So I've been a bad, bad blogger lately, but if you thought it was because I was watching Biggest Loser and Project Runway marathons the entire holiday season, you'd only be half right; rather, I had a great Christmas vacation with the fam at the Gee household in Orange County followed by another short trip to San Francisco before returning to Los Angeles to make no less than 1,000 New Year's resolutions and a cool binder to document progress with said 1,000 New Year's resolutions, although I regret to report that resolving to stop penning run-on sentences just didn't make the cut.
However, the following usual suspects did:
1. Eat healthy
2. Exercise more
3. Reduce debt
4. Increase savings
5. Buy a house
6. Travel abroad
7. Keep an immaculate apartment
8. Dress fabulously at least 70% of the time
9. Finish projects
10. Edit nanowrimo novel
11. Write 7-book young adult fiction series with Mrs. Dub
12. Develop alternative fuel composed of sustainable resources and processed with minimal environmental impact that can be used in existing gasoline engines with little to no modification
But this little number made its debut in 2008:
13. Ride Vespa more
In fact, I was working on #13 on New Year's Eve when I accidentally ended up driving the Vespa on PCH. Apparently "Moomat Ahiko Way" is some sort of indigenous translation of "Caution! Not Beach Parking! Major On-Ramp!" I drove it very fast and straight for two miles, where the first turn-off is onto Chautauqua Blvd. (Seriously, who is naming the streets in Santa Monica? And why didn't they make their way over to West LA, where the street-namers gave up and started naming everything Beverly and National?) I took Chautauqua against my better judgment, because every time I've taken it in the Jeep I have ended up on either an extensive tour of Topanga Canyon or the crazy twisty part of Sunset Blvd--both options are arguably more dangerous for the Vespa rider than PCH given the high concentration of blind curves and drunken celebrities in those areas. Thankfully, the Vespa magically led me on a previously unknown shortcut back to the safe streets of Santa Monica.
So, hello milestone! I have officially ridden the Vespa on a highway without even setting out to do so. Although it sort of sucks to keep all the crazy resolutions I didn't make.
San Francisco recap and pics to follow sometime this week.
6 comments:
If you and Mrs Dub need another co-writer or YA consultant, might I humble toss my hat into the ring? I'm very good a coming up with character names and jokes. But plot ... I struggle with plot.
SEVEN books? My New Year's resolution clearly said FIVE. But what's two more? You know, after we resolve that whole sustainable fuel thing.
And, yes, we could use a character-namer, don't you think? Otherwise they'll all be named my favorite picks from fourth grade - like, Vivica and Yvette.
I'm sure another unvoiced New Year’s resolution was "find out the meaning of those crazy street names". Glad you asked. Moomat Ahiko means “Breath of the Ocean" and was adopted to pay homage to the Gabrielino Tongva Tribe, which inhabited the LA basin when Cabrillo arrived. Apparently Tongva was spoken in Malibu before Yiddish, and perhaps even without WGA approval to speak it. If you say it fast, it kind of sounds like "Vespa go fast by the sea".
Chautauqua is Iroquois and means "two moccasins tied together" or "jumping fish". Also the name for a camp and communal education movement that started near Lake Chautauqua in New York. Not sure why Santa Monica felt indebted to the Iroquois or the Chautaugua movement. But I can visualize two moccasins, hiking boots, ballet slippers, or running shoes tied together and draped over a Vespa. And that Dragon Red Vespa certainly is a jumping fish at 45 MPH on PCH.
Glad you're back and resolved and still alive after the inadvertent maiden voyage on the highway. Can a road trip to Sturgis be far behind?
Hey ginny, I love to see lists of resolutions like yours. AND I think we all need a preview of the nanowrimo novel.
Also - thanks to P daddy for the infomative and humorous explanation on street names. Loved it.
Sooo... how's the vespa riding going? Just wishing for an update...
So...suddenly Moomat Ahiko, our beloved ti'at, has become somewhat of a phenomenon in popular culture. We are currently preparing for the upcoming HONORING THE SEA CEREMONY, Sept 28th....a spectacular ceremony that will be well attended (expected 4000 or more!). The irony is that as we launch the offerings from international delegations into the waters of Santa Monica, we are just blocks from a recently renamed street...MOOMAT AHIKO WAY. Amazing, just amazing. As Ti'at Society, the community who has the Moomat Ahiko, we have no part in this process. Suddenly, one day, while driving to Malibu, I take the turn off to get to PCH North and there it is, big as life...Moomat Ahiko Drive. A unique indigenous presence in the midst of the contemporary Southern California. Go ahead, try it...do a GOOGLE Search. Read the blogs and curiosity of the citizens who all speculate as to what this means. Moomat Ahiko...is Tongva (not Chumash)...means Breath (or wind) of the Ocean. It is the name of our Ti'at (plank canoe) who was born in 1994 (the only Tongva plank canoe in the world). She represents an amazing renewal of a cultural tradition that was believed to be extinct by scientist and others. She came to us in our dreamtime in the 80s, evidence of genetic memory. She will be on the beach at the World Festival of Sacred Music on sunday, Sept. 28th at the HONORING OF THE SEA Ceremony. We begin at 3 until sunset. We are on the beach at the end of Ocean Park Blvd in Santa Monica (south of SM Pier and just north of Venice Beach). Come join us...
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