Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Southern California is On Fire


Brush fires carried by the Santa Anna Winds are burning Southern California as I type this; three thousand miles to the southwest. It's been going on for three days now.

I have a friend who lives in Los Angeles. We met at the Screenwriting Expo about four years ago. We were singing bad renditions of “Bob and Tom” songs poolside in a bar where one would expect Humphrey Bogart to step around the corner at any moment. He’s a talented guy; a writer, an actor and he’s voiced several different video games too. He’s a good man who helps others communicate for a living. Not a bad existence, BTW.

I haven’t been able to reach him on the phone. If he ever saw that last sentence it would probably make him laugh. Gentle Reader; let me confess to you right here and now… I do NOT like the telephone. I’m horrible with it. Friends will call me but I very rarely initiate verbal contact on a telephone. I’ve even got rid of my landline. Hey, why should we have it? I’ve got a cell phone for the house – it’s clearer and there’s certainly better range. Any way, getting back to my wacky phone issue, I don’t use them apart from at work and when I don’t forget it in the morning while it’s recharging on my microwave.

Well, I made a call tonight. Maria Shriver (Mrs. Arnold Schwarzenegger), the First Lady of California has told the public to stay off of their cell phones to let the fire fighters and first responders have the bandwidth (or whatever they call space in the world of cellular phones) and I didn’t get through. The pictures and video are pretty scary. As of the time that I’m writing this 300,000 people have been evacuated and 1,000 homes have been destroyed.

I have a cousin who lives in San Diego too.

God bless ya Matt. If you can read this know that you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers; you too Anne.

I really need to learn better phone habits. Don’t wait – reach out and touch someone.

4 comments:

mommanator said...

how could you not phone relatives and friends for goodness sake? Ya just dont need to talk into infinity!
Prayers go out to all in California

Evil Chicken said...

I know. I’m hideous.

I spoke with my friend tonight (10/25/07); he was evacuated with his brother and two roommates. They heard their street reported on the news from a local mall where they were taking shelter. When they were allowed to go back they found several of the houses on their block nothing but smoldering ashes. Their house still stands although one of the trees went up. It seems the fire department set up shop two doors down from his place.

They have much to be thankful for.

There’s a lot of trauma and tragedy happening in California even as I’m typing this. Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers.

I know for a fact that FEMA is a four letter word down in New Orleans. Not to point fingers but I hope that much has been learned from past mistakes.

Merci said...

I must confess to being a phoneaphobe, too. Very hard on the friendships and family relationships, but there you have it. I think in our line of work the phone kind of becomes a conduit of stress and other icky things. Who wants that at home? Anyway, it's not an intentional thing. It's a real aversion that I have to overcome each time I make a call. I thought I was the only one.

Evil Chicken said...

No. You are not alone.