Hiking and friends about town

Wow, it's been almost a week since I last wrote! I've been busy... sort of.

I have been on a big health kick, which is what actors tend to do when they're not working regularly. As a result, I've gotten to know some great trails in Griffith Park (photos below), hiked in Runyon Canyon with my friend Teddy from high school, gone swimming in the Pacific with my friend Kathryn from college and her husband Giampaulo, and been to lots of yoga classes. Also got to party with my friend Vanessa from DC on her birthday and go to a movie with my friend Shawn, also a friend from DC.

It has been surprisingly easy to meet people here, and there have been numerous moments of weird connectedness... possible signs from the universe that LA is a good place for me? Only time, perseverance and hard work will tell. The first good vibe moment was talking to another hiker in Griffith Park. Despite how much I enjoy the company of my species, I am quite uneasy sometimes when talking to new or newish people. Hikers and runners, however, seem to be more than happy to share trail tips, other ways to get into the park, etc with someone new to LA. Los Angeles has so many transplants chances are good that the person you're talking to was in your shoes not too long ago, or at least remembers their own defining experience of moving to LA.

Though there are warning signs about mountain lions and rattle snakes, I've mostly seen bird, pet dogs, and lizards, but there was one sighting... I was running up one of the paved bike paths in Griffith and passed a little turn off after having just seen my first mountain lion warning sign. I was, of course, on the look out for a potential mountain lion waiting to pounce. I saw something tannish and mid-sized out of the corner of my eye, looking at me from a dirt trail to my left. I thought about grabbing two sticks, a la Haley Mills in "The Parent Trap", but then realized the thing that was looking at me while I looked at it was not a modern version of a saber tooth tiger after all, but a coyote. At least I think it was a coyote - it was bigger than any foxes I've seen, and looked leaner - not as puffy with fur. The coloring of the foxes in California is sandier than the redder foxes in DC, but this animal was definitely rangier than any foxes I've seen anywhere. It looked at me for a few seconds and then turned around, trotting quickly around the corner and out of sight. Other odd sightings have been men running the trails in hoody sweatshirts or plastic jackets when it's 80 degrees outside - that, these humans have told me, is for "detoxification". Also, a group of boy-men running up Runyon Canyon decided to ignore everyone else watching the sunset and start a sparring match, complete with boxing gloves and punching pads they brought up with them. Teddy and I decided to remove ourselves since these guys were obviously too into themselves to realize they were disturbing anyone else. Leave it to Teddy, though, to appreciate the fact that you probably couldn't see that anywhere else. Teddy and I refueled with Indian food right next to Sam French on Sunset Blvd - Sam French, for those of you who don't know, is one of the (if not THE) largest publishers of plays anywhere. They have two stores in LA and are also located in NY and on-line. It was good to happen by the shop and really know where it is now. Then we headed to our respective homes to shower and head to downtown LA for Teddy's friend's birthday at a whiskey bar called Seven Grand. I opted for an Auchentoshan and, per usual, sipped, mingled, and left. I tell you - fitness kicks take a lot out of you. ;)

That was Friday. On Saturday, Kathryn and Giampaulo came down from Seattle to visit Kathryn's parents south of LA and then drove up to hang out in Santa Monica Saturday evening. We met up at the beach and I got to go swimming my first time since I've been here. The water was awesome! Cold, but not as cold as Assateague, and some great waves. They're sneaky waves, though! Every now and then, you'll go under or through one, pop up for air and get slapped in the face with another one that crept up right on the tail of the first one. We had some big swells and, happily, not a lot of drift, so we could relax and play without worrying about how far down the beach we would end up. We worked up quite a thirst swimming and finished right around happy hour so we headed to a great tapas bar in Santa Monica called Bar Pintxo - very small with about 9 high tables in half the restaurant and a nice bar in the other half. Other than a couple of bullfighting pictures and black and white images of Spanish architecture, the decoration was mainly ceiling high shelves of dark wood full of wine bottles. Very cozy and delicious. Giampaulo, being an Italian sommelier, chose a great red from the wine list that we split with some olives and a flat bread with peppers, shrimp, more olives, and cheese. We moved onto a sushi place after that and met up with our friend Jeff from college and a friend of his from work. They're both voice over agents with one of the bigger agencies out here. Then I left the West Side crowd and headed East for Vanessa's birthday. We had a good time at a place called The Beauty Bar decorated with 1950's sit-under hair dryers and a mini photo booth. Vanessa, her friend Ben and I took a strip of photos that will probably end up on-line at some point. As with most club/bars, you stand around and dance a little, sip your drink and then go, but the people are what make the experience, and Vanessa has some great friends. :) Last night (Sunday) I went to a panel in acting in LA (more on that in another post) and then headed to The Grove to grab dinner and meet up with the my friend Shawn from DC. I know Shawn from theatre in DC - he wrote Titus: The Musical and LUNCH!, among other awesome rock musicals. At Shawn's suggestion, I had dinner at the Brazillian place in the Farmer's Market and it was fantastic. Your pick of a buffet of sides plus what kind of barbecued meat you'd like, and the sides are amazing; squash, collard greens, two kinds of rice, white fish stew, black beans, green beans, yucca, platanos, etc. And with this barbecue, we're not talking Texas-smothered-in-sauce BBQ, though that's also delicious. Brazillian barbeque is about the meat, and just the meat, served on huge skeweres and roasted to perfection. I sat down on my own to eat and was shortly joined by a lovely woman who was also eating by herself. Another sign from the universe. Salome and I got to talking and within the first 20 seconds of our conversation found out that both of our parents live in Bahrain! Her parents have been their for 25 years, I think, and mine have been there for just a few months. Salome grew up in Ethiopia and then in London, where she went to boarding school (another thing we have in common), and ended up in LA 5 years ago to act. She's working on a film she and her writing partner have created about two families, one Ethiopian and one American (and Caucasian) living in the same town. Shawn joined us shortly, Salome gave us her recommendation for the best Ethiopian food in town, and then he and I headed to the movie theatre to see Burn After Reading, the latest offering from the Coen brothers. It's an intense and surprising film, which is a huge compliment from the girl who usually guesses (or at least attempts to guess, often successfully) what's about to happen in a film before it happens. We headed to Shawn's place to catch up afterwards and then it was home to bed for me.

By far the best part of the last week, and especially the weekend, was getting to see friends. After a couple of days of only meeting new people in the yoga community and having conversations with random runners and hikers, it was really grounding to connect to people I know. It helps tie you in to a place. Our friends and family anchor us so that we're not off on our own, floating in the big world, one tiny plankton alone in the ocean. Thanks, guys - I love 'ya.

xox Jewel