Venice Trip

I went to Venice beach last week with a couple of friends and it was a great and tranquil experience.

I went Sunday after a party, so we were all a little tired, but I don't like to drink so I was not that tired. We started by walking around the shops in Abbot Kiney. I met with a blues enthusiast and he talked about some bands I had never heard of, which was always fun. After we left, my friend asked me how I was so good with old white men, and I merely replied that you got to know your blues bands. Hendrix. Clapton. Rock n roll.

We ate some food at a not hip brunch spot called Clutch, and then we kicked each other's asses with airball on the beach, which is a game where you dress up a bubble-wrap like ball and smash into each other. It was pretty nice, the winding down of the sun, coinciding with the almost unbearable adrenaline rush.

We also went to see a fortune teller which I thought was pretty hilarious.

She saw my palm, and told me that I was to be married once, had a lot of energy, and that I had a toxic relationship earlier in my life (to be fair, who doesn't?), and that I would die old and healthy. I suspect she would not make too much money if she told me I would die alone and young.

My friends' fortunes were read also, in which she told one of my friends that he would meet the love of his life in 8-12 weeks (he's already in a committed relationship) and to keep his mind open. As you can imagine, we didn't stop joking about that.

The fortune teller was sort of attractive. She had plump lips and a wry personality. But she was also a very careful not to reveal if any of us were going to be happy or sad. There is a lot of business about events like relationships, jobs, hobbies, creative outlets etc. But never mental health. Probably another business hazard.

Something about palm reading that always struck me as bizarre is how these fortune tellers read time. How can you possibly tell if something will happen "in the next 6 months", if all peoples' palm lines are different, and people don't live the same number of years. Clearly, if you don't even know the person's age, you can't discern where they are in life by looking at a palm.

But I guess the real fun in these kinds of things is that you know that they're bullshit, but you do it anyways. For the experience. Which is good, because the girl was good at acting, making things seem dramatic.

The picture below is one of a Los Angeles sunset, because I don't like posting pictures of myself online. It's not even of the same day, but it was kind of near venice, so I guess that counts for something.

Venice beach has culture to the brim, and strange people lurking around every corner. For every rich white girl with a coach bag, there is a deceitful artist looking to make a quick buck.

Be careful where you find them.