Jane Goodall on Rodeo Drive

So! Yesterday I went to West Hollywood to meet someone about a volunteer thingie. It was my first time in W. Hollywood, and I thought it was nice, actually! I could see the Hollywood sign down the street from Santa Monica Boulevard (insert Sheryl Crow song here) where I was driving. Moments of a smaller-town downtown feel as I drove. Small storefronts. The volunteer thingie? Well, I'm darn tootin' excited about that, actually, except for the not-lost-on-me detail of no money. I'm going to give a few hours a month to the Jane Goodall Institute http://www.janegoodall.org/default.asp
I read about her a while back, and she was immediately on my list of heroes, along with MLK, the Dalai Lama, and Mother Theresa. What an amazing young woman, going to Tanzania in the 60's to study chimps. She's very powerful and quiet. Interesting combo. Anyhow, she is very into animals and protecting their habitats, and I'm very into the environmental, we'd better learn to share and protect this earth part of it. I'll learn a lot, meet lots of people, and hopefully feel like I'm contributing something (and maybe become connected in cool ways? find other cool opps? Ya never know).

OK, from there I went to Rodeo Drive. Is this slightly strange after the Jane Goodall story? Twisted? From one exteme to another, I guess. I just happened to notice it as I drove by, wanted to make my trip multi-faceted, saw easy parking, so stopped. I walked past Louis Vuitton, Armani, Versace, Dolce and Gabanna, Valentino, Prada, and Harry Winston. As a good Midwesterner, I scoffed scoffingly at the ridiculous decadence of it all. I also called someone on the ole cell phone so as to look important while walking down the street in my Gap jeans and t-shirt. ;) Some of the places had very stern looking people near the door, presumably to bounce my ass out unless I flashed a wad of hundreds, or said how I was famous. Some were by appointment only. I laughed gently to myself often.
What I loved about it was that there was hardly anyone there! That's why I'll go back. It was a welcome respite. Also, I ate avocado rolls at the Cheesecake Factory, where Andydavid told me to come back again and see him real soon (Andydavid, very attentive sweet syrupy waiter with a combo name). mmm....avocado rolls..... Where did I shop? The Gap. Levi's. Same same.

I didn't see any busty blondes in big round sunglasses, a big hat, and six inch high heels carrying 10 shopping bags. I guess there are special underground tunnels for these people, or they only come out on weekends. Or maybe that's movies. Reality is tough to come by, here, sometimes.