10.12.98

    I've finished up my temp jop and it was nice to be kept busy for a few days. Boy, have I been busy. My Inbox is so noisy right now. I've got Webgrrls coming at me from all sides. I've got the journal critique list in full swing. My small freelance project has turned into a daily chore. I've got daily job leads coming in for jobs I may or may not be even remotely qualified for and I've got a small claims suit on my hands.

    I'm the one suing.

    You may recall that I was working from home and I had a few reservations (noted here only in the title and here in both title and entry) about the job. Well, I should have listened to my instincts. This is the one time that I have ignored them and this is also the one time that I can recall when my instincts screamed loudly for me to run. I should have done it. But, I wanted a new job so very badly. I've been looking for so long and trying so many different things and... well, you know the story.

    So, the short story is is that my "boss" got mad at me and fired me. And now, he doesn't want to pay me. Well, too bad. Too bad because I'm angry at him for providing a lousy work environment and being generally uncommunicative and combative with me and his clients. I'll be damned if I work hard for that jerk and he thinks he can get away without compensating me.

    This isn't easy, either. The fact is is that I have very, very little money. I think I have ten dollars. I needed that money.

    On the positive side, this whole mess has energized me to send out more resumes and to possibly create a web page so that other people will stay out of this mess. Aren't I such a camp counselor.

    The funniest "only in L.A." thing happened today. I was working that temp job out in East L.A. and I noticed that the admin. assistant looked awfully familiar. Her name was Flora and the MIS guy said that we weren't going to install the software on the computer because she can get a little pissy. Hmmm... who could that be? Why, it's Flora from MTV's Real World Miami! Isn't that a riot!

    I asked the MIS guy about her and the Real World connection and he confirmed that he had heard rumors about her. He asked me if I wanted to go do software on her computer. I declined because I probably would have asked her about it and I bet she totally hates getting those questions. On the other hand, maybe I would have ticked her off and then I could've written about how I was attacked by Flora of Real World Miami.

    Now, don't you see the inherant cleverness of the title on this entry? Huh? Huh? Only in L.A., I tell ya.

    In a related vein, a reader responded to my query regarding Boyle Heights. So, a hearty shout-out to Joy, a "San Franciscan who grew up in Southern California," for this little bit of history:

Boyle Heights was a mostly blue-collar Jewish neighborhood up until the 50s or so, when the demographics started changing. The big building that's now a home for Japanese seniors was the Jewish Home for the Aged (or the "old building" as my sister called it when she was a kid).

    I wonder if I'm incorrect in calling this "East" L.A.? I mean, even if something is in the eastern part of Los Angeles doesn't mean that the Angelenos call it East L.A. You've also got to consider what it means to call an area East L.A. That conjures up a few images doesn't it? It's all about concept verses reality. Any thoughts?

    Here's something completely random that I thought I would share with you. T. is in the news business and everyday I ask him for the weird news of the day. He tells me some amazing things. This was a short he wrote for tomorrow's paper:

Saddam wants liposuction machine from U.N.

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein listed the fat-sucking machine, plus acne cream, dental lasers and silicone breast implants as essential medical supplies to the United Nations, according to the London Sunday Times' Internet edition. The U.N. can't decide if it will hold up the shipment of legitimate medical supplies over these "medical" items.

    Breast implants!!!!