Free Willy

One of the joys of working for myself as a freelance writer and having a flexible schedule is that I can help friends in need. For example today my cousin had to transport a baline whale skull from South Orange County to the LA County Natural History Museum. I was invited to be the carpool lane support so that my cousin could take the speedy route to "free Willy." In exchange for being the extra rider, I would get a free lunch after we freed Willy. Such a deal!

I had a nasty sinus infection for nearly two weeks (hence no blogging), but have felt much better the past couple of days thanks to drugs (I tried tea and sympathy for a few days and had no improvement, so decided on more traditional medicine). It seemed appropriate to celebrate clear sinuses by taking a whale skull for a ride. We were kind of squashed in the front seat of an SUV with Willy taking up the entire back end. When we hit the road work at Exposition Blvd. in LA, we were very nervous that Willy might suicide into smithereens as we hit bump after bump after bump in the road. He made it. After he was removed from the car by three museum workers, we said our tearful good-byes and went to eat some good sashimi. The wasabi helped my sinuses even more than the drugs. Thanks be to Willy.