LA: Everyone is Going Downtown

I was up at 3 a.m. Did not trust that I would make up again at 5 a.m. if I went back to sleep. Got a bit of grooming taken care of. Trimmed two months of beard way back to a clump on the end of my chin. Had a long bath and a long hot shower. More of the grime from the trip was sluiced away and I was ready for civilization.
Had some corn flakes and orange juice for breakfast and got my things together. By the time I got out to the lobby at 5:15 a.m. to catch the bus back to the airport, the line was already 50 deep. Slowly crept forward while bus after bus was filled with fellow travelers. Got on board at 6:15 a.m. There was a special section set aside at the check-in counter for our flight. I was happy to have been assigned a bulkhead seat at the very front of the economy section.
Scampered upstairs to get some emails shot off before I went through the final security checks. The gentleman manning the X-Ray machine thought the contents of my bag were too dense, so it was pulled for a hand inspection. Got off with a light search and was on my way in ten minutes. The display for the gate status showed my flight as “Closing” so I sped through the rest of the terminal only to find that they had not yet begun boarding.
At 8:45 a.m. our 7:45 a.m. flight took off. There was loud cheering from further back in the plane. The flight was pretty smooth and the vegetarian food service was good. I spent most of the flight working on my computer. I took a couple of breaks for watch Terminator 2 and Laura Croft 2. Hard to really enjoy a feature film on a paperback book sized screen.
We arrived at LAX just before noon. Got off the plane and through immigration fairly quickly. Got stuck at baggage claim. One of my bags appeared almost right away, but the other took a half hour to materialize. The Super Shuttle to downtown was not long in arriving and we only made one more circuit around the airport before heading off. It was overcast and drizzly. Despite the rain there was a layer of hideous brown haze hanging over Hollywood and Downtown. Made a drop by USC before heading into Downtown. Traffic on the side streets was horrible. We zigged over to 2nd Street and came across on Los Angeles. The Midnight Mission patrons were overflowing onto 4th Street and causing a great deal of the backup. Finally got to the house at 2:30 p.m.

Welcome to Downtown LA.

Got my computer hooked up and into the shower. DSL is an amazing thing. It was fantastic to have something other than one of my two safari outfits to put on after my shower. Got my phone reactivated and puttered around the loft. Lots of folks were on iChat. Had long sessions with Alex, Wysky, Peppy and Kristen. Tried to head over to the Post Office to get my mail, but it ended up being to late. My phone was supposed to be active within 12 hours, and it gave every indication that it was going to take the full 12. Finally got ahold of Liz on the pay phone out front. She was happy to hear from me and told me there was a party for Tamiko at Happy Family Vegetarian Restaurant later that evening.
I puttered around the loft until Peppy arrived a bit after 7 p.m. We headed over to the restaurant in Monterey Park. Tamiko and Amber where there in addition to Igor, Liz and Rob. Two more of Tamiko’s friends came after we were seated. We had a delicious dinner and good conversation. Everyone was impressed with the Foxes DVD. Finally got to bed around 11:30 a.m., some 27 hours after waking up in London.