dear LA Chill,

let's see, where did we leave off...

according to my last blog, it was sunday.

so that sunday afternoon was a lot of fun! mae researched santa monica happy hours that were extended past 7, and we rode our bikes around town happy hour "bar hopping" for the night. it was sooo much fun! we went to LaGrange Orange, they had $2/$3 apps and $3 sangria...Sold! We knocked quite a few delicious glasses of sangria back there, ate some awesome homemade potato chips & chipolte dip, then went to our next place, The Basement. It was super cozy, and we got there right before it became super packed. We asked about happy hour specials, $5 wells, ordered a Manhattan and a Crown & Coke for $10 a piece. Oops, guess those liquors aren't exactly considered "wells" but...it was worth it b/c our state of mind definitely transformed after those two stifflers. After those drinks, we BUI'd to Bourbon Street. (All great towns must have a Bourbon Street bar I believe). We met up with MJ, Rey Rey, Amber, and some of Amber's co-workers. It was fun, but to be honest I don't remember much from that point on. Other than riding my bike up the last hill on the way back home, tough business.

Next day...Monday.. hmmm.... I had Monday off. I watched a bunch of Weeds episodes, then met up with MJ because she had the day off too. We went to Venice and did a little exploring. After I dropped her off, I decided to drive to Culver to see what this In-N-Out Burger was all about. I must say, fairly disappointed. Doesn't compare to Five Guys, and I'd rather not eat a cheeseburger unless it's a Five Guys burger or a Daddy Burger (Dad's special hamburger we've always had growing up!) After I was overstuffed and disappointed, i stopped by the Venice Post Office to mail Carolina a Bday present.

The end of my Monday was super interesting...we ended up getting our hands on some edibles, they were the highlight of the night! Mae never smokes, but she can't say no to a candy sucker, THC included or not. We ended up getting ridiculously high off of those edibles and it was hilarious. We tried LaGrange Orange again..the Sangria was great, but one of the chips had a bubble on it and when we popped it, at least a teaspoon of oil came out. turned Off, thank you. we left there, high as balls, and stumbled across this place called The Galley. I'm still wondering if i just hallucinated this place, because it was that perfect. The Galley was decorated as if Santa Claus took some serious acid and threw up multi-color Christmas Lights all over the inside. Seriously, all over. Never seen so many Xmas lights inside a place. Our bartender looked awkwardly similar to the Delta Safety Girl from their safety video they play before every flight. Also, the place was decorated sort of "ship-like" (Hence, The Galley...) and there was a group of 2 guys, 1 girl, dressed in sailor and captain outfits. We were talking amongst ourselves wondering if they were the paid crew of The Galley Santa Monica ship, and the bartender overheard us and let us know that those same 3 people come in every Monday, same time, same table, same outfits. Needless to say, Mae and I are going back next monday in ship-attire, and going to try to join their club. It was very It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. After we ate some so-so calamari and had a few beers, we decided it was time to call it a night. The walk bike to our bikes was hilarious. We were hunched over laughing and gibbering about God knows what, the whole way back.

Passed out almost immediately after arriving back home, then Tuesday started. I opened PF Tuesday! I also had a 15 top. Two new feats for me!

Since Monday, I've on a "not spending any extra money" trip, so it gets pretty un-interesting from there. I've been working a lot, running a lot, washing clothes, & watching Weeds (finished season 3, on to season 4). Well work last night was pretty interesting, actually. One of my customers, an Executive Producer/Voice Actor named Kurt Kelly, asked me if I was into acting and I told him I wasn't, just interested in saving & making money. Then he gave me his card, said he liked my voice & accent, and told me to e-mail him sometime. I checked him out online, can't get a feel if he is legitimate or not, but he is represented by TGMD Talent Agency, which is pretty good? Maybe? Who knows, I might look into it haha. Then another guy named Robert came in. He is apparently a regular and we hadn't yet met. He had an awesomeee scrap book with him that he let me look through. Talented and dedicated artist. His scrapbook reminded me of my friend Vanessa's from Asheville, full of so many different unrelated thoughts, very fun to look at. He showed me some pics from some recent work he's been doing of Yoga Classes in Prisons. So cool, those inmates really know how to stick a pose! We talked about my future degree I plan to obtain, and all kinds of stuff. When I was looking at the pics on his iPhone, he got a text and told me to read it to him. It read as follows: Dear Husband, tonight I will be fucking an African at 9:15. I will call you after, wish me luck. Love you.  .....Hahaha...random text of 2011 award goes to Robert's phone. After he almost spit out his drink from hearing me read that out loud, he explained that that was not his real wife, and that he and the texter were both going through divorces and just good friends right now. Rich.

Now I'm getting ready for work, 12-2, afterwards I'll probably run and maybe do some other work.

