The Worst in Some People Brings Out the Best in Others

I love the Batman movies. I've seen them all: Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series, the older ones with Michael Keaton, Geoerge Clooney and Val Kilmer. So it was a lock that I would go to see The Dark Knight Rises. I thought I'd wait a week or two for the crowds to die down, but after the shooting Friday night in Aurora, I decided it was important to go opening weekend. I don't want the bad in this world to win out over the good, I don't want to live in fear, and I wanted to stand with Christopher Nolan and his cast to honor the people in Aurora who couldn't wait to see that movie and now never will. I chose the earliest movie, figuring it would be the least crowded. On my way there, I was the first car stopped at a red light. When it turned green, I went. BOOM--IMPACT! And a person went flying across the hood of my car! Holy Shit!! This guy jumps up and starts saying that I hit him. He hit me! Unfortunately for him, a busy road yields a lot of witnesses. Witnesses who got involved, got out of their cars, blocked traffic and kept telling me "It's not your fault. It's not your fault. He ran the red light. Are you OK?" "Call the cops, his insurance needs to pay for the damage to your car." "I'll wait with you. I saw everything. It's not your fault." My hands were shaking so much I don't know how I managed to dial 911--it's a very interesting experience to watch a person roll over the hood of your car. Then the red-light runner gets belligerent with me! Says "You fucked up my bike. You have to pay for it." I wanted to say 'Dude--I didn't run the fucking red light--you fucked up your own bike.' But I didn't say that because I was terrified he'd take a swing at me. That's when the huge, burly, tattooed motorcyclist pulled up and stopped. My witnesses were still there--but they didn't look like this guy. The motorcyclist didn't see the accident, but he said "I'll wait with you. I saw him getting belligerent. I'll wait with you till the cops get here". He stopped merely to protect me, to make sure I was safe from this guy. How nice was that? The cops arrived, got the witness accounts and my information. Then they talked to guy who hit me--who was such a dick that he was mouthing off to the cops! I'm standing next to my car, surveying the damage and I hear him say "Your car is fine, Lady". It's not. The cop standing with me says "Pipe down, you're not helping yourself here. You're really lucky, you know? It could have been a lot worse". He finally figured it out and shut up. And he is very lucky. If he had been 1 or 2 seconds faster, he would have passed in front of the northbound lanes, and with that 30-foot head start through the intersection, a car would have hit him, instead of him hitting a car--he could be dead. I'm sure he'll have a few bruises, and his insurance will probably go up after I take my car in for repairs, but he's alive. And I hope he learned his lesson and won't run a red light on a bicycle on a very busy 6-lane road again. And I have to thank the CMPD officers who responded. They were very nice. When we were done and getting ready to leave, one of them said "I'm sorry your day started like this. I hope it gets better for you". That's when I almost started to cry. When something bad happens in the world, like the shooting in Aurora, you lose a little bit of faith in the goodness of mankind. I am grateful to the people on Harbor Blvd this morning: my witnesses, my protector, and the cops--strangers who stopped to help me, and who made me believe again.

Trump National vs. Pelican Hill

I have been lucky enough to play two of the premier golf courses in Southern California: Trump National Los Angeles and Pelican Hill Newport Beach. They don't even begin to compare! At Pelican Hill they couldn't wait for us to leave and tried to shuffle us off the course at the 17th hole. We told them we were going to finish our round. God knows how rude they were to the foursome behind us! We even had to go to the mall down the street to get a post-round beer as they had closed the bar early! Guess they all wanted to get home. Trump National--totally different story. They could not have gone more out of their way to be friendly and accomodating. Range balls, water, and golf towels were included. Every single employee introduced themsleves and asked if they could be of any assistance and told us to push the button on the golf cart if we needed anything while on the course. (All I needed was a better game--and I don't think they could have fixed that!) Pelican Hill doesn't even have GPS on thier carts--shocking for a course charging $250 a round! Pelican bills itself as an ocean view course. If you carry around a postcard of Newport Beach, you'll see the ocean--otherwise, don't count on it. Trump National is truly on the ocean. It might be chilly and windy, just to test your game, but the ocean views from every single hole are spectacular! And best of all, Trump National plays like it's your own private course. We did not even see another golfer until the 16th, and then we just got a glimpse of them driving away from the hole as we were pulling up to tee off. If you are going to drop a shitload of money on golf in Southern California, go to Trump National--it's a great golf day!