Earthquake, Part II

On September 9th at 5PM, Eric and I had just finished watching The Shawshank Redemption on TV (both of us had seen it before). As the credits were rolling, Eric said the words, "How moving,"and that's when the earthquake hit. It was a 4.2, centered very close to us in West Hollywood. Although it still wasn't a very serious earthquake, it was one of the scariest things we've experienced. Fatty was smart- she ran under the bed. As for us, there was no place to go in our apartment that seemed safe, so we stood in the living room holding each other until we were sure it was over. Although everything in the apartment rattled for what seemed like several minutes, only a few things fell off the back of the stove, and nothing was broken. Since then, we have had several very minor quakes, all on Sundays. Some say these are the beginning of something bigger to come, some say these are "left-overs" from the big Northridge earthquake many years ago. I guess there's no way to tell, so we'll just hang on tight!

Labor Day Weekend

Some last-minute plans found us travelling south for Labor Day weekend to San Diego. Saturday night we stayed with Laurie's former co-worker and his wife, Andrew & Kathy Dewar. They made us a wonderful feast and we had a very nice time catching up with them in their beautiful new home.

On Sunday we checked into our hotel (the oldest hotel in San Diego, it was used in many films and has been recently restored) and started our self-guided tour of the city. We decided, as we often do when exploring a city for the first time, to keep the car parked in the hotel lot and use public transportation and our own 2 feet. So, we took the trolley to Old Town San Diego. We went to a museum built on the site of the first mission in S.D. and learned a lot about the history of the area. The actual "old town" was very tourist-y, but we found an area called Dodson's Corner, where the N.H. Dodson General Store stood. Laurie will have to check her family tree! After exhausting the possibilities in Old Town, we took a bus to Pacific Beach, and wished we had brought our swimming suits! It was a beautiful beach, with warm, shallow water. We stopped to eat and drink at Joe's Crab Shack overlooking the ocean. That night, after changing into evening attire back at the hotel, we walked to the "Gaslamp Quarter." We hopped from bar-to-bar and took in some great music along the way.

Monday found us checking out of the hotel and boarding a trolley to...Tiajuana! The trolley dropped us off "just this side" of the Mexican Border and we walked across the bridge into Mexico. "TJ" is a town like no other we've seen. Laurie was there once when she was 16, but an adult perspective gives a much different point of view. It was a noisy, dirty, intimidating place...but the food and tequila was good! Eric smoked a Cuban cigar (Was it really a Cuban? We're not sure.) while we walked around and ate and drank. That evening we took the trolley back to S.D. and then drove back to LA, stopping at a beach for a picnic dinner on the way back, much more appreciative of being citizens of the USA.

9-11-01

We weren't quite awake yet when the first plane hit. Then our friend, Lisa, called and told Eric to turn on the TV. We watched as the second of the two towers fell on live TV, not wanting to believe what we saw. Reports of planes headed for LA with terrorists aboard put us on edge, and thoughts of friends and family who regularly travel across the country or work in Manhattan troubled us. Eric spent the day with Lisa and Gretchen at their house, and Laurie was, for once, relieved to be driving 40 miles outside of LA to get to work. We are so thankful that all of our family and friends are safe, and pray that all of us can live peacefully and without fear again.

Auditions and Casting

Eric submitted his headshot & resume for everything he could get his hands on, from every resource available to him. The response to those submissions was fairly good, and he ended up having a few auditions, interviews, and meetings. So far, the only project he's been able to secure from that is an experimental SAG feature about a Governor in the year 2024. Filming for this project has been pushed back a couple of times already, but we hope that when it (eventually) does happen it will be beneficial to Eric's career.

Roll-Out

September was a stressful month at work for Laurie, as the software she was hired to train was "rolled-out" to the entire company this month. She assisted in installing and testing systems in-between conducting training for over 100 employees, and let's just say, she's glad it is all over!