Queen Mary Gets Gridlocked this 4th of July!

Gridlock L.A., the group that created the New Year's Eve extravaganza at Paramount Studios, has now concocted Southern California's largest July 4th celebration on the Queen Mary with over 14 bands and a 4-level VIP area with a daybed (say what?) and a huge pool. Ahh, to be young again or at least rich enough to afford a ticket. Let's hope they take pity on us peons and shoot off the fireworks so we can glimpse at least a few of the fireworks.

Long Awaited Transit Center

What a relief to have the much anticipated (at least by me as I'd glide by the traffic-constricting construction) Transit Center now open at the southeast corner of First Street and Pine Avenue. Another relief for me is the re-opening of Shelter E which is the central downtown stop for the Seventh Street bus, my carrier of choice. I like the sweep of the roofline, and having access to a real human being when the automated schedule displays just don't make sense.

Shoreline Village, Ahoy!

Lots of ways to keep your head about water this summer! Amphibious tours via Rubber Duck Tours start next week for a cruise around Rainbow Harbor followed by a jaunt down Ocean Avenue at a cost of $20 to $28.

Spirit Cruises will be offering free 30-minute summer lunch cruises with the purchase of lunch from participating restaurants like Gitana, Springbok, Stefano's Pizza, and Tugboat Pete's. Every Wednesday at noon from July1st thru August 26th, the first 80 customers who have preordered their lunches between 11:30 and 11:45 and queue up at Dock 9 near Parker's Lighthouse.

Then, of course, there's the trusty old AquaLink, plying the waters back and forth from Shoreline Village to the Queen Mary week in, week out, all seasons of the year.

My! How They've Grown!

I don't exactly have a bumper crop, but there are a few luscious tomatoes ripening on the vine in my organic soil, self-watering pots. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but after about 15 small fruits establishing themselves, all systems seemed to shut down. No new fruit and no bigger fruit and the rest of the blossoms began to shrivel up. I've probably been overwatering trying to over compensate because now the leaves are yellowing. Anyway, it was a noble attempt and I did put our compost to good use.

Three Ring Circus of Music

This summer, downtown Long Beach will be alive with free music thanks to Summer and Music, an ambitious 2-month series of performances every weekend at three different locations: Pine Avenue and Broadway, Broadway and Linden, and 300 South Pine. There's lots of soul and funk on tap plus jazz, DJs, and a battle of the tribute bands with events scheduled morning, afternoon, and night. If they build the beat, we will come.

Random Chaos

Well, the aggravation and wasted time continue in my quest to leave a job I do not want to leave. I currently have 5 out of 9 emails clearing me from obligations or ownerships that other fully employed individuals may have the privilege of having but I never did.

In an effort to lift my spirits, I once again turn to the Internet. Today, I messed around on Found Magazine. It collects odd pieces of detritus like grocery lists, photos and notes that people have come across by accident and sent in to post. The items are virtually reproduced so you see all the scribbles and crossout and crumples. As the site described, these things can be "strange, hilarious, and heartbreaking" and some of them even manage all three at the same time. After 30 minutes of shuffling through this stuff, my life doesn't seem nearly so screwy.

Thanking My Lucky Stars

Today is the last day of my dream job (although they promise they'll have me back if the California budget ever resurfaces). Trying to remain positive as employed people cruise by my desk to let me know how much they'll miss me if harder than I had anticipated. And then there's the problem of returning all my library books. What's a semi-retired person supposed to do--grin and bear it? Or go out and find another dream job? I wish.

In an effort to keep my spirits up, I went to CrimeReports, a really nifty webside that displays crimes reported within 3 to 30 days for any area of the country you want to view. My neighborhood is a pristine island of crimeless bliss amidst a sea of misdemeanor and felony. Truly a home sweet home, where I should be happy to have the privilege of spending more time. Now if only someone would pay me for it. Sigh.

No Sweat Exercise

Weather forecasts are promising hot weather on the horizon, so how can we get in shape and keep cool? Hit the pool! I have always been mediocre at best in swimming laps, but I'm working up an interest in water workouts. The LA Times had an interesting feature on it in the June 15th issue, "Lose the Laps but Stay in the Pool," and a link to tips on starting a swimming workout.

Some online sources include the Aquatic Exercise Association which sells DVD exercise routines and features an interesting arcticle on benefits of water exercise. Who knew that lowering your body temperature could help you sleep? Definitely something to try. Hydrofit sells lots of accessories for enhancing water exercise and has developed an extensive Choreography Library of exercises, searchable by depth of water, type of exercise and equipment needed, with nifty line drawings. EHow has an sortment of articles on water aerobics, including one the pinpoints upper body, lower body and full body exercises. So as soon as the June gloom burns off, I'm off to make a splash in my ho-hum walking routine. What the heck, we paid big bucks for a low energy pool pump. Better put it to use.

Water Saved is Water Earned

Now that the weather's warming up, it's time to get serious about saving water in the garden. Here in Long Beach of course we can only water Monday, Thursday and Saturday. I'm trying to winnow down my lawn little by little to eliminate the turf and shut down the sprinklers entirely. I'm about halfway there. My next big challenge is the parkway. Currently, there's a shapely magnolia whose roots are starting to wreak havoc with the sidewalk. Half of the groundcover is well-established ivy which requires trimming 3 or 4 times a year. The rest is patchy weeds. I'm toying with the idea of alternating paving stones with low-water use plans.

