California, Here I Come!

The flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles wasn’t that long – and my friends Martha and Susan were there to pick me up, which was very nice. Martha paid all of my bills while I was gone – I didn’t know if I would have internet access, and even though I did, she still did everything, which gave me amazing peace of mind. We went to their house and talked until late – still on Hawaii time, but at least not Asia time.

Martha took the next day off, which was very nice of her. We went out for breakfast and then went to Occidental College. I figured that since I was on the Obama tour, I’d see his first college (it has a nice color scheme!). Hm – I went to Columbia this summer and didn’t really take note of his having gone there; how things have changed in a year and a half! We went on to Walt Disney Concert Hall and took a tour there – impressive Gehry design that is the center of a new downtown. One day, I’d like to hear a concert there! We went to CPK, had Thai massages, went to a bookstore for a Rand McNally Road Atlas, and had another cuisine I had missed, Mexican food.




My plan-as-you-go had gotten me to Los Angeles, and the plan was to make more plans once I got there. I had the idea of a route in mind, but hadn’t looked into rental cars, driving distances, stops, timing…Los Angeles was the perfect place for this. Martha and Susan both work during the day, so I could use the days to plan, unpack/repack/figure out where to send the souvenirs, be a good guest by doing some food shopping and baking (chocolate bread pudding!), take some walks and acclimate myself further to being back, and rest! Rest was pretty much all I did the next day, though – not quite ready to take on the planning or the boxes. Everything takes longer than you think it will in America too, and there are always errands here too. We did go to the Apple Store, which was huge – they replaced my broken (and dirty) casing and told me where to go for more memory. I desperately needed it!

On Saturday, Martha and Susan had signed up for One-Day University, a really interesting concept. This is something that in the past I might have joined them for. But one of the things I wanted to bring with me from Morocco was a simpler life. Writing, reading, and cooking from scratch were important ways that I spent my time there. Granted, there weren’t things like One-Day University to do – but I had always wanted more time to myself and in Morocco I had nothing but time. How to bring that home? Recognize its importance. Try to lessen my commitments and obligations. Say no to things that sound nice to do but not things I really want to do. This fell in that category – not to mention that with all of the travel, I might have had a little cold coming on, and I was still a bit jet-lagged. Staying in while they went out was definitely the way to go.

I wrote the above paragraph a long time ago – I’m not sure when, but it was before I started posting again in October; I think it was fairly soon after my return from the Philippines. I’ve left it intact as a reminder of how I felt when I came back – staying in Southampton is quieter and simpler than being in a city would be, but I have been feeling stressed and busy lately! So I have some recalibration and rebalancing to do.