Rich and Strange Aeons

I just had my first corn dog of living memory, actually a Korean one. It was everything I dreamed a hot dog covered in fried dough would be: meh.

The odd thing is that the meat 'dogs' are the cheapest from that place. Replacing it with corn or potato makes it more expensive -- I didn't buy one, but from what I was told the cheese dog would be like a cheese stick in fried dough.

I toasted oatmeal yesterday. It made a pleasant difference. Not sure if it made enough of one to be worth a 5 minute setup if I don't make it in bulk.

Bought a pineapple from the grocery truck. $5! No idea if that's cheap or not. Good, though also a lot of pineapple... damn, I picked up real groceries today, and I should have thought to get potato chips and cottage cheese, for the nostalgia mix.

Between vaccine and CDC advice, I've been bolder outdoors, and ate out (outside, unenclosed) on a walk Saturday. I still feel I'd like to have my mask brace on before spending any significant time inside; I found an ice cream place yesterday ("Dolly Llama") but backed out when I found I'd have to wait in a stuffy interior.

Recent books: The Logic of Life; Soul Music; Regarding Saeki Sayaka vols 1 and 2; God Stalk (for a discussion group, none of whom liked it much; Aral Vorkosigan's Dog; Leaf By Niggle (sometimes Tolkien did like allegory). Currently reading The Undercover Economist.

Wishing my A/C wasn't a piece of shit. My host says he's trying to find a replacement. I'm here for another 6 weeks but between vaccine and summer I think it's getting time to move on, even if it's just to a cheaper LA room.

Going for a walk really can help. Helped in January, when there was a catastrophic blowup in my life. And tonight, for pettier causes. After losing my last Airbnb to house sale, I reserved this place for 5 weeks. But the old place had a 30 day minimum, so turnover wasn't that high. This place has 5 rooms and high turnover, which is *really fun* in a pandemic. But tonight's thing was that I'd anticipated a quiet Thanksgiving -- fewer people traveling, I'd been told last week no one had booked it, and so I figured it was just me and the other long term guest, a very quiet girl.

But last minute bookings happen. Two nights ago, a couple and a baby, in the room that shares a very thin wall with mine. Okay. Today they left, yay... and then *four* people move into the same room, lots of stomping, cooking too.

It's not like I can blame anyone. They're renting a room just like I do (though why are they traveling, and for only five days?) and the landlady is of course making money, it's not like she promised no one would check in over the holiday.

But having my expectations, shattered, LOUDLY, really got to me. I was already on edge from the host puttering around cleaning for two hours -- she's diligent, probably natural for her to do so as soon as someone checks out, but it's the day before Thanksgiving, take a break! And now I know why she had to: more guests -- and then, bam.

I feel calmer after the walk. Also after meeting some of them and telling them about the THIN WALLS AND CREAKY FLOOR.

I'd also been mad about them not wearing masks in the kitchen despite being Asians speaking Asian language, but they were apologetic enough when I brought it up and wearing them now.

New policy: when renting long term private rooms, try to find ones that have a 30-ish day minimum, to avoid this turnover problem.

I guess I've noticed my irritation before, but not as strongly. Pandemic doesn't help. Thin walls don't help. And it hasn't been much of an issue in a while: Most of my places for a while have been entire (Osaka, for less than I'm paying for a room here), the only guest room, or multiple guest rooms but fairly isolated (like an ornate garret I stayed in in Berkeley).

Well, two Saturdays from now I start splurging on an entire bungalow for six weeks. Expensive but I started figuring it was worth it to avoid people, especially the sort of people doing short term travel now. Spend on rent instead of medical bills.

Wow, I haven't had an airbnb tag before.

S wanted her living room back and I didn't have anywhere urgent to go as I look for a new job, so I moved over to a Craigslist sublet in Hollywood for the month. My housemate Alex is a composer from Germany, very pleasant to talk to. Given that S's family has me redefining my scale of possible introversion, that's a nice change.

I've mostly been exploring locally, but I took the Red Line one station over to get to TJ, and a couple stations back today to get home after heading west for a while.

* There are open seats at 5 PM. A subway that isn't standing room only at rush hour?! Feels wrong. It's not like it's super high frequency either, just 10 minute headways (which is pretty slow for rush hour!)

* Audible but not visual stop announcements.

* Line map inside cars but no system maps.

Other notes:

* cheap Thai food; lunch specials for $5.50.

* Barnsdall Art Park, including the LA Municipal Art Gallery, which has an exhibition celebrating loitering.

* I grew up reading various books of essays, e.g. by Lewis Thomas, Loren Eisley, Russell Baker, and others, but haven't read such in a long time. The exhibit suggests The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. What I sampled was interesting, and a black essayist would add a bit of diversity to my reading.

* West eventually brings me into Hollywood 'proper': Walk of Fame, Mann's Chinese, Ripley museum, Madame Tussaud's, etc. A few cosplayers on the sidewalk: Vader, Joker, blue person from Avatar. Lots of Scientology buildings around the area, I guess it probably started in LA?

* A two-story strip mall, which at least makes more efficient use of the parking lot in the middle, though I wonder if it's in violation of the modern parking codes.

* Daiso, basically a 100 yen store. Default price $1.50, but lots of prices in yen, and scaled so that obviously maps to 100 yen. That's with a big import markup, by exchange rate 100 yen is 91 cents right now. They had bottled hojicha though it did not match my memories of Japan.

* Years ago I used to go out for Thai every week with Jane, usually ordering some curry. I never did sort out what kinds of curry were what, and the Web was young and nascent then. Since, I've tended to order basil rice, drunken noodle, larb, or pad thai, and not concerned myself with curries. But they're some of the cheap lunch options, so I finally looked them up, 26 years late...

* This place doesn't have a microwave. I haven't lacked one since some of my stays in Europe. Kind of crimps my usual approach to cooking leafy greens and broccoli, not to mention warming up leftovers.