On Wed Sept. 28th, Will and I went to the LA Galaxy Champions league game against Monselia. We picked up 2 $40 tickets for $15 each in case we couldn’t jump a fence. It ended up being a waste because we found a spot on the press box.
I got careless and rushed my technique. The was a railing to catch my foot on the stadium side of the fence but it was just out of reach while holding on to the fence so I grabbed a cement rafter to turn around. My grip slipped and I almost fell which I would have resulted in my leg getting caught as I catapulted the back of my head straight into the cement. Fortunately, my angel caught my finger tip on the edge and guided me safely down.
Once inside we sat with the press on the first row of the 50 and got in some of the tv and media shots. Then we were asked to stay above the front section so we got some lounge chairs for the 2nd half.
It was tied going into injury time as LA scored in the last minute off a corner to avoid elimination from the tournament.
Thursday night I stopped at the Lawndale soccer fields to get a workout in and met some Turkish friends to play with on the winter league.
Friday the 30th, Sung/Sean and I went to a Dead cover band in Long Beach called Cubansis. On the way Sung got pulled over and fined $500 for tossing a burning item out of a moving vehicle.
Saturday was the beginning of the Occupy LA march and protests so I spent the day downtown. I met several wonderful new friends, including a few cute girls who would later dance the night away with me at the LA Decompression Burningman festival until the sun started rising over historic park.
I went back to the rally after the girls went home and Will was up playing cards still. It was almost 5 by the time I laid down in the van and then I got up at 7 to take the train home.
As soon as I got back Sung was ready to go to an Art walk event. An old brewery was closed down and remodeled into an artist commune. The place was amazing with all the self expression covering over 100 unique studios. There was a studio open for rent to consider for Shhmokewear but it was not available for viewing. It took us 4 hours to visit all the studios and then it was time for dinner. We stopped at a restaurant in Chinatown where a lot of movie scenes have been filmed in front. It was nice to have authentic sweet and sour pork and Saskatchewan chicken and $10 a plate was fair for L.A.
The next morning, Monday, I headed back to Shhmokewear to get the business plan done. After work Will and I went to City Hall to protest again with Occupy LA. We made several new friends each time we went over there. It was basically a big festival with media around. There is a tent for everything from general store to food and recycling. There are compost bins and drum circles and everyone barters and shares.
It is basically a temporary unitopia of traditional life like the old west gold towns. Unfortunate that there is not a continuous string of such events in more local areas for others to experience. The Occupy rallies would continue on in most major US cities for several months of 2011.
We went to the rally Monday and Tuesday but then Wednesday I went to the Further Fest at the Greek Theatre. You can take the train 15 blocks from the theater near Vermont and Hollywood and then bike up to the park. The first night I went straight to the Hyde Observatory above the theater to watch the show for free. I went in the wrong entrance and took an extra 20 minutes hiking up the Hyde trail.
Once I got to the top I discovered you could park for free at the top vs. Paying 15 down below. The trail by Hyde has several spots to put a chair or blanket down to watch the show plus you get an amazing view of the LA and Hollywood sky lines.
The temps dropped to 40 and I started shivering so I rode down to the theater to scope out ways to get in. The fence top was flat in front but extra security was on duty to stop jumpers. You could climb the hill in back and get over but you need a spotter on the inside to let u know a good time to come over. Once over you need to remove your hat and mix into the crowd to avoid being chased.
The next night Will, Brian and I rode with Scott and his lady to Furthur. This time I was in the lot 3 hours ahead of the show to experience the touring flea market. It was quite an experience seeing all the colorful characters and their art creations they sell to survive on the tour.
We spent too long promoting Shhmokewear and waiting for scalpers to sell cheap before deciding to hop the back fence so the cross lot was taped off and being secured by security. I ran diversion while Brian and Will snuck around. After that I waited for 20 minutes before giving up. I went by the front gate so I could see the screen and hand out with the other members of Shhmoke that were there.
After the show we set up our merch in the path leading everyone back to their cars and we put Shhmoke cards on the luxury cars. It is a great way to break the ice with attractive people you want to meet.
Friday Will and I went camping. He showed me the sacred Oaji hot springs and hiking trails. We camped and cooked some grub about midnight after several hours of full moon yoga and hot springs rituals.
Saturday we hiked all day and swam in a freezing fresh spring water hole and then returned to Occupy LA.
The weekend group was 2x the size of the week day groups. All areas of the block and park were completely covered and there were now tippis and plywood walls for graffiti art in true Venice skater form. This night there was a community projector theater and we contributed Russo’s Freedom to Fascism.
After meeting several more new activist friends we headed back to the pad around 2am.
Sunday I toured Mariachi plaza shops for hand-made leather crafts then biked with 100,000+ at CiclaVia.org. The city of LA closed downtown and 40 other blocks to biking only to promote green living and transportation. It was amazing. There were events and bands on several streets and parks and it joined with the Long Beach south bay tri-athalon. I rode most of the route and then spent the afternoon making new friends playing volleyball and Manhattan beach.
I especially enjoyed meeting 8 new lady yogi friends who are in LA for a 9 week training by the airport. They were very friendly and added our LA Fun facebook group to keep in touch for future gatherings.
When I finally made it home for a night, Sung’s friend Neil was temporarily staying with us because the job we helped move him to San Diego for, had fallen apart. He was staying with us while lining up a new Dr. position.
We caught up on the weeks events and then passed out. Monday morning (10/7) I hit the hot tub, swam some laps, pumped some iron, did my yoga and then headed back to the Shhmokewear head quarters.
The Helping Hands Network Blog 