I had a good time tonight, having dinner and watching a movie with my friends Sherri and Laura. Getting there was a challenge, however. I left the house at approx. 3:05. Bad idea. My parents live at the middle of two hills (which meant that going to school as a kid was quite literally uphill both ways. No snow though). There's a cross street a few blocks from my parent's that is also a hill. Go left on this street and hit an elementary school. Go right and hit a light, then a middle school. I attended both of these schools.
Well back in my day (and let's face it, it wasn't that long ago) we walked to school. Not so anymore. There was an enormous line of cars stretching up and down the streets, all SUVs or minivans, and only a handful of kids walking. Sure, I remember a few kids getting picked up from school, and always wishing that kid were me (I was extremely lazy as a child), but come on. This was ridiculous.
After a good 10 minutes getting out of the neighborhood, I was well on my way to late. Sherri and Laura live on Mount Washington in LA. The roads are windy and extremely confusing so I usually meet Sherri at the IHOP and follow her up the road. I was nearly a half an hour late but luckily Sherri hadn't given up on me yet. Going up to their house, I was extremely pleased that I'd taken my mom's behemoth (super duper Chrysler minivan) rather than my own car (a Miata) because I would not have wanted to navigate these streets and turns with a stick shift. Some of the streets rivaled San Francisco in steepness. It was insane.
We had a great mexican dinner and then went back to watch Whale Rider. This was my Christmas present from Sherri and Laura in a rather bizarre exchange of gifts. See, there's last year, when I got S & L a book, but forgot to bring it down to LA to give it to them. This year I stopped and got them 2 bottles of a wine they love on my way down to LA over Christmas. However, I forgot last year's book again this year. Throughout Christmas break, we never quite got it together to visit, so we arranged a plan. I would leave their wine in the laundry room (which is accessible from the outside) and they could drop off our gift and pick up theirs. Great, except I forgot to leave their gift out, and they dropped ours off mere hours after we left to go back to San Jose. They did, however, leave our gift and went home empty-handed. I left the wine in LA knowing I would be back soon and could hopefully give it then. So back in San Jose, we pack everything up and what do we find, but the book from last year's Christmas, still wrapped with a little red bow. Great! Now we can give them both gifts. Meanwhile my parents take off for New Zealand. This becomes important when I get to LA and start looking around. Can't find the wine. I checked the bedrooms, closets, garage, and even (of all places) the wine cellar and...nothing. I did manage to find their gift for me and I did bring the book down for them, so it wasn't a complete bust. Their gift for me turned out to be the Whale Rider DVD and a gift for Kevin I don't want to give away even though he won't see it until August (unless it disappears into the same place the wine went to). And the good thing was that Sherri and Laura liked the book.
So anyway, Sherri suggested I bring Whale Rider to watch tonight and I did. If you haven't seen this movie, you must do so! It's a great story and the acting is incredible, especially the little girl who plays the main character, Keisha Castle-Hughes. I really hope she wins the Oscar for best actress. She definitely deserves it.