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today i completed a feat that i had only dreamed about since moving to los angeles 3 years ago: riding my bike from downtown to venice beach. it is about 15 miles straight down venice blvd, and it took me just over an hour. when i arrived in venice, i realized that i had forgotten my wallet and had no bus fare in case of emergency. i placed a variety of semi-frantic messages to friends and found a hook up. i meandered north on the beach bike path to santa monica (another 3 miles or so) and decided to catch the express big blue bus.

after riding up as it pulled away, i got on a metro bus instead, but it was local. by the time we reached fairfax, i had been riding for about 45 minutes and realized that i could make it home much faster on my new marin san rafael city series. i hopped off (to the surprise of the bus driver as he knew my downtown destination) and cruised down fairfax to the grove and then rode my bike home down 3rd. another 10 miles or so.

in total, i rode my bike almost 30 miles today. it felt good. i think this will be my new saturday morning ritual. there are so many interesting things that you miss when you are zipping along in an automobile. for instance, there are 2 bowling alleys on venice, one of which has a roller rink (World On Wheels).

prince’s half time show was the most amazing thing i’ve seen on television in a long time. it was beautiful, shocking, revolutionary, soft and wet. i’ve been raving about it for 24 hours and i’ve gotten some repeated comments:

1. “you know they fill the field with prince fans so that they can get footage of girls crying…”

duh. that does not negate a phenomenal performance. he had over 50,000 people in the stands singing along, not to mention the audiences at home, and around the world. i’m aware of the techniques, (raises into snobbish tone) i have a degree in television theory.

2. “half the crowd went to the bathroom anyway.”

well then they are damn fools. to walk away from a show like that. prince is a living legend, that’s like saying, “no thanks, i’m not interested in seeing ravi shankar, sir paul mccartney, and bebe king perform for free. i’ve got to use the restroom.”

more importantly, i am always affected when i know that the majority of the homes in the united states are watching and listening to the same thing that i am right now. only the lucky ones can feel the way i do too.

this weekend, i went to lake tahoe with some friends of mine for my annual snow sports vacation. this was my second attempt at snowboarding and despite my intimate acquaintance with the snow, i was told that i made amazing progress.

in the afternoon i felt confident and ventured out on my own. at first i took the easy blue/hard green track. then i traveled up to the caples crest traverse by accident. my lift mates commented on my balls at the attempt. i should have known better. i took a nasty spill and twisted my leg in a direction its not supposed to go. now i’m at home nursing my sprained ankle and a twisted knee. i hope it heals quickly, i’m eager to try again this season in socal. anyone interested?

see picures here:
snowboarding in lake tahoe

today i will be starting a new job at the pershing square ice rink in downtown los angeles as a rink guard. i’m pretty freaking excited! here’s me lacing up… come visit when you can. my shift will start proper next week.