Would You Call The Police?

I was walking down Rose Avenue in Venice barely a block from the Ocean Front Walk when I noticed someone on the roof of this six-stories what looks to be residential building.  

Intrigued.  I continued to watch.  

 

Very soon I remembered I had my camera with me. I was walking around the Venice beach area to get digital images of Venice locations as seen in the movie, "I Love You, Man!"; which I felt would coincide nicely with my Best Sights L.A., Hotel California Tour and Valentine's Day I've been writing about for my CaliforniVacation Blog and sister gig, as the L.A. Sightseeing Examiner for examiner.com.

I started filming.  Video below.  Without giving it away or revealing what I did, after viewing the video I again ask, "Would you call the Police?" And I don't mean that singing trio that included Sting.  I'd love to have you share your comments.  Thank you in advance.

Would Chuck upchuck?

I write another blog, CaliforniVacation: SoCal Style.  Currently I am doing a series of posts about Manhattan Beach, California.

Manhattan Beach is considered the corporate headquarters for Skechers Footwear.  Perhaps you have heard of it. Skechers has an amazing retail store on the corner of Manhattan Beach Boulevard that I passed on my way to the Manhattan Beach Pier.  Below is a photo.

As I walked past their display window I found myself doing a double take.  What caught my eye are shoes that looked to me like Converse Chuck Taylor's with Ed Hardy designs on them.  Below is a photo of said window.

Now I don't know what would pop in your mind as you walked past this window, but this is what popped in mine.  "I wonder what Chuck Taylor thinks or would think if he knew his chosen shoes are now the phenomenon they are and available in so many colors and patterns, etc."

I made a decision right then to see if I could find out and then write a blog about it.  Behold!  Said Blog!

What I found out was so much "mo' betta" than I expected.

According to the Chuck Taylor All-Stars Wikipedia Page, you get a sense Mr. Taylor loved these shoes.  Although, having left his physical body in 1969 I feel it would be a stretch to definitively determine if the current situation would make him want to upchuck, be fine with it or giddy with delight.

I didn't know Converse is owned by Nike.  Nike bought Converse in 2003.  What I imagine got me thinking about all of this is that I love these shoes.  "Hello!  My name is Lori and I love Chuck Taylor All-Star Shoes."

So, you can imagine how thrilled I was when I found out you can go to Converse.com and create your own signature pair.  I won't even attempt to explain the details since you can simply jump to the converse web site and it is very easy to follow the instructions.  Also, if you are a fan of their "One Star '74" shoe style, it is now only available online from the converse web site.

Hmmmm!  Guess who just may be getting a new pair of shoes.  Anybody got some dice?

My tongue just doesn't want to seem to work that way!

I'm a Cali Girl, born in Inglewood, city of Champions (even though the champion Lakers have since moved uptown to the Staples Center).  Moving back to Hawthorne, the original Cougar Town (thank you very much), has been a sheer delight after spending many years in Massachusetts, Minnesota and North Dakota.  I know, how jealous are you of me right now?

Especially compared to Minnesota (where most of those many years were spent...hmmm...I love how my first inclination to describe living there is to refer to it as spent, as opposed to enjoyed or lived or any other number of describer-type words) where us white folks, many with "ski" at the end of their last name, appear to be the majority; California can be likened to the way I used to view some places in Canada.  You know the ones I used to think were weird because English and French competed for control in most spoken language in that area.

In other words, I never thought I would see the day when I felt that I was at a loss because I only spoke English in my native land.  You know, 'cuz I don't habla espanol.  (Don't cry for me Argentina, I'm doing just fine with English only.  This isn't meant to be a debate about the rightness of southern California's bilingual nature.)

I feel I was fortunate enough to almost immediately bond with my still best friend, Ericka, over our love for Prince's music.  Having lived for a while practically across the street from Prince's Paisley Park, I immediately was welcomed into Ericka's world.  She's a much more loyal fan than I.  Ericka is the youngest and only sibling in her Nicaraugan family to be born in the USA.  So, she's BI.  She speaks English and "hablas" fluently.

My being immersed and merging my world with Ericka's family's world for over five years, I thought I'd be a little farther along with the "habla" myself.  I even bought a "learn a new spanish word a day" calendar hoping I'd somehow become more fluent.  Let me put it to you this way.  I may not be Albert Einstein, but I am teachable.  I passed the CA Realtors Exam first try.  I passed the Series 7 test to sell securities first try.  So what's up?

Today, I think I figured it out.  One of Ericka's brothers, Tomas, sometimes purposely hablas espanol...bless his heart...with me.  I think he feels like he is doing me a favor to help me learn Spanish.  He will then wait for me either to respond to him en espanol or repeat what he is saying.

I'll listen.  And I want to repeat it.  I really do.  Yet as my brain is gearing up to command my tongue and lips and mouth and all to get into formation so I can say what he said, there just seems to be some sort of revolt that takes place.  And I tell you, part of me honestly believes, "My tongue just doesn't want to seem to work that way!" You know what?  I'm okay with it.