A year that has been many things except ordinary. Heinz and I wrapped-up 2015 as we packed our stuff for 2016.
A few months in Costa Rica to start the year out, followed by what looks will be a year and a half in California.
This is where I currently am. I'm in California and my kitchen is red. The cabinets in the kitchen, in my new L.A. apartment are RED. A meaningless real estate feature but an undisguised You-are-Here mark on my road map.
The L.A. époque.
I've started to write this post previous times but I've quit a few sentences in. I wasn't able to write down what I wanted to say. Self-doubtingly not sure of what it really was that wanted to be said. My voice felt somewhat shy which surprised me as this does not echo my inner landscape where it seems to be spring time. There's beauty all around but the newness to it has me looking out for words, interpretations and mostly narratives to the multiple ongoing stories.
There's the story of how I ended up here. Here as in this illicitly hipster neighbourhood. A place I've fallen in love with so hard that I am willing to bypass the fact that there is no such thing as an actual lake in Silverlake.
L.A. has been both overwhelming and overwelcoming, both in the most soul-nurturing way.
Highways deserve a thorough essay on how much I dislike things that move too fast.
And I will write it because these highways are my rite of passage. Yes, I find them as scary as f*#k but I thought...if only I could find the beauty in them; and I swear I think I can. I can see the beauty in the them.
There are certain places where the concrete horizon meets the threads to ruffled palm trees. If you are -questionably- lucky enough you'll catch this in a time of the day (rush hour) when everything but the sky wears a shadow dress. Meanwhile the sky displays a sun-tainted spectrum of color that will have you believing in unicorns in no time.
We Airbnb'ed a small studio in Echo Park as we hunted for a more permanent piece of real state jungle. The search was tough. Panther against a rabbit type of tough. I had no idea of how time consuming it would be to find an apartment, luckily Echo Park proved emotionally supportive.
Initially we were looking for a place near the beach. The real state market was quick to teach us that 1. student visa with 2. no credit score and 3. a dog where not priority as tenants. It would have been faster had we decided to rent a student apartment in a student building in a student area near the school campus but for a reason that now escapes my mind we were determined to find an apartment near the beach.
As the month in our Echo Park studio came to an end, one Tuesday afternoon we decided to go out and grab a drink. On that day we've had yet another apartment disappointment and my tender heart was feeling tired and almost hurt. As we found a place at the bar I noticed that it was packed! There was a band playing, people kept coming in and it was only Tuesday. I turned to Heinz and told him how much I was liking living in that neighbourhood and in complete agreement his reply was that he found it creatively stimulating. At that precise moment we had an epiphany. We made a toast as we decided to re-locate our search area. The very next day we made three appointments to look at some apartments. We chose the first one. It was love at wooden floors. We signed the lease that night. We moved to Silverlake on a cinco de mayo.
From the Echo Park studio to our Silverlake home.
I'm curious about the different shapes and expressions this L.A. époque will take. An aesthetic of free summer concerts, hikes and beach days. If achievable even a tattoo by Dr. Woo.
The love for this neighbourhood is only a partial truth, the complete truth is my heart has enough space for the entire city.
Why everybody is moving so fast is a question that keeps me intrigued. I mean, can't we all see how beautiful this is?
