Graf

The works of a couple of my local area's graffiti makers have caught my eye recently. First, someone has been stickering over the WAIT light that appears when you press the button to cross the road. One says something along the lines of "you are good enough", another says "have courage". Isn't that sweet?

A somewhat more angst filled spraypaint-wielder, on the other hand, has painted "WHY?" on pavements on phoneboxes in bright red.

I'm waiting for someone to come along and add YOLO.

The Getty

Some snapshots. Third picture is a view over LA. Interesting to note that the city is big enough to have at least two big skyscraper filled downtowns. The gallery lends itself well to photos with stripped down palettes, so many areas of white and neutral.

Little Italy Farmer's Market

Or, equally possible; the farmers' market, since there may for all I know have been a veritable plurality of farmers in attendance.

But hold on there, I hear you cry, you haven't told us what you had for breakfast yet! We went here:

In a display of bold originality we requested bagels. I sipped some orange juice and paddled about on the pavement outside. The downtown skyscraper architecture gets broken up in this neighbourhood.

Reasonably interesting as far as blocks of flats go. There's even some colour - if I knew how to steal bikes and were the kind of person that steals another person's bike, then gosh-darn-it, I'd have stolen this bike.

We made a move over to Little Italy, or in my accent Li'l Italy, or in a Californian accent Liddle Iddaly. T sounds get abused. The market was in full swing and what a fine market it was. Maybe you'd like it, I don't know what you're in to. I sat in the shade, people-watched and ate my bagel. A walk down the street revealed this ocean view.

This was all yesterday, and that'll do for tonight.

Resolutions

No! Not the awesome album by Dave Hause. It's January! I've said it before and I'll say it again, new year's resolutions are a great way to achieve depression by mid-month, since mostly they're denials of something you enjoy or rely on.

So generally you'd be better of adding something to your life than taking it away. Mine this year is one word long, and although it's taken me a week to start I should be able to work up some momentum now.

I'm back in California after almost a month at home, and the sun is shining. It looks like this:

We went out for brunch; I had the remarkably healthy (from the top down,) hollandaise sauce, poached eggs, crab fishcakes, english muffins and a plate. The key feature of this particular eatery was the pot of crayola (other brands are available) wax crayons on each table, in tandem with paper tablecloths. This allowed me to tick the box next to my resolution: Draw. Sorry to leave you hanging there. We later stopped off at an art supply shop, so I'll be able to make more drawings.

Roller Derby

Roller derby is a badass sport. You can probably find accurate rules by googling it, and definitely more complete, but anyway: There are four blockers and one jammer from each team on the track (an oval). The jammer scores points for her team by overtaking the other team's blockers. Each set of blockers helps their jammer and hinders their opponents, using whatever hip-checks and shoulder-barges they feel like. (Use of the arms, legs, punching, kicking etc. are forbidden.)

It's played indoors in relatively low light, and they can skate impressively fast, which makes it supremely challenging to photograph. Enough whinging, I tried anyway and here are some results:

Bam.

Tape. Tattoo.

High speed cornering.

Jammer.

Food Diaries: Lucha Libre

A couple of weeks ago some friends took me to a Taco shop. I got very excited when we got there as it turned out to be Lucha Libre, as featured on the much admir'd Man vs. Food. As you can see, the decor is understated and minimal, with subtle Mexican wrestling influences. The Champion's table is only available to those who make a reservation.

I went for the California Surfin' Burrito (As Seen on TV!) which contains everything good; carne asada, prawns, french fries, cheese, avocado, salsa... I hope I'm not forgetting anything. I had to dig deep, but I found room in my hollow legs for the whole thing. I'll have to do some serious training if I'm to have any hope of taking on the Broken Yolk Cafe's Iron Man Challenge (a 12 egg omelette with lots of extras).

"Why not do it with some style?"

Seen and snapped by the Gliderport, where there are people flying, so why not time travel? There are also stunning sunsets over the Pacific.