The LA Times has a new piece that on the new Gold Line extension that discusses the architecture of the stations, creates an optimistic outlook forthe future of the Metro's planned expansions and hypothesizes a positive cultural, psychological and economic impact to the new line.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-goldline14-2009nov14,0,4...

It's an overwhelmingly favorable opinion piece but it did get me excited about the future of public transit in LA and surrounding counties. Excited as in one day LA's rail system will be as extensive as the one torn down by consumer indifference created by the boom in personal automobiles and the greedy, short-sighted actions by auto-related companies. 

The Expo Line: http://www.buildexpo.org/index.php

The Gold Line with new East LA stops: http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/gold_line.htm

The Gold Line Extension: http://www.metrogoldline.org/about.html

I went to my first wedding (reception) a few weeks ago. Apparently a very couples-centric wedding according to my friends (both single and coupled) sitting at the table. All the games revolved around couples at the wedding. It didn't really bother me. Something else caught me off guard. Let me explain. There were touching moments with the bride and groom and the bride's parents. About love, trust, longevity and being perfect for one another. A great match. How they balance each other out. And despite all of that, I didn't want to fall in love or be in a relationship. I wanted to PLAN a wedding or some sort of grand party. It was a different type of moment for me. And this little moment when the creative and planning gears clicked and whirred in my head instead of wanting what was shown to me has stuck with me the past few weeks. It occasionally surfaces out of the blue and disappears again.  One of those times occurred tonight and something else clicked. 

As a way to wind down and to provide some background noise to a few mundane chores in preparation for tomorrow, I watched this movie about a young couple's relationship.  Parts of it were ridiculously romantic and incredibly schlocky but they fit. And when I was younger, seeing this would've made me want a relationship, someone to be with. But tonight, that didn't happen. You could chalk it up to experience, I guess, because all of the loving moments and periods of joy experienced by the couple resonated me in a different way. I saw bits and pieces of myself in the characters - the good and the bad - though I didn't want what they have in the movie. And most of all, I wanted to create my own story. Not for me in my real life, of course, but just a happy, fluffy romantic comedy. A movie/screenplay. The cinematic equivalent of a really good cupcake that even your friends who don't care for sweets admit to enjoying. 

Combined with the wedding reception, it got me thinking. Maybe another piece just fell into place. Another positive nudge in the right direction that makes me feel a little less lost. A little less despondent about the direction of my life. I recently figured out (and accepted and embraced!) that I'm the type of person who's just incompatible with love and relationships. And realizing that felt as if I had gotten a grip of something that eluded my grasp without me knowing I was in need of grasping it. And now this new information has revealed itself (I refuse to call it a revelation). It's another building block to aid me in defining myself when I usually feel like I don't have much to stand on. It's like I'm meant to create illusions of love. Impossibly fantastical renditions of what can happen between two people. It's what I've been doing for most of my life in small ways. It's always been here in small, random pieces that I never put together. The song lyrics. The screenplay books and research. My love of romantic comedies and musicals. The surprising thrill of performing in front of people at my recital. It's all been there and the list keeps growing. It's a scary realization. Screenwriter? Broadway performer? Songwriter? So horribly impractical. 

Alas, I don't know. I really don't. I'm so prone to bouts of whimsy and random infatuations as symptoms of my mercurial, temperamental and capricious nature. I just thought I'd jot this down for myself so I can read it later a verify it. Right now I know for sure I need to get some sleep.

I just completed the first competitive running event of my life - Disneyland's 3rd Annual Half Marathon! I've never been any sort of athlete so this is a momentous occasion for me! It was a great, unforgettable experience filled with positive energy, smiling faces and testing one's endurance. 

The course takes one through Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure, the Honda Center, Angel's Stadium, the riverfront of the Santa Ana River and through various streets in Anaheim. Along the way, spectators, bands, cheerleaders, Boy Scouts, dancers and more entertained and cheered on the runners while an amazing 1,500 volunteers helped with setting up the event, handing out water or PowerAde and cheering us on. I've never received so many high fives from such a diverse group of people before.

It wasn't all roses, however. I had injured my knee a month and a half before the marathon which stopped my recently begun training at 4 miles max. Hence, I could only start running again two weeks before the marathon with one week devoted to storing up energy for such a testing event. And with that one week of training, I only got up to three miles before stopping for fear out of straining my body. Thankfully, my knees proved to stay healthy. However, between miles 5 and 6 on the route during a routine stop to hydrate, my legs locked up at the joint where the thigh meets the body! From then on, it was a struggle to keep running with frequent stops and starts. Eventually, it was painful to even walk. Miles 10-13 were fraught with frequent stops to stretch and try to ease the pain of those joints because they felt like they were going to give out any minute. As the finish line loomed ahead I summed up whatever meager reserves I had remaining and sallied forth through the last quarter of a mile and ran across the finish line, arms extended in triumph and giving Mickey a high five.

I'm still on an incredible high even over an hour after the race. The pain is fading though I'm sure I'll be feeling it tomorrow...and for the next week or two. But for now, I'm savoring each moment of my accomplishment and hope to run faster, better and longer in the future. Here's to a great start of recreational running!

You know, I rarely have any sort of emotion stirred by sporting events. But the results of the women's bar routine really threw me out of sorts.