Road Trip Back Home - Los Angeles April 16th to 20th

I drove down Wednesday afternoon last week to visit my family and friends in LA. I haven't seen much of my family since the holidays and even then, that time was minimal due to holiday craziness.

WEDNESDAY

• Drove down around 3:30pm... arriving around 8:30pm.
• Surprisingly, in the middle of no-where on the 5 freeway had the cheapest gas... around $3.62/gallon for regular unleaded.
• My car was covered in bugs... icky.

THURSDAY

• Had a 7:30am meeting to video-conference (VC) in to. I thought leaving a hour before work, around 6:30am, would be enough for the 15 miles between the Valley and the Santa Monica Office. Geez. Even at 6:30am the 405 is painful. I got there a few minutes late, because I ran into security issues and weird office logistics.
• I had lunch with Cindy at this cafe called Abbot's Habbit on the hip Abbot Kinney St. in Venice, CA. That area is pretty spiffy. Kinda like a modern version of Melrose.
• Left around 5pm to get dinner for my sister's birthday at PF Chang's in Woodland Hills. My sister, mom and dad all sat down and ate together. It was kinda nice to be together. My sister likes chains, I guess. The food and service is usually good.
• Since I was taking off Friday, I decided to party it up like a person who is either unemployed or doesn't have to work in the morning. I decided to meet up with Albert at the scandalously delicious Tigerheat, who I met a few weeks ago at Ty's Birthday in SF. Tigerheat is the one place that continuously makes anyone over 21 feel old. However, I had a blast because the venue moved from the Arena to Avalon. Avalon kinda reminds me of the classier big brother of The Abyss in Sunnyvale. I know... you can't compare Sunnyvale to Hollywood, but there was my attempt. One interesting moment was that I think I was dancing next to Danny Norriega, former Top 12 contestant on this year's American Idol. I also won a 102.7 KIIS FM beanie, when i caught it in mid air. Aww... fun times...

FRIDAY

• I had an early Dentist Appointment with my family dentist, Dr. Pinter. I love her, even though she has a tendency to tell me to 'brush and floss more.' She even complimented my mouth this time. 'You have a beautiful mouth.' Aww.
• I chilled for a significant portion of my afternoon at Panera Bread in Northridge. It's got free wi-fi and yummy food. Plus the staff at this location is usually uber friendly, because it's quite new.
• I took a bit of a nap and then decided to meet up with Ty and company in WeHo. I had dinner at Topz, ordering a turkey burger combo. It's always fun to dine in WeHo, because you can find healthy stuff fairly easily... unlike the Castro in SF. I then had dessert at Pinkberry. Yes, a fro yo run is required in Los Angeles.
• I met up with Ty at Rage (Friday's are Gameboi), after spending a bit of time at the Abbey. Ty's friend John was in town from Washington DC. He also went to school at the University of Michigan and was born in Northridge! So there was a bit of cool things we had in common. Albert who lives in WeHo, so he also came out.
• Ty, shall we say, had a bit too much to drink, but it wasn't his fault. The shot we had was a bit much and twice the normal size... so I took care of him. Everything turned out okay and Ty crashed at Albert's place. I also ran into Chase, who was studying his law school stuff at Java Detour, the posh new Coffee Bar in WeHo but later joined Sherif and I at Rage.
  

SATURDAY

• Saturday was super chill. I shopped and had lunch with my mom at the Westfield Topanga (Topanga Plaza to all of the old school peeps). I came up empty handed, but bought a pair of shoes at Nordstrom and had them delivered to my work. They were out of my size. They are these black Adidas shoes designed by Porsche that look super sleek and clean. They're called Men's Porsche Design S2.
  
• I took a break to run and then meet up with my friend Galen at The Grove (and Farmers Market). We chilled at Pinkberry and just chatted away. We did a bit of shopping too. Fun times. I tried not to judge his shopping at Pac Sun. Lol.
  
• I ended up meeting up with Ty, Albert and his roomie for some Sushi at Niko Niko in West Hollywood. The sushi and service were good. Ty was obsessed with Angelina Jolie in TV and couldn't get his eyes off the TV screen. Lol. Whatever new roll that Albert got was amazingly tasty.
• We mad a pit stop at Walgreens for booze that I didn't drink, and neither did Ty. Lol.
• Ty and I then headed to Here Lounge to meet up with John. I also met up with my friend Kenny and middle school friend Sherif. It was a chill night overall.

SUNDAY

• Woke up uber late and went to Target to get some jams for the road.
• Took the 101 North to the Silicon Valley because the weather was nice outside and I wanted a bit of an ocean view free of Big Rigs.
• Got home around 6:30pm, with bugs attached to my front bumper and all...

Trip Back Home to LA - April '08

Red Mango Invades Yuppieville

I happened to be roaming Downtown Palo Alto for a late lunch at Pluto's, my favorite customizable salad joint when I noticed some new University Ave. signage.

One would have thought Pinkberry (originating in West Hollywood, CA) would have beat the 'original' Red Mango (originating in Korea) fro yo chain to Nor Cal. Alas, Red Mango acquired some prized University Ave. real estate and looks to be opening shop soon. The only other real competitor is Fraiche Yogurt, the yummy organic mom and pop shop over on Emerson. Of course, you know I've been raving about them for ages...

The US Government Needs A Proof Reader

So I got both my federal and state refund checks in the mail today. I won't complain about how paltry they are (bitch... is that all?), anywho...

As I was opening up the envelope from the federal government I couldn't help but notice a HUGE spelling error on the back of the envelope.

Can you find it?

Club Etiquette: Rule 1

If you're going to hit on someone, It's probably a good idea to be 'conservative' when you guess someone's age.

It's not an uncommon question to ask 'How old are you?' when you first meet someone. But if you ask... and take a stab... don't be a dumbass and guess an age that could possibly be offensive.

The One Thing

If there is one thing that's guaranteed in the Castro, it's that older men will remove all of their clothing and let it all hang out at night when the weather is good. This has happened on multiple occasions...

Not Quite Myself

I'm still trying to figure out why I broke down last week. Think Mariah Carey, but the gay male version and chop that in half. I can't quite pinpoint where all the stress came from --- lack of sleep, work stress, life stress, no-vacation stress, etc.

I can honestly say I was depressed for quite some time... maybe two to three months. I don't remember a time where I felt like that since early college.

Good news is that on Friday (4/11!) I felt something magical. And no, don't insert a penis joke there. But, I can honestly say I feel like myself again. Maybe it had to do with the gorgeous Nor Cal weather. Maybe not. But it felt good.

Now what do I mean by 'myself'? It's something pretty trivial. If I'm not feeling like myself, I tend to become very shy, less vocal and not open up. Think the personality of a boring straight man.

Now it's funny. I know people had to have noticed, especially those close to me. It was one comment about a month ago that made me internalize something was a bit off. Bill T., my coworker/friend, said 'You know Will? You're pretty quiet these days.' My response? 'I think I'm just getting older and more calm.' That was complete B.S. But that's because I didn't quite want to accept something was wrong.

All I hope is that I'm myself from here on out... because the world doesn't need another boring straight man.