Firework hunters: Six days of firework festivities

This is my fifth year living in Los Angeles, and I am a self-proclaimed firework hunter. Each year since I've moved in, I've found a new show to add to my firework tour.

This year I decided to make the most of Independence Day, which in L.A. should be deemed Independence Month. Fireworks are more than just fire in the sky; they represent freedom and they go off all month long. I wanted to take in as much freedom as I could, so I decided to hunt fireworks. 

My first fourth in L.A. was probably five or six years ago. I remember being totally upset all day about not being next to a body of water for this holiday, which was my tradition since I was a child. 

Once the day was done and the darkness settled, things changed. Fireworks were shot up from neighboring backyards. People were in the streets lighting their own fireworks bought from the local fireworks stand. The entire city lit up. It was quite incredible to see such a sight. 

I wasn't used to seeing such a spectacle, since I grew up in Riverside where fireworks of any kind are banned. Here in L.A., I could turn in any direction to see a firework shot up in the sky. They went off for hours that night. 

Little did I know that they were going off for the entire month before. This was the year I realized that Independence Day is my favorite holiday. 

My hunting kicked off this year with Friday Night Lights at Dodgers Stadium. A night hike with my fellow firework hunters lead us to the top of Radio Hill, which oversees the backside of Dodgers Stadium. We were there for Friday Night Lights, which is the show Dodgers put on for Friday night home games. 

The seven-minute show, sponsored by Denny's, was definitely better than the shows taking place throughout the cities, though the view wasn't. Friday Night Lights looked more like fire art than fireworks.

We hiked up to the top of Ascot Hills in El Serreno on Saturday. The hike up the steep hills is worth the phenomenal view overlooking the furthest corners of L.A.

We originally went to watch the  El Serreno Park show from above, but the Saturday before the fourth is pretty busy for pyrotechnics. So many other shows took place in various cities along with solo booms coming from neighboring yards, and we could see them all.

It had to be the ultimate firework extravaganza, and that was only Saturday night. 

Sunday was the show in East L.A., which is one of my favorite shows. Fireworks bang to the sounds of Bruce Springsteen "Born in USA," remixed with Cheech Marin's "Born in East LA." 

Monday was our day off. We needed to breathe between shows, and the closest show was at Disneyland. But that doesn't mean we're through hunting. 

The Hollywood Bowl is doing two nights of fireworks, and I'll be there for the first. Tuesday we'll be at the Hollywood Bowl overlook off of Mulholland Drive. It usually gets pretty crowded, so we'll be showing up early to get a good spot. I missed it last year looking for parking. 

For Independence Day Eve, we'll ride our bikes down the Los Angeles River bike path to watch the Cudahy Park show from the riverbed. Being my favorite show, the feeling of fireworks exploding right above my head is exhilarating. 

Each show is special in its own way, and I'm always looking for a new show to add. Chasing fireworks for my favorite holiday makes the unbearable heat worth it. 

LOS ANGELES LOOKOUT: Lights twinkle throughout Los 

Angeles as darkness settles in the city on Saturday from Ascot Hills. 

BOOM, BOOM, POW: Fireworks light up the sky in East Los Angeles at the civic center as the scent of tacos and sulfur linger in the air. 

UP TOP: Los Angeles lights up on Friday night from Radio Hill in Elysian Park. 

FEEL THE BANG: The firework show from East L.A. on Sunday night. 

Summer kicks in with extreme heat warnings in southern California

Times are heating up in southern California as temperatures are expected to soar this weekend, with a Los Angeles County Health Department Officer issuing an extreme heat alert for the next few days. L.A. is supposed to see temperatures peak in the high 80s and low 90s, according to The Weather Channel's website, although now it is 95 degrees in Monterey Park (my current location).

Today us Angelenos, along with everyone else in the heat warning areas, need to be extra careful. According the National Weather Service, heat is one of the leading weather-related killers yearly. How can someone tell if the heat is winning the battle against? The NWS has a list of heat-related illnesses, symptoms and solutions, along with hazards, facts and tips on staying safe from the sun: "Heat: A Major Killer." 

Also, don't forget the basics:

1. Drink plenty of water. I know it's hard to do on Fourth of July weekend, but avoid alcoholic beverages while in the sun or heat. This will only dehydrate you faster. If you feel you must have a drink, drink a glass of water in between beers or cocktails. This will help your body stay hydrated. 
2. Dress for the occasion. It's hot, so why not where something that will keep you cool. Loose, light clothing is they key here. Light colors reflect the sun and the heat, keeping you cooler in the sun. 
3. Don't get too much sun. Sunburns are never fun, trust me on this. Not only does it feel like your body is on fire, it reduces your body's ability to dissipate the heat, causing your body to overheat. 

It doesn't seem too hard to stay hydrated, but some forget or simply are too lazy to take the extra step to hydrate themselves. Don't be that person who's passed out and needs an ambulance ride to the hospital. This weekend should be a fun one, so don't ruin it for your buddies. 