CUrrent Music: Galactic Pandora Station: Speak Low-Thriller

"are you drunk?".."what time is it?".."4:00".."Yep"

i haven't updated lately! that does not mean the past few days were made up of events unworthy of sharing, i just haven't been in the writing mood.

tomorrow! probably. maybe.

favorite random song i heard today: Tea Leaf Green-Ocean View

just craigin' around california

it's my off day!

this morning i woke up and took it easy for a while, then rode my bike down to the beach. my butt is still getting accustomed to the biking, and whatever walking is in bike terms, that's what i did all the way down Pico.

yesterday on my trip to the Venice Boardwalk, i took a left when i got to the PBA. that takes you away from the mountains and Santa Monica Pier, and on to venice beach. today i went to the right and passed the pier, then decided to stop after i was close enough so that i could equally enjoy the ocean and the mountains at the same time. i walked my bike (Actually mae's friend Robyn's bike, Thank youu!) across the desert sands of the Pacific beachside, and laid out a pretty pink sheet, courtesy of MAF. after taking in & appreciating the scene for a bit, i then started to read When Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris. I really enjoy the style of writing in this particular book. It's almost like a bunch of different blogs from memories of his past. And by blogs I mean short memoirs from both meaningful and pointless, yet entertaining events from a Life.

now i'm back at home and i just walked in on austin taking a #2. it was bound to happen and wasn't as embarrassing as i'd thought!

not sure what tonight has in store, but right now i'm about to go walk-ride my bike to meet mae at pizza fusion for some wine & pizza that i'm craving.

Yay for saturdays!

favorite sounds of the day: an oriental(asian...tomato tomaato) mother & son conversing, walking past me on the beach. and live mystery music coming from this super tight house on the bike ride to PF

wanee shmanee

the wanee lineup came out today. it. is. beautiful. i must find a way to get to the spirit of suwanee that weekend. possible birthday present idea?

i've started work officially! out of training. i love it! everyone i work with is fun and helpful.... my customers usually ask me where i'm from. one of them said he was guessing New York...hah hah hah...cute.

my zune cord came in and now my music is back in action. went for a run this morning listening to Toubab Krewe... Mae and I have been running everyday (except 2) since my arrival. it's so easy to run here! you couldn't ask for better weather or a better scene.

yesterday was a lot of fun! i'm finding it really easy & beneficial getting to know MJ & Amber. they are good souls! we went to a recording place where you pay by the hour called That British Place, and drank a few beers while MJ & her bandmate Jordan got some real practicing in without being concerned about neighbors. then we went to Pizza Fusion and had more beers & pizza.

if i did a word count on my blog, i'm thinking beer might be the front runner haha.

wednesday was my off day. i sat around and did nothing for a few hours. that was really enjoyable. finished weeds season 2 and waited on mae to get off @ two o'clock. when she got off we watched more weeds haha, then met up with MJ, Amber, and Ray Ray after he pretended to stand us up (trickster! he's one of my favs. Rayhanna.). we had margaritas and tacos at La Cantina (i think?) then called it an early night.

MJ gave me a new creative nickname...Clancy! Haha...I'm surprised neither Lea nor Juls concocted Clancy previously. i like it!

now i'm going to finish getting ready for work. it's about a 20 minute bike ride (i loveee being able to use a bike for transportation...do that in GA and you risk becoming pavement decor)

current sounds: my stomach rumbling, Austin pouring cereal, and da Frank.

why did the raisin ask the prune out?

day 2 of work, done!

Santa Monica is the bomb. i am so happy out here...other than missing people i'm close to....no offense, but it's not that bad yet.... that day will come, though...along with a depressing blog haha.

so, let me start out with work. a topic of interest among many, i'm sure (mom & dad, ms. angie & uncle kenny, jim & jamie, chuck). i'm employed at Pizza Fusion, an organic pizza & beer/wine place in a cute little area of santa monica. it's great! i'm in training until thursday. i'm catching on, but not as fast as i'd hoped to be honest. the online menu i studied was half of what the real menu is, so i'm a little further behind than i'd anticipated. so when someone ordered a Pinkus Hefe Weisen organic beer, i thought, "are you speaking english, wtf?" but, i'm working on it and everyone there is very helpful and understanding. i broke a juicer today though. zoops. stupid.. that's the 2nd glass thing i've broken, 1 pair of keys locked in the car, + some serious close calls. really 2011, what is the deal? i'm too anal to keep making careless mistakes like this, cease please!! 

when we got home from work, austin and adam were brewing a batch of beer that's based off of sclupin. can't wait to eventually try that! we relaxed for a bit & drank some pale ale's that MAF brewed a while back, trying to make room for the new beer. being good roomies. then, mae & i picked up some burritos at a place called Tacos Por Favor...my burrito was sooo good. Moe's X 10. We went there for breakfast burritos last time I visited, which were just as yum.

i purchased a futon tonight! it's a funny story, but i ended up with a cool IKEA futon/chair piece. it's comfortable and fits perfectly into the space that's soon to be my room. we lucked out after a couple of tricky disappointments!

got to spend some time catching up with a few key people earlier (mom, dad, will, mary, travis, daniel) ...still need to get in touch with morgan! we are in phone tag world. daniel (who might be referred to as jiggy every now and then) and i got cut off because i had to take the futon call, but i'm excited to hear about his new job. travis got a new job too, and moved to edisto, SC today! he's working with the show Army Wives...i think that's one of jiggy's mom favorites. maybe we can get her something cool from the set...taking a moment to give props to one of the best moms ever, Donna Kunkel!

