This is LA

Well I've been going to tennis all day, every day for four days now. Ok, I took Wednesday during the day off to go to work and catch up and I skipped the late afternoon matches yesterday to sit in my car (away from the sun) and read my book. But otherwise, I've been a real trooper--out in the full sun during the day and the bitter cold late at night.

This event is a little shy of big names. I've watched a lot of tennis on television and followed the draws for a year or so of the slams, but I've only known a handful of the players. James Blake is the big star here. I've seen him play twice and he lives up to the hype and more. Fernando Gonzales was the highest seed of this event, but he was out in the first round. I've seen him play on tv and he was so much better in person, but the guy he played in the first round was a home town favorite and he was playing better than he'd ever played in his life (his words). Zack Fleishman. If Zack continues to play well (he's past to the quarters with flare and ease), he could probably win this thing. Yes, we are all on a first name basis (although I refuse to call James Blake "Jimbo" like some of the fans). I was on the phone outside the area where the players come out of the stadium and I turned and was face to face with Nalbandian (not as tall as he seems on tv) and then saw Safin walk in--that guy is tall. Serena was here as a spectator for one set of the first James Blake game, but so far I've only seen a handful of stars. I have, however seen about six hundred Paris Hilton look alikes. All the rich girls here look just like Paris Hilton--it is spooky. All the rich boys look very nice too. It's kind of surreal to be so surrounded by rich, beautiful, young people, but I'm doing my best.

When I ordered the tickets, they tried to talk me into getting a double, but I didn't know anyone else into tennis as much as me. Well I have a friend in ABWA who is a big tennis fan, but she moved out of state. She was at the event for the first three days, magically sitting in the same row as I did. She said that she and her husband come out every year just for this event. I told her that she used up all my serendipity for the year. It was very nice to sit with her--she knew the tennis association people and had seen many of the lesser known players before, so I got all the inside scoop.

Last night, a couple sat in the wrong seats next to me and didn't know anything about tennis, so I was able to regale them with my newfound knowledge. That was very cool. Maybe I'm just a seredipity magnet.