LOCAL PLACES TO HELP YOU STAY COOL:

• Find a public swimming pool nearby, if you don't already have one. If you do have one, get your booty in it with tons of sunblock to help keep your body cool. 
• Go to the local library. Libraries normally have a nice, cool area for visitors to sit and relax while they read a book or newspaper. Not much of a reader? Then hang out in the comfy chairs and people watch.  
• Find a shade tree at the park to cozy up under. 
• Walk around your grocery store's frozen food section, where the freezers are usually on. 
• Get an umbrella to keep the sun off your neck, and a bucket of water to keep your feet cool. Feet regulate body temperature, so keep your feet cool to stay cool.

Is university life right for me?

I submitted my housing contract for University of California, Santa Barbara this week, which means that this is really happening. I am really on my way to an entirely new life. Am I ready?

I haven't even bought my community college graduation pictures, yet I'm signing a contract to live with complete strangers in a new city. Is this really what I want?

Do I really want to travel to a new place for another degree? It's going to be hard. It's going to be different. It's going to be a change. Is it worth it?

Yes. Yes, I want it. I want the struggle. I want the difficulty. I want it all.

It will be worth it in the end. How many people actually make it this far? I won't be a quitter, so I am going to appreciate this change for all it's worth.

Things in life that are worth something are hard to obtain, but with perseverance, anyone can do anything.

I want to make the most of this, since I blew it in high school. I wasn't always the best kid.

I ditched a lot of classes. I partied instead of studied with some of the wrong people. I met some good people while I was there, but nobody that I still hang out with today.

My mom found out that on the Friday before my senior finals I ditched school, picked up my check from Carl's Jr., and went to my buddy's house to hang out.

She wasn't going to have that, so she called my dad to pick me up. They both showed up at to take me home, or so I thought. She was furious.

She had my bag packed and said she couldn't handle me anymore. Her and my dad split sometime in 2000, so she thought it'd be a good idea to send me to his house to live. That was not going down.

At the time, I wasn't on the best terms with my dad, but that's another story for another day. Everything is all good now. I just thought at the time, 'If you couldn't handle living with him, why would you send me?'

I asked, begged and pleaded for him to take me home, so I could finish my finals and graduate. No. He lived in San Diego. My school was in Riverside.

I called my boyfriend to pick me up; I had a little bit of money left over from my check and was willing to pay anyone gas money to come get me. He dropped what he was doing and came.

I never made it school to finish those finals. My mom called me threatening that the cops would be there to get me when I showed up. I knew she was the cops, so I just skipped over Riverside and moved myself into my boyfriend's sister's house in Los Angeles.

I was on my own with no family beside me to help my transition into adulthood. I was 18 years and one month old. I promised myself I'd do it. I promised myself I wouldn't give up. I promised to pursue my passions, which lead me back to the educational system.

I worked on my diploma during the fall and started my first college semester spring 2009.

It's taken me longer than expected, but I'm doing it. Receiving the acceptance letter from UCSB was a dream come true.

I didn't think I was good enough. I didn't think I could ever be a university student at a big four-year. I never thought it was in my cards.

But it was. It is. I have to at least try. What harm can come from trying?

I made it this far. I am going to Santa Barbara in the fall.

Lazy doesn't

Lazy doesn't get food on the table
Or wine in the glass.
It's time to get movin',
Get off your ass.

The Summer of Megan

School has been out for like a week, and graduation is done and over with. So what's next?

I've been stuck in a sleepy haze, as I'm sure we all have. Gravity is working against me as I try to pull myself out of bed to get the second chapter of my life going.

What am I supposed to be doing?

I was accepted to University of California, Santa Barbara, which starts the next semester in September. My housing contract won't be ready for another week. I have no money, since I have no actual income and everything I do get is being saved for my brother's army graduation in July.

So I'm here with "16 and Pregnant" on the television and some homemade cookies in hand. I always tell people "only boring people are bored," so I won't let myself be bored.

But I'm quickly running out of ideas. I need to get a life. I need to find friends. But I probably won't, which is why I started this blog.

Writing this blog inspired me to get out of the house, explore my local surroundings and let the world know what it's like in my life.

This will be the "Summer of Megan." I am going to set myself five goals to complete over the summer. Not only will this keep me busy, but it's good practice to set and complete goals. What is it good practice for? For life.

My goals:
1) Hang out at the beach.
The beach is relaxing; there's no doubt about that. It feels good to have the hot summer sun and cool ocean breeze hit my skin as I sit under an umbrella with book listening the waves crash against the shore and kids scream in the distance. Of course, I'll stop at CVS before I go to pick up some sunscreen. I wouldn't want to do any more damage to my skin. (I'm already extra moley because I used to sunburn as a hobby when I was younger.)

2) Go on an early-morning hike.
I'm not much of an early-morning person. Actually, I can't stand mornings and their perkiness. So it would be good to break free from my norm and do something unusual. I've never really seen the mornings and appreciated everything they have to offer. Maybe experiencing and appreciating mornings with their dewy drops glistening off of green tree leaves and truck windows would awaken the morning person inside me. It's worth a shot.

