There Is Community In Los Angeles

I have to tell you, I had the greatest night last night.

It started with my dad calling me at work to ask if we had any hamburgers left over. Of course we did. Many hamburgers. We were to have a pot luck dinner, he and my stepmom, Nicole and I, and my neighbor from upstairs. Let's call her Sharon. No, perhaps we should call her Angel as she sells wine for a living. So Sharon/Angel brought over italian sausage and peppers and no fewer than seven bottles of wine, we brought our burgers, and my folks broke out the leftover potato salad and strawberries. It was a makeshift feast and wine tasting. As we cooked and drank and chatted and sat, Juan the Spanish architect poked his head in for a minute on his way to his apartment upstairs. He resisted briefly before stepping inside for a quick glass. Juan had just come from playing paddle tennis at Venice beach. As it turned out, he does play a little tennis (the racket kind) so he and I made a tentative pact to walk to the park up the street and play sometime. I haven't played in years, but I would love to get it going again. Nicole and I mentioned that we were considering Spain or Portugal for our honeymoon so he began telling us about the different regions of Spain, the architecture, and the wine. When dinner was ready to be eaten, Juan said goodnight and headed upstairs and we sat around the table and ate and talked. Sharon is a pretty interesting woman who's lived in more countries than I've ever visited. She talked to Nicole about a class she takes that's some hybrid blend of yoga, pilates, and ballet. I think they make take a class together. Towards the end of the night, as we began to have to find what little wine remained by lifting each of the many bottles littering the table, Juan stopped on his way out to loan us a book about wines in Spain. I thought that was the nicest thing. We had a desert of strawberries and ice cream and delivered a knockout blow to the wine. Nicole and my dad and I got into a spirited argument comparing sports to art which I undoubtedly won. We looked at the clock and we had been there for over four hours. We stumbled home and went to bed.

I said before that I had met more of my neighbors here than ever before. Last night was an experience in not only meeting, but getting to know my neighbors. It's a really good feeling and sadly novel. This city is such a vast, disconnected, impersonal place; it's a refreshing feeling to have a sense that my comfort zone--my home--extends past the walls of my apartment.

It was a really relaxing yet stimulating, interesting and fun night--and on a Monday no less. I think this is going to turn out to be a good move.