LA and Health

First, I find it appropriate to apologize for this week's lack of posts. It had seemed that the previous work week threw me off entirely to the extent I felt slightly depressed. That's the problem with this town, it isn't kind. LA, despite its lovely scenery, will spit you out when given the chance. You cannot let yourself get too down, because it will be too difficult to find a way back up.

So because of this lack of posting, or lack of wanting to post, I found that inspiration was as hard to find as finding a bar that is open past 2 A.M. Nothing was interesting anymore, and life seemed quite dull.

I thought about this issue while I was at the grocery store and then it hit me like a man dressed up as batman at Grauman's Chinese Theater. 

I'll write about health.

While Los Angeles seems to have a new interest on health, that is simply not the case. LA have been married to health for nearly one hundred years. Ever since silent movie actors became a known commodity, health and fitness became a thing to care and think about. We had finally had our own icons, our own golden gods, and being golden gods, silent stars needed to look the part.

Even though the argument against my statement could be that the world, not just Los Angeles, has always cared about fitness, I have to state that Los Angeles has always stressed on health more than any other country or city. Being a city of fame, many are drawn the the magnetized hope that one day they too will be famous. However coming to this city they realize that is why everyone is here, they all want the same dream. These people are prettier, skinnier, and more energetic, so to compete with that beauty, one must change one's health.  

Health is governed by the city through fads. Every new age idea has been recycled similar to the retro fashions that are done today. I was once told that vintage fashion is repeated every 20 years. I am going to make the claim that every 40 years health and fitness trends are repeated as well. Right now you might be drinking a freshly pressed juice, that is a fad, and it was obstructed by us, however it was also a fad in the 1970s. Yoga became cool about 10 years ago, however my neighbor Gypsy Boots, who basically introduced yoga, did so in the late 60s to early 70s. Health, like fashion, go hand in hand, and we're the ones that make it cool again.

Los Angeles needs health and health needs Los Angeles. For every apartment that is built here, two yoga dance studios are built right next to it. We need to be toned and bright because we have the whole world looking at us. We care about how we look because it makes us feel better and happier. The old running joke is that people would REALLY feel better if they just have a hamburger instead of a salad. Let me tell you that we have hamburgers, and they are some of the best in the world. However our hamburgers are clean and fresh, and that's the way we like it. We love our food as much as we love our health.

While we might seem snooty over our fitness regime and food, it is because we forget the rest of the world doesn't have this scrutinized concept leaning over them. Also it is because we have a regime, and as human beings, it's hard to break that. So I want to explain to you that we're sorry about how picky we are. It is just that we've had a lot of years working on how we look and how we feel. We want to live long enough to see how glorious this city is. We want to wake up and know we have enough time to see it end. The beauty of this city is something to astound you, and when you truly see it first hand, you'll do whatever you can to live long enough to see it every day for the rest of your life.

We're Not The Bad Guys

So it may seem like I cheated on you, but that's not the case. I promise you that I had no ability to write on this blog in any way. I was away from my computer for a whole week because I was in, sigh, the east bay.

I had to go to the east bay for a small commercial job and being there made me remember why I have such a hard time with northern California. See, living here I have always known about the North vs. the South issue in California, but I never really participated in it. To me, everyone is the same, we're either annoying or awesome no matter where we came from. However it seems that wherever I went, I was the only person that had that thought process. What I'm trying to say is, whenever I meet someone from the north, they always tend to stick their noses up when I say I'm from the south. When I went to the east bay for that job, everyone on that job was a complete jerk. 

Now, I know the argument might be the same from down here. People in LA might be rude and disgusted to hear that you're from a certain region of the world. Hell, I still feel a twinge of repugnance when I hear I have to go to the valley to get something or even when I hear someone is from the valley. However I'm trying to change that. 

I know that LA is notorious for being horrible, and, truthfully I don't get it. The people I've met have always been cordial and kind to me. They don't go out of their way to make me feel like I'm in heaven, but they treat me like a human being. People here follow a general moto; be kind to me, and I'll do the same to you.

Which is why I get so confused why the North seems so revered and the south is so criminalized. Maybe it is the people from the North that boast about their importance and amazement so much that the rest of the world believes them, or maybe it is an internalized residual prejudice from the civil war, but for some weird reason northern california is considered the best, and southern california is the shit on everyone's shoe. I simply wish that was changed.

LA is an amazing town that has as much to offer as does San Francisco. If you're lost on the subway we'll tell you where to get off or where to go, and if you need someone to take your picture, we'll push the button. We'll never boast about how amazing we are compared to you though, that's a northern thing.

My thoughts on this post is that hopefully the state will stop trying to separate each other and just accept who we are. We are Californians. We are an amazing state. We have history, and we have great food. We're all the same, and we should be happy to live on these great plains. 

What I Didn't Realize...

Coming back home there was something I realized that I really didn't understand before...

We live in paradise.

Growing up in this city, I've always heard the same thing about Los Angeles being a haven for not exhibiting the extremes of weather. As I got older, I understood that. I understood others flocked here to get away from the cold, I understood that the temperature in LA has always remained consistent throughout the year (except for August and September), and I understood that here, the sun always shines. However, I always wondered why people didn't want to experience the seasons. 

I thought that until I dealt with it myself. Then I finally got it. However, that is not why I think LA is paradise.

Traveling last year and seeing LA in the past couple of weeks, I realized Los Angeles is a paradise because it is a city that didn't accept its role as a concrete jungle. 

I have always considered my town a city, but I never realized that it took a different role to that. I don't know why, or I don't know how, but Los Angeles deliberately took the role of sustaining nature as a essential aspect of its image. 

I didn't see how nature or foliage was so abundant in this town. I always figured that other towns and cities were like my own. I assumed that during the 1970s the government decided to destroy the real natural beauty of LA like it did with Jimmy Carter's reputation, but it didn't, it used it as a source of energy. 

LA is a safe haven of vegetation. Wildlife roam free, and food is abundant. Each morning there is a cool breeze omitted from the dew drops formed on the leaves, and walking around you free clean and refreshed. This was something that I did not experience last year.

Last year I was sick most of the year. I was dealing with various forms of depression based on health. Going outside was tearing away at my insides. Getting off the plane I would walk around with massive headaches. Every night, when I would wash my face, I would have a residue of black gunk. The issues of pollution in asia were endless.

However above all, I felt a large portion of Asia didn't let nature naturally run its course in the city. It never integrated itself comfortably in the city's individual atmospheres. It became two separate entities. With LA, nature and modernity, go hand in hand.  

What I didn't realize was that LA has always taken the initiative to keep the true beauty of the world alive. The city might be a growing metropolis, but it's a land that still wants Mother Earth to be apart of it.

And I am now grateful for that.