La Mex

Here's what I looked like in Santa Ana, 2006. At my favorite new taco place.

Pretty red.

Panic, Pride, & Panda Express

Once, at Panda Express, I was halfway through my broccoli beef as a teenage couple at the next table finished their meal. The guy left his wallet sitting on his tray, and when he dumped the tray into the trash, the wallet went right along with it.

My friend, facing their table, leaned toward me and said quietly, “He just threw his wallet in the trash.”

The couple left the building, but a few minutes later they came rushing back, in a panic. The boy looked under and around the table where they’d been seated, then glanced at the trash can. He shook his head as if denying it was even possible. Not worth checking, he decided. Pride won out. He was not the wallet-in-the-trash type.

Looking back, maybe I should’ve told them. But in the moment, I let fate handle it.

Years later, in 2023, I asked a.i. to recreate the moment and the result left something to be desired. The boy was not actually wearing a panda mask that day.

A.I. recreation.

3 Things from Santa Ana

A few memories from a notebook I kept while living in Santa Ana in late 2006 before getting my first librarian job:

1.  A phone company tech came over to address a connection issue. He mentioned a $55 home visitation fee for just entering the house. Sandra brought the phone outside to him (we had a really long cord) and asked him to test the line outside for free. He did and the problem was due to faulty installation, so we were billed nothing for the repairs. 

2.  Theory - Cabrillo Park is the Bermuda Triangle of dogs. There are always different missing dog signs hanging on the phone poles over there.

3. The suspicion that our neighbors are selling drugs is supported by a recent incident in which the lady of the house brought over a tray of freshly baked cookies and commented, “We really appreciate neighbors who mind their own business.”

Pinata Upskirt

Pinata Upskirt.

[ Originally posted on The Real World…Blogger Style! – October 22, 2006 ]