BLOG BELLA

Goodbye, my Brother

// December 28th, 2009 // 5 Comments » // I Love LA., LA Done Me Wrong

I said goodbye to my brother Jon today.  A year ago he moved out here to Los Angeles to live with me.  Straight out of High School, he’d never lived away from the parents before.  Since I’d been on my own for some years I felt the heaviness of easing him into the “real world.”  Yes, the “real world” of Los Angeles.  If it is such a thing.  Me, big sister Bel, cosmopolitan, savvy to the world, polished.  Wow, was he in for a letdown. 

Psychiatrists might say this here blog of mine is the manifestation of a deep inner need to create a sense of community out of a place that has none.  Or has one that is constantly being shuffled and re-dealt.  In my four years in Los Angeles I’ve seen several people leave, including two of my very best friends, and now my brother.

The first was Nova who I’d met a couple of times in college.  She was my sister Star’s friend.  We didn’t run in the same circles.  When I re-met her in the big bad town of Los Angeles, however, instant deep friendship formed.  She eased me into the real world of Los Angeles.  “Bel, you seriously can’t dress like that out here.  We’re not in the backwoods of Florida.  What are you thinking?”  She said when I wore a ridiculous hippy getup, complete with cargo pants to the Abbey.  She was never afraid to say what was on her mind.  Living in Los Angeles wasn’t on her mind.  She’d had enough of trying to help her husband’s music career and wanted to raise her toddlers in Colorado.

James Tudor, was my next best friend.  A person who again, I instantly bonded with.  A brilliant young mind who’d moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.  At the age of 15 he’d  made enough money playing the stock market that he’d moved to France for a couple of years paying his way through Cours Florent, a prestigious acting school in Paris.  His warm, yet hillbilly family were left behind, mouths ajar.  James subsequently came to Los Angeles, took some acting classes, starred in some films while working to launch Nintendo Wii, where we met and became best friends in a matter of months.  I was heartbroken but happy for him last year when he shed the hustle of the Los Angeles acting scene to move back to Ohio and become a Doctor. 

My dear little bro Jon, on the other hand, moved out here to find something, he wasn’t sure what.  Having always looked up to me, he perhaps thought I’d make whatever inner turmoil he had better.  We’d laugh and joke and smoke and drink.  Half of that we did do.  Jon is funny as hell, brilliantly musically minded, instantly likeable with a keen sense of awareness.  Maybe not self awareness.  He doesn’t quite see his full potential.  I wish he could see himself through my eyes, but I can’t grow up for someone else.  So now I let Jon go, wish him the best and trust that he will find his own life’s path, Los Angeles or no Los Angeles.

Merry Christmas!

// December 25th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // I Love LA.

It was SO cold in Los Angeles last night that I woke up several times during the night even though I had three covers on!  Anyway, my day took a turn for the best when my brothers and I sat down to a delicious and madcap family/roommate Christmas eve dinner.  Even though I’m more spiritual than anything at this point (yes, I fit right in here in Los Angeles), I see no reason to deprive myself of an annual Christian celebration involving consumption of food.  Here’s our videoblog about it.  Celebrate!

Fake EyeLAshes

// December 21st, 2009 // 11 Comments » // I Love LA.

Photoshopped Bel with fake EyeLAshes

I may have become a big prissy sissy since moving to Los Angeles.  Yesterday, ridiculously, I thought it would be a good idea to wear fake eyelashes to go hiking up Griffith Park.  “Sorry I’m late, Kelsa.”  I said.  “It just took me awhile to put on my fake lashes.”  I said as I batted my beautiful long lashes in the cold morning air.

“Why are you telling me that?  At least say traffic was bad, or you came across an accident involving fatalities.”  Clearly Kelsa Kinsly was right.  “But you’re an actress and you live in LA.  I thought you would understand.”  Why did I admit to putting on fake lashes to hike?  Was it like admitting to getting breast implants to go on a date?  Not so much.  The feeling those lashes gave me, however, was awesome.  My long dark lashes made my eyes look bigger and porn star sexy and I certainly enjoyed them while they lasted yesterday.  If I again have the patience to spend 30 minutes applying glue to fake hair, closing one eye while I stick the thing to my upper eyelid skin, perhaps I will.  No one in LA will bat an eyelash.

P.S.  Brittany Murphy died yesterday, a reminder that faux eyelashes or not, life is fleeting and beautiful.  I wish her peace.

Cold Case (part 1)

// December 16th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // I Love LA.

