Roof of the world

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Out there on the broad lawn of the Griffith Observatory, under a cloudless blue sky, the mountains rise around you like a bowl, tinted on this summer evening with the pale gold of coming sunset. Step to the edge of the lawn and you'll see the vast basin of Los Angeles spread out below, the streets line out as though ruled.

The building, whose Art Deco whiteness gleams as though carved from sugar, is terraced and flanked with walkways, curved stairs and parapets that allow visitors to climb all over it, like fascinated children, to view the city from each corner and outcropping.

Inspired invention - starting young

Take a few minutes to watch this video about a very creative little boy.

Caine Monroy is nine years old. He spent his summer vacation with his dad at his dad's auto parts store in East Los Angeles, and while there, he created his very own arcade of games, working with cardboard boxes and toys.

He didn't have many customers, but one day a filmmaker wandered into the shop and met Caine. He shared the news with his friends, and now Caine's Arcade is an inspiration to other inventive kids.

Caine's Arcade was installed as part of Unique LA, a consumer exhibit show featuring local artisans that takes place this weekend at the California Market Center in downtown Los Angeles.

I stopped by to see Caine's Arcade. I purchased a Fun Pass ($2 good for 500 plays) and played the basketball game. I'm not very good at it, but I made a basket eventually!

Here's Caine himself, concentrating on a camera while presiding over the enterprise.

The games are very intricate and challenging.

There were lots of customers playing Caine's games at his arcade.

What started as a game has turned into an effort to raise funding for Caine's future college tuition. The intial goal was $25,000, but now foundation has raised over $250,000 - and now the Caine's Arcade Foundation supports opportunities for other innovative kids.

What a great affirmation for a 9 year old boy's creative spirit!

UPDATE - We might not have learned about Caine's Arcade if someone hadn't noticed it, and nurtured it. Think about it - when have you seen a work of imagination and creativity? Have you helped it grow? How about the next time?

Weird tech dreams

The Holy Grail

I think everyone has anxiety dreams, and they are usually about  being late, loss, escape, and other universal issues. I've experienced them all my life, but only recently I've noticed that my anxiety dreams have been evolving. They now embody modern technology.

Last night I dreamed that my boss instructed me to write an exam to be given to all our employees. Which I did, although I don't remember what the subject was.

Then, there was some confusion about how the exam would actually be adminstered. Would it be printed on paper, and people would write in their answers longhand? Would it be a computer-given test? Would I email the file of the test to the test administrators, or would I have to print off multiple paper copies of the test and bring them to the testing location to give to people? This was all very unclear, but, nonetheless, a matter of great consternation to me.

I spent most of the night dreaming that I was searching for functioning computers to complete my task. In my dream I sought a computer to - 1) email the file to someone.  2) download the file onto my flash drive so that I could transport it. 3) Print the exam so I could bring paper copies to the test site. And I was thwarted at every turn.

I-Mac

In addition to this, there were other challenges - 1) the stairway leading to the computer lab had crumbled and I had to climb up the side of the building.  2) computers that had keyboards and hard drives but no monitors. 3) I was directed to a broken purple I-Mac (remember those?) in a child's bedroom that showed behind its shattered cranium the machine's internal workings, clicking and glowing infernally. 4) I could not remember how to work a mouse. 5) The flash drive flipped out of my fingers and disappeared in a weed-ridden field.

When I awoke, I was both disturbed by the usual anxious emotion - and intrigued that my psyche had updated itself to modern times.

Do you have anxiety dreams that have become transformed by modern technology?

Bad dream

You know how it is after you awake from a bad dream - one so disturbing and yet so vivid that it takes a moment to regain your balance and realize it isn't real.

I awoke this morning from a dream that was all-encompassing and epic in proportion. In it, I drop through trap-doors into claustrophobic passageways I have to navigate in the dark to emerge in the open air. I re-live the loss of a dear loved one. My house is in disarray, a jumble of overturned furniture and boxes. As I watch torrents of water began to flood in - I still have an image of streams rolling down wooden basement steps, the soft wood spongey as it soaked. In seeking for the source of the flood I look to the hills where Spanish tile mansions burst into flame - ah, yes, the water was from firefighters. And we have to leave now! The wild animals are fleeing down the canyon - I can see them galloping. My companions are not listening to me and I can't find my laptop.

And yes, as in all my bad dreams, I am improperly shod - I have one flipflop on and can't find the other, can't find sturdier shoes. I awake in a sweat.

I've been told by those familiar with the language of dreams that a fear of being caught without shoes indicates a fear of being unprepared.

It's always about shoes. I can't imagine why.

What themes recur in your dreams?

Top photo is a detail from Simon Rodia's masterpiece sculpture Watts Towers - not really a nightmare at all, but a wonderful dreamscape.

Red door

"Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during a moment." - Carl Sandburg, Good Morning America

I was walking down Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice and here was this door. Between two storefront bungalows, a vermillion-colored door, flanked by neatly trimmed shrubs, overhung by blossoming vines and a lemon tree in full fruit.

The New Year beckons. What's beyond? We could find anything behind that door. All we have to do is open it. Do we dare? Of course we do.

Open the door.

Grand Hotel story

It's always fun to people-watch, right? A while ago, I was meeting friends in the lounge of an old and venerable hotel. Recently restored, it possessed a new and exclusive cachet. The lounge crowd was a mixture of wealthy tourists, well-heeled business clients, and the trendy young.

The room was elegant, with high bowed windows facing out at a gorgeous view. The large space was separated by 20s era columns paneled in wood, with Art Deco sconces. Comfy padded chairs and sofas were arranged in clusters, and tables had wicker chairs which lent the place a kind of tropical, yet old-fashioned air.

You know how it is when you sit facing a room, your eyes just naturally drift beyond your close surroundings and take in what's in your sightlines? Beyond my friend's shoulder, a red-haired woman, sat at a table all by herself, enjoying her cocktail.

I had one of those moments where imagination takes off, and I wondered what her story was. She was younger than me, but still a mature woman. Her hair was classically styled, her attire modest. Her face was pretty and her manner was poised. I could almost picture the scene set in an earlier era, the Jazz Age, old Hollywood, or Capote's Manhattan.

Or maybe not. She had an I-phone, which she consulted frequently, putting on her reading glasses, and then pushing them up off her face. Was she a busy, powerful executive, checking email for the latest sales figures? Was she meeting someone?

After reading the posts from friends who recently attended BlogHer, I wondered if she was traveling to a conference or business gathering, or meeting. Did she have kids at home she missed? Was she an expert in her field, invited to town as keynote speaker, putting the final touches on her speech? Was she an actor, meeting her agent to negotiate a deal? A writer, an artist? A journalist, meeting a source for a deep undercover story?

Was she here for intrigue, a stolen moment, a romance in a luxury hotel? Or did she want to be alone? So many stories.....