The Hit List - Sometimes it takes a minute, Los Angeles

Today I’m in Los Angeles teaching a tarot and photography workshop with the one and only, Danielle Cohen. It’s going to be a wondrous, creative day. (Pictures coming on next week’s Hit List.) This is the third time I’ve been to LA and probably won’t be the last.

The first time was a bit of an adjustment.

For one, you need a car here. There’s really no other way around it. I am admittedly terrified of driving in this city so that means: my husband has to go along and his driving is a bit…let’s say aggressive. Those first days whipping around the city were white-knuckled teeth-gritting events. I hated every miserable second.

The other thing about this place is that everything is spread out. Nothing is close, which means planning is required. People are late. A lot. Which is not how my tightly wound vibe likes to roll.

Also, Los Angeles is a strange mix of people. I don’t know how to explain it but this conversation may give you a clue.

Guy: “So here you have to kind of put on a facade and go to events and there are certain things that everyone says. You’re constantly having to guess how people are and what their motives are. You can’t be yourself – you have to be another version of you so nobody gets to know you. You’ll have to act a particular way in order to do business here.”

Me (with sunglasses perched precariously on the end of my nose): “My, how Scorpionic of you.”

Guy: “OMG how did you know I’m a Scorpio???”

Me: “OMG I didn’t. It’s just your description of all this cloak and dagger is awful to me. It’s so fake.”

The conversation went into some interesting directions and ended with a thank you for the first “real” conversation he’s had in years.

I also got stuck in a room with a doom-and-gloom guy and his boring girlfriend who was such a drip that I texted my daughter at midnight to beg her to call me and get me the hell out of there and another crazy dude who talked about “helicopters are constantly flying by to intimidate us all.” (When my husband went to the bathroom, I completely destroyed his paranoid dystopian beliefs but I’ll save that one for another story.)

THAT.

I’m like what the hell with these people?

But then, after a few days, there were many things to love. Sunny skies and 70º all the time. Gorgeous folks strolling about looking like everyone’s a movie star. Discovering Charlie Chaplin’s cool old houses, which look like a mini hobbit village of sorts. The food. Meeting up with good friends. Finding a designer that made clothes that really worked well on my frame.

So I kinda fell for this place.

Yeah, it’s no New York, which is more akin to my straightforward vibe. In fact, I often say I feel more like myself when I’m in New York than I feel anywhere in the world. It fits me like a leather glove.

But sometimes it takes one or two tries before something works. And that’s what Los Angeles is like for me. We’re kind of mismatched but there are things that make this relationship enjoyable, even if a bit tenuous.

What about you? Do you remember a time when you landed somewhere and hated it but it grew on you? Or have you ever found yourself in a situation that seemed impossible until you kept dipping your toes in again and again? When have you been surprised by something or someone that just seemed meh?