Last Wednesday ‘Cold Case’ was filming outside our Koreatown apartment.  A notice had been posted above our mailboxes reading “Dear Neighbors, Warner Bros. Television Productions Inc. is filming its seventh season of the hit drama ‘Cold Case.”  Blah blah.

It didn’t bother me none.  My housemates who I’ll call Frederick and Jon weren’t too thrilled.  “Why!?”  There were asking rhetorically to no one except themselves and myself.  “Why does it matter?”  I butted in.  “We’re in Los Angeles.  These things happen, and at least people have jobs working on these shows.”  I was taking the opposite viewpoint for no particular reason than to argue haphazardly.  Well, I wouldn’t be the one laughing later on.  None of us would be, in fact. 

Sure enough, the sucking up of the neighborhood electricity by the ‘Cold Case’ crew caused a power outage.  Jon, Frederick and myself took the opportunity to take a little trip to Vons for groceries.  It was a cold night.  In line an older lady commented on our “child-like” purchases.  “Wow, you eat like kids.”  She said after nosily peering at Jon’s and Frederick’s ramen noodles, Cap’n Crunch, pizza, potato chips, peanut butter and bread.  The hot tea was our only grown-up purchase, which is what I’d selected.  “Are you roommates?”  She asked.  “Yes, and we’re all brothers and sister.”  I said.  She first looked at me, who happen to look like a white person, then at Jon who looks white and slightly Hispanic, then at Frederick who looks full-on Mexican.  Clearly she thought we were liars.  I was going to launch into the fact that our dad first got my white British mom pregnant then some years later met a different woman, their Mexican-American mom, and got her pregnant, but I didn’t feel like getting into the convoluted family tree.

(scroll below to read the rest of the story in ”Cold Case part 2″)

Freezing Cold Case (part 2)

// December 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // I Love LA.

After the trip to Vons we arrived back at our Los Angeles, Koreatown home and into our freezing cold apartment which happily now had electricity.  “Let’s turn on the heater and put on a pizza and some hot tea!”  That sounded like a splendid and brilliant plan so we did just that.  Then BAM!  Darkness hit.  The ‘Cold Case’ crew had sucked away the electricity in our building and the surrounding buildings once again.  “I knew this would happen!”  Jon said rather agitatedly.  “Yeah, this sucks!”  Frederick chimed in.

“Hey, why don’t we go down to craft services and get us a hot meal!  It’s because of them we can’t even cook ourselves a pizza and our freaking heater isn’t working!  Surely they’ll be generous.  It’s only fair.”  I thus convinced my little brothers Jon and Frederick to take a little field trip down onto the street.  The three of us proceeded single file like ducks in a row, with me playing the mother duck.  “Where’s craft services?”  I asked the stout serious faced security guard.  “They left a long time ago.”  He responded.  We walked around to the end of the block and indeed all the huge white trucks were hastily packing up.  I turned to Jon and Frederick.  “Sorry guys.”

We returned back to our cozy yet cold apartment and the electricity had come back on!  We quickly proceeded to bake our pizza while we still had electricity.  The three of us then gathered around the table enjoy the warm, hot melting cheese and pepperoni.

Boys and Girls Club of Burbank

// December 14th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // I Love LA.

Like a social anthropologist (or perhaps just a nosey person), when I learned of my Los Angeles UCF Alumni Club’s volunteer event with the Boys and Girls Club of Burbank I was eager to find out what goes on behind the scenes with those innocent little child-like faced people.  I’m talking about the kids from the Boys and Girls Club of Burbank.  Former child members of The Boys and Girls Club include Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt and President Clinton.  I was hoping I’d get a preliminary peek at the next little Martin Sheen.

The official word was that we were to decorate the Boys and Girls Club of Burbank with Santas and other such festive holiday items then play games with the children.  Not mind games, mind you, games like charades which involve no mind trickery of any sort. 

Two cheery UCF girls both named Lauren, along with Andy and Tiki, a happily married “class of 2002” couple as well as myself made up the Los Angeles UCF Alumni Club volunteer team.  We inconspicuously proceeded with the décor as planned.  All was going well until an unforeseen unfortunate occurrence took place in the form of Christmas lights falling from their perch, landing heavily on one of the Laurens’ head.  “Ow!  That hurt a little bit!” she said in an understated manner as she touched her long shiny dark curls.  Since she and I had both put the lights up, her pain was half my fault.  “I’m so sorry!”  I apologized profusely.  Lauren of all people should not have experienced Christmas light injuries, seeing as she is Jewish.  Fortunately, no Menorahs fell on anyone’s head.

