3.9.05: L.A.

The drive to Santa Barbara yesterday was from hell. After arriving at LAX and getting a hybrid car I decided (unwisely it seems) to take Pacific Coast Highway as it's right by the airport and is scenic and hooks up to 101 pretty soon. It was bumper to bumper — moving about a foot a minute and no way out... 2+ hours to go less than 6 miles!! What do people who live here do? Suffer, I guess. Is it some kind of weird cosmic payback for having an exclusive house on the beach? ...maybe there was a mud slide or something? I finally bailed out and took Topanga canyon over the pass to the 101 and made it to the auditorium at 8:15 or something, just hopped out of the car and onto the stage — the audience never knew.