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On the MTA Bus…
I hate smelling stale cigarette smoke in a person’s clothes…the odor of dried body sweat, or of piss. Of course if you use public transportation…the bus, or the like… then you’re likely to run smack dab into the vicinity of pungent scents that do not please your nose.
Generally speaking, I don’t mind the bus. It’s easy and inexpensive. I do hate it though when people on the bus use their cell phones to try to play it off like they have important business matters to attend to. Playing it off by talking loudly to impress. Talking obnoxiously loud to impress. Impress who? Us bus riders? Ever since “The X Files,” phoners, I think, have believed somehow that if they pull out a cell in public…on the bus, in the grocery line, at the doctor’s office, etc… then proceed to converse loudly and with great animation, then other folk will think they have BIG business afoot. Sooo phony. Sooo tiresome. I hate cell phoning in public.
Musings About the L.A. Weather…
I hate this cold weather we’re having. It’s abnormal. Strange. This is bone-chilling cold. Artic. Not warm and Pacific. It’s obvious that the chickens have come home to roost. We’ve screwed up and brought on Global Warming; now, nature is rebalancing itself. The seasons are off. Or, let’s say, they’ve repositioned themselves. When you get up or go to bed here in Los Angeles, it feels like San Francisco. Cold mornings and nights. Somewhat warm afternoons. But the cold… It reminds me of back east in its intensity. I’d gotten used to the warm for more than twenty-five years and I hate being cold now. But I’ll adapt.
Exercise in the Morning…
I did yoga for a half an hour this morning. I like yoga. It relaxes me in ways I don’t understand. All I know and need to know is that it keeps my body flexible, supple, strong.
I use a video tape or DVD to do yoga. Haven’t tried a class yet. Most of my videos are in the Sara Ivanhoe’s “Twenty Minute Yoga” series. Twenty minutes is just long enough to relax me and do some body toning. Which yoga is also good for.
I like doing yoga first thing in the morning. I like to get my blood flowing, my brain cells awakened, and my body celebrating another day of life.
As Martha Stewart says, “It’s a good thing.”
Today Is Sunday…
I’m in my Weekend College classroom. I’m teaching a Sociology class called “We Real Cool: Fantasies & Realities of Black Masculinity.” We’re using bell hooks’ book, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity. I’ve got a great class of students. They’re interesting and fun and perceptive. It’s been great spending my weekend (all day Saturday and Sunday) with them.
When I went to lunch, I noticed the warmth of the day. This one is a perfect L.A. day…the kind that causes people move to Southern California. Haven’t had much of it being warm and beautiful outside lately, so I’m luxuriating in today. I can see outside from my second floor classroom. This is what I see: Red Spanish tile roofs atop white-washed buildings, the bare arms of trees, light blue sky. I can even hear church bells ringing. Just to give things the heavenly touch, you know.
I hope it’s warm tomorrow. And the day after. I think we’ll have warm weather most of the week. I suppose I shouldn’t obsess about the weather. Can’t help it though. L.A. spoils you. You get used to seeing craggy mountains standing majestically in the distance. You get used to seeing the sun beaming down on mansions clinging to sides of the Hollywood Hills, to the cliffs of Malibu. You get used to admiring the symmetry of tall palm trees lined up, edging side walks. You get used to listening for the singing of Cottonwood trees, their leaves moving in concert when a light breeze comes along. Yeah. It’s easy to get seduced by L.A.
On warm and beautiful days.
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