LA Post The First

Damn. When too much time has passed, I don't get excited about telling old stories here. But I promised photos and tales about my time in LA, so I guess that's what I'll do. This is potentially a good thing because I'd otherwise have to come up with various other interesting things to blog about and after an uber productive and tiring day at work, I'm not feeling particularly interesting right now.

When I talk about LA, I gloat because I managed to see and do so much in so little time. I even learned how to get around using their public transportation system (something not well-liked or understood by the locals). So, The Been There, Done That List:

In LA County:
Downtown LA, Bel-Air, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Torrance, Gardena, Culver City, Inglewood, Palos Verdes, Santa Monica

Beaches:
Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, Venice/Muscle, Santa Monica

Not bad for a total of 3 days spent in the city, eh? Thanks to Dave and his uber cool Mustang for carting my Canadian arse all over the place - if it weren't for him that list would be half the size. And of course, there was Orange County where I spent 7 days in Orange for my conference. Most of us spent the 4th of July at Newport Beach, so that's another one added to my list. Other than that, I don't really feel like talking about the conference very much - I'm sure you've heard enough whining by now. And even if you haven't, I've had enough with my own whining.

In Orange County:
Orange, Anaheim, Downtown Disney, Newport Beach

Back to LA.

I spent my Canada Day being unpatriotic and flew down to the US, only to be proud all over again and taught Dave that July 1st is indeed Canada's birthday. He's probably forgotten by now, but that was my patriotic act for the day - that, and I gave him a cheesy t-shirt with my country's name plastered all over the front in bold, bright red letters. Ooh, his Mustang - how could I forget? Here's the sweet sweet ride that I had for a day and a half:


A real beauty, ain't she?

Lunch at some fancy restaurant in Beverly Hills:


Yup. That's definitely a whole crab covered in tempura.

I spent the aft at The Farmer's Market and The Grove where I saw this in the ladies washroom:


Those LA people really know how to live it up in a restroom, huh?

Funny story about The Grove. As I'm sitting there basking in the super strong Californian sun, watching a fountain show with spraying choregraphed to When the moon hits your eye..., a man comes up to me and asks if what I'm holding is a camera. "Uh, yes...?" I'm wondering if he's some sort of weirdo, when my thoughts are confirmed by his asking to take a picture of me. Not with me, but of me. Goodness knows why he wanted to, but in my stupid flattered-ness, I handed over my camera and he snapped away. It was weird. I thought he was going to run away with it, but he handed it back after clicking more because he realized I have dimples. Very weird. We got to chatting and he was a rather nice fellow (named Roger) and told me the right places to hit while I'm in LA. He eventually offered to drive me around town - "Oh, the pleasure would be all mine!" he said - but luckily, I had Dave and Roger eventually confessed to not being able to show me the sights because he was caught up in legal troubles anyway. We eventually parted ways, but not before he gave me his contact info so that if I was ever in the city and needed an escort, I could get in touch.

Yeah, about that. Not so much. Triple weird.

Then we hit Hollywood.


Spiderman had uber hot buns in this skin tight costume, and I'm still not a Star Wars fan even after this encounter with Chewy.


Zorro and Dave fought over me. Dave won. Sorta.


Is it really a surprise that my hands are only 1cm bigger, even though I'm triple the age she was when these prints were made?

And I leave you with this:


Me and a selection of hats.
7:51 pm