Coroner's Office.  I was SUCH a pest, they declared me Friend of the Deceased, and gave me information regarding the plans.  They would NOT look into getting him a Military burial, until I was talking to a co-worker, crying in anger and frustration.  She had a cousin who worked for a County Supervisor.  Lo and Behold the VERY NEXT DAY, I get a call telling me they are releasing him to the military and giving me the name of the funeral home taking care of it.  Surprise, Surprise Surprise!   I called to find out about services, but was told that because there was no family, there would be none.  There would be an honor guard, but no one else was allowed to attend.  I started to cry.  There is an Irish tradition, that someone must shed tears for the dead.  I sobbed on the phone to the poor woman at the funeral home who said that she wasn't supposed to do this, but i could add an inscription to the headstone.  I looked at the paperwork she sent me and found that the words "dear friend Semper Fi" just fit in the space I was allowed. I wanted someone who visited his grave to know he was loved and honored.  I tried in vain to find his family.  I know he had a daughter he spoke of and his granddaughter, but was unable to find them.  I hope somehow they found out and have visited his grave.  I have visited twice, as my parents are also buried in Riverside National Cemetery.  I miss him and was honored to have called him a friend. 

So, wherever you are--Happy Birthday, Kaye.

Defining moments

Yesterday marked the 12th anniversary of the attack on our nation by a group of cowards.  Everyone who is old enough to remember will always remember where they were when they heard and how we watched the terrible events unfold and the courage of those New Yorkers at the World Trade Center and those on Flight 93 who fought back.  We will never forget the attack on the Pentagon.  The thing is, that our enemies forgot to study the American character.  When you attack us, we gather together.  We help each other and become a stronger.  It does not shatter us, it focuses us. 

Every generation has this type of defining moment; the loss of our innocence.  For my generation, it was the assassination of JFK. I was five, but remember the event clearly.  For my parent, obviously, it was Pearl Harbor.  This is the defining moment of my daughter's generation.  How they chose to live decided it's meaning. This is a quote from a poem about JFK, but it resonates in all events that are filled with injustice.  Do we lie on the ground and huddle in a ball and not fight back?  Do we become paranoid and suspect everyone?  If we do, "they" win.  We must remember that there IS evil in the world, but there is a lot of good out there too.  We must not let it dictate our lives.

Weekend adventures

Friday night, Chris and I went to see Hamlet presented by the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company. As I said, it is a marvelous production and I am hoping to see it again with friends this Sunday.  It is a unique slant on the classic piece ( who KNEW Rosenkrantz was a lady?- It WORKED!)  I urge you to see it, in any case.  We need to support local theater.

On the way there, the GPS decided to take us to Torrance rather than West LS- who knows why, but we figured it out BEFORE we went the wrong way.  We needed to grab a bite to eat and stopped at a Fatburger.  Now I ask you, WHO in their right minds names a business FAT burger.  It sounds so.. unappetizing. But the thing is a chain and I hadn't been to one in ages, so in we went.  I got the chicken strips  with ranch dressing on the side.  They were ok, nice and crispy and not greasy, which is a bonus. CHRIS should have read the sign as to just what they put on the burger.  He HATES pickles and mustard.  He asked for NO pickles, so they loaded it with pickle relish.  YUCK ( I really hate pickle relish)  There was also a sea of mustard.  We used more than a few napkins to try to clear the burger of the unwanted condiments.  He liberally doused it with BOTH kinds of Tabasco, which were at the table, but there was no ketchup, which I found odd.  The had this really weird soda dispenser.  It had about a gillion types of soda it dispensed.  I got orange sparkling water, which had a little TOO much orange and not enough water. It had screen after screen of choices.  I felt a bit overwhelmed. I might have been more amused if we didn't have about 15 minutes to eat.

Sunday at Yuca's, sitting at the sidewalk table was a wonderful way to wind down.  It was a lovely day, not too hot and the food was, as always, terrific.  It's always good to celebrate with friends!

LA Friends.  We have a friend who is moving to LA and will probably be looking for work in the next few weeks.  Any leads on Administrative/office work would be appreciated!

Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company's Production of Hamlet

Let me first say that I really love the idea behind the Women's Shakespeare Company, so I was thrilled to be able ( via a Facebook post) to attend a Preview night last evening.

Chris and I had a little GPS adventure, but we both had a better idea than our stupid mechanical directional device and we made it there in good time (with time enough to stop and get a burger at Fatburger- which will be another post).

The Odyssey Theater is a small venue, but apparently had TWO shows running last evening.  The lobby was JAM PACKED and I wondered how so many people would get in to see the play, especially when we went in and the theater was nearly full and there were still scads of folks milling about.

I had read the play in High School and in college, but I don't think I have ever seen it performed.  I was looking forward to seeing Lisa Wolpe as Hamlet.  I always enjoy Lisa's performances and this time was no exception.  She was riveting as the tormented prince.  Chastity Dodson as the luminous Ophelia was wonderful, especially in her " mad speech".  There were some hiccups, as befits a preview night, but all in all a wonderful adaptation of the classic play.  The sparse set worked very well and the costuming is gorgeous.


