We've reached the end of 2019, and along with the expected holiday activities (I try not to say Christmas now because certain religious groups get offended if you say "Have a nice Christmas," just like "supremacy" is not a fancied word even in scientific names like "quantum supremacy." Gotta be politically correct to the extreme nowadays) comes a transformation in Los Angeles from a working metropolis city to a bustling tourist destination. MJ asked me today whether I think LA has more people during the winter holidays than normal or less people, considering that many people might have gone to their original home for the holidays....but my guess has to be more because of the foreign tourists flocking like migratory birds to a warm destination.....LA definitely fits the bill, although at night it's gotten cold enough to see your own breath.
On one hand, the daily commute times are reduced due to less people going to work and school, but on the other hand attractions in LA become traps; don't even think about going to Hollywood Studios, Griffith Observatory, Disneyland, Santa Monica Pier without having to wait and/or encounter more people than you were hoping for. I thought New York was difficult to navigate this summer; at least they're usually equipped already for dense populations, LA normally is spread out enough and has enough going on that people are disbursed rather evenly through different areas of town like downtown, Malibu, the beaches, etc., but once the tourists show up and all their guidebooks have the same Top 5 things to do in LA telling them what to do, those top 5 places can't handle all those cars coming through their entrances, all the traffic getting out at the same highway exit. It's a nightmare, or as some would call it, a sh*tshow.
Speaking of "all the space" LA has, that's one of the major themes of the movie "Marriage Story" that MJ and I watched on Christmas Eve night.......not exactly a heartwarming tale for the whole family to gather around, in fact "Divorce Story" might have been a more spot-on title, but it certainly gave a very real depiction of divorce and how attorneys complicate matters and suck up a ton of money if you get bogged down (the couple getting divorced at first agrees not to involve lawyers and to have an amicable break-up, but predictably they disagree on this, hire aggressive attorneys and suddenly bills pile up quickly along with the angry tirades and personal attacks). People in the movie keep praising LA for "having so much space" to the dad character who prefers living in New York City and cringes each time he's told about the space, a very real sentiment I can relate to....that space can be just as much a detriment as it is a benefit.
MJ and I went to Getty Center (I've lost count of how many times I've been there, but I now appreciate it much more than just the nice views!) and it took almost an hour to drive into the parking lot area! Foreign tourists abounded, with Korean and Chinese being the top 2 languages we heard, more than maybe English. A wonderful Manet exhibit, part of the Getty's rotating program, was almost ruined by tourists trampling through, filling the meager hall to max capacity and making it difficult for me to guide MJ around in a wheelchair. I wondered what the comic Ali Wong would do in the situation, and I imagined silently farting in front of the most popular Manet work there (Le Printemps, depicting a girl wearing a bonnet and carrying an umbrella) where there was a mass of tourists and see if people eventually gave in to the remnants of my mom's famous mapo tofu recipe. One by one I could see those tourists dropping out to go to different paintings, not knowing where the foul smell was coming from, until only MJ and I were left to take a selfie, surrounded by a circle of protection of my own making. Maybe one way to fight off throngs of tourists.
Many fellow museumgoers were nice to open doors for us when the automatic door button wasn't functioning, but the sheer mass of people meant a few oblivious people cutting us despite our wheelchair. The sunset was colorful and dramatic today, enhanced by the mountains and ocean in the background, in fact MJ compared it to being air brushed, the way the light reflected off our faces when taking a picture, but it was slightly marred by all the people gathering on the west pavilions crowding around to get a video of the exact moment the sun disappeared below the horizon. Apparently that's a big thing. Super fun to wheel MJ down the hill from the top of the Getty instead of taking the tram, though, another unexpected benefit of having a temporarily disabled member of our party (but hopefully she will recover soon so we don't need to take advantage anymore!) And apparently California has a rule for out-of-state disabled parking placard holders to get a temporary 90-day disability pass. Out of all the states only California has this; all other states accept ones from other states. Go figure.
Many fellow museumgoers were nice to open doors for us when the automatic door button wasn't functioning, but the sheer mass of people meant a few oblivious people cutting us despite our wheelchair. The sunset was colorful and dramatic today, enhanced by the mountains and ocean in the background, in fact MJ compared it to being air brushed, the way the light reflected off our faces when taking a picture, but it was slightly marred by all the people gathering on the west pavilions crowding around to get a video of the exact moment the sun disappeared below the horizon. Apparently that's a big thing. Super fun to wheel MJ down the hill from the top of the Getty instead of taking the tram, though, another unexpected benefit of having a temporarily disabled member of our party (but hopefully she will recover soon so we don't need to take advantage anymore!) And apparently California has a rule for out-of-state disabled parking placard holders to get a temporary 90-day disability pass. Out of all the states only California has this; all other states accept ones from other states. Go figure.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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