7.4.98

    L.A. is big.

    T. and I both had this overwhelming sense of the size of Los Angeles today while driving back from visiting our friend's dog. We're doing a little house sitting and dog watching for one of his coworkers. They live way out yonder and we could easily take two or three highways to get there. That's what made T. think about how big Los Angeles is.

    For me, it is the fact that today is Independence Day, The Fourth of July™. Perhaps it is because I am removed from my friends and family that I'm not having a strong feeling towards today. Fourth of July... let's see, that's flags, fireworks, barbecues, lawn chairs, coolers, iced tea, lighter fluid and sparklers. Fireworks are illegal in Los Angeles so, of course, there are several big shows all over the city. I'd go to one except that I know the crowds will be insane.

    While I was thinking of that while T. pondered the highways I had to question reality for a moment. Am I still in America? Los Angeles is so big. Los Angeles is so big that you can completely shut yourself off from the rest of the world and not notice a thing. There's enough news happening in this city that there's barely enough time on the newscast to cover the wars in Angola or the Asian economy. How can we possibly concentrate on the Outside when we are in here and there's a standoff between a distraught middle-aged man and the LAPD on the Ventura Freeway?

    Really.

    What I would really like to do today is travel. Yeah, it would be insane but I'd love to drive for two hours to see friends in the next town over. No, I don't have friends within two hours. But it would be cool if I did. It would be fun to visit friends or family with little kids and drink wine and light sparklers and be delighted at the black snake emerging from a tiny, black cylinder. What are those things, anyway?

    My favorite foreworks as a kid were the ones with the Army theme. Did you ever have the tanks? They had three "cannons" that would shoot flames and sparks and, if the cardboard wheels didn't warp too much, would propel the tank forward. Another were the bottlerocket-type contraptions that dispensed two or three plastic men with parachutes. If they didn't catch on fire or get tangled up then they floated gently to the ground. Just like real Army men. Ahhh, well. Not this year. Maybe never again.

    We are going to barbecue, though, but we've got to figure a plan of attack so that we can get from point A to B later without too much trouble. Travelling across the city is a major excursion. Better bring water and sunscreen and some jelly doughnuts. You never know what can happen.