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LA -- in a cold, drizzly rain that soaks and chills. I'm downtown, in a hotel across from the Convention Center/Staples Arena. The first time I've been in actual downtown LA. I'm still not too impressed -- LA has always seemed like a...grimy...city to me. Downtown seems to emphasize it.
I look out the window and try to imagine the Raymond Chandler LA of the 1940s. I can't do it -- things are too new and too in-your-face. It's like looking at downtown Atlanta and trying to picture Sherman torching the city. There's sensory overload in all the wrong places -- from the buzzing helicopters to the glass skyscrapers to the neon buzzing of a sports stadium named after a store that sells office supplies (are we running out of politician monikers?). There's nothing left of the 40s, or at least nothing left in my direct line of sight. Ol' Ray wouldn't recognize the place.
A one hour layover in Las Vegas turned into a three hour layover, but hell, I won $40 in the airport slots, so I'm not too annoyed. Storms delayed my arrival into LA itself -- we swung way the hell out into the Pacific to land toward the Eastern headwinds. Today started at about 6AM Atlanta time, now it's 8:30 LA time. I'm trying to stay up to force a three hour jetlag acclimation.
I tried to download ICQ, but I forgot my password, and I've tried so many times that it says it has locked me out 'for a few hours'.
I'm deciding on whether to go downstairs and have a drink. I had a martini with dinner, but that was a few hours ago. Maybe I'll have a rye on the rocks to toast Ol' Ray.
I look out the window and try to imagine the Raymond Chandler LA of the 1940s. I can't do it -- things are too new and too in-your-face. It's like looking at downtown Atlanta and trying to picture Sherman torching the city. There's sensory overload in all the wrong places -- from the buzzing helicopters to the glass skyscrapers to the neon buzzing of a sports stadium named after a store that sells office supplies (are we running out of politician monikers?). There's nothing left of the 40s, or at least nothing left in my direct line of sight. Ol' Ray wouldn't recognize the place.
A one hour layover in Las Vegas turned into a three hour layover, but hell, I won $40 in the airport slots, so I'm not too annoyed. Storms delayed my arrival into LA itself -- we swung way the hell out into the Pacific to land toward the Eastern headwinds. Today started at about 6AM Atlanta time, now it's 8:30 LA time. I'm trying to stay up to force a three hour jetlag acclimation.
I tried to download ICQ, but I forgot my password, and I've tried so many times that it says it has locked me out 'for a few hours'.
I'm deciding on whether to go downstairs and have a drink. I had a martini with dinner, but that was a few hours ago. Maybe I'll have a rye on the rocks to toast Ol' Ray.
