See What I'm Saying

March 30, 2010

After lunch with Shigemi, Micah and Noah, at the Japanese Curry House, Karen, Harry and I braved the freeways to travel north to West Hollywood, where we spotted the famous Hollywood sign and the Ritz Carlton Hotel which looks like a quilt to me (but then, I see quilt patterns everywhere), which is located next to the Staples Center, a large sports and entertainment arena you’ve probably heard of. Advertising billboards and signs are everywhere and are Large with entertainment and refreshment subjects. We didn’t see as many moving signs as we have in the past as, I think, they’ve decided they’re as dangerous as texting to the safety on the roads. The traffic picture cannot portray the snail’s pace of the traffic we were in – a tenth of a mile in about 5 to 10 minutes. The picture above of the traffic was virtually stopped. We had, what I thought was plenty of time to make the showing of the movie we were attending, but barely squeaked in the door JUST in time to see the beginning after somehow, magically, the traffic jam freed up just as we were about to get off and try an alternate route.

Karen’s particular friend and also our family’s friend as well, although we don’t get to see him much, was the subject along with three other deaf entertainers of a wonderful documentary called, See What I’m Saying, which is the movie we were viewing up there in West Hollywood. It showcases the talents of four particular people and their successes and struggles to ‘make’ it as entertainers in the deaf AND the hearing world. CJ Jones is a comic with a wonderful view of the world – a really great guy. His wife Cassandra, also a friend, of course, was included with scenes showing her support of his journey. The other three talents are Bob Hiltermann, a drummer in an all-deaf band called, Beethoven’s Nightmare; Robert DeMayo, an actor, and TL Forsberg, a woman rock singer. They’re distributing the movie themselves so that maybe it will be noticed and picked up by a distributor. It opens next week in New York. I was so glad to have been here while it was playing as we enjoyed it very much, especially since we know CJ.

After that we ate in a very good Vegan Restaurant having curry, chow mein and wonderful salad topped off with homemade coconut milk ice cream, then explored IKEA in order to dream off reorganizing the entire house with their wonderful storage solutions.