Aquafornia suggests decomposed granite: elegant, tough, and pedestrian friendly. It's a little stark when positioned between a traditional turf cover and a garden-like grouping of agapanthus. Maybe a trip out to the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamace College would be inspiring. They have a ground cover exhibit that alternates plants and hardscape that work as alternatives to turf. The H2ouse Garden Gallery features several parking strip plantings. I particularly liked the Snow in Summer with Tom Thumb Flax arrangement. Now I'll head over to The Garden Spot at BeWaterWise.com for some planting tips

Field Trip!

Forgive my obtuseness. I'm trying to send a photo directly from Picasa and apparently making a botch of it. I did want to get my exclusive photos of the stinky plat as soon as possible, so I used my son's "easy to download" camera and Picasa. Unfortunately, neither of my sons or my husband is around to talk me through this so it's taken me two days to post this sucker. Somehow the texts is set on centered and I can't reset it. After wresting for hours to figure out how to get the flipping memory card into the laptop, I'm too dazed to care, so please excuse our mess as they say.

Anyway, this is how the amorphophallus titanum looked during my visit early on Friday June 19. The popular name is corpse flower or stinky plant, but thankfully it wasn't all that stinky when I was there. The stamen (the phallic part) did resemble pallid skin though. What a shock it would have been to stumble upon one of those things growing wild in an Indonesian rainforest.

Besides the corpse plant, my friend and I strolled through the Chinese Garden as well as a sumptuous display called "Beautiful Science" in the library, and satisfying lunch in the Rose Garden cafe and a quick jaunt through the cactus garden, finishing just in time to miss rush hour on the way back to Long Beach.

Have a Minute . . . Or 2 . . . Or 30?

There was an article in the LA Times a few days ago about Hunch.com. I tried to resist the temptation, because the thing has time-waster written all over it. Finally, I gave in yesterday, and browsed around a bit. It seems like harmless fun, but I didn't sign up. Maybe I'm just getting old and paranoid, but it does seem like this benign little site could easily assemble some pretty personal facts about you without you even remembering what they are. For those less paranoid than me, it looks like a new spin on the social network thing. It gives you a way to find people who agree with you on personal preferences on anything from coffee selections at Starbucks to career choices. Who am I to get self righteous about killing time? I write a blog, don't I? That being said, it's a pretty sad picture of modern society when we turn to a database for advice on how to live our lives.

On Your Mark! Get Set! Rummage!

This Saturday, June 20, friends of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Trust , led by Leslie Heuer, will be holding a rummage sale and bake sale from 7 am to noon in the Gaslamp Restaurant parking lot at 6251 E. Pacific Coast Highway. Free parking and tons of hidden treasures. Who could ask for more? If you have more junk (oops! I mean hidden treasures) around your house than you know what to do with, you can set up your table on Saturday and help support a truly worthy cause.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is Coming to Long Beach!

Hi Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize winner and advocate for global environmental action, will appear at the Long Beach Arena on Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26 for three teaching sessions. The event is sponsored by the Geden Shoeling Tibetan Manjushri Buddhist Center, established in 2003 in Westminster for meditation, prayer, and Dharma teaching. Admission to the Long Beach event is free, but tickets must be applied for through the website, 3 per family. The website also has application forms for volunteers.

Two sessions are scheduled for Friday: Teachings of Four Noble Truths from 9 am to 11:30 am and Amitabha Permission Initiation from 2 pm to 4 pm. On Saturday, the Medicine Buddha Initiation will take place from 9 am to 11:30 am. The sessions will be conducted in Tibetan, with translations into English, Vietnamese, and Chinese.

Triple Digits, Baby!

In case you haven't noticed, this is my 101st post for 2009! Some of my goals for 2009 are falling by the wayside, but I have managed to hang in there with my blog, my organic self-watering pots (2 more weeks and the first tomatoes should be ripe!) and my novel. Setting up a home office and finding a new job are still on the back burner, but hey, the year's only half over right? Now that I've got the momentum going with the blog, I'll have a little more time for the serious stuff.

Virtually Beachified in this Second Life

CSULB has a new virtual location at the Second Life website, a shared 3D conglomeration of fantasy worlds based on real geographic locations, locales in books and movies, and mostly the far reaches of people's imaginations. Designed by professors in the Marketing Department, Beach World is an island with palm trees, aquamarine pools and of course the Pyramid. The CSULB website has a short animated intro to this cool new way to take classes or just hang out. To virtually metriculate, you need to go to Second Life and create your own avatar.

Rancho Gardens Get Water-Wise

Rancho Los Alamitos opened a refurbished one-acre garden featuring native and water-sipping Mediterrainean plants last Saturday. The restoration aims to replicate the original 1925 garden with streams and waterfalls and cost $400,ooo to complete. Sounds like a great place for a refreshing stroll this summer. Admission is free and the hours run 1 to 5 pm from Wednesday to Sunday.

