As vital as it is for me to be out here in Los Angeles in the spring and the fall, I’ve learned that the industries I cover (and in a sense the city itself) are more or less shut down professionally for the winter. What better time of year, then, to head back to Florida and spend as much time there as I like. Still plenty of work to be done during the winter, but it’s mostly academic (very little if any field work other than Macworld Expo itself), and I’ve also learned that I can do that kind of academic work from just about anywhere so long as I’ve got my laptop and the internet works well. So I’ve known all along that I’d bail out of here for the winter, the only question was for how long. At one point I was looking at three weeks, at another point four weeks, and then eventually decided there was no need to rush my way through the trip and so I stretched it out to what now looks like at least six weeks. And I’m leaving in four days.
Since I can’t justify paying for my Hollywood apartment to sit empty for that long, I’ve decided to let it go (the beauty of not having signed a long-term lease in the first place). That’s fairly easy to do, since the previous tenant left behind most of the furniture I’ve been using, and since I never knew how long I’d be staying in this particular apartment I never did bother to redecorate the place. In other words, beyond finding a good home for the furniture that isn’t mine anyway, all I really have to do is pack my stuff into my two big traveling suitcases, ship two or three boxes of additional stuff (including my iMac which suddenly feels like an albatross), and that’s that. I guess you could say I’ve learned to live light; I’d actually like to get it to the point where there are no boxes involved and I can get everything I own into the suitcases. That would get me light enough that I can theoretically go anywhere at any time and have all my vital possessions with me when I get there.
The thing about Hollywood is that it’s so transient that at any given time the place is bursting at the seams with furnished sublets from people who gave up and went home before their lease expired, landed their dream job and had to go to New York City for it, or any other litany of reasons. The upshot is that it makes it easy to hit the ground with nothing but your suitcases, check into a hotel for a few days while looking at apartments, find what you’re looking for, and move in. So when I come back after the holidays it should be just as easy to find my next apartment as it was to find this one (or even easier, if the sinking economy and the resulting increase in for rent signs and online listings is any indication, and plus I now have a better idea of what I’m looking for and what to watch out for).
But for now I’m focused on getting out of California, and I’ll deal with coming back out here when the time comes. I’m ready to go, bags are packed, place is empty (except for my HDTV, which I still have to find a good home for). Except my flight isn’t until Wednesday. Okay, three more days of hanging out in Hollywood, no complaints here. Except now the whole place is on fire. It started yesterday to the north, and now a separate fire has begun to the east and south. While none of it is any closer than fifteen miles of here, the city of Los Angeles is essentially “ringed by fire” as one news outlet framed it. I tried to walk down to the corner store a couple hours ago, but I wasn’t prepared for what I encountered outside. My first attempted breath was nothing more than me trying to breathe in a whole lot of toxic hotness and nothing even remotely resembling oxygen, so I turned around and went back inside. I’d say it’s a bummer for me to have to spend my last few days in LA not being able to go outside, but then I look at people’s homes burning on television and I realize I’ve got nothing to complain about.
Still, I’d move up my flight and leave tomorrow if I could. No reason to still be here at this point, aside from a few final errands that I can’t take care of until Monday comes. Then again, I really wouldn’t want to deal with traveling to the airport tomorrow anyway. Not in this near-total lack of breathable atmosphere. It’s not like I haven’t been near fire before, I’ve driven across the rural middle part of Florida, right past burning sugar cane fields. But this is different. That’s just an overwhelmingly sweet smell. This is like something out of a disaster movie. Can’t imagine what my friends to the south (and east and north) are going through who love closer to the fire.
I’m not at all worried about the fires coming anywhere near Hollywood. But still, it’s a rather sad way to leave Southern California. Selfishly I wish I’d left a week ago. But then again, we did manage to get the iProng Magazine release party in before the fires started. You know what? In the six months I’ve been out here, it’s rained a grand total of one time. And they’re reporting that November’s local temperatures have been at a 72-year high. And you wonder why the place is burning. Anyone still want to try to claim that global warming isn’t happening? Southern California is a desert climate, but it’s not supposed to be the Sahara.
Anyway, that’s another story for another day. The past six months out here have had their ups and downs, but mostly ups, plenty more memories and fun stories to add to the archives, and more significant progress for the magazine. Can’t wait to see what the next big west coast run in the springtime brings. But for now it’s all about heading “home” to Florida. There’s the Dolphins game to attend, the old school I used to work at to visit, Thanksgiving to celebrate…and that’s just the first week back. There’s a ton of family and friends to visit all over the State, and yes, work to be done (almost) the whole time. Four more issues being released before the year is over (including some BIG names on the cover), Macworld Expo preparations to be made, and at some point I’ll have to figure out when exactly I’ll be returning to Los Angeles. I know I have to be back out here well before the spring gets underway. But as far as an exact date? I honestly haven’t thought that far ahead. And maybe that’s the smart way to do it.
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