Fuzzy Bus

I have loved the country of Thailand for as long as I can remember.  My parents would take us every few weeks to the Thai restaurant in our neighborhood, and the delicate hands of the traditional dancers depicted in the paintings on the walls, and the small statues of the dancers throughout the restaurant intrigued my young, but ballet filled mind.  I could not take my eyes off of those hands.  It was many years later that I was able to take my first trip, and I landed on the Island of Phuket.  My traveling partner had booked us into a fine hotel he booked online.  Look here to find your perfect accommodations.

My friend had traveled throughout the country extensively and insisted we take a safari jeep tour.  I was really wanted to find a performance of the Thai dancers I remembered from my youth, and he promised that after seven days in the outdoors, he would take me to one of the most beautiful performances of my lifetime, so I agreed.  There are many breathtaking beaches along the coasts of the Island, and we started our journey at the Prai Waterfall. We had a bit of a swim, ate lunch and fell to a very deep sleep in the resort.  To be honest I was thrilled that we were to spend the night in a resort, as camping in tents just really makes me nervous.  From there we headed the next morning into the mountains and to the town of Surat Thani.

Again, I must say, that the hotel accommodations were incredible and I was holding my breath for the night we would be in tents.  We watched birds, we relaxed in the natural hot springs of Klong Thom and explored the regions that have not been touched by tourism nor commercialism.  Each night we stayed in cozy rooms, and each day was spent in Mangrove Swamps and learning the ways in which monkey communicate.  After the Safari, he did take me to the most amazing dance performance I had ever experienced, but to be honest…the days on the safari tour are what I will remember most.

When I think back on winter as a child, I recall carefree days of playing in the snow, sledding down the hills, and rejoicing over the too few days of cancelled school. Now as an adult I am aware of the challenges that winter presents. Broken heaters, frozen pipes, sick children and icy roads are just a few of the many inconveniences that winter presents. But while we are busy trying to keep the house standing and the family healthy, we do not want to forget about the real troopers–our cars. Driving the hazardous, snowy roads with the possibility of sliding off the road at any moment is not the only potential risk to our winter-worn vehicles.
It is important, before those dreaded winter months hit, to take your car in for a tune-up. Checking all the belts, hoses, and wires should ensure that everything is functioning properly. Also, don’t forget to have them check the brakes. Sliding down an icy hill would be a most unfortunate time to have your brakes go out. You can also have your fluids changed at this time as well. Change out your washer fluid and make sure your vehicle is set on antifreeze/ coolant. Not enough and your fluids will freeze and cause key elements in your engine to crack–a costly and time consuming repair. Your auto parts store will have a variety of different kinds; some made especially for those who particularly cold climates.
Once your inside is set it is time to move on to the outside. To protect your paint from the massive amounts of salt it will be driving through this winter, begin by giving it a good wash. When it is nice and clean you can put a special sealant on your car to protect it from all the salt build up. The key is to keep it clean all winter. It sounds daunting, but by hosing down the exterior, and especially the undercarriage, you can prevent rusting which could lead to severe damage and more costly repairs.
While your looking at the outside check out those custom wheels and tires. Look for any tread wear or balding that could lead to poor traction on the roadways and a potentially dangerous situation. It is also important that your tires are properly inflated. If you have 20 inch rims made of steel, you will want to replace them with 20″ rims stock rims to avoid rust.
The key to keeping your vehicle in tip-top shape during the winter is planning ahead. If you take the necessary steps early on you are that much closer to ensuring a fun, safe winter.

Singapore’s been on lots of different cultural maps lately, and it’s easy to see why.  There’s always plenty of things to do here, and many different varieties of entertainments available.  It doesn’t seem to matter what time of year you come to visit, because there’s always something interesting, and always something new.  There is also that strange but wonderful phenomenon that happens with urban centers that have been cool for awhile: there is a sudden interest in a new artist or movement, and after a bit we can start to see the predecessors, and realize that everything that happens here is based on what happened previously.  That is to say, it exists in time and history, like everything else.

