Down the street and across the universe

At around 10:15 tonight I wandered out onto the balcony for a bit of fresh air and a little quiet that only comes from sitting in the dark. My laundry was humming along inside, the Oscars had finished a bit ago and the pots and pans from dinner were soaking in the sink. It had been a good day; a slow, peaceful day where I actually took each moment as it came. A welcome change from the days where I'm constantly trying to plot what ideally should come next.

I sat outside sipping on a moderately priced cabernet, observing the apartment building across the street that is practically begging to star in a movie. With its buzzing, rickety gate, decades-old hanging light fixtures and giant, swoopy apartment name on the side, it screams, "I am the home of a struggling L.A. genius! Someone on their way up or on their way down will nurture a brooding, yet often hopeful outlook on life from within my depressing and totally missable, slightly dilapidated walls."

Totally missable, that is, if you're anyone other than the girl who lives directly across the street, who often has nothing better to do than watch the comings and goings of people who buzz themselves in and slam their ways out of "The Saltair."

Tonight my eye was caught by the angel-like lights circling above the neighbors' retro home. It was a signal that just a few miles away, at locations I pass on a regular basis, the city's chosen few - the world's chosen few, really - were out celebrating the night away at lavish parties across town. So close, yet an entire world and reality away.

My mind started drifting, thinking how nice it was that the weather had stayed mild, maybe even warm enough that the actresses in their slinky gowns wouldn't be too cold. Then I realized that they were probably freezing after all, as their body fat was likely around only 20% of my own.

With a grumbling, "Screw them!" I threw back the last sip of wine and marched inside to retrieve the last bits of laundry. Maybe there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of me ever looking like the dowdiest one of them, but I read half a novel today, did 4 loads of laundry and made a fairly tasty dinner in one pot out of the misfit ingredients I could find in a kitchen that hadn't been treated to a grocery run in about 3 weeks. I challenge any one of them to say they've done the same anytime recently. So there.