3) Find a location in L.A. I've never been.
I am an explorer. I love to go in random directions with no idea of where it leads and figure out my way back home. Consequently, this means I've seen most of Los Angeles in my five years of living here. I've seen more of L.A. in my short five years than a lot of people born and raised here. But I know there's more. There's always more. So I plan to find a new-to-me place around here somewhere. (And I am open for suggestions, if you think you know of a place I've never been.)

4) Catch a fish.
I love to fish. There's nothing better than the serenity of dipping a line into the fish-filled waters and pulling one flapping around out. I don't think I've felt that feeling in a couple years now, and that's not for lack of trying. This summer will be the summer where I will pull one of those suckers out of that water and take it home for dinner.

5) Keep up a blog.
This is my second attempt at a blog. I usually procrastinate keeping up a blog, because I don't think what I have to say is worth reading. But I've been looking at some of these other blogs, and I think I can stand up next to some of these other guys. So my final goal of summer is to keep up this blog.

I know these seem like mindless goals, but it's better to have some goals than none at all. This is something that helps keep me sane. If I didn't give myself something to do, I'd go crazy with boredom. But only boring people are bored, so it's time to get out of this house and get on with my life.

A slap in the face to ELAC graduates

By Megan Perry

Hundreds of students sat on the field in Weingart Stadium to commemorate the end of the first chapter of their educational career at the graduation ceremony last Tuesday evening.

Family and friends filled the seating on the south side of the stadium anxiously awaiting their graduate walk down the aisle.

School officials who were given the opportunity to speak took their place on the stage, filling all but one seat.

Missing from the podium party was graduation speaker Gustavo Arellano.

Arellano was asked to be the commencement speaker earlier this year, to which he agreed.

As grads sat in their seats looking through the graduation program, they began to notice that sociology professor and MC Rin Kahla skipped over the graduation speaker Arellano.

I was among these graduates.

"What's going on? When is Gustavo going to speak?" I heard students and faculty murmur to each other during the ceremony.

They were excited to hear the Ask a Mexican columnist from the Orange County Weekly speak only to be disappointed by his absence.

The next day, he wrote what he thought was an apology  entitled "Why Gustavo Ditched His East Los Angeles College Commencement Speech (Hint: Because He's A Big 'Ole Pendejo)" in his column.

His excuse for missing the ceremony was that he didn't realize it was happening on Tuesday.

He thought graduation took place on Thursday, which caused him to miss it all together.

In his column, he said he didn't know the ceremony took place on Tuesday until he received an email from an ELAC administrator asking him where he was.

By then, he said it was too late.
He was working on a big project at work he couldn't leave in the middle of.

His apology wasn't very sincere.
The tone of it sounded like an episode of Urkle, "Did I do that?"

The worst part of the so-called apology was the ending when he compares missing the speech was almost as embarrassing as "when I ripped the loudest possible fart imaginable during reading time," according to his column.

How disrespectful to add a seventh-grade fart reference to the apology he was giving to graduates who anticipated his speech.

Arellano's apology was more of a slap in the face to ELAC and its students than anything else.

Trying to use humor to downplay the situation only disrespects us graduates even more.

We worked hard to get to that graduation, yet Arellano didn't seem to think it was important enough to double check the date on which he was to be featured in our ceremony.

Not all of the blame can be placed on Arellano though.

Did nobody think to call and confirm that the grad speaker was actually going to show up?

English Professor Patricia Godinez recommended this man to speak at our ceremony.

If Arellano was close enough to Godinez to be recommended to speak, why wasn't he close enough to her to receive a reminder call on the date?

An entire committee put together the ceremony.

Did none of them think to give the guy a reminder call, text or a simple email the day before?

It all seems irresponsible and disrespectful to the students who worked hard to be there.

Arellano was right when he wrote that we deserve better.

We do.

We deserve a someone responsible enough to double check a date.

We deserve a committee who is on top of the reminders to make sure the ceremony goes as planned.

We deserve better for all the hard work and commitment we put into ELAC.

We deserve someone who will show up.

Mr. Arellano, you didn't make it to the ceremony, and an apology was a good place to start.

But you owe us.

We'd at least like to see the speech.

We'd like to know the inspiring words you were going to give.

I'd like to see it published on your blog. 

Next time you apologize, keep the farts out and sincerity in.

Hopefully, there won't be a next time.

Secret Lovers

Mr. Insomnia and I have become secret lovers.
We're up through the dark, quiet hours
Tossing and turning, tearing up the sheets.
A nightly visit,
Time flies.
Lost in the heaviness of his black eyes,
My mind races.
The man my dreams wish they never met
Jealous of all the time spent.
Together through classic sitcoms, late-night social media posts and a number of lost sheep. Always a battle between the two,
Mr. Insomnia and The Dreams.
Back and forth, the two tugging from each arm.
Innocent dreams lose nightly to the temptations of Mr. Insomnia.
But before no time at all,
I drop the ball,
Letting The Dreams conquer.
And like a bat in the night,
He's gone before daybreak.
No matter how hard I try
Mr. Insomnia and I
Will live a secret love together forever.