I'm Back...

Currently listening to: Beck - I figure I'm going to see them at the Hollywood Bowl, so I should know them better...

So I'm still a little behind, so I'll try to catch up without writing a novel.
Wednesday (June 18th) - My friend Julie and I had dinner. We've both been pretty busy and haven't seen much of each other, so she met me at work and we walked to California Chicken Cafe to pick up dinner. We hung out on Laser's balcony and ate dinner and caught up. It was great.

Friday (20th) - Met Sarah in Burbank for a movie. We saw Get Smart with Steve Carell. It was really funny. I have heard some people's reviews that said it wasn't good, but I laughed really hard and was entertained the whole time, so in my book it was good. It's not Oscar material, but a good movie.

Saturday (21st) - I worked most of the day and then tried to rent a surf board (for Sunday) and had no luck at Val Surf, so I just had to rent one where we went. I then went to dinner and to the Groundlings comedy show. It was a lot funnier than I thought I was going to be - I highly recommend it. Here is the link check it out if you are in the LA area.
http://www.groundlings.com/start.htm

Sunday (22nd) - Woke up early (for me that's 8am.) and went surfing at El Porto beach with Lynda and Sarah. It was hard work, but I had lots of fun. Sarah and Lynda's goal was to get me standing before we left, but I couldn't seem to get that last stage from my knees to my feet. I did surf some waves kneeling, so it wasn't a total wash. Then I got too tired to try using one of their boards instead of the soft top one I rented. We called it a day, returned the rental board and my rental wet suit, and had lunch at the Shack. Sarah and I hung out for about an hour before I went home and took a shower and then headed back to Sarah's. We had Hollywood Bowl tickets to see Thievery Corporation. It was a great show. Here is a link to their myspace page where you can listen to some songs. http://www.myspace.com/thieverycorporation
We had a little beer and some wine and enjoyed the music and the atmosphere. Friday and Saturday were so hot you could only stand to be outside in the valley (for those of you who don't live here - the valley has the hottest temperature in the LA area) for about 5 min, but Sunday outside at the Hollywood Bowl was great. Perfect temperatures and a great show.

Monday - I left work early and met Sarah and Rod at The Well for happyhour. We had a drink and then went to the LA Film School to see a free screening of The Wackness. It was a great film - highly recommended. Here is the synopsis I found on imdb:

Its the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip hop and wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana. The newly-inaugurated mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, is only beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against crimes like noisy portable radio, graffiti and public drunkenness.

The Wackness centers upon a troubled high school student named Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck)a teenage pot dealer who forms a friendship with Dr. Jeffrey Squires (Ben Kingsley), a psychiatrist and kindred lost soul. When the doctor proposes Luke trade him weed for therapy sessions, the two begin to explore both New York City and their own depression.

Propelled by an exuberant hip hop score, The Wackness captures the spell of 1994--a time of pagers, not cell phones; a time when Tupac and Biggie were alive but Kurt Cobain had just died. Funny and moving, The Wackness is an offbeat tale of two lost souls stumbling towards maturity.

That's the update. Until next time....

ODD FACT:
Potato chips were invented when a diner kept complaining that her french fries were "too thick". The cook kept cutting them finer and finer until he shaved them out anger.

Getty Villa Update!!

I've got some pictures I didn't get uploaded from my camera when I posted last time...



Sarah "posing" - I don't really know what she is doing, I just took her picture... This circle had really great acoustics - when you talked to the benches it sounded funny.







Rod and his much needed coffee in the side gardens at the Gettty Villa. I had already been here, so I didn't get too many pics that didn't have one of my friends in it.


Heather, Matt (her boyfriend), and Richard were straggling behind a bit, but it gave us more time to spend by the strange acoustic benches...




One of my scenery shots of this really great fountain in the side garden. I want one of these...




Sarah feeding her favorite fountain in the side garden.





Group pic in the sided garden. In pic: Heather, Matt, Rod, Sarah, Me, Richard



Another pic w/ Sarah's mouth open. I don't know why she must have it open for pictures... is it because it gives her that "hey, you caught me off guard" look?? Who knows.