It’s extraordinary when you can participate in the history in the making, and getting to Singapore, and getting around here is very easy.  There are some excellent hotes at this link here that cater to those with a taste for individual touches along with a gorgeous sense of hospitality.  It’s also easy to find excellent events in town from any of the hotels, and visitors might be lucky enough to come across the work of local artist Jimmy Ong.

It’s probably not correct to call him local, when he’s living in New York now, but Singaporeans like to continue to claim him as one of their own.  This artist is famous for his large-scale works, and he’s had quite a career here.  The past few years have seen him flourish as an artist that can stand in a local as well as a global context, which is to say, he’s either arrived, or is extremely close.  His works are as interesting as his themes.  Taking the local conception of the Hungry Ghost based in Buddhism, where those who die without offspring are left to roam the earth forever, and then attaching this idea to queer identity, there is a very potent combination.  It speaks to a very particular time and place, and when we walk in history, we enter into this realm, which is much more complex than anyone could have imagined.

I was able to visit my good friend John last summer at his small studio apartment in San Francisco. The trip was absolutely amazing and it had been over five years since I had seen him. We were extremely close years ago when we were studying together in Flagstaff, Arizona. At the time we had the same group of friends and he and I even worked together at the same local café for two years. Much of our time there was spent by each other’s side and some people even considered us to be inseparable. Other’s thought we were destined to be together and were continually anticipating a wedding announcement. That could not have been any further from the mark however, as John and I, although opposite genders and extraordinarily close we were never more than platonic friends, which I’m more than certain is the way that both of us wanted it. In fact, I think I can safely say that neither of us ever had any romantic interest in the other.

So, the natural question is how did five years pass without two friends of such an allegedly close relationship making any effort to see each other. Ah, there’s the rub, there were efforts made and some initial plans were attempted, but as everyone should also know, life easily positions itself directly in the path of plans like that. And particularly after college, the freedom of youth vanishes into thin air.

Last summer though, the stars were perfectly aligned and John was free for a full week and I was able to make the flight. He invited me to stay with him in his studio, but I was going to be there for a full week and didn’t want to crowd him. I made reservations for a modest, yet comfortable room in one of San Francisco’s hotels. John and I had an amazing time the entire week. We took an two hour Bay cruise, which included a fabulous lunch and incredible views. We also saw a play at the Golden Gate Theatre and took a tour of the Berkeley campus, which had been the reason John moved there in the first place. He received his graduate degree from Berkeley and stayed there after he graduated. One thing is certain, well a few are, but whatever happens John and I will not wait five more years to see each other.

I always secretly wanted to be Biff.  Maybe it’s not all that secret.  When I was in high school, I was on the wrestling team every year, and I did not want to take drama, but I had to.  There was something about it being the only elective left, and there was one other except for drama and that was homemaking class.  So it was just drama that was open, and that’s what I decided to take but I didn’t want to.  But then I started to be in the class and it was interesting, and then I started doing a scene about the guy in sales, the guy who dies.  

That was a very different play and I liked it a lot because I got to play Biff, and everyone told me I nailed it.  I didn’t know you could nail it in a drama class, but I did, and that was good.  I don’t know what I did, but there was a moment when I was deciding to think about how I was mad at someone who took some cash from my wallet and I decided to think about that, and then I don’t remember the rest.  That was a few years ago, and now I’m sometimes going to check into these New York business hotels because that sounds like something Biff would do, and I wait to have meetings with a boss the next day.

But you know what?  Just like in the play, there’s no meeting.  I’m not there to meet anyone.  It’s sad.  I’m there not to meet anyone but just so I can say I did, because I don’t know why I do it.  There’s something about this Biff Loman that makes me feel like I’m reminded of someone who is me.  And I think if I were like the guy who wrote the play so he could marry Marilyn Monroe, that would be all right, too, but it would have to a be a younger one, because she’s got to be like way old by now.

