Well, I don't live in LA anymore. Now I teach at a high school in Worcester, MA. BUT I still have some things I need to post on here (character sketches and stories) so I may still be putting things up. I think I'm going to start up my other blog (Popular Electronics, December 1958) again.

I don't want to spend too long on a wrap up thing, because it'll make me sad. My time in LA was awesome, probably the best year of my life so far, and I can't wait to go back and visit. It is nice feeling like you really know a city that most people on the East Coast either a) hate, and would never want to live/visit there or b) idolize. I might try to go back for a visit during my February vacation. We'll see.

EMAIL

I teach a computer class every Thursday. It's called Computers II: Introduction to the Internet. It is awesome! At the end of the class I have the clients send me an email (to my work email address). Often I'll have them pretend I'm an employer, but usually they just say things like "Dear Miss Allison Thanks for helping with class. Your pretty" and such. Today I just said "send me an email" and didn't make them pretend I was an employer because I was already pretty tired. Anyway I got a great message today from a student. Here it is:

Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 3:11 PM
Subject: meat

Dear. Larry
I am righting you A Letter to let you no i love you

Magic Castle

I flirted with John Stamos for 20 minutes at the Magic Castle, and I touched his once elbow while doing it. At one point, my friend and I decided that it would be a good idea to play it cool with Stamos, and focus on talking to his magician friend. My friend had made him a paper tulip out of a bar napkin. Uncle Jesse's magician friend was a bit randy, and made rude comments about me and my friend. I didn't like it.

I got compared to Grace Kelly by 3 different magicians. (Magicians are sleazy) Everything went swimmingly, except when one magician bought us deviled eggs (why would you order deviled eggs?) with caviar and truffle oil, and it was so awful, and I had to eat one so as to not be rude. I almost puked, but I was focused on being as charming as possible so I took it like a champ. Oh, Magic Castle! I wish I flirted with Robert Downey Jr. instead, but you can't have it all! (R.D. Jr. was not at the Magic Castle last night, I'm just sayin')

DEAN: Stay black, pay taxes, and die

Writing about Dean is a very daunting task because there is so much to say and so many stories to tell I just don't know where to start. I will start, I guess, at the beginning when I first met Dean. He's not actually my client, but his case manager's cubicle is right next to mine. I didn't meet him right away, actually. I heard him.

"I am just saying that if a woman gonna start me going and make me angry I am not afraid to hit her. I'm an equal opportunity beating machine." His voice is part Kermit the Frog, part Shaft.

Now, when I first heard this through my cubicle wall I became immediately concerned for my co-worker, a frail blonde girl who had a bad habit of giving out too much personal information (a habit that an unnerving encounter with a man who believed there to be microchips implanted in his knees by the Fire Departments of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in order to track his homosexual activities roundly broke) and sitting a little too close to the clients. Out of slight concern, but mostly out of curiosity, I my wheelie chair scooted out of my cube a bit to take a look at this guy.

He's pretty tall, African American and in his 60's. He has no teeth and close-cropped gray hair. The skin on his nose is a bit lighter than the rest of his face, his nails are kind of long and he is wearing broken glasses. Dean's legs are stretched out in front of him and he he has fingers crossed, supporting the back of his head. Dean is smiling and nodding a bit. He is basically on vacation, and loving every minute of it. My co-worker is stunned.

It was during Dean's assessment, the time case managers first meet the client. The assessment is basically a list of questions we ask them, mostly yes or no, about their work history, felonies, medical conditions, etc. Then we make a goal plan and set them up with a few more appointments. The way things go in assessment often, but not always, determines how your relationship is going to be.

"So," she asks after a few seconds. She has returned to the list of questions displayed on her monitor. "You have a history of domestic violence?"

"Absolutely not." Said Dean. "Ain't no woman done nothin' to me, I'm just sayin' I ain't afraid to should the need arise."

We all thought Dean was a nutcase, and we all were glad he wasn't on our caseload. As time went on, however, and Dean became an office regular we began to get a much different picture of Dean. I can't really remember why Dean started signing in to see me; it probably had something to do with the fact that my co-worker, his assigned case manager, was out of the office pretty regularly. Eventually he started seeing me, Elizabeth and his case manager Bianca all the time. He'd come in, sign in to see me and 5 minutes after he'd left my cubicle he was in Liz's. He started calling his his "3 angel case managers."

The thing we work on with Dean the most is how to control his violent urges. Now, I'm pretty sure that Dean has no violent urges, ever. He's a very nice guy. But he loves getting a rise out of us and having a reason to come into the office, so we see him pretty frequently.

That's all for now, again. I am starting to wonder if I can actually write about Dean... you really need to meet him to get him. What do you think? DO YOU WANT TO HEAR MORE? I guess I should write more because he is certainly a challenge to accurately depict using only the written word. He needs multi-media.

nerds!

Team USA lost. And I really wanted this one for Clint Dempsey, because he deserves it for not being a baby. There's always 2014 for us to get beat by Ghana 2-1 again!

I stopped using shampoo. I am not gross! I use a baking soda scrub once a week now and the "Mexican Hair Washing Method" every other day. The "Mexican Hair Washing Method" involves using hot water and rags and then cold water. It works well, but it's sort of weird.

For some reason, I've recently become more health conscious. It's not that I've read anything new. I just started buying as much organic food as possible and freaking out about products I put on my skin!

Tim and I just had a fantastic weekend in Santa Barbara and Ventura. I didn't actually take any pictures, I am not sure why. I guess I just didn't want to lug the camera around this weekend. Please enjoy this image of the Mission Santa Barbara I found on the internet.

If you ever need or want to visit Southern California my advice to you is to stay in Ventura (the actual name being San Buenaventura [classy]) and drive to Saint B (45 minutes or so northwise) and Los Angeles (1 hour in no traffic, 2 hours in normal traffic, 3 hours in holiday weekend traffic southwise) instead of staying in Los Angeles itself. Maybe it's just because I live and work here, but LA is not usually a very relaxing place to be.

Santa Barbara is absolutely right out of a movie. Everything is perfect and done in mission style. Ventura is similar, but more of a surfer beach town and less of a wealthier Northampton of Southern California, like SB.

We went to a great museum; the Karpeles Manuscript Museum. (Be careful, the site plays cheezy music). It had a little bit of everything! Letters from Elizabeth I to Francis Drake re defeating the Spanish Armada, handwritten drafts of Ian Fleming Bond stories, sheet music written by Mozart, Bach and Tchaikovsky, Gutenberg Bible pages, a map used by Christopher Columbus on his voyage, lots of Egyptian stuff, Russian space station computers, an ancient Torah, letters from Arthur Conan Doyle written to dead people, the world's first folding pocket knife, memos written by Admiral Nelson shortly before his death aboard the HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar. IT WAS NUTS! They have more in New York (Newburgh and Buffalo) and in Charleston, SC, Tacoma, WA, Jacksonville, FL Fort Wayne, IN, Shreveport, LA and Duluth MN. Maybe more, too. I don't remember. If you are ever in any of these towns, GO! It is also free. The guy, Mr. Karpeles, MUST BE LOADED because he just buys these things and puts it all into a museum. It's awesome. Apparently they have the Proclamation of the Holy Crusades which, obviously, I really want to see.

Queen Elizabeth and Arthur Conan Doyle had interesting, neat handwriting. The composers had CRAZY handwriting.

I had a great vacation.