Mental Elph Shots on a Rambling Morning

Just forewarning you that this post is going to be extremely meandering.

Had a few errands today to walk today. Fill out paperwork for my totalled car (yes, this is the final and authorized word on the matter). Zerox and mail said paperwork. Call insurance company. Get quarters at the bank for busrides. Check out Famima. Buy moisturizer. And as I set out, I was besieged by visual and memory stimuli.

The sky is bright blue and clear of most clouds, necessitating my red baseball cap and road trip sunglasses that I got on my last road trip.

The delicious smell of the local Starbucks. I don't drink coffee (aside from that first trip to Italy), but I adore the scent of it, and confess to a predilection for coffee-flavored icecream.

The chaos that is Santa Monica Boulevard. The construction (and traffic) is proceeding at a snail's pace. I can only guess at how they mean to finish it. The big ditches on either side of Westwood Blvd are filled with the rainwater that pelted the westside yesterday.

Kinko's. Yes, they're overpriced. However, they're also open 24 hours a day, and are very convenient. This is where I copied those family picture charts for the Japanese folks, and where I copied all of Yuki Grandma's documents that Aunt Yo brought over in November.

Bank for quarters. Now my backpack is three pounds heavier.

Famima. Visiting this store was like walking back in time to my summer visits to Japan. All kinds of packaged sushi. The soda in the glass bottles with the marble inside the opening. Po-ke sticks. Sadly, there were no whistle lifesavers or melon candy, but I did buy a salmon rice ball in commemoration of my Yuki Grandma, who died last year. Also of note was the cover of the Japanese version of Newsweek. It had a woodblock print of a Japanese woman in traditional dress and hairstyle, looking at a mirror, from which a blonde-haired, blue-eyed anime girl stared out of. The one English title on the article read, "Turning Un-Japanese." Maybe a play off of the song by The Vapors? Anyway, it was an interesting picture that pointed to the mainstreaming of Japanese culture. I also checked out the glossy Japanese fashion magazines. Sad to say, like most Western mags, the models all looked like carbon copies. An unfortunate commentary on homogenization.

Passed by Bristol Farms. I shop here when I feel hungry and luxurious. I like to get prosciutto here, because it's just so amazingly tasty.

Passed Cost Plus, which never fails to remind me of the exotic places I'd like to visit.

Passed by the Hollywood Video. The last last time I visited, I was wrathfully exchanging the last dvd of the second season. I'd rented them all at once, and the last dvd didn't play. Confess that I was less that civil to the guy at HV, and was rather ashamed to return. However, when I rented Grand Canyon (along with Turtles Can Fly and Bollywood.Hollywood), the guy was very pleasant, and didn't seem to recognize me. Phew.

Passed by the Old Suzy Q's location. One of my favorite places to go when I first started dancing eight years ago. Now I have to drive out to Pasadena or Pomona to get in any good dancing. I do try to make it out to Paladino's, but it's only once a month, which just isn't enough.

Tutoring business that specializes in math and science. Remembered memorizing the times tables in Japanese.

The dance/costume shop. Someday I mean to get some dancing heeled sandals for salsa, etc, but they're expensive, and I will be buying a car shortly ...

To the mall. Moisturaizer and a brown ethnic dress.

Kids playing in the neighborhood elementary school yard. I remember playing on the rings (and the awful blisters I would get on my palms), perfecting my slicie handball shots, and shrieking during dodgeball.

The temple crowning Santa Monica Blvd as I step to my door. I remember when Bork and I went through with our parents, that first time. What a wonderful and satisfying day that was.