Now that's a fire!

My head is still buzzing from the smoke inhalation. If you have been watching the news at all today then you know that there is a fire in my hood. In fact - right where I was hiking on Saturday. Today as I was coming home from my interview at TV Guide I looked to the left and saw that the hills of Griffith park were on fire. It looked like the apocolypse - there was black, orange and yellow smoke billowing into the sky - much bigger than your typical brush fire. I discovered this new, very cheap sushi place - thank goodness and went home to check emails, eat and catch up on my online television. I went to meditation class and when I walked out at 8pm, I looked over and noticed that the fire had gotten much worse. Instead of walking to my car I started walking towards the fire like a zombie. It might have been my lack of sleep or my recent meditative state, but I just started going north. I looked around and noticed that there was an unusal number of people out on the street and most of them were also moving xombie like towards the fire, phones and cameras on hand snapping and chatting away as the throng moved slowly towards the smoke. It smelled good really - like a giant bonfire because the only things burning were natural plant life, but now that my head is throbbing I am thinking that I stayed out in it too long. I walked all the way up to the corner of Hillhurst and Los Feliz Boulevard where the entrance is to the park. There were dozens of people at the corner - eating icecream, taking pictures and genuinely feeling a part of the moment. They closed off the streets and cop car after cop car came rolling through - not sure exactly what their purpose was. There were at least 5-8 helicopters flying around the fire - I can still hear them now. SOme were dropping things on teh fire and others were news copters trying to get a story. I stood there and then called Julie K to see if they were Ok because they live further north than I do I think, but they are further east so untouched. Julie and her husband were actually in the car right near me so that they could get a good look at the action. I hung up with them and started to work my way back down the street to go home finally and get some much needed sleep. On my way there I bumped into them - we talked for about a minute and they took off. My friend Aimee - ever the journalist was driving ton from echo park to see if she could get a story for her radio show. I walked down the hill again and got a sanwhich at subway - sat down on a curb and had a little picnic as I watched the hillside in flames. Everyone was out - people were desperate for human connection - to meet their neighbors. It was fascinating and reminded me a lot of New York after 911 - only a lot less tragic. Finally Aimee showed up and we got some gelato and walked back up the hill to get a story. By the time we got down there the air was really bad and the fire had moved east - even the news trucks were packing up. We walked back into the village and searched for my car for a while (It had been over three hours since I parked it so I sort of forgot where it was in all the excitement.) We basically then walked all the way home to where she was parked and then drove around th evillage where we eventually found my car - almost exactly where I thought it was the first time around. It was amazing to me how many people called and texted me to make sure that I was OK. That made me feel so good to know that people cared. So many people offered me a place to stay in case I was evacuated. Wow. That is just so special and I feel really lucky to have such great people in my life here. Let it be known that one of them was cracky #1 who told me that no matter what time of night I could call her up and come over. Huh? See she is a really good person. Anyway I am finally home and wanted to write about it while it was fresh in my mind and the helicopters were still swirling. It amazed me what nonchalance people carried themselves with tonight. I called it the Nero factor as everyone (myself included) wandered around eating gelato or sitting outside at cafes eating dinner as the hills burned to the north. People were nonplussed and I think it really increased business on the street tonight. I don't normally hang around the village at night but I think I should start to because it was alive with activity and beautiful men! I really need to go to bed now - It is almost midnight and I have to start a new assignment tomorrow. There is so much more I want to tell you - I took some good pictures but they are on my phone and I dont know how to put those on line. You will just have to find a way to see me so I can show them to you. It was this beautiful, destructive thing. I was transifxed and as sad as I am about the park, I am glad that I was a part of a community tonight. I felt like those were my neighbors and my hills that were burning and so finally - I feel like I have arrived.

Bon Soir.
Layla Tov.

Na-na