I have a few more pictures, but I don't have them loaded to picassa to make a little slide show and it takes too long to load them into the post, so...

Finally - an Update.

Currently watching: Random TV.

So I'll briefly mention last weekend since I didn't get to write last week about it. I
met up with Sarah and we went to get our hair cut. Our appointment times were a few hours apart because we ended up calling on different days to schedule, so we had time to get lunch (at this great place called Camille's - I think - on Ventura in Sherman Oaks) in between. Then we were planning on seeing this improv show at IO West in Hollywood with several cast members from The Office, but someone at the boxoffice told Sarah the wrong information and we decided not to stand in line forever and probably not get in. Instead we went to a bar - The Well - for drinks and then out to dinner. We got tired, bailed at about 10 and went to Sarah's to hang out a bit more. Sunday was a little less eventful. I started the clean out of my room. I have decided I have way too much "crap" lying around and I started cleaning it out. Then I met up with Heather and Richard to see The Strangers. Great movie by the way. A great horror/thriller movie. Two thumbs up.
The weeks in the middle haven't been very eventful. Work and working out pretty much sums it up.

Now up to this last weekend.
Friday I went out and had dinner and played pool. I got home way too late and then had to get up way too early to meet "the gang" (Heather & Matt, Richard, Sarah, and Rod) at the Getty Villa in Malibu. I love that place because I have always liked Greek mythology and it has mostly Greek and Roman architecture and art. We then had lunch at the Malibu Inn which has a really nice outdoor patio area and pretty good food. Apparently they have BBQ, but neither of us had it, so I can't tell you how it is. Sarah and I had planned on going to Doug's parents house and hanging out by the pool later on Saturday, but Doug canceled it on Friday. We hung out in Sarah's pool instead and played some guitar hero. It was a pretty chill evening. Marissa and James brought baby Tabitha over to see us and we were going to play cards, but everyone was a little too tired...
Sunday was Father's Day (yes I called mine) and my Aunt Donna's birthday, so I went down to San Bernardino to spend the day with them. We went to Oceanside and walked around looking for a place to eat. Nothing looked good, so we drove over to the Harbor and ended up eating at this pretty good seafood place (I can't remember the name). We took the scenic route back through the mountains and got back in time to play some cards for the rest of the evening. While I was there I discovered that my cousin Myra is now reading The Host by Stephanie Meyer. We discussed the book and her other series. It's great to find someone other than my best friend Kellie in Idaho who likes the book and who I can discuss it with.

ODD FACT: Every time you lick a stamp you gain 1/10 of a calorie.

Andrew's 30th Birthday Weekend Adventure

Currently listening to: The Shins

Saturday... I exaggerate a bit with the whole "adventure" aspect of the weekend. We didn't go scuba diving, rent a party limo and cruise down Sunset Blvd., or anything that adventurous. He had a barbecue at the house he used to live at. It was a joint birthday party because his friend that now lives there (Patrick) also turned 30 earlier in the week. I got there about 3 hours after it started, but it was still going strong. I knew 2 people - Andrew (who I work w/ at Laser) and his girlfriend Ashley. I also had met a few of his friends at various events, but we didn't realize it until we discussed it and figured it out. I met some nice people that work at another post place and who actually know what I do for a living because they do it only a lot more in depth than I do. It was nice to talk to people and have them understand what I am talking about. Just as some of people were getting ready to head out Patrick and his friend (I think his name was John. It's hard to remember all their names when you meet so many new people and a memory for names like mine...) started a play wrestling match in the yard. Why is it that at parties like that someone has to find some way to measure their manhood?? I'm sure that wasn't the ultimate goal, but they are men... So the wrestling match cooled off for about 5 min before it picked up again and Andrew joined the fray. (The picture is a bit blurry, but Andrew is on the left in green and Patrick is on the right.) So Patrick gave up and then it was just Andrew and John rolling around on the ground. Patrick tried breaking it up with water from around the beer keg, but to no avail. He then pulled out the hose and hosed them off. That was the end of the show and Ashley drug Andrew out soon after. I was going to take off since the only people I really knew were gone, but I stuck it out and ended up having fun until about 3 a.m.

