On Easter Sunday I was returning to Hollywood from the Valley after submitting my weekly column to the Daily News.
I had a brunch date at a Hollywood "dive" bar. My mode of transportation this morning - as usual - was the subway. While traveling down the stretch of tunnel between Universal City and Hollywood something bizarre happened. The power to the subway went out temporarily.
Normally this stretch of track is where the trains reach their highest traveling speeds of nearly 70 miles per hour. Not having power is much like applying the brakes in an electrical train system. We slowed quickly to a stop.
The power came back on before the train operator could adjust the throttle to a lower position. The train lunged back into action for a few seconds before the power went out again. Again we stopped. The lights in the tunnel are not battery-powered and were also out.
I waited, sitting on a pitch-black subway train probably a mile from the next stop. It is at this point I started thinking about all of the things I gave up to move to Los Angeles - the same Los Angeles in whose subway train I was trapped on Easter Sunday.
There are those friends I left behind. They are the people I met while working at the campus radio station, the students I met in the many classes I attended and the professors, deans, faculty and staff I met during my time at Ball State. They are the people I met while drinking, people I met (like Bubba) because of drinking and the people I provoked to start drinking.
Having been from Muncie, there are also all the people with whom I grew up and went to school. So many people have been left behind. So many of them are still back in Muncie.
There is the family I left behind when I moved. My brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews and grandparents are all back in Muncie wondering when I am coming home.
There are the jobs I quit to move to Los Angeles. I could still be working in commercial radio had I not left. Hell, I may be a store manager for Office Max had I stayed. I left those jobs behind because I wanted something more.
Muncie is predictable and always has been, but it is not always a bad thing to be predictable. Actually, it can be very comfortable.
If I feel like heading to the bar after work, I am sure I could call four or five people on the way out the door, and they would meet me there. And I am sure I will probably see at least a half dozen more people there whom I know.
If I want to get into a fight at a party or a bar, I know I can just head to the south end of town. Find any party being thrown that has people from the south side showing up to it, and you are sure to see a fight break out.
You can also head to the Red Dog Saloon and walk away with any number of people wanting to fight you in the parking lot because they do not like how you look.
Los Angeles is completely the opposite in many aspects. You do not really know what is going to happen at any given moment. Sure, there are the predictable things. You know there will be a car chase today, because there are more than 350 car chases here a year. But there are so many unpredictable things. Right now, I need the unpredictability.
The power to the subway car came back on and a couple minutes later I arrived in Hollywood, only a few minutes late. I walked into the bar and sat down. As I looked around the room, I realized I knew seven of the people in the room. It was then I realized that maybe Los Angeles is not that much different after all.
Write to Aaron at rantinrex@hotmail.com
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
