| [ |
mood |
| |
 content |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
godpseed you black emperor - "the buildings they are sleeping now" |
] |
On Sunday, after Amoeba and Spiderman and the kindly hobo who I gave some change to, David and I got lunch. We went to what has become one of my favoritest restaurants, the French Market. I actually ordered something different than my "usual," and David criticized my beverage choice (blackberry lemonade). His Reuben sammich came sans corned beef, which was just weird.
I was hoping in the back of my mind that The Latino Pop Shop would be back in business, and that the tanning salon was an elaborate joke... sadly, that was not the case. It wasn't busy that afternoon, and toward the end of our meal, three different guys tried to give us drink refills.
We decided to get a newspaper for guidance on what to do next. Namely, which movie to see. I drove west on Sunset, and there were no 7-11s or gas stations on my side of the street, so I ended up at the Pavillions near the Troubador. David went in and bought a newspaper while I marveled at the number of cars whose drivers decided to take up two spaces.
Then we headed east to Fountain, to see the Figure 8 wall.
 
I hadn't been since October, when it happened. A guy walked by and asked, "Who died?" but he had something on his face, food maybe, and I was too busy looking at that to answer him. I read some of the notes that weren't there the last time that I was. A lot of people traveled a long way to come pay their respects. I wondered what was underneath the fresh layers of grey paint that didn't quite match the rest of the wall. What needed to be covered up?
I got back into the car, and we looked at the newspaper, and tried to decide which movie to see.
I talked David out of seeing Garfield, and it was decided that we should see Coffee and Cigarettes. We then looked for a showtime at a theater somewhat nearby, and came up empty. We settled on Napoleon Dynamite, and I drove us to Westwood.
Napoleon Dynamite ended up being one of the best movies of all time, and I fell in love with it immediately. The dialogue, the physical humor, the wardrobe, the EVERYTHING. It was perfect, I tell you. David sang along to "Time After Time" during the dance scene, and then informed me that I need to see Evil Alien Conquerors.
By the time the movie was over, it was time for fireworks. When we got outside, we could hear them, but we couldn't see them (it was cloudy!). David wanted to go see some bad stand-up comedy, and I tried to find the Comedy Store, but I missed it. We passed by the Laugh Factory, but I was still looking for the Comedy Store at that point (I don't know how I missed it, I know I've seen it before...). I offered to turn around, but he said that he didn't want to wait in that line, so I just kept driving, and we ended up going to Universal Citywalk.
I could have sworn that there was stuff to do there. I thought there was a comedy club or something, but it turned out that I was wrong.
The scandalous art near the elevators proved to be the highlight of the Citywalk. Actually, seeing about three fireworks while we were in the parking lot was nice too. But they were so far away, and therefore they were tiny. Bah. I guess Curious George wins.
So we looked around, and the Martin Lawrence Gallery was not all it could have been, and the Dark Horse stores were bad, and the "bookstore" was so pitiful, and there was this store that sold pictures that lit up and had some device inside of them that made it look like the water in the pictures was moving, and it was so lame that I was speechless.
We left, and I didn't know where we were going, I was just driving, and then I saw a sign that said Mulholland Drive and a little arrow pointing right, so I turned and almost immediately regretted it.
I hate driving up hills, especially curvy hills at night, with headlights from other cars blinding me. David tried to reassure me that I was fine, but all I could think of was me sneezing and jerking the wheel and then plummeting to my death. Or maybe even that happening without a sneeze to blame. I declared that I was happy that it was dark, so I couldn't see how far up were were, or how close to the edge the car was, or even how big the houses were. I managed to sneak a few peeks to the right, and I could see the lights of the city below, and I thought of scenes I'd seen in movies of the same exact thing.
We made it to the bottom of the hill safely (obviously), and I turned onto Laurel Canyon and I thought of Frances McDormand humping Kate Beckinsale and Alessandro Nivola. Yep.
We headed north, and began looking for a place to eat. I was thirsty and needed something in my stomach, as my Tuscan Chicken from earlier was no longer doing the trick. After exiting twice and coming up empty, and after passing a Denny's with a hidden sign, David pointed one out and I did an annoying lane change to exit the freeway. The manager of this restaurant looked exactly like Barry Manilow, and I was fascinated with him.
I ordered some Buffalo chicken strips, and they were really gross.
But I kept eating them, hoping they would start to taste good.
David knew better than that.
He accused me of being a faux-nerd because I have the Revenge of the Nerds soundtrack, but I don't have anime soundtracks and game midis or something like that. He apparently had been drinking the haterade.
I dropped him off, and I got a room and eventually got to sleep after reading some comics and watching but not listening to The Good Girl.
The next morning, I woke up earlier than I'd planned to, because people are noisy. Jurassic Park was on teevee, and I sort of watched it while I sort of woke up. I took a shower, and I sort of watched Son in Law while I got dressed and did my hair and makeup and stuff. I lurve Pauly Shore. I checked out of the hotel, filled up Smitty's tank, and picked up David. We took the backroads through orchards and strawberry fields and we ended up in Santa Paula. We ate lunch at a small Mexican restaurant that was actually quite delicious. Despite not even being completely awake, I ordered a margarita with lunch. A peach margarita. It came with whipped cream, which I'd never seen on a margarita before. Weird.
We ate and I don't remember what we talked about, aside from the plot of The Boy Who Could Fly.
Once outside, we took a picture.
Then there was some shit talking, and I offered to have Hulk Hogan kick David's ass.
I then remembered seeing the Hulk Hogan tape that I bought in January (whilst shopping for Ashley's picnic) in my trunk, so I got it and we listened to it on the drive back to Oxnard.
I dropped David off and hugged him goodbye, and then I headed south to Amanda's house. I made it there ahead of schedule, thanks to my speeding ways. That, plus a dearth of flipped over SUVs and the like. I got there, and we checked movie times and decided on a screening of Coffee and Cigarettes. Well, I decided, really. So we headed out and barely made it to the movie on time thanks to a full parking lot.
I loved the movie, even though 3 of the vignettes fell flat. Meg White proved that she can't even drink coffee and smoke a cigarette convincingly. Boo. I think my favorite one was the one with Steve Buscemi and the twins, or maybe Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan.
I took this picture of the rusty overhang outside of the theater. I thought it looked neat, with the lights and the windows.
After the movie, Amanda got her fix.
I tasted it and it was okay... But I would prefer to drink horchata, if I am going to get something sweet and beige-colored to drink. Amanda once tried to get me into the boba, but when we got it, I made the mistake of ordering a honeydew flavored one, and it was grotacious, and I've been scared of them ever since.
We both were hungry, so we went to the greatest restaurant of all time.
Niki's Tandoori Express in Costa Mesa. It was the best $10.17 I've ever spent. I want to go back there as soon as possible. I mean it. It was tasty and it was a bargain and it made my belly happy.
We waddled out of there and made a quick stop at Tower for a magazine that Amanda wanted. It wasn't there, but I managed to find several magazines and zines that I couldn't live without. We looked around for a while and listened to some music. I bought my stuff and we left.
Amanda took me to my car, and we hugged goodbye for a long time. We are going to hang out a lot when she gets back. We have all summer.
Last weekend helped me get my appetite back. Thank you.
|