Rancho Los Alamitos

6400 Bixby Hill Road

562-431-3541

Get Out Your Dancing Shoes

Since you're downtown anyway for Tour des Artistes, be sure to stop by the Waterfront Band Shell at the Pike at Rainbow Harbor for a free salsa lesson. From 5-8 this evening there'll be live Latin music to help you get in the mood. If you're just too pooped from all that culture in the East Village, don't fret. There'll be another episode of Hot Summer Nights next Saturday, June 20, same time, same place. Vamos a bailar

Cool New Writing Website

I got an email back from Rose Writers and it looks like I'll be signing up for the June 23. I get more details next week. In the meantime, I'm using a cool website based on the book First Draft in 30 Days, which is more like creating a super detailed outline than an actual manuscript. I need a lot of security, though, so I think it will be a great way to give my plot a kickstart and get me back to writing.

Anyway, this website shows how Karen Wiesner uses her outline technique from character sketches to plot lines to detailed scene modules to methodically expand on her ideas and form them into a fluid, dynamic novel. Given my tortoise slow writing habits, I've given myself two months instead of one to go through all the steps. But believe me, if come mid-August, I have a completely worked out plot, I'll be doing somersaults.

Bloomsday at Clancy's--Yes! and Yes Again!

This Tuesday, June 16, Clancy's Irish Pub will be commemorating the date made famous in James Joyce's novel Ulysses. The book presents a kaleidoscope of memory, dreams and passion whirling around the city of Dublin on that date in 1904. Visitors are invited to wear Edwardian costumes or bring a copy of the book and read their favorite passages. Specials of the day include a lavish Irish breakfast with bangers, beans and grilled tomatoes, as well as corned beef and cabbage or $4 pints of Guinness. Ken O'Malley and the Twilight Lords will close the evening with story and song. It's St. Patrick's Day with a literary twist.

We Should All Look So Good at 50!

The On Broadway Merchant Association is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Barbie doll this Sunday June 14. Barbie on Broadway runs from 1 to 5 and includes Barbie manicures, Barbie stationery, specialty Barbie menu items and even a Barbie Drag Contest (and that's not a pink sports car race either). For real aficionados, Barbie doll designers and collectors will also be on hand. Sounds like a good excuse to head on down to Broadway and check out the cool stuff at Iguana's and snag a beer at E.J. Malloy's. Now where did my spike heel slides and pink velvet capris go to?

Pedal Downtown for some cheap grub this summer.

At Bike Long Beach, they're advertising Car-Free Fridays on the first Fridays of July and August. That's July 3 and August 7 for the calendar-challenged. Lots of restaurants are offering discounts for cyclists on those two days, including 20% off at California Pizza Kitchen and Johnny Rockets and a free salad at Bouchee's Bistro.
As of yet, they don't specify how you prove you actually cycled, so it you want to throw the bike in the trunk for a cheap lunch, you can probably get away with it.

There seems to be quite a controversy over the Bicycle Master Plan according to this week's District Weekly. I'm just happy to see that many of the proposed projects seem to have funding. In this hardscrabble economy when City Hall has to close down every Friday, how cool is it that bicyclists are pulling in major funding?

Summertime, and the Creative Juices are Flowing

My workload is considerably lighter now that the school year is over. I plan to devote more time to writing my novel and maybe a little travel if my budget permits.

I just sent in an email to Rose Writers to ask to join the June 23rd session. It's an 8-week course based on the Amherst Writers & Artists Workshops where writers of all abilities come together to write from prompts and share their writing as well as bring other writing in for critiques. Since my Writers Village Novel Writing Class has fizzled, I need some new inspiration. It costs $100, but if I can get in, I'm sure it will be worth it.

While on the Rose Writers website, I noticed that the members will be presenting their work in a reading at the Starling Diner on June 27 at 7 p.m. Good food and good words--what a dynamite combination.

Has Roll Up Long Beach Rolled Up?

Poking around the Tour des Artisties website, I noticed on of its sponsors is RULB or Roll Up Long Beach. From its about page, "Roll Up believes in the positive change that can come about through the unification of the unique individuals who live in Long Beach." I heartily endorse this attitude and look forward to the proposed unification.

So far it looks like they had a cranking launch party in April and have been nursing a hangover since then. So roll up your sleeves, RULB, there's work to do!

Don't tell me it's the second week of June already!

I've been having so much fun cleaning my oven and weeding the garden that I seem to have lost all track of time. A lot of interesting events slipped by like Long Beach Heritage's Home Tour and the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life at the CSULB track, but we just need to move on and not regret all those things that could have been.

As if to relieve my guilt a little, Tour des Artistes still does not have its full schedule online even though it takes place this Saturday June 13 in Downtown LB from 4 to 9 with afterparties promised into the wee hours. The full schedule is supposed to be up on Thursday at the website as well as an insert in OC Weekly. (What isn't the District Weekly big enough?) So far I have my eye on Artmatters Long Beach at the Lafayette's Dome Room in which some of the finest writers in Long Beach will be reading their works. Hmm, sounds just a little bit too good to be true, but I'm just gullible enough to have a look-see