well, i'm a bit behind as you can see. i had limited internet access at alex's place in philly because they hadn't set up the wifi and the "family" computer is slow as molasses. so i figured there was no point. plus i was busy doing shit every day so i had no time. and then since i returned late sunday night, i've been busy at work and whatnot. anyway, i finally have some time to recap.
so alex and i took the red out wednesday night and arrived super early thursday morning thanks to some good tail winds. his dad picked up us and we went home and took a long nap. we woke up and got flu shots from their family friend who is a doctor and then got ready for the big meal. people came over around 3 and i think we ate around 6. as i have said to others already, it was the usual. a lot of eating and a lot of small talk. typical for a thanksgiving when you are invited to someone's house and don't really know people. it was fine. the food was tasty and that's what really mattered to me. hahaha then alex and i watched a movie at home and called it a night.
friday, alex, his parents and i went downtown to have our very own mural tour. now to explain, philly is filled with tons of murals all over the city. like over 2000. and the mural arts program was started with the intent to clean up the walls from graffiti and get delinquent kids off the streets and doing something positive. turning graffiti into something beautiful. helping guide kids with no future toward something better. etc etc etc. it's a very urban, inner city program. and now it's world famous and they now commission artists to come and do murals. they work with people in the neighborhood to figure out what should go on the wall. still allowing the artist to retain their style. it's really amazing. this is one of the murals:
but some are more abstract. some are even more photorealistic. anyway, alex's parents donate to this program and know the woman that started it so they arranged a tour for us. it was about 2 hrs and the guy took us around to various murals explaining their significance and whatnot. it was really interesting. i had a great time. after that we bummed around downtown til dinner. this including going back to lunch at barclay prime for the AMAZING kobe beef sliders. i mean seriously, it's a perfect food. it's not THE perfect food but it's one of them. i swear to god if i lived in philly i'd be down there far far too often. they aren't cheap either but i don't give a fuck. it's worth it. they taste so fucking good. dinner was really tasty. we went to this italian place where the pizzas were damn good. i was so stuffed by the time i left. then alex and i met up with a bunch of his old friends at this bar. it was a crappy bar (ie, way too sceney....in a philly way) but it was nice to meet a bunch of his old friends. then we left that bar around midnight and went to this much better bar/club where his friend andrew (aka, my east coast former AA cohort) was spinning. that place was cool and more friends showed up. we closed out the place.
saturday was spent going to the largest mall in america during the day with alex and his mom. we had to get alex's sister her bday gift since it was past due and i was the one who picked out the clothes for her. i did a fine job because we dropped them off later ans she loved what i chose. woo! after the mall alex and i picked up two of his friends and we headed off to the ween concert. it was at this venue in west philly which looked a lot like the way the wiltern looked before it pulled out all of it's seats. it was about that size, maybe a bit larger. and it had the same feel to it. the show was not good. but that's because i'm NOT a ween fan. i liked a few of their songs but overall i just didn't like it. sometimes the singer uses this weird voice altering thing and it's just weird. and their songs seem so ridiculous. in particular the "AIDS" song where all they do is say "AIDS....HIV.....AIDS....HIV" like over and over and over. it's ridiculous!!! anyway, the boys thoroughly enjoyed it and had a blast and i was merely there for the ride. after the show we hit up a bar for some late night grub, or in the case for alex and i, our dinner. we would have stayed out later but we had to get back and pack up our shit for NYC the next day. but everyone else stayed out.
so now here's where i get long-winded. because the tale of NYC is not that fun.
but first. let me just say that fall leaves on the east coast are something to be seen. alex would always go on and on about how much he missed the fall leaves. but i never understood til i saw it. and yea, they are fucking gorgeous. especially when you get the really bright red ones in the mix. man o man. beautiful!
anyway. the NYC ordeal.
to begin.....alex's cousin just had a baby girl and it's jewish custom to give them a "naming ceremony." boys get the circumcision thing and girl's get this. so the naming ceremony for this little girl, elisha, was supposed to be on sunday in NYC. originally alex and i were going to up to NYC saturday night to visit kyla but she went home for thanksgiving at the last minute so the new plan was that alex's parents would drive all of us into NYC early sunday and they all would go to the ceremony while i'd do my own thing. well....thanksgiving night as the parents of elisha were leaving, they were thanking all of us (yes, including me) in advance for coming on sunday to the ceremony. umm.....i was at a loss for words. ie, i had no excuse readily available. so i just sort of smiled and nodded. i was trapped into going! and i didn't really want to. our flight out of NYC was at 7pm and therefore we were going to have to leave manhattan proper at like 4pm to ensure that we had ample time to push through all the hoards of cars and people trying to leave NYC on the sunday after thanksgiving. therefore i didn't have much time in the city and i really didn't want to go to this thing. however i agreed to reluctantly because we had a bag issue.
