Two years ago, Los Angeles made a sacrifice to the Hockey Gods, which they found acceptable – the Sandley Cup, a sand sculpture put in place in front of Staples Center. No such sculpture arrived this year, sadly, so I sacrifice my weekly blog post.
We are the Kings of the ice
We have a goalie named Quick
And he is
We have a defenceman named Doughty
And he is
We are as strong as the Santa Ana winds
As enduring as the mountains
As tough as East L.A.
Like the earthquake we bring all to their knees
The City of Angels sneers at the Big Apple
GO KINGS GO!
— Update 6/17/14 —
The Kings won the Stanley Cup on Friday! In the words of the beer commercial, it’s only weird if it doesn’t work.
Toyon (“Holly”) Berries in a Southern California December
‘Twas towards South California one clear Christmas Eve
That Santa and entourage readied to leave
Their snowy and frost-bitten home at the Pole
Delivery night was their annual goal
As always the reindeer all dratted and grumbled
And Rudolph their leader, he audibly mumbled
Santa said, “Rudolph, what is that you’re saying?
My Rudolph, is that a complaint that you’re braying?”
“I like Christmas Eve,” Rudolph said, “no one better
I don’t like L.A. with its cars and its weather
No cold there, no seasons,” he said, “and it bugs me
No feathery blanket of snow’s there to hug me.”
“It’s only one night,” Santa softly replied
“And kindly remember that children reside
In that sparkling city with winters so mild
They’re not even noticed compared to the wild
Winters more northerly climes endure yearly
I watch it all year as you know and it clearly
Has seasons all right. It’s the fog in the spring
That shelters the canyons and hillsides to bring
The summer most fierce which no green plant can bide
The people take refuge at beaches to hide
From airless and oven-like heat found inland
Then autumn with blast furnace winds scours the strands
And canyons with wildfire. When winter begins
The rains turn the brown hillsides green and within
The fire-ravaged canyons new seeds sprout and grow
The green spreads renewal more welcome than snow
The children who live there do not pine for winter
With cold they’ve not known. Let us go now and enter
The spirit of Christmas in South California Posadas, poinsettias are waiting there for ya!”
I know some people can focus almost anywhere. I can focus almost nowhere. But I have begun to come here:
“Here” is Kleverdog Coworking. It’s a shared office space for freelancers, entrepeneurs, writers, and other folks who need an office but for whatever reason don’t have one.
I’m finding it to be just what the old Silver Dragon needed. There is no loud coffeehouse music, conversations are kept to a workplace-like minimum, and there is a pleasing atmosphere of Getting …Stuff… Done. Unlike at home, where (to be honest) the siren call of the video game console is hard to ignore, I can accomplish stuff here. Stuff like getting myself online as a freelancer, and making a new attempt at Chapter Three… Even stuff like, well, posting to my blog. And if I should, Heaven forbid, get bored, there is no place so fascinating for a city stroll than Chinatown. It is so different from Tarzana that it may as well be on the Moon.
I still am hoping to participate in the July Camp NanoWrimo, but to be honest, I want to get at least one revised draft of November’s novel into the hands of my beta readers. Maybe with this new HQ, I’ll get some progress made.
A Study In Silver 