LA

I had some ideas yesterday that I want to work on -

But first, let's talk about LA.
I have spent the past 4 months running around Hollywood, Pasadena, Burbank, Claremont and downtown. For those who don't really know, this place is divided into several little subcities, each with its own uniqueness and atmosphere. My analogy is that it's a Zelda game, and I wanted to privy you all to the adventurous extent of my fantasy:

In Zelda, there are all these little worlds within the one huge world of Hyrule, and as you scamper and trot between places on your journey, you find yourself in and out of all the corners or each. This is what can be said for LA.

My hometown is now Pasadena. I wake up here, I go to sleep here. I walk around the streets and talk to the locals and eat in the restaurants and take pictures of the local loveliness. But then when it's time to set off on my daily adventure, I'm on a bus or in my car driving across vastness with the skyline of Downtown LA (much like Hyrule Castle) always looming on the horizon.

Then I'm in Hollywood, a land of its own. My W Hotel is my first main dungeon to conquer (I've had a few dungeons up to this point, like Yard House, that Beverly Hills office building, the Union Train Station, but the W is the first BIG one. If you played the game, you'd know what I mean) Along Hollywood Blvd, There are so many wonderful buildings to stare at, huge advertisements to hate and wonder, and behind always the gorgeous cloud-draped foothills..and the white letters of HOLLYWOOD always just above. Walking down Hollywood Blvd feels like strolling the streets of a repopulated ghost town, hearkening to some ancient past where movie stars were gods and film was something impossible.Here also is the local pub where you can find all the local folks at night, Dillon's Irish Pub. $3 beers on tap all day, every day, on the corner of Hollywood and Vine.

Then I'm on the subway, headed to Universal City and eventually Burbank. Burbank is like a worktown, this is where the people go to work. There are studios here that hug beneath the clefts of the Griffith Park mountains, and like ants they are filled with smiling creative workers..at night the whiteness of backlights and camera glow illuminate hundreds of extras and cranes and busy production folk. Inside the studios, shows are being compiled and the laughter of audiences can be heard echoing through the studio courtyards. Another of my dungeons is also here, the Disney Channel Building, a labyrinth of 20 stories and filled with royalty and magistrates.

Then I find myself in downtown LA, forever looking upwards. Hanging like stalagmites towards the vanilla sky rises a dozen magnificent human pinnacles, like Olympic statues, reaching into the blue and white. The tall buildings of downtown Los Angeles are a staggering eyescape of incredulous construction. I wonder only at things that I don't understand, and as I see the highest spire, the US Bank building climbing into the sky I can only wonder and stare like it's a Goddess and I her servant. Sometimes on my way to the ocean I drive beneath these buildings, and their movement past me is no less than a dance of the Ancients; like giant dinosaurs rolling above in stillness as you pass beneath. Downtown LA is a mysterious castle, and somewhere high above there is a princess locked away, looking out with hope for this doomed world.
And I am her Link.

Claremont is my Death Mountain and the village that rests beneath. Oak trees and scented flowers dress the sweet streets where children play and walk their bicycles; the university always quietly in motion. Dan lives here, a good friend. When I arrive we venture the steep roads and trails taking us headlong into the foothills around the feet of Mt. Baldy. Suddenly we're surrounded by nothing but desert and trees and the mountains above.. and you can feel there's something lying here undiscovered, some future yet to be determined. I can't explain the mystery locked beneath the town of Claremont, or what rests in these mountains, but something is breathing like Smaug and his treasure, Gollum and his ring. Somewhere within its peak, Mt Baldy hides a cave in the subterranean, and maybe our destinies await some bigger, greater Truth within. Staring up at Mt Baldy I can sense those doors waiting to be opened..

Finally, there's the adventure that connects all of these places. I have come here with nothing, almost naked and on a dying horse. After three months of journeys and skirmishes and hard work, I have begun to see my path through here, see where I must go, and settling no lesser than to fight the Ganon of it all and rescue the Triforce from the clutches of evil. Every day is a new life, and my inventory of supplies and weapons are all growing slowly. I do need more maps though, or have someone that might mark my map for the next step to where my next dungeon or item is hid. (but that's me getting soft). I have found a land where nature and mankind and fantasy intertwine, and I am barely just beginning to unravel the true Nature of my time here.

Adieu!
Ciao!
Work time!