A little vanity

At one point last week, Bombshell was around. And she "decided" that flirting with me would be a good idea. Well, needless to say my declaration of being over her has come to haunt me. But this time, I think I have it under control. Just a small, itsy-bitsy crush. Just a really tiny... speck of dust small crush.

I've recently been on a few dates with someone who is a great complement to my character and someone I really like spending time with. As I have described her to friends -- imagine me, then give her 100X more energy then I could ever muster, and for an entire day. After their moments of disbelief that such a person could exist (believe me, my high energy level takes a long time to get used to), they wanted to hear all about her. I am sure I will share with you all shortly. Things are currently in a deep lull due to conflicting schedules and illness. (Her codename from now on will be ShowBiz)

Third, I may have accidentally escalated things with a close friend. On her birthday. This is not a bad thing. And was something I had been wanting for a while because she is awesome in most every way. Especially in her ability to handle hanging out with me. And now I am writing about it. On the internet. For all to see. I am sort of hoping both ShowBiz and Ophir (my close friend's new codename) aren't reading this post and planning on never talking to me again. This would be bad.

Not gloating per se

Just a friendly reminder why SoCal is so amazing. Relaxing with some dolphins at sunset on Sunday :)

Never thought it'd be possible

As a tutor, I've visited some pretty amazing families in the LA area. I had a new client recently in Beverly Hills. Not in the fake Beverly Hills, that area between Sunset and Wilshire. But an actual house in the actual hills of Beverly. What made this house particularly amazing? When I stepped up to their front door, knocked, and turned around I was treated to a full panoramic view from Century City to Downtown. Stunning. Beautiful. Amazing. Walking through their front door, I was greeted with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the other half of the LA skyline - Century City to the ocean. With mandatory pool. Location, indeed.

It was so beautiful and stunning. To top it all off, sitting there on side table gleamed a SAG award and an Emmy.

If you had told me at any point in my life that I would ever walk into house like this, with Hollywood talent like that, I would have laughed. Only in LA.

Sidewalk Celebs

I literally just saw Stefan. The runner up from this season's Top Chef: New York. I said hi. We bonded. It was cool. He was trying on his new chef coat, that he received at his UPS mailing box. I knew the restaurant he worked at was in Santa Monica, but it was totally cool to see him.

I love this city.

With that, I am heading to Catalina Island for the weekend for a departmental retreat (read: "pretending" to work, nursing hangovers, and imbibing too much alcohol). I am super excited.

Unsuspecting Cast Addition

So I would like to introduce Bombshell, into the cast of characters, that on occasion, enter the stories of my life. As many of you know, I have no problem using first names for the people in the story of my life, but Bombshell is different. Because I am totally head-over-heels crazy for her. Well, as crazy as one can be when you have limited time with a person, who has no clue you are interested in them. I will not be using her name because there is always that chance it will get back to her and that would be not good.... not good at all. There are several reasons why I can't broach this subject with her: 1) I am a coward, 2) she has personal reasons.

I am writing all this because I had a dream about her last night. No. Not that kind of dream. The kind of dream where I woke up and was convinced it had really happened. That we were happily in a relationship of some kind. I say some kind because mid-20s relationships are far to complicated and amorphous to categorize sometimes. [more on this later]

The dream was just kind of perfect. We are working together over the thing we commonly work over together (sorry, no specifics, would give it all away), when she looks up from the table at me. Her eyes meet mine, and linger. And then as she is talking, they lazily wander down my face to my lips. Her words are starting to slow and trail off, but she keeps talking. The way one does when there is something else actively on their mind. She then brings her beautiful eyes back to mine. I can see her breathe a little deeper. A little harder. I take a deep breathe too. She is leaning across the table, just the tiniest of bits. I start to lean closer. She follows suit. Slightly biting her lip. We meet in the center of the table. Sparks fly. From there the dream does not move to the bed or anything like that. It starts to fast forward through various parts of our relationship. It's near Valentine's Day and that's where the rest of the dream goes.

Now. I don't believe that dreams are signs or premonitions. That's just silly. But, on that note, it has happened to me once. Just once. Where a dream came true. One year later. So let's just say. I have my fingers crossed. And my toes. And my eyes. Everything that can be is crossed. Really, really hard.

Sad times

Sports Update:

Hard times have fallen on Balls and Dolls. After a cancellation due to weather last week, we picked up our first L of the season. So much for going undefeated. Some have postulated that we could have avoided defeat had 90% of the team not participated in a Valentine's Day bar crawl that lasted 14 hours in Hermosa Beach. Sure it seemed like a good idea yesterday -- but today's lack luster performance may be traced to yesterday's frivolity. However, it was definitely worth it. Yay bar crawls! Glad tomorrow is a holiday so I can recover... I need it

Balls and Dolls
W - L
2 - 1

A Bastion of Hope

As promised --

Kicking off this exciting weekend was an exciting trip to The Counter, a burger joint at the corner of 29th and Ocean Park in Santa Monica. There are franchises all over Southern California and smattered around the rest of the country. The Counter is an experience in and of itself. While waiting for a table (which you always will have to do) you are given a clipboard and check-able menu.

