Unfurnished Brooklyn

Children, I wanna warn ya...

'Cause I been to California:

 

Where Mickey Mouse is such a demon. Where Mickey Mouse is as big as a house!

People, I'm trying to upload the pics to Flickr but my heart isn't in it. Not today, anyway. So I'll just give a brief overview of the trip:

Los Angeles is a lot nicer than I expected. Really cool people, beautiful views, and great food. (Fish tacos are my new favorite food.) It can be goofy, but I like goofy.

The drive to Santa Barbara was gorgeous. Even just driving around LA was fun. Hollywood Blvd. is ridiculous, but I did love being the annoying tourist for once (yes, I blocked the sidewalks to take pictures. So what of it?).

Universal Studios was exhausting, but fun. Disneyland was also fun, but not nearly as tiring. We arrived just before the park opened, and shut it down around 10-10:30 pm, and went on nearly every ride. I have heard the horror stories about 3 hour waits, but the longest we waited was around 20 minutes. Mid-week in April? Good time to go. And the weather was perfect. And also: SPACE MOUNTAIN!!!!

(A word about Space Mountain- after our second ride on it we went straight onto the Star Wars ride. Bad idea- I thought I was going to hurl.)

I wanted to visit this yarn shop, but I didn't have a car, and the route I mapped by bus would've taken way too long. Maybe next time? There was a yarn shop a few blocks from where I was staying in Eagle Rock (I found it on Ravelry). I stopped in one day and walked out with two skeins of Sockotta sock yarn for a shrug for Cheb. We also hung out a couple of times at this coffee shop. I really like Eagle Rock.

What else? We went to the Griffith Observatory, the La brea Tar Pits (tar!), did a lot of sightseeing (though nary a celebrity), and generally wore ourselves out. (Oh, and I'm now addicted to Trader Joe's greek style fig yogurt. Wonder if they sell it here?) I went to BabyMelt, which used to have tons of Cheburashka stuff, but of course now that I finally make it to LA there were no more. Something about U.S. licensing, blah blah. I did get the last t-shirt, so there's that.

Anyway. It was fun for the both of us. I'd do it again. But with a driver's license and a rental car.

Oh. So there's my mountain lion.

Last week in Los Angeles I stayed in a neighborhood called Eagle Rock. I kept joking about wanting to see a mountain lion or a coyote.

Now it shows up.

(I joke now, but I'd probably be freaking out if I were there today. I'm such a city mouse.)

A touch of class

That's what I need. A tiny bit of elegance, of sophistication.

This morning, after a huge train delay, I got out of the subway and went straight for the coffee cart. A homeless guy scooted in line ahead of me, and I got on my cell to see if my coworker wanted anything. I then noticed that the homeless guy was wearing pink pants. Then I realized the homeless guy was wearing no pants. I went to the cart across the street for my coffee.

That is why I had to cleanse my emotional palate by watching this video. Because I need a dose of ladylike grace, which is apparent at the 25 second mark:

Now that's how a true lady makes her entrance.

Back to reality

I'm home again. We arrived Saturday night and couldn't sleep because apparently we were still on LA time. On Sunday we ran some errands, and were kinda grumpy about having to ride the subway. We both missed being driven everywhere.

We were also not happy about leaving 80 degree weather for 50 degree weather. And rainy, at that.

Monday morning, back to the usual grind: school for Cheb, work for me. But, dammit, we had fun. More pictures and commentary to come.