During our word charade game with the youngsters, my turn came around and I pantomimed slicing and serving.  “Pizza!!”  Someone yelled.  Clearly the children and even my fellow UCF college graduates living in Los Angeles were unable to distinguish apple pie from pizza even though I pantomimed biting into an apple, baking a pie crust and serving it in slices consumed with a fork.  Maybe I suck at pantomiming American traditions although I am good at taking pity when Christianity bonks people on the head.

The star atop the Christmas tree was that I may have spotted the next Justin Timberlake.  We Los Angeles UCF Alumni grownups rallied the kiddies for an impromptu talent show and a blue eyed, teeny-bopper kid I’ll call Steve performed a perfectly choreographed dance routine which included the moonwalk, a performance of his that with today’s technology he’s posted on Youtube, perhaps a tribute he’s not even aware he’s giving to the late Michael Jackson.

Bank Fees in Los Angeles and Everywhere

// December 7th, 2009 // 12 Comments » // LA Done Me Wrong

So a friend of mine in Los Angeles who shall remain anonymous, let’s call him Jaramush which is a nice name, perhaps even an improvement on his own name, well, he tells me the following tale of woe.

Jaramush has been unemployed and struggling to find work in this beautiful economy linking us all together rag-tag like.  Predictably, he’s not doing well financially.  He’s also not the best at math.  So, using his debit card, Jaramush in Los Angeles, went over his Bank balance by $15.16.  For that atrocity he was charged $175 in fees!  And why wouldn’t he be?  Going over your account $15 is a crime of infinite proportions.  Yes, dear Jaramush, even you should know that.

Wells Fargo, bless your little heart.  Oh, wait.  Do you have a heart?  Each transaction, of which Jaramush had 5 (that month, each a few dollars to equal $15.16 over), he was charged $35 for.  Hence $35 x 5 equals the $175 in fees.

Years ago, I recall if you didn’t have the money, your card was simply declined.  Now, banks have realized that allowing the customer to go over by a few bucks in their purchase and them slapping them with a $35 per transaction fees is in their best interest.  Especially in this economy.  In 2009, banks are expected to earn $38.5 billion in overdraft fees, up 42% from 2003.  That’s BILLION.  Yes, $38.5 BILLION.  The people are struggling while the banks are snatching up more from them.

Now for the good news.  The power of the people.  Because of the attention of the media and the consumer outrage, we have people in our very Senate working for change!  Hooray!  If you are going to pay $1.75 for that cup of coffee and be charged $35 shouldn’t you be aware of it?  Jaramush thought so.

A measure unveiled by Sen. Christopher Dodd would give Jaramush a choice in whether he wants to participate in overdraft programs that charge fees for covering ATM withdrawals and debit card transactions.  The mere threat of this legislation prompted Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo to announce some changes to their overdraft procedures in September.  After going on YouTube and seeing multiple rants on bank overdraft fees, Jaramush didn’t feel quite so alone and called Wells Fargo who did reduce his $175 in fees to $87.50, at least a small victory.  So I say go Jaramush, out into the wide world of Los Angeles and manage your money more wisely.

Cooped Up Kids in Los Angeles

// December 3rd, 2009 // 26 Comments » // I Love LA., LA Done Me Wrong

In my apartment in Koreatown, the kids who live above us make a ton of racket leaping from their beds onto our ceiling like Kangaroos.  That’s what it sounds like, anyway.  Actually it sounds more like hippos or elephants.  There’s running, jumping, leaping, skipping.  The noise bothers the crap out of my other housemates.  Not me.  I say run, jump and leap free!  There is no yard whatsoever for those unfortunate Los Angeles children.

Last night, coming home from work, I saw an adorable little Korean-American girl rollerblading around our parking lot.  I was unloading bag after bag of groceries, carrying them up the flights of stairs.  The girl rollerbladed up to me in her cute little skirt and leggings and asked if I needed help.  Heartbreaking it is that she and many other Los Angeles kids don’t have land to run around in.  Even the outdoor areas of the schools I’ve seen in Los Angeles are paved or have a rather tiny area of greenery.  I suppose that’s the price the kids pay to have parents who want to live in Los Angeles.

In Brazil, my dad always made sure we had a huge yard where we could play in, dig in, climb trees in, splash around in the rain in, play with our animals, and plant in.  Later on as a grownup in Florida before I left to move out here I was living in an apartment complex with tons of rolling greenery, lawns to walk in, with a huge lake across the street.  Even the lower income residences in Florida have yards and lawns.

So I say leap away, kids, leap onto all the ceilings of all the Los Angeles apartments.  I’ll just play music or put in my earphones.  Or maybe your parents will wisen up and we can all go to one of the local hiking parks and run around like elephants.