Sunday's adventure... I was going to head down to Venice for Mike's twins birthday party, but after getting to sleep at around 4 a.m., sleeping in a bit, and finding horrible traffic on the freeway (worse than usual) I decided I wouldn't have time to get back in time for our girls day out. Marissa just had a baby (cute Tabitha) and needed a breather, so we decided to get together for lunch and a Sex and the City matinée (which the theater now doesn't sell matinée priced tickets or student tickets for that matter. Another blog topic for another day.). Sarah and I had some time to kill since neither of us made it to our earlier afternoon plans so we hung out at Starbucks so I could fill her in on my Saturday. We had Greek food by the theater and saw the movie. I liked it a lot. It was well done. The 2 hrs and 20 min didn't feel that long. I was engaged the whole time and it was almost like an extended episode only better. I then went back over to Patrick's in Hollywood because they were having another BBQ because there was so much beer left. The goal was to try and finish off the keg which hadn't happened when I left around midnight. I still barely knew everyone, but it didn't really feel like that because they are a pretty fun, friendly group. One of these days I might make it over there to play the Wii because they project it on the wall and it would be great to play on a screen that big. I guess I am calling it an "adventure" because it lasted pretty much the whole weekend.

Oh, by the way on a side note - I am now getting back into my workout routine. I started again on Monday. I really need to try and keep it up at least 3 days a week no matter what comes up. It is so much harder to pick it up again after stopping for a few weeks. I just need to not let work or my social schedule interfere as much as it has in the past. I'll get there... eventually.

ODD FACT:
The Sears Tower in Chicago has its own zip code.

Reviews and Memorial Day fun.

Currently watching: Family Guy

With the long weekend and shorter work week it has been more difficult to write. First off, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I am probably one of the 10% of the population that actually liked it. It wasn't anywhere as good as Iron Man, but for an Indiana Jones sequel made 20 years later I liked it. The first 2o minutes weren't that great and Shia LaBeouf was only believable after about 15 minutes after he first appeared on screen, but they kept the old guy jokes in the beginning and it kept me really entertained. I give it 1 and 3/4 thumbs up if that makes any sense.

Monday Sarah and I went to a park in Studio City to hang out with Josh and his wife. I thought it would be a barbecue, but it was more like a picnic with lots of sports gear. We hung out and played some catch and some smash ball. It was fun. It would have been better if the sun had been out more, but it didn't rain so all was good. I then spent the rest of the day reading The Host by Stephanie Meyer.
Here's her website check it out (http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/index.html). I love her first series Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and coming soon Breaking Dawn. This book is her first official adult novel. The first series was mainly for teens, but I think the reason is because it is set in High School about teens. It isn't just a teen series though, adults like it just as much as teens do. It's a lot like Harry Potter in that way. Back to The Host... I liked it a lot. Not quite as much as the Twilight series, but I think that is because I had 3 books (so far) to get involved with the characters and their lives and this one was just one. It also took a few chapters to get used to the terminology used. The basic plot is aliens have taken over the Earth and they must be inserted into humans to survive. The host's consciousness was supposed to disappear, but this one doesn't and the alien and her must exist in the same body. Then to try and preserve what life she has the host shows the alien memories of the people she loves (her boyfriend and her brother who are part of the resistance) and the alien ends up falling in love with them (human emotions are new and overpowering to her) and she sets out to find out if they are ok. Stephanie Meyer does a wonderful job of making you feel for these characters and care about what happens to them even if they are the bad guys. After I finished the book I had a better opinion of it because looking back on it you understand how she wrote it and it gives the whole thing even more meaning. It was written that way for a reason and it becomes clear after you are finished and reflecting back on your journey through the book. I loved it.
Thursday was the Lost season finale and we all got together at Kim's house to watch it. It was one of the best season finale's I have ever seen. The 2 hours didn't fly by like time usually does when you are watching it and they answered quite a few questions. Although they asked several more...
I'll get into this last weekend's adventure tomorrow.


ODD FACT: Americans choke on toothpicks more than anything else.