Sunny California ....
Jun. 6th, 2007 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
d_aulnoy... is in no way a misnomer. For the first time in the week and a half I've been out here, yesterday was cloudy, and I? Was outraged. Seriously. The girl who wanders around humming Garbage's "Only Happy When it Rains" was outraged by a little fog. Unreal ... soon, I may embody the fears of fletcherschloe andvschanoes and start, like, dressing exclusively in pastels. God, I hope not: they're terrible with my coloring.
(Although, in the interests of full disclosure, I have, a) gotten one hell of a tan, complete with commensurate bleaching-of-hair, and b) purchased a lavender sweater. In my own defense, it is/was, a) pure silk, b) a gorgeous off-the-shoulder cut, and c) violently reduced. Viva la Filene's!)
The past week-and-a-half has been almost entirely eaten by house-hunting: in its course, I have discovered that Californians appear to have some conflicting feelings about rentals. For one thing, even when they advertise rentals? They're ambivalent. I gather this from their pressing reluctance to answer the damn phone or return calls when I try to contact them for more information. However, once you get a-hold of them, they're all "Rent now! Rent now!", with no conceptualization of how "thirty days notice" works. Do people in Cali just shaft their landlords whenever they find a place? Do they give up their apartments with no new place in sight, confident that something will show up? Or do they just resign themselves to sleeping in the park with the rest of the madding crowd for the month it will take for a new batch to crop up? Damned if I know.
We have seen a few good places, though, so fingers crossed ... the front-runner has 30 foot ceilings and a loft. Want.
On Sunday, we went to the Arboretum to visit the peacocks. It was everything I dreamed it would be, and more. For example, did you know that the oft-used descriptor of the "piercing cry" of the peacock is a complete understatement? In reality, preparatory to engaging in its mating display, the peacock lifts its head to the sky and signals its readiness for love by saying, and I quote, "Braaaaaaaaaaaaaap! Keeeeee-raaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!", sometimes following up with additional "Keeeeeeeeeee-raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!"s, which I assume indicate the intensity of its longing. The peacock will then wander up to the closest peahen, shake his tail-feathers out like a high-tech plane readying for take-off (no, seriously, the Gnu made us hang out and wait for one to deploy, and, frankly, it was worth it), and stare at her intently. But this is the cool part: once the peacock feels that his has his prospective lady-love's full attention, he somehow curves the feathers of his tail around them both and proceeds to vibrate them furiously, producing a noise which can only be described as "Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr". My private theory is that all peacocks, not just the males, are rampant exhibitionists, and he's attempting to convince her that she's the center of a thousand adoring gazes via the rapid-fire oscillation of his voyeuristic tail. Hey, have you got a better idea?
Many new projects are flooding in, to be described later, but tonight's will be - da-da-dum! - the California Driver's Handbook. Yes, ladies and germs, tomorrow, I take the written exam. Pray for me, and, better yet, pray for all the hapless suckers on the roads .....
fletcherschloe andvschanoes and start, like, dressing exclusively in pastels. God, I hope not: they're terrible with my coloring.(Although, in the interests of full disclosure, I have, a) gotten one hell of a tan, complete with commensurate bleaching-of-hair, and b) purchased a lavender sweater. In my own defense, it is/was, a) pure silk, b) a gorgeous off-the-shoulder cut, and c) violently reduced. Viva la Filene's!)
The past week-and-a-half has been almost entirely eaten by house-hunting: in its course, I have discovered that Californians appear to have some conflicting feelings about rentals. For one thing, even when they advertise rentals? They're ambivalent. I gather this from their pressing reluctance to answer the damn phone or return calls when I try to contact them for more information. However, once you get a-hold of them, they're all "Rent now! Rent now!", with no conceptualization of how "thirty days notice" works. Do people in Cali just shaft their landlords whenever they find a place? Do they give up their apartments with no new place in sight, confident that something will show up? Or do they just resign themselves to sleeping in the park with the rest of the madding crowd for the month it will take for a new batch to crop up? Damned if I know.
We have seen a few good places, though, so fingers crossed ... the front-runner has 30 foot ceilings and a loft. Want.
On Sunday, we went to the Arboretum to visit the peacocks. It was everything I dreamed it would be, and more. For example, did you know that the oft-used descriptor of the "piercing cry" of the peacock is a complete understatement? In reality, preparatory to engaging in its mating display, the peacock lifts its head to the sky and signals its readiness for love by saying, and I quote, "Braaaaaaaaaaaaaap! Keeeeee-raaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!", sometimes following up with additional "Keeeeeeeeeee-raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!"s, which I assume indicate the intensity of its longing. The peacock will then wander up to the closest peahen, shake his tail-feathers out like a high-tech plane readying for take-off (no, seriously, the Gnu made us hang out and wait for one to deploy, and, frankly, it was worth it), and stare at her intently. But this is the cool part: once the peacock feels that his has his prospective lady-love's full attention, he somehow curves the feathers of his tail around them both and proceeds to vibrate them furiously, producing a noise which can only be described as "Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr". My private theory is that all peacocks, not just the males, are rampant exhibitionists, and he's attempting to convince her that she's the center of a thousand adoring gazes via the rapid-fire oscillation of his voyeuristic tail. Hey, have you got a better idea?
Many new projects are flooding in, to be described later, but tonight's will be - da-da-dum! - the California Driver's Handbook. Yes, ladies and germs, tomorrow, I take the written exam. Pray for me, and, better yet, pray for all the hapless suckers on the roads .....
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-07 12:09 am (UTC)Personally, I prefer weird and less noisy... but that's me. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-07 04:37 pm (UTC)So which other weird birds should I visit?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-13 01:40 am (UTC)/CHip
no subject
Date: 2007-06-07 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-07 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 02:21 am (UTC)If you haven't found a place yet and want to go through a rental company, Westside Rentals is well regarded. (I know they do West LA and most of The Valley, so they should do Pasadena.) Alternatively, if you want to send me out to look at a listing for you, let me know.