25 Degrees

I really felt like I wasn't going to get out and do anything at all this week because it just went by so fast.  A true blur of a week.  For real.  I sit here now and I feel like I was just sitting here typing yesterday, but it's been a whole week.  I don't know how that happens, but, man, I don't know, slow down, please, life!

Hence, it was no small blessing when my AT&T friend called me up the other day wanting to go discover some more of Hollywood with me.  So, I was super enthused, and we were all set to go to my favorite local mexican spot, The Velvet Margarita.  I haven't been there in forever and, oh, was I excited!  

But as with most plans here, going to Velvet got moved to the wayside when AT&T was running late and we just didn't really have enough time to walk all the way there and make an evening of it.  That place takes some time.  Just you wait, though, I'll let you know about that little gem soon.

So, in lieu, I decided we'd go to 25 Degrees in the Roosevelt Hotel, since it's only two blocks away.  I do love that place as well.  Not for the atmosphere so much, a small, red-boothed, dark diner where, no matter which way you look, you find yourself watching some sporting event on a large screen, but just for the delectable food.  

Although, I will say that wandering into the hotel from the restaurant is always fun.   It's good people watching there because of its happening nightlife, with two popular bars, Tropicana and Teddy's.  Those places have shown some very impressive longevity, I must say, as they're still hot spots, all these years later.  

I did spend many long hours there myself, when Hollywood was all new to me and I was just beginning to explore all that was happening here.  Though, these days, I can't help but look at the scantily clad girls going out for the night and just get all Hamlet in my head saying, "Get thee to a nunnery!"  But then I sort of smile and sigh and appreciate all of the different phases of life.  

And, once, my friend Brooke and I made a sojourn to the Roosevelt to visit the old room that our favorite astrologer, Linda Goodman, stayed in.  Everyone we spoke with thought we were completely nuts and said they'd never gotten that request before.  Most people ask to see the room that Marilyn Monroe slept in, but not us!  We were on a pilgrimage.  And we got there!  And the bellboy who brought us there was so sweet and just let us pay homage and say a few words and be all weird and laugh at ourselves with our signed copy of Star Signs in our hands while he sat by the window.  Ah, me and Brooke and our many missions. That was a memorable one.  

Well, back to the restaurant.  It's a gourmet diner, really.  At breakfast, you can build your own omelette, but with some very unique ingredients and fancy cheeses, and for dinner, you do the same, but with a burger.  The selection of toppings is pretty eclectic, which is so up my alley.  I do adore some fancy toppings.  So AT&T and I decided to get half and half fries, regular and sweet potato (!), and split a veggie burger (bless that guy's heart for branching out like that just because I can't seem to go out for a meal without sharing food from the same plate no matter who I'm with.)  

And it was delicious, as usual.  I was going to let AT&T pick the toppings at first, when we both agreed on avocado, but once he chose American cheese and ketchup from the cheese and sauce lists, I took over and we ordered it with gruyere and spicy aioli instead.  The food there always impresses me.  Especially because they serve their burgers on those really fluffy buns that are browned and crisped by butter (I imagine that's how it's done).  Um, yum.  

I was telling Bethany about the outing yesterday, and she noted all of my strange relationships with such a broad variety of people in my life.  I mean, she thinks they're strange.  All of these friendships that feel so natural to me because I've been that way my whole life.  She also pointed out that I am the only person she knows who is still friends with most of the people I've dated.  It's true.  But it just struck her.  And she doesn't get it.  Which is familiar territory for me, as my whole family's never understood how I do that either.

But here's what I think.  I think if you meet someone you get along with and you hang in there, without hoping for it to be anything in particular, but just what it is, and be your true, most honest self, every relationship will just settle into its very best spot.  Whether that means it fades away, or falls into it's own comfortable, unorthodox nook.

If you let each relationship be what it naturally is, instead of trying to make it fit into an expectation you have or something you want, and are completely yourself, rather than trying to impress someone or say the things you think they want to hear, you may just gain a really good person in your life.  There are some lovely grey areas, and I like finding them with people.  

I know one thing, really, and one thing only.  I have this one precious life.  As far as I know, it's all I've got.  And it does go by too fast, each day, each week, the years.  And I want to be there with it, discovering, the whole time.  In every way.  Connecting.  And for me, every little detail, every relationship, is fascinating.  And all of life, watching it unfold without resistance, and being there with it, well, that is truly, and perpetually, magnificent.