After a great nights sleep in our hotel room, we went for breakfast in the hotels restaurant. We decided to check out the Bonneville Dam, which would take us most of the day to get there from Seattle. But, it was a part of our educational section of our trip. By the time we arrived, via rental car, we were just in time for a tour to begin. Our ranger was really nice and she gave us a wonderful tour and took us to see the Dam turbine room. She explained to us how all the fish get through the Dam via a series of ladders with which the fish can easily traverse when they need to go upstream for spawning purposes. But, going downstream, it’s a little treacherous, because they have to swim through the turbines, which the fish do get a little shredded by the actions of the turbines, but our ranger assured us that is was a very small percentage. Apparently, the downstream fish flow wasn’t considered or factored by the original Dam design. They have since built special tubes that the fish can use to bypass the turbines, which does increase their survival rate.

Our visit to the Dam was very beautiful, it’s set in the Columbia River, so we had a little bit of time before heading back to the best luxury hotels Seattle, where we are booked, and we took a small hike to Beacon Rock. It only took us 45 minutes to reach the top, and only 20 minutes to come back down! At the top, we had a brilliant view of the Columbia River and the Gorge itself. Washington State is on one side and Oregon State is on the other.

The drive back was slow going, apparently, it being a Sunday evening, everyone seemed to be heading back to Seattle. We did get back and we were famished. We found a nice place that actually served an excellent Gumbo, even better that the Gumbo we had in New Orleans! The drive wiped us out, so we just headed back to our hotel and stayed in for the night.

“…to the moon Alice!”  The famous comedian Jackie Gleason was always saying that to his wife in the old TV show “The Honeymooners”.  A show currently running at the New York Hayden Planetarium will take you not only to the moon, but to the stars as well.  The show “A Journey to the Stars“, opened late last summer and features images of telescopes that were captured from the ground and from deep space.

Some of these images had never been seen before, outside of research labs.  And the experience of catching glimpses of our world, and all that surrounds it are astonishing, and to be honest, pretty mind-blowing.  There is always something to witness at the Planetarium, and the American Museum of Natural History which sits just next door, which shows you where you fit in this world, and in this galaxy.  This is a theatrical performance as well as an educational one.

More than forty scientists from around the world, collaborated with those at NASA.  It was an international affair, just putting it all together.  Whoppi Goldberg is the narrator, and she adds this to her list of accomplishments, along with an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, serving as an ambassador to the United Nations, and a Tony.

The show begins each half hour Monday through Friday, running from 10:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon, and from 10;30-5 on the weekend.  This is an incredible journey through the life of the stars, including our most precious star, the sun.  The Planetarium and the Natural Museum are located close to some of your favorite hotels of New York, making this a convenient trip out any day of the week.  It is an educational experience as well as a theatrical performance, one which will leave you with not only a better understanding of our solar system and our place in it, but with a sense of wonder and amazement.

Phoenix has not been thought of in the past, as one of the US cities with a large art community.  This is just simply not the case, as throughout the greater Phoenix area of Gilbert, Glendale, Chandler, Tempe and Scottsdale, festivals, music concerts, art openings and theatre and performance art is continuously happening.  Do you need to look a little harder for it?  In some cases, but in the downtown area, many of the coffee shops, the best Phoenix hotels, restaurants and boutiques are always hanging art on the walls and supporting the arts and the shows at the Herberger Theatre, or Grady Gammage in Tempe.  Many lesser known artists participate each month, in the downtown First Friday Art Walk.

More well known and international artists can be found on Thursday night, at the Scottsdale Galleries art walk.  Local musicians fill the streets, and art is everywhere, in fact—a little known fact, is that the city of Scottsdale sells more art each year than the art capital of the United States, New York City.  Running through the month of May, people visiting the city will have the opportunity to view the work of one of the most famous artists of this city, Allan Houser.  This is part of a collaboration, between the Phoenix Botanical Gardens located at the foot of the Papago Mountain Range , and the Heard Museum, located directly downtown.

