What has happened and what will happen for What's To Eat LA

This weekend has been pretty insane. So insane was this weekend that my month is officially even more insane, and will be sucking until an issue has been resolved.

On Friday morning, my wife and I awoke to a loud sound that came from outside our window downstairs. We look outside and see a car on our sidewalk and debris behind OUR car, which just so happened to be the only car parked on pretty much the entire block. We then watch as the car backs up off the sidewalk and peels off. We're like "we should go check and see what happened down there." We hop on down to see that the car not only destroyed our car, but also took out part of our building. A guy who just so happened to be heading to the bus stop saw it all happen and let us know everything he saw as well as his info and then headed off to the bus cause he had to get to work. I go over to where the car hit our building and find that the "hit-and-runner" left their bumper right there... and with that, left their license plate. As I noticed the bumper, another neighbor came home and offered to glance around the corner from where the original guy reported the car went to. We call the cops, and maybe 5 minutes later my neighbor says he found the car with the matching license right around the corner with the woman there holding her head. The Cops get there and apprehend the driver who of course denied that they were the one driving. Which, when you think about how she (the driver) could have denied it, is funny, especially since she was the only one found by the car.

The breakdown is that the the woman was illegal to the core. No insurance. No registration. The license she DID have said that she was going to be born in a couple of days!

So what happens? Being that I only had liability on my vehicle and not full coverage, I and my wife are out of a car. Totally.

Being without a car and trying to save as much as possible were the 2 things that initially consumed me on Saturday as I have gigs that I still need to get to, and day jobs are still an issue. Getting out and reporting on places to write about has naturally had to be put on the back burner while saving to get a car is in my face.

Now prior to all of this, I had started to let the Christmas season consume me a little with all the consumerism. I hate that I get in to the mode of having to get gifts for everyone. I love many people in my life, but I don't have to give them gifts to let them know this. Still, you feel almost obligated, like in this weird form of mass peer pressure, to buy the best possible gifts for them.

This new situation had made me come back to the real reason that we have Christmas. I have no money to spend on anyone, let alone myself, and so all I have is back to all I ever needed in the first place. We all love how we get to have Christmas time off and yet many people just consider this a time to get together and exchange gifts. In my most humble opinion, many people would love it more to have Hanukkah (BTW...Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends!) off just so they could have more days off, which is so sad.

I figure I can write this right now and not suffer any recourse since I don't have any advertisers or anything like that saying they don't like me talking about who I am on this kind of level. I'm thankful for why we really have Christmas. That it's a time to celebrate that Jesus was born and that through Him being born, dying and coming back to life we can all get out of this sad world. It's amazing how shopping and giving gifts somehow overshadows that so much more.

This Christmas will mean a little bit more to me. I won't have hardly any gifts to give except anything I got for my wife before all the drama. We'll wake up and maybe read a little bit of the Bible and have breakfast while we celebrate what God did for us.

In the end, I'm thankful that no one including the driver was really hurt. Thankful that she DID in fact hit our car, because if she hadn't she would have been in our neighbors bedroom and someone would have certainly died. Thankful that though I'm out of a car for the time being, many of our friends have literally let us borrow the use of their cars till at least the end of the month thus far! Thankful that, when all is said and done, this is only a minor detour from our current financial situation. And mostly thankful because God sent His Son to die for me and my wretchedness. I'm still going to make many mistakes but I'm forgiven just because I believe on Him and have a desire to not be a perpetual sinner. It's pretty good times.

That being said, I'd like to give some people who I've never met yet accept via online, a gift. Free advertising!

LAfoodblogging - A site we get to know in this foodblogging world thanks to his sharing and desiring to be real about the LA eating experience and desiring to give readers what they want...more options to read. Anyone who comes here should totally have Jonah and his crew from LAfoodlogging bookmarked.

Eater LA - You will continue to be the TMZ of the food world giving us all the food gossip we could ever want and even sometimes not want. I read you incessantly (even if I'm not on your blogroll).

The Knife - You always have an opinion and often its not what everyone wants to hear...but this is why we LOVE you.

All Kinds of Yum - Tannaz writes stuff that I always want to hear about but just didn't know it. This may not apply to all of you but if you like LA and food period, she has a page to check in with.

Triplecreme - Bree is ALWAYS on top of it especially when it comes to the food mecca that is Culver City. ALWAYS.

Eating LA - Pat does a great job...in my opinion one of the best jobs on giving tons of info on the food scene without rambling (as I often do here).

LA and OC foodventures - Consistent...finally. I was bummed cause I read his page for while then he stopped...for a while. But not he's back and he's one of my favorite reads. I think I share similar tastes with him so it always a pleasure.

Doehle Bread - A person who I consider a friend who also enjoys food. Her page, while not always about food, conveys a lot of humanity in just living in LA and being a recent transplant.

There will be a couple more posts for this month...maybe. For sure at least one featuring my "Best of" so stayed tuned, and if you hear of a 2007 Honda Fit with automatic transmission for about 12,000 or so from a dealer, let me know PLEASE!

I love you all and thank you for checking in ;)