You customize everything about your burger. The type of meat (includes a veggie option). The size of the patty, 1/3 lb, 2/3 lb, or 1 lb behemoth. Four toppings of 18 possiblities. A cheese from 10 options. Your choice of sauce. And the type of bun. To get an idea of what these options are, look here.

Now this may all sound fun and exciting -- what a novelty, you can check off what you want to make, but really the burgers are AMAZING. I can not explain how delicious these burgers are. They are king of all burgers. When you take that first bite (which normally requires a knife and fork for anything 2/3lbs or bigger) you won't be able to put it down. The patty melts on your taste buds. All other burgers will be compared to this single experience. Sure. It sounds like I am exaggerating. Sure. Everyone claims to have had the best burger. But let me tell you -- I went there twice last week. TWICE. Because there were people in town who wanted to try the best burger in the world. Both of them left satisfied. And preaching the word.
This is yours truly enjoying a 1/3 lb burger, with Tillamook cheddar, fresh lettuce and tomato, jalapenos, spicy pepperoncinis, and healthy slab of honey cured bacon. All on a honey wheat bun.

Yes SassyKathy, you can visit me just to try this burger. I won't be offended.

PS - the 50/50 regular and sweet potato fries are amazing too!

Not to Gloat

So I've been hearing from a few people (read: everyone) that the Eastern part of the country is not a comfortable place to be... something about cod weather... no... no... it can't be cod... OH right it's like frickin' freezing everywhere right? Cold enough for stuff like this to happen. Yes. That boiling hot water is freezing instantly in -20F air temps. CRAZY.

For those of you not reading this in Southern California... I don't want to sound like I am bragging, but I am just a little bit. Today was 85 with blue skies. Have I mentioned that I love living here?

Adam's Desk Story

I have duplicated Adam's Craig's List ad for the desk he is selling because it was replaced by the desk starring in "An LA Moment":

This desk is made out of authentic composite wood, unilaterally paneled on all sides by a waterproof wood-imitating surface. It features permanent positioning, and is adorned by an office-depotesque ten inch tower. The curved front legs accentuate the desk's sensuality. The desk was assembled completely in America by the original owner. The Chinese who manufactured the parts of this desk have dedicated their lives to the creation of furniture parts. Featuring stunning workmanship, and wear to due age, this desk is sure to please even the hardest one to gift. Its tootsie pop stain will evoke the sweet smell of childhood for weeks to come.

Don't miss out on this opportunity! This desk is one-of-a-kind.

The actual post is here if you are interested in buying it: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/fuo/984598736.html

An LA Moment

So I have been back in LA for less than 10 hours, kind of home sick, and I remember one of the many reasons I love this city.

At 10am, Adam turns the corner of my room and goes:
"Dude I am buying a desk off Craig's List, and you have to see who I am buying it from."
At which point he directs me to this web page: http://www.taragerard.net/
It turns out this $60 desk he was getting was being sold by this model/actress, who if you followed any of the links, is rather attractive.

Being the good and caring roommate I am, I offered to go with him and help pick up the desk. :)

We traveled into the Valley to get the piece of furniture and arrived about 15 min late. She was waiting on the side of the road at a busy intersection in her black convertible (some old model that only looks nice because it is a convertible). The desk is already sitting on the curb. We pull up next to her and put on our hazard lights in the right lane and get out quickly to load the desk. She gets out of her car and looks as unimpressive as you would except a non-famous model to be. Dressed in sweats and a loose hanging sweatshirt. She was obviously extremely skinny and much shorter than her pictures would have you believe. Also, unlike her pictures she ULTRA freckly (oh the wonders of Photoshop).

Anywho, we put the desk in the trunk, and as we do, Adam starts to ask her where she got the desk from. Simultaneously, all three of us notice a sticker on the bottom of the desk that says "Big Lots $39.99." Her face suddenly becomes quite frightened, Adam and I look at each other, and he quickly hands over the $60. As we pull away, he looks at me and goes "Man, I wish we weren't parked on the street, I would have said I am not comfortable with giving you more than $40 for this desk. Damn." Needless to say we had a good laugh.

Update: So upon getting home we checked the sticker on the desk to find it was actually labeled as $39.99 for an umbrella. This made Adam feel better about his purchase.

Update: Adam found the desk online at Big Lots for $59.99 brand new. Now he feels even better because she only sold it for the price she got it for. The down side -- it came with a desk chair at that price. A shitty desk chair, but a chair nonetheless.