caught up with carolina yesterday..she's impressed that i'm still aware of her partaking in irresponsible, 19 year oldish activities, all the way from the West Coast. she knows i'm a ninja, i don't know why she thinks i'm going to slip. not gonna happen.

i'm sleepy! good night & i hope everyone had a great MLK day! let's give respect & love to the man that had a dream & a drive...peace and equality to all <3

oh yeah, are you wondering why the raisin asked the prune out?

because it couldn't find a date! haha...

current music: led zeppelin in the background, along with MAF & I wondering what movie to watch tonight (last night it was The Parking Lot Movie...i HIGHLY, highly recommend it to anyone in need of a good documentary & laugh).

wisconsin?

first day in california! i'm sooo excited! the exclamation points are evidence of that.

today was great. i woke up early around 7:30, because my body is used to east coast time (we'll see how long this lasts), and went for a run. i'm going to take my camera one morning and let the pictures speak for themselves instead of describing things i saw in detail right meow.

around 11:00 we (mae, austin, frank-probably hence forth known as MAF, austin's friend adam, and myself) left for  a beer brewing competition in san diego county! mae's boyfriend austin is very much into brewing. and who's not into good beer? it was really nice to see an enjoyable group of people doing something they love and being as happy as kids. i plan to learn as much as i can about brewing while i'm out here. also thinking about "brewing" wine in the future?

mae and i cashed out on the way back to santa monica after enjoying a nice afternoon of good beers & pizza. and sun! it's 70ish degrees here! so nice.

after we made it back, mae and i went to a bar, Trip, to watch the 2nd half of the Falcons game. it was 14 to 14 when we arrived, and 48 to 21 (packers) when we left. we're pretty sure the falcons loss is due to some mixed up vibes that were created by mae's presence in the Trip bar. the falcons are known to have tough times when she cheers them on from that particular location.

speaking of mixed up vibes, last night we were walking to get sushi and there was an intense police scene taking over a couple of blocks down. we asked about what was going on but couldn't get any info. turns out, a freshman from Santa Monica HS left baseball practice and went to this hotel down the street from our house, and jumped out of a 10th story window. terrible... so sad. the man that spread this news witnessed it happening after moving here just a few days ago from Atlanta. Small world, huh?

lightening up.......we had Thai for dinner! i ordered the pineapple chicken fried rice, to compare to my favorite dish from Coconut's in Statesboro. by the way, mad props for Coconut's. Everything i've had from there is phenomenal. i tried curry for the first time tonight! me like. the PCFR from this restaurant, which i think was called Siam's (?), was not as good as Coconut's. that really speaks for how awesome Coco's dish is, because Siam's was great, like most food out here tends to be.

we ate with mae's friends MJ & Amber. They were awesome! once i figured out that i wasn't moving to asheville, i was pretty bummed about not being able to hang out with the cool ladies i met when i was house/job searching. i'm glad to know that there are plenty of great people to get to know out here as well :)

i was clumsy today. this is getting on my nerves 2011! i locked my keys in my car a couple weeks back in Thomasville, Dec. 31st i believe, and i'm thinking that was just a preview b/c i've done some out of the ordinary clumsy things ever since! annoying. need to lock that up.

training starts tomorrow! i think mae is going to be a great manager to work with. she's considerate, rational, smart, quick, able to provide direction & understanding, and we have a one-up on the communication element as well. + more. Love! MJ works there too, and between mae & her, i've already got some crucial insider tips. gotta watch out for some folks, put some people in line, and always remember, East coast to West, haters stay pissed & pimps stay proud.

i think i'm out on that note. can't wait to start my new job tomorrow!

current listening pleasure: weeds season 2 disc 1, courtesy of MAF's DVD collection.

misofishy

I'm officially a California resident!

This is my first blog since the middle school livejournal.com phase. There are a few reasons I've decided to start this blog:

-I want to keep track of my experience out here in Cali and remember it.
-I want friends & fam from home to know what I've been up to!
-The Social Network was the movie playing during my flight today.

I'm going to try and update this blog with little things whenever I get around to it.
Note: I am aware of the cheese factor blogs carry. I admit, this blog will be slightly cheesy and mostly totally pointless. Nonetheless, here I am.

So today was very eventful...woke up, made the drive to Jacksonville. It was the shortest trip to JAX I've ever been on, and saying bye to Will at the airport was far from easy. The flights were fine, other than sitting in the middle seat from Memphis to LAX.

Mae, Austin, and Frank picked me up from the airport, then we came home and drank a beer, walked to misofishy (a neat sushi bar around the corner from Mae's...well I guess our.. house..weird!) and now we've just finished up a couple rounds of Wii bowling. I lost twice in a row, shocker!

Tomorrow we are going to Carlsbad in San Diego County for a beer brewing type thing. Not too sure on the details but I am definitely excited and ready to explore.

Training for Pizza Fusion starts Sunday!

Current Music: We want the Funk, Parliament Funkadelic, James Brown station on Pandora.