So, if you love Shakespeare- GO!  If you've never seen Shakespeare- GO!  If you love local theater- GO! If you've never experienced local theater- GO!  I think we have tickets for an upcoming performance and I am looking forward to seeing it again!

Divorce and other overwhelming questions

DISCLAIMER  DON'T PANIC!!!!!  Chris and I are still happily married.  I love this man to bits.   No one else would put up with my crud the way he does.  It's just that I read a post from someone I know; celebrating her long marriage and the first statement she made was "Divorce does not exist"  or something like that.  Well, that MAY be the pact she made with her husband, to work out all the troubles and I am happy that they are happy ( they are two of the NICEST people you could ever know) but sometimes troubles are insurmountable.  Sometimes, two people who once loved each other grow in such opposite directions that staying together is a misery.  Sometimes there is cheating, a break in the trust that all the talk in the world cannot repair.  Sometimes there is violence.  No one should live in fear of being attacked by someone they cared about  in their own home.  I don't think that your first disagreement should result in you throwing in the towel, it's just sometimes you have no other choice.  I for one am GLAD I chose that road, as it led me to this place of happiness.  Marriage is like an ocean, there is an ebb and flow and the tides roll back and forth.

Work imponderables...

Why was the head of the foundation lugging a huge pool toy that looked like a giant Cecil the seasick seaserpent? He was headed toward the City Librarian's Office....

WHY would you carve your NAME on a toilet seat?  In a PUBLIC bathroom?  I had TWO request to replace toilet seats recently.  Seriously?  I think tagging is stupid, but putting your name for other people to place their butts on is the HEIGHT of stupidity.

Sometimes, I just have to shake my head.

We are going to see Hamlet this evening.  The FABULOUS Women's Shakespeare Company of Los Angeles is presenting the classic tale of murder and one very depressed Prince ( ok, it's more than that, but...)  I am looking forward to it.  I have read Hamlet many times, but never actually seen it performed.

The reason I don't watch the news

Happy Monday-Tuesday.  It's TUESDAY but it's going to behave like a Monday.  Ugh.

So yesterday, I was home early enough to watch the local evening news, which comes on at 6 and I am never home and ready to watch it.  I could only stand a small bit of it.  The "news" was more like reading the National Enquirer than I remember it being.  The anchorwoman stammered and  "ummed" and Uhed" her way through the script. The lead story was something about the actors who were going to star in "50 shades of Gray"  They glossed over the Syrian conflict and buried the story about Diana Nyad's amazing swim.  Did they MENTION it was Labor Day?  They had a ten-second shot of a rather dismal looking parade that took place in the Harbor area, that's about it. Oh yeah.  Unions=BAD!  I will stick to finding different news sources on the Internet, I suppose, but even those must be view with a jaundiced eye.  I remember watching Walter Cronkite.  He was so  certain in his delivery.  Calm and reassuring, even when delivering bad news.  You never got the sense he was spinning it, although I suppose he was.  Channel 4 News used to be better too.

I see Time Warner settled with CBS.  I guess that means I will be getting a notice of increase.  You can't imagine that they settled without additional fees?  The bummer about living up here is that there is almost NO TV reception without cable.  I have Time Warner for everything and "bundling is supposed to be cheaper.  I will probably take a look and see if it really is!  It WAS when I set it up, but now?  I need to look into that.  I live in an apartment and can't get Dish.  I like having Television, but I suppose I could live without it.

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon

It's Sunday and I have been a lazy thing all day, I took a nap upstairs, I took a nap on the couch. It's not the heat, it's the humidity.  ugh.  I am wiped out for no good reason.  Thinking about making an iced coffee so I can get some much needed work done.

I'll try to muster the energy.

In the meantime, a few thoughts on nothing in particular.

Recently I have been reminded of the old adage that you should sleep on a letter for twentyfour hours before sending it.  In this day of instant everything, people seem to forget that you should still  wait to cool down before posting that angry rant on Facebook, or sending that vitriolic email out.  It can only come to no good.  Recently I had a conversation with one friend in a group who said she was angry and would be sending a "sternly worded" email to the group.  I encouraged her not to, thought she would think my words over and was sadly surprised when I got the email from her, not FOUR MINUTES later.  Sigh.  I also "lost" a friend who sent many a misguided post and email and then seemed surprised that the outcome was not in his favor.  I tried to explain, but my email, I fear, was deleted or not taken to heart. It's frustrating!

I tried to read J.K. Rowling's book, "The Casual Vacancy"  The book is, in a word, depressing.  Not one character in it is not in some way dysfunctional.  Despair seems to cling to every surface. There is very little hope in the resolution.  I wonder if the book would have been published at all without her name attached to it.  She must have wondered the same thing, as her next book was published under a nom de plume. There is only one semi-likeable character in the whole book.  There are a LOT of characters.  I was having a bit of trouble tracking them and had to keep going back as the relationships are fuzzy in spots.  I am also reading "City of Saints' about a grizzly murder of a socialite in Salt Lake City in the 1930's  It's got good pacing and is supposed to be based on real life events.   I promise a full review when I finish it.