Burned

A quick update because one is due and then it's off to a much deserved bed. Today was probably one of the worst days I've had since I moved to Los Angeles, but strangely enough I'm okay with it. I have no idea why. Maybe I'm growing a little patience? Or maybe the magnitude of how much today sucked has yet to sink into my sun-addled brain. Either way, it all started off innocently enough...and in the manner that most days do; with me being late. "I'm a musician," I tell myself. "We're always late." And it's true. I never put much stock in punctuality. The only detentions I ever got in high school were from being late. I really dislike this trivial American obsession with timeliness...I think we'd all be a lot less stressed and healthier if we'd just relax a little and be okay with getting there 10 or 15 minutes late. But whatever, that's beside the point (and my tardiness goes beyond 10 or 15 minutes anyway...).

I hate bringing this up because I keep feeling like I'm bragging, but this whole crapstorm of a day started with the Los Angeles AIDS Walk. I volunteered to walk with a group from church called Team Horray! and, to be honest, I didn't do it purely for altruistic reasons. As with so many things, there was a girl who was going to be at the walk who I'd liked to have spent some more time with...ergo, my eagerness to walk 14 kilometers (I would walk 14 kilometers and I would walk 14 more...nah, doesn't have as nice a ring to it, I guess...). Well, things went south with her not too long after my selfless volunteering, which made the anticipation of today's activities less than palpable. So I was late to the AIDS walk this morning. I was supposed to be there at 8:30, but I kept hitting the snooze button and wound up actually getting out of bed at 8:45 (awoken from a text from previously mentioned girl asking where we were all meeting). Dash through the shower, clothes hamper, and downstairs to the car. The park where we're meeting is only ten minutes away, but...turns out half of LA shows up to this thing (what is it with these people and walking?! Marathons, charitable causes, protests...you name it, Angelenos will show up to march for/against it) which makes finding parking a nightmare. But aha! I, in my ingenious haste find somewhere great to park...or so I think.

I rush on down to the rally and meet up with the team just in time to begin the walk. A good friend and I used to walk 8 miles to Blockbuster video once a week (and I really miss those walks...), so 6 miles wasn't too hard on me. What was hard on me was the merciless sun, my nemesis from times of yore. See, I was genetically engineered to live in a bog in northern Ireland or to wallow in a cave, eating dead fish and cooing gingerly over "my precioussss..." Any contact with the sun burns me. Burns me bad. And, like a tool, I forgot about this little fact and neglected to wear a hat or bring sunscreen. So of course, by the walk's end, my face looks like a cooked lobster. Lovely. Luckily things weren't too awkward between the aforementioned girl and I...I spent most of my time walking with other people. So walk's end, I'm feeling pretty good...apart from my aching knees and char-grilled face. I return to where I remember parking my car and it's not there...strange. I figure I have a bad memory for these sort of things and spend the next 45 minutes/2 miles searching the area for my car to no avail. Then the revelation hits me; I've been towed.

That's right. My car was towed. Nothing like the city expressing its affection for you to snap you out of any righteous revelries you may be feeling at the moment. Oh, and even better, my cell phone and driver's licence are in the car. Glorious. I take down the number of the towing place that's posted on the sign and walk to my (thankfully closeby) office. The security guard recognizes me (thank God), lets me up to the 11th floor where I log onto my computer and first call the towing company to indeed verify that my car's been hauled (and to learn that springing it from the impound lot is going to set me back $180) and then search Facebook for any of my nearby friends with cell phone numbers listed. He-Re, my new hero, offers to pick me up and by 3:00 I'm back home, getting my wallet and having my room mate drive me to the impound lot where I free my car and find that, in addition to towing my car, the city wrote me a $40 ticket on top of it all. Here's the tagline for the city of Hollywood: "Kick 'em when they're down!"

I'm finally back home by 4:30...exhausted, starving (hadn't eaten all day), sun-burned, and $220 poorer. And strangely okay with it all. Well, not okay...but water off a duck's back. It's whatever. It's only money. I can sleep, I can eat. And some aloe will clear that sunburn right up. What's important in this moment is how I choose to react to it all. Because if I go with my normal reaction and get all pissy and bitter, then the ol' devil's won, hasn't he? But if I choose to take a higher road and trust that this is all in good time, then maybe I gain something from all this. Maybe I'm somehow richer for it all. I'll admit, my first reaction was to be mad...and I was upset for the first hour of it all. Then...not. I don't know how else to explain it. It's like something else took over.

I think the lessons for today are as follows:
1.) Never do anything because you want to impress a girl. That road leads only to havoc.
2.) Don't ever park on the street. EVER.
3.) If you must park on the street, make sure you're not blocking a driveway...even a driveway that looks identical to a trench.
4.) Wear sunblock, dummy.
5.) It is not your circumstance, but your reaction that determines the outcome.