This showing is entitled, “Tradition to Abstraction”, and will feature many of Houser’s paintings, as well as eighteen bronze sculptures, sketches and drawings.  The show opened in November of 2009 and will continue through the next five months.  Houser’s work has gained worldwide recognition through his intimate depictions of life, and his evocative use of shadows and light.  Houser was born in Arizona in 1914, and was one of the children of the survivors of Fall Sill, and the Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache Tribe. His sculptures are modern, much in the style of Francisco Zu and Henry Moore, but he has become in his own right, known as the father of Native American Indian Sculpture.  Throughout his life, up until his death in 1994, Houser was dedicated to creating bold figures in bronze and stone.  His work will forever be remembered and cherished, long after the show closes in May.

Mic was a strong willed, independent and ambitious young athlete. Since he was two years old his parents noticed a definite stubborn streak in their child and watched as he instantly climbed furniture, counters and other miscellaneous dangers items before he was one year old. They both ended up getting into better shape than they imagined they would simply by chasing him around. They were also terrified of what would happen when he hit his terrible twos. Oddly, Mic sailed through them with ease. He never seemed to want to rebel but simply follow his own path, which was always in motion. Of course it isn’t called rebellion in two year olds, usually, it’s a time of early identity development and a period of time when babies are figuring out they are separate from other people, animals and objects. However, with Mic it really seemed to his parents that he was born with a self knowledge and conflict only occurred when it got in the way of his movement.

It may be obvious at this point that Mic’s interests veered more toward running than other sports, which is true and he certainly loved track. However, he also enjoyed applying his speed and agility to the football field and frequently played in the position of running back during his Pop Warner days. Throughout high school he had an equal passion for track running and football, though he was noticeably small for a football player. For this reason one of his coaches and also his parents recommended he apply for track and field scholarships.

Mic thought about this for some time but finally decided he would apply to three schools, though he absolutely wanted to go to University of Washington. By this time his true ambitions had solidified and he had every intention of someday playing for the Seattle Seahawks. It was natural to him he would want to stay in his hometown and play for the Huskies prior to his professional career. Mic thought about all of the hotels Seattle that would be full of football fans and wondered how many of them would be there to watch him play. That was the single fantasy of glory he indulged in. At all other times he was genuinely passionate about the sport and his favorite team.

When I lived in Los Angeles I was in a very fortunate position.  My dear friend is a screenwriter and as such is a member of the Screenwriters’ Guild.  One of the perks of being in the Union is that he got into movies for free, and so did his guest.  It was during that time that I became familiar not only with the various movie theaters in the greater Los Angeles, but as he was “in the business” he would take me not to mall cinema or the multiplex theaters, but to the theaters around town that had a history.  A history of Hollywood and of movie-making, for many buildings in the city hold a history, be it the grand and wonderful Chinese Theater or a best Los Angeles hotel or a great beach-side restaurant in Malibu, the history of the great age of glamour and story telling is evident and all encompassing.

The Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax was a regular haunt for us, a place where there is still a live person accompanying the movies, and before the feature, short films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin still bring laughter from the audience.  The Rialto Theater in Pasadena does show currently released films.  But the experience of the movies here is intensified as sculptures and velvet curtains line the walls, and the balcony that is now not open to the public due to structural damage from earthquakes over the years, still looms behind as a reminder of the days when movie stars such as Mary Pickford, Clark Cable and Fred Astaire would sit up in those seats while attending their movie premieres.

The Nuart Theatre is on the West Side of LA, right on Santa Monica Boulevard.  This is a theater which still has the ticket taker booth out front.  Movies vary here, and back then we saw everything from “The Third Man” to the “Blair Witch Project”.  This theater has the most eclectic movie showings in town.  The Egyptian Theater, the El Capitan and of course Grauman’s Chinese Theatre line Hollywood Blvd. and have all been in business for almost one hundred years.  Now that I no longer live in Los Angeles, going to the movies is just not the same.  The seats may be more comfortable, the vibe is missing and for some reason the popcorn just does not taste as good.