Staycation Lunch Day 4: Subway???

Yeah, Subway. Lunch today wasn't spectacular, but the day in general was a lot of fun. I wasn't planning on doing much today because I was pretty worn out after yesterday's fun in the sun. But I ended up being invited out to Venice Beach by Natalie, so I went! We picked up her friend Matt and stopped for Subway sandwiches before heading out to Venice. I had never been to Venice Beach before today and really didn't know what to expect but I knew that it would be an adventure

We got lucky and found great free parking about 20 paces from the beach. After that it was straight to the boardwalk to check out all that VB had to offer. We passed by muscle beach and saw some guys working out. They really need to wear more clothes. Some outfits leave nothing to the imagination. Then we passed by the basketball courts from the classic movie White Men Can't Jump. I was then asked to sample 3 different hip hop cds by unknown artists, but refused.


There were some rather interesting "performers" on the boardwalk. There was the Worlds Best Wine-O who had a shirt that said "Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Help me get drunk today!" He also sang it. There were some homeless people with funny signs like "At least I'm not your kid" and "Kick my ass for $1." Then there was a guy playing guitar on roller skates with a portable amp who would follow people around as they were trying to make phone calls. He made for some great entertainment while I enjoyed a strawberry banana smoothie.


From Venice, we headed up to the Santa Monica Pier to check out things there. Again, I'd never been to the Santa Monica Pier before, so I was stoked to check it out. I snagged a slice of pizza and a soda for a quick bit of energy (very healthy, I know) then we cruised down the pier to check things out. I fought the urge to pay $6 for a picture of me with a wood cut out of Van Damme and watched some kids at the trapeze school on the pier. We saw a band playing a concert and a couple break dancing crews then headed back to the car.


It was prime traffic time, so we decided to not go straight home yet and stopped at Amoeba Music in Hollywood first. This place was the third first for me today! As I walked into Amoeba, I was just in awe of the massive selection in front of me. Racks and racks and racks of new and used music, dvds, and even VHS tapes! (For anyone under the age of 20, those are movies) There was even a free live concert in the store. The Sa-Ra and Creative Partner gave a 25 minute performance that was being filmed by MTV2.


After spending an hour in Amoeba Music and picking up 6 or 7 cds and dvds I ended up buying only 3. I bought used dvds of Fight Club and The Prestige as well as a cd by The Faint. All three for under $30. That's one great deal! I'll definitely have to go back there when I have an actual shopping list so I'm not so overwhelmed. Maybe tomorrow I'll stick to my plan of staying local. We'll see.


Since I didn't really eat anything worth taking a picture of, I'll show you guys the sign we saw while walking back to our car in Venice Beach. I can't decide if it's a clever way to meet a girl or just a pathetic attempt. You decide.

Quick Hits!

I've neglected my writing duties for a few weeks. Sue me. Here's a few short notes about what's been going on since I last wrote.

• My last Vegas trip was a lot of fun. I didn't win any money, but I did meet up with some girls I hadn't seen since high school. We went to club XS at the Wynn (girls $20, guys $50), hung out at the Venetian Pool (bikinis and high heels), and had some sourdough waffles for breakfast one day. Good times.
• My friend Damien was back in town from the east coast for a couple weeks. He's in the Navy and doesn't get to come home often so I spent plenty of time with him and the rest of our friends. I partially blame him for me not writing. We went to the beach and became pyros around a bonfire, had a pool/wii/bbq party, went to his mom's graduation party and got plenty hammered. Actually, I was drinking for about 2 weeks straight after I got home from Vegas. Met up with a couple other girls I hadn't seen since high school because of D as well. More good times.
• I bought tickets to see Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday, Weezer, and Asher Roth for September 17th at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Didn't get pit tickets like I had hoped, but I'm just excited for the fact that I actually got tickets at all. Now I just have to figure out who I want to take as my date. I saw Blink 182 once my freshman year in college at San Diego State. They put on a great show and I had a blast! But that was almost 10 years ago now. The band had been on hiatus for the past 4 years, so being able to see them again is going to be a real treat.
• Over the last two weeks I also got a couple of new cds. I got the new Eminem cd titles Relapse. He is back at it again and just as good as ever. Of course if you didn't like him before, this album probably won't change your mind. But I'm a fan of his, so I enjoy it. I also got the new Taking Back Sunday album. I figured that if I'm going to see them in concert I better know their new stuff. I've got their other 3 albums, so I'm sure I'll have fun anyways. They are going to be the surprise hit of that concert, IMO.

Today, I'm heading out to the Dodgers game with my brother and my neighbor. I'll be sitting in the Loge section today. Loge 165 if my memory serves me correct. Today's tickets come with a free reception complete with Dodger Dogs, cheeseburgers, chips, peanuts, sodas, cookies, and other goodies! Later tonight I'll be heading to a friends house for some beers before he gets shipped off to Korea. Who knows when I'll be back again, but hopefully it won't be 3 weeks again.

