Sunday, February 12, 2006

The OC


Palm Trees
Originally uploaded by Martina.
As it turns out, I recently did have the opportunity to lay my head on a bed of California stars (or at least on a hotel bed with foam pillows and the ugliest synthetic seashell motif bedspread ever created in the history of man). This year my office was asked to assist with the coordination of our company's national training. As a result we were invited to attend meetings in Los Angeles to make sure everything ran smoothly. At least that is how they put it, my assessment of things is that we were sent there to act as meeting lackeys.

Nonetheless, as anyone who has been here knows, January in Oregon generally holds the promise of rain and more rain, only interrupted by intermittant bouts of rain, so when some coworkers and I learned we could fly down early at no extra cost, we jumped at the chance to leave on Saturday to visit the Orange County coastline and enjoy the sun. Despite some substantial differences in our interests, politics and approaches to travel, the weekend turned out to be fun.

I was even more glad that I went after a couple of them told me that they would never have gone, if I hadn't already known the area and hadn't agreed to come along to play tour guide. It makes me happy I was able to do that for them, because the area really is beautiful. Also, the idea of not going somewhere because it is unfamiliar is completely foreign to my way of thinking. I like the excitement and freshness of seeing a place for the first time. Besides, we are talking about the OC, not Baghdad.

Ultimately, it baffles me that I am apparently the adventurous one in my office. When all is said and done, I am pretty boring. Still, I think that everyone had fun, so I'm glad we went. I'll talk more specifically about the trip next time, but for now, I have to go.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

All this talk of California stars has expanded my music collection. Costing a matter of pennies, "Mermaid Avenue" is, even by my standards, one of my best ever eBay bargains.

I knew about half the tracks on the CD from listening to Kershaw who, as you know, is a close personal friend of mine due to our two brief conversations. Billy Bragg may be even closer to Andy, literally so, as they are (or were) practically next-door neighbours. Bill and I have only ever been as close as about thirty yards.

I immediately copied the CD onto mini-disk, on the recorder which was my absolute best ever eBay bargain, so now I wander around with stars in my pocket. It reminds of something you wrote about looking up at the sky and thinking of your friends elsewhere in the world, all of us under the same moon. Some of us also have the same tunes in our heads.

Starry-eared,
Chris

Anonymous said...

Tinkering on my new computer (home-made) on a new operating system (Ubuntu Linux) with a new browser (Firefox), I wanted to look at your web log but my bookmarks are on the old machine. So I Googled the one word "powellhurst".

31,900 pages found.

But which one is TOP OF THE LIST!

Now that really is stardom, Your Highness.

Martina said...

Wow! Go me! Soon I will be famous, because you KNOW how often people google "Powellhurst".

I should have known you were a close, personal friend of Billy Bragg. It just makes sense. How are you liking Mermaid Avenue? What a nice thought for everyone to be under the same moon and listening to the same stars, both of which are very à propos with the vernal equinox looming as it is, though I suppose the moon does need to be balanced with some sun. Sadly, I can at the moment think of no sun songs that are worthwhile. Apparently I prefer the cover of darkness...

Anonymous said...

Trying to be productive, I have avoided putting on Mermaid Avenue or Mary Gauthier or, now I come to think of it, any music at all because they make me pick up a guitar instead of being focused. I was distracted enough to lose out on an eBay bid for Mermaid Avenue Volume 2 this lunchtime, though others will be along soon. On Sunday, I picked up The Essential Billy Bragg for the bargain price of a tenner for a triple CD compilation.

Interesting that stars came into your mind, rather than Californication...

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