The summer intensive that I went to Cali for was nothing short of intense. I struggled to get my work done, due to desperately trying to land a short time job, but I realized that God wanted me to have a Sabbath, so I tried to enjoy some time off before school rolled around. I sadly, was unable to make it to the fourth workshop because there was an issue with my Uber account that, also sadly, took way longer than it should have to be fixed. I switched to being a Lyft rider for a while. I switched back once they, ya know, fixed the problem!
It was refreshing to attend the fifth class as we got really great feedback from our teachers on our arrangements of our bhajans. During the very last session we were given about thirty minutes each to rehearse and record our arrangements with Saili and a string quartet. Though just about everything about this program was tough, I’d do it again because it was well worth it! It was a bittersweet moment once it was “finished,” but we are destined to cross paths again now that we have all gained so much on the journey together.
Stories/random memories from my Airbnb to yours?
Short Story #1. A lady came in to spend one night because she had a surgery. I told her, “Aw, sorry to hear that.” She then said, “Oh, it’s okay; it’s a fun surgery!” Me and one of my housemates were then very curious to know what ‘a fun surgery’ was, and she replied, “I’m getting a tummy tuck because I had two kids.” Agreeing and nodding was all I could do outwardly, but inwardly I was cracking up. I can’t be the only one that thinks that “fun surgery” just sounds wrong on so many levels.
Short Story #2. One of my housemates found a cat that had a collar on, but there was no number or way to trace him back to his owner. Here we have two people that are allergic so they were trying to put him in a car to bring him to the shelter, but he refused. So we decided to take him in for the night. The cat was very picky about who he would allow to touch him and what he would eat. He was meowing all night and morning long. It made me think of Julie Giroux. The next morning one of our neighbors informed us that the cat was owned by a neighbor three doors down! (Most of you probably thought of the band. And those that didn’t are probably going to look them up right about now.) The cat later returned to our house. He even followed me for a block as I was on my way to church on a Sunday.
Random Memory #1. Apparently in Australia it is carnal to use at teabag more than once. Many of my used teabags have been thrown out prematurely because of this.
As I said in my first blog post about Cali, I finally made it out to another beach! I went to Venice Beach, which was beautiful, surprisingly calm, and really cold. (Well, at least for a Louisianian like myself it was.) My favorite beach overall though was Lighthouse Beach.
So far I’ve had the privilege to visit so many parts/places in of LA. I’ll try to name them all.
Pasadena, Culver City, Hollywood, Silver Lake, Venice, Santa Monica, Burbank, Rosemead, Mar Vista, UCLA, LAX, Union Station, Lighthouse Beach, and Downtown LA.
Union Station is by far the most entertaining train station that I’ve been to! There’s just so much to see and do. For example, one day they conveniently had a concert going on and it was fun and free!
Had an evening to explore Downtown LA with a housemate and managed to only spend a little on a smoothie and the ride back, but there was a lot to buy.
Later in that summer, I went on a road trip and worked an eventful summer camp. I hope to get posts out about that soon.
Desiree Robinson, Music Composer 
Love this blog.Glad to hear about your trip and your insight on how God kept you. I especially liked the beach pictures you seemed relaxed there.
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