Where to begin?
I have no idea. Too much has gone down. I do know that I’m happy the Browns won and I am enjoying the new Thrills disc. Well, as posted previously, I spent the weekend in LA and Vegas. Friday night we stopped at Lou’s records on our way up north. We reached MaCan’s place around 10pm. Jeb really wanted to go out in Hollywood, so we did. Went to a cool little bar on Sunset Blvd for a bit, then decided to walk along the Sunset strip. We were not really seeing anything exciting or crazy, so we stopped, got some food at a very run down Mexican place, then ended up getting a cab to the Roxy club (where Further Seems Forever had played earlier that night). Roxy is near the Whiskey a Go Go and the Rainbow Room, all famous Hollywood hot spots. It was about 2am and they were all closing down. We stood around a bit and took in the sights of the freaks and posers and Bentleys, Beamers and Rolls, you know, capitalism at its best. So we just got a cab back to Andy’s and crashed. We never heard from Larson so he didn’t come out with us Friday.
Next day in LA we got up around 10am and headed out for some breakfast. Jay suggested we find a Roscoe's chicken and waffle (mentioned in a scene in Swingers, if you remember). We did find it and it was an interesting experience, but the guys said the food was good. I just got some eggs because the place was pricey. After that we headed to the mecca of music purchasing, Amoeba records. I didn’t get anything, but Jay got tons of vinyl. We had planned to head out to Vegas around 3pm and we really wanted MaCan to come with us, then come back to SD with us from Veags because we thought that Joel was planning on coming down to SD on Monday to surf, and he could take MaCan back to LA.
The problem was that we hadn’t heard from Larson and MaCan didn’t want to take a chance, so we were bummed. About 10 minutes before we were going to leave for Vegas Larson finally called and said he was coming to SD on Monday for sure; therefore MaCan could hit Vegas with us. He packed up quickly and we were on our way. This is when the perpetual sweating began. For the past week there has been a bit of a heat wave in SoCal, and my car does not have air conditioning. There was bad traffic of course getting out of LA. The traffic improved, but the temp shot up. To make the ride even more interesting, there were crazy lightning storms all around us, and a small amount of rain. We passed a few bizarre accidents that I can’t even begin to explain. 5 hours later we arrived in sin city about 8pm. Luckily we made the wise decision to get a hotel room for the night (last time I went to vegas, Jay and I slept in my car in the Bellagio parking lot, not fun, but it did save money). We got a room at the storied Sahara casino. The four of us had to get showers done before going out since we had just spent 5 straight hours sweating. By the time we were cleaned up and done getting rid of the In and Out food we ate on the way, we began the night.
We were starved and wanted to hit a buffet, but most were closed, so we hit some place in Caesars’ Palace. Good dinner. To shorten the story, we went to Ballys, Paris, New York New York and then back to the Sahara. I don’t really gamble, so I mainly watched the other guys. A few interesting things happened, but mostly the eventful part was back at the Sahara, late at night playing some roulette to end the night. The dealer was very funny and fake scolding us. You had to be there. We slept in and headed home around 2pm Sunday. It was the worst car ride of my life. It was 102 degrees and traffic sucked. Due to the heat and dryness, I got some crazy skin rash on my neck and face, so that’s fun. After we got back from vegas and got cleaned up, we all went out in OB with Tracey.
Monday evening we planned to meet Larson in Encinitas to surf. Jeb rented a surf board and Jeb, Andy and I shared the two boards (including mine). After a couple hours of being at the surf spot, Joel finally showed up (he got lost, took him 5 hours, anyway). He brought two boards and we got everyone out in the water, just having a good time. We were only out all together about 20 minutes or so when I looked over and saw Joel come out of the water grabbing his head. He asked us if his head was bleeding, it was, a lot. His fin sliced across his face, about an inch from his eye. We packed up quickly and headed to an emergency room near by. Joel ended up with 9 stitches. We got some Baja Fresh and ate it in the emergency room while we waited. The tv had Adult Swim on at least. We finally made it back to our place around 10, took quick showers and the all the guys went out in OB to celebrate Joel not losing an eye or worse. He was a good sport about it and Joel and Andy ended up staying overnight with us.
Joel and Andy left yesterday and Jeb and Jay were supposed to fly out last night. I drove them to the airport last night at 7, after our 3rd In and Out trip of the week and said my goodbyes. I came home, relieved to have my home back. About a half hour later the cell phone rang, but I missed the call. I checked the voice mail a few minutes later and it was Jay saying all flights out of SD were cancelled until the morning, what?? You may have caught it on the news, something happened in LA and messed all the flights in socal up till this morning. So I went back to pick them up, we ate popcorn and watched scrubs and all went to bed early. So, technically, we should have our house back tonight, I’m pretty sure.
Despite the all that, we have plenty of more fun stuff coming up, some shows and my parents next weekend. Life is good. Here’s a quote from "Smitty" in New Orleans about the impending hurricane:
"I ain't going nowhere cause I ain't scared," Charles "Smitty" Smith, 60, said as he sipped a morning beer at the Double Play bar in the French Quarter. "I don't care where you are. If you're in the eye of a hurricane, it doesn't matter. I believe in the Lord. ... If the Lord wants to take me, take me."
