Accidently Rolling at a Movie Premiere

In a uniquely LA moment, I was eating dinner at a Mexican place about 2 blocks from my new pad when crowds, limos, and an army of paparazzi showed up at the National Theatre across the street. I was cynically amused by the crowd reactions, choreographed photo shoots on the carpet, and the whole lifestyle of the famous. One of the limos even drove into a barricade which scratched down the whole side of the car. It is a very weird environment to observe. Eventually, Jessica Alba and Dane Cook emerged from one of the vehicles to promote their movie. She did a good job approaching the huddled masses across the street to sign autographs, she seemed at ease - he seemed a bit rigid. By random occurrence due to my dinner, I was about 25-35 ft behind and to the left of the included image when it was snapped by the enormous wall of photogs. What is scary is how tiny the actors are, even the men - the camera must really add 20-30 pounds (they look like mini-people up close) It was made all the more glaring when former Boston Celtics center Bill Russell walked by me and was contrasted towering over all the actors and actresses. He looked twice their size as a 60-70 year old 7ft giant. Eddie Murphy and 80's pop singer Debbie Gibson were the only other people I recognized. It made for an amusing dinner, but the police presence, ostentatious displays of wealth, endless lines of limos with anonymous studio figures was somewhat disgusting. Everyone in fantasyland does truly appear to be detached from the real world. One good thing about the numerous theaters where I live is that they are all monolithic with old Hollywood decor and can seat enormous audiences in the traditional opera house style. Although, there is a raised dais segregated section for fat cats and celebs to separate themselves from the peons during the shows. In any case these movie houses have much more ambiance than the mall style cineplexes that dominate the rest of the country. I wonder how long it will take for me to be corrupted by LA's emotional vacuousness? I'm too mentally tired now to prevent it. Finis.

Descent Complete: Time to Attempt an Ascension from the Clutches of a Tortuous Abyss

Disclaimer: This blog post is of a personal nature, but I felt it necessary to explain to any interested parties what has gone on since my last blog. This will be the last blog of this type.

I continue to adjust to life in LA having battled my way through the myriad planes of hell this summer, I emerge spiritually purged by another test rife with life's incessant miseries. Hopefully, enduring perpetual hammering while transfixed on the anvil of life's journey has further tempered the steel in my soul so that I do not break. One way or another, I return to the blogosphere after a significant hiatus brought about by circumstances beyond my control. My daughter's well-being was severely assailed by the continued deterioration of her environment. All of my energies this past summer have been centered around providing my daughter an avenue of escape from a circumstance that was imploding around her. The situation has been dire and threatens to limit my ability to continue on in LA, but I am still working on measures to protect my daughter's future prosperity. I should be able to attain legal custody within the next 10 days, but obstacles may still emerge. My entire situation is still being evaluated, but all my decisions will be predicated upon what will give my daughter the best chance to have the highest quality of life. Her long-term prosperity may still be a function of the successful of my PhD program, but I will continue to weigh her present development against my absence in LA. After considerable deliberation with my family, she will reside with my family in her familiar environment of the sheltered valley farm where I grew up. I am unwilling to further disturb her life with a move to the chaos of LA in a time of such turmoil. In addition, it seems dubious that I could provide the best environment as a single parent in LA due to the requirements, constraints, and realities of my particular PhD program. For now, I will proceed with my program and see how things develop. At this point, that is all that can be done - but the future of this entire endeavor hangs on a precipice. Such is life, but I will just try to keep moving forward and make the best decisions I can. In any case, my future blogs will go back to their old style as best I can - I hope everyone is doing well.