Images of devastation and hope in the California earthquake
The worst thing I experienced during today's 5.8 earthquake in Southern California was the fact that I was filling my car with gas that cost $4.35 a gallon when it happened and I didn't feel it. Two blocks away, my family jumped under the dining room table.
Upon my arrival at my downtown office, however, I was greeted with a scene of devastation the likes of which I haven't seen since the UPS guy opened the door into the mailman two weeks ago (young children might need to leave the room):
Jack Kerouac's "Book of Haikus" fell off the television.
A canister of pens fell from a table.
That said, my collection of "Homie" figurines remained upright: representing, straightening their hair, and ironing their t-shirts.
Whatever happens to southern California in God's wrath, rest assured the homies will always be here.
I found an excellent web tool for the woodshed of anyone with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: CalendarHome.com.
Among the many services this site provides is a calculator that determines the number of days between two dates, a tool that converts dates into their Islamic, Julian, and Gregorian calendar counterparts, and a database of days of the week, so you can find out the day you were born if you weren't keeping track at the time.
It was this latter tool I used to determine that only half of my family seems to be following the rules of this poem:
Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for its living, But the child that's born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.
Here is a latter-day David Bowie video, "Thursday's Child," from the "Heathen" album:
Huell Howser is a California institution. His series "California's Gold" is an excellent travelogue of the world's fifth-largest economy. He's like Rex Trailer and Charles Kuralt.
The above is someone else's video of a Huell Howser interview at the U.S./Mexican border, and the interstitial commentary is clearly anti-Huell, who is a little softer on immigration.
But Howser's folksy enthusiasm about his adopted state (he's from Tennessee) makes his programs about California fascinating and devoid of smarmy Hollywood chatter. This weekend we watched his trip to the proposed State of Jefferson, which looked a little like a Vermont on the border of California and Oregon.
I wrote him a fan letter today. He seems like the type of dude who would appreciate a fan letter.
UPDATE: It almost looks like he responded ...
I would like to personally thank you for contacting us. As you can imagine our office is literally swamped with communications every day from all over our state and our staff does its best to process all of the information.
Unfortunately, we are not able to personally respond to everyone, but I can assure you that I do eventually read every single email and letter that we get. If you do not hear back from us -- other than this "form" letter -- it doesn't mean your story idea wasn't a good one, we simply receive many, many more good ideas than we could ever shoot or edit. I hope you understand and do not take it personally. We try very hard to be considerate and polite to every single person who sends us a request or story idea, but the truth is we are just not able to personally respond.
In closing, I'd like to thank you for your support over the years and for being thoughtful enough to contact our office.
The worst thing I experienced during today's 5.8 earthquake in Southern California was the fact that I was filling my car with gas that cost $4.35 a gallon when it happened and I didn't feel it. Two blocks away, my family jumped under the dining room table.
