broadcasting from the san gabriel valley

Sunday, March 20, 2011

38:16! Welcome to Echo Park!


This morning I woke up early to watch the LA Marathon make its way through beautiful and rainy Echo Park. This is the second year in a row that the course made its way down Bellevue, around the lake and up to Sunset. The athletes pass though in order of how they started, first, the wheel chair racers, then the Women's Elite, followed by the Men's, and lastly, the common runners. But let me clarify....there is nothing common about 26,000 runners passing your street at 8AM on a Sunday morning!

In a neighborhood that too often is in the news for less than positive events, I was again overjoyed too see the folks come out to support the athletes as they passed through. The local with the best spunk was stationed on the East side of Glendale Blvd as the runners approached. Oblivious to the rain, he occasionally glanced at his watch as the wall of common runners moved by. With as much spunk as possible, he greeted the mob with a loud and inviting, "38:16! Welcome to Echo Park! Wooo!" The runners were appreciative of the time notification...especially those looking to beat a personal best. He repeated this welcome about every 30 seconds. It was this man along with the hundreds of other folks braving the rain who are the heart of this amazing neighborhood.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Musical Journey: 6-12th grade

6th Grade I think is the year when I really began paying attention to music. Before the days of portable CD players and long before iPods, I was on a flight listening to the pre-programmed alternative rock station. I remember that I fell in love with one of the songs on the playlist, and this was it:



7th grade was the year of Nirvana (and some Pearl Jam. In one of my star-struck moments, I wrote a love-letter to bass player Jeff Ament. No joke. I even enclosed a portrait that I drew of him in one of his floppy little hats).



8th Grade will be forever known as the year I became exposed to pop-punk. Lookout! and Epitaph records were hard to come by and required trips to Columbus's Magnolia Thunderpussy record store on High Street.



9th Grade. Still heavy into pop punk although Lookout! bands seemed to be more my style at this point. This was also the year in which I purchased a record player. Operation Ivy's 'Energy' was on heavy rotation.



10th Grade was when I moved cross country to Phoenix. I also acquired a Ramones album.



11th grade I believe is when I became obsessed with the Donnas. A natural segue from the Ramones. This record (dubbed to cassette) practically fueled my way to the guitar store when I turned 16 to make my first instrument purchase. A TG Tanara...for those unfamiliar with generic Japanese guitars, the Tanara was modeled after the Fender Telecaster.



12th Grade: Don't get me wrong..... I was still into the Donnas big time. I was also heavy into picking up 7" from random girl fronted bands like the Rondelles and the Budget Girls. However, more significant to my current musical collection today, is the fact that 1997/1998 was the year that I became obsessed with the Smiths.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

31





Mas Malo. DTLA. Nicki, at the last minute, rounded up a posse to celebrate my 31st with tacos and margaritas.


The most amazing cupcakes. Marshmallow tail and a donut hole head! Amazing creations courtesy of Monica.


Thank you all for coming out. A great night with great company!


31 tomorrow.....

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Those Pesky Broken Crayons.....

......You know all about them. The ones that are cast aside in anticipation of a new 64 color box....you know...the one with the sharpener in the back. Well, that was always the one I was holding out for. I think today though, the must have box now has 96 crayons but I could be wrong. Well, anyway, let me get back to the topic: broken crayons. There are abundance of them in the abandoned office next to me at work. Fellow counselors, teachers and other staff frequently cast aside their broken lot when newer, better, more youthful crayons come their way. No judging here as I too am guilty of trading up.

My interest in these castaways was raised because last weekend I attended a workshop of sorts for Art Therapists to learn some new crayon techniques. The techniques both called for unwrapped crayons. While working, I immediately thought to the arsenal of Crayolas and Rose Arts that are stashed away next door to me at work. Monday morning on my break, I unwrapped a bunch and took them home to up-cycle. After even more research on the topic of older crayons, I decided to get a bit ambitious and melt down the bunch by color and make cuter, cooler once again NEW crayons.

First, I separated by like colors using a muffin tin. As you can see, I put similar shades together because when melting, the colors will mix up.



Next, using a double boiling technique, I placed like colors into the soup cans to melt. Prior to placing the can in the water, i bent the can to form a tiny spout so the wax would pour easier. While melting, I experimented with putting glitter into the hot wax. The best result I got was when I put the glitter in after I removed the can from the pot.



Once the can was out, I used a pot holder and carefully poured the wax into candy molds. I purchased mine from Candyland Crafts and they arrived seriously within 3 days of purchase! Sweet! Once they were all filled, I put them in the freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes. When cooled, they really did just pop out of the mold with zero mess.



Final product! I am really jazzed about how they turned out. They will be coming with me to work on Monday. Hopefully the younger kids I work with will get a kick out of them. I know I sure did.