i was out on the beach just now, which is my backyard really. it is more beautiful than words. every... single... sunset is like living in a postcard. whats also interesting is that places of natural beauty are usually solitary but this being the edge of LA, its teeming with life. down one direction of the coast is LAX, one of the busiest airports in the world. that adds lights to the sky. off shore are powerboats in the distance - in the daytime there are many powerboats and sailboats up closer. there is the venice boardwalk, jutting out of the coastline with its lit walkway. there is a bar of rocks close to me with a huge swoosh sound every minute or so as a wave crashes against it. to my right, north, is the Santa Monica boardwalk with a ferris wheel completely covered in lights.  Beyond that are the hills of the Pacific Palisades and  Malibu, where the sun sets behind it.

los angeles is the busiest, stinkiest, most polluted place in the USA i could name before coming here, but now that i'm here in venice it turned out to be a kind of paradise. a busy, stinky paradise with a river of trash that flows down every street, but look up from the trash and you'll see palm trees and soft sand.  waves filled with surfers on surfboards. the majesty of the ocean and the sun setting.

i needed to get outside because I watched Million Dollar Baby, which by the way has a cafe in the movie which is a few blocks down from me. what i didnt know was how sad and depressing the last 1/3 of the movie is. it made me feel alone.