I Don't Like Earthquakes!

Well, yesterday there was an earthquake at about 11:42 am - it shook fairly hard, and went on fairly long - I was really shaking - not just during it, but quite a few minutes after! They are calling the quake, centered in Chino Hills, a 5.4. Anyway, scary stuff - but I must say this one, though the biggest I've felt in years, was in no way even remotely comparable to the terror of the two "Big" Earthquakes I have been through - probably the two scariest events of my life. In the 1971 Sylmar earthquake we lived in Northridge, I was ten years old, and I was pretty traumatized for awhile after that. During the quake I just lay there in my bed as it shook - in shock, I guess. But for days, weeks, even a few months after I was scared to go upstairs in our house - every time I did it seemed like there was an aftershock. We didn't have electricity or water for what seems like at least a week, in my memory anyway - good part though - no school for a couple of weeks, and we did get to go to restaurants for all our meals for several days (all I can remember is going to the "Copper Penny" coffee shop again and again). The 1994 Northridge earthquake was very, very scary too. I lived in Agoura and - though they tell you to go under a doorway during an earthquake (today the news is saying that is a myth - go under a table) I just sat up in my bed during the quake, screamed (I think) and watched the TV set at the end of the bed lift up and down off the table. Wooo - just thinking about all this makes me shake!!

Big Brother 10 Begins

Well, Big Brother has become my most favorite of the reality shows in recent years - I have seen close to every episode of every season. So, season 10 started Sunday night and they have decided to eliminate the secret couples, hidden twins, and long-lost family members from the mix of this season's contestants - for the first time since something like season three, they said, no one in the house knew each other prior to entering the house (okay, we'll see if they stick with that the whole season). The thirteen contestants were described as something like "a mix of races, occupations, and ages from around the country", but to me it seems like close to their usual mix of mainly white twenty-something actor/actress wannabees that are from some southern state but currently live in L.A. and stereotyped characters (yeah, there's a "gay rodeo cowboy" and a black "son of a preacher"). Well yes, there is a seventy-five year old man this time (the oldest contestant ever on a reality show, they said, and I believe that's true), and there is a Korean gal and a Portuguese gal (described as an "East Coast firecracker" on the CBS website - the stereotypes continue).

The first night's episode didn't feature anything particularly that stands out in my mind with the exception of first: instead of *competing* for the first head-of-household title, they had the contestants choose the HOH on the steps outside the house before they entered - before anyone had even spoken to each other. I thought it was pretty obvious that the oldest man, Jerry, who looks very grandfatherly, would win HOH, and he did. Second: a longish-haired blonde named April announced at one point, as the whole group sat on the couches talking, that her breasts were "real" and as nearby obviously breast-enhanced chicks such as Korean Angie gasped in shock, April went around letting different men touch them to confirm them to be real. When she got to old Jerry at his spot on the couch, she prompted him to participate too - which he did (then he said something to the camera in the diary room like "they're real - as real as real can be", hmmm isn't that so similar to the line spouted recently by the Bachelorette's Jesse as he was falling for Deanna and described his growing passion as "it's real - as real as real can get"). The first two nominated by Jerry for elimination are loud and obnoxious fifty-something Renny and a young man who she got in a fight with thus disrupting the household and leading to said nomination, a 22-year old bodybuilder and jerk named Jessie. I guess I have to root it out for the one older gal on the show to stay in the house for awhile, so I would like to see Jessie eliminated first. I am, so far (some of the contestants didn't get very much air play, so hard to say at this point), rooting for old Jerry to win - he seems kindly and very sharp - a good mix to get him far, I hope.

Fireworks - L.A. Fourth of July

Okay, the other day was the Fourth of July - - now when I was a kid, the Fourth of July meant going to our local park, having a picnic on a blanket in a park completely filled to the brim with picnickers, then watching fireworks when it got dark. We normally went to Northridge Park, the closest park to our house - but in the 70s my dad started taking us to Granada Hills Park because the festivities included, in addition to the picnic on a blanket and sack races and fireworks, the "Miss Granada Hills" beauty pageant (held outdoors amongst the picnicking families with stage and ramp). We were all for this - and the park got a massive crowd! In those days you rarely saw people setting off their own, practically professional quality (where do people get these?) illegal fireworks, but lately - boy, this year the area where I live in L.A. seemed almost like a war zone with the massive amounts of fireworks, firecrackers, smoke, and boom, boom, kabooms that went late into the night - at least until two in the morning. It makes me a bit nervous, what with all the dry brush around here - from the roof of our house you can see fireworks going in a complete circle around us, we can even see both Dodger stadium and Rose Bowl fireworks when they are having them. This year we went to a barbecue where we sat in relative's steamy backyard covered bar area in 100 degree heat and had your typical fare of hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, corn on the cob, beer, wine, ice cream cones, and heavy drinkers - oh boy!