Los Angeles: Day 2 (Venice Beach)

The pad on Dudley was pretty sweet.

While in Los Angeles, it is easy to get caught up in the "fuck you, pay me" mentality required to survive in style (with money) here, but I dare say that is even more enticing to make one's acquaintance with the softer, sweeter side of Golden Statery.  There is a coolness here that people have. A vibe which proclaims that life is more than a rat race. Life is about stopping and smelling the poppies. Catching the perfect wave at the beach. Skating down the sidewalk instead of walking. Creating art on a spoon.

For the Southern Californian beach dweller, the day seems to pass by at a slower rate of speed. Or maybe, it's just that the day starts sooner. I know I was up at sunrise itching to go out to the coast. From our bungalow, it was a two minute stroll. The sand, still cool from the previous night, was bespeckled with meandering gull prints. Joggers, young and old, made their way along the foam of the tide's edge.

The water just seems to goes on forever.

"I don't know a more terrible way to spend a morning, " one jogger commented as he passed us. "I'd much rather be getting a root canal." Good old wry Californian wit.

Standing on the sand looking out at that big blue, there is no other matter because nothing else matters.  There is just now and peace and serenity and whatever notion that pops into one's head. I forgot why the hell I moved away from this place. Why the hell did I move away from this place? This feeling? This now? Back in the day, I was so consumed with finishing school and getting the right job and going to as many places in the country that I could before it was too late. I never did find out what time "too late" was. I'm still trying to figure it out.  Currently, I don't think it exists.

I could totally live here with Hubby.

So after the hubby and I did some katas and stuck our feet in the water and marveled aloud at how great we were feeling, I made a promise to sell as many novels as necessary to finance our relocation to this place. I told my husband that I would convert him into a kept man and we would live together in one of these beach rentals. We would spend our mornings and evenings out on the sand and the time in the middle would be filled with writing and creating and baby-making. We would be inspired by the characters of Venice Beach to write my second award-winning novel which would finance our relocation to our next paradise.