Headed straight-away to the doctor's office this morning and took nearly 1 hour to get there in LA traffic. Have I mentioned how much I despise the traffic in LA? You spend so much time in this little box looking straight ahead because god forbid you look around and get shot because someone didn't get their grande latte in the morning. All you really do in LA is waste time in a car. And it's not like you're having some backseat sex action either because all you're doing is listening to the absurdly corny jokes DJs make and try to concentrate on when those brake lights in front of you come on. You get so tuned out of things that you feel like you're on LSD and that you're riding on some magic carpet instead of actually consciously knowing that you're operating a moving vehicle. No wonder there's road rage and so many accidents.

Had my 2 month recheck with the doctor and it seems like the injections are still a bit too strong so we're going to do some other testing to see where that culprit lies and see if we can get it back to a tolerable rate. I was doing well for a couple months and then they began to raise the levels and I started getting bad symptoms again. Blah blah blah blah blah....and so on. Don't want to bore you with the details but, it's my duty to. :p

Somehow, we ended up talking about the Olympics, in particular, about the women's skating last night. And I don't know what's going on with this week but it seems like doctors and I are on some cultural misunderstanding of sorts.

"It was such a good program last night," I said trying to be as PC as possible.

"I know, Sarah Hughes was just so incredible but I know your people must have wanted Michelle Kwan to win and get the gold" the doctor said with this pained look of sorrow on her face.

Ok, what's up with that? ::shakes head:: Sure, maybe I wanted Michelle Kwan to win because she's a good skater and because she's an Asian sistah but so do tons of other people who aren't slanty eyed like me. :P Go figure.

After my appointment, I decided to swing by the new Hollywood and Highland entertainment area since 1. i haven't been there yet 2. doctor's office was nearby and 3. i had to buy a few things from some shops there. So it's my first time traipsing to oh-so-touristy Hollywood in a long long time. Whenever I'm in Hollywood, I try to stay away from that little nucleus because it's impossible to stay sane and drive at the same time. The lanes are so close together with the oncoming traffic that at a full stop, you can just reach out and hand over your Grey Poupon.

Today was a good of a day as any to go since it was a weekday and the weather was just like summer in LA - high 80's, low 90's. [Which is insane because it's mid-February and god knows where all my summer clothes are!] Since the crowds weren't much, it was a good day to check out the stores and walk all around taking in the scenery to its full potential. As "nice looking" as this place is, it really lacks a certain flavor of the old Hollywood and by old Hollywood, I don't mean B&W films; I mean, the old look Hollywood used to have - grimy, dingy, worn, real. But I can see why we need this structure because I'm sure this is what the tourists want to see and they probably feel much safer in this environment than before. Tourism in LA is important and I think that the city believes that having a place that fits what tourists think of LA is necessary to feed into their wee little imagination. But there really is so much more to see aside from those stars on the sidewalks and those handprints in cement. There's so much more to LA in the outer lying ghettos that really defines what LA is. Just my thoughts though so.. why not come and see my people? :P

So during my lil journey to Hollywood and Highland, I walk into this store called Build a Bear. I went in looking at stuff for my niece and will probably bring her there when she's old enough but as I'm browsing through the different stuffed animals available, this one African American lady comes up to me and asks:

"yoou...likee...bear?"

"yes, i like teddy bears," i replied (although i'm not that crazy about them).

Perhaps I didn't take my "all a-me-li-kan hormone pill" or something lately because I must be exuding an aura of foreigness all around me which causes people to think I'm anything but American. Is it the hair? The face? The clothes? My accent? What? And does changing the way a word sounds help the foreigner really understand English better? Why can't they just say "like" instead of "likee"?? Is it so very hard to do just that?

Anyway, sorry, no photos from this place because I wasn't prepared to go there today but, next time, I'll take some pictures that I'm sure you will likee.

Speaking of photos, here's a present that I received last night:

canon s110

As Vern from Trading Spaces would say, "sweeeeeeeetttttt!"

I'm out.