Calm Like a Bomb

It's Sunday morning and I was up way too early today. I had a few beers last night, not enough to make me hungover or super drunk or anything. I went to sleep at about 1130, which is pretty early for me. Then for some reason this morning I was wide awake at 4am. I tried to force myself to go back to sleep but that only lasted until 545am when I just couldn't sleep anymore.

I was still a little groggy so I really couldn't write anything. Instead I just surfed the web a bit and tried to go back to sleep at around 7. That lasted about 2 hours and finally I just got up. I staggered down the stairs and into the garage to work out and run on the treadmill for a while. It's been over a week since I last did either one, because I got lazy last week. I only did 1.75 miles today since I hadn't run in a while and was already dieing on the treadmill. Figured I'd wait until tomorrow to really kill myself while running.

After a shower and change of clothes the song "Calm Like A Bomb" by Rage started playing on my itunes playlist. If you don't know this song, go listen to it. It has one of the best opening bass lines ever in my opinion. So of course, I had to relearn how to play it right that second. I used to play bass almost everyday when I was in college just to kill time and because it was fun to play along to my favorite songs. I still know how to play quite a few songs, but not nearly as many I used to know. Bass is also a pretty good workout for your hands and forearms. So I relearned how to play that song, then started playing a few others (Chick Magnet, Disco Inferno, Pawn Shop, Groove Is In The Heart, I Will Survive, Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts). As you can see from the picture above, I have an extensive music collection which is why I like to play songs from all types of genres.

After that, and a quick discussion of Lost and how skinny Lindsay Lohan is over text messages, I'm ready to get some grub and start my day.

The Dark of the Matinee

It's been a while since I've gone to the movies. I think the last movie I saw was The Watchmen, and it was excellent! The problem with movies now is that they cost so much. $11 per person is ridiculous! Makes me happy to be single! HA!

After watching The Watchmen I got curious about the actual comics. I spent a few days at work surfing the web and reading all about the series of comics. I had actually read the wikipedia entry and the entire plot before seeing the movie. Lucky for me, my short term memory sucks and I forgot all the big plot twists.

I still wasn't satisfied with just reading short summaries about all the characters, or even the authors, so I cruised to the store and bought the new release paperback. I'm sure some of the super fans would be upset to hear that I didn't go search for the original 12 comics or buy the collectors edition hardback, but who cares? I'm reading the book now and loving it. Takes me back to my childhood when I used to watch the X-Men cartoons constantly.

This comic is slightly different, but just as good. I like that it's set in a fictionalized version of the real world. It really sucks you into the story. Makes you wonder if any of this actually could have happened. And if it had happened, how different would your life be today?

And if anyone thinks this post title sounds familiar, it's the name of a song by Franz Ferdinand. Great band, check them out.

Brain Dumping Time

Apparently this blog is becoming a place for me to spill all the thoughts in my head into one place, at one time. So here goes tonight's session...

Today was opening day for Major League Baseball. My beloved Dodgers were in San Diego to start the season and they won 4-1. Kemp looked impressive in the field and with the bat as he smashed a HR to deep centerfield. Broxton looked good as the closer too. He hit 99 and 100 on the radar gun.

Tonight was also the first day for a new show that I will be watching regularly simply because it stars Bob Saget. Surviving Suburbia premiered tonight and I thought it was really funny. After just recently seeing him do his live stand up act, I kept picturing him saying really dirty things and making obscene hand gestures. That was funny in my head too. 9:30 Monday nights after the horrible DWTS.

Over the weekend I finally went to Best Buy to spend my gift cards that I got for my birthday. My birthday was in February, so I'm a little late. Anyways, I've been working out and running pretty frequently so I decided to get myself an iPod shuffle. I already have an iPod Classic (160GB) and an iPhone (3G 16GB, Black) so you might be wondering why I got a Shuffle. I looked at some reviews for an armband for my iPhone, but I didn't find any good reviews. Plus I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't like the idea of having my big iPhone strapped to my arm while running. This is why I got myself a blue 1 GB Shuffle. Not the new iPod Shuffle with no buttons on it. I don't like the idea of being locked into one pair of headphones. Plus 1 GB is plenty for my short runs, I don't need 4 GB. And I like the color blue.

After Best Buy, I went to Target to buy some new music with a gift card that I've had sitting in my wallet since Christmas. Anybody seeing a theme here? Yeah, I don't go shopping much. So I get there and find two new cds with girls for lead singers, Lily Allen and the Ting Tings. I go to pay and find out that my gift card is empty. I forgot that I spent it in February buying myself Mario Kart Wii online. Oh well, two cds $24 even. I like the cds, so I didn't care.

I'm still working on my playlist of songs for my "Run Pod" which is fun. I listen to 2-3 seconds of songs in my library and know right away if it will be a motivating song for me to run to. I'm sick with music. I can't remember what I did with a friend last week, but I'll know every word to a song I haven't heard for over 10 years.

And last but not least, I had the correct response to the Final Jeopardy clue tonight. What is the speed of light? Suck it Trebek!! I'm out.