so the bag issue is simply that alex and i brought this big suitcase with us which he decided to fill up the excess space with CDs and DVDs from his house that he wanted to bring back to LA. therefore the suitcase was big and heavy. and if i went along to the ceremony, this suitcase would be in alex's parent's car the whole time and then they would drive us to downtown to see the store window fronts at bergdorf which are amazing and all the while i wouldn't have to deal with this bag shit. and then after his parents left NYC alex was going to drop the bag off at his ex-gf's place and i could be free to shop without.
ok so the plan was all set. well...sunday morning we get call from the family of the baby. the ceremony is off. the baby's grandma got hit by a car the night before. she's fine but she's in the hospital. wtf???? so now the plans are all fucked. alex's parents don't need to go to NYC (2 hr drive from philly) so they find us seats on an 11am train and we do that. but now that we are arriving at a train station, we figure we can store the bag there and therefore alex didn't have to go to brooklyn to see his ex. so he changes the plans such that she would come manhattan to have a brief lunch with him while i went shopping. so we got off the train and it's like 1pm cuz the train was late. i would bitch about that, but that's for another topic when i bitch about how america's train system is so fucking bad compared to europe's. anyway....while i'm in the bathroom alex goes to find out about the locker situation. turns out, there are NO LOCKERS in the station. motherfuck!!! so we find a left luggage place but they won't accept our bag because it's too heavy. weight limit is 50lbs and ours weighs 65. and they won't let us pay more. they just WONT take it. MOTHERFUCK!!! at this point i'm pissy as shit because i have less than 3 hrs before i have to get in a taxi off to JFK and we have no place to put our big ass bag. furthermore, the reason it's heavy is because alex wanted to bring home so damned many CDs and DVDs. UGH!!!! so i got the idea to just take all that shit out of the bag. i had packed it all in 2 bags so it would be easy to remove it all. so we did that and luckily they accepted our suitcase. but now we had all these fucking CDs and DVDs to carry. and the bags they were in were not the best for carrying shit around NYC. so we went to some cheap as store and bought a $4 duffle which alex carried.
we finally were on our way. i got to see my window displays at bergdorf which were gorgeous. of course it meant battling horrendous crowds of people on 5th avenue. UGH! i was hating NYC at this point. all the hassle thusfar was killing me. alex and i split ways and agreed to meet back at the station at 4pm. so i ran off to the subway to go to SOHO to the muji store. well that was sort of a bust. the store was small, crowded and didn't have half the things i wanted. i was so sad. and i was in such an aggrevated mood overall i could barely shop anywhere. i walked around a bit and then just went back to the station early. alex and i got our suitcase back and got a cab to JFK. that part was actually smooth. it didn't take TOO long to get there and the taxi driver kindly gave us a flat rate fee versus the normal mileage/time rate. we got to JFK and checked in and ate some dinner. all smooth.
then we boarded our plane. we were flying on virgin america. now, virgin atlantic is the BEST airline out there in my opinion. they have the best ammenities to make sure you aren't bored on your long flight. so when i heard that that virgin was starting virgin america, i was super excited to fly it. they have mood lighting, entertainment system, and internet on board their flights. well the internet hasn't been installed yet but they have the rest. it's like a young, hip airline. so we board and we see the mood lighting. very cool. there's music playing. it's like entering a club sort of. haha but then we sit down and start playing with the touch screen entertainment system. you can order your food and such from there. well i hit the food button and damned thing freezes. turns out that the credit card authorization system isn't working on the plane so you can't order anything. but everyone starts freezing their screens from touching these keys. basically throughout the flight the system had to be rebooted like 3 times. so annoying especially when i had a nice long playlist of music to listen to (they have like 3000+ mps3 to choose from) and it was all reset with each reboot. so annoying. not to mention the flight was rocky as shit. and i hate to fly. it made the flight seem so long. i had already been up since like 8am and wasn't going to arrive in LA til 10:30pm and i was just irritated. i wanted to get home. finally after a very long flight i got home and that was that. so that was my long weekend. good overall except for all the kinks in NYC. ok this was far too long. time to stop.
i HATE customer service. i had dinner with andrew last night and we were bitching about it and lo and behold, today i have a similarly frustrating encounter on the phone. the problem is the man doesn't speak good english. he can't comprehend the nature of the situation because it's not on his rubric. UGH. i won't even get into it. it'll take too long to explain....
but dinner last night with andrew was good. haven't seen him in awhile. always fun to catch up. we went to vinoteca in los feliz. the wine bar next to en sushi. the risotto is fantastic there. FANTASTIC. they bring it out in a HUGE parmesean round. it's sooooo good. andrew seems to be doing well and is the same ole andy pandy i knew back in the day. i also got to see his friend charlie who i haven't seen in like 2 yrs. he's doing well as well which is good because it was rocky times before. he cut off his "luscious locks" but he's still fashionable as all hell. haha andrew is still unfashionable or perhaps fashionably apathetic would be the right word. his clothes are fine but he clearly doesn't care about them like charlie.
tonight i'm off to philly with alex to spend thanksgiving with his fam. this ought to be interesting. i'm meeting extended family. that's always a different case than immediate fam. and on sunday we're leaving from NY so i'm going to do a little shopping first. MUJI HERE I COME!!!
another one bites the dust....at my old job that is. man my old dept is just falling apart. it's sad in one respect and awesome in another. FUCK THE MAN!!!!! and by the man i mean the perverted, cheap ass, money-hungry owner. this is what you get for being a complete asshole. i wish i could run into him and tell him off. man that would be the best day of my life. haha well....damn near.
blogging up a storm today!
i just got back (well like an hour or so ago) from seeing no country for old men the latest coen brothers movie. i want to write everything i have to say about it but that would give away too much. so i'll reserve that for once more people have seen it. i want to have a discussion about it but i can't yet since it just came out. i will have you know though that the entire way home alex and i were "fighting" about it. some raised voices and such. so if that's any indication of anything, then there you go. haha so vague, i know, but i just don't want to be saying shit. i'm not like that asshole on my floor freshman year who simply wrote who keyser soize was on his whiteboard and fucked up the usual suspects for a bunch of people. i mean really, what kind of fucked up thing is that? this isn't on that level at all, but still. i ain't saying shit til i know that others have seen it. but i will say i have pretty strong thoughts on the movie. similar to another movie i saw like a year ago if that means anything at all.
i just have to say that i am officially OBSESSED with the MGMT album. specifically the song "electric feel." OMG i love that song so much.
ok. carry on.
a whole week of no posting. bad jen bad. i just kept forgetting. so let's see....
another one bites the dust at AA. i can't even remember the last time i wrote about people quitting there but another one is going, going, gone. byron and jeff are gone. pretty much everyone in our wave is gone. the office is becoming a shadow of it's former self. i guess this is what happened with the owner undervalues his employee's and yells and screams at them...
anyway so this weekend was packed in with stuff.
friday night alex and i went to see joanna newsom at the walt disney hall. i love the hall but i hate joanna. so it was a love/hate night indeed. i liked getting dressed up and the hall is just so gorgeous but her damn voice. ugh. at least the music was pretty. if not, i might have ripped out some hair.
saturday alex and i woke up early and had brunch with his family friend and some other people. it was interesting to say the least. tasty food as well. i had THE MOST AMAZING french toast. maybe i should have alex ask her for her recipe. it was so goddamned good. kyla, if you are reading this, it was GODDAMN good french toast. with nuts and stuff. YUM.
after that i went to get a new pair of glasses since my vision insurance will run out at the end of the year. i figured i might as well get a second pair so i don't have to tote them around. i can keep one at the office and one at home. i caved and got these slightly pricey D&G frames but i just loved them so much. they are this awesome dark red color and they fit my face so well. they don't look crooked on my face which happens a lot with frames.
later that night a bunch of us went out to a party at the brewery hosted by one of byron's friends. his space is amazing. i am so jealous. the party was orange themed and quite fun. byron got drunk and i got a bit tipsy indeed. good good times all around.
sunday i did 3 loads of laundry and worked on lawrence's website before heading off to jen's new place for "girl's night" which is always fun. chatting about random crap for a few hours and eating tasty food. i love when we do that and we don't do it enough i feel.
tonight alex and i are going to see the new cohen brother's flick. i hope it's good!
i finally got my haircut. she cut my bangs just a smidge too short but it's ok. they grow out so quickly that in a week it'll be fine. that and it will mean my haircut will last longer. the gauge of whether i need a haircut or not is if my bangs are too long and bugging me.
i saw american gangster last night and really really liked it. i mean i think it's dvd collection material. it's long as hell but it doesn't feel long. it just keeps going and it's interesting the whole way through. denzel is brilliant in it and russell crowe was quite good too. and i don't even like him. i'm glad i liked this movie because when if first saw the preview i totally wanted to see it and i realized it wasn't "my kind of movie." so i worried that once i saw it i might not like it because yea, it's totally not my kind of movie. but it met my high expectations and didn't let me down. i see oscar noms written all over it. i'm amazed that i had never heard of this guy and that i was totally oblivious to the rampant heroin problem in harlem during the vietnam era. i just had no idea that was going on. but i'm also bad with history so maybe i'm not the best person to be pointing out the prominence of historical figures.
this weekend was also byron's birthday. will's too but he didn't have a shindig. byron did. and it was comical all around. we got to his house and he wasn't there because he was late. and he was late due a botched rental car situation. details are not important but suffice to say, it was a bunch of his friends hanging out in his living room with his fairly new roommates whom we haven't met before. finally when he did arrive we all went to the guatamalan restaurant that he wanted to go to and as we were about to leave we were told that cops had the entire area surrounded and we couldn't leave. seriously, we were captive in the restaurant for like 15 min. hilarious in hindsight but not so much at the time. then we went to the griffen which is a bar down the street from the roost. we spent the rest of the night there minus the last call drink we got at the roost. all in all a good night. i'm glad i still get to see byron on a decent basic despite us not working together anymore. he's a good one to have around. that's for sure.
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