Milestone

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the day I drove into LA for the first time. I arrived on July 4, 1988 at about 9:20 pm, just as the fireworks at Dodgers Stadium were going off. At the time, I considered that a good omen and thought to myself, "gee, they could have just baked a cake.."

Ironically, I celebrated my 20th anniversary as a Los Angelino in another state. I flew to Santa Fe, NM after work on Thursday -- needed some rest and relaxation and really needed some time to myself. One of my friends at work said that spa visits and massages are the female version of hiring a hooker as a tension reliever. (She may very well be right.)

Last night I sat on the balcony of my room with a bowl of fruit and cheese and sparkling water and watched the fireworks in Santa Fe. I had forgotten just how DARK night is -- the city lights in LA overpower the stars and are so bright the sky only goes gray at night -- it's been so long since I've been away from LA on my own with time to contemplate such things that I forgot the stars were up there at all.

Today I'm taking a yoga class and I'm going into town and having the tattoo on the back of my neck re-colored. My little mark of impetuous youth has faded to fuzzy black & white and looks like one of those WWII tattoos you see on an old man's forearm and I want it to be pretty and bright. I feel pretty and bright, so I want my 25-year old tattoo to be pretty and bright, too. Maybe after that I'll see a movie.