To Live And Die In LA

Is Mercury in retrograde at the moment? I hope so. If it isn't, then I have to consider whether our luck is askew. No biggie if our luck is outta wack. The more I think about it, the more I am sure the alignment of our luck isn't something we can worry about today. Luck won't help us piece our family back together. Luck won't help us rebuild ourselves as individuals. Luck doesn't fill the echoing emptiness when we look into Pablo's bedroom at the end of a 3.4 week trip. So who needs luck? Who cares if Mercury is in retro- or prograde.

Why is any of this on my mind? Because we are sitting in a room on the seventh floor of the Pasadena Westin—our temp address for the next couple days. Not quite the same as our room on the second floor of the Hotel Eden in Rome. For a start, the espresso here isn't as good. And they don't say 'Prego!' at the concierge desk. But we're not here on holiday. We're sitting in this hotel room because our house is being fumigated. We didn't plan this trip. It came up suddenly, urgently. Bugs don't give advance notice. I guess we ought to be used to this sort of urgent movement after so many months of no-notice emerg-e-runs to CHLA.

It's kind of fun being here. Kind of like being in Europe, in terms of being able to walk to more than two consecutive locations for goods, services or edibles. Not like Los Angeles at all. Pasadena is good for the not-like-LA-at-all stuff. Grady's finishing his homework. We're going to walk down the block to the Paseo mall for dinner. Grady's gonna get a haircut. Then we're gonna try to catch '500 Days of Summer' at the Leammle down the block.

Speaking of movies and the Westin: there used to be a row of Craftsman homes where the hotel now stands. A pivotal scene in 'To Live And Die In LA' was filmed in one of those houses. If you know the movie, it's the scene where the guys are surveilling people in the church across the street. If you don't know the movie, check it out. Pretty amazing shots of mid-'80s LA. And a forehead-slappingly incredible score by Wang Chung. Robert Downey Sr. Willem Dafoe. Cops. Robbers. And a hot chick or two.

Grady's geometry is done. Time to find food.