The bane of the locker room

I've heard from many guys that the bane of the locker room is the guy (no matter what he looks like) who wanders around naked, not even carrying a towel, takes his time getting dressed while boldly talking to people. The rest of us want to get out of the shower, get dressed and get out. It's a nasty locker room (no matte how nice the gym) , no one wants to pop a bottle of wine and hang out there, barefoot and naked.

Well we have these annoyances too. In my gym they have a little workout area in the women's locker room for those who want to stretch, cool down, and do their workout privately w/out feeling eyes on them. It's a little space with exercise balls and floor mats at the far end of the locker room.

I was just going to go swim, and realized I hadn't done ab work in ages, so, since I was wearing seriously scruffy clothes, I went to that workout area. As I walked over, this naked woman was talking to another couple of women who were getting dressed. She shuffled her clothes around in a bag but made no attempt to put them on. She wasn't drying off or anything, just talking loudly and naked.

They left, more women came in. And left. More women came in. And she was Still there yakking loudly to anyone who was in the vicinty about where she worked, what she was doing for the holidays and who she blahblahblah. I finished my 15 min workout and left. She was still naked! Just standing around blabbing, still shuffling her clothes like she was gonna put them on any minute. If you're gonna be a nudist who likes to talk to strangers (none of whom is also standing around naked like they have nothing to do) , doing in a locker room is not the place! Did you leave your brain in your car? Or is it just idling while your mouth is running full speed.

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As I was leaving, a small asian woman told an attendant, in a loud and angry voice, to not move her bag. The attendant said she's not responsible for her bag and wasn't going to touch it . The asian woman responded that the bag was 'too big to fit in a locker' so she just leaves it sitting out. 'I'm only working out for 20 minutes anyway'. She continued on that the last time she left it, someone had the gall to bring it to the front desk!

An unattended bag that someone was nice enough to bring to the front desk/lost n' found. Oh the horror. She's complaining that people were being nice, instead of rummaging through her stuff and stealing it. I had to peer around the corner to see what was up with the special bag, and it was indeed huge. Weekend stay in Maui big. Lady, you came here in a car, leave your shit there.

People are weird. Maybe I should just make this a 'people are annoying and I wish I could slap these strangers' blog.

Use the middle of the intersection

it doesn't matter if you're from connecticut or santa monica - if you are making a left turn, move into the Middle Of The Intersection. Not your front tires into the crosswalk, not your front tires just over the crosswalk, get into the middle of the damn road like a real driver and do it right. You blow it for everyone behind you if you don't do it right.

And if you are not in the middle where you belong, and I'm behind you, I'm going to honk. I fantasize about having a beater car with a huge Smittybilt bumper, so I could dunk into those idiots when they don't drive the way they are suppose to.

Actual conversation in the Post Office

Yesterday, at the Rancho Park Post Office on Exposition in West LA I had yet another odd encounter. That makes 3, and I'm no longer going back. The clerk didn't look at me the during the entire exchange, mumbled everything including the usual (is anything fragile, liquid, perishable?).

For the first time Ever that I've been to a post office, I don't get asked if I want delivery confirmation or insurance (which I did, but blanked on it because I was trying to figure out what was wrong with this guy) AND the clerk doesn't put the postage on the packages in front of me, so I know that he's charging me the same as he's putting on the packages. Before I've even paid, he takes the package and the label, walks over to some other clerk, and has a 3 minute conversation with her while I'm standing there waiting. He throws it in the letter bin and comes back.

I asked him to stamp 'do not bend' on one item and he completely ignores me.

He doesn't stamp 'air mail' on the air mail package. He doesn't even tell me how any of the stuff is being sent, just charges me. I pay 10 bucks for 5.40 worth of postage and put my hand out for the change.Then we have this wierd exchange.



Postal Clerk- so, you want your change back?

Me - um, yes?

PC - well, if it's less than 5 dollars worth of change, we have to ask.

Me- (raised eyebrows while hand is still out) sure, ok

PC - If we give you your change back, we don't get to eat lunch.

Me- um, ok (takes change)

PC - well, looks like there's not lunch for me then. Hope you enjoy yours, with your change.

All this with no eye contact. I grab my receipt and rush out the door. Now I'm looking on the USPS site to see where I can complain, and find a post office nearby that is not filled with nut jobs.

Jerrys Deli $5 minimum

Went to see 'Experimental Bellydance' last night in Venice, and realized that the producer was the woman I took 2 bellydance classes from over a decade ago. She has a modern dance background, so she's skin and bones (kinda weird for a bellydancer), and has a hard edge, rather than flowing and graceful movements. But the show had some memorable numbers and it was a fun evening w/ friends.

After some chow, we decided we wanted something sweet. Everything was closed so we decided on Jerry's Deli in Marina Del Rey. I was stuffed so I figured I'd have a bite of whatever dessert was ordered by the others, and pay half. When it came to me ordering, I said I was sharing, and the waiter told me that it was a $5 minimum per person at the table. WTF?! I can understand that they don't want a single person taking up a whole booth to nurse a coffee for several hours, but this was 3 people, 2 of which were ordering over $20 worth of food, enough to cover the average for the $5 per person. The waiter was having none of it, so I said I'm not buying anything, guess we'll have to leave.

We walked down to Von's and had raspberries, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and a banana smoothie. We sat at their little service bar and had a wonderful quiet conversation (minus all the noise and bright lights of Jerry's) at well under $5 per person, and no tax and tip on top of that. Fuck You Jerry's. You were already too expensive (somewhere in the late 90's they decided to go from a moderately priced 24 hour deli to a hip, expensive deli, all while leaving their food and decor exactly the same), and now you force everyone at the table to pay a minimum. You've lost my biz permanently.

My new shoes with toes

Got my new vibram five fingers today. It took a lot of looking to find the size and color I wanted. Straight black, not those goofy ones with yellow between the toes. Those make your feet look like a bird flashing his feathers every time you take a step.

I wore them for 4 hours today. The fit easily (the website says they won't fit feet if your second toe is longer than your big toe, and I can see why), and didn't make my feet sore or rub in spots like All running shoes do for the first couple days. The only thing that is sore is some unused muscles in my feet and toes, since they are not use to being part of the process of getting from here to there. They are waking up.

It's not the same was walking around the house barefoot. Walking in the driveway, down to Fish King, around the block, I feel like I shouldn't be out there. After 5 years old, your mom always made you put on shoes before leaving the house (when young I suppose you would venture no further than the grass in the yard). I feel like I'm missing something around my feet. No socks, no stiff sole.

I'm walking with a shorter stride, if I use my normal long stride I find I'm banging my heel into the cement. Shorter steps allow my feet to move in a natural way, and I love the feeling of my toes being separate and functional.

I'm hoping they fix my hammer toes, all mashed and bent from years in shoes. I'm going to the gym tomorrow to see how they feel on the treadmill.

Photos of my little feet in black are forthcoming.

First time Golfing

Took Rimas out for his birthday last week to play golf at:
4141 Whitsett Ave
Studio City, CA 91604

I'd never played anything but miniature golf in my life. My grandfather had a house in Pebble Beach and was an avid golfer. I always saw it as a pretentious game played by doctors and lawyers who needed to rub shoulders and play the proper status games. The community course is short, nothing over 200 yards (they call it 'pitch and putt'), it was a gorgeous day, it was inexpensive (2.50 for set of clubs, $9 for the course, $7 for a bucket of balls to warm up on the driving range), and there were singles playing the course so it wasn't much crowded at all.

It was fun, I enjoyed it, I said fuck a lot, and now I need to find some lefty clubs if I want to play more than a couple times this year. I re-injured my shoulder by not warming up first, so I've spend the last few days in great discomfort.

Places I've lived and visited

Places I've been


visited 15 states (6.66%)
Create your own visited map of The World





visited 28 states (56%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

Super Fast Passport

I got my new passport today. I filled out my passport renewal and got my photos at the Glendale Clerk's office, and it was less than 2 weeks before it showed up. Cool, now I'm set for anything. I paid $92 total for the photos, renewal fee and the $5 fee for the Clerk to send it in for me. I know people that have waited 3 months, so I was really surprised to see it so fast. Must be a slow time of year, or renewals are much easier to do. It originally expired in Oct, and now I have until 2018 before I have to think about it again. That sounds like such a long way off.

Got my MOO Cards

First batch of MOO cards came today! I love the little dispensers. The cards are high quality and downright cute. Though they came out looking dull. And that is after I upped the contrast and saturation quiet a bit, based on recommendations from other MOO users.


They also came 15 after I was told that they'd shipped. I even held off on sending a few Etsy orders cause I wanted to included cards. And promptly pissed off my customers. ouch.

I don't blame MOO for the lateness, they sent out a 'they've shipped' notice on June 24th. They specifically said that it would take 5-7 working days to arrive, and to not contact them until 10 working days. I waited 15. And of course the day I tell them about it, they arrive on my doorstep.

I think it's the glendale post offices. I've had more loses and damages from the glendale post office than any other postal service or area in the US. It doesn't matter whether I'm shipping to London, or 5 miles away to the westside, I cross my fingers every time I have to send something and hope it arrives. I've spent many long minutes on the phone with unhelpful clerks trying to track packages sent anywhere and everywhere.

The only thing that seems to help is if I print up and pay online for the shipping labels with deliver confirmation. Which keeps me from having to stand in line for 30 minutes while the clerks help numerous belligerent non-english speaking customers, but also costs a bit more. I guess I have to spend either time or money to get what I need done. Maybe they put more care into making sure it arrives at it's destination knowing that an official email was sent to the waiting party who is now expecting it's arrival.

Yard Sale

Spend 6 hours on Saturday selling at Carol's multi-person yard sale.

I sold 4 boxes of bulky stufff, and donated another 10 bags to goodwill on the way home. It wasn't worth getting up at 6am to stand in the heat and get burned for less than $10 an hour. Carol's food was excellent as usual, but I much prefer enjoying the food during a party, than bargaining with a latina or philipina over a $5 item that they want for 50 cents. I get to a point where I'd rather donate it for nothing than to sell it to someone who wants to rip me off. Oh, and when they finally bargain the shit out of something, they hand me a 20 dollar bill.

Instead I'll stick to saving money (instead of trying to make it back) by buying stuff at a deep discount at thrift stores. It's way more fun to buy just the right shirt for 2 bucks after diving into the racks at a thriftstore, than buying the same shirt for $30 and trying to make 2 bucks off of at the end of it's life.

All the big ticket items like furniture and good quality art supplies are better sold on craigslist anyway. You only deal with people online, and when they come for it, they pay and leave. No bargaining